the Lydian
monarchy, which arrested them on the left bank of the Halys. To the south
of these regions the SECOND CHALDAEAN EMPIRE took shape (625-536 B.C.). It
made no effort to expand eastwards over that plateau of Iran where the
Aryan element, as represented by the Medes and soon afterwards by the
Persians, had acquired an ever-increasing preponderance, but it pretended
to the sovereignty of Egypt and Syria. In the former country, however, the
Saite princes had rekindled the national spirit, and the frontiers were
held successfully against the invaders. It was otherwise with the Jewish
people. Sargon had taken Samaria and put an end to the Israelitish kingdom;
that of Judah was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. Thanks to its insular
position, Tyre escaped the lot of Jerusalem, but the rest of Phoenicia and
all northern Syria were subdued by Babylon.

In all this region the Semitic element had long been encroaching upon those
other elements which had preceded and been associated with it at the
commencement. In all Mesopotamia only one tongue was spoken and written,
the tongue we now know as _Assyrian_, but should call _Assyro-Chaldaean_.
The differences of dialect between north and south were of little
importance, and the language in question is that of the inscriptions in
both countries.

Another change requires to be mentioned. Our readers will remember the
names of Ur, Erech, and many other cities which played a great part in the
early history of the country, and were all capitals in turn. Babylon,
however, in time acquired an unquestioned supremacy over them all. The
residence of the Assyrian viceroys during the supremacy of the northern
kingdom, it became the metropolis of the new empire after the fall of
Nineveh. Without having lost either their population or their prosperity,
the other cities sunk to the condition of provincial towns.

For some hundred years Babylon had been cruelly ill-treated by the
Assyrians, and never-ending revolts had been the consequence. Nabopolassar
began the work of restoration, and his son NEBUCHADNEZZAR, the real hero of
the Second Chaldee Empire, carried it on with ardour during the whole of
his long reign. "He restored the canals which united the Tigris to the
Euphrates above Babylon; he rebuilt the bridge which gave a means of
communication between the two halves of the city; he repaired the great
reservoirs in which the early kings had caught and stored the superfluous
waters of th