The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient
Eastern World, Vol 4. (of 7): Babylon, by George Rawlinson

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Title: The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 4. (of 7): Babylon
The History, Geography, And Antiquities Of Chaldaea,
Assyria, Babylon, Media, Persia, Parthia, And Sassanian
or New Persian Empire; With Maps and Illustrations.

Author: George Rawlinson

Illustrator: George Rawlinson

Release Date: July 1, 2005 [EBook #16164]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEVEN GREAT MONARCHIES ***

Produced by David Widger

THE SEVEN GREAT MONARCHIES

OF THE

ANCIENT EASTERN WORLD;

OR,

THE HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY, AND ANTIQUITIES OF CHALDAEA, ASSYRIA

BABYLON, MEDIA, PERSIA, PARTHIA, AND SASSANIAN,

OR NEW PERSIAN EMPIRE.

BY

GEORGE RAWLINSON, M.A.,

CAMDEN PROFESSOR OF ANCIENT HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

IN THREE VOLUMES.

VOLUME II.

WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS

THE FOURTH MONARCHY

BABYLONIA.

[Illustration: MAP]

CHAPTER I. EXTENT OF THE EMPIRE.

"Behold, a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was
great; the tree grew and was strong: and the height thereof reached unto
heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth."--Dan. iy.
10, 11.

The limits of Babylonia Proper, the tract in which the dominant power
of the Fourth Monarchy had its abode, being almost identical with those
which have been already described under the head of Chaldaea, will not
require in this place to be treated afresh, at any length. It needs
only to remind the reader that Babylonia Proper is that alluvial tract
towards the mouth of the two great rivers of Western Asia--the Tigris
and the Euphrates--which intervenes between the Arabian Desert on the
one side, and the more eastern of the two streams on the other. Across
the Tigris the country is no longer Babylonia, but Cissia, or Susiana--a
distinct region, known to the Jews as Elam--the habitat of a distinct
people. Babylonia lies westward of the Tigris, and consists of two vast
plains or flats, one s