occupied a
site some distance to the north of Balis, which is in lat. 36 deg. nearly.
It was the key of Syria on the east, commanding the ordinary passage
of the Euphrates, and being the only great city in this quarter. Tyre,
which had by this time surpassed its rival, Sidon, was the chief of all
the maritime towns; and its possession gave the mastery of the Eastern
Mediterranean to the power which could acquire and maintain it. Ashdod
was the key of Syria upon the south, being a place of great strength,
and commanding the coast route between Palestine and Egypt, which was
usually pursued by armies. It is scarcely too much to say that the
possession of Ashdod, Tyre, and Carchemish, involved the lordship of
Syria, which could not be permanently retained except by the occupation
of those cities.

The countries by which the Babylonian Empire was bounded were Persia on
the east, Media and her dependencies on the north, Arabia on the south,
and Egypt at the extreme southwest. Directly to the west she had no
neighbor, her territory being on that side washed by the Mediterranean.

Of Persia, which must be described at length in the next volume, since
it was the seat of Empire during the Fifth Monarchy, no more need
be said here than that it was for the most part a rugged and sterile
country, apt to produce a brave and hardy race, but incapable of
sustaining a large population. A strong barrier separated it from the
great Mesopotamian lowland; and the Babylonians, by occupying a few
easily defensible passes, could readily prevent a Persian army from
debouching on their fertile plains. On the other hand, the natural
strength of the region is so great that in the hands of brave and active
men its defence is easy; and the Babylonians were not likely, if an
aggressive spirit led to their pressing eastward, to make any serious
impression in this quarter, or ever greatly to advance their frontier.

To Media, the power which bordered her upon the north, Babylonia, on the
contrary, lay wholly open. The Medes, possessing Assyria and Armenia,
with the Upper Tigris valley, and probably the Mons Masius, could at any
time, with the greatest ease, have marched armies into the low country,
and resumed the contest in which Assyria was engaged for so many hundred
years with the great people of the south. On this side nature had set no
obstacles; and, if danger threatened, resistance had to be made by means
of those artificial works which are