of the Assyrian Monarchy. = 311 
of this, we might say that it was possible ; 
that it should happen so many times over, as 
it must have done to account even for Assyrian 
history, is highly improbable ; that it should 
have occurred so many hundred times as is 
necessary to explain all the coincidences of 
the actions of supposed kings with the my- 
thology of their country, which are found 
in early ancient history, is next to impos- 
sible. There remains then only the 3d sup- 
position, viz. that the legends of mythology 
have been converted into history, and gods 
and goddesses into terrestrial kings and 
queens; and that the deeds of Ninus and 
Semiramis have no better claim to be received 
as history, than the conquest of India by 
Bacchus, or the expedition of Hercules into 
Spain. I wish however to premise, that I 
am far from supposing that I can assign a 
mythological original for every circumstance 
in the history in question: nor is it, I con- 
ceive, necessary that I should do so, in order 
to establish the probability of my hypothesis ; 
there must have been some reason why a Be- 
lus, a Ninus, a Semiramis, &c. rather than 
any other names, were chosen as the heroes 
and heroine of the Ctesian fable; and this 
reason I find in the Assyrian mythology ; but, 
the general idea once being given, the de- 
