BY THE RIVERS OF BABYLON 61 



many only in an absurd legend that he ate grass 

 among the cattle — and there was a last flicker of art 

 and culture. Then came the turn of Persia to 

 expand, and Babylonia slowly faded from the chart 

 of history. 



Over the Assyrians we will not linger. They were 

 a Semitic people, akin to the Babylonians, who 

 remained of little importance, though they were 

 civilized under Babylonian influence, until 1,130 b.c. 

 But they were essentially a military people, and 

 what has come to be called the method of "fright- 

 fulness" (the German word really means "intimida- 

 tion ") was much cultivated by them. They were 

 utterly ruthless in war, and were not, like the Baby- 

 lonians, softened by centuries of life in great cities. 



In 1,130 b.c. they beat the Babylonians, and they soon 

 became a power in the ancient world, with Nineveh 

 as their capital. Naturally, victory provoked a thirst 

 for revenge, and they had to hold their position by 

 centuries of war. As Babylon weakened, they grew 

 stronger, and after 700 b.c. Nineveh became the great 

 seat of civilization. Here, in the higher lands of 

 Mesopotamia, stone was plentiful, and the Assyrian 

 artists came to rival those of Egypt. They gave less 

 attention to temples than the Babylonians had done, 

 but the palaces of their kings were among the most 

 gorgeous ever raised. Sargon II built a small royal 

 town — the " Versailles " of Nineveh — covering 750 

 acres, with walls 80 feet thick. The palace alone 

 covered 25 acres, and had 209 apartments. The 

 palace of his son, Sennacherib, had a vaulted hall 

 176 feet long and 40 feet wide, and another 124 feet 

 long and 30 feet wide. The inner walls of these 

 palaces were lined with the wonderful carvings in 



