ASTBl'RY. 



A8TRAHAD. 



the ludi and the Bactrians, to acknowledge the supremacy of the 

 Ajwyriana, He afterwards founded a magnificent city, which he 

 called after his own name, Ninus. A second expedition which he 

 undertook against the Bactrians proved more successful than the first 

 had been. He conquered the country and married Semiramis, then 

 the wife of Onnes the governor of a Bactrian fort. Semiraniix 

 succeeded Ninus on the throne. Diodorus, apparently on the 

 authority of Ctesias, ascribes to her the foundation of the great city 

 of Babylon on the Euphrates. Herodotus (i. 184) calls her a queen 

 of Babylon who made embankments on the river to protect the 

 adjacent country from inundations. Armenian writers make Semiramis 

 the founder of another magnificent town near Lake Van which they 

 call after her name Shemiramgerd. Diodorus gives, chiefly from 

 Ctesias, an account of the conquests and warlike achievements of 

 Semiramis, which is very amusing to read but which evidently 

 partakes in a high degree of the mythological character that pervades 

 the earlier periods of history generally. She subdues Media, Persia, 

 Egypt, and Ethiopia, but is defeated in an attempt to conquer India. 

 She returns to Bactria her residence, resigns the government into 

 the hands of her son Ninyas, and dies in the sixty-second year of her 

 age. Unlike his martial parents Kinyas confined himself to bin 

 palace at Ninus, and indulged his fondness for the enjoyment of an 

 inactive and luxurious life. The successors of Ninyas during thirty 

 generations followed his example. Teutamus (or Teutanus, as the 

 name is written in some copies of Syncellus), the twentieth successor 

 of Ninyas, is reported to have been contemporary with the war of 

 Troy, whither he sent troops under the command of Metnnon the son 

 nf Tithonus. The names of the other Assyrian kings are not mentioned 

 by any extant Greek or Roman historian ; a list of them is however 

 preserved in the Armenian translation of the chronological work of 

 Ensebius. The last of them was Sardanapalus, the thirtieth in 

 [succession after Ninus, who eren surpassed his predecessors in indo- 

 lence and voluptuousness. This encouraged the revolt of the Hede 

 Arbaces, who succeeded in putting an end to the dominion of the 

 Assyrians in Western Asia. 



According to the statement of Herodotus the Assyrian empire had 

 lasted 520 years before the revolt of the Hedes, which did not take 

 place until after the death of Sennacherib in 711 B.C. : it follows that 

 he conceived the Assyrian empire to have lusted from the year 1231, 

 till 711 B.C. 



Ctesias, as preserved in the work of Diodorus, gives to the Assyrian 

 monarchy a duration of upwards of 1300 years, and differs moreover 

 from Herodotus with regard to the period of its overthrow by the 

 revolt of Arbaces ; for he makes the dominion of the Medes last 282 

 Tears, and as it may be considered almost certain that the dissolution 

 f the Median kingdom by Cyrus took place in or about 561 B.C., it 

 follows that its commencement and the end of the Assyrian empire 

 are by the statements of Ctesias thrown back to the year 843 B.C. 

 Syncellus assigns to the Assyrian empire a duration of 1460 years, 

 from A.M. 3216. to 4675, and states the number of its kings at forty- 

 one (Syncell. ' Chronogr.' ). According to the Armenian chronicle of 

 Ktuwbius the Assyrian kingdom lasted 1280 years. 



With a view to reconcile the data concerning the history of Assyria 

 which occur in the Old Testament with the accounts given of it by 

 the ancient Greek writers, modern writers on the subject have 

 supposed that there were two Median revolts, the first in 876 B.C. 

 when the Medes became independent of Assyria, but did not destroy 

 the seat of government or depose the ruling dynasty ; and the second 

 in 806 B.C. when in conjunction with the Babylonians they sacked 

 Nineveh and put an end to the existence of the Assyrian monarchy. 

 This oMMinipt ion is supported by some passages of Herodotus in which 

 Assyria ia alluded to as a separate state even after the revolt f tin- 

 Medea. It appears from his statements (I 95, 102, 106) that by the 

 dissolution of the Assyrian empire not only the Medes but likewise 

 the Babylonians and other nations that had formed part of it resumed 

 their previous separate and independent existence, and that besides the 

 kingdom of Media there continued to be a Babylonian and an 

 Assyrian state. Wan between the Medes and Assyrians are often 

 alluded to. At last the state of Assyria seems to have yielded to the 

 ascendancy of the Medes : Herodotus notices the capture of Ninnx l>y 

 the Medes (L 185) during the reign of Nitocru in Babylon. This 

 event probably led to the final incorporation of Assyria in the Median 

 and subsequently in the Persian monarchy. For further details 

 relating to Assyrian chronology the reader is referred to the works 

 quoted above and to Smith's ' Ancient Geography.' 

 AHTBCRY. [CosoLETO*.] 



A8TI, a province of Piedmont in the administrative division of Ales- 

 sandria, U bounded W. and N. by the province of Torino, S. by that 

 of Alba, 8.E. by the province of Alessandria, and N.I', l.v that of 

 Caoale. IU length is about 25 mile*, and it* breadth about 14 mile*. 

 The area is 351 square miles, and th jMipnlntion in IMS amounted 

 to 139,065. The surface which is hilly is drained by the Tanaro 

 and some of its feeders. The soil rests upon limestone aboundim; in 

 curious fiM<iU, and in fertile in corn, fruit, and wine. The wine is 

 of P**! 8d quality; but in general too little care is taken in 

 making it, and it therefore does not keep well. A sparkling white 

 wine resembling Champagne is made near Villa -Nuova. The mul- 

 \KTTJ is extensively cultivated for its leaves in order to feed silkworms, 



silk being one of the most important products of the province. There 

 are several mineral springs in the province. 



The province is divided into 1 3 districts called mandamenti, and into 

 36 communes. The chief town A*ii, the ancient Atla, u situated on the 

 left bank of the Tanaro on the high road from Turin to Alessandria, 

 and on the railway from Turin to Genoa ; at a distance of 35 miles 

 S.E. from Turin, in 44 57' N. lat., 8 12' E. long. : population, 

 25,000. It is a large city surrounded by old walls, and not peopled 

 in proportion to its size. In the quarter where the palaces of the 

 nobility are situated the streets are rather wide ; the other streets are 

 very narrow and badly built The most remarkable palaces are those of 

 Trinco, Rovero, liristagni, Massetti, aud Alfieri, in the last of w'ni.-li 

 Vittorio Alfieri was born in 1749. There is an active trade in silk 

 and woollen fabric?, wines, and other agricultural produce. Of the 

 churches the most remarkable are the Duomo, the cathedral of San 

 Secondo, and the churches of San Pietro and La Consolata. Asti is 

 a bishop's see, and the residence of the intendente of the province. 

 It has eight parish churches, a court of justice, and a royal college, 

 with chairs of philosophy, theology, and surgery. There is a printing- 

 office in the town, in which business has been uninterruptedly carried 

 on since 1479. Two large annual fairs are held. 



Asia was a town of the Ligurians, and famous for its pottery. It 

 was taken by the Gauls about 400 B.C. ; it afterwards made alliance 

 with Koine, but submitted to Hannibal on his invasion of Italy . In 

 the subsequent war of Rome against the Ligurians Asia submitted 

 to the Romans, but retained its municipal rights. Asta having been 

 again taken and destroyed in a new irruption of the Gauls, was 

 rebuilt by Pompeius the Great, and assumed the name of Asta 

 Pompeio. It was devastated by the Goths under Alaric, and restored 

 by N arses ; and taken again by Alboin, who put to death many of 

 the .inhabitants. It was erected into a duchy by the Longobards. 

 It afterwards submitted to Charlemagne; under his indolent suc- 

 cessors it governed itself by its consuls as a republic mul- 

 influence of its bishops. Asti was taken and burnt by the emperor 

 Frederic I. in 1155; but it afterwards attained a great degree of 

 prosperity, and had banking establishment* in France, Flanders, and 

 other countries. About the middle of the 13th century I In I 

 of the Guelphs and Ghibelincs broke out in Asti and <li 

 citizens for many years after. Tired of these civil struggles, the 

 people of Asti chose for their captain one of the princes of the house 

 of Savoy. It afterwards fell into the hands of the Visconti of Milan. 

 These transferred it in 1387 to the French, in whose possession it 

 remained till 1529, when it was given up to the emperor Charles V. 

 by the peace of Cambrai. Charles gave Asti to his relation Beatrix 

 of Portugal, who married Charles III., duke of Savoy; it has since 

 remained attached to the dominions of that house. 



Among the other towns may be mentioned Baldichieri, a station 

 thr Turin railroad 1(1 miles west of Asti ; San Damiano, a slightly 

 fortified town 8 mil- - \V l>y railway from Asti, population including 

 tin- whole commune about 7000; Villa-Nuova near the same railway, 

 16 miles W. from Asti, imputation, 3500; Canclli, II 



[mlation, 3500 ; CasUl \V. of Asti, population 



8000; Cocconato, 18 miles N.N.W. from Asti, population, 2500; 

 Coetigliole, 6 miles S. from Asti, population, 5000; Moral>< 



S.i: fniiii Ahti. population, 2350; Moutechiaro, 8 miles V\V. 

 from Asti, population, 2000 ; and Rocca d'Arazzo, 5 miles E. 

 Asti, on a bill near the right bank of the Tanaro, population 

 about 1800. 



i N. [BIRMINGHAM.] 

 ASTORCA. [LKOS.] 



ASTRAUAD, n province of small extent in the north-east part of 

 Persia. It is bounded N. by the Caspian Sea and the Desert of Khiva, 

 S. by the Elburz Mountains, W. by Mazauderan, and E. by th. 

 Gourgan. 



Except in tli'' iniiiii'iliatc neighbourhood of its rivers the country is 

 of a mountainous character. The level lauds are pleasant and 

 extremely fruitful, producing among other things grapes of an 

 uncommon size. In other parts the soil is sandy and sterile. 



province consist* of the wide plain watered by the Gourgan 

 and the Atruk, and skirting the south-eastern shore of the Caspian, 

 and of tin- low moist region that lies between the base of the Klbure 

 chain and the bay of Astrabad. In the upper part of the basin of 

 the Atruk the surface is rather mountainous with alternate hill and 

 dole; a few Mimt<<l pines grow upon the hills, but in general tln-y 

 produce nothing but grass. About six miles west from the town of 

 Shahbaz the Gourgan rises in a valley in which the fig, vine, pome- 

 granate, raspberry, mulberry, black currant, and hazel flourish. To 

 the south of the plain of the Gourgan hills, the offshoots of the 

 Klliurz rue to a great height, clothed to their summits with forest- 

 trees and foliage. The plain country watered by the two rivers above 

 1* in pasture, on which the Turkoman tribes of 

 Goklon and Yainood spread their tents and feed their flocks and 

 herds. The low region a l>out the town of Astrabad has a very rainy 

 and warm clinmt. * rice and various tropiail fruits. 



The town of Astniliad in 20 miles from the shores of the Caspian, 

 and stands in 3rt" fid' N. lat., 53" 35' E. long. The town is V>, 

 to owe its origin to Yi-z/id ibn Muhloob, an Arab general, and to 

 have been built towards the end of the first century of the Moharu- 



