ANIIOU1TY OF WRITING. 

 SYRIANS. 



LET us briefly examine tho pretensions of some other nations 

 t > the early use of Utters. The next nation that claims attention 

 is the Syrian. The language of the Syrians is mentioned in the 

 Universal History., vol. i. p. 3 17, 348 ; and was a distinct tongue in 

 tin- dajs of Jacob. It was also (he language of Mesopotamia and 

 Chaldea. As to the arts and learning of the Syrians, they were by 

 some anciently joined will) the Phcnicians, as the first inventors of 

 letters ; but, without entering into this matter, certain it is, that 

 -they yielded to no nation inhuman knowledge, and skill in the fine 

 arts. From their happy situation they may almost be said to have 

 been in the centre of the old world : and, in the zenith of their em. 

 pire, they enriched themselves with the spoils, tribute, and com- 

 merce, of the nations far and near, and arose to a great pitch of 

 splendour and magnificence, which are the chief eucouragers of 

 ingenuity and industry *. Their language is pretended to have 

 been the vernacular of al! the oriental tongues, which was divided 

 into three dialects : First, the Aramean, used in Mesopotamia, and 

 by the inhabitants of Roha, or Edesa, of Harram, and the Outer 

 Syria : Secondly, the dialect of Palestine, spoken by the inhabitants 

 of Damascus, Mount Libanus, and the Inner Syria : Thirdly, the 

 Chaldce or Nabathean dialect, the most unpolished of the three, 

 and spoken in the mountainous parts of Assyria, and the villages of 

 Iruc or Babylonia. 



It hath been a received opinion, that no nation of equal antiquity 

 had a more considerable trade than the ancient Syrians. They had 

 many valuable commodities of their own to carry into other parts ; 

 and, by their vicinity to the river Euphrates, it is evident that they 

 traded with the eastern nations upon that river very early. The 

 easy and safe navigation of the Euphrates, when compared with that 

 of the sea, may incline us to consider them, as older merchants than 

 the Edomites, or even the Phenicians, who confessedly ingrossed 

 }he trade of the western world. The Syrians therefore are sup- 

 posed to have been the first people who brought the Persian and 

 Indian commodities into the west of Asia. It seems therefore that 

 the Syrians carried on an inland trade, by engrossing the com. 



The altar at D.inwsru<=, w liicli so ravished Ahaz king of Judah, serves as * 

 j. rimcn of the skill of their artificers. 



