SCIENCE OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA 



brews and Phoenicians and of the same racial stem 

 with the Arameans and Arabs. 



The great capital of the Babylonians during the 

 later period of their history was the famed city of 

 Babylon itself ; the most famous capital of the Assyr- 

 ians was Nineveh, that city to which, as every Bible- 

 student will recall, the prophet Jonah was journeying 

 when he had a much-exploited experience, the record 

 of which forms no part of scientific annals. It was the 

 kings of Assyria, issuing from their palaces in Nineveh, 

 who dominated the civilization of Western Asia during 

 the heyday of Hebrew history, and whose deeds are so 

 frequently mentioned in the Hebrew chronicles. Later 

 on, in the year 606 B.C., Nineveh was overthrown by 

 the Medes 1 and Babylonians. The famous city was 

 completely destroyed, never to be rebuilt. Babylon, 

 however, though conquered subsequently by Cyrus 

 and held in subjection by Darius, 2 the Persian kings, 

 continued to hold sway as a great world-capital for 

 some centuries. The last great historical event that 

 occurred within its walls was the death of Alexander 

 the Great, which took place there in the year 322 B.C. 



In the time of Herodotus the fame of Babylon was 

 at its height, and the father of history has left us a 

 most entertaining account of what he saw when he 

 visited the wonderful capital. Unfortunately, Herod- 

 otus was not a scholar in the proper acceptance of the 

 term. He probably had no inkling of the Babylonian 

 language, so the voluminous records of its literature 

 were entirely shut off from his observation. He 

 therefore enlightens us but little regarding the science 

 of the Babylonians, though his observations on their 



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