107 



The sixth year of Nabonidus, both according to the monu- 

 ments and the Canon of Ptolemy^ was B.C. 550, and was, as 

 we see, synchronous with the last year of Astyages, king of 

 Media. Calculating the reigns of the Median kings, there- 

 fore, as recorded by Herodotus, we get the following dates : — 



Deioces 53 years from B.C. 700 



Phraotes 22 „ „ B.C. 647 



Cyaxeres 40 „ „ B.C. 625 



Astyages 35 „ „ B.C. 585 



This restored chronology confirms the statement of Josephus 

 that the revolt of the Medes took place soon after the miracle 

 of the dial of Ahaz, in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah 

 (B.C. 712). This would bring the Median revolt into synchron- 

 ism with the Median wars of Sargon and Sennacherib, and the 

 accession of Phraotes would be contemporary with the Elamite 

 and Babylonian war resulting from the revolt of Sliafnas smna 

 itkuHi against his brother, while the accession of Cyaxeres is 

 contemporary with the fall of Nineveh and the rise of the new 

 Babylonian empire under Nabupalassar in B.C. 626. 



The great convulsion of the northern invasion, which led 

 to the overthrow of Assyria and the destruction of Nineveh, 

 was not unknown to the Hebrew writers. It is clearly fore- 

 seen by Ezekiel (chap, xxxi.), who, after speaking of the 

 wide empire of Assur " as a cedar of Lebanon, with fair 

 branches,^^ goes on to foretell the overthrow : " I have 

 therefore delivered him to the mighty one of the heathen ; he 

 shall surely deal with him ; " " and the strangers, the terrible 

 of the nations, have cut him off and have left him '■' ; "1 have 

 made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall." The 

 prophet Zephaniah (chap. ii. 13) and Jeremiah also (chap. vi. 

 23) foresee this convulsion. Judging by a comparison of the 

 writings of these prophets (Zeph. i. 1; ii. 13-15; and 

 Jer. i. 1 ; and xxv. 3) the northern invasion by the Medes, 

 Scythians, &c., must have taken place between, soon after the 

 thirteenth year of Josiah, B.C. 628, a date which agrees with 

 the monumental testimony. The Canon of Eusebius makes 

 the invasion take place in about B.C. 635, according to the 

 eai-lier version of St. Jerome, or B.C. 632 according to the 

 Armenian version. In the year B.C. 677 Esarhaddon defeated 

 in Khupuska, north-east of Assyria, Teuspa, the Gimirrean, 

 '^a barbarian," as the Assyrian scribe calls him, and the 

 horde which he led might be regarded as the advance guard 

 of the Scythian invaders. The disturbed state of the 

 Assyrian empire after B.C. 648 renders documentary evidence 

 scarce, yet there are some tablets of very great importance 



