ASS 



fucceffion of Tiglatli-pilefer, in the firfl year of NahonaiTar, 

 or 747 Yi.C; that of Salmanafar, in 727 B.C.; that 

 of Sennacherib in 712, B. C. ; that of Eflarhadon or Affa- 

 radinus, in 709 B. C. ; and the union of AlTyria and Baby- 

 lo;i under Affaradinus in 6So B. C. : and upon the fepara- 

 tion of Affyria and Babylon in C67 B. C. he makes Saof- 

 duchinus king of Babylon, who tlien commenced his reign, 

 and wai fucceeded in 647 B. C. by Chyniladanus ; and the 

 kin^ of ATyrla, who commenced his reii^n in 667, he calls 

 Kinus 11. and hisfuccefllir, in 641, Nabncaodonofor ; and 

 the lall kino; of AfTyrin, Sarac or Sardanapalus, v.hofe reign 

 commenced in the year6z i B. C. ; and the union of AlTyria 

 and iVIedia he refers to the fixteenth year of this king, and 

 the twentieth of Cyaxares king of Media, or the Oo6th 

 year B.C. ; in which year Nineveh was taken and dcftroycd 

 by the united armies of Cyaxares and NabopolafTar. 



Of thegovernment, laws, religon, Icai iiing, cuftoms, &c. of 

 the ancient Affyrians, nothing abfolutcly certain is reconied. 

 Their kingdom was at firll Imall, and fubfilled for fcvcral 

 ages under hereditarj- chiefs ; and their government was verj- 

 fimple. Afterwards when they rofe to the lubliir.ity of em- 

 pire, their government feems to have been truly defpotic, and 

 the empire to have been hereditary. Their laws were pro- 

 bably few, and depended upon the arbitrary \\ ill of the prince. 

 To Ninus we may afcribe the divifion of the Aflyrian empire 

 into provinces and governments, for we find (Diod. Sic. 1. ii.) 

 that this inllitution was fully eftabliflicd in the reigns of 

 Semiramis and her fucceffors. In this empire the people 

 were diilributcd into a certain number of tribes (Herodot. 

 1. i. Strabo, 1. xvi.) ; and their occupations or profcffions 

 were hereditaiy. The AiTyrinns had feveral diflincl coun- 

 cils, and Ifcveral tribunals for t!ie regulation of public afiairs. 

 Of councils there were three, which were created by the body 

 of the people, and who governed the Rate in conjunftion 

 with the fovereign. The full confdled of officers who had 

 retired from military employments ; the fecond of the no- 

 bility ; and the third of the old men. The fovercigns alfo 

 had three tribunals, whofe province it was to watch over the 

 conduft of the people. The firft was employed in difpofing 

 of the young women in marriage, and in punifhing adulter)- : 

 the fecond took cognizance of theft ; and the third of all 

 afts of violence. Strabo, 1. xvi. As to their religion, they 

 were idolaters, and had their idols and temples. In culloms, 

 arts, and learning, they differed but little, if at all, from the 

 Babylonians. The AlTyrians are faid to have one practice, 

 with refpciS to mai-riage, that is wortiiy of attention. All 

 the young girls, who were man-iageable, were affemblcd in 

 one place, and a puMic crier put them up to fale one after 

 another. The money which was received for thofe that 

 were handfome and fetched a high price, was bellowed as a 

 portion with thofe whofe perfons were more plain and 

 homely. When the moft beautiful were difpofed of, the 

 more ordinary were offered with a certain fum, and allotted 

 to thofe who were «-illing to take them with the Imalleft. 

 portion. In this manner all the young women were pro- 

 vided with hufbands. This ingenious and politic method 

 of facilitating and promoting marriages, was alio praCtifcd 

 by feveral other nations. If at any time it happened that 

 the parties could not agree, the man was obliged to refund 

 the money which he had received. It was likewife very 

 exprefsly forbidden to ufe women ill, or to carry them into 

 any foreign country. Herodotus informs us, that this wife 

 inlUtutiou was aboadied towards the end of the Aifjrian 

 monarchy. Herodot. 1. i. JEViAn. Var. Hill. 1. iv. c. J. 

 Strabo, 1. xvi. The Affyrians have been competitors with 

 the Egyptians for the honour of having invented alphabetic 

 'writing. It appears from the few leajains iiovr extant of 



AST 



the writing of thefe ancient nations, that their letters had a 

 great affinity with each other. They much r, fembled one 

 another in fliape ; and they ranged them in the fame numner, 



fiom right to left. Play fair's Chronology, p. 67 70. New. 



ton's Chron. ch. iii. apud Open by Hor'lley, t. v. p. 193 — 

 211. Anc. Un. Hill. vol. iii. p. 325 — 367! Goguc't's Orig. 

 of Laws, &c. vol. i. p. 41. 



ASSYRIAN Lelttru Lilent/ljfyiie, a denomination givr-n 

 by feveral Rabbins and Talmudiits to the charaacrs of the 

 prefeiit Hebrew alphabet, as fuppofing them to have been 

 borrowed from the Aifyrians during the Jevvil}i captivity in 

 Babylon. Montfaucon. 



ASTA, now /If't, ill Anc'unt Geography, a town of Ligu- 

 ria, or Piedmont, which was a Roman colony, upon a river 

 of the fame name, not far from the Tanarus. ' The fortifica- 

 tions of this place afibrded a temporar)- flielter to the empfror 

 Honorius, when he was purfucd by the Goths, A. D. 403. ; 

 and he was relieved from tiie danger of a fucceftful fitge, ari 

 theindignityof a capitulation to the Barbarians, by the feafon- 

 able arrival of Siilicho, who cut his way through the Gothic 

 camp under the walls of Aita, and thus revived the hopes 



and vindicated the honour of Rome. See Asti Alfo, a 



town of Spain, in Bxtica, louth of Nebrifla, upon the left 

 arm of the Bstis, which difchargcd itfelf into the bar of 

 Gadcs. ' 



AsTA, in Geography, a town of the United Netherlands, 

 in the duchy of Guclderland, four miles fouth-eaft of Culem- 

 burg.— Alio, a river of Spain, which empties itfelf into the 

 bay of Bifcay, at Villa Viciofa. 



ASTABAT, a town of Armenia, thirty-three leagues 

 fouth-eaft of Erivan. 



ASTABENI, in Ar.dcnl Geography, a people of Afia, in 

 Hyrcania. Ptolemy. 



ASTA BORAS, a river of Abydinia, forming, as Pliny 

 has faid, the left channel of Atbara ; or as the Greeks have 

 called it> the illand orpcninfulaof Meroe ; as Aftapus form* 

 the right channel. Allaboras, is the name given by the 

 natives to the Tacazze, or the Siris of the ancients. It 

 joins the Nile in N. lat. 17° 47'. See Atbara, Meroe, 

 and Tacazze. 



ASTACAMPRON, a promontory of Afia, in the In- 

 dian fea, to the left of the gulf of Baryza. Arrian. 



ASTACAXA, a town of Alia, in BaAriana, called 

 AJlac'm by Ammianus MarctUinus. Ptolemy. 



ASTACANI, a name given by fome to the Assacani. 



ASTACAPRA, a town of India, on this fide of tlie 

 Ganges, Ctuated between the mouths of the Indus. Ptolemy. 



ASTACENA, a country of Afia, in Pontus, which took 

 its name from tlie river Ailaces which traverfcd it. 



ASTACENUM ^stuarium, Alanfma, a gulf of 

 Spain in Bitica. Ptolemy. 



ASTACENUS Sinus, a gulf of the Propontis, on 

 which was fituated the town of Nicomcdia. 



ASTACHAR, in Geography, formerly Ajlacara, a town 

 of Periia, near Bendimir and the ruins of Perfepohs. It i» 

 no\v a village, having however a caravanfcra, mofques, 

 and the ruiiis of a palace. 



ASTACILICIS, a town of Africa, in Mauritania. Pto» 

 lemy. 



ASTACILIS, Tessailah, a place of the i.nerior 

 countr)- of Africa, in Mauritania Cilarienfis, which was a 

 Roman ftation, fituatc in the mountains fouth of Portus 

 Magnus. Ptolemy. 



ASTACUS, '\\\ Eniomolugy, a fpecies of Cakcer, with 



a finooth thorax ; probofcis toothed along the fides ; and 



a fingle tooth on each fide at the bafe. This is the common 



craw-fifli, that inhabiti rivers, and lodges itfilf ia holes 



T 2 whicJj 



