A Manual of Ancient History Part 6

III. _Period of the monarchy from 1100-600._

I. _The Jewish state as one single kingdom from 1100(1095)-975._

1. _Saul_, the new king, strengthened himself on the throne by a victory over the Ammonites; and a general a.s.sembly of the nation, in which Samuel laid down his office as judge, unanimously acknowledged his sovereignty. But Saul, no sooner became a conqueror than he threw off the tutelage of Samuel, and ventured himself to consult Jehovah. This was the occasion of a feud between them. Samuel, offended, privately anointed another young man, David the son of Jesse, as king. David acquires fame and popularity by his heroic conduct; but has much difficulty in escaping the jealousy of Saul.--Saul sustains himself amid constant wars with the neighbouring nations; but at last defeated, he and all his sons, except one, lose their lives.

2. State of the nation and const.i.tution under Saul.--The king little more than a military leader under the direction of Jehovah; without either court or fixed residence.--The people still a mere agricultural and pastoral race, without wealth or luxury; but gradually a.s.suming the character of a warlike nation.

3. Saul was succeeded by David; but not without opposition. Eleven tribes declare for Ish-bosheth, the remaining son of Saul; and David is only acknowledged by his own tribe, Judah. It is not till seven years later, and the murder of Ish-bosheth by his own people, that David is recognized as king by the whole nation.

4. Complete formation of the nation, and a change of const.i.tution during the reign of David over the united kingdom, which lasted thirty-three years. Jerusalem is made the seat of government and of the national sanctuary. Rigid observance of the wors.h.i.+p of Jehovah, the exclusive religion of the nation, considered in respect to its political consequence.

5. Vast aggrandizement of the Jewish state by conquest. A war with Hadadezer opens the way to the conquest of Syria and Idumaea. Extent of the kingdom from the Euphrates to the Mediterranean; from Phoenicia to the Red sea. Gradual decline towards despotism and seraglio government; the political consequences of which become apparent about the end of David's reign, in the rebellion of his sons.

6. Reign of Solomon. The brilliant government of a despot from the interior of his seraglio; unwarlike, but civilized, and fond of parade.

New organization of the kingdom for the support of the court.

Connections formed with the neighbouring states, particularly with Tyre; hence a partic.i.p.ation in the southern trade carried on from the ports of the Red sea, conquered by David; but only as a monopoly of the court.

7. The capital enriched by the splendour of the court; but the country oppressed and impoverished, particularly the distant tribes. Gradual internal decay hastened by the admixture of the wors.h.i.+p of foreign G.o.ds with that of Jehovah; although Solomon, by the erection of the temple according to the plan of his father, seems to have wished to make the wors.h.i.+p of the true G.o.d the only religion of the country. An unsuccessful attempt at rebellion made by Jeroboam; and by the Edomites, who remain tributary under their own kings: actual secession, even during the reign of Solomon, of the conquered province of Syria by the foundation of the kingdom of Damascus.

8. Solomon is succeeded by his son Rehoboam, who has scarcely ascended the throne, before the malcontents, increased in number by his imprudence, break into open rebellion. Jeroboam is recalled from Egypt, and ten tribes acknowledge him as their king. Only two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, remain faithful to Rehoboam.

II. _The Jewish state as a divided kingdom, 975-588._

1. Reciprocal relations between the two kingdoms of Judah and Israel.

Although Israel was more extensive and populous than Judah, yet was Judah, in consequence of possessing the capital, richest of the two; thus their power was nearly balanced; and hence the struggle between them was the more obstinate.

2. The kings of Israel seek to confirm the political division of the nation, by establis.h.i.+ng a new form of wors.h.i.+p within their dominions, in order to restrain their subjects from visiting the ancient seat of the national wors.h.i.+p at Jerusalem; hence they were considered as the enemies of Jehovah. Several kings, however, even of Judah were so impolitic as to mingle the wors.h.i.+p of other G.o.ds with that of Jehovah. But oppression itself serves to sustain the wors.h.i.+p of Jehovah; the number and political influence of the prophets increase in proportion as men feel, amid the turbulence of the times, need of the counsels of the true G.o.d; the idea of some future happier period under a mighty king--the idea of the Messiah and of his kingdom--is more fully developed by the lively recollection of the splendid reign of David.--Schools of the prophets.

3. The rivalry and wars between those two states not only continue with slight interruption, but become more and more fraught with danger, in consequence of the alliances entered into with foreign princes, particularly with the kings of Damascus and Egypt. An end is at length put to these feeble kingdoms by the rise of vast empires in Inner Asia.

Most important events in the history of the two kingdoms.

1. KINGDOM OF ISRAEL, 975-722; under 19 kings, from different families, who succeeded to the throne amid violent revolutions. 1.

Jeroboam, _d._ 954. Settlement of the royal residence at Shechem; of the sanctuaries at Bethel and Dan, and appointment of priests, not belonging to the tribe of Levi. Constant wars with the kings of Judah. 2. Nadab, Jeroboam's son, murdered in 953 by 3. Baasha, _d._ 930. This prince, by his alliance with the kings of Damascus, brought the kingdom of Judah into great danger. 4. Elah murdered in 929 by one of his generals. 5. Zimri, in whose place the army immediately elected 6. Omri: this prince, at the beginning of his reign, had a rival to the throne in Tibni, _d._ 925. Omri founded the new capital, Samaria, _d._ 918. He was succeeded by his son 7.

Ahab: strong connections by marriage with the kings of Sidon; introduction of the Phoenician wors.h.i.+p of Baal. Wars with Damascus, in which Ahab at last perishes, 897. Under Ahab a league formed with the king of Judah. He is succeeded by his sons, 8.

Ahaziah, _d._ 896, and 9. Jehoram. The league with Judah continues.

Jehoram is murdered by Jehu, 883. 10. Jehu: this king destroys the house of Ahab, which had given 4 kings to Israel, and does away with the wors.h.i.+p of Baal. The kings of Damascus wrest from the kingdom of Israel the lands beyond Jordan. Jehu, _d._ 856. He is succeeded by his son 11. Jehoahaz, _d._ 840. The wars with Damascus continue unsuccessful to Israel. 12. Jehoash, _d._ 825. He defeats the kings of Damascus and Judah. 13. Jeroboam II. _d._ 784. He restores the kingdom of Israel to its ancient extent. After a turbulent interregnum of 12 years, he is succeeded by his son 14.

Zechariah, 773; who was a.s.sa.s.sinated the same year, being the last remnant of the house of Jehu, which had given 5 kings to Israel.

His murderer, 15. Shallum, after a reign of one month, is, in his turn, a.s.sa.s.sinated by 16. Menahem, _d._ 761: under his reign the first expedition of the a.s.syrians, headed by Pul, whom he buys off by tribute. 17. His son Pekahiah murdered in 759 by 18. Pekah, under whose reign falls the expedition of Tiglath-Pileser the a.s.syrian, and destruction of Damascus. Pekah is a.s.sa.s.sinated in 740 by 19. Hoshea, who, after an anarchy of eight years, obtains possession of the throne. Hoshea endeavours, by an alliance with Egypt, to shake off the a.s.syrian yoke; but Shalmaneser, king of a.s.syria, wages war against him, conquers Samaria, and puts an end to the kingdom of Israel, whose inhabitants he transplants to Media in Inner Asia, 722.

2. KINGDOM OF JUDAH under 20 kings of the house of David, 975-598.

The regular line of hereditary succession is generally followed without dispute, and is only twice interrupted by Athaliah's usurpation, and the intervention of foreign conquerors. 1.

Rehoboam, _d._ 958. Jerusalem is still the seat of government; but even during this reign the wors.h.i.+p of Jehovah begins to fall into neglect, in consequence of the introduction of foreign G.o.ds.

Besides the war with Israel, Jerusalem is attacked and plundered by s.h.i.+shak, king of Egypt. 2. Abijah, _d._ 955. 3. Asa. This prince was attacked by the combined kings of Israel and Damascus, and, no doubt, would have sunk in the conflict, had he not succeeded in breaking their alliance; _d._ 914. 4. Jehoshaphat, the restorer of the wors.h.i.+p of Jehovah and framer of a league with the kingdom of Israel. His attempt to reestablish the trade to Ophir, on the Red sea, is unsuccessful, _d._ 891. 5. Jehoram. The union with Israel is confirmed by the marriage of this prince with Ahab's daughter, Athaliah; but Idumaea, under his reign, secedes wholly from the kingdom of Judah, _d._ 884. 6. His son Ahaziah is, in the next year, 883, a.s.sa.s.sinated by Jehu, the murderer and successor of Jehoram king of Israel. 7. His mother, Athaliah, takes possession of the throne; murders the whole royal family; only one son of Ahaziah, 8, Joash, is, in consequence of his youth, rescued from the carnage, secretly educated in the temple, and after seven years forcibly placed upon the throne, by means of a revolution wrought by the high priest, Jehoiada; and Athaliah is slaughtered, 877.

Joash rules under the tutelage of the priests, which leads to the reestablishment of Jehovah's wors.h.i.+p. This prince is menaced by Hazael king of Damascus, and compelled to pay him tribute. Slain 838. 9. Amaziah: he defeats the Edomites, and is in his turn defeated by Jehoash king of Israel, by whom Jerusalem itself is sacked. He is slain in 811, and succeeded 10. by his son Azariah, (or Uzziah.) This prince was leprous, and _d._ 759. His son 11.

Jotham, _d._ 743, became regent during the life of his father. The wars with Israel and Damascus recommence. 12. Ahaz, _d._ 728. The league between the kings of Damascus and Israel induces Ahaz to call to his a.s.sistance Tiglath-Pileser king of a.s.syria, who overthrows the kingdom of Damascus, and subjects Israel and Judah to tribute. 13. Hezekiah, _d._ 699. He shakes off the a.s.syrian yoke: under his reign Shalmaneser destroys Samaria, 722: and Shalmaneser's successor, Sennacherib, undertakes his expedition against Egypt, 714. Jerusalem is again besieged, but fortunately relieved by the total failure of the expedition. Isaiah prophecies during the reign of this prince. 14. Mana.s.seh, _d._ 644. During his 55 years' reign, the wors.h.i.+p of the Phoenician G.o.d, Baal, becomes general; that of Jehovah falls into contempt, and the Mosaic law into disuse. 15. Amon, murdered as early as 642. 16. Josiah restorer of the temple, and of the wors.h.i.+p of Jehovah. The book of the Law, which had been cast aside and neglected, is once more found, and a complete reform inst.i.tuted according to its principles. Palestine however is the first country attacked by Necos, king of Egypt; and Josiah falls in battle, 611. His son, 17.

Jehoahaz, is, after a reign of three months, dethroned by Pharaoh-Nechoh, and his brother 18. Jehoiakim placed as a tributary prince on the throne. But in consequence of the rise of the Chaldaeo-Babylonian empire, Pharaoh-Nechoh is deprived of his Asiatic conquests by the loss of the battle of Circesium, 606; and Jehoiakim becomes tributary to Nebuchadnezzar, _d._ 599. The prophet Jeremiah flourishes. 19. Jehoiachin, son of the former king, after three months' reign, is, together with the greater part of the nation, transplanted into Inner Asia by Nebuchadnezzar, after a second expedition, (commencement of the Babylonian captivity,) and, 20. Zedekiah, brother on the father's side to Jehoiachin, is seated on the throne as a tributary prince. Forming, however, a league with Egypt, in order to throw off the Babylonian yoke, Nebuchadnezzar marches a third time against Jerusalem, conquers it, 588, and delivers it up to pillage and destruction.

Zedekiah, after being deprived of his eye-sight, and losing all his children by the hands of the executioner, is, together with the remaining portion of the nation, led in captivity to Babylon.

S. BERNHARDI _Commentatio de causis quibus affectum sit ut regnum Judae diutius persisteret quam regnum Israel; c.u.m tabula geographica_, Lovanii, 1825, 4to. A prize essay, containing also several valuable enquiries into the monarchical period of the Jewish state.

# BAUER, _Manual of the History of the Hebrew Nation_, vol. i-iii, 1800. The best introduction hitherto published, not only to the history, but also to the antiquities of the nation, from the rise to the fall of the state.

II. AFRICAN NATIONS.

_General Geographical Outline of Ancient Africa._

See A. H. L. HEEREN'S _Historical Researches_, etc. African Nations.

2 vols. 8vo. Oxford, 1831.

1. Although the Phoenicians had circ.u.mnavigated Africa, the northern part only of that quarter of the globe was known to antiquity.

With that part, however, the ancients were better acquainted than we are at the present day, the coast being then occupied by civilized and commercial nations, who pushed their excursions far inland. This was the case in early times with the Carthaginians and the Egyptians; still more so with the Macedonian Greeks, under the Ptolemies, and under the Romans. War, hunting, and commerce, were, generally speaking, the objects which gave rise to those excursions.

2. Considered as a whole, Africa is very different from Asia, both in situation and form. Asia lies almost entirely within the temperate, while Africa is almost wholly under the torrid zone. Asia abounds in deep gulfs and large rivers; Africa const.i.tutes a regular triangle, and in its northern half possesses but two large rivers, the Nile and the Niger. No wonder, then, that this portion of our globe should form, as it were, a world in itself, distinguished by its productions and its inhabitants.

3. Physically considered, Northern Africa may be divided into three regions, distinguished in early antiquity by separate names. The maritime country along the Mediterranean, with the exception of Tripolis, or the Regio-Syrtica, consists princ.i.p.ally of very fertile districts, and was consequently, at all times, very thickly inhabited: hence in Herodotus it bears the name of the _inhabited Africa_; it is now called Barbary. Above this, and under the 30th parallel of N. lat., succeeds a mountainous tract, across which stretches the Atlas chain of mountains; abounding in wild beasts and dates: hence Herodotus calls it the _wild beast Africa_: among the Arabs it is called the land of dates, (_Biledulgerid_.) Beyond this, and between the 30th and 20th degrees of N. lat. the sandy region extends right across Africa and Arabia: this part of Africa is therefore known, both among the ancients and moderns, under the name of Africa Deserta, or the Sandy Desert, (Sahara). The fruitful lands beyond the desert, stretching along the banks of the Niger, were almost wholly unknown to the Greeks: by them these parts were comprehended under the common name of Ethiopia, although that name applied more peculiarly to the districts above Egypt. The Greeks were, however, acquainted with some of the fruitful spots in the desert, the Oases; such as Augila, Ammonium, and the Oases, properly so called, in Egypt.

4. There exists no political division which comprises the whole of Africa. The north coast alone was inhabited by civilized nations: Egyptians, Cyrenaeans, and Carthaginians; of which the first only were aboriginals. The rest of the inhabitants either roved about as nomad hordes, or formed insignificant states, of whose existence we have heard some account, though we possess no history of them. Along the sh.o.r.e, reckoning from the Plinthinetic gulf, Egypt is succeeded by: 1st.

Marmarica, a tract without cities, consisting princ.i.p.ally of sandy deserts, occupied by nomad hordes: this country extends from the 40-47 E. long. from Ferro. 2nd. The fertile territory occupied by the Greek colonies, called Cyrenaca, extended to the Greater Syrtis, 37-40 E.

long. Cities: Cyrene, Barca. 3rd. The territory of Carthage, extending from the Greater Syrtis to the Fair Promontory, 25-40 E. long. This territory comprised (_a_) the country between the Greater and Lesser Syrtis, (Regio Syrtica,) which const.i.tutes the modern kingdom of Tripoli; a sandy tract, almost wholly occupied by nomads. (_b_) the territory of Carthage, properly so called, (kingdom of Tunis). A very fruitful country; the southern part, called Byzacena, the northern part Zeugitana. Cities: Carthage, Utica, etc. 4th. Numidia and Mauritania; occupied during the Carthaginian age by nomad races. Along the sh.o.r.e some Carthaginian settlements.

EGYPTIANS.

Preliminary remarks. Egypt in its superficial contents is equal to about two-thirds of Germany, and may therefore justly be ranked among the more extensive countries of the globe; it greatly varies, however, in its physical properties. The soil is only sufficiently fertile for tillage on the banks of the Nile, and as far as the floods of that river extend; beyond that, on the west, is a sandy desert, on the east a chain of rocky mountains. From its entrance into Egypt at Syene, the Nile flows in one undivided stream to the city of Cercasorus, 60 geogr. miles above its mouth, directing its source from south to north through a valley from 8 to 16 geogr. miles broad, bounded on the west by deserts of sand, and on the east by mountains of granite. At Cercasorus the stream first divides itself into two main branches, which formerly discharged their waters into the Mediterranean, the eastern near the city of Pelusium, the western near the city of Canopus (_ostium Pelusiac.u.m et Canopic.u.m_;) from these two diverged several intermediate branches; so that in the time of Herodotus there existed seven mouths of the Nile, but the number has not always remained the same. The tract between the two extreme arms of the Nile bears, in consequence of its triangular form, the name of the Delta; it was covered with cities, and highly cultivated. The fertile part of Egypt, inhabited by civilized men, was therefore confined to the Delta and the valley of the Nile, on the two banks of the stream from Syene to Cercasorus; to which must be added some well watered spots in the centre of the western desert, known under the name of the Oases. In consequence of the perpetual absence of rain, particularly in Upper Egypt, the fertility of the Delta and the valley of the Nile depends on the overflowing of the river, which happens at stated periods. This commences at the beginning of August and continues to the end of October; so that during three whole months the above-mentioned parts of the country are under water.

Egypt is divided into Upper, extending from Syene to the city of Chemmis, (capital, Thebes, or Diospolis); Central from Chemmis to Cercasorus, (capital, Memphis,) and Lower Egypt, which comprises the Delta, and the land on both sides: it was full of cities, among which the most remarkable was Sais.

Next above Egypt lies Ethiopia, (_aethiopia supra aegyptum_); which, from the earliest times, princ.i.p.ally through commerce, appears to have been closely connected with the former country. The regions immediately above Egypt, usually called Nubia, are little more than deserts of sand, still inhabited by roving hordes of nomad robbers. The rocky mountain chain, which forms the eastern boundary of Egypt, stretches along the Red sea, and was formerly of great importance to Nubia, from its containing, just above the Egyptian frontier, productive gold mines. The Nile, in this country, makes a wide curve to the west, and becomes so full of shallows as to render navigation difficult. The lands adjoining the river, however, are fertile and well inhabited; and contain numerous ancient monuments. Still higher up, reckoning from 16 N. lat. the appearance of the country changes; the region of fertility commences, and its costly productions, its gold and its perfumes, gave rise to a profitable commerce. Among these countries, Meroe, with its capital of the same name, was celebrated in the days of Herodotus. By Meroe is understood a tract of land bounded by two rivers, the Nile on the west, and the Astaboras, (Tacazze,) which falls into the Nile, on the east; for this reason it is frequently, although improperly, called an island. This country extended towards the sources of the Nile, or the modern province of Gojam, where, under the reign of Psammetichus, the Egyptian caste of warriors, having for the most part deserted, established themselves.

Meroe itself, like the Egyptian states, was sacerdotal, with a king at its head.--The city of Axum, or Auxume, is not indeed mentioned at so early a period; but if we may judge by the ruins that still remain, it was of equally high antiquity with the old Egyptian towns and with Meroe. The same observations apply to Adule, the harbour on the Arabian gulf.

The Egyptian history is divided into three periods of unequal duration; the _first_ of which extends from the earliest time down to the Sesostridae, that is to say, to about B.C. 1500: the _second_ comprises the reigns of the Sesostridae, or the brilliant period of Egypt, down to Psammetichus, 1500-650: the _third_ brings us from Psammetichus down to the Persian conquest, 650-525.

FIRST PERIOD.