CHAPTER I.

THE PHYSICAL HISTORY OF ASSYRIA.

THE Country of Assyria derived its name from Asshur, the son of Shem, by whom it was first peopled, Gen. x. 11. Its boundaries varied with the limits of the empire, but the geographical limits of Assyria Proper, which formed the nucleus of that empire, nearly corresponded with those of the present Koordistan, being bounded by Armenia on the north, Babylonia and Lusiana on the south, part of Media and the mountains called Zagros on the east, and the Tigris on the west. In its most extensive signification, both in sacred and profane history, it comprehended not only this tract of country, but Aram, or Syria, eastward and westward of the Euphrates.

In Scripture, Assyria Proper was called Kir, 2 Kings xvi. 9; Amos i. 5; ix. 7; which name may be still traced in that country. Thus the Karduchian or Koordistan mountains, Kiare, the name of the loftiest ridge; and the large town of Kerhook, evidently retain the original word Kir, with some slight variation. This was a rich and fertile, though mountainous region, whence it was called by the Greeks Adiabene, impassable," finely watered by the springs of the Tigris, the greater and lesser Zab, the Diala, and the Mendeli.

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Aram, or Syria, eastward of the Euphrates, was divided into two districts, the northern and the southern. The northern district is denominated in the sacred writings, Aram Naharaim, "Aram between the two rivers ;" and by the Greeks, Mesopotamia, a term bearing the same signification, Gen. xxiv. 10; xxxi. 20; Numb. xxiii. 7; Deut. xxiii. 4. This district extended from Mount Masius to the wall of Media southwards, including all the fertile tract between the two rivers. The lower part of this division was called Padan-aram, or "the champaign Aram," Gen. xxv. 20. The southern district, called "the land of Shinar," or Babylon, Gen. x. 10; xi. 2; the land of Nimrod," Mic. v. 6; and Babylonia, by the Greek and Latin writers,―reached from the

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wall of Media, or contracted the space between the two rivers, about 300 miles down to the Persian Gulf, never exceeding four-score miles in breadth.

Aram, or Syria, westward of the Euphrates, is divided in Scripture into Aram Zobah, which reached from the Euphrates to the north and

east of Damascus, 1 Sam. xiv. 47; 2 Sam. viii. 3; and Aram of Damascus, which lay to the south and west of the former, 2 Sam. viii. 5. These corresponded to the Upper Syria, north of Mount Libanus, including Colo-Syria, or Hollow Syria, so called from its situation between the two great ridges of Libanus and AntiLibanus, and Syria Palestina, which included the Holy Land, and that maritime border on its north-western side, which the Greeks called Phenicia.

A late writer on the physical features of Assyria says, that the country, including Taurus, is distinguished by its mountains, plains, and vege

tation.

MOUNTAINS.

This feature of Assyria comprises the country of mountains and hills called Taurus, and which is composed of many different chains. The Taurian range encircles the whole of the interior; présenting a bold precipitous front round the whole coast of this peninsula, and so lofty as to be visible at one-third of the whole breadth of the Mediterranean, or upwards of 130 miles. Strabo described Taurus as beginning to rise from Pamphylia, and, in advancing to the east, to send off two branches; on one side Amanus, and on the other Anti-Taurus; but he says that its elevation is not great till it reaches Lycia. The chief summits mentioned by him are, Mount Dædala, on the western extremity; Anti-Cragus and Cragus, which latter is a steep range fronting the sea, having eight promontories or lofty capes; Olympas; the mountain and valley of Chimera; Solyma; and, finally, Climax, between which mountain and the shore Alexander marched with his army.

Concerning the mountain Chimæra, which is celebrated in poetic mythology, its existence till

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