The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-04-24 00:00:00

_
ASSYRIAN HISTORY.

•
Mr. George Smith delivered his second lecture on
" Assryrian History" at the Royal Institution,-, in!
London; on Saturday afternoon, and traced the revival
of Assyria, after the death oi Solomon, through the
reigns of Assur-nazir-pal, Shalmanezer 11., V ul-nirari
111., Tiglath-Pileser, Sargon, and Sennacherib. A
. considerable portion of the lecture was devoted to
an accowit of _the insurrection of Palestine, aided
by 'Beton, king of Damascus, during the reign of
Tiglath Pileser. Rezon met the Aesyrian army,
but vyas defeated, .and the tlien'retiked into his own
tity, of Dainascua, 'which" *as invested by the con-
quering legionte ekethie city was so strongly forti-
fied that At.. could °lily- be • reduced by '
famine,
,proceeded to - ptitiish Israel- and -
'thetsevetel. countriele which had supported the rebel-
lion. Damasque, after a year's siege, fell in 732 B. c.,
and Beton was pus- to death, y Tigiath Pileser, who
stibiquently held a court there, which was attended
by Ahaz, iHannu iging,of Gaza, the Kings of
Edema:- Askelen, --Ekron, and many others. Shal-
manezer 1V.5 who succeeded Tiglatb Pileser, left few-
morials. behind, arid foi tetee years after his
.accee-
sion in B.C. 727 no great military expeditions Were
ynndertakezi., 1ni.725. Palestine again theew off the
yoke-of Assyria, and in that year Shalmanezer collected
a large army :and marched into Tyre and Samaria,
wffich submitted and gave their accustomed tribute.
Scarcely, however, had the _Marian monarch turned
; -his back. than both 'cotintiies, encouraged by the
King of Egypt, again reyolted, • And in 724 Shal-
7manezer again' invaded Palestine, and marched
nainst Tyre and Samaria, investing both cities.
, The sieges continued through 723, and were
still in. progress then Shalmanzer died B.C. 722;
A military rebellion took place In Assyria on his death,
by which an officer narced Sargon was, placed on the
throne, this monarch reigning until B. C. 705. Sargon
centinued thq war,. entered upon by his predecessor,
took Sanaariai and sent the ten tribes into captivity,
In 7.11 the. Philistines and Jews, again encouraged by
Egypt, revolted, and the Assyrian. records of the con-
duct of the King of Egypt curiously coincide with the
statementin the Bible which describes Pharaoh as "a
broken reed," whilst the Assyrians call him a "friend
• who would give no aid." Sennacherib succeeded to
the throne in 705, andreigned 24 years and five months,
being assassinated in the year 681, about the month of
December in our calendar. The lecturer here ex-
hibited a model of Taylor's cylinder on which
this king inscribed the record of his war against
Palestine. Again encouraged by the King of Egypt,
Hezekiah had thrown off the Assyrian yoke, and the
Kings of Tyre and Sidon aided in the rebellion,
The Assyrians during preceding reigns had lost their
hold on the country from Lebanon to Arabia, and
Sennacherib set himself to recognise it. The King
of Tyre fled upon the approach of the Assyrians,
and his city was invested, and after some resistance
subdued, as were also a number of minor states
which had given Judah assistance. Askelon, EkrOn,
and Judah, however, still remained in rebellion, and
to their assistance the King of Egypt sent an army,
which
_was engaged by the Assyrian legions and
totally routed, the battle taking place about half
way between Askelon and Jerusalem, and not many
miles from Lakieh. Jerusalem was then surrounded
"like a bird in a cage," the Assyrian expression for
a total investment. Hezekiah, being doubtful of
standing the siege, gave up his prisoners, among
them Patti, and consented to be again placed under
tribute to the extent of 30 talents of gold and 800
talents of silver annually. In the meantime
Sennacherib overran Palestine, capturing 40 cities
and taking 200,000 prisoners, whom he sent off into
captivity. A great part of Judah was detached from
Hezekiah's kingdom and given to the four kings of
Philistine. In the British Museum there was a sculp-
ture from an Assyrian tablet-which represented Senna-
cherib at the entrance to the city of Laldsh, the
Assyrians being shown as assaulting the city. So far
the Assyrian account of this agreed with the Scripture
account, but there was no record of the further state-
ment in the Bible that the Angel of the Lord went
out into the camp of the Assyrians and destroyed
185,000 men. The Biblical version went on to state
that Sennacherib returned in disgrace to Nineveh, and
after reigning a short time was murdered by two of his
sons. Of course, it could not be expected that Senna-
cherib would chronicle his own defeat; but, assuming
this to be the same that was recorded in the Bible, they
hoped to find something to further elucidate this disaster,
which hid lion ascribed to various causes, such as hot
winds. This were imperfect records cf a later war
by Sennacherib against Palestine; but theefecord was
on a fragment of a tablet set up in one of the temples,
and the fragment was not sufficiently perfect to enable
him to say that this was the second war. At present
there was some difficulty in supposing that Senna-
cherib received such a disastrous overthrow in 701,
because in the very next year, 700 B. c., he marshalled
his forces without any sign of such a crushing loss, and
victoriously reconquered the land of Babylonia, and
for several years subsequent to 700 he was found suc-
cessful in his wars.

A copy of the Eponyon Canon, an Assyrian brick,
and sword, were exhibited, and after the lecture at-
tracted much attention.

TO CAPTAIN BOYTON.

American swimmer, oh ! where have you been ?
To look at a message I've had from the Queen.
American swimmer, oh! what dfd she say ?
She said that she vrish'd me good speed on the way. —Judy.