Addramelech, was also renowned in war through nine campaigns, in one of which he invaded Egypt, and conquered an Egyptian army under a king named Tirhakah, and Heads and Trappings of Royal Horses. entered the capital in triumph-that capital very probably Thebes. Manasseh also became his captive, and is recorded as a contributor to the palace erected at Nebbi-yunus. The Hebrew sovereign was carried to Babylon (2 Chr. xxxiii. 11), and not to Nineveh; but Esarhaddon was also monarch of Babylon by conquest, and built a palace there. His father had also defeated the Chaldean king, Nebo-sum-iskun, son of Merodach-Baladan; and Babylon received Mesesimordachus as viceroy. Esarhaddon, after the example of Sargon, also introduced under one of his magnates, "the great and noble Asnappa," a great variety of foreign colonists into the territory of the ten tribes. His palaces at Calah have been only partially explored; and, indeed, the grand structure seems never to have been finished, but seems to have been destroyed in some extraordinary conflagration. His palace at Nineveh boasts of having its supply of materials from twenty-two. kings, but its ruins have not been thoroughly searched. The next king, Asshur-banipal, was not as famous and warlike as any of his predecessors; and the last king was Asshur-izzir-pal, by no means the effeminate fop that since the days of Ctesias goes by the name of Sardanapalus. In this reign an army of Medes and Babylonians attacked Nineveh, and it fell about B.C. 625. NIN NIN The characteristic temple-palaces were built | have been discovered. Consequently, if deon mounds, carefully formed of bricks, such as struction came upon the edifice, rain, sand, dust, and vegetation soon render it a mass of lonely ruin, not unlike the ballast hills along the banks of the Tyne. The walls, which were built of bricks, and from 5 to 15 feet in thickness, were panelled with slabs of coarse alabaster or gypsum, great abundance of which was found in the neighbourhood. On the back of each of the slabs was engraved an inscription, recording the titles and genealogy of the king under whom the work was constructed. The slabs being fixed upon the walls by artificial means, such as iron and copper cramps and plugs, their surface was then sculptured and inscribed. The entrances to the chambers were guarded by symbolical monsters-bulls and lions, with eagles' pinions and human heads, from 10 to 16 feet in height while small images of the gods were deposited under the threshold. The roof was composed of beams supported by the walls, twigs and branches being laid across them, and then plastered with clay. Timber is scarce in Assyria; and as there were no great trees fit for extended roofing, the rooms are all very narrow-the most famous hall at Nimrud being nearly 160 feet long and only 35 in breadth. The ceilings were beautifully painted, and often inlaid with ivory. The mode of lighting these palaces has baffled the ingenuity of inquirers. No traces of windows are to be found, and the conjecture is that light came in through the roofa conjecture, as Layard remarks, confirmed by the fact that a small drain leads from every chamber, as if water needed to be carried off. What discomfort in the midst of such splendour-no contrivance to admit light and exclude the shower! The same practice prevailed in Egypt. The founder of Khorsabad says in the inscriptions found on its slabs, "I have built this... after the manner of Egypt." The plates of M. Flandin, and of Layard in his larger work, give us a pretty correct idea of the general appearance and splendour of these Assyrian edifices. They were remarkable for their ample size, their emblematic ornaments, their vivid historical pictures, their lofty roofs, and their gilded columns and ceilings. The records of Nineveh have been strangely are found at Khorsabad and Koyunjik. At three different sites such royal sub-structures preserved, and they are of great variety. The royal throne and statue, shields, seals, swords, cylinders, crowns, bowls in ivory, metal, and wood, mother-of-pearl, and glass, have been found in the excavations. The great events of each king's reign have been sculptured on obelisks, and especially on marble slabs set up in various rooms of the royal edifices. Several of those bas-reliefs have been exhumed and carefully examined--the cuneiform writing has been deciphered, and the result has been a wonderful confirmation of the inspired annals contained in the Hebrew Scriptures. Our amazement is equal to our gratification, when we find a veritable history parallel to that of ancient Israel, and see the actual Assyrian account of events recorded in Kings and Chronicles. Not only do we find mention made of Jehu, Menahem, and Hazael, and many towns of Judea and Syria, but we discover Sennacherib's own account of his invasion of Palestine, and of the amount of tribute which king Hezekiah was forced to pay him (2 Ki. xviii. 14). Nay, there has been found a picture of the taking of Lachish by Sennacherib, while his general was despatched to Jerusalem (2 Ki. xviii. 14). In short, these mural representations furnish an accurate and graphic comment on the language of the prophet Ezekiel. That the seer saw the imagery described by him can scarce admit of a doubt, for he was a captive on the banks of the Chebar at no great distance from the capital. The "vermilion," or red colour, prevails in all their decorations-it is the favourite hue. "Captains and rulers clothed most gorgeously"-they are all dressed in the richest and grandest style of Oriental magnificence. "Horsemen riding upon horses"-these equestrian figures are often exhibited-the horses are of high spirit, noble form, and bold attitudes, and are decked with showy trappings; while the men that ride them are in aspect, courage, and demeanour " as princes to look to." "Girded with girdles upon their loins"-every figure has its belt or sash, so necessary for one wearing such loose and roomy vestments. "Exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads" -the figures have hair arranged in immense curls. Many of the scenes are those of war, in which are shown "captains and rulers." The various modes and stratagems in a siege, crossing a river, manoeuvring with chariots, chasing the enemy, and leading home chained captives, are frequently represented. The miserable prisoners were impaled by their "bitter and hasty" conquerors, and occasionally are seen to be dragged along by a rope fastened to rings inserted in the nose and lip. Thus God threatened Samaria, that her Assyrian conqueror would "take her away with hooks." The pride of the Assyrian warriors equals that of the Egyptian conquerors. Battles are frequently portrayed on those sculptures and numerous objects of worship. The composite animal figures, such as winged human-headed bulls, &c., are frequent ornaments of portico and palace, and are the same in kind as the Egyptian sphinxes and Hebrew cherubim, (See CHERUBIM.) The lion was a frequent ornament on furniture and jewels, and smaller forms of the same animal were used as weights (Nah. ii. 11, 12). Further research is still throwing light on these antiquarian stories. (See ASSYRIA.) NISAN. (See MONTH.) NISROCH (2 Ki. xix. 37)-the name of the idol in whose temple Sennacherib was assassinated by his two sons. According to some the word means "the great eagle." But this meaning is uncertain; and no god of the name has been found on the Assyrian monu ments, nor had any god so named a temple in Nineveh in which the monarch could be slain. But the original may have come to the Hebrews in a changed or corrupted form; for the Septuagint spells it variously, as Asarach or Masarach; and it may, after all, be the great god Asshur. The accompanying figure is taken by Layard to be that of Nisroch. NITRE (Jer. ii. 22)-an earthly alkaline salt, resembling and used like soap, which separates from the bottom of the lake Natron in Egypt, and rising to the top is condensed by the heat of the sun into a dry and hard substance, similar to the Smyrna soap, and is the soda of common earth. It is found in many other parts of the East. Vinegar has no Interior of the Temple of Karnak. Ammon of No, or the seat or dwelling of the god Ammon. It was probably applied to two or three places. A distinction is sometimes made between the No spoken of in Nah. iii. 8, 10 and the No mentioned by Jeremiah and Ezekiel The city was 140 stadia in circumference. Its remaining ruins still describe a circuit of 27 miles. The splendour and power of this city, which could furnish 20,000 armed chariots from its vicinity, are to be estimated from the extent of the Egyptian conquests, adding continually to the riches of the metropolis, the magnificence of the edifices which adorned it, the luxuriousness of the individuals who inhabited it, the spoil taken thence by the Persians, and the gold and silver collected after the burning of the city. The principal part of the city lay on the east bank; on the west was the Memnonia and the Necropolis. The most ancient remains extant at Thebes are the great temple at Karnak, "the largest and most splendid ruin of which, perhaps, either ancient or modern times can boast." The grand hall measures 170 feet by 329, supported by a central avenue of twelve massy columns, 66 feet high (without the pedestal and abacus), and 12 in diameter; besides 122 of less gigantic dimensions, 41 feet 9 inches in height, and 27 feet 6 inches in circumference. The total length of the temple is 1,180 feet. The earliest monarch whose name exists on the monuments of Thebes is Osirtasin I., the contemporary of Joseph. Sculptures of the earlier Pharaohs have disappeared. In hieroglyphics Thebes is written Ap, Ape, or with the feminine article, Tápé, the head, Thebes being the capital of the country. The date of the origin of Thebes is lost in remote antiquity. The destruction of it, as before remarked, to which Nahum refers, was probably effected by Tartan, (Isa. xx.) It was again captured by Cambyses, B.C. 525. It was finally destroyed by Ptolemy Lathyrus, B.C. 81. Its site is now occupied by several villages. Thebes is described as situated among the rivers,-"the waters round about her whose rampart was the sea. The description is both vivid and true, for the Nile, numerous canals, and an immense lake, surrounded this ancient Egyptian city. Its ruins are in a style of unrivalled magnificence. (See AMMON.) NOAH-rest (Gen. vi. 8)—or, as the Greeks write it, NOE (Matt. xxiv. 37)—the ninth in descent from Adam, is described as a just man, perfect (or upright) in his generations, and walking with God (Gen. vi. 9). The father of Noah seems to have given him his expressive name under the conviction that he was the promised Messiah, and in the fulness of his joy he exclaimed "This same shall soothe us In our work and toil of our hands, -Gen. v. 29. In the midst of the universal corruption which overspread the earth, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and was not only warned of the approach of the general deluge, but instructed in the means of saving himself and his family, and a sufficient number of the animal creation to preserve the several tribes. (See ARK.) Believing the Divine declaration, he prepared the ark, and diligently warned the world of the approaching judgment, but without effect. The huge ship was, after the labour of a century, constructed a century of warning to an infatuated world. God at length intimated to Noah the immediate approach of the threatened deluge; and in the six hundredth year of his life he entered into the ark, "and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him." It rained forty days and forty nights-"the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened." All men perished, and all creatures, save those for whose safety Noah had made provision, according to the Divine command (Gen. vii. 21-23). For 150 days did the flood prevail, with its dark and devastating waters. There were five months of silent and terrible desolation. The water rose so high that no art or enterprise could elude its oncoming power: the highest pinnacles were submerged 15 cubits beneath the billows. The ark, with its motley tenants, floated securely. The waters in due time began to lessen, and in the seventh month (the flood had commenced in the second) the ark grounded on the mountains of Armenia. What a dreary prospect over a wide waste of murderous waters must have presented itself to any one who looked out from the deck of the stranded vessel! The surges gradually decreased, until in the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible. Forty days after this, Noah sent forth a raven, but it returned not. Then he released a dove, but it soon came back; the face of the earth was yet covered by the retiring waters. The bird was sent out again to explore, and she returned with an olive leaf plucked off in her mouth. The dove was dismissed a third time; but finding the soil arid and productive, she remained at liberty. Noah, so taught, opened his vessel and gave liberty to all its inmates. "And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold the face of the ground was dry. And in the second month, on the seventh and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried" (Gen. viii. 13, 14). The family descended from the mount and betook themselves to necessary occupations, while the bow in the cloud was given as a pledge that no second deluge should again cover the earth. (See ARARAT.) The first action of this new progenitor of the human race was to offer a sacrifice to God, which was acceptable in his sight; for he immediately entered into a covenant with him, that such a judgment should not again visit the earth, nor should the regular succession of the seasons be again interrupted while the earth remains. As a token of the covenant thus made, God pointed to the rainbow. He also put the irrational creation in subjection to Noah, as he had originally done to Adam, and enacted some general laws for his government. Noah became a husbandman, and partaking too freely of the fruit of the vine, exposed himself to shame. When in this state he was treated indecorously by one of his sons, who on that account was the subject of severe judgments; while his brothers, for an opposite course of conduct, received peculiar blessings. Noah lived 350 years after the flood; but the place of his residence is matter of vain conjecture. Noah, under a great variety of names, is found in Eastern mythology-fictions which, nevertheless, are all corroborative of the ancient Scriptural narrative. It is evident, that whatever secondary causes were employed in producing the flood, the operation of these at the requisite period, and for an avowed purpose, was miraculous. The deluge was the judgment of an angry God against impious men. And it effected its mission. There seems no good reason for believing that the population of the world was very large so soon after its creation; the longevity of men does not appear to have added proportionately to their numbers. Wherever men existed, thither there reached the flood. It had no commission to travel farther. The limits of its vengeance were the homes and haunts of the human family. |