In these conquests are involved on the west & south side of Assyria the kingdoms of Mesopotamia whose royal seats were Haran or Carrhæ & Carchemish or Circusium, & Sepharvaim a city2r city upon Euphrates between Babylon & Nineveh called Sippharaæ by Ptolomy Berosus Abydenus & Polyhistor, & Sipphara by Ptolomy, & the kingdoms of Syria seated at Samaria, Damascus, Gath, Hamath, Arpad & Rezeph a city placed by Ptolomy neare Thapsacus. On the south & Southeast were Babylon & Calneh or Calno a city which was built by Nimrod where Bagdad now stands & gave the name of Chalonitis to a large region under its government; & Thalassar or Talatha a city of the children of Eden placed by Ptolomy in Babylonia upon the common stream of Tigris & Euphrates, wchwhich was therefore the river of Paradise, divided into four heads, Tigris & Euphrates wchwhich run into it, & Pison & Gihon wchwhich run from it; & the Archevites at Arecca or Erech a city built by Nimrod on the east side of Pasitigris between Apamia & the Persian gulph, & the Susanchites at Cuth or Susa the metropolis of Susiana. On the east were Elymais & some cities of the Medes & Kir a city & large region of Media between Elymais & Assyria (Isa xxii.6) called Kirene by the Chalde Paraphrast & Latin Interpreter & Carine by Ptolomy. On the north-east were Habor or Chaboras a mountanous region between Assyria & Media & the Apharsachites or men of Arraphachitis a region originally peopled by Arphaxad & placed by Ptolomy at the bottom of that mountain next Assyria. And on the north between Assyria & the Gordiæan mountains was Halah or Chalach the Metropolis of Calachene. And beyond these upon the Caspian sea was Gozan called Gauzamia by Ptolomy. Thus did these new conquests extend every way towards the borders from the province of Assyria, & to considerable distances, & make up the great body of that Monarchy: so that well might the king of Assyria boast how his armies had destroyed all lands. All these nations aa 2 King. xvii.29, 30, 31, & xviii.33, 34, 35. 2 Chron xxxii.15. had till now their several Gods & each accounted his God the God of his own land & the defender thereof against the Gods of the neighbouring countries, & particularly against that of Assyria, & therefore they were never till now united under the Assyrian Monarchy: but being small kingdoms, the king of Assyria now easily overflowed them. 2 Chron. 32.13, 17.Know ye not, saith Sennacherib to the Iews, what I & my fathers have done unto all the people of other lands? – – – – – for no God of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people out of mine hand & out of yethe hand of my fathers: how then shall your God deliver you out of mine hand? He & his fathers therefore, Pul, Tiglathpulasser & Salmonasser were great conquerors, & with a current of victories had newly overflowed all nations round about Assyria, & thereby set up this monarchy.

Between the reigns of Ieroboam II & his son Zecharias there was an interregnum of about 10 or twelve years. And the3r the Prophet HoseaHosea v.13 & x.6, 14. in the time of that interregnum or soon after, mentions the King of Assyria by the name of Iarib. And perhaps & another conqueror by the name of Salman. And perhaps Salman might be the first part of the name of Salmonasser & Iarib or Irib (for it may be read both ways) the last part of the name of his successor Sennacherib. But whoever these Princes were it appears not that they reigned before Salmanasser. Pul (or Baal) Belus) seems to be the first who carried on his conquests beyond the boun Province of Assyria. He conquered Calneh with its territories in the reign of Ieroboam (Amos. 1.1 & 6.2 & Isa. 10.8, 9) &invaded Israel in the reign of Menahem (2 King. 15.19) but stayed not in the land, being bought off by Menahem for a thousand talents of silver. In his reign therefore the kingdom of Assyria was advanced on this side Tigris. For he was a great warrior & seems to have conquered Haran & Carchemish & Reseph & Calneh & Thalasser & all Caldea might founded or enlarged the city Babylon. & left it under Deputy Kings. For the Æra of Nabonasser (the first of those kings king of Babylon in the Canon) began soon after the reign of Pul; and Isaiah who lived & prophesied in the days of Pul & his successors, thus describes the founding of Babylon. Behold, saith he, the land of the Chaldeans; this people was not till the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness [that is, for the Arabians,] they set up the towers thereof, they raised up the palaces thereof. Isa. 23.13. This city is said (by the followers of Ctesias) to have been built by Semiramis, & one of the gates thereof aa Herod. l. 3 sub finem. was called the gate of Semiramis. She was reputed the widdow of the first or second king of Assyria, a woman (as Herodotus relates) five generations older then Nitocris the mother of Labynitus or Nabonnedus the last king of Babylon, & therefore she was contemporary to Tiglathpileser the successor of Pul & might be the widdow of Pul. For she was the widdow of Belus the first king of Assyria. ♀ ♀ She was the widdow of Belus king of Assyria, & perhaps she might be the widdow of Pul & the mother of the next next first king of Babylon & govern during the minority of her son: but her story is full of fables. ☉ ☉ Other authors ascribe the building of Babylon to Belus the king of Assyria himself, that is to Pul. ✝ ✝ So Curtius lib 5 tells us: Semiramis eam condiderat vel ut plerique credidere Belus, cujus regia ostenditur. And Abydenus:Apud Euseb. Præp. l. 9. Fama est Belum Babylonem Belum mœnibus cinxisse, quæ tempore abolessen aboleta sunt, & nova mœnia struxisse Nebuchadonosorum. æneis portis distinctæ quæ ad usque Macedonum imperium steterunt. And so Dorotheus – So Dorotheus an ancient Sidonian Poet of Sidon

The ancient city Babylon built by the Tyrian Belus: that is by the Syrian or Assyrian Belus; the words Tyrian, Syrian &c Assyrian Belus being all of them derived from Tzór the Phenician name of the city Tyre. HerenniusHeren Apud Steph. in Βαβ. tells us that it was built by the son of Belus; & this son might be either Nabonassar or the predecessor of Nabonassar. After the conquest of Calnah, Thalassar & Sipparæ, the father might begin to build Babylon & leave it to his widdow & his younger son, & the son might erect the Temple of Iupiter Belus to his father. For all the kings of Babylon in the Canon of Ptolomy are called Assyrians, & Nabonassar is the first of them & the building of Babylon is ascribed to the Assyrians by Isaiah. But the originals of Babylon are obscure And Nebuchadnezzar recconed himself descended from Belus, that is from Pul. Belus that is from Pul the Assyrian Belus And the building of Babylon is ascribed to the Assyrians by Isaiah Other authors ascribe the building of Babylon to Belus himself, that is to Pul. So CurtiusCurt lib. 5 tells us Semiramis eam condiderat, vel ut plerique credidere Belus, cujus regia ostenditur. And Abydenus:Abydenus apud Euseb. Præp. l. 9. λεγεται Βῆλον Βαβυλῶνα τειχει περιβαλειν τῳ χρονω δὲ τῶ ἰκνευμενα αφανισθῆναι. τειχίσαι δὲ αυθις Ναβυχοδονόσορον &c Fama est Belum Babylonem mœnibus cinxisse quæ tempore aboleta sunt & nova mœnia struxisse Nebuchadonosorum, æneis portis distincta, quæ ad usque Macedonum imperium steterunt. ✝ And so Dorotheus

♀ For the towers & palaces of Babylon in wchwhich Nabonassar reigned, were built by the Assyrian in the days of Isaiah or not long before; that is, in or soon after the days of Pul.

♀ For when Pul conquered Calneh & Thalasser, he began to extend the dominion of the Assyria southward, and thereby enabled the Assyrian to found the kingdom of Babylon for them that dwell in the wilderness. And Semiramis might reign there after him. But her story as told by the Greeks, is full of fables

♀ And perhaps a woman of that name might be the widdow of Pul or Belus king of Assyria & also the mother of one of the kings of Babylon & govern during the minority of her son: but her story is full of fables. For when tarsus The short reigns of the first ten kings who succeeded her & Nabonassar & preceded Asserhadon make it probable that they were but deputy Princes put in & out at the pleasure of the king of Assyria: those who succeeded Asserhadon seem by their long reigns to have been kings for life.

Tiglathpileser warred in Phœnicia & captivated Galilee with the two Tribes & an half in the days of Pekah King of Israel, & placed them in Halath & Habor & Hara & at the river Gozan, places lying on the western borders of Media between Assyria & the Caspian sea (2 King. XV.29. & 1 Chron V.26.) & about the fift or sixt year of Nabonassar, he came to the assistance of the king of Iudah against the kings of Israel & Syria, & overthrew the kingdom of Syria which had been seated at Damascus ever since the days of king David, & carried away the AssSyrians to Kir in Media, as Amos had prophesied, & placed other nations in the regions of Damascus (2 King XV.37 & XVI.5, 9. Amos. 1.5. Ioseph Antiq. l. 9. c. 13.) Whence it seems that the Medes were conquered before, & that the Empire of the Assyrians was now grown great. For the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria & the spirit of Tiglathpilaser to make warking4r war king of Assyria to make war. 1 Chron. V.26.

Salmanasser (called Enemesser by Tobit; (Chap. 1) invaded aa Annales Tyrij apud Iosephum l.9 Antiq. c. ult. all Phœnicia, took the city Samaria & captivated Israel, & placed them in Chalach & Chabor by the river Gozan & in the cities of the Medes, [& either he or one of his successors peopled Samaria with captives brought from Babylon, & from Cutha or Susa, & Ava or Iva & from Hamath or Antioch & from Sepharvaim (2 King. XVII.6, 24, 30.] & therefore reigned over those cities]. And Hoseach. X.14. seems to say that he took Arbela. And his successor Sennacherib saith that his fathers had conquered also Gozan & Haran (or Carrhæ) & Reseph (or Resen) & the children of Eden & Arpad or the Arradij. 2 King. XIX.12.

Sennacherib the son of Salmanasser, called Sargon by Isaias (chap. XX.1.) in the 14th year of Hezekiah, invaded Phœnecia & took several cities of Iudah & attempted Egypt; & Sethon or Sevechus king of Egypt & Tirhakah king of Æthiopia coming against him, he lost in one night 185000 men, as some say by a plague or perhaps by lightning or a fiery wind which blows sometimes in the neighbouring deserts, or as others by being disarmed by mise or rather surprized by Sethon & Tirhakah. For the Egyptians in memory of this action erected a statue to Sethon holding in his hand a mouse, the Egyptian symbol of destruction. Vpon this defeat Sennacherib returned in hast to Nineveh, & his kingdom became troubled so that Tobit could not go into Media. And he was slain soon after by two of his sons who fled into Armenia, & his son Asserhadon succeeded him. At At that time did Merodach Baladan or Mardocempad king of Babylon, send an Embassy to Hezekiah king of Iudah.

Asserhadon corruptly called Sarchedon by Tobit (ch. I.21) & Assardin by the Seventy, began his reign at Nineveh inabout the year of Nabonassar 347Canon Ptol. & at Babylon in the year of Nabonassar 67 or 68; & then peopled Samaria with captives brought from several parts of Assyria his new conquests, the Dinaites, the Apharsathchites, the Tarpelites, the Apharsites, the Archevites, the Babylonians, the Susanchites, the Dehavites, the Elamites (Ezra IV.2, 9.) & therefore he conquered & reigned over all these nations. Pekah & Rezin kings of Samaria & Damascus invaded Iudea in the first or second year of Ahaz; & within 65 years after, that is, in the 210th or 221th year of Manasseh, Samaria ceased to be a people (Isa. VII.8,) vizt by carrying the remainder of Samaria into captivity & placing these nations in their room. Then he invaded Iudea, took Azot carried Manasses captive to Babylon, & aa Isa. XX.1, 3, 4. captivated also Egypt Thebais & Ethiopia above Thebais. And by this war he seems to have put an end to the reign of the Ethiopians over Egypt anno Nabonass. 77 or 78.

In the reigns of Sennacherib & Asserhadon the Assyrian empire seems arrived at its greatness, being united under one Monarch & conteining Assyria, Media, Apolloniatis, Susiana, Chaldæa, Mesopotamia, Cilicia, Syria, Phœnicia, Egypt, Ethiopia, & part of Arabia, & reaching eastward into Elimais, & Paratacene a Province of the Medes.