Ctesias & the ancient Greek & Latin writers who copy from him have made the Assyrian Empire as old as that Belus or Baal who was worshipped in all the east, & Belus as old as Noah's flood wthwithin 60 or 70 years, & tell us the names of all the kings of Assyria down from his feigned son Ninus to Sardanapalus the last king of that Monarchy. But the names of his kings except one or two have no affinity with the names of the Assyrians mentioned in scripture. For the Assyrians were usually named after their Gods Bel or B Pul, Chaddon haddon, Adon or Adonis, Melech or Moloch, Assur, Nebo, Nergal, Merodach, as in these names Pul, Tiglath-pul-asser, Salmon-asser, Adra-melech, Shar-asser, Asser-haddon, Sardanapalus or Assar-adan-pul, Nabon-asser or Nebo–adon-asser, Bel-adan, Chinil-adan or Chen-el-adan, – Nebo-pul-asser, Nebu-chadon-asser, Neburaradan or Nebu-assar-adon, Nergal-asser, Nergal-shar-asser, – Labo-asser-dach, Shesheb-asser, Beltes-asser, Evil-merodach Shangar-nebo, Rabsaris or Rab-assar, Nebu-shasban. Such were the Assyrian names, but those in the Canon of Ctesias (except Sardanapalus, whose name he had met with in Herodotus) are of another sort. He makes Semiramis as old as the first Belus, but Herodotus tells us she was but five generations older then the mother of Labynitus. He represents that the city Ninus was founded by a man of the same name & Babylon by Semiramis, whereas Nimrod or Assur founded those & other cities without giving his own name to any of them. He makes the Assyrian Empire continue about 1360 years, whereas Herodotus tells us that it lasted but 500 years, & the numbers of Herodotus concerning those old times are all of them too long. He makes Nineveh destroyed by the Medes & Babylonians three hundred years before the reign of Astibares & Nebuchadnezzar who destroyed it, & sets down the names of seven or eight feigned kings of Media between the destruction of Nineveh & the reigns of Astibares & Nebuchadnezzar, as if the monarchy of the Medes erected upon the ruins of the Assyrian Monarchy had lasted 300 years, whereas it lasted but 72. And the true Monarchy of the Assyrians described2 described in scripture, whose kings were Pul, Tiglathpulaser Salmonasser, Senacherib, Asserhaddon, &c. he mentions noth, tho much nearer to his own times: which shews that he was ignorant of the Antiquities of the Assyrians. Yet something of truth there is in the bottom of some of his stories, as that Nineveh was destroyed by the Medes & Babylonians, that Sardanapalus was the last, or one of the last kings of Assyria, & that Astibares & Astyages were kings of the Medes; but he has made all things too ancient & out of vain glory taken too great a liberty in feigning names & stories to please his reader.

When the Iews were newly returned from the Babylonian Captivity, they confessed their sins in this – manner, Now therefore our God – – – let not all the trouble seem little before thee wchwhich hath come upon us on orour kings, on our Princes, & on our Priests & on our – Prophets & on our fathers & on all thy people since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this day (Nehem. IX. 32) that is since the time of the kingdom of Assyria or since the rise of that Empire. And therefore the Assyrian Empire arose when the kings of Assryia began to – afflict the inhabitants of Palestine, & this which was in the days of Pul. He & his successors afflicted Israel & conquered the nations round about & upon the ruin of many small & ancient kingdoms erected their empire, conquering the Medes as well as other nations. But of those conquests Ctesias knew not a word; no not so much as the names of the conquerors, or that there was an Assyrian Empire now standing. For he supposes that the Medes reigned at this time & that the Assyrian Empire was at an end above 250 years before it began.

However we must allow that Nimrod founded a kingdom in Assyria & at Babylon & perhaps also in Assyria: & so Cham was king of all Afric & Iaphet of all Europe; but they left no standing kingdoms, it being the custome of every father to divide his territories amongst his sons After the days of Nor does it appear that the Kingdom of Nimrod was of any great extent if compared with the Empires wchwhich rose up afterwards, & after the days of Nimrod we hear no more of the Assyrians or of Nineveh or Babylon in scripture till the days of Ionah. In the time of the Iudges of Israel & reign of David we find Syria & Mesopotamia subject to kings of other cities (Iud. 3. 8. 2 Sam. 8 & 10.) The kingdoms of Israel, Moab, Ammon, Edom, Philistia, Sidon, Damascus & Hamath the great continued subject to other Lords till the reign of Pul & his successors, & so did the house of Eden (Amos. 1. 5 2 King. 19. 12.) & Haran or Carrhae (Gen. 12. 2 King. 19. 12) & Sepharvaim of Sippara in Mesopotamia & Calneh or Calesh neare Bagdad (Gen. X 10. Isa. X. 8) 2 King XVII. 31 Sesac & Memnon were great conquerors in the east but in their histories there's not a word of the an Assyrian monarchy there standing to oppose them They ruffled the – Eastern nations & put them in arms, wchwhich might make those nations apt to form themselves into bigger & more warlike bodies then before, & such a body Nineveh with its villages seems to have been in the days of Ionah. He prophesied when Israel was in affliction under the king of Syria & this was in the latter part of the reign of Iehoahaz & first part of the reign of Ioas kings of Israel, & by consequence about 120 years before the captivity of the ten tribes. I Nineveh was then a city of large extent but full of pastures for cattel so that it conteined but about 120000 persons. It was returned from captivity (Amos 9.7) & was not yet grown so great & potent as not to be – terrified3 terrified at the preaching of Ionah & to fear being invaded by its neighbours & ruined within 40 days. Its king was not yet called king of Assyria, but onlyaa Ionah. 3. 6. 7. king of Nineveh, & his proclamation for a fast was not published in several nations nor in all Assyria but only in Nineveh & perhaps the villages thereof. But soon after when the dominion of Nineveh was established at home & exalted over all Assryia properly so called & this kingdom began to make war upon the neighbouring nations, its kings were no longer called kings of Nineveh but kings of Assyria.

Amos prophesied in the reign of Ieroboam the son of Ioas king of Israel soon after Ieroboam had subdued the kingdoms of Damascus & Hamath, that is about 70 or 80 years before the captivity of the ten Tribes; & he thus reproves Israel for being lifted up by those conquests. Amos. 6. 14. Ye which rejoyce in a thing of nought, wchwhich say, Have we not taken to us horns by orour strength? But behold I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel saith the Lord, and they shall afflict you from the entring in of Hamath unto the river of the wilderness. God here threatens to raise up a nation against Israel, but what nation he names not. That he conceales till the Assyrians should appear & discover it. In the prophecies of Isaiah, Ieremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Micah, Nahum, – Zephany & Zechary, wchwhich were written after this monarchy grew up, its openly named upon all occasions, but in this of Amos not once, tho the captivity of Syria & Israel be the subject of the prophesy & that of Israel be often threatened. He only saith in general that Syria should go into captivity unto Kir, & that Israel notwithstanding her present greatness should go into captivity beyond Damascus, & that God would raise up a nation to afflict them, meaning that he would raise up above them a nation from a lower condition a nation whom they yet feared not. For so the Hebrew word מקם signifies when applied to men, as in Amos 5. 2. 1 Sam. 2. 8. 2 Sam. 12. 11. Psal. 113. 7. Ier. 10. 20 & 50. 32. Hab. 1. 6. Zech. 11. 16. Amos mentions the Assyrians but once & it is only to tell us that they had been in captivity. Amos. 8. 7. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt & the Philistines from Caphtor & the Assyrians from Kir? They were therefore returned from captivity, & at the writing of this prophesy made no great figure in the world, but were to be raised up against Israel, & by consequence rose up in the days of Pul & his successors. For after Ieroboam had conquered Damascus & Hamath, his successor Menahem destroyed Tipsah with its territories upon Euphrates because in his expedition against Shallum who usurped the crown they opened not to him. And therefore Israel continued in its greatness till Pul (probably grown formidable by some victories) caused Menahem to buy his peace. Pul therefore reigning presently after the prophesy of Amos & being the first upon record who began to fulfill it, may4 may justly be recconed the first conqueror & founded of that Empire.

When Amos prophesied he threatened the Assyr Israelites with what had lately befallen other kingdoms. Pass ye, saith he, Amos. VI. 2 to Calneh & see, & from thence go down to Hamath the great, then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Be they better then these kingdoms? But these cities were not yet vanquished by the Assyrians. Gath was newly vanquished by Vzziah king of Iudah (2 Chron. XXVI) & Hamath by Ieroboam king of Israel (2 King. XIV.) and while the Prophet in threatning Israel with the Assyrians instances in desolations made by other nations it argues that the Assyrians had not yet made any great progress in that vast career of victories wchwhich we read of a few years after. For about seven years after the captivity of the ten Tribes, when Sennachrib warred in Syria he sent this message to the king of Iudah. 2 King. XIX. II. Behold thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them utterly, & shalt thou be delivered? Have the Gods of the nations delivered whom my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan & Haran & Rezeph & the children of Eden wchwhich were in Thalassar? Where is the king of Hamath & the king of Arpad & the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Henah & Ivah? And Isaiah thus introduceth the king of Assyria boasting: Isa. x. 8.Are not my Princes altogether Kings? Is not Samaria as Damascus Calno [or Calneh] as Carchemish? Is not Hamath as Arphad? Is not Samaria as Damascus? As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the Idols, & whose graven Images did excell them of Ierusalem & of Samaria: shall I not as I have done unto Samaria & her Idols, so do to Ierusalem & her Idols? All this desolation is recited as fresh in memory to terrefy the Iews, & these kingdoms to shew the largeness of the conquests, are called all lands, that is, all round about Assyria. It was the manner of the kings of Assyria for preventing the rebellion of people newly conquered to captivate & transplant those of several conquered countries into one anothers lands, & intermix them variously. And thence it appears that 1 Chron. v. 26. Halah & Habor & Hara & Gozan & the cities of the Medes into which Galilee & Samaria were transplanted 2 King. XVI 9 & XVII. 6 & Kir into wchwhich Damascus was transplanted & Babylon & Cuthor the Susanchites & Hamath & Ava & Sepharvaim & the Dinaites 2 King. XVII. 24 Ezra. IV. 9. & the Apharsathchites & the Tarpelites & the Apharsites & the Archevites & the Dehavites & the Elamites or Persians part of all wchwhich nations were led captive by Aserhaddon Salmanasser Asserhaddon & his predecessors into Samaria, were all of them conquered not long before

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 and Sepharvaim5 Sepharvaim a City upon Euphrates between Babylon & Nineveh called Sipparæ by Berosus Abydenus & Polyhistor & Sipphara by Ptolemy, & the kingdoms of Syria seated at Samaria, Damascus, Gath, Hamath, Arpad & Rezeph a city placed by Ptolomy neare Thapsacus. On the south & south†east were Babylon & Calneh or Calno a city wchwhich was built by Nimrod where Baghdad now stands & gave the name of Chalonitis to a large region under its government, & Thalassar or Talathat a city placed by Ptolemy in Babylonia upon the common stream of Tigris & Euphrates, & 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 were cities of the Medes & Habor or Chaboras a mountanous region between Assyria & Media, & the Apharsachites or men of Arraphachitis a region placed by Ptolomy at the bottom of that mountain next Assyria. And on the north between Assryia & the Gordiœan mountains was Halah or Chalach the metropolis of Calachene. built by Nimrod And beyond these upon the Caspian sea was Gozan called Ganzania by Ptolomy. Thus did these new conquests extend every way from the very borders of Assyria & make up the great body of that Monarchy: so that well might the king of Assyria boast how his armies had destroyed all lands. 2 King. XXVI. 29, 30, 31 & XXVII. 33, 34, 35. 2 Chron XXXII. 15. All these nations 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 XXXII. 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 mind hand & out of the hand of my fathers: how much less shall your God deliver you out of mine hand? He & his fathers therefore, Pul, Tiglathpulaser & Salmonasser, were great conquerors & with a current of victories had newly overflowed all nations round about Assyria & thereby set up this monarchy.Pul