about 600 years after the deluge, and 2555 years before the Christian era. After his death, Nimrod was deified for his great actions, and called Belus: and it is supposed that the tower of Babel, rising high above the walls of Babylon, but still in an unfinished state, was consecrated to his worship.

13. While some believe that the monarch Nínus was the son of Nimrod, and that Assyria and Babylon formed one united empire under the immediate successors of the first founder; others regard Nínus as an Assyrian prince, who, by conquering Babylon, united the hitherto separate empires, more than four hundred years after the reign of Nimrod; while others still regard Nínus as only a personification of Nineveh. During the reign of Nínus, and also during that of his supposed queen and successor, Semir' amis, the boundaries of the united Assyrian and Babylonian empires are said to have been greatly enlarged by conquest; but the accounts that are given of these events are evidently so exaggerated, that little reliance can be placed upon them.

14. Semir' amis, who was raised from an humble station to become the queen of Nínus, is described as a woman of uncommon courage and masculine character, the main object of whose ambition was to immortalize her name by the greatness of her exploits. Her conquests are said to have embraced nearly all the then known world, extending as far as Central Africa on the one hand, and as far as the Indus,' in Asia, on the other. She is said to have raised, at one time, an army of more than three millions of men, and to have employed two millions of workmen in adorning Babylon-statements wholly inconsistent with the current opinion of the sparse population of the world at this early period. After the reign of Semir' amis, which is supposed to have been during the time of the sojourn of the Israelites in Egypt, little is known of the history of Assyria for more than thirty generations.

1. The river Indus, or Sinde, rises in the Himmaleh mountains, and running in a south-westerly direction enters the Arabian Sea near the western extremity of Hindostan.

a. Niebuhr's Ancient Hist. i. 55.

CHAPTER II.

THE FABULOUS AND LEGENDARY PERIOD OF GRECIAN HISTORY:

ENDING WITH THE CLOSE OF THE TROJAN WAR, 1183 B C.

ANALYSIS. 1. Extent of Ancient Greece. Of Modern Greece. The most ancient name of the country.-2. The two general divisions of Modern Greece. Extent of Northern Greece. Of the Morea. Whole area of the country so renowned in history.-3. The general surface of the country. Its fertility.-4. Mountains of Greece. Rivers. Climate. The seasons. Scenery. Classical associations.

5. GRECIAN MYTHOLOGY, the proper introduction to Grecian history.-6. Chaos, Earth, and Heaven. The offspring of Earth and Uranus. [U'ranus; the Titans: the Cyclopes.]—7. U' ranus is dethroned, and is succeeded by Sat' urn. [The Furies: the Giants: and the Melian Nymphs. Venus. Saturn. Jupiter. Nep' tune. Pluto.]-8. War of the Titans against Saturn. War of the Giants with Jupiter. The result. New dynasty of the gods.-9. The wives of Jupiter. [Juno.] His offspring. [Mercury. Mars. Apol' lo. Vul' can. Diána. Minerva.] Other celestial divinities. [Céres. Ves' ta.]-10. Other deities not included among the celestials. [Bac' chus. Iris. Hebe. The Muses. The Fates. The Graces.] Monsters. [Harpies. Gor' gons.] Rebellions against Jupiter. [Olym'pus.]-11. Numbers, and character, of the legends of the gods. Vulgar belief, and philosophical explanations of them.

12. EARLIEST INHABITANTS OF GREECE. The Pelas' gians. Tribes included under this name.-13. Character and civilization of the Pelas' gians. [Cyclopean structures. Asia Minor.]-14. Foreign SettleRS IN GREECE. Reputed founding of Argos. [Ar'gos. Ar'golis. Océanus. In'achus.] The accounts of the early Grecian settlements not reliable.-15. The founding of Athens. [Attica. Ogy'ges.] The elements of Grecian civilization attributed to Cécrops. The story of Cécrops doubtless fabulous.-16. Legend of the contest between Miner' va and Nep' tune.-17. Cran' aus and Amphic' tyon. Dan' aus and Cad' mus. [Boótia, Thebes.-18. General character of the accounts of foreign settlers in Greece. Value of these traditions. The probable truth in relation to them, which accounts for the intermixture of foreign with Grecian mythology. [Egean Sea.]

19. The HELLENES appear in Thessaly, about 1384 B. C., and become the ruling class among the Grecians.-20. Hellen the son of Deucalion. The several Grecian tribes. The Eolian tribe. -21. The HEROIC AGE. Our knowledge of Grecian history during this period. Character and value of the Heroic legends. The most important of them. [1st. Hércules. 2d. Theseus. 3d. Argonautic expedition. 4th. Theban and Ar'golic war.]-22. The Argonautic expedition thought the most important. Probably a poetic fletion. [Samothrace. Euxine Sea.] Probability of naval expeditions at this early period, and their results. [Minos. Crete ]-23. Oper ing of the Trojan war. Its alleged causes. [Troy. Lacedæ'mon.]-24. Paris,-the flight of Helen,-the war which followed.-25. Remarks on the supposed reality of the war. [The fable of Helen.]-26. What kind of truth is to be extracted from Homer's account.

COTEMPORARY HISTORY.-1. Our limited knowledge of cotemporary history during this period. Rome. Europe. Central Western Asia. Egyptian History.-2. The conquests of Besos' tris. [Libya. Ethiopia. The Ganges. Thracians and Scythians.] The columns erected by Sesos' tris.-3. Statues of Sesostris at Ipsam' boul. Historical sculptures.-4. Remarks on the evidences of the existence of this conqueror. The close of his reign. Subsequent Egyptian history.-5. The Israelites at the period of the commencement of Grecian history. Their situation after the death of Joseph. Their exodus from Egypt, 1648 B. C.-6. Wander. ings in the wilderness Passage of the Jordan. [Arabia. Jordan. Palestine.] Death of

Moses. Israel during the time of Joshua and the elders.-7. Israel ruled by judges until the time of Saul. The Israelites frequently apostatize to idolatry. [Moabites. Canaanites.]-8. Their deliverance from the Mid' ianites and Am' alekites. [Localities of these tribes.]-9. Deliverance from the Philistines and Am' monites. [Localities of these tribes.] Samson, Eli, and Samuel. Saul anointed king over Israel, 1110 B. C.-10. Closing remarks.

1. GEOGRAPHI

1. GREECE, which is the Roman name of the country whose history we next proceed to narrate, but which was called CAL DESCRIP- by the natives Hel' las, denoting the country of the TION. Hellénés, comprised, in its most flourishing period, nearly the whole of the great eastern peninsula of southern Europe -extending north to the northern extremity of the waters of the Grecian Archipelago. Modern Greece, however, has a less extent on the north, as Thes' saly, Epírus, and Macedónia have been taken from it, and annexed to the Turkish empire. The area of Modern Greece is less than that of Portugal; but owing to the irregularities of its shores, its range of seacoast is greater than that of the whole of Spain. The most ancient name by which Greece was known to other nations was Iónia,-a term which Josephus derives from Javan, the son of Japhet, and grandson of Noah: although the Greeks themselves applied the term Iónes only to the descendants of the fabulous I'on, son of Xúthus.

2. Modern Greece is divided into two principal portions :-Northern Greece or Hel' las, and Southern Greece, or Moréa―anciently called Peloponnésus. The former includes the country of the ancient Grecian States, Acarnánia, Etólia, Lócris, Phócis, Dóris, Bœótia, Euboea, and At' tica; and the latter, the Peloponnesian States of E' lis, Acháia, Cor' inth, Ar' golis, Lacónia, and Messénia; whose localities may be learned from the accompanying map. The greatest length of the northern portion, which is from north-west to south-east, is about two hundred miles, with an average width of fifty miles. The greatest length of the Moréa, which is from north to south, is about one hundred and forty miles. The whole area of the country so renowned in history under the name of Greece or Hel' las, is only about twenty thousand square miles, which is less than half the area of the State of Pennsylvania.

3. The general surface of Greece is mountainous; and almost the only fertile spots are the numerous and usually narrow plains along the sea-shore and the banks of rivers, or, as in several places, large basins, which apparently once formed the beds of mountain lakes. The largest tracts of level country are in western Hel' las, and along the northern and north-western shores of the Moréa.

Their abrupt There are no

4. The mountains of Greece are of the Alpine character, and are remarkable for their numerous grottos and caverns. summits never rise to the regions of perpetual snow. navigable rivers in Greece, but this want is obviated by the numerous gulfs and inlets of the sea, which indent the coast on every side, and thus furnish unusual facilities to commerce, while they add to the variety and beauty of the scenery. The climate of Greece is for the

marshy tracts around the Spring and autumn are

most part healthy, except in the low and shores and lakes. The winters are short. rainy seasons, when many parts of the country are inundated; but during the whole summer, which comprises half the year, a cloud in the sky is rare in several parts of the country. Grecian scenery is unsurpassed in romantic wildness and beauty; but our deepest interest in the country arises from its classical associations, and the ruins of ancient art and splendor scattered over it.

5. As the Greeks, in common with the Egyptians and other Eastern nations, placed the reign of the gods anterior to the race of mortals, therefore Grecian mythology' forms the MYTHOLOGY. most appropriate introduction to Grecian history.

II. GRECIAN

6. According to Grecian philosophy, first in the order of time came Cháos, a heterogeneous mass containing all the seeds of nature; then "broad-breasted Earth," the mother of the gods, who produced U'ranus, or Heaven, the mountains, and the barren and billowy sea. Then Earth married U' ranus or Heaven, and from this union came a numerous and powerful brood, the Titans' and the Cyclópes, and the gods of the wintry season,-Kot' tos, Briáreus, and Gy' ges, who bad each a hundred hands,-supposed to be personifications of the bail, the rain, and the snow.

1. MYTHOLOGY, from two Greek words signifying a "fable" and a "discourse," is a system of myths, or fabulous opinions and doctrines respecting the deities which heathen nations have supposed to preside over the world, or to influence its affairs.

2. Uranus, from a Greek word signifying "heaven," or "sky," was the most ancient of all the gods.

3. The Titans were six males-Oceanus, Coios, Crios, Hyperion, Japetus, and Kronos, or Saturn, and six females,-Théia, Rhéa, Thémis, Mnemos' yne, Phoe' be, and Tethys. Oceanus, or the Ocean, espoused his sister Tethys, and their children were the rivers of the earth, and the three thousand Oceanides or Ocean-nymphs. Hyperion married his sister Theia, by whom he had Auróra, or the morning, and also the sun and moon.

4. The Cyclopes were a race of gigantic size, having but one eye, and that placed in the centre of the forehead. According to some accounts there were many of this race, but according to the poet Hesiod, the principal authority in Grecian mythology, they were only three in num ber, Bron' tes, Ster' opes, and Ar' ges, words which signify in the Greek, Thunder, Lightning, and the rapid Flame. The poets converted them into smiths-the assistants of the fire-god Vulcan. The Cyclópes were probably personifications of the energies of the "powers of the air."