at Aspendus, where salt was produced by evaporation. In the neighbourhood the olive was much cultivated.

Thasybulus lost his life at Aspendus; being surprised in his tent by the Aspendians, on whom he had levied contributions. (Xen. Hell. iv. 8; Diod. xiv. 99.) Alexander, in his Asiatic expedition, visited Aspendus, and the place surrendered upon preparation being made by the king to besiege it. (Arrian, Anab. i. 26.) It was a populous place after Alexander's time, for it raised on one occasion 4000 hoplites. (Polyb. v. 73.) The consul Cn. Manlius, when moving forward to invade Galatia, came near Termessus, and made a show of entering Pamphylia, which brought him a sum of money from the Aspendii and other Pamphylians. (Liv. xxxviii. 15; Polyb. xxii. 18.)

The old medals of Aspendus have the epigraph E. EXT. EETF. EETFEANTE., but those of more recent date have the common form AZ. (Cramer, Asia Minor, vol. ii. p. 282.) [G. L.]

ΑΣΠΕΝΔΙΩΝ.

ASPHALTITES LACUS. [PALAESTINA.]
ASPIS. [PROCONNESUS.]

ASPIS ('Aoris), aft. known by the Roman translation CLU'PEA, CLYPEA (KAúrea, Strab. Ptol. Kalibiah, Ru.), an important fortified city of the Carthaginian territory, and afterwards of the Roman province of Africa (Zeugitana). It derived its Greek and Roman names from its site, on a hill of shield-like shape, adjoining the promontory, which was sometimes called by the same name, and also Taphitis (apa Tapiris, Strab. xvii. p. 834), and which forms the E. point of the tongue of land that runs out NE., and terminates in Mercurii Pr. (C. Bon), the NE. headland of N. Africa. The island of Cossyra lies off it to the E., and Lilybaeum in Sicily is directly opposite to it, to the NE. (Strab. vi. p. 277.) At the S. foot of the promontory is a small bay, forming a harbour protected on every side, and giving access to a large open plain. No spot could be more favourable for an invader; and a mythical tradition chose it as the landing-place of Cadmus (Nonn. Dionys. iv. 386), while another made it the scene of the struggle of Heracles with Antaeus (Procop. Vand. ii. 10). We are not informed whether there was a Punic fortress on the spot: it is incredible that the Carthaginians should have neglected it; but, at all events, Agathocles, who landed on the other side of the peninsula (see AQUILARIA), perceived its importance, and built the city known to the Greeks and Romans B. c. 310 (Strab. xvii. p. 834). In the First Punic War it was the landing-place of Manlius and Regulus, whose first action was to take it, B. C. 256; and its possession afforded the survivors of the unfortunate army a place of refuge, from which they were carried off in safety by the victorious fleet of Aemilius and Fulvius B. C. 255. (Polyb. i. 29 36; Appian. Pun. 3.)

In the Second Punic War, passing over a naval skirmish off Clupea, B. C. 208 (Liv. xxvii. 29), the plain beneath the city became famous for Masinissa's narrow escape after his defeat by Bocchar, when the wounded prince was only saved by the suppo sition that he had perished in the large river which flows through the plain (Wady-el-Adieb), but to which the ancients give no name, B. C. 204 (Liv. xxix. 32). In the Third Punic War, the consul Piso, B. c. 148, besieged it by land and sea, but was repulsed. (Appian. Pun. 110.) It is mentioned more than once in the Julian Civil War. (Caes. B. C. ii. 23; Hirt. B. Afr. 2.) It stood 30 M. P. from Curubis. Under the Romans it was a free city (Plin. v. 4. s. 3; Ptol. iv. 3. §§ 7, 8), where KAυnéa and 'Aonís are distinguished by 15' of long.: probably the former is meant for the town and the latter for the cape (Mela, i. 7. § 3; Stadiasm. p. 452; Sil. iii. 243; Solin. 27; Itin. Ant. pp. 55, 57, 493, 518; Tab. Peut.). It was a distinguished episcopal see, A. D. 411-646, and the last spot on which the African Christians made a stand against the Mohammedan conquerors. (Morcelli, Africa Christiana, s. v.; Arab writers, referred to by Barth, p. 186.)

Its interesting ruins, partly on and partly below the hill, and among them a remarkable Roman fort, are described by Barth (Wanderungen, pp. 134137, Shaw, p. 89, 2d ed. [P.S.]

ASPIS ('Aoris; Marsa Zaffran), a town and promontory of N. Africa, on the coast of the Great Syrtis, with the best harbour in the Syrtis, 600 stadia N. of Turris Euphrantis near the bottom of the Syrtis. (Strab. xvii. p. 836; Beechey, p. 140; Barth, p. 369). [P.S.]

ASPI'SII ('Aoioioi Ekveαi), a people of Scythia intra Imaum, N. of the Jaxartes, and W. of the Aspisii Montes (rà 'Aonioia opn: Ptol. vi. 14. $$ 6, 12). They appear to be the same as the Ασπασιάκαι Νομάδες, between the Oxus and the Tanais, mentioned by Polybius (x. 45). [P.S.]

ASPLEDON (Ασπληδών: Eth. Ασπληδόνιος), also called SPLEDON, an ancient city of Boeotia mentioned by Homer (Il. ii. 510), distant 20 stadia from Orchomenus. The river Melas flowed between the two cities. (Strab. ix. p. 416; Plin. iv. 7. s. 12; Steph. B. s. v.; Etym. M. s. v.) Strabo says (l. c.) that it was subsequently called EUDEIELUS (Evdeíeλos), from its sunny situation; but Pausanias (ix. 38. § 9) relates that it was abandoned in his time from a want of water. The town is said to have derived its name from Aspledon, a son of Poseidon and the nymph Mideia. The site of Aspledon is uncertain. Leake (Northern Greece, vol. ii. p. 162) places it at Teamáli, but Forchhammer (Hellenica, p. 177), with more probability, at AvroKastro.

A'SPONA or ASPUNA (Aσrova), a place in Galatia, named in all the Itineraries. Ammianus Marcellinus (xxv. 10) calls it a small municipium of Galatia. It lay on the road from Ancyra to Caesarea Mazaca. The site does not seem to be determined. [G. L.]

ASPURGIA'NI ('Ασπουργιανοί, V.R. Ασπουγyiravol), a tribe of the Asiatic Maeotae, on the E. side of the Cimmerian Bosporus, in the region called Sindice, between Phanagoria and Gorgippia. They were among the Maeotic tribes whom Polemon I, king of Pontus and the Bosporus, in the reign of Augustus, attempted to subdue; but they took him prisoner and put him to death. (Strab

between Cape Lectum and Antandros. It was situated in a strong natural position, was well walled, and connected with the sea by a long, steep ascent. (Strab. p. 610.) The harbour was formed by a great mole. Myrsilus stated that Assus was a settlement of the Methymnaei. Hellanicus calls it an Aeolic city, and adds that Gargara was founded by Assus. Pliny (v. 32) gives to Assus also the naine Apollonia, which it is conjectured that it had from Apollonia, the mother of Attalus, king of Pergamus. That Assus was still a place visited by shipping in the first century of the Christian aera, appears from the travels of St. Paul. (Acts, xx. 13.)

The neighbourhood of Assus was noted for its wheat. (Strab. p. 735.) The Lapis Assius was a stone that had the property of consuming flesh, and hence was called sarcophagus: this stone was accordingly used to inter bodies in, or was pounded and thrown upon them. (Steph. B. s. v. "Aσoos; Plin. ii. 96.) Hermeias, who had made himself tyrant of Assus, brought Aristotle to reside there some time. When Hermeias fell into the hands of Memnon the Rhodian, who was in the Persian service, Assus was taken by the Persians. It was the birthplace of Cleanthes, who succeeded Zeno of Citium in his school, and transmitted it to Chrysippus.

The remains of Assus, which are very considerable, have often been described. The name Asso appears to exist, but the village where the remains are found is called Beriam Kalesi, or other like names. From the acropolis there is a view of Mytilene. The wall is complete on the west side, and in some places is thirty feet high: the stones are well laid, without cement. There is a theatre, the remains of temples, and a large mass of ruins of great variety of character. Outside of the wall is the cemetery, with many tombs, and sarcophagi, some of which are ten or twelve feet long. Leake observes, "the whole gives perhaps the most perfect idea of a Greek city that any where exists." (Asia Minor, p. 128; see also Fellows's Asia Minor, p. 46.)

Autonomous coins of Assus, with the epigraph AZZION, are rare. The coins of the Roman imperial period are common. [G. L.]

COIN OF ASSUS.

ASSUS CAσoos: Kinéta), a river of Phocis, flowing into the Cephissus on its left bank, near the city of the Parapotamii and Mount Edylium. (Plut. Sull. 16; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. ii. p. 195.) ASSY'RIA ('Aroupía, Herod. ii. 17, iv. 39: Ptol. vi. 1. §1; Steph. B.; Arrian, Anab. vii. 21: Assyria, Tacit. Ann. xii. 13; Amm. Marc. xxiii. 6; 'AToupía, Strab.xvi. p. 736; Steph. s. v. Nivos; Dion. Cass. lxviii.; Athurá, on Pers. Cun. Inser., and Assura, on the Median, Rawl. J. As. Soc. xi. pt. i. p. 10: Eth. Assyrii, 'Aooúpiot, Steph.; Herod. i. 193; Aσoupes, Steph.; Eustath. in Dion. de Situ Orbis, p. 70), a district of Asia, the boundaries of which are variously given in the Greek and Roman writers, but which, in the strictest and most original sense, comprehended only a long narrow territory, divided on the N. from Armenia by M. Niphates, on the W. and SW. from Mesopotamia and Babylonia by the Tigris; on the SE. from Susiana, and on the E.

from Media, by the chain of the Zagrus. It was, in fact, nearly the same territory as the modern Pacha-lik of Mosul, including the plain land below the Kurdistán and Persian mountains. Its original name, as appears from the Cuneiform Inscriptions, is best represented by Aturia ('Aтoupla), which Strabo (xvi. 736) says was part of Assyria (as understood at the time when he wrote): although Dion Cassius seems to consider that this form of the name was a barbarous mis-pronunciation. In later times, as appears from Pliny (vi. 12) and Ammianus Marcellinus (xxiii. 6), it bore the name of Adiabene, which was properly a small province between the Tigris, Lycus (or Zabatus), and the Gordiaean mountains. (Dion Cass. lxviii.; Ptol. vi. 1. § 2.)

"9

In the wider sense Assyria comprehended the whole country which was included in Mesopotamia and Babylonia (Strab. xvi. p. 736), while it was often confounded with adjoining nations by the Greek and Roman writers: thus, in Virg. (Georg. ii. 465), "Assyrio veneno is used for "Tyrio;" in Nonn. Dionys. (xli. 19) the Libanus is called Assyrian; and in Dion. Perieg. (v.975) the Leuco-Syrians of Pontus and Cappadocia are termed Assyrians. It is curious that Scylax of Caryanda placed Assyria among the nations on the Pontus Enxinus, between the Chalybes and Paphlagonia, and includes in it the river Thermodon and the Greek towns of Thermodon, Sinope, and Harmene. (Scyl. Car. ap. Hudson. Geogr. Graec. Min. p. 33.) The author of the Etymologicum Magnum has preserved a tradition (Etym. Magn. in voc.) from Xenocrates, that this land was originally called Euphratis, then Chaldaea, and lastly, from Assyrus the son of Suses, Assyria: he appears also to consider it as the same as Babylonia.

The chief mountains of ancient Assyria are known under the general name of the chain of Zagrus, which extended, under various denominations, along the whole of its eastern frontier from N. to S., and separated it from Media and Persia.

Its rivers may be all considered as feeders of the Tigris, and bore the names of Zabatus (Zábaтos), Zabas, Zerbis, or Lycus, which rose in the N. mountains of Armenia; the Bumádus or Bumódus; the Caprus; the Tornadotus or Physcus (vokos); the Silla or Delas, probably the same stream which elsewhere bears the names of Diabas, Durus (Aoûpos), and Gorgus (rópyos); and the Gyndes. Its provinces are mentioned by Ptolemy and Strabo under the following names: Aturia, Calacene or Calachene, Chazene, Arrhapachitis, Adiabene, Arbelitis, Apolloniatis or Chalonitis, and Sittacene; though there is some difference between the two geographers, both as to their relative extent and as to their positions.

Its chief cities were: Ninus ( Nivos), its most ancient and celebrated capital, Nineveh; Ctesiphon (

Kтnσipwv), the seat of government under the Parthian rulers; Arbela (rà Ap¤nλa), Gaugamela (тà гavyaμnλa), Apollonia ('Aroλλavía), Artemita (Apréμra), Opis (s), Chala (Xáλa) or Celonae (Kéλwvai), and Sittace (TTákn) or Sitta (íTTα).

A full description of these mountains, rivers, provinces, and towns is given under their respective

names.

It is of considerable importance to distinguish as accurately as we can between the land or territory comprehended under the name of Assyria, and the kingdom or empire which was established in that country. The former, as we have seen, was, strictly

speaking, only a small province, at first probably little more than the district to the NE. of the junction of the Tigris and the Zabatus. The latter varied very much, both in power and extent, according to the individual influence and successful conquests of particular kings. For the history of the Assyrian empire the materials at our command are extremely limited, and the sources from which we must draw our conclusions have not-with the exception of the Bible, which only describes the later portion of Assyrian history-been preserved to us in the works of the original writers. Considerable discrepancy, therefore, prevails in the accounts which the copyists of the more ancient documents have left to us; so that it is by no means easy to derive from their comparison a satisfactory view of the origin or progress of this ancient empire.

It seems, however, useful to put together as concisely as possible the results of the narratives which occur in the three principal and differing authorities; so that the amount of real knowledge to be obtained from them may be more readily perceived. We shall therefore state what is known of Assyrian history from: 1. The Bible. 2. Herodotus. 3. Ctesias, and others who have more or less borrowed from his work.

1. The Bible. There is no reason to doubt that the earliest notice which we have of Assyria is that in Gen. x. 10, et seq., in which Nimrod, the grandson of Ham, is mentioned as possessing a kingdom at the cities of Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar; and Assur as having gone out from that land, and founded the cities of Nineveh, Rehoboth, Calah, and Resen. The inference from this statement is that the country round Babel (afterwards called Babylonia) was the elder empire, and Assyria (which, according to universal opinion, has derived its name from Assur) a colony or dependency of Nimrod's original kingdom. After this first notice a long period elapsed, during which the Bible has no allusion to Assyria at all; for the passages where that name occurs (Num. xxiv. 22; Psal. lxxiii. 9) have no historical importance; and it is not till the reign of Menahem, king of Israel, B. C. 769, that we have any mention of an Assyrian king. From that time, however, to the absorption of the empire of Assyria Proper into that of Babylon, we have a line of kings in the Bible, who shall be briefly mentioned here, together with the dates during which they reigned, according to the general consent of chronologers. 1. Pul, the first king of Assyria in Holy Scripture, invaded Palestine about the fortieth year of Uzziah, B. c. 769 (2 Kings, xv. 19), but was induced by Menahem to retire, on receiving a present of 1000 talents. 2. Tiglath-pileser, who succeeded Pul, was on the throne before the death of Pekah, king of Israel, B. C. 738, and had previously conquered Syria (2 Kings, xv. 29, xvi. 5-9); though the precise date of his accession is not determinable. 3. About ten years later Shalmaneser was king, in the beginning of the reign of Hoshea, B. C.730, and he was still living at the capture of Samaria, B. c. 721. (2 Kings, xvii. 1–9, xviii. 9—11.) 4. Sennacherib was on the throne eight years after the fall of Samaria, and must therefore have succeeded his father between B. C. 721 and 713. (2 Kings, xviii. 13; Is. xxxvi. 1.) He was slain by his sons fifty-five days after his flight from Palestine, B. c. 711. (Clinton, F. H. p. 273; Tobit, i. 21.) 5. Esarhaddon, his son, succeeded Sennacherib (2 Kings, xix. 37), but we have no means of determining from the Bible

to what length his reign extended. During some portion of it, it may be inferred from the story of Manasseh (2 Chron. xxxiii. 11) that he was master of Babylon. 6. Nabuchodonosor is the last king of Assyria mentioned in the Bible; but whether he immediately succeeded Esarhaddon we have no means of telling. The date of his accession is fixed to coincided with the forty-eighth year

B. C. 650, as of Manasseh. His reign is remarkable for the overthrow of the Median king Arphaxad (Phraortes), B. C. 634, and the expedition of Holophernes against Judaea in B. c. 633. During the last part of it, also, the invasion of the Scythians must have occurred. Subsequently to Nabuchodonosor no king of Assyria Proper appears in Holy Scripture, and the Empire of the East is in the hands of the rulers of Babylon. The fall of Nineveh itself may be determined to the year B. c. 606. [NINUS.]

2. Herodotus. The notice in Herodotus of the history of Assyria is very brief; and there seems reason to suppose that it is so because he had already treated of Assyria in another work which is now lost (Her. i. 106-184); if, indeed, we may infer from those passages that Herodotus really did compose a separate work on Assyrian history.

According to him (Her. i. 95), the Assyrian empire had lasted 520 years, when the Medians revolted. Now, it may fairly be inferred, that the Median revolt did not take place till after the death of Sennacherib, in B. c. 711. According, therefore, to this theory, the Assyrian empire must have dated from about, B. c. 1231. Josephus (Ant. x. 2) confirms this for the period of the independence of the Medes; though the subsequent evidence of the Bible proves that the Assyrian empire was not overthrown, as he supposes, by the Median defection. Herodotus mentions afterwards (Her. i. 106) the capture of Ninus (Nineveh) by Cyaxares the Mede; the date of which-allowing for the twenty-eight years of the nomad Scythian invasion-coincides, as we shall see hereafter [NINUS], with the year B. C. 606. Herodo tus says little more about Assyria Proper. When, as in i. 177-178, he speaks of Assyria and the great cities which it contained, it is clear from the context that he is speaking of Babylonia; and when, as in vii. 63, he is describing the arms of the Assyrians in the army of Xerxes, he evidently means the inhabitants of N. W. Mesopotamia, for he adds that the people whom the Greeks called Syri, were termed by the Barbarians, Assyrii.

3. Ctesias. The remains of Assyrian history in Ctesias, preserved by Diodorus (ii. 1-31), differ widely from the Bible and Herodotus. According to him, Ninus, the first king, was succeeded by Semiramis, and she by her son Ninyas, who was followed by thirty kings, of whom Sardanapalus was the last. A period of 1306 years is given to these thirty-three reigns, the last of which, according to his chronology, must have been in B. C. 876,-as Ctesias adds four reigns (158 years) to the 128 years which Herodotus gives for the continuance of the separate kingdom of Medes. On this theory, the commencement of the Assyrian empire must have been in B. C. 2182; and, to make the story in Ctesias harmonize at all with the Bible and Herodotus, we must suppose that there were two Median revolts: the first, a partial one, in B. c. 876, when the Medes became indepen dent of Assyria, but did not destroy the seat of government; and the second, and more complete one, in B. C. 606, when, in conjunction with the Babylonians, they sacked Ninus (Nineveh), and put an end to the