Kitabı oku: «The History of Antiquity, Vol. 1 (of 6)», sayfa 18

This carrying trade between South Arabia, Egypt, Syria, and Mesopotamia must have increased when the cities of the Phenicians on the Syrian coast became centres of trade which carried the manufactures of Babylonia, as well as the products of their own industry, over the sea to the West, and when the tribes of Greece and Italy began to desire the incense and spices of Arabia. And it was not only the products of South Arabia which the Arabs brought to Syria, Egypt, and Babylonia, but also those of the south coast of Africa, and even of India. Artemidorus told us that the Sabæans crossed the Arabian Gulf on boats of skins in order to bring back the products of Ethiopia. Though it was possible to cross the narrow basin by these means of transit, the mouths of the Indus and the coasts of Malabar were beyond the reach of such skiffs. If in the course of time Indian wares reached Syria through the Sabæans, they must have been brought by the Indians themselves to the coasts of the Sabæans. At the beginning of the second century B.C. the island Dioscoridis, off the coast of Somali, which was known to the West as the Land of Cinnamon, formed the centre of the trade between Egypt, South Arabia, and India. To this island the ships of the Indians brought the products of their land.

In the first instance the Arabs transported the goods from South Arabia to the Euphrates and the Nile on their camels, and afterwards it lay with them to permit or refuse a passage for the caravans of the Babylonians and Phenicians. First one tribe and then another lay in wait for the caravans, plundered them, or allowed them to buy a passage, convoy, or guide.⁴⁵⁰ Eratosthenes has already told us that the merchants took seventy days in going from the Minæans to Aela, i. e. to Elath, on the north-east point of the Arabian Gulf, and Pliny fixes the distance from Gaza to Thamna, the chief city of the Cattabani, at seventy-five days' journey. Of the caravan road which led from the Sabæans, i. e. in all probability from Maryab to Elath, we only know that it ran along the coast, then passed from Elath by Sela and Bosra into the mountains of the Edomites, then divided the land of the Moabites and Ammonites, passed by Kir Moab (Charak Moab) and Rabbat Ammon, Edrei and Ashtaroth Karnaim, through the land of the Jeturites, to Damascus, and finally, from this place reached the cities of the Phenicians. A second road led apparently past the Oasis of Duma (Dumætha of Ptolemy, Dumat-el-Dshandal) straight to Damascus. In the east the Dedanites brought the products of South Arabia through the desert, by the land of the Temanites and Kedarites, to the Lower Euphrates.⁴⁵¹ The goods not required for Babylonia then passed up the Euphrates to Harran (Charræ). From this point the caravans turned to the west, and in twenty days arrived through the desert at the coasts of the Phenicians.⁴⁵²

How active the trade with the land of frankincense was is shown by the words of the Hebrew prophet, who proclaims to the new Jerusalem: "A multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah (see below); all they from Shebah shall come; they shall bring gold and incense. All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee; the rams of Nebajoth shall minister unto thee."⁴⁵³ The Arabs, when conquered by the Persians, were compelled to pay a yearly tribute of 1,000 talents of incense,⁴⁵⁴ i. e. at least 60,000 pounds. This they could only obtain from South Arabia, and to Western nations the connection between Damascus and South Arabia appeared so close, that they represented the Sabæans as colonists of the Egyptians, Ninus and Semiramis having sent colonies from Damascus to Arabia Felix.

Though the Phenicians could receive the products of South Arabia and the Somali coast by the high road of Elath, and from the Euphrates by Harran, they were nevertheless eager to have a connection by sea with these regions. They availed themselves of the relations in which they stood to Solomon, king of Israel, in order to send ships from Eziongeber down the Arabian Gulf, to Ophir, as far as the mouth of the Indus. These ships brought back sandalwood, apes, peacocks, and gold. This trade fell with the decline of the kingdom of Judah, after the time of Jehoshaphat. But when Amaziah of Judah again subjugated the Edomites, about the year 790 B.C., and after him his son Uzziah again advanced the borders of Judah to the Red Sea, the Phenicians also resumed their connection with the kings of Judah and the trade to Ophir.⁴⁵⁵ Afterwards Pharaoh Necho gave them an opportunity for a short time to set out upon their voyages in the Arabian Gulf, not, indeed, from the north-east, but from the north-west corner of the Red Sea. But immediately afterwards Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, by subduing the Dedanites and planting Babylonian centres of trade on the coast of Dedan and at the mouth of the Euphrates, succeeded in transplanting the marine trade with South Arabia to the Persian Gulf, while the conquest of the Kedarites also put him in a position to strike a road across the desert from Babylon to Sela (in the land of the Edomites, see below). Darius or the Ptolemies were the first to succeed in the attempt made by Rameses II. and Necho, and concentrated in the Bay of Heroonpolis the trade of Egypt and Syria with South Arabia.

Soon after the year 2000 B.C. – so we must conclude – the tribes of South Arabia delivered their spices to the Egyptians, Syrians, and Babylonians, and their incense, which Eastern nations, and in time Western nations also, burned upon the altars of their gods. Then they imported the products of the opposite shore of Africa, a region no less fruitful than South Arabia, and at length the ships of the Indians brought to them the products of the Indus and the Ganges. Thus South Arabia not only exported her own fruits, she became the central mart of East African and Indian products, the point of connection between Eastern and Western Asia. Owing to the fertility of their valleys and terraces, and their old and extensive trade, the tribes of the South soon acquired a more fixed form of constitution and a more advanced civilisation. Numerous remains of magnificent stone structures, ruins of aqueducts, canals, basins, and dams, built with the object of preserving and collecting the water which streamed down the terraces of the mountains and in the valleys, still excite the astonishment of our travellers for the excellence of the plan as well as for the strength of the masonry. The ruins of Nedshran, Sirwah, Ghorab, Nakb-el-Hadshar, and Misenat, and those of Maryab, the old metropolis of the Sabæans, confirm what Western writers and Arab tradition tell us of the glorious palaces of the ancient time and the mighty dams built in the valley of Maryab.⁴⁵⁶ The remains of the dams prove that South Arabia, like Egypt and Babylonia, was far better cultivated in those distant times than now; that there also the greatest importance was attached to irrigation, and the inhabitants understood how to preserve and use the water from the mountain-streams on the terraces. The natural assumption that at one time the cultivation of valuable fruits was far more extensive in South Arabia than at present can hardly be incorrect. The inscriptions found in those ruins and elsewhere in the south-west of Yemen, though they do not, so far as is at present ascertained, go back beyond the year 120 B.C.,⁴⁵⁷ give us some insight into the nature of the civilisation of these tribes and the ancient form of the South Arabian language and alphabet, which must have grown out of the Phenician at an early date, and then have developed independently beside it.⁴⁵⁸ Of a still more recent date, from the first century A.D., we find in the opposite north-west corner of Arabia numerous inscriptions on the rocks in the region of Sinai, written in the North Arabian language and alphabet.⁴⁵⁹

The Hebrew Scriptures divide the tribes of the Arabs into four groups – the Joktanites, among whom tribes of the south and east take the lead; the Keturites, among whom are tribes of Western and Eastern Arabia; the Ishmaelites, including tribes of the table-land of the interior and North Arabia; and finally, the group of tribes who settled and wandered on the eastern borders of Canaan – the Amalekites, Moabites, Ammonites, and Edomites. The Hebrews derive the origin of the Arabs from the progenitors from whom they were themselves sprung. To Shem, the son of Noha, so Genesis tells us, Arphaxad was born, and "Arphaxad begat Salah, and Salah begat Eber, and Eber begat Peleg and Joktan. And Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth (the Chatramites, in Hadramaut, p. 314), and Jerah, and Hadoram, and Uzal (Sanaa), and Diklah, and Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba (the Sabæans), and Ophir and Havilah (the Chaulotæans), and Jobab (the Jobarites of Ptolemy, on the south coast), and their dwelling was from Mesha (Maishan, Mesene on the Euphrates) towards Sephar (Dshafar, to the south of Sanaa and Maryab), a mount of the East." Peleg, the elder brother of Joktan, was the father of Reu, Reu, of Serug; then followed Nahor and Terah. Terah's sons were Abraham, Nahor, and Haran. To Abraham Hagar, his Egyptian bond-servant, bore Ishmael. Abraham sent Hagar and Ishmael into the deserts of Beersheba, but "God was with the lad, and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness of Paran, and was an archer, and his mother took him a wife from the land of Egypt, and his first-born was Nebajoth (the Nabatæans, p. 314), and his sons were Kedar (the Kedarites) and Adbeel, and Mibsam, and Mishma, and Dumah (p. 320), and Massa (the Masanians of Ptolemy), and Hadar, and Thema (the Themanites, p. 314), and Jetur (the Jeturites, near Damascus, p. 320), and Naphish, and Kedemiah, twelve princes; and the descendants of Ishmael dwelt from Shur, which is before Egypt, and from Havilah (p. 314) to Asshur." "And again Abraham took a wife, whose name was Keturah, and she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian (the Midianites) and Ishbak, and Shuah. And Joksham begat Dedan, and the sons of Midian were Ephah and Epher (p. 320). And Abraham gave them gifts and sent them away into the east country."⁴⁶⁰ Abraham's son was Isaac, Isaac's oldest son was Esau, the father of the Edomites, and Esau's grandson, Amalek, was the progenitor of the Amalekites.⁴⁶¹ Haran, the brother of Abraham, begat Lot, and Lot's sons were Moab and Ammon (the Moabites and Ammonites). From these genealogies it is clear that the Hebrews looked on the Arabs almost without exception as kinsmen of their own,⁴⁶² and as kinsmen of a more ancient branch, for the Hebrews were descended from the second son of Isaac. The place nearest to themselves they give to the Ishmaelites, who were divided into twelve tribes, the descendants of the twelve princes, the sons of Ishmael – and next in order came the Edomites, Ammonites, and Moabites.

The native tradition of the Arabs is without historical value. Their recollections hardly go back as far as the beginning of the Christian era, and all that their historians who began to write after Mohammed knew of the older fortunes of their race is either borrowed from the Hebrews or mere imagination. The Amalekites, whom they found in the Hebrew Scriptures, they took for their original stock, and represented them as dwelling in Canaan and Damascus, as well as in the land of Mecca and Oman, and even as ruling over Egypt. These Amalekites – the Tasmites and Dshadi, the A'adites and Dshorhomites – they consider as the genuine Arabs; to whom God had taught Arabic after the confusion of speech. But the Tasmites and Dshadi are as little historic as Amalek in the Arabian tradition; their names signify "the extinct" and "the lost;" the A'adites are a purely fabulous nation, and the Dshorhomites (near Mecca) are a tribe of no great antiquity.⁴⁶³ The progenitor of the southern tribes of Yemen is, in the Arabian tradition, Kachtan, the son of Eber, and great-grandson of Noah. This is the Joktan of Genesis. Kachtan's son, J'arab, founded the monarchy of the Kachtanids, in South Arabia; Abd-Shams-Sabah, the grandson of J'arab, built the city of Mareb, the chief city of the Sabæans, according to the Greeks. This founder of the monarchy of the Sabæans left two sons, Himyar and Kachlan. The first was the progenitor of the Himyarites, who are mentioned even by Western writers, but not till the first century A.D., and then on the south coast between Mareb and Hadramaut. The name Himyarites includes the tribes of the Chatramites, the Codaa, the Kinana, the Dshoheina, &c. Kachlan founded Dshafar (p. 324), and was the progenitor of the Kachlanids, i. e. the Hamdanids, the Badshila, the Odthan, the Chozaa, and other tribes. To the kingdom of Mareb, founded by Abd-Shams-Sabah, the Arab tradition ascribes a long list of princes. But even if we ascribe a period of more than thirty years to every name in this series, the date of Kachtan is not carried back beyond 700 B.C.⁴⁶⁴ Abd-Shams-Sabah is said to have built not only Mareb, but also a great dam for the irrigation of the country. The excellent dams, canals, and sluices at Sanaa (the Uzal of the Hebrews, westward of Mareb) are said to have been built by Asad.⁴⁶⁵ The castles of Sahlin and Bainun (at Sanaa) are said to have been built by demons at the bidding of Solomon for Belkis, queen of Shebah. Besides these the Arabs talk of numerous castles and fortresses in the south. Towards the year 100 B.C. Harith, a descendant of Himyar, obtained the throne of the Sabæans; and the place of the Sabæans is taken by the Himyarites, the Homerites of Western nations, who henceforth are the ruling nation in Yemen, a change for which Arab tradition prepares the way by making Himyar the son and successor of Abd-Shams-Sabah. Harith's successors fixed their residence first at Dshafar (Dhu Raidan), then at Mareb, and finally at Sanaa.⁴⁶⁶

The tribes of the high land of the interior, whom the Arabs call Neshd, i. e. "the high people," and certain tribes of Hidyaz, are derived by tradition from Adnan, a grandson of Ishmael. When Ibrahim (Abraham) had sent away Hagar and her son, and Hagar was about to perish in the desert, the child Ishmael struck the earth with his foot, and from it sprang the fountain of Zamzam, close to Mecca. Amalekites, in search of their lost camels, found the spring, settled down beside it, and worshipped Ishmael as the lord of the spring. Then came tribes from the South, the Dshorhomites and Katura, to the fountain; and Ishmael married the daughter of the chief of the Dshorhomites and begot Nabit (the Nebajoth) and Kaidar (the Kedarites). The Amalekites and Katura were then driven away, and the Dshorhomites remained alone in possession of the fountain of Zamzam. Kaidar's son was Adnan. From Adnan sprang the Benu Bekr, the Taghlib, the Temim, the Takif, the Gatafan, &c. If we ascend the genealogies which Arab tradition gives to the princes of the tribes sprung from Ishmael, in twenty generations, ending with Adnan, the grandson of Ishmael, we only arrive at the end of the second century B.C., even if we allow thirty years for each generation.⁴⁶⁷

The few facts which we can make out about the religious worship of the southern Arabs (they belong almost exclusively to the period in which the Himyarites obtained the supremacy in South Arabia) exhibit a certain connection with the worship of the Babylonians; but we cannot ascertain whether this coincidence, like the close relationship of the South Arabian and Babylonian languages (p. 256), is due to original unity or later intercourse. The Byzantines tell us that the Himyarites worshipped the sun, the moon, and certain demons of the land. The tradition of the Arabs mentions Abd-Shams-Sabah as the founder of the kingdom of the Sabæans, and the name Abd-Shams signifies the servant of the sun-god, and hence in the eyes of the Arabs the worship of the sun-god must have occupied a very prominent place in the religion of the Sabæans – a fact which is confirmed by the inscriptions. They mention the sun-god (Shams, Shamas), the moon-god Al-makak, and the gods Aththor, Haubas, and Dhu Samavi.⁴⁶⁸ The Himyarites are said to have worshipped the sun under the form of an eagle (Nasr), and the Hamdanids (who dwelt to the north of Sanaa and Mareb) under the form of a horse; a third tribe in Yemen are said to have worshipped him in the form of a lion.⁴⁶⁹

The accounts which we have of the religion of the tribes who in the second century of our era, in consequence of the bursting of a great dam at Mareb, according to Arab tradition, migrated to the North, and by this migration destroyed or drove out or amalgamated with the new-comers a considerable number of the old tribes of this region, prove that the immigrants worshipped certain stars as their protecting deities. The Tadshi immigrants from the South, who pastured their flocks on the oasis of Duma (p. 320), worshipped Canopus; the Lachmites, who were driven towards Hira, on the lower Euphrates, worshipped the fortunate star Jupiter; and the Chozaa, who settled to the north of Mecca, worshipped Sirius.⁴⁷⁰

With regard to the religious rites of the tribes derived by the Arabs from Adnan, we learn that the Benu Bekr, who forced their way from Neshd towards the Euphrates, worshipped the god Audh, i. e. the burning one; an ancient form of oath used by this tribe runs as follows – "I swear by the blood streams round Audh and the stones set up beside Suair." The Kinana and the Benu Gatafan in Hidyaz worshipped the goddess Uzza, a name which is said to signify "the mighty one" in a sacred tree.⁴⁷¹ The tribe of the Takif (near Taif, southward of Mecca) worshipped the goddess Allat, in whose name we can, without difficulty, recognise the Alilat of Herodotus: Alilahat means "the goddess." Among the palms of the valley of Nachlah rose the mighty tree of the goddess, "presented with sacred offerings;" but the Takif also prayed to this goddess under the form of a white stone. A third goddess, of the name of Manat, held sway in the district of Medinah; she was worshipped in a black shapeless stone. The Kuraish swore by Allat, Uzza, and Manat.⁴⁷² Among other tribes of the desert the goddess Halasah, or Venus, was worshipped. According to the Western writers the Nabatæans are said to have worshipped the sun and the war-god Dusares.⁴⁷³ "His image is a black, undressed, rectangular stone, four feet high and two feet broad, on a pedestal of beaten gold. To this stone they offer sacrifice and pour libations with the blood of the victims; such are their libations; the whole temple is filled with gold and votive offerings." Modern scholars identify this god Dusares with the Du'sharah of Arabian writers.⁴⁷⁴ Herodotus has already told us that on the conclusion of agreements the stones between the two parties were smeared with blood; and, as according to this evidence, the idols also were sprinkled with the blood of the victims, we can explain the oath of Benu Bekr by the bloodstreams round Audh. The statement of Herodotus that the Arabs worshipped Urotal and Alilat only, and the statements of Strabo and Arrian that they worshipped Zeus, and Dionysus, and the sky, must apparently be limited to the migratory tribes of the north.

Of the gods worshipped by the tribes bordering on Syria we have more definite knowledge. The Midianites and Amalekites who possessed the sandstone plateau of Sinai, and the deserts of Shur in the north, and Sin in the south, worshipped on the highest peaks of that district which the Hebrews called Horeb and Sinai (i. e. the Sinian), the god Baal, who was also worshipped by the Syrians. At the foot of Sinai there still remains the well-watered palm grove, with its rich black earth, of which Agatharchides and Diodorus told us above (p. 309). It is the oasis of Firan, and from the palms the mountain above it is still called Serbal, i. e. "the palm forest of Baal."⁴⁷⁵ The Moabites invoked Baal on Mount Peor, and in times of distress appeased his wrath by human sacrifices. In the same way the Ammonites worshipped their god Milkom; the female deity of the Moabites was Astor, the Astarte of the Syrians, who was also worshipped by the Kedarites.⁴⁷⁶ That the Baal of Sinai was a god who gave fruits and water in the desert is clear from the fact that Herodotus could compare the god of the Arabs with Dionysus, and Strabo and Arrian could ascribe the worship of Dionysus to the Arabs.

From a general view of these scanty notices it becomes clear that the basis of the religious conceptions current among the Semitic tribes of Arabia was not widely different from that of the Semitic tribes by the Euphrates and Tigris, or in Syria, which will be found to be connected with each other. It is easy to understand that the rites of the tribes bordering on Syria were nearer to the rites of the Syrians, and it has been already remarked that the worship of the southern tribes appears to be most closely allied to the rites of the Babylonians. Here, as there, we find the worship of Astarte; Herodotus expressly calls the goddess of the Arabs by the name of Mylitta, the Bilit of the Babylonians, whom, as we shall see, the Canaanites also worshipped with much zeal. We saw that in Babylon her power was recognized in the evening gleam of the planet Venus, that all young things, fountains, and pools, belonged to this goddess; and we shall find her worshipped in Syria on the shady heights of Lebanon. The tribes of the Arabian deserts also consecrated lofty trees to this goddess, their Allat, or Halasah; and just as they believed that the power of this, as of other deities, was present in stones, so shall we find a similar custom prevailing among the Syrians. That the tribes of the deserts should pay especial reverence to the deities of the stars – we have seen how systematised was the worship of stars in Babylon – cannot surprise us. With the refreshing dew of evening not Venus only or the moon, but the whole glory of the starry heaven met the eye and touched the spirit of the Arabs. High above the tents and resting flocks, above the nocturnal ride and waiting ambuscade, and all the doings of men the stars passed along on their glittering courses. They guided the Arabs on their way through the deserts; certain constellations announced the wished-for rain, others the wild storms, the changes of the seasons, the time for breeding in their herds and flocks. As these stars at one time brought abundance and good pastures for their flocks, and at another dried up the springs and scorched the meadows, so could they also bring joy and happiness or trouble and pain to men. Hence to the tribes of the desert especially brilliant stars appeared as living spirits, as rulers over nature and the fortunes of mankind.

The life of the roving tribes in the interior whom the Arabs denote by the general name of Badawi (Bedouins), i. e. "sons of the desert," has undergone few changes; at the present day but slight deviations have been made from the customs and conditions of the ancient time. Their life was regulated according to their descent in patriarchal forms, and the basis of it was the natural affection of the family. At the head of the tribe stood the chief of the oldest family, from which the rest derived their origin. All descendants of the patriarch who had given the name to the tribe gave a willing obedience to his nearest descendants, for the claims of primogeniture were sacred. The wealth in horses of excellent breed, camels, and cattle is the pride of these tribal chiefs and the symbol of their supremacy. Surrounded by the council of the elders, the heads of the other families, the chiefs maintained peace in the tribe, settled quarrels, led out the youth of the tribe on plundering expeditions and in feuds, and divided the spoil. They alone had the right to assemble the tribe, to carry the standards under which the tribe fought, and give the command in battle. In rare instances the remembrance of a common origin keeps several tribes together in a kind of union under the chief of the oldest tribe, from which the others have branched off, but as a rule the tribes hold proudly aloof and are hostile to each other. They attack each other, plunder the tents, carry off the women, children, and servants, and drive away the flocks. When a feud has once broken out and members of a tribe have been slain, it is incumbent on the family and tribe to which the dead belonged to revenge the fallen, and kill at least as many members of the hostile tribe. This duty of revenge is hereditary on either side, and descends from generation to generation until the chief of a third tribe is chosen to decide the quarrel and become a peace-maker by fixing a fine of cattle or other property.

In such a mode of life, which, in its general features, has remained unchanged for thousands of years, the Arabs of the desert exercised the virtues of reverence, piety, and attachment to their tribal chiefs; thus there grew up among them a steadfast, manly character; they were true to their promise when once given, and displayed a noble hospitality. If any one came in peace to their tents, drink was given to him by the daughters of the tribe from the fountains, the men took him as a friend into their tents and shared their store of dates with him, or entertained him with a sheep from the flock. When the stranger had once set his foot in the tent, the host guaranteed his safety with his own life. When the night came on with her refreshing coolness, the stranger was required to sit in the starlight in the circle of the tribesmen. He was expected to tell of his origin, his race, and tribe; and then the hosts also told the fame of their ancestors and sang the deeds of their fathers and themselves, the feuds and encounters in which their tribe had been victorious, the virtues of their favourite horses, and the swiftness of their camels.

Poetry was the only form of intellectual life known to the tribes of the desert. The Bedouins had a lively sense of the incidents which broke the simple loneliness of their lives, and gave them a vigorous and even a fiery expression. The artless song was the expression of feelings deeply stirred by sorrow or joy. Such songs were equally adapted for calling to mind their own deeds and fortunes or those of the tribe, and for moral exhortation. They were "occasional" pieces. Lament for the dead, praise of the noblest warrior, the battles and exaltation of the tribe, the generosity and courage of their own tribe or hatred of the hostile tribe, derision of the enemy, hunting, weapons, rides through the desert, horses and camels, are the subjects of this poetry, which is expressed in short iambic verses. Tradition mentions Lokman as the oldest poet. He is supposed to be a contemporary of David; and round his name is gathered a number of proverbs, gnomes, and fables. The short poems lived on in the tribe, they were sung again and again, extended and recast. At a later time there were also rhapsodes who could repeat a store of such poems.

The Arabs have developed in the most healthy and marked manner the characteristic features of the Semitic race. Their roving life in the deserts under the burning sun and amid tempests and whirlwinds of sand has strengthened and hardened them. Surrounded in pathless isolation by beasts of prey and hostile tribes, every one was dependent on his own watchfulness and keenness, on his courage and resolution, on his horse and his lance. On a frugal and scanty sustenance the body became lean and thin, but supple, muscular, and capable of endurance; and in these hardy bodies dwelt a resolute spirit. Thus the Arabs display a freer attitude, a more steadfast repose, a more haughty pride, a greater love of independence, and a more adventurous boldness than their kinsmen. Their land and their mode of life have saved them from the greedy avarice, from the luxury and debauchery, into which the Semitic nations on the Euphrates and Tigris, as on the Mediterranean, often fell, though they share in the cruelty and bloodthirstiness common to their race. It was the Arabs on whose virgin strength a new Semitic empire and civilization was able to be founded in the Middle Ages, when Babel and Asshur, Tyre and Carthage, Jerusalem and Palmyra had long passed away.