In Jewish legend, Daniel was a prophet. He was a contemporary of Ezekiel, and was born of a distinguished Hebrew family. In his youth, in 605 BC, he was carried captive to Babylon, and educated in the Babylonish court for the service of King Nebuchadnezzar. Thrown into the lions' den for conscientiously refusing to obey the king he was allegedly miraculously preserved, and finally made prime-minister in the court of the Persian king Darius. He ranks with what are called the 'greater prophets.' The book of the Old Testament which bears his name is divided into a historical and a prophetic part. Modern criticism generally regards it as written during the oppression of the Jews under Antiochus, about 170 BC. It is partly in Chaldee. Research Daniel
Nebuchadnezzar was King of Babylonia from 604 BC. He was born in 630 BC and died in 562 BC. Shortly before his accession he defeated the Egyptians at Carchemish and brought Palestine and Syria into his empire. Judah revolted, with Egyptian assistance, in 596 and from 587 to 586 BC; on both occasions he captured Jerusalem and took many Hebrews into captivity. He largely rebuilt Babylon and constructed the hanging gardens. Research Nebuchadnezzar
A nebuchadnezzar is a wine bottle, generally used for display purposes, holding the equivalent of twenty normal bottles (approximately 520 ounces). Research Nebuchadnezzar
Babylon was the capital of the ancient Chaldean empire in Asia, and is now a ruined city in Iraq. Babylon was located on both sides of the Euphrates, and formed one of the largest and most splendid cities of the ancient world.
Babylon was a royal city sixteen hundred years before the Christian era; but the old city was almost entirely destroyed in 683 BC. A new city was built by Nebuchadnezzar nearly a century later. This was in the form of a square, each side 15 miles long, with walls of such immense height and thickness as to constitute one of the wonders of the world. It contained splendid edifices, large gardens and pleasure-grounds, especially the 'hanging-gardens,' a sort of lofty terraced structure supporting earth enough for trees to grow, and the celebrated tower of Babel or temple of Belus, rising by stages to the height of 625 feet. After the city was taken by Cyrus in 538 BC, and Babylonia made a Persian province, it began to decline, and had suffered severely by the time of Alexander the Great. He intended to restore it, but was prevented by his death, which took place here in 323 BC, from which time its decay was rapid. Interesting discoveries have been made on its site in comparatively recent times, more especially of numerous and valuable inscriptions in the cuneiform or arrow-head character. The modern town of Hillah is believed to represent the ancient city, and the plain here for milesround is studded with vast mounds of earth and brick and imposing ruins. The greatest mound is Birs Nimrud, about 6 miles from Hillah. It rises nearly 200 feet, is crowned by a ruined tower, and is commonly believed to be the remains of the ancient temple of Belus. Another great ruin-mound, called Mujellibeh, has also been assigned as its site.
Babylonia was an old Asiatic empire occupying the region watered by the lower course of the Euphrates and the Tigris, and by their combined stream. The inhabitants, though usually designated Babylonians, were sometimes called Chaldeans, and it is thought that the latter name represents a superior caste who at a comparatively late period gained influence in the country. At the earliest period of which we have record the whole valley of the Tigris and Euphrates was inhabited by tribes of Turanian or Tatar origin. Along with these, however, there early existed an intrusive Semitic element, which gradually increased in number until at the time the Babylonians and Assyrians (the latter being a kindred people) became known to the western historians they were essentially Semitic peoples. The great city Babylon, or Babel, was the capital of Babylonia, which was called by the Hebrews Shinar. The country was, as it still is, exceedingly fertile, and must have anciently supported a dense population. The chief cities, besides Babylon, were Ur, Calneh, Erech, and Sippara. Babylonia and Assyria were often spoken of together as Assyria.
The discovery and interpretation of the cuneiform inscriptions have enabled the history of Babylonia to be carried back to about 4000 BC, at which period the inhabitants had attained a considerable degree of civilization, and the country was ruled by a number of kings or princes each in his own city. About 2700 BC Babylonia came under the rule of a single monarch. Latterly it had serious wars with neighbouring nations, and for several hundred years previous to 2000 BC Babylonia was subject to the neighbouring Elam. It then regained its independence, and for a thousand years it was the foremost state of Western Asia in power, as well as in science, art, and civilization. The rise of the Assyrian empire brought about the decline of Babylonia, which latterly was under Assyrian domination, though with intervals of independence, Tiglath-Pileser II. of Assyria (745-727) made himself master of Babylonia; but the conquest of the country had to be repeated by his successor, Sargon, who expelled the Babylonian king, Merodach-Baladan, and all but finally subdued the country, the complete subjugation being effected by Sennacherib. After some sixty years the second or later Babylonian empirearose under Nabopolassar, who, joining the Modes against the Assyrians, freed Babylon from the superiority of the latter power, 625 BC The new empire was at its height of power and glory under Nabopolassar's son, Nebuchadnezzar (604-561), who subjected Jerusalem, Tyre, Phoenicia, and even Egypt, and carried his dominion to the shores of the Mediterranean and northwards to the Armenianmountains. The capital, Babylon, was rebuilt by him, and then formed one of the greatest and most magnificent cities the world has ever seen. He was succeeded by his son Evil-Merodach, but the dynasty soon came to an end, the last king being Nabonetus or Nabonadius, who came to the throne in 555 BC, and made his son, Belshazzar, co-ruler with him. Babylon was taken by Cyrus the Persian monarch in 538, and
e second Babylonian empire came to an end, Babylonia being incorporated in the Persian empire. Its subsequent history was similar to that of Assyria.
Babylonian culture was similar to that of Assyria, but with some differences. In Babylonia stone was not to be had, and consequently brick was the almost universal building material. Sculpture was thus less developed in Babylonia than in Assyria, and painting more. Babylonian art had also more of a religious character than that of Assyria, and the chief edifices found in ruins are temples. Weaving and pottery were carried to high perfection. Astronomy was cultivated from the earliest times. The Babylonians had a number of deities, but latterly the chief or national deity was Bel Merodach, originally the Sun-god. Education was well attended to, and there were schools and libraries in connection with the temples. On the inscribed tablets that have been discovered are writings relating to religion, law, magic, poems, etc. Research Babylonia
The Arab Republic of Egypt is a republic in north-east Africa. It has a total area of 1,001,450 km2. The climate is desert, extremely clear and dry, the temperature regular and exceedingly hot. The winter months are the most delightful part of the year; later, the ground becomes parched and dry, and in May the suffocating khamseen, or simoom, begins to blow from the desert plains. Rain is scanty except near the sea-shore; but at night the dews are heavy in lower Egypt, and the air cool and refreshing.
The terrain is comprised of a vast desert plateau interrupted by the Nilevalley and delta. Natural resources are crude oil, natural gas, iron ore, phosphates, manganese, limestone, gypsum, talc, asbestos, lead, zinc. The religion is 94% Muslim (mostly Sunni), 6% Coptic Christian and other. The official language is Arabic with English and French also widely understood by the educated classes.
Egypt has an ancient history of civilisation. When Abraham entered the Delta from Canaan the Egyptians had been long enjoying the advantages of a settled government. They had built cities, invented hieroglyphic signs, and improved them into syllabic writing, and almost into an alphabet. They had invented records, and wrote their kings' names and actions on the massive temples which they raised. The arrangement of Egyptian chronology is still a much- disputed point amongst scholars. A list of the kings of Egypt, arranged In thirty dynasties, was given by the priest Manetho about 250 BC, and this division is still used. His list, however, is in a very corrupt condition and his method is not strictly chronological. Hence in the various systems of chronology adopted by Egyptologists the dates assigned to Mena (or Menes) vary from 5702 to 2440 BC.
According to tradition Mena formed the old empire of Egypt and founded its capital Memphis. The IVth Dynasty is distinguished as the 'Pyramid Dynasty.' Three of its kings, Khufu, Khafra, and Menkaura (according to Herodotus, Cheops, Chephren, and Mykerinos), built the largest pyramids. The date assigned to these kings in the chronology of Lepsius is 2800-2700.
About 2400 the government of the empire seems to have been transferred from Memphis to Thebes, and with the beginning of Dynasty XII the Theban line was firmly established. The chief princes of this dynasty are Amenemhat I (2380), who seems to have extended the power of Egypt over a part of Nubia; Usurtasan I, who made further conquests in this direction; and Amenemhat III (2179), who constructed Lake Meri (Mosris), a large reservoir for regulating the water supply of the Nile.
About 2100 Egypt was conquered by the Hyksos, or shepherd kings, who invaded Egypt from the east and established their capital at Tanis (Zoan). The Theban princes seem, however, to have preserved a state of semi-independence, and at last a revolt commenced which ended by the shepherd kings being completely driven out of Egypt by King Aahmes (Amasis) of Thebes (about 1600), the first of the XVIIIth Dynasty. With Aahmes and the expulsion of the shepherd kings began the reigns of those great Theban kings who built the magnificent temples and palaces at Thebes.
The kings of the other parts of Egypt sank to the rank of sovereign priests. Thutmes (or Thothmosis II.) added Memphis to his dominions by his marriage with Queen Nitocris. Under Thutmes III and his successors there were successful expeditions against the Syrians and the Ethiopians. Amenhotep III set up his two gigantic statues in the plain of Thebes, one of which the Greeks called the musical statue of Memnon.
The Ramessides form the XIXth Dynasty. They commence with Ramses I, who seems to have been of Lower Egyptian extraction. His grandson, the great Ramses II, or Sesostris, was successful against the neighbouring Arabs, and covered Egypt with magnificent buildings. Ramses II was probably the Pharaoh who oppressed the Hebrews, and the exodus may have occurred under his successor Meneptah or Merenptah. under the later Ramessides the Egyptian empire began to decay.
A new dynasty, XXI, came to the throne with King Hirhor. The seat of their power was Tanis in the Delta. During this period a great number of foreigners, Libyans as well as Asiatics, established themselves in Egypt. About 961 Sheshenk I, the Shishak of the Bible, of a Shemite family from Bubastis, established a new dynasty (XXII). He attempted to restore Egyptian rule in the East, and conquered and plundered Jerusalem. After his death Egypt was torn by civil wars, and eventually the Ethiopians under Shabak (Sabako) conquered it (XXVth Dynasty).
For a time Egypt was subject alternately to Ethiopian and Assyrian princes, but in the 7th century the kings of Sa'is once more restored its independence and prosperity to Egypt. Psamethik I (Psammetichus) warred successfully in Syria and Palestine. King Nekho (610-594) defeated Josiah, king of Judah, but his further progress was checked by Nebuchadnezzar. His sailors circumnavigated Africa. Uahbra (the Greek Apries, the Hophrah of the Bible); and Aahmes II (Greek Amasis) followed. About 523 Cambyses, King of Persia, overran Egypt and made it a Persian province. During the reign of Cambyses the Egyptians suffered much oppression. After the Persian defeat at Marathon the Egyptians rose and recovered their independence for a short time, but were again subdued, and, in spite of two other revolts, Egypt remained a Persian province until Persia itself was conquered by Alexander the Great in 332 BC.
Egypt now became a Greek state, many Greeks having been already settled in the country, and the Egyptians were treated as an inferior race. Alexandria was founded as the new Greek capital. On Alexander's death his general, Ptolemy, took possession of the throne and became the first of a Greek dynasty that for three hundred years made Egypt one of the chief kingdoms of the world. The Ptolemies were magnificent patrons of letters and arts. Theocritus, Callimachus, Euclid the geometrician, the astronomers Eratosthenes and Arafcus, etc, flourished under their rule. But while the Alexandrian Greeks managed to keep down the native Egyptians, they were themselves sinking under the Romans. Ptolemy Auletea went to Rome to ask help against his subjects, and the famous Cleopatra maintained her power only through her personal influence with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony.
On the defeat of Mark Antony by Augustus, in 30 BC, Egypt became a province of Rome. It was still a Greek state, and Alexandria was the chief seat of Greek learning and science. On the spread of Christianity the Old Egyptian doctrines lost their sway. Now arose in Alexandria the Christian catechetical school, which produced Clemena and Origen. The sects of Gnostics united astrology and magic with religion. The school of Alexandrian Platonics produced Plotinus and Proclus. Monasteries were built all over Egypt; Christian monks took the place of the pagan hermits, and the Bible was translated into Coptic.
On the division of the great Roman Empire in 395, in the time of Theodosius, into the Western and Eastern Empires, Egypt became a province of the latter, and sank deeper and deeper in barbarism and weakness. It was conquered in 640 by the Saracens under Caliph Omar. As a province of the caliphs it was under the government of the celebrated Abbasides - Harun-al-Rashid and Al-Mamun - and that of the heroic Sultan Saladin. The last dynasty was, however, overthrown by the Mamelukes in 1250; and the Mamelukes in their turn were conquered by the Turks during 1516 - 1517. The Mamelukes made repeated attempts to cast off the Turkishyoke, and had virtually done so by the end of the 18th century, when the French conquered Egypt and held it until 1801, when they were driven out by the British under Abercromby and Hutchinson.
On the expulsion of the French a Turkish force under Mehemet Ali Bey took possession of the country. Mehemet Ali was made pasha, and being a man of great ability administered the country vigorously and greatly extended the Egyptian territories. At length he broke with the Porte, and after gaining a decisive victory over the Ottoman troops in Syria in 1839 he was acknowledged by the sultan as viceroy of Egypt, with the right of succession in his family. Mehemet Ali died in 1849, having survived his son Ibrahim, who died in 1848. He was succeeded by his grandson Abbas, who, dying in 1854, was succeeded by his uncle Said, son of Mehemet. Under his rule railways were opened, and the cutting of the SuezCanal commenced.
After Said's death Ismail Pasha, a grandson of Mehemet Ali, obtained the government in 1863. His administration was vigorous but exceedingly extravagant, and brought the finances of the country into disorder. In 1866 he obtained a firman from the sultan granting him the title of khedive. In 1879 he was forced to abdicate under pressure of the British and French governments, and was replaced by his son Tewfik. In 1882 the 'national party' under Arabi Pasha revolted and forced the khedive to flee. On July 11 a British fleet bombarded Alexandria and restored the khedive, and at Tel-el-Kebir Arabi's forces were totally crushed on the 13th September. A rebellion in the Sudan under the leadership of Mohammed Ahmed, the so-called mahdi, now gave the government trouble.
In 1883 the mahdi's forces annihilated an Egyptian force in Kordofan. British troops sent to Suakin inflicted two severe defeats on the mahdi's followers; but the British cabinet resolved to abandon the Sudan, and General Gordon was sent to withdraw the garrisons. He was shut up in Khartoum by the mahdi's forces for nearly a year, and was murdered in January 1885 before the relief expedition under Wolseley could reach him. The country south of Wady Haifa was then given up, but was reconquered under LordKitchener, the crowning victory being at Omdurman, near Khartoum in 1898.
Egypt remained a kingdom until 1952 when King Farouk was overthrown in a coup and Egypt became a republic.
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were four acres of gardens raised on a base supported by pillars, and towering in terraces one above another 100 meters in height. At a distance they looked like a vast pyramid covered with trees. The gardens were constructed by Nebuchadnezzar to gratify his wife who was bored with the flat plains of Babylon, and longed for something to remind her of her native Median hills. Research Hanging Gardens of Babylon
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