Διὸς Βήλου ἱρὸν] The precinct consecrated to Jupiter Belus. Arrian asserts that Xerxes destroyed it on his return from Greece. Strabo,' who affirms the same thing, calls this temple the tomb of Belus. It was, according to this geographer, a square pyramid, one stadium in height, each side of which was one stadium long, that is to say, a little more than 300 feet. I suppose that he here means the little stadium of about 50 toises. It is true, that in the time of Strabo, the stadium was computed to be much longer, but that author is not in the habit of reducing measures to the standard of his own time. On the contrary, of whatever place he speaks, he intends the stadium known there. Neither of these authors speaks of the destruction of this temple, but from the report of others. Herodotus, who had seen it, entirely divests them of credibility. Pliny also contradicts them. Durat adhuc ibi Jovis Beli templum.' We must bear in mind, that a temple of the ancients was very different from one of our churches. It comprised a considerable extent of ground, enclosed by walls, within which there were courts, a grove, pieces of water, sometimes habitations for the priests, and lastly the temple properly so called, and into which, most usually, the priest only was admitted. The entire precinct was called rò iepòv, or, in the Ionian dialect, rò ipóv. The temple, properly so called, or the habitation of the god, was named vaòs, and in Ionian vnòs, cella.' It is therefore obvious, that in this passage we should understand the entire precinct. If it had meant the temple only, this tower of a stadium on each side, occupying the middle of the space, would have produced a monstrous effect; but supposing that admeasurement to apply to the entire space, and the tower to have stood in the middle of it, we shall obtain a meaning more conformable to reason. Herodotus on a hundred occasions distinguishes the vaòs from the ἱερόν. Ιρὸν 4 δὲ τὸ ἐν Διδύμοισι, καὶ ὁ νηός τε, καὶ τὸ χρηστήριον συληθέντα éveniμrparо. "The sacred enclosure, the temple and the Oracle of Didyme, were pillaged and burnt." All the other authors express themselves in the same manner. Pausanias' says, that the Epidaurians had in the enclosure consecrated to Esculapius a theatre, which for the beauty of its proportions surpassed all those of Greece and Rome. To suppose this built in the temple itself, as the Abbé Gedoyn make Pausanias say it was, would be absurd. • Arrian.de Expedit. Alexandr. lib. vii. cap. xvii. p. 517. Strab. lib. xvi. p. 1073. B. Herodot. lib. vi. § xix. • Pausan. Corinth. sive lib. ii. cap. xxvii. p. 174. Pausanias, ou Voyage Historique de la Grèce, tom. i. p. 214. Xaldais éóvres ¡pées] The Chaldeans who are the priests. Belus was originally from Egypt. He went to Babylon, accompanied by other Egyptians, and established them there as priests; and these are the people whom the Babylonians call Chaldeans. The Chaldeans carried to Babylon the science of Astrology, which they had learned from the priests of Egypt. Voltaire gives to these priests the name of Magi. It is obvious that he confounds them with the Magi who were the priests of the Persians. My answer to this may be seen in my supplement to the Philosophy of History, to which may be added the following passage of Diogenes Laertius. "Some pretend that philosophy commenced amongst the barbarians; that the Persians had their Magi, the Babylonians their Chaldeans, and the Indians their Gymnosophists, &c." CLXXXII. 'Epoì μèv où word] This does not appear to me credible. Notwithstanding the credulity of the age in which Herodotus lived, we find in his writings strong proofs of a sound and enlightened judgment. Ἐν Θήβησι τῇσι Αἰγυπτίησι] Αt Thebes in Egypt. If we believe Strabo, this custom was somewhat different. "They consecrate to Jupiter," says he, "a young girl of illustrious birth and striking beauty. She grants her favours to whomsoever she thinks proper, until her menstrua appear. When that happens, she is married; but between the time of her concubinage and her marriage, they wore mourning for her." In all probability, vice dared not, in the outset, appear in its true colours; but in the sequel, the priests, trusting to the imbecile and superstitious credulity of the vulgar of all ranks, laid aside the mask, and appeared in their real character. This example may help to show how wrong Voltaire was to throw a doubt, in his Philosophy of History, on what Herodotus relates of the infamous custom of the women of Babylon. Οὐ γὰρ ὧν αἰεἰ ἐστι χρηστήριον αὐτόθι] For he does not deliver the oracle at this place at all times. Apollo delivered the oracles at Patara during the six winter, and at Delphi during the six summer months, as we learn from Servius: Nam, constat Apollinem sex mensibus hiemalibus, apud Patara, civitatem Lyciæ, dare responsa, unde Pataræus Apollo dicitur, et sex æstivis apud Delum.' CLXXXIII. "Eλaße] And took possession of it. This must have • Diodor. Sicul. lib. i. § xxviii. p. 32. Philosophie de l'Histoire, p. 117. toire, p. 184, 185. • Diogen. Laert. lib. i. Proëm. p. 1. Servius ad Eneid. iv, 143. Vol. ii. p. 492. been, in all probability, on his return from Greece. Arrian does not mention the statue of Jupiter Belus, but the temple of the god, which, according to this author, Xerxes destroyed on his return from Greece, as well as all the other temples of Babylon. The account of Herodotus appears the most probable. See note on § CLXXXI. p. 221. Diodorus Siculus' asserts, that all the relics of this temple were carried away by the kings of Persia. CLXXXIV. Εν τοῖσι Ασσυρίοισι λόγοισι] My history of Assyria. See above, § cv1. note. Zepipajus] Semiramis. There have been several princesses of this name. Herodotus very clearly points out which of them he here means. She preceded Nitocris by five generations. We have only therefore to fix the period at which this latter princess reigned, or governed the kingdom of Babylon, during her husband's illness. She was the wife of Nabopolassar II. or Nebuchadnezzar, who reigned 43 years. Now as this prince died, according to the Canon of Ptolemy, in the year 4134 of the Julian period, 580 years before our era, she must have governed during his illness about the year 4110 of the Julian period, 604 years before our era, and have preserved her authority till the death of Nebuchadnezzar, in 4134 of the Julian, and 580 years before our era. If from this epoch we reckon back 166 years for the five generations, Semiramis will have lived in the second year of the era of Nabonassar. It may be objected that Herodotus counts only five generations between these two princesses, whereas, in the Canon of Ptolemy, there appear fourteen generations or successions, without including two distinct periods of interregnum, between Nabonassar and Nabopolassar. I answer, that Herodotus reckons for each generation a little more than 33 years; for he says, (Book II. § CXLIII.) that three generations make 100 years: so that ne here uses the term generation merely as an admeasurement of time, without reference to the successions: he merely intended to say, that 166 years and some months elapsed between Nabonassar and the death of Nabopolassar, though between those two princes there might have been fourteen successions. I have advanced that Labynetus was the same with Nebuchadnezzar. This latter name appears to me a mere honorary title, common to all the kings of Babylon, as that of Pharaoh was to the kings of Egypt, and Syennesis to the kings of Cilicia. • Arrian. de Expedit. Alexandri, lib. vii. cap. xvii. p. 517. Diodor. Sicul. lib.ii. §ix, p. 123. & Petav. de Doctrinâ temporum, lib. ix. cap. lviii. Vol. ii. p. 70. Harduinus, Chronolog. vet. Testam. ad annum ante Christum 536. Many learned men, thinking that Herodotus here alludes to Semiramis the wife of Ninus, have substituted, some fifteen generations, others fifty, for the five which our historian mentions. But he never, in all his history, names either Ninus or his wife, but that Semiramis only, whose reign preceded that of Nitocris by five generations. Stephanus of Byzantium falls into a gross error, when he makes Herodotus say, that this queen founded the city of Babylon. It is obvious that the historian speaks only of the sluices which this princess had constructed, to prevent inundations of the Euphrates. CLXXXV. 'Ατρεμίζουσαν] Rest in peace. 'Ατρεμίζω and ἀτρεμέω are often taken in this sense. I will cite but one example, from Hippocrates : * οὐ γὰρ δύνανται μένειν ἐν τῷ αὑτέῳ, οὐδὲ ἀτρεμέειν· ἐπεὶ dè ovк årpeμéovoi, &c.: "they cannot remain quiet in the same οὐκ state, nor in a settled state; since they cannot remain in a settled state, they, &c." 'Apainμéva] They had rendered themselves masters. The late President Bouhier concluded from this, that Niniveh had been twice taken by the Medes; first by Cyaxares, and afterwards by Astyages his successor. In this place, the historian only refers to the successes of the Medes under Cyaxares, as I have shown elsewhere. I have also refuted M. Bouhier, in a Memoir read to the Academy of Belles Lettres on some of the Assyrian epochs. Τρὶς . . . ἀπικνέεται ῥέων . . . 'Αρδέρικκα] It passes three times by Ardericca. This passage is somewhat perplexing. The translators have improperly rendered it. The editors of the last edition of Herodotus have certainly understood it; yet it requires some elucidation, which I shall proceed to attempt, and deem myself fortunate if I succeed. 1. The Greek has only, Nitocris caused canals to be cut above,' &c. without specifying any thing further; but as this word above' refers to something of which Herodotus has before spoken, it can only be to the city of Babylon, wóλos, which is mentioned a little before in the Greek text, and in the preceding paragraph. I say the Greek text, because the manner in which I have constructed the sentence obliged me to put Пóλtos afterwards in my translation. And this reason has induced me to render Пóλos by Babylon, that the sense might be clearer. 2. How can we conceive that the Euphrates, tortuous as it may Stephan. Byzant. voc. Baßvλáv. • Recherches et Dissertations sur Hérodote, p. 239 et suiv. Supplément à la Philosophie de l'His toire, p. 61. of the first edition; and p. 69. of the second. See also my Memoir on some of the Assyrian epochs, Mémoires de l'Acad. des Belles Lettres, tom. xlv. p. 407 et suiv. be, could three times have led to Ardericca? The subjoined figure, or some other of the same kind, will show how that might have occurred, Arderica. Winding Course tuphrate) Euphrates. Babylon. 3. What does Herodotus understand by this sea?" (cette mer-ci.) It cannot be the Erythrean sea or Persian gulf. To reach this, the Euphrates must be re-ascended; whereas our historian expressly says, that in going from this sea' to Babylon, you must descend, karaλéovres. It is even very doubtful whether it was possible to ascend this river from the Persian gulf to Babylon. Its rapidity in all probability would prevent it. It is certain, at least, that above Babylon as far as Armenia it was extremely rapid, and could not be ascended. Herodotus positively asserts this. “ The term this sea' must refer to some sea which this historian has mentioned; and yet he has spoken of no sea since the 180th paragraph, where he mentions the Erythrean sea; but I have just proved that it could not be that. We must recollect that Herodotus wrote for the Greeks; and therefore understand by the term this sea,' that part of the Mediterra Her. No. Herodot. lib. i. § cxciv. sub finem. VOL. I. 2 F |