foundation of the traditional Memnon who led an army to the defence
of Troy. The pure and sparkling water of the Choaspes--a drink fit for
kings--flowed near, while around grew palms, konars, and lemon-trees,
the plain beyond waving with green grass and golden corn. It may be
suspected that the Babylonian kings, who certainly maintained a palace
at this place, and sent high officers of their court to "do their
business" there, made it their occasional residence, exchanging,
in summer and early autumn, the heats and swamps of Babylon for the
comparatively dry and cool region at the base of the Lurish hills. But,
however, this may have been, at any rate Susa, long the capital of a
kingdom little inferior to Babylon itself, must have been the first of
the provincial cities, surpassing all the rest at once in size and in
magnificence. Among the other cities, Carchemish on the Upper Euphrates,
Tyre upon the Syrian coast, and Ashdod on the borders of Egypt, held
the highest place. Carchemish, which has been wrongly identified with
Circesium, lay certainly high up the river, and most likely occupied a
site some distance to the north of Balis, which is in lat. 36° nearly.
It was the key of Syria on the east, commanding the ordinary passage
of the Euphrates, and being the only great city in this quarter. Tyre,
which had by this time surpassed its rival, Sidon, was the chief of all
the maritime towns; and its possession gave the mastery of the Eastern
Mediterranean to the power which could acquire and maintain it. Ashdod
was the key of Syria upon the south, being a place of great strength,
and commanding the coast route between Palestine and Egypt, which was
usually pursued by armies. It is scarcely too much to say that the
possession of Ashdod, Tyre, and Carchemish, involved the lordship of
Syria, which could not be permanently retained except by the occupation
of those cities.

The countries by which the Babylonian Empire was bounded were Persia on