regions, to resist for any considerable time the great kingdom of the
north, of the high plateau, and of the mountain-chains.




CHAPTER II. CLIMATE AND PRODUCTIONS.


The Babylonian Empire, lying as it did between the thirtieth and
thirty-seventh parallels of north latitude, and consisting mostly of
comparatively low countries, enjoyed a climate which was, upon the
whole, considerably warmer than that of Media, and less subject to
extreme variations. In its more southern parts-Susiana, Chaldaea (or
Babylonia Proper), Philistia, and Edom---the intensity of the summer
heat must have been great; but the winters were mild and of short
duration. In the middle regions of Central Mesopotamia, the Euphrates
valley, the Palmyrene, Coele-Syria, Judaea, and Phoenicia, while the
winters were somewhat colder and longer, the summer warmth was more
tolerable. Towards the north, along the flanks of Masius, Taurus, and
Amanus, a climate more like that of eastern Media prevailed, the summers
being little less hot than those of the middle region, while the winters
were of considerable severity. A variety of climate thus existed, but a
variety within somewhat narrow limits. The region was altogether hotter
and drier than is usual in the same latitude. The close proximity of the
great Arabian desert, the small size of the adjoining seas, the want of
mountains within the region having any great elevation, and the general
absence of timber, combined to produce an amount of heat and dryness
scarcely known elsewhere outside the tropics.