mean either a new earth or a new heaven.

Let us see to how much the change really amounted. The Assyrian Empire
was no more. This is a momentous fact, not to be esteemed lightly. The
final catastrophe has happened only six years before our date; but the
power of Assyria had been going downhill for nearly half a century, and
it is clear, from the freedom with which other powers were able to move
about the area of her empire some time before the end, that the East had
been free of her interference for years. Indeed, so near and vital a
centre of Assyrian nationality as Calah, the old capital of the Middle
Empire, had been taken and sacked, ere he who was to be the last "Great
King" of the northern Semites ascended his throne.


SECTION 1. THE NEW ASSYRIAN KINGDOM

For the last hundred and fifty years Assyrian history--a record of black
oppression abroad and blacker intrigue at home--has recalled the rapid
gathering and slower passing away of some great storm. A lull marks the
first half of the ninth century. Then almost without warning the full
fury of the cloud bursts and rages for nearly a hundred years. Then the
gloom brightens till all is over. The dynasty of Ashurnatsirpal and
Shalmaneser II slowly declined to its inevitable end. The capital itself
rose in revolt in the year 747, and having done with the lawful heirs,
chose a successful soldier, who may have been, for aught we know, of
royal blood, but certainly was not in the direct line. Tiglath
Pileser--for he took a name from earlier monarchs, possibly in
vindication of legitimacy--saw (or some wise counsellor told him) that
the militant empire which he had usurped must rely no longer on annual
levies of peasants from the Assyrian villages, which were fast becoming