ildings, his hunts, his conquest of
Babylon--Merodach-nadin-akhi and the close of the Pashe
dynasty--Assur-belkala and Samsi-ramman III.: the decline of
Assyria--Syria without a foreign rider: the incapacity of the Khdti to
give unity to the country._

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CHAPTER II--THE RISE OF THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

_Phoenicia and the northern nations after the death of Ramses III.--The
first Assyrian empire: Tiglath-pileser I.--The Aramoans and the Khati._

The cessation of Egyptian authority over countries in which it had so
long prevailed did not at once do away with the deep impression which
it had made upon their constitution and customs. While the nobles
and citizens of Thebes were adopting the imported worship of Baal and
Astarte, and were introducing into the spoken and written language words
borrowed from Semitic speech, the Syrians, on the other hand, were
not unreceptive of the influence of their conquerors. They had applied
themselves zealously to the study of Egyptian arts, industry and
religion, and had borrowed from these as much, at least, as they had
lent to the dwellers on the Nile. The ancient Babylonian foundation
of their civilization was not, indeed, seriously modified, but it was
covered over, so to speak, with an African veneer which varied in depth
according to the locality.*

* Most of the views put forth in this part of the chapter
are based on posterior and not contemporary data. The most
ancient monuments which give evidence of it show it in such
a complete state that we may fairly ascribe it to some
centuries earlier; that is, to the time when Egypt still
ruled in Syria, the period of the XIXth and even the XVIIIth
dynasty.

Phoenicia especially assumed and retained this foreign exterior. Its
merchants, accustomed to establish themselves for lengthened periods in
the principal trade-centres on the Nile, had become imbued therein
with something of the religious ideas and customs of the land, and
on returning to their own country had imported these with them and
propagated them in their neighbourhood. They were not content with other
household utensils, furniture, and jewellery than those to which they
had been accustomed on the Nile, and even the Phonician gods seemed to
be subject to this appropriating mania, for they came to be recognised
in the indigenous deities of the Said and the Delta. There was, at
the outset, no