Explorations in Bible lands during the 19th century - H. V. Hilprecht

LURING 19TH CENTURY. ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA 7
and the restoration of their literature and art were achieved
only in the course of the nineteenth century. The road was
long, the process slow, and many persons and circumstances
combined to bring about the final result.
I
THE REDISCOVERY OF NINEVEH AND BABYLON
NINEVEH
Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire, owed its
greatness and domineering influence exclusively to the conquering
spirit of its
rulers and the military glory and prowess
of its armies. As soon as the latter had been routed,
her influence ceased, the city fell, never to rise again, and
its very site was quickly forgotten among the nations.
When two hundred years later Xenophon and his ten thousand
Greeks fought their way through the wilderness and
mountains to the Black Sea, they passed the ruins of Nineveh
without even mentioning her by name. But a vague
local
tradition, always an important factor in the East, continued
to linger around the desolate region between Mosul
and the mouth of the Upper Zab, where the final drama
had been enacted.
Benjamin of Tudela, a learned Spanish Jew, who travelled
to Palestine and the districts of the Euphrates and
Tigris in the twelfth century, about the time when Rabbi
Pethahiah of Ratisbon visited Mesopotamia, had no difficulty
in locating the actual position of Nineveh. In
speaking of Mosul he savs :
" This city, situated on the
Tigris, is connected with ancient Nineveh by a bridge. It
is true, Nineveh lies now in utter ruins, but numerous
villages and small towns occupy its former space." 1
1
Comp. Itinerarium Beniamini Tudelensis (ex Hebraico Latinum factum
Betted. Aria Montano interpreted, Antwerp, 1575, p. 58.