E-text prepared by Thierry Alberto, Brownfox, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) Sec.Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 24654-h.htm or 24654-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/5/24654/24654-h/24654-h.htm) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/5/24654/24654-h.zip) CHALDEA From the Earliest Times to the Rise of Assyria (Treated As a General Introduction to the Study of Ancient History) by ZENAIDE A. RAGOZIN Member of the "Societe Ethnologique" of Paris; of the "American Oriental Society"; Corresponding Member of the "Athenee Oriental" of Paris; Author of "Assyria," "Media," Etc. "He (Carlyle) says it is part of his creed that history is poetry, could we tell it right."--EMERSON. Fourth Edition [Illustration: SHAMASH THE SUN-GOD. (From the Sun Temple at Sippar.)] London T. Fisher Unwin Paternoster Square New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons MDCCCXCIII TO THE MEMBERS OF THE CLASS, IN LOVING REMEMBRANCE OF MANY HAPPY HOURS, THIS VOLUME AND THE FOLLOWING ONES ARE AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED BY THEIR FRIEND. THE AUTHOR. IDLEWILD PLANTATION, SAN ANTONIO, CLASSIFIED CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION. I. PAGE MESOPOTAMIA.--THE MOUNDS.--THE FIRST SEARCHERS 1-18 Sec. 1. Complete destruction of Nineveh.--Secs. 2-4. Xenophon and the "Retreat of the Ten Thousand." The Greeks pass the ruins of Calah and Nineveh, and know them not.--Sec. 5. Alexander's passage through Mesopotamia.--Sec. 6. The Arab invasion and rule.--Sec. 7. Turkish rule and mismanagement.--Sec. 8. Peculiar natural conditions of Mesopotamia.--Sec. 9. Actual desolate state of the country.--Sec. 10. The plains studded with Mounds. Their curious aspect.--Sec. 11. Fragments of works of art amidst the rubbish.--Sec. 12. Indifference and superstition of the Turks and Arabs.--Sec. 13. Exclusive absorption of European scholars in Classical Antiquity.--Sec. 14. Forbidding aspect of the Mounds, compared with other ruins.--Sec. 15. Rich, the first explorer.--Sec. 16. Botta's work and want of success.--Sec. 17. Botta's great discovery.--Sec. 18. Great sensation created by it.--Sec. 19. Layard's first expedition. II. LAYARD AND HIS WORK 19-35