Chamitoe. The other branches occupying the rest of the territory
have already been followed westward,1 as far as the
Leuoo-Syrians. country of the Leuco-Syrians or Cappadocians.8 The latter
occupied a part of the territory now giyen to Havilah, that is,
the country within the river Halys,3 and they appear to have
been the earliest workers in brass and iron, as well as the inventors
of steel; 4 from which circumstance they derived the
name of Chrysor.5
As the Macrones and Mossynoeci were Chusites,6 and the
Chalybes were not only linked with the former, but also with
the Sanni, the Tibareni, and some of the other branches in
question, it seems clear that the whole belonged to the mixed
race o'f Assyrians or Chaldeans,7 who were evidently the same
people as the Chasdim; 8 and who, at a period no doubt long
The chasdim anterior to the call of Abraham, being then a considerable
lonia. nation, descended from the north and conquered Babylonia
from the sons of Shem.
Doubtless, on this occasion, the Chasdim were conducted, as
they probably had been in their preceding migrations, by a
class of men possessing that influence which science confers
throughout the east: this class assumed the authority of priests
' of Belus,9 and were astronomers,10 magicians, and soothsayers.11
They were continually devoted to the study of philosophy18
I See above, vol. I., pp. 275, 276. 2 Plin., lib. V I., cap. iii.
. 3 See chap. X I I .
4 Ammian. Mar., lib. X X I I ; Apol. Argon., I I ., v. 374.
5 Sanchoniatho, ed. Orell, pp. 17,20, et seq. 8 Chronicon Pasch., p. 415.
7 Herod., lib. V II., cap. lxiii., also lib. I., cap. xxviii.; and Strabo, lib.
X I I ., p. 549.
8 Dion., V. 767; Apol. I. 2 ; and Pliny, lib. V I., cap. iv.
9 Herod., lib. I ., cap. c lxxxi.; and Diod. Sic., lib. I., cap. xvi., also lib.
I I . , c. ix.
10 The Chaldeans, says Cicero, who came originally from the Caucasus,
observed the celestial signs by following the motions of the planets, and were
the priest-class of Babylonia.—De Divinatione, lib. I., cap. xix.
II Magic and incantations are attributed to Chus as the inventor, and
were practised among his sons.—Euseb., Prsep. Evan., lib I., cap. x. p. 35 ;
Dan., chap. V.
12 Clement of Alexandria, Stromat, lib. I. p. 359, and Strabo, lib. X V I . ;
also Faber, vol. I I I ., p. 435.
and astronomy, and their attainments were transmitted in
succession from father to son ; hence they became, in a great
measure, the chief people of Babylonia.1
The race to which the Chasdim belonged was very numerous. The descend-
Moses mentions only fourteen descendants of the line of Japhet, sons of Noah.
and twenty-six in that of Shem, whilst those of Ham numbered
thirty-one; and in other respects they were the most important
of the three, having, as we have just seen, had in Babylonia the
first regular government with an established religion,8 and no
doubt also a system of laws. Elsewhere the Cushites were
indifferently known by the designations of Auritoe, Scuthai,
&c. ;3 their territories, says ’Abu-l-Faraj, extended from Rhino-
clura to Gadira ;4 and according to Strabo,5 they occupied the
principal countries as far as India, and again quite to Mauritania
in the opposite direction. One of their seats, where they
had a temple only second to that of Babylon itself, was Aur,
or Our, or U ’r of the Chaldees,6 and the Orcho'e of Ptolemy ;7
the site of which, nearly twenty-five miles westward of She'ikh
el Shuyukh, appears to have been successfully identified with
the mound of Muiayah.8 There were, however, two other Three places
• • • called U’r places which also bore the name of U ’r, viz., the cities of
U ’rfah and Kal’ah Skerkat; the latter of which is on the
western bank of the Tigris between the greater and lesser Zab ;9
and from its situation on the borders of Assyria, it was probably
occupied when the followers of Asshur were driven from Babel
to Nineveh.. Besides the derivation of the word Ethiopia,
which has been already given,“ another has been founded on
the name of the object of worship, among the people of the
1 Diod. Sic., lib. I I ., cap. xxi.
2 Pausanius, Messen., p. 261, and Diod. Sic., lib. I . c. xvi.
2 Bryant’s Ancient Mythology, vol. I I I ., p. 245.
4 ’Abii-l-Faraj, Chron. Syr., p. 7.
s Lib. I., pp. 31, 35.
6 Bryant’s ^Ancient Mythology, vol. I ., p. 13, and above, vol. I., p. 93.
7 Lib. V., cap. xxiv.
8 See above, vol. I., pp. 93, 116, and Ainsworth’s Assyria and Babylonia,
pp. 179, 180.
8 Royal Geographical Journal, vol. X I., p. 4-7, and Cumberland’s Times
of the First Planting of Nations, p. 232.
18 Vol. I., p. 281.