'Mfl^#^: mm JA^iii^iiki^l^:i&''''' 70 BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME FROM THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF Henrg H}. Sage 1S91 A4m-^-.- H-n- CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 3 1924 082 478 235 Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924082478235 THK EUPHEATES EXPEDITION VOL. II. A PEESONAL NAEEATIVE OP THE EUPHRATES EXPEDITION BY WILLIAM EEANCIS AINSWOETH SURGEON AND GEOLOGIST TO THE EXPEDITION PH.DB.; F.a.A. ; F.R.G.S.; L.11.0.S.E. ; oorbespondino memeee of the geoodaphical SOCIETY OF PABIS, OF THE GERMAN ORIENTAL BOCIETT, AND OF THE MOLDAVIAN NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY IN TWO VOLUMES VOL. II. LONDON KEGAN PAUL, TEENCH, & CO., 1 PATEBNOSTEB SQUAEE 1888 reproduction are reserved) (The nghts of translation and of CONTENTS or THE SECOND VOLUME. BOOK IV.—BABYLONIA AND KHALDAEA. CHAFTBB PAGB I. THE PLAIN OF BABYLONIA 1 II. BABYLON 13 III. THE EITBES AND CITIES OF BABYLONIA . .22 IV. THE BABYLONIAN MAESHES 40 V. KHALDAEA 52 VI. THE FIGHT OF THE SACEED GEOVE . 61 VII. THE MUNTIFIK AEABS 71 VIII. THE PALM GEOVES OP THE EUPHEATES . 84 IX. BASSOEA 92 BOOK V.—WANBEBINGS IN PEBSIA. I. BUSHIEE 113 II. THE PASSES OF THE PEESIAN APENNINES . 125 III. A VISIT TO PEESEPOLIS 145 IV. THE CAVE OF SHAPUE . 159 — ' V. MUHAMMBAH ' A BONE OF CONTENTION . 168 .VI. THE TEEEITOEY OF MESENE 180 . vi THE EUPHRATES EXPEDITION BOOK VL—ASCENT OF THE EUPEBATES, TIGBIS, AND KABTJN. OHAPTEB '*"'' 191 I. THE BBEAKDOWN II. THE cha'ab aeabs 205 III. THE SUGAB PLANTATIONS OF AHWAZ . .219 IV. THE SAB^ANS OE MANDAITES 233 V. THE BASTEBN TIGEIS OB NAHB-WAN .... 248 VI. THE HIGHWAY TO SUSA 257 VII. SBLEUCIA AND CTESIPHON 267 VIII. THE CITY OP THE EHALIFS 277 BOOK VII.—KUBDISTAN AND ASIA MINOB. I. KUBD PASHALIK OE SULAIMANIYAH 287 II. THE GBEATEB AND LE3SEB ZAB 801 III. A PIBST VISIT TO MOSUL AND NINEVEH . 313 IV. NOBTHEBN ASSYBIA ....... 323 V. THE COUNTBY OP THE JACOBITES 333 VI. THE COPPEB MINES OP ABGHANA .... 847 VII. A BEAUTEOUS BUT NEGLECTED COUNTBY . 358 VIII. PAEEWELL TO THE OBIENT 871 APPENDIX. No. TABLE OP SITES ON THE EIVEB EUPHEATBS . 383 TABLE OP SITES ON , THE . TIGBIS 389 1. ISLAND OP MBLIBOEA 393 2. MOUNT ST. SIMON , 393 3. DAPHNE , . 395 4. SELEUCIA PIBEIA 400 5. MOUNT CASIUS , . 404 CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME vil No. PAGE 6. THE STEIAN CEOCODILE 405 7. THE TELLS OE MOUNDS OP NORTH SYEIA . 407 8. ABEAHAM'S FATHEELAND 414 9. CHALOIDENE 422 10. HALAH 429 11. CAECHEMI8H 431 12. DUEA 431 " 13. BETHAUNA . 432 14. SAOCOEAS 482 15. FIEEY FUENACE 433 16. NBHAEDBA 433 17. AECH^OLOGY OP KHALDABA 434 18. EUINS AT MtJ-KATIE 444 19. UE AND OBCHOE 452 20. LIST OP KHALDAEAN KINGS 453 21. TOMB OP EZEA 455 22. SULAIMANITAH 456 23. TOMB OP NAHUM 457 24. EOMAION AGEE 457 25. JBBEL JUDI 458 26. EABAHI 458 27. JEZIEAH IBN OMAE 459 28. NisiBis 459 29. MAEDIN 460 30. CAECATHIOCEETA 460 81. AMASIA 461 32. OSMANJIK 462 33. TUSIYAH 462 34. ANADYNATA 463 85. TOKAT 463 36. HAMMAM ALI 464 37. THE EENDBEING OP OEIBNTAL WOEDS INTO EOMAN LETTEES 464 INDEX 469 THE EUPHRATES EXPEDITION. BOOK IV.—BABYLONIA AND KHALDAEA. CHAPTEE I. THE PLAIN OF BABYLONIA. Kalah Eamadi, the Charmande of Xenophon, is thirty- two miles by river below Hit, and four miles below that is the district of Sura, with a canal and lake. This is the first derivative from the Euphrates, and is on the Arabian side. Neubauer, in his ' Geographie du Tahnud,' p. 365, calls it Nahr Sur or Sar. But it was also known as Sura of Eab, on Sura Lake, now Jazriin. Also as Sura of Perath or Frat (Euphrates). It is stiU. called Sura, albeit pronounced at times Sora. According to the Talmud, Matha Meshaya, the Massices of the Eomans, was a suburb of the city of Sura, one of the homes and sejtts of the learning of the captive Jews. The ca,nal was also known to the Eomans as the Nahr Sares, Maarsares, and Maarses of ^ VOL. II. B 2 THE EUPHRATES EXPEDITION Ptolemy. It was further, according to Pliny (vi. 24), the Chebar or Chobar of the Old Testament, the Kobar of the Septuagint (see also CeUarius, p. 630), and the Gobya of the Tahnudists, upon the banks of which King Nebuchadnezzar planted a colony of Jews, among whom was the prophet Ezekiel. It would appear that this canal was afterwards prolonged tiU it joined another derivative from the Euphrates, now known as the Hindiyah canal, and it became in after times the Pallacopas of Alexander the Great. It is this union of two canals in the neighbourhood of the Birs Mmrud (Bursif, or Borsippa) that led the Eabbi Petachia (p. 33) to identify the Chebar of the Captivity with the Hindiyah canal, and hence also after the junction it became the latter part of the Pallacopas as well as of the Fahr Sura. It would appear also that Kalah Eamadi corre- sponds to the Ibn Hubeirah of Ibn Haukal as being on the way to the river of Sura, but it is not distinctly stated which side of the river the castle was on. The colonisation of the banks of the Habor or Khabur, and that on the Chebar or Sura, although confounded by Sir A. H. Layard, and of the district of Nehardea or Nahar Diyah, belong to different epochs. At a distance of twenty-two miles by river from the entrance into the plain of Babylonia is a site of interest in Babylonian history—the Sephar of Genesis (x. 30), and Sipar of the inscriptions, as also Tsipar sha Samas, or ' Siphara of the Sun.' It was also called Sepharvaim (Se Parvaim or Parvaim) in 2 Chron. iii. 6. > THE PLAIN OF BABYLONIA. 3 The site is known in the present day by the name of Sifarah, yet the Sipar of a remote antiquity became, by a mutation of S into H, the Hipparenum of Phny, Hipparenorum Civitas, and the Harpanya of the Talmud. ' Hipparenumjuxta Narragam, qui cadit inNarragam, unde civitati nomen,' says the Eoman historian, and the site is only four miles distant from the canal also called Narraga by Pliny. This, perhaps the greatest and most important of all the derivatives from the Euphrates, is on the Babylonian side of the Euphrates, and it stretched from the upper part of the Babylonian plain to Accad, Baghdad, and Seleucia. The Narraga or Nahr-malcha, ' the Eoyal river,' washed the walls of a city and castle of olden times, called Abar, and which, under the name of Anbar, became the first seat of power of the EZhalifs. It was known previously to the Persians under the name of Firuz Shapur, whence the Perisabora of Ammianus and the Schabor of the Talmudists. There was in the same neighbourhood a Nahar Agama which appears to have been connected with the lake to the northwards, for Akra de Agama was spoken of as a ' fort on the lake.' It was also known as Akka, Agama, Akra-Kanon, and Acracan, but the site has not been precisely determined. Known as the Saklawiyah in the present day, this first of the canals on the Babylonian side was anciently ' the Nahr-malcha or Eoyal river ' of Babylonia. It is also so called in the Talmud (JSTeubauer, pp. 338-340) B 2 ; 4 THE EUPHRATES EXPEDITION Even in the time of Julian, Ammianus still knew it by the name of Naarmalcha. But the name appears to have become corrupted into Narraga by Pliny and Naarda by Ptolemy. The Naarda of Ptolemy has also been associated with JSFaharda, from dar, ' a dwelling,' nahar, ' on the river,' and with Nehardea or Nahar Diyah, and hence the doubts as to the region of the Captivity, whether at Haditha, or on the JSTahr-malcha. This canal has been navigated in recent times by one of Captain Lynch's steamers from the river Tigris to the Euphrates. Eight miles below the Saklawiyah canal is a village with an Arab castle, or square fortalice, which was in our time the place of starting for caravans for Baghdad. Major Estcourt and Charlewood having to go to the Eesidency in quest of specie, I was allowed to accompany them, and with Dr. and Mrs. Heifer, who might not otherwise have had an opportunity of visiting the city of the Khahfs, and Sayyid Ali for a guide, we made up quite a little party. We had about half the distance to traverse on foot, to a point on the canal to which boats phed daily from Baghdad. Unfortunately we arrived at the place in question just as the boat had started. It was in vain that we made signals and fired our fowling-pieces what in other countries would have been regarded as signals, were here looked upon as the imperious demands of kawasses or government authorities, who o-enerally travel at other people's expenses. So no reward was paid to our noisy demonstrations. We were thus reduced to the necessity of passing THE PLAIN OF BABYLONIA 5 the night supperless on the sand hills, for there were no huts in the neighbourhood, and were only too glad when at break of day an Arab peasant and his wife, who had seen the predicament we were in, no doubt, over night, brought us some milk. At length the boatman made his appearance, and when Sayyid Ali had explained who we were, and that we were bound to the Eesidency, he was profuse in his apologies, and excused his not coming back on the plea that he thought we were travellers of quite a different description.