De Sarsec, a Frenchman, has discovered the
ruins of an entire city, overwhelmed by the invader and its palace
destroyed by fire. These ancient peoples are still little known to us;
many sites remain to be excavated when it is hoped new inscriptions
will be found. Their empire was destroyed about 2,300 B.C.; it may
then have been very old.[17]
THE ASSYRIANS
=Assyria.=--The country back of Chaldea on the Tigris is Assyria. It
also is fertile, but cut with hills and rocks. Situated near the
mountains, it experiences snow in winter and severe storms in summer.
=Origins.=--Chaldea had for a long time been covered with towns while
yet the Assyrians lived an obscure life in their mountains. About the
thirteenth century B.C. their kings leading great armies began to
invade the plains and founded a mighty empire whose capital was
Nineveh.
=Ancient Accounts.=--Until about forty years ago we knew almost
nothing of the Assyrians--only a legend recounted by the Greek
Diodorus Siculus. Ninus, according to the story, had founded Nineveh
and conquered all Asia Minor; his wife, Semiramis, daughter of a
goddess, had subjected Egypt, after which she was changed into the
form of a dove.
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