had its own spheres of commerce and its own means of usefulness, and those of Tyre must have been materially impaired, if not annihilated, by the siege of thirteen years, whether the Babylonian monarch did or did not succeed. While Tyre increased in strength and wealth, spreading her colonies over the west, Babylon continued her dealings with her and with the nations dwelling on the Euxine and the Caspian Seas. By means of her caravans, canals, and rivers, Babylon became also the chief entrepôt for Western Asia, where the merchants of many countries assembled to exchange their merchandise; and such it remained for ages. Neither the heavy yoke of Asiatic despotism, nor the devastating sword of conquering nations, could destroy, though they might for a time overshadow, its splendour. It was only when the Persians, feeling no interest in seaborne commerce, and dreading the incursions of the maritime powers, blocked up the Tigris, that its commercial greatness began to decline.
B.C. 604. Although Babylon did not reach the zenith of its power till Nebuchadnezzar made it his capital, everything leads to the supposition that, for many ages, it had been the seat of science and civilization, and had carried on an extensive intercourse with distant as well as with neighbouring nations. Highly skilled in astrology and in astronomical observations, to which the clearness of the sky and the brightness of the stars offered every encouragement, the Babylonians were, however, not familiar with either the science or practice of navigation; but that
- [Footnote: but the inference from Ezek. c. xxvi. is that it was—or the prophecy
has remained unfulfilled.]
