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record of their principal Families . There was no temptation to corrupt or to destroy these lists , therefore most probably they have been correctly preserved . There is not the same reliance to be placed on their warlike exploits and other achievements . Different talents are requisite to give a simple narrative of events , and to construct a family record . The extent of dominion , the magnificence of cities , the number and splendour of the troops , may be exaggerated , while the order of succession may be correctly recorded . It is not so certain that Ninus conducted his armies from the
borders of India to the river of Egypt , nor that Semiramis surrounded a space of ground , sixty miles in circumference , with walls a hundred feet high , as it is that Ninus reigned over the Assyrians and was succeeded by his wife Semiramis . In opposition to the opinions of the learned in almost every age , Dr . Russell is disposed to pay respect to Ctesias , as far as concerns his catalogue of
Assyrian kings , and the series of dates which he is supposed to have transcribed from the archives of the Persian Court , in the reign of Artaxerxes Mnemon . The discrepancy in different editions of the same catalogue is no proof of forgery or of corruption , nor is the giving of different names to the same persons an uncommon thing , especially in oriental history . There may , however , be some reason to suspect that authors have sometimes altered the catalogues which have come into their hands , with a view of accommodating them to their own system of dates .
Shuckford , following the Masoretic Jews , dates the commencement of the Assyrian Empire at one hundred and one years after the flood . It is not to be imagined that the human race had increased in that period to such a degree as to found such cities and countries as are named in Genesis . A well-merited portion of ridicule is directed against Bishop Cumberland ' s system , which , in three hundred and forty years after the flood , makes the population of the world amount to 3 , 333 , 333 , 330 males , each provided with a wife . The greater probability is , that the whole number , at one
hundred and one years after the flood , did not exceed one thousand , from whom we should not be disposed to look for any large establishment . After an elaborate comparison of ancient records , and examination of various chronological authorities , having placed his statements in different points of view , Dr . Russell concludes that Nimrod commenced his empire A . C . 2566 , or six hundred and nineteen years after the deluge ; that there were three dynasties reigning at Babylon from Nimrod , previous to the conquest of the Chaldaean territory by Ninus , the last of which , however , is doubtful : therefore omitting this , and assigning to the other two a period of four hundred and forty years , he fixes the commencement of the Assyrian Empire in 2126 A . C .
The second chapter contains an outline of such parts of the ancient history of the Hebrews as may seem to have been affected by the power or character of the neighbouring nations . The birth of Abraham is fixed by our author in the thirteenth year of the reign of Ninus . The state of society at that time bore no resemblance to the constitution and polity of populous countries that have made any advancement in civilization . From
the patriarchal form of government , increasing numbers will necessarily advance towards a state in which the several branches from the parent stock shall be held together by some bond of union . Thus arises the system of clanshi p , which appears to have been the state of society in Asia at this time , and Ninus most probably was at the head of a large number of tribes or clans , who paid respect to him as chief of the largest and most powerful
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Rwieie *—RmseWs Sacred and Profane History . 617
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VOL . II . 2 X
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1828, page 617, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2564/page/33/
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