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existed in the country of Judæa during the reign of Tiberius, as the evangelists have assured us.1

3. COLLATERAL TESTIMONIES TO THE TRUTH OF THE FACTS RECORDED IN THE SCRIPTURES FROM COINS, MEDALS, AND ANTIENT MARBles.

V. Acts

VI. Acts

I. The Mosaic narrative of the deluge confirmed by the Apamean medal. -II. The account of Pharaoh-Necho's war against the Jews (2 Chron xxxv. 20-24.) confirmed by Herodotus, and by an antient Egyptian tomb, discovered and explored by M. Belzoni. - III. The captivity of the ten tribes by Shalmaneser, confirmed by antient sculptures. IV. Acts xiii. 7. confirmed by a medal proving that Cyprus was at that time under the government of a proconsul. xvi. 11, 12. confirmed by a coin of Macedonia Prima. zvi. 14. confirmed by an inscription. VII. Acts xvii. 23. confirmed by inscriptions.-VIII. Acts xix. 35. confirmed by a medal of the city of Ephesus. - IX. The triumphal arch of Titus, at Rome. Application of this sort of evidence. THERE remains yet one more class of collateral testimonies to the credibility of the facts recorded in the Bible, which is not less important and decisive than the series of evidence of profane historians given in the preceding pages. These testimonies are furnished by antient coins, medals, and inscriptions on marbles; which have survived the wreck of time, and are extant to this day. These remains of antiquity are allowed to be among the most important proofs of antient history in general; and they afford satisfactory confirmation of many particulars related in the Scriptures. The most remarkable of these we now proceed to submit to the consideration of the reader.

I. The Mosaic narrative of the deluge is confirmed by a coin struck at Apamea in the reign of Philip the elder. On the reverse of this medal is represented a kind of square chest, floating upon the waters: a man and woman are advancing out of it to dry land, while two other remain within. Above it, flutters a dove, bearing an olive persons branch; and another bird, possibly a raven, is perched upon its roof. In one of the front pannels of the chest is the word NOE in antient Greek characters.2

II. The account of the war, carried on by Pharaoh-Necho against the Jews and Babylonians, (which is related in the second book of Chronicles,) is confirmed by the testimony of the Greek historian Herodotus, and especially by the recent discoveries of the enter

1 Edwards, on the Authority, &c. of Scripture, vol. i. p. 400-420. Macknight's Truth of the Gospel, pp. 305, 306. 343.

2 Bryant's Analysis of Antient Mythology, vol. iii. pp. 46, 47. 8vo. edit. In the fifth volume, pp. 289-313. he has satisfactorily vindicated the genuineness of the Apamean medal. Seven or eight of these medals are known to be extant, the genuineness of which is acknowledged by Eckhel, the most profound of all modern numismatologists. See his Doctrina Nummorum Veterum, tom. iii. p. 132. 140. 28

VOL. I.

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prising traveller, M. Belzoni, among the tombs of the Egyptian sovereigns. The following is the narrative of the sacred historian, in 2 Chron. xxxv. 20-24.

After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho, king of Egypt, came up to fight against Charchemish, by Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him. But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war; for God commanded me to make haste; forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not. Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo. And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away for I am sore wounded. His servants therefore took him out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had; and they brought him to Jerusalem and he died, and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. And again in xxxvi. 1-4. Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father's stead in Jerusalem, Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. And the king of Egypt put him down at Jerusalem, and condemned the land in an hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold. And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and turned his name to Jehoiakim. AND NECHO TOOK JEHOAHAZ HIS BROTHER, AND CARRIED HIM INTO Egypt.

These passages prove the power and conquests of Pharaoh-Necho; and if we turn to Herodotus we shall find a wonderful agreement with many of the particulars. Now Necos was the son of Psammeticus, and reigned over Egypt; it was he who began the canals, &c. and he employed himself in warlike pursuits, building galleys, both on the Mediterranean and on the Red Sea, the traces of his dock yards still existing; and these he used when he had occasion for them. AND NECOS JOINED BATTLE WITH THE SYRIANS IN MAGDOLUS, And conQUERED THEM, AND AFTER THE BATTLE HE TOOK CADYTIS A LARGE CITY OF SYRIA. And having reigned in the whole sixteen years, he died, and left the throne to his son Psammis. Cadytis is again mentioned by this historian, as 'belonging to the Syrians of PALESTINE,' and as a city not less than Sardes;' so that there is no doubt that he intended Jerusalem, which (it is well known) was sometimes called Kadesh, or the Holy.

We now come to the researches of M. Belzoni in the tomb of Psammethis or Psammis, the son of Pharaoh-Necho.

In one of the numerous apartments of this venerable monument of antient art, there is a sculptured group describing the march of a

1 Herodotus, lib. ii. c. 159. vol. i. p. 168. edit. Oxon. 1809.

2 Ibid. lib. iii. c. 5. vol. i. p. 179.

military and triumphal procession with three different sets of prisoners, who are evidently Jews, Ethiopians, and Persians. The pro- . cession begins with four red men with white kirtles followed by a hawk-headed divinity: these are Egyptians apparently released from captivity and returning home under the protection of the national deity. Then follow four white men in striped and fringed kirtles, with black beards, and with a simple white fillet round their black hair; these are obviously Jews, and might be taken for the portraits of those, who, at this day, walk the streets of London. After them come three white men with smaller beards and curled whiskers, with double-spreading plumes on their heads, tattoed, and wearing robes or mantles spotted like the skins of wild beasts; these are Persians or Chaldæans. Lastly, come four negroes with large circular ear-rings, and white petticoats supported by a belt over the shoulder; these are Ethiopians.1

Among the hieroglyphics contained in Mr. Belzoni's drawings of this tomb, Dr. Young (secretary to the Royal Society) who is preeminently distinguished for his successful researches in archæology, has succeeded in discovering the names of Nichao (the Necho of the Scriptures and Necos of Herodotus) and of Psammethis.2

III. The narrative of the invasion of the kingdom of Israel by Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, and of the carrying of the ten tribes into captivity, which is related in 2 Kings xvii. 6. and xviii. 10. is confirmed by certain antient sculptures, on the mountain of Be-Sitoon, near the borders of the antient Assyria. For the knowledge of these antiquities we are indebted to the persevering researches of Sir Robert Ker Porter, by whom they were first discovered and delineated, and who has thus described them.

After an account of some antient Assyrian sculptures, which are ascribed to Semiramis, he thus proceeds: "At a point something higher up than the rough gigantic forms just described, in a very precipitous cleft, there appeared to me a still more interesting piece of sculpture, though probably not of such deep antiquity. Even at so vast a height, the first glance showed it to have been a work of some age accomplished in the art for all here was executed with the care and fine expression of the very best at Persepolis. I could not resist the impulse to examine it nearer than from the distance of the ground, and would have been glad of Queen Semiramis's stage of packs and fardles. To approach it at all was a business of difficulty and danger; however, after much scrambling and climbing, I at last got pretty far up the rock, and finding a ledge, placed myself on it as firmly as I could; but still I was farther from the object of all this peril than I had hoped; yet my eyes being

1 See Mr. Belzoni's "Narrative of the Operations and recent Discoveries within the Pyramids, Temples, Tombs, and Excavations in Egypt and Nubia," &c. pp. 242, 243. (4to. London 1820); and also Nos. 4. 5. and 6. of his folio Atlas of Plates illustrative of his Researches. The subjects of these plates were also exhibited in the very interesting model of the Egyptian tomb, exhibited by Mr. Belzoni, in 1821-22., at the Museum in Piccadilly.

2 See the Atlas of Engravings to Belzoni's Travels, plates 1 to 5.

tolerably long sighted, and my glass more só, I managed to copy the whole sculpture with considerable exactness.

"It contains fourteen figures, one of which is in the air. The first figure (to our left in facing the sculpture), carries a spear, and is in the full Median habit, like the leaders of the guards at Persepolis his hair is in a similar fashion, and bound with a fillet. The second figure holds a bent bow in his left hand; he is in much the same dress, with the addition of a quiver slung at his back by a belt that crosses his right shoulder, and his wrists are adorned with bracelets. The third personage is of a stature much larger than any other in the group, a usual distinction of royalty in oriental description; and, from the air and attitude of the figure, I have no doubt he is meant to designate the king. The costume, excepting the beard not being quite so long, is precisely that of the regal dignity, exhibited in the bas-reliefs of Nakshi-Roustam and Persepolis: a mixture of the pontiff-king and the other sovereign personages. The robe being the ample vesture of the one, and the diadem the simple band of the other a style of crown, which appears to have been the most antient badge of supremacy on either king or pontiff. But as persons of inferior rank also wore fillets, it seems the distinction between theirs and their sovereigns, consisted in the material or colour. For instance, the band or cydaris, which formed the essential part in the old Persian diadem, was composed of a twined substance of purple and white and any person below the royal dignity presuming to wear those colours unsanctioned by the king, was guilty of a transgression of the law, deemed equal to high treason. The fillets of the priesthood were probably white or silver and the circlets of kings, in general, simple gold. Bracelets are on the wrists of this personage, and he holds up his hand in a commanding or admonitory manner, the two fore-fingers being extended, and the two others doubled down in the palm: an action also common on the tombs at Persepolis, and on other monuments just cited; his left hand grasps a bow of a different shape from that held by his officer, but exactly like the one on which the king leans in the bas-relief on the tomb at NakshiRoustam. This bow, together with the left foot of the personage I am describing, rests on the body of a prostrate man, who lies on his back with outstretched arms, in the act of supplicating for mercy. This unhappy personage, and also the first in the string of nine which advance towards the king, are very much injured; however, enough remains of the almost defaced leader, when compared with the apparent condition of the succeeding eight, to show that the whole nine are captives. The hands of all are tied behind their backs, and the cord is very distinct which binds the neck of the one to the neck of the other, till the mark of bondage reaches to the last in the line. If it were also originally attached to the leader, the cord is now without trace there; his hands, however, are evidently in the same trammels as his followers. The second figure in the procession has his hair so close to his head, that it appears to have been shaven, and a kind of caul covers it from the top of the forehead to the middle of the head.

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He is dressed in a short tunic, reaching no further than the knee; a belt fastens it round the waist; his legs are bare. Behind this figure is a much older person, with a rather pointed beard and bushy hair, and a similar caul covers the top of his head. He too is habited in a short tunic, with something like the trowser, or booted appearance on the limbs which is seen on some of the figures at Persepolis. In addition to the binding of the hands, the preceding figure, and this, are fastened together by a rope round their necks, which runs onward, noosing all the remaining eight in one string. This last described person, has the great peculiarity attached to him, of the skirt of his garment being covered entirely with inscriptions in the arrowheaded character. Next follows one in a long vestment, with full hair, without the caul. Then another in a short, plain tunic, with trowsers. Then succeeds a second long vestment. After him comes one in a short tunic, with naked legs, and apparently, a perfectly bald head. He is followed by another in long vestments. But the ninth, and last in the group, who, also, is in the short tunic and trowser, has the singularity of wearing a prodigious high-pointed cap; his beard and hair are much ampler than any of his companions, and his face looks of a greater age. In the air, over the heads of the centre figures, appears the floating intelligence in his circle and car of sunbeams, so often remarked on the sculptures of Nakshi-Roustam and Persepolis.

"Above the head of each individual in this bas-relief is a compartment with an inscription in the arrow-headed writing, most probably descriptive of the character and situation of each person. And immediately below the sculpture, are two lines in the same language, running the whole length of the group. Under these again the excavation is continued to a considerable extent, containing eight deep and closely written columns in the same character. From so much labour having been exerted on this part of the work, it excites more regret that so little progress has yet been made toward deciphering the character.

"The design of this sculpture appears to tally so well with the great event of the total conquest over Israel, by Salmaneser, king of Assyria, and the Medes, that I venture to suggest the possibility of this bas-relief having been made to commemorate that final achievement. Certain circumstances attending the entire captivity of the ten tribes, which took place in a second attack on their nation, when considered, seem to confirm the conjecture into a strong probability. The first expedition into Samaria, the country of the ten tribes, was led thither by Arbaces, (the Tiglath-pileser of the Scriptures,) twenty years anterior to the one to which I would refer this bas-relief. Arbaces undertook the first invasion at the instigation of Ahaz, king of Judah; who subsidised the Assyrian monarch, to avenge him by arms on his harassing neighbours, Pekah, king of Israel, and Rezin, king of Syria, who had confederated against him. Arbaces completely reduced the latter kingdom, slaying its king in battle, and making slaves of its people. He then entered those parts of the dominions

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