The cradle of the human race, both before and after the Flood, lay in Mesopotamia, whence issued the three great families from which existing nations have sprung. Babylon (on the Euphrates), the earliest city, was founded by Shemites, but subjugated by descendants of Ham, who conquered the children of Asshur (son of Shem), and planted the sister city of Nineveh (on the Tigris); the former was the capital of the Babylonians or Chaldeans, the latter of the Assyrians.
ABORIGINES.
East of Jordan.
Aramæa derived its
name probably from its first inhabitants, the children
of Aram, a branch of whom settled on the eastern
bank of the Jordan, under the various names of
(1) Emim or Anakim
(
Palestine was populated by immigrants of the sons of Canaan, son of Ham, of whom there were 11 tribes, viz. (1) Sidonians (Phœnicians), on the S.W. coast; (2) Hittites or Perizzites, occupying the valleys about Hebron; (3) Jebusites, in the hill country of Judah, whose centre was Jerusalem; (4) Amorites (Highlanders), who held the mountains by Shechem; (5) Girgashites, who lived N.E. of the Sea of Galilee; (6) Hivites, in N. Syria; (7) Arkites; (8) Sinites; (9) Arvadites; (10) Zemorites, four small tribes occupying part of Phœnicia on the N.W. coast; (11) Hamathites, peopling the valley of the Orontes. To these were subsequently added the Philistines, a branch of the second son of Ham, Mizraim, who came up from Egypt and occupied the southern coast.
These twelve Hamite tribes were in possession of Palestine, when Abram was called by God to migrate from Mesopotamia, and sojourn amongst them, to teach revealed religion to these prosperous worldlings, who believed only in natural causes. Their great settlements were three, viz. (1) Phœnicians (whose metropolis was Sidon), one of the most prosperous commercial nations the world has ever seen, trading with and colonising Europe, Asia, and Africa. (2) Philistines, with their five cities (Ashdod, Askelon, Gaza, Gath, and Ekron). (3) Canaanites, of the Vale of Siddim, with their five cities (Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim, and Zoar). These three held the keys of commerce with the whole world; the Philistines only were inclined to war and to conquer the interior, the other two being content with commercial supremacy. But other nations sprang up eastward, when the cities of the plain were annihilated. Lot, Abram's nephew, deserted him, allied with the Canaanites, became corrupted by them, lost his share in the promise, and was the father of two nations, hostile to the Israelites, viz. Moab, dwelling in the mountains S.E. of the Dead Sea; and Ammon, occupying the tract N. of Moab.
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