Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/626

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Ionian chronology appear to belong to this period, these are Ilu-kassat, Mulagununna, Abilkisu, who are given as successive sovereigns ; and there is another probable king of the period, Izdubar, who most likely represents the Biblical Nimrod. During this period the language and people of Babylonia are supposed to have been Tura nian, and in round numbers it may be said to end about

2400 B.C.

About 2400 B.C., according to Berosus, Babylonia was overrun by a conquering tribe called by him " Medes." He has preserved in connection with this event the name of Zoroaster, and has given the dynasty 8 kings, the length of the period being placed variously at 234, 224, and 190 years. Where our authorities differ so much we can only make shift with a round number, and say the period was probably about 200 years, from 2400 to 2200 B.C. There is one name in the inscriptions supposed to belong to this period, that of Kudur-nanhundi, king of Elam, who con quered Babylonia about 2280 B.C. Nothing is known as to the race here called Medes by Berosus, but it is con jectured that they were Elamites.

The next period of Berosus included 1 1 kings, the dura tion of the dynasty not being preserved. In the margin we have the number 48 years, but nothing is known of the origin of this number, and it appears too small for 11 kings. Perhaps we may provisionally allow about 200 years for this dynasty, 2200 to 2000 B.C. Nothing is known of the race or names of the monarchs.

About 2000 B.C. commenced a period including, accord ing to Berosus, 49 kings and 458 years. The kings are called Chaldean, and appear to correspond with a famous line of sovereigns reigning at the cities of Ur, Karrak, and Larsa, commencing with the reign of Urukh, king of Ur. The centre of Babylonian power in their time lay in the south of the country, and many of the well-known temples and other buildings in this region were raised during their dominion. One of the monarchs in this period bore the name of Sargon ; he was very celebrated, and of him a story is related similar to that of the infancy of Moses. He is said to have been concealed by his mother in an ark and floated on the River Euphrates. This great period ended with the defeat of Rim-agu, king of Larsa, by Hammurabi, who established a new dynasty, and made Babylon the capital about 1550 B.C.

The dynasty founded by Hammurabi appears to be the Arabian line of Berosus, which lasted under 9 kings for 245 years. Many of the kings of this period are known from the inscriptions. They first had extensive relations with the Assyrians, and about 1300 B.C. Tugulti-ninip, king of Assyria, conquered Babylon, and expelled the last Arab monarch. From this time commenced the direct influence of Assyria in Babylonia, and the period of this dynasty is counted by Berosus as 526 years. It probably ended with the time of Pul, a great king and conqueror, about whose personality and date there is much difference of opinion.

The next epoch in Babylonian history is that of Nabonassar, whose era commenced 747 B.C. From his time the history of Babylonia presents a constant series of conquests by the Assyrians, and revolts against them by the Babylonians, down to the time of Nabopolassar, who, after quelling a revolt in Babylonia, was made ruler of the country by the king of Assyria, and afterwards revolting against his master took Nineveh in concert with the Medes.

Nebuchadnezzar, son of Nabopolassar, who ascended the throne of Babylon 605 B.C., was one of the most celebrated kings in history, and is mentioned at length by Berosus, who then notices the revolutions at Babylon until the taking of the city by Cyrus 539 B.C.

The history of Berosus continued down to the con quest of Alexander the Great, and the reign of his patron Antiochus.

The writings and notices of Berosus were collected and published in Germany by Richter in 1825, and in England by Cory, in his Ancient Fragments. Later and excellent extracts and notices have been given by Canon Rawlinson and M. Lenormant, while the chronology of Berosus has exercised the ingenuity of Brandis, Oppert, Lenormant, Rawlinson, Hincks, and many other scholars. There is. how ever, no probability that-any published system has correctly restored the dates of Berosus; the materials are at present insufficient for such a work.

(g. s.)

BERRI, Charles Ferdinand, Duc de, younger son of Charles X. of France, was born at Versailles on the 24th Jan. 1778. With his father, then Comte d Artois, he had to leave France, and for several years served in the army of Conde. He afterwards joined the Russian army, and in 1801 took up his residence in England, where he re mained for thirteen years. During that time he married an English lady, by whom he had two children. The marriage was cancelled for political reasons in 1814, when the duke set out for France. His frank, open manners gained him some favour with his fickle countrymen, which was increased by his marriage in 1816 with the Princess Caroline Ferdinande Louise of Naples. On the 13th of February 1820 he was mortally wounded, when leaving the opera-house with his wife, by a man named Louvel. Seven months after his death the duchess gave birth to a son, who received the title of duke of Bordeaux. She was compelled to follow Charles X. in his retirement from France after July 1830, but it was with the resolution of returning speedily and making an attempt to secure the throne for her son. In April 1832 she landed near Mar seilles, but receiving no support, was compelled to make her way towards the ever-loyal districts of La Vendee and Bretagne. Her followers, however, were defeated, and after much suffering, she was betrayed to the Government and imprisoned in the castle of Blaye. Here she gave birth to a son, the fruit of a secret marriage contracted with an Italian nobleman, son of the Marchese Lucchesi Palli. The announcement of this marriage at once deprived the duchess of the sympathies of her supporters. She was no longer an object of fear to the French Government, who released her in June 1833. She set sail for Sicily, and from that time till her death in April 1870 lived a retired life with her husband and his relatives.

BERRYER, Pierre Antoine, a French advocate and

parliamentary orator, was born at Paris, January 4, 1790, in the midst of the agitating events of the first year of the great Revolution. Berryer s father was an eminent advo cate and parliamentary counsellor. The son was educated at the College de Juilly, on leaving which he adopted, in deference to his father s wishes, the profession of the law ; but his own leaning at that time was to the church. After completing the usual course of professional studies, he was admitted advocate in 1811, and in the same year he married. In the great conflict of the period between Napoleon I. and the Bourbons, Berryer, like his father, was an ardent Legitimist; and in the spring of 1815, at the opening of the campaign of the Hundred Days, he followed Louis XVIII. to Ghent as a volunteer. After the second Restoration he distinguished himself as a courageous advocate of moderation in the treatment of the military adherents of the emperor. He was engaged, in conjunc tion with his father and Dupin, in the unsuccessful defence of Marshal Ney before the Chamber of Peers ; and he under took alone the defence of General Cambronne and General Debelle, procuring the acquittal of the former and the

pardon of the latter. Proceedings were soon after com-