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The ‘twenty-eight years’ are a piece of unexplained tradition; the old explanation that they are the interval between Cyaxares’ accession and the fall of Nineveh breaks down, because we now know Cyaxares came to the throne in 625 not in 634 B. C.

The first χωρίς is an adverb, the second a preposition.

The Scyths were mere destroyers, and have been compared to the Huns of the fifth century A. D. (cf. Jer. vi. 22-3 for the description of them).


καταμεθύσαντες. The story is doubted by some (Meyer, i1. 465, who compares the legend of the Nibelungen-Lied); others accept, e. g. Nöldeke (E. B.9 xviii. 563, s. v. Persia), who quotes parallels from Oriental history; there is nothing unlikely in it.

The capture of Nineveh took place c. 606. The strength of its fortifications is well described by Maspero, iii. 468-9.

ἐν ἑτέροισι. For the unfulfilled promise cf. Introd. § 14; for the Ἀσσύριοι λόγοι cf. App. II, § 6.


τῆς Βαβυλωνίης μοίρης. This is the only hint in H. that Babylon had a share in the overthrow of Nineveh; his informant knew this, though he himself did not.

For Astyages cf. App. III, § 5.

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