EARLY EUROPEAN HISTORY

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[Illustration: THE JUDGMENT OF THE DEAD
From a papyrus containing the _Book of the Dead_. The illustration shows a
man and his wife (at the left) entering the hall in the spirit world,
where sits the god of the dead with forty two jurors (seen above) as his
assistants. The heart of the man, symbolized by a jar, is being weighed in
balances by a jackal-headed god against a feather, the symbol of truth.
The monster in the right hand corner stands ready to devour the soul, if
the heart is found lighter than the feather.]

THE BABYLONIAN EPICS

Much more interesting are the two Babylonian epics, fragments of which
were found on clay tablets in a royal library at Nineveh. The epic of the
Creation tells how the god Marduk overcame a terrible dragon, the symbol
of primeval chaos, and thus established order in the universe. Then with
half the body of the dead dragon he made a covering for the heavens and
set therein the stars. Next he caused the new moon to shine and made it
the ruler of the night. His last work was the creation of man, in order
that the service and worship of the gods might be established forever. The
second epic contains an account of a flood, sent by the gods to punish
sinful men. The rain fell for six days and nights and covered the entire
earth. All men were drowned except the Babylonian Noah, his family, and
his relatives, who safely rode the waters in an ark. This ancient
narrative so closely resembles the Bible story in _Genesis_ that we must
trace them both to a common source.

[Illustration: THE DELUGE TABLET (British Museum London)
Contains the narrative of the flood as pieced together and published by
George Smith in 1872 A.D. There are sixteen fragments in the restoration.]

[Illustration: AN EGYPTIAN TEMPLE (RESTORED)
The building extended along the Nile for nearly eight hundred feet. A
double line of sphinxes led to the only entrance, in front of which were
two obelisks and four colossal statues of Rameses II. Behind the first
gateway, or pylon came an open court surrounded by a portico upheld by
pillars. The second and third pylons were connected by a covered passage
leading into another open court. Lower rooms at the rear of the temple
contained the sanctuary of the god, which only the king and priests could
enter.]

THE HEBREW BIBLE

All these writings are so ancient that their very authors are forgotten.
The interest they excite is historical rather than literary. From Oriental
antiquity only one great work has reached us that still has power to move
the hearts of men--the Hebrew Bible.

EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE

Architecture, in Egypt, was the leading art. The Egyptians were the first
people who learned to raise buildings with vast halls supported by
ponderous columns. Their wealth and skill, however, were not lavished in
the erection of fine private mansions or splendid public buildings. The
characteristic works of Egyptian architecture are the tombs of the kings
and the temples of the gods. The picture of the great structure at Thebes,
which Rameses II completed, [17] will give some idea of an Egyptian temple
with its gateways, open courts, obelisks, and statues.

[Illustration: AN EGYPTIAN WOODEN STATUE, (Museum of Gizeh)
Found in a tomb near Memphis. The statue, which belongs to the age of the
pyramid kings, represents a bustling, active, middle-class official.]

ARCHITECTURE IN BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA

The architecture of Babylonia and Assyria was totally unlike that of
Egypt, because brick, and not stone, formed the chief building and Assyria
material. In Babylonia the temple was a solid, square tower, built on a
broad platform. It consisted usually of seven stages, which arose one
above the other to the top, where the shrine of the deity was placed. The
different stages were connected by an inclined ascent. The four sides of
the temple faced the cardinal points, and the several stages were
dedicated to the sun, moon, and five planets. In Assyria the
characteristic building was the palace. But the sun-dried bricks, of which
both temples and palaces were composed, lacked the durability of stone and
have long since dissolved into shapeless mounds.

EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE

The surviving examples of Egyptian sculpture consist of bas-reliefs and
figures in the round, carved from limestone and granite or cast in bronze.
Many of the statues appear to our eyes very stiff and ungraceful. The
sculptor never learned how to pose his figures easily or how to arrange
them in an artistic group. In spite of these defects some Egyptian statues
are wonderfully lifelike. [18]

[Illustration: AN ASSYRIAN PALACE (RESTORED)
The royal residence of Sargon II near Nineveh was placed upon a high
platform of brick masonry the top of which was gained by stairs and an
inclined roadway. The palace consisted of a series of one storied
rectangular halls and long corridors surrounding inner courts. They were
provided with imposing entrances flanked by colossal human headed bulls
representing guardian spirits. The entire building covered more than
twenty three acres and contained two hundred apartments. In the rear is
seen a temple tower.]

SCULPTURE IN BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA

Few examples have reached us of Babylonian and Assyrian sculpture in the
round. As in Egypt, the figures seem rigid and out of proportion. The
Assyrian bas-reliefs show a higher development of the artistic sense,
especially in the rendering of animals. The sculptures that deal with the
exploits of the kings in war and hunting often tell their story in so
graphic a way as to make up for the absence of written records.

ORIENTAL PAINTING

Painting in the ancient East did not reach the dignity of an independent
art. It was employed solely for decorative purposes. Bas-reliefs and wall
surfaces were often brightly colored, The artist had no knowledge of
perspective and drew all his figures in profile, without any distinction
of light and shade. Indeed, Oriental painting, as well as Oriental
sculpture, made small pretense to the beautiful. Beauty was born into the
world with the art of the Greeks.

[Illustration: AN ASSYRIAN WINGED HUMAN HEADED BULL]

[Illustration: AN ASSYRIAN HUNTING SCENE (British Museum, London)
A bas relief from a slab found at Nineveh.]

19. SCIENCE AND EDUCATION

ARITHMETIC AND GEOMETRY

Conspicuous advance took place in the exact sciences. The leading
operations of arithmetic were known. A Babylonian tablet gives a table of
squares and cubes correctly calculated from 1 to 60. The number 12 was the
basis of all reckonings. The division of the circle into degrees, minutes,
and seconds (360 deg., 60', 60") was an invention of the Babylonians which
illustrates this duodecimal system A start was made in geometry. One of
the oldest of Egyptian books contains a dozen geometrical problems. This
knowledge was afterwards developed into a true science by the Greeks.

ASTRONOMY

In both Egypt and Babylonia the cloudless skies and still, warm nights
early led to astronomical research. At a remote period, perhaps before
4000 B.C., the Egyptians framed a solar calendar, [19] consisting of
twelve months, each thirty days in length, with five extra days at the end
of the year. This calendar was taken over by the Romans, [20] who added
the system of leap years. The Babylonians made noteworthy progress in some
branches of astronomy. They were able to trace the course of the sun
through the twelve constellations of the zodiac and to distinguish five of
the planets from the fixed stars. The successful prediction of eclipses
formed another Babylonian achievement. Such astronomical discoveries must
have required much patient and accurate observation.

GEOGRAPHY

Geographical ideas for a long time were very crude. An ancient map,
scratched on clay, indicates that about eight centuries before Christ the
Babylonians had gained some knowledge, not only of their own land, but
even of regions beyond the Mediterranean. The chief increase in man's
knowledge of the world in ancient times was due to the Phoenicians. [21]

PRACTICAL SCIENCES

The skill of Oriental peoples as mechanics and engineers is proved by
their success as builders. The great pyramids exactly face the points of
the compass. The principle of the round arch was known in Babylonia at a
remote period The transportation of colossal stone monuments exhibits a
knowledge of the lever, pulley, and inclined plane. [22] Babylonian
inventions were the sundial and the water clock, the one to register the
passage of the hours by day, the other by night. The Egyptians and
Babylonians also made some progress in the practice of medicine.

[Illustration: A BABYLONIAN MAP OF THE WORLD
A tablet of dark brown clay, much injured, dating from the 8th or 7th
century B.C. The two large concentric circles indicate the ocean or, as it
is called in the cuneiform writing between the circles, the 'Briny Flood.'
Beyond the ocean are seven successive projections of land, represented by
triangles. Perhaps they refer to the countries existing beyond the Black
Sea and the Red Sea. The two parallel lines within the inner circle
represent the Euphrates. The little rings stand for the Babylonian cities
in this region.]

THE TEMPLE SCHOOL

The schools, in both Egypt and Babylonia, were attached to the temples and
were conducted by the priests. Writing was the chief subject of
instruction. It took many years of patient study to master the cuneiform
symbols or the even more difficult hieroglyphics. "He who would excel in
the school of the scribes," ran an ancient maxim, "must rise with the
dawn." Writing was learned by imitating the examples supplied in copy-
books. Some of the model letters studied by Egyptian boys of the twentieth
century B.C. have come down to us. Reading, too, was an art not easy to
learn. Dictionaries and grammars were written to aid the beginner. A
little instruction was also provided in counting and calculating.

[Illustration: AN EGYPTIAN SCRIBE (Louvre, Paris)]

THE SCRIBES

Having learned to read and write, the pupil was ready to enter on the
coveted career of a scribe. In a community where nearly every one was
illiterate, the scribes naturally held an honorable place. They conducted
the correspondence of the time. When a man wished to send a letter, he had
a scribe write it, signing it himself by affixing his seal. When he
received a letter, he usually employed a scribe to read it to him. The
scribes were also kept busy copying books on the papyrus paper or clay
tablets which served as writing materials.

THE TEMPLE LIBRARY

Every large city of Babylonia possessed a collection of books. Several of
the larger libraries have been discovered. At Nippur, in Babylonia, thirty
thousand clay tablets were found. Another great collection of books was
unearthed in a royal palace at Nineveh. This Assyrian library seems to
have been open for the general use of the king's subjects. The Egyptians
also had their libraries, usually as adjuncts to the temples, and hence
under priestly control.

WIDESPREAD POPULAR IGNORANCE

Learning and education were so closely limited to a few individuals that
the mass of the people were sunk in deepest ignorance. Men could not
pursue knowledge for themselves, but had to accept every thing on
authority. Hence the inhabitants of Oriental lands remained a conservative
folk, slow to abandon their time-honored beliefs and very unwilling to
adopt a new custom even when clearly better than the old. This absence of
popular education, more than anything else, made Oriental civilization
unprogressive.

[Illustration: EXCAVATION AT NIPPUR
Nippur was the ancient "Calneh in the land of Shinar" (_Genesis_, x, 10)
Excavations here were conducted by the University of Pennsylvania during
1889-1900 A.D. The city contained an imposing temple, a library, a school,
and even a little museum of antiquities.]

STUDIES

1. What was the origin of the "divine right" of kings?

2. Explain what is meant by _despotism_; by _autocracy_.

3. What European state comes nearest to being a pure despotism? What
European monarch styles himself as an autocrat?

4. What do the illustrations on pages 38, 43 tell about the pomp of
Oriental kings?

5. Why did the existence of numerous slaves in Egypt and Babylonia tend to
keep low the wages of free workmen? Why is it true that civilization may
be said to have begun "with the cracking of the slave whip"?

6. What light is thrown on the beginnings of money in ancient Egypt by the
illustration on page 47?

7. Name some objects which, in place of the metals, are used by primitive
peoples as money.

8. Interest in Babylonia was usually at the rate of 20% a year. Why is it
so much lower in modern countries?

9. On the map, page 48, indicate the trade routes between eastern and
western Asia which met in Mesopotamia.

10. The Phoenicians have been called "the English of antiquity." Can you
give any reason for this characterization?

11. Why should the Phoenicians have been called the "colossal peddlers" of
the ancient world?

12. What books of the Bible contain the laws of Israel?

13. What reasons can you suggest for the universal worship of the sun?

14. Define _polytheism_ and _monotheism_, giving examples of each.

15. Describe the Egyptian conception of the judgment of the dead
(illustration, page 56).

16. How many "books" are there in the Old Testament?

17. What is the Apocrypha?

18. How are the pyramids proof of an advanced civilization among the
Egyptians?

19. What is a bas-relief? Select some examples from the illustrations.

20. From what Oriental peoples do we get the oldest true arch? the first
coined money? the earliest legal code? the most ancient book?

21. Enumerate the most important contributions to civilization made in
Oriental antiquity.

FOOTNOTES

[1] Webster, _Readings in Ancient History_, chapter 1, "Three Oriental
Peoples as Described by Herodotus."

[2] See page 25.

[3] See page 6.

[4] See page 37.

[5] For illustrations of Oriental coins see the plate facing page 134.

[6] See page 4.

[7] See page 5.

[8] "Tyrian purple" was a dye secured from a species of shellfish found
along the Phoenician coast and in Greek waters.

[9] See I _Kings_, ix, 26-28. The site of Ophir is not known, though
probably it was in southern Arabia.

[10] See _Ezekiel_, xxvii, 12, 25.

[11] A monument containing the code of Hammurabi was found on the site of
Susa in 1901-1902 A.D. See the illustration, page 25.

[12] Chaldea was another name for Babylonia.

[13] See page 148.

[14] The names of four other week days come from the names of old Teutonic
deities. Tuesday is the day of Tyr, Wednesday of Woden (Odin), Thursday of
Thunor (Thor), and Friday of the goddess Frigga. See page 304.

[15] Zoroastrians are still to be found in the East In Persia, now a
Mohammedan country, there is a little band of devoted followers of
Zoroaster, who keep up to this day the tenets of their ancient faith. In
India the Parsees of Bombay are the descendants of those Persians who fled
from Persia at the time of the Mohammedan conquest (page 376), rather than
surrender their cherished beliefs and embrace a new religion.

[16] _Job_, X, 21.

[17] See page 28.

[18] See the illustrations, pages 27, 54, 58, 63.

[19] See page 13.

[20] See page 186, note 2.

[21] See page 48.

[22] See the illustration, page 46.

CHAPTER IV

THE LANDS OF THE WEST AND THE RISE OF GREECE TO ABOUT 500 B.C. [1]

20. PHYSICAL EUROPE

EUROPE A PENINSULA OF ASIA

The continent of Asia, projecting its huge bulk southwestward between the
seas, gradually narrows into the smaller continent of Europe. The boundary
between the two regions is not well defined. Ancient geographers found a
convenient dividing line north of the Black Sea in the course of the river
Don. Modern map makers usually place the division at the Ural Mountains,
the Caspian Sea, and the Caucasus. Each of these boundaries is more or
less arbitrary. In a geographical sense Europe is only the largest of the
great Asiatic peninsulas.

PHYSICAL FEATURES OF EUROPE

But in physical features the two continents disclose the most striking
contrasts. The sea, which washes only the remote edges of Asia, penetrates
deeply into Europe and forms an extremely irregular coast line with
numerous bays and harbors. The mountains of Europe, seldom very high and
provided with easy passes, present no such barriers to intercourse as the
mightier ranges of Asia. We miss in Europe the extensive deserts and
barren table-lands which form such a feature of Asiatic geography. With
the exception of Russia the surface, generally, is distributed into
plains, hills, and valleys of moderate size. Instead of a few large
rivers, such as are found in Asia, Europe is well supplied with numerous
streams that make it possible to travel readily from one district to
another.

CENTRAL AND NORTHERN EUROPE

The almost unbroken mountain chain formed by the Pyrenees, the Alps, and
the Balkans, sharply separates the central land mass of Europe from the
regions to the south. Central Europe consists, in general, of lowlands,
which widen eastward into the vast Russian plain. Northern Europe includes
the British Isles, physically an extension of Europe, and the peninsulas
of Scandinavia and Finland, between the Baltic Sea and the Arctic Ocean.
Twenty centuries ago central and northern Europe was a land of forests and
marshes, of desolate steppes and icebound hills. The peoples who inhabited
it--Celts in the west, Teutons or Germans in the north, Slavs in the east
--were men of Indo-European [2] race and speech. They were still
barbarians. During ancient times we hear little of them, except as their
occasional migrations southward brought them into contact with the Greeks
and the Romans.

SOUTHERN EUROPE

Southern Europe comprises the three peninsulas of Spain, Italy, and the
Balkans, which reach far south into the Mediterranean. This great inland
sea is divided into two parts near the center, where Africa and the island
of Sicily almost touch each other across a narrow strait. The eastern part
contains several minor seas, of which the one called the Aegean had most
importance in Greek history.

21. GREECE AND THE AEGEAN

THE AEGEAN SEA

The Aegean is an almost landlocked body of water. The Balkan peninsula,
narrowing toward the Mediterranean into the smaller peninsula of Greece,
confines it on the west. On the east it meets a boundary in Asia Minor.
The southern boundary is formed by a chain of islands, while the only
opening northward is found in the narrow passage leading to the Black Sea.
The coasts and islands of the Aegean thus make up a little world set off
by itself.

[Illustration: Map, PHYSICAL MAP OF EUROPE]

CONTINENTAL GREECE

Continental Greece is a tiny country. Its greatest length is scarcely more
than two hundred and fifty miles; its greatest breadth is only one hundred
and eighty miles. Mountain ridges, offshoots of the Balkans, compose the
greater part of its area. Into the valleys and deep gorges of the interior
the impetuous sea has everywhere forced a channel. The coast line,
accordingly, is most irregular--a constant succession of sharp
promontories and curving bays. The mountains, crossing the peninsula in
confused masses, break it up into numberless valleys and glens which
seldom widen into plains. The rivers are not navigable. The few lakes,
hemmed in by the hills, have no outlets except in underground channels. In
this land of the Greeks no place is more than fifty miles from a mountain
range, or more than forty miles from some long arm of the Mediterranean.

THE AEGEAN ISLANDS

From the Greek mainland to the coast of Asia Minor the traveler follows a
route thickly studded with rocky islands. They are near enough together to
permit the passage from one to another without losing sight of land. The
Aegean islands thus served as "stepping-stones" between Greece and Asia
Minor. [3]

WESTERN ASIA MINOR

Western Asia Minor resembles Continental Greece in its deeply indented
coast, variety of scenery, and mild climate. The fertile river valleys of
this region early attracted Greek colonists. They built here many
flourishing cities, especially along the central coast, which came to be
known as Ionia.

INFLUENCE OF GEOGRAPHICAL CONDITIONS

Greek history well illustrates the influence of geographical conditions on
the life of a people. In the first place, mountain ranges cut up
Continental Greece into many small states, separated from one another by
natural ramparts. Hence the Greeks loved most of all their own local
independence and always refused to unite into one nation under a single
government. In the second place, the near presence of the sea made sailors
of the Greeks and led them to devote much energy to foreign commerce. They
early felt, in consequence, the stimulating effects of intercourse with
other peoples. Finally, the location of Greece at the threshold of Asia,
with its best harbors and most numerous islands on the eastern coast,
enabled the country to receive and profit by all the culture of the
Orient. Greece faced the civilized East.

22. THE AEGEAN AGE (TO ABOUT 1100 B.C.)

A PREHISTORIC CIVILIZATION

The Greeks of historic times knew very little about their prehistoric
period. Instead of accurate knowledge they had only the beautiful legends
preserved in ancient poems, such as the _Iliad_ and the _Odyssey_. Within
our own day, however, remarkable excavations have disclosed the remains of
a widespread and flourishing civilization in times so distant that the
historic Greeks had lost all sight of it. As in the Orient, [4] the labors
of modern scholars are yearly adding to our knowledge of ancient life.

[Illustration: Map, AEGEAN CIVILIZATION]

[Illustration: EXCAVATIONS AT TROY The great northeast tower of the sixth
city. The stairs at the right belong to the eighth city.]

SCHLIEMANN'S EXCAVATIONS AT TROY

The man who did most to reveal the prehistoric civilization of Greece was
a wealthy German merchant named Heinrich Schliemann. An enthusiastic lover
of Homer, he believed that the stories of the Trojan War related in the
_Iliad_ were not idle fancies, but real facts. In 1870 A.D. he started to
test his beliefs by excavations at a hill called Hissarlik, on the
northwestern coast of Asia Minor. Here tradition had always fixed the site
of ancient Troy. Schliemann's discoveries and those of later explorers
proved that at Hissarlik at least nine successive cities had come into
existence, flourished, and passed away. Excavations completed in 1892 A.D.
have shown that the sixth city in order from the bottom was the one
described in the Homeric poems. It had powerful walls defended by towers,
well-fortified gates, and palaces of stone. The marks of fire throughout
the ruins indicate that the city must have been destroyed by a disastrous
conflagration.

SCHLIEMANN'S EXCAVATIONS AT MYCENAE AND TIRYNS

The remarkable disclosures at Troy encouraged Schliemann to excavate other
Homeric sites. At Mycenae, a prehistoric city of Argolis in Greece, he
laid bare six rock-hewn graves, containing the skeletons of nineteen
persons, men, women, and children. The faces of the dead had been covered
with thin masks of gold, and their bodies had been decked with gold
diadems, bracelets, and pendants. The other funeral offerings include gold
rings, silver vases, and a variety of bronze weapons. At Tiryns, once the
capital of Argolis, he uncovered the ruins of an extensive structure with
gateways, open courts, and closed apartments. Characteristic of this
edifice were the separate quarters occupied by men and women, the series
of storerooms for provisions, and such a modern convenience as a bathroom
with pipes and drains. In short, the palace at Tiryns gives us a clear and
detailed picture of the home of a Homeric prince.

[Illustration: LIONS' GATE, MYCENAE
The stone relief, of triangular shape, represents two lions (or lionesses)
facing each other on opposite sides of a pillar. The heads of the animals
have been lost.]

EVANS'S EXCAVATIONS AT GNOSSUS

But the fame of even Schliemann's discoveries has been somewhat dimmed by
the excavations made since 1900 A.D. on the site of Gnossus, the ancient
capital of the island of Crete. At Gnossus an Englishman, Sir Arthur
Evans, has found the remains of an enormous palace, with numerous courts,
passages, and rooms. Here is the royal council chamber with the throne on
which the king once sat. Here are the royal magazines, still filled with
huge earthenware jars for the storage of provisions. A great number of
brilliant pictures--hunting scenes, landscapes, portraits of men and
women--cover the palace walls. Buried in some of the chambers were
thousands of clay tablets with inscriptions which, if ever read, will add
new chapters to ancient history. [5]

[Illustration: THE VAPHIO GOLD CUPS (National Museum, Athens)
These beautiful objects were found in 1888 within a "bee-hive" tomb at
Vaphio in Laconia. The two cups are of beaten gold, ornamented with
designs in _repousse_ work. The first scene represents a wild-bull hunt.
The companion piece pictures four tame bulls under the care of a
herdsman.]