The history of ancient civilization : a handbook based upon M. Gustave Ducoudray's Histoire sommaire de la civilisation
Ducoudray, Gustave, 1838-1906
wy \ \ < << << YS ~ S \ \ \N ~ WS WN SS . SS WN \ << \ \ \\ AK AK SS UK \ ASS \ s . . “s S 3 EW » NOSSRSS SEES SEENON VL WAANANABARRRATER RELA RARRLARAAAANARAN ERAS ERE LEARALERERANE LEREREE CERRLLRARTE RE CEREAL VE = rec = « ees Py, rede ss tale aa THE HISTORY OF ANCIENT CIVILIZATION DYte HISTOR Y OF ANCIENT CIVILIZATION A HANDBOOK ~ BASED UPON M. GUSTAVE DUCOUDRAY’S “HISTOIRE SOMMAIRE DE LA CIVILISATION” EDITED BY Toe Rev. J. VERSCHOYLE, M.A. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS LONDON: CHAPMAN AND HALL LIMITED 1889 The second portion of this work, “THE History OF MODERN CIVILISATION,” is in the press, and will shortly be published. January 10th, 1889. PREFACE, Tue civilization of Greece, which was the outcome of indi- vidual thought, whether embodied in literature, art, or life, the civilization of Rome, which was the outcome of corporate action, whether embodied in conquest, organization, or ad- ministration, are most fully understood in their influence on the development of mankind when viewed side by side with the earlier civilizations of the East. Such a comprehensive view of ancient civilization this handbook is intended to facilitate, especially for students in the more advanced classes of schools. It may, perhaps, be useful to older students also, as a grouping together of knowledge already acquired. The present work is based on M. Ducoudray’s ‘ Histoire Sommaire de la Civilisation.” The translation was carefully made by an experienced hand; but the work cannot now be called a translation, for a large part, especially the accounts of Greek literature and art, and Latin literature, has been rewritten for the sake of greater accuracy and fuller in- formation. In rewriting as well as in correcting, I have freely used the works of the best authorities. For Egypt I have used b vi PREFACE. the works of Wilkinson, Rawlinson, Birch, and Kenrick ; for Babylon and Assyria, the works of Layard, Rawlinson, Oppert; for Greece, the works of Curtius, Grote, and Jebb ; for Rome, the works of Mommsen and Merivale. I have also found much trustworthy information in the works of MM. Georges Perrot and Charles Chipiez, which I have con- sulted in the excellent English translations of Mr. Walter Armstrong, viz.: “ Ancient Egyptian Art,” “ Art in Chaldea and Assyria,” “ Art in Pheenicia and Cyprus.” Tue Epiror. January, 1889. CONTENTS. BOOK I.—THE NATIONS OF THE EAST. CHAPTER I. THE BEGINNINGS OF CIVILIZATION. PAGE Summary.—History—The Sources of History—Traditions, Monuments, Accounts in Writing —Civilization—Prehistoric Man—The Stone Age—The Bronze Age—The Iron Age—The Civilized Races—The Divisions of the White Race—The General Progress of Civilization —The Divisions of History.— (Notes: Civilization; The Imple- ments of the Stone Age) ° : 2 : ° : : 2 1 CHAPTER II, THE MONUMENTS AND ART OF EGYPT. Summary.—Egypt, the Nile—Herodotus, the Discoveries of Modern Science—The Monuments of Egypt: the Pyramids—The Tombs at Sakkarah, Lake Moeris, the Labyrinth—The Hyksos Invasion— The New Theban Empire—The Monuments of the New Theban Empire: the Hall of Karnak, Luxor, the Ramesseum—The Grot- tos of Abou-Simbel—The Egyptian Religion: Worship of Animals —The Doctrines of the Egyptian Priesthood—The Destiny of Man: * the Immortality of the Soul—Funerals: Judgments of the Dead: the Mummies— Political Organization—Government—Society— Manners and Customs—Morality—A griculture—Industry—Com- merce—Egyptian Art—Writing: the Hieroglyphics—Literature and Science—Character of Egyptian Civilization.—(Wotes: The Hall of Karnak ; the Colossi at Abou-Simbel; The Confessions of the Dead) . : ; é : 5 : : : : Ee: Vill CONTENTS. ee ee ee CHAPTER III. THE BABYLONIANS AND ASSYRIANS. PAGE Summary.—The Civilization of Asia: The Valley of the Tigris and Euphrates—The Chaldean-Babylonian Empire—The Ruins and Monuments of Babylon—The Assyrian Empire: the Ruins and Monuments o Nineveh—The Religion of the Assyrians and Babylonians— he Chaldean Priests—The Babylonian and Assy- rian Government—Society : Manners and Customs—The Art of War—Agriculture and Industry—Assyrian Art—Cuneiform Writ- ing—Literature and Science—The Character of Mesopotamian Civilization.— (Vote: Astronomy in Mesopotamia) ° . - 42 CHAPTER IV. THE RELIGION AND SOCIAL STATE OF THE JEWS. SummMary.—The Jewirh People: Palestine—The Formation and History of the Hebrew Nation—The Bible—The Religion of the Hebrews: Unity of God--Unity of the Temple—The Ritual: the Sacrifices—The Sabbath: the Feasts—The Spiritual Character of Hebrew Religion—The Priesthood—The Prophets—The Different Forms of Government—Society: the Family—Property in Land— The Jubilee—Penal Laws—Agriculture—Industry—Commerce — Literature and Science—The Arts—General Characteristics of the Hebrew People: their Moral Grandeur—Causes of the Ruin of Jewish Independence—Fate of the Jews after the Dispersion—The Talmud—The Jews in the Middle Ages—The Jews in Modern Times . ° : . ° ° : ° ° . : ee CHAPTER V. PH@NICIAN COMMERCE. Summary.—The Phoenician Confederation—The Phoenician Colonies —The Mines in Spain— Maritime and Land Commerce—Phcenician Industry: Glass and Purple—Phenician Religion—Phcenician Writing: Origin of European Alphabet—Phecenician Influence— Carthage: her Situation and Empire—Carthaginian Commerce and Navigation—Causes of the Fall of Carthage . : ; is CONTENTS. 1X CHAPTER VI. THE CIVILIZATION OF THE ARYANS, HINDOOS, AND PERSIANS. PAGE Summary.—The Aryans: Sanskrit—The Sacred Poems of India—The Religion of the Brahmans—Buidha and Buddhism—The Plateau of Iran; Medes and Persians—The Medes—The Persians: their Empire—Administrative Organization—Roads and Posts—Court and Splendour of the Persian Kings—The Persian Religion: Zoroaster—The Zend-avesta—Persian Civilization—The Ancient Civilization of the Oriental Nations : . . : . . 100 BOOK II.—GREEK CIVILIZATION. CHAPTER VII. THE GREEK RELIGION. SummMary.—The Country; Grecian History explained by Geography —The Origin of the Hellenic Family—-The Greek Religion— Homer’s Account of the Gods—Fate—Nemesis—The Heroes— The Orphic Mysteries—Religious Morality of the Greeks—The Worship—Divination—The Oracles: the Delphic Pythia—The Amphictyonic Council—The Public Games.— (Note: The Games). 115 CHAPTER VIIL GREEK POLITICS. Summary.—The Heroic Age—Historic Times—The Family—The Tribe —The City—The Government of the City—The People : Ionians and Dorians—The Dorian City: Sparta, Lycurgus; Aristocratic Government—Social Inequalities—Military Discipline—Patriotism —Spartan Austerity : Education—Vices of the Spartan Constitu- tion—The Ionian City of Athens—Property: Labour—Humanity —Social Spirit—Literary and Artistic Tastes : Education—Politi- cal Liberty; the Laws of Solon ; Democratic Government—Pro- gress of Democracy : the Reform of Cleisthenes—The Athenians and the Spartans—Ancient Liberty—Greek Colonies—Colonies of Asia Minor—Colonies of Thrace and Macedonia— Colonies of Italy x CONTENTS. and Sicily—African Colonies—The Colonies and the Metropolis —Commerce and Prosperity of the Greek Colonies—The Conflict with Asia: Opposition between the Greek World and the Oriental World—Character of the Medean War—Glory of Athens— Pericles : 4 ; ‘ . : ° ° “ . » 126 CHAPTER IX. GREEK LITERATURE AND ART. Summary.—The Origin of Poetry—Epic Poetry—The Homeric Epic: the ‘Iliad’? and ‘“ Odyssey ”’—Hesiod—Elegiac and Iambic Poetry ; Satire ; Political Changes—Dramatic Poetry: Origin and Character of the Greek Theatre—Dramatic Competitions—ischy- lus, Sophocles, Euripides; Brilliancy of Greek Literature in the Time of Pericles—Comedy; Aristuphanes—Prose Writing—His- tory: Herodotus—Thucydides—Xenophon—The First Philoso- phers—Plato—Aristotle—Pyrrhonism—Stoicism and Epicurism— Oratory: Demosthenes—Science—Medicine—Art—Architecture : The Three Orders of Architecture—The Monuments: The Parthe- non, the Propylea—Sculpture: Phidias—Painting: Polygnotus, Zeuxis—Music . . ° . : . : . . - 168 CHAPTER X. THE DIFFUSION OF GREEK GENIUS. Summary.—Causes of the Political Decadence of Greece; the Pelopon- nesian War — Decadence of the Democracies; Corruption of Society—Bad Economic Organization—Rivalry between Sparta and Thebes; Exhaustion of Military Strength ; the Mercenaries ; Decline of Patriotism—Military Power of Macedonia; the Pha- lanx—Character of the Macedonian Dominion — Alexander ; his Expedition into Asia; the King, Traveller, and Coloniser— Results of Alexander’s Work—The Greek Kingdom of Egypt; the Ptolemies; Glory of Alexandria—Science and Literature at Alexandria—The Greco-Syrian Monarchy ; Empire of the Seleu- cidee—The Kingdom of Pergamus—-Decadence of the Greco-Mace- donian Kingdom—The Roman Conquest, 197-146 8.c.—Diffusion of Greek Genius through the West; Polybius, the Historian ; Plutarch ; Lucian—Universality of Greek Genius—Synoptic Table of the Development of Greek Civilizition. . : ; Men bt O4 CONTENTS. x1 BOOK IIl.—THE ROMAN WORLD. CHAPTER XI. THE ROMAN REPUBLIC. PAGH Summary.—The Romans—Italy: Situation of Rome—The Etruscans —Formation of the Roman People—-Roman Religion—The Reli- gious Idea amongst the Romans—The Roman Family; the Pater- nal Authority—Marriage ; the Mother of the Family—Emancipa- tion; Adoption—The Condition of the People: Liberty and Slavery —The Freedmen—The Rights of Property—Organization of the City; the Gens—The Curie; the Tribes—The Patricians and Plebeians; The Tribunes—The Laws of the T'welve Tables: Civil Equality—The Law of Marriage: Social Equality—The Division of the Consulate: Political Equality—The Plebeians admitted to the Priesthood: Religious Equality—Union ofthe Two Orders ; its Consequences—The Government of the Roman Republic: the Se- nate—The Assemblies : Comitia of the Curie, of the Centuries, and of the Tribes—The Consuls—The Dictator—The Censor— The Preetor—The Questor—The Tribunes—The Ediles—The Equites: the Collection of Taxes—Organization of the Army: the Legion— Military Discipline—Patriotism—Disinterestedness and Poverty— Character of the Roman Republic : - A é . ee ate CHAPTER XII. THE CONQUESTS OF ROME.—TRANSFORMATION OF THE REPUBLIC. Summary.—Causes of Roman Greatness—Rights of the Roman City— Policy of the Senate—The Colonies—The Municipia—The Latin Rights—The Italian Rights—Subject Populations—Rome and Car- thage: the Punic Wars— Conquest of the East—Conquest of the West—Results of these Conquests: Flow of Wealth to Rome: Luxury—The Slaves: Ruin of Free Labour: the Great Land- owners—Social Consequences: Disappearance of the Middle Classes —Moral Consequences: the Ruin of Religion: Invasion of Greek Ideas—Efforts for the Regeneration of the Roman Republic: the Gracchi: the Agrarian and Corn Laws—Change in the Army: Marius—Sulla, the Civil Wars: the Proscriptions—Domination of the Aristocratic Party—Servile Wars—Pompey—Julius Csar— Transformation of the Roman Republic: Czsar’s Dictatorship— Antony and Octavius: End ef the Roman Republic . : . 242 xii CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIII. ROMAN SOCIETY UNDER THE EMPIRE. PAGE Summary.—The Roman Empire: Cesarism—The Imperial Apotheosis —The Law of Majesty or Treason—The Imperial Administration ; the Provinces—Roman Peace—Roman Society: the Aristocracy — The Plebs at Rome and in the Provinces— Work under the Empire —Luxury—Stoicism: the Roman Women—The Circus and the Combats of the Gladiators.—(Notes : The Informers; State Work- shops under the Empire; the Ancients at Table; a Roman House) 264 CHAPTER XIV. LATIN LITERATURE AND ART. Summary.—Latin Literature, First Period; Literature under the Re- public—Comedy: Plautus, Terence—Epic and Didactic Poetry: Lucretius—The Oratory of the Republic: Cicero—History : Nepos, Sallust, Ceesar—The Augustan Age—History: Livy—Epic Poetry: Virgil—Lyrical and Narrative Poetry: Horace, Ovid, &c. —Latin Literature in the Two First Centuries of the Empire: Juvenal, Lucan, Tacitus, &c.—Rhetoric: the Senacas, Quintilian, Pliny the Younger—The Jurists—The First Encyclopedia: Pliny ~ the Elder—The Novelists: Petronius, Apuleius—The Arts of Rome: Architecture—Sculpture—Painting—The Empire at the End of the Second Century . - ° 5 . . : ote A HANDBOOK OF THE HISTORY OF ANCIENT CIVILIZATION. BOOK I. THE NATIONS OF THE EAST. CHAPTER I. THE BEGINNINGS OF CIVILIZATION. SumMary: History — The Sources of History — Tradition, Monuments, Accounts in Writing—Civilization—Prehistoric Man—The Stone Age —The Bronze Age—The Iron Age—The Civilized Races—The Divisions of the White Race—The General Progress of Civilization—The Divisions of History. Norss: Civilization—The Implements of the Stone Age. History deals with the life of the human race on the earth; it treats of the civilization of the nations in which the development of mankind has gone on. It enables us to realize the nature of ancient and medieval societies, reveals their origin, describes their progress, and accounts for their rise and fall. It shows us how our life is the outcome of the acts of past ages; and by widening our experience enables us to play our part so that the life of man- kind may advance steadily and surely in the progress towards per- fection. The Sources of History: Tradition, Monuments.—Evidence may be oral, or supplied by a material object, or written. We have therefore three sources of history: traditions, monuments, and written records. When evidence has been transmitted verbally from generation to generation it is called tradition. In its nature B 2 THE HISTORY OF “CIVILIZATION. tradition tends to become in a great degree inaccurate ; each per- son or age which hands on the original statement of fact adds something to it or subtracts something from it, according to par- ticular bias. It becomes thus, not a record of facts, but an imaginative or poetical account of them. Still often tradition is found trustworthy in the general characteristics of an age—for instance, the social conditions of the different classes in Homer— but as regards particular facts which rest on the evidence of tra- dition, it is almost impossible to discern what groundwork of truth, if any, resides in them. The study of monuments has becomea special science, Archeology, which often engrosses the whole life of a man interested in the history of the past. Archeology has filled museums with fragments of monuments, and with relics of previous generations, such as implements, weapons, and jewels; and by fortunate discoveries in the countries themselves it informs us how the ancients built their temples and houses, their roads and bridges; so that thanks to it we see and touch objects belonging to the earliest races, and thus learn what industries they had and what art. Scientific men also collect coins and medals, and these form a distinct branch of archeology, a special science, Numismatics. This science stands midway between monumental and written evidence, for coins and medals bear the superscription as well as the image. Accounts in Writing.—We approach nearer to certainty when men contemporary or nearly contemporary with the events they describe have written an account of them. A most important branch of contemporary written evidence is that furnished by inscriptions, the study of which is known as Epigraphy. In early times nearly all written records were cut in stone or bronze. Accordingly it often happens that most important laws and official enactments have come down to us; and not only these, but private contracts and the actions of private individuals, recorded in this manner, have survived to our day, so that we get glimpses into certain departments of the life of the people, which naturally are not to be found in the professed historians of the times, THE BEGINNINGS OF CIVILIZATION. 3 Other kinds of contemporary evidence, besides regular histories, are Annals, where important events are merely registered year by year ; Memoirs, where contemporaries have confined themselves to recording the events they had witnessed or in which they had taken part. It has become the work of modern learning to verify these records the one by the other, by the discoveries of the archeologist, which increase almost daily, and by every possible means of information. The study of old documents, charters, title-deeds, and family records has now become an important source of information, and has even formed a new science, Paleography. History, rightly so called, which is at the same time a science and an art, collects all available information, from tradition, from monuments, from annals, chronicles, and memoirs; it criticises, weighs, and compares evidence; it seeks for the causes of events and their consequences, and from them compiles an animated and well-reasoned narrative. As our guides through the centuries, ancient and modern, we have many genuine historians, who have in a sense resuscitated the past. Civilization.—The word civilization is modern, though the thing it represents belongs to ancient as well as modern times. It in- cludes the whole political, social, economic, intellectual, and moral development of humanity.* * Cwwilization.—Progress and development are the fundamental ideas contained in the word civilization. What is this progress, what is this development? The etymology of the word seems to answer these questions in a clear and satisfactory manner: it indicates that it is the improvement of civil life rightly so called, the development of society, of the relations of men towards each other. This is in fact the first idea that occurs to the mind when the word civilization is pronounced ; instantly the extension, the greatest activity, and the best organisation of social existence presents itself to us; on the one hand the increasing production of sources of wealth and of well-being amongst a population, on the other a more equitable distribution of that wealth and of that well-being amongst individuals. But this development of social life is not all; it does not in itself contain all the meaning of the word civilization. To this important element another has to be added: the development of individual life, of domestic life, the development of man him- self, of his faculties, sentiments, ideas. And it is not only these two points that constitute civilization ; but their simultaneousness, their close and swift B2 4 THE HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION. Prehistoric Man.—Prehistoric archeology may be divided into four epochs, named from the material used in the implements of each epoch: the Paleolithic, when rude stone implements were in use ; the Neolithic, when polished stone was the material employed ; the Bronze, when bronze was in vogue; the Iron, when iron. Modern science has established the antiquity of man on the earth ; but it is not within the scope of this work to discuss the geologi- cal evidence of the theories founded uponit. This arrangement of the prehistoric past into epochs is not a modern achievement. Hesiod (850 B.c.) speaks of the priority of the use of bronze to iron ; and Lucretius plainly distinguishes the stone, the bronze, and the iron ages in their accepted scientific order. The Stone Age.—The Stone Age has two divisions, the Paleolithic and the Neolithic. In the first of these epochs, the Paleolithic, man shared Europe with the cave bear, the woolly-haired rhinoceros and other extinct animals. In the second, the Neolithic or polished stone age, the implements and weapons of stone were brought to a very high point of perfection, but no metal seems to have been known except gold. The implements of the Paleo- lithic age found in the drift are mostly of flint, and of the rudest description; while those of the Neolithic are beautifully finished, and evidently belong to the same people and period as do the megalithic remains.* To the polished stone age, the Neolithic, we refer those pre- Spearhead. union, their action on one another, are indispensable to its perfection. (Guizot, ‘¢ Histoire de la Civilization,” vol. i.). * The Implements of the Stone Age, §c.—Implements of bone, of reindeer horns, and of stag horns, combined with flint, have been found in the caves that have been explored. The cave man had already developed the first rudiments of art, for we find drawings of the chase on the bones of the rein- deer he had killed. ‘There was also, as seen in the care for the dead, some dim intuition of personal immortality. The study of the trepanned skulls of man in the Neolithic age points in the same direction. THE. BEGINNINGS OF CIVILIZATION. 5 historic remains, the cromlechs or large stone chambers ; the dol- mens, which probably hide the tombs of chiefs ; and the menhirs or upright stones, which are often found close to the dolmens. These megalithic monuments are not con- ; fined to Great Britain and France; a great number of them have been also found in Holland and Hanover, on the coasts of the Baltic, in Mecklenburg, and Prussian Pome- rania, They abound in Denmark and in the southern part of Scandinavia. They have been observed in lands as remote as Tartary, Siberia, la yA yy UMitingit a8 We ih Mh oS yi ions PULL 6, 0) Bronze Bracelet found in the Swiss Lakes. - Dagger, Danish Bronze. the Caucasus, Palestine, India, and Africa, The majority of objects found under the dolmens, whether arms or ornaments, are in stone and in flint, and it is probable that the race interred there used almost exclusively weapons and utensils of such materials. The Bronze Age.—Bronze was the metal that first enabled men to utilise all the resources of nature. The copper and tin ores melted together produced bronze, which was more generally useful than copper. The long period that succeeded the Polished Stone Age has therefore been called the Bronze Age. Armed with a comparatively hard metal, man was able to cut wood, to build dwelling places, to dig and excavate the earth, and to encounter the wild beasts more successfully. Bronze therefore continued to be used until much later, even after the discovery of iron, and 6 THE TISTOR VY VOFeCIVILIZA TION, many of the savage nations in historic times still used bronze Weapons and implements. The curious lake cities which have so much excited the curiosity of archeologists are traced back to this period. In the Swiss lakes, and afterwards in those of Bavaria, Austria, and the higher parts of Italy and Savoy, the remains of piles, which were used to support houses built above the waters, have been found. Houses were also erected on marshes and ponds. At the bottom of the lakes and marshes amongst the remains of the piles a quantity of tools have been discovered: axes, knives, bronze fish-hooks, pins and bracelets—mixed, it must be owned, with flint and bone implements. It has therefore been surmised that the lake dwellings date back even to the Polished Stone Age, though it must be remembered that stone implements continued to be used even during the Bronze Age, for one age overlapped the other. Fragments of pottery and bones of domestic animals have added additional proof to the proofs already collected of the existence of numerous families who lived on the lakes. They were protected by their position against the attacks of wild beasts, and the fish from the lakes provided them with abundant food. The Iron Age.—On the discovery of iron that metal superseded bronze for weapons, axes, and knives; but bronze was still in use for ornaments and for those parts of weapons where a hard and cutting edge was not required. The primitive founderies consisted of trenches dug along a slope that was exposed to the wind.* In the tombs of Hallstadt, near Saltzburg, in Austria, a quantity of daggers and swords were found, with various ornaments, in which bronze and iron were mixed.{ Bronze vases too, pottery which gave evidence of great skill in fictile art, and golden jewel- lery were discovered mixed with the iron work. Other tombs in * L. Figuier, ‘‘ Primitive Man.” + The use of iron, which the Egyptians possessed 2,500 years before the Christian era, only penetrated into Greece in the fifteenth century B.c., into Italy probably in the twelfth, into Gaul in the seventh. It was not until the Christian era that it reached Denmark and Sweden. THE BEGINNINGS OF CIVILIZATION. 7 Lombardy, in Savoy, and in the lake dwellings have also furnished us with a great many implements dating from the earliest period of the Iron Age. From the beginning of the Iron Age man possessed the great instrument with which he was to overcome all kinds of resistance. Iron first enabled him to develop towards the high state of civilization that modern nations now possess. With the use of iron societies, rightly so called, commence and history opens. The Civilised Races.—Modern science has also directed its atten- tion to the subject of races, and anthropology has issued in studies which have not, however, yet resulted in a decisive conclusion. Without dwelling on discussions which belong to the natural history of man, we have only to point out the varieties of the human race that have actually been civilized. The commonest and most convenient distinction is the physical. ‘The black or negro race, which predominates in Africa, with receding forehead, oily black skin, and crisped hair, must be placed on one side. Although capable of being softened, regulated, in short human- ized, it has never been civilized. It has no history. In Asia we find the Mongol type, with prominent cheek bones and small oblique eyes. This is the yellow race. This race has attained, particularly in China, a certain degree of civilization, but it seems not to have known the meaning of progress.. During thousands of years Chinese civilization has remained immovable, and the information respecting it is not sufficient to enable us to estimate its value. In America the copper or red race has continually receded before the Europeans, and cannot be counted amongst the civilized races. It is the white race that has, as it were, lighted and transmitted from country to country the ‘‘lamp of life,” of which the Roman poet wrote, and which has been described by the rather old- fashioned figure of the ‘torch of civilization.” Whether pure or mixed, the white race has formed great nations, raised monuments, perfected art, industry, and laws. It has learned to control, rule, 8 THE: AISTORY OF, CIVILIZATION, and teach itself, and has thus enabled man to attain his proper dignity, to approach, that is, the likeness of God who created him, The Divisions of the White Race.—Tradition, archeological re- searches, the comparison of languages, all combine to place the first habitation of the white race in the highlands of Asia. It was there that, after the deluge chronicled in the legends of all Eastern nations, mankind dispersed, and formed the three chief branches of the white race, the families of Ham, Shem, and Japhet.* The greater part of the Hamites abandoned Asia at an early date, and receding before the children of Shem, colonised Africa. The Egyptians were probably the most important branch of this family, which is distinguished by its early progress in material civilization, The Shemites, or Semites, founded several celebrated nations, the Assyrian, Hebrew, Syrian, Phoenician. But, if we except the Jews, the Arabs are now the only representatives of the pure Semitic race, and they alone have retained the taste for a patri- archal and tribal life. The descendants of Japhet, recognized by science as the Aryans, are also called Indo-Kuropeans. In fact the Aryans divided. The Iranians, marching towards the west, settled in the table-land of Persia or Iran, and thence proceeded to the Caucasus, and after- wards to Europe. The Medes, Persians, and later on the Kuro- pean nations, sprang from this family.t Blended with inferior races, like the Mongol, they formed the Turanians, a Scythic race, which included many different populations. These have now dis- appeared, but have given birth to the Turks, to the inhabitants of the steppes that border the Aral Sea, of the banks of the Volga, of the Uralian chain, and, lastly, to the Finns, the Laplanders, &c. The second important branch of the Aryans, or Indians, descended by the Punjaub into the southern peninsula, which derives its * Modern science has retained the names which the Bible has transmitted to us. t The Iranian type appears to be better preserved amongst the Persians than elsewhere, and in the Caucasus the finest specimens of the white race are said to have been found. This race is therefore named the Caucasian, although the Caucasus is not its cradle. THE BEGINNINGS OF CIVILIZATION. 9 name from them: Hindustan, the land of the Hindoos. It is now proved that the population of India and of Kurope have a common origin, and that the European languages are of the same parentage as Sanscrit, the sacred language of the Hindoos. The General Progress of Civilisation. —The first really civilised societies had their seats in the valleys of the great rivers—the Nile, the Tigris, the Euphrates. A hot climate, fertile soil, abundant water, all tended to facilitate culture and life in those prosperous regions, We have little information respecting the social state of ancient India, but there is an ample store of detailed, if not com- plete, records of the civilization of the peoples of Egypt, of Chaldea, and Assyria. To these nations must be added the inhabitants of the Jordan valley, the Hebrews, the people of the Syrian coasts, the Pheenicians, and the inhabitants of the plateau of Iran, the Medo-Persians, who at a later period acquired great power. European nations did not form themselves into organised states until long after the nations of Asia and Africa. But when they had once succeeded in so doing they made much more rapid pro- gress towards perfection. Greek civilization spread all over the East, and afterwards Roman civilization embraced at the same time both East and West. Although the empire of Roman civilization extended so far, only a small portion of the world profited by it. There was little real improvement except in the countries that bordered the Mediterra- nean. But four centuries after the Christian era the Roman Empire fell; new races poured in from the north of Europe and from the Arabian peninsula, The range of history was enlarged. Then followed a period of great confusion, then the feudal chaos, afterwards the struggle of the Northern races, who had embraced Christianity, with the Southern and Eastern nations, who had become Mohammedans. Nevertheless, from the twelfth century order began to reappear in Europe. Kingdoms organized them- selves, and progress steadily continued until the fifteenth century, when it became very rapid. We might almost say that at this epoch a curtain was torn 10 LHE HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION, away, revealing to man the second half of his dwelling-place, the New World. Intelligence seemed to regain possession of herself, and science continued from century to century extending her domi- nions. In four hundred years the face of Europe was changed, American society created, and now in our time Kuropeans are regenerating Africa and Asia. Starting from the East, civilisation returns to the Hast, com- pleting, though she still has a great deal to accomplish, the won- derful circle in which history leads us from surprise to surprise, surpassing in interest the most glowing and varied drama. Light came from the Hast, but it is the West that brings it back to the East to-day more brilliant than it had ever been before. The Divisions of History.—The introduction of Christianity being the starting point of a complete transformation of the world, chronology has been regulated by that event. All the ages which preceded it have been comprised in Ancient History, and those which followed in Modern History. Thus we say the year 1885 of the Christian era, writing 1885 a.p. The Mussulman counts his years from the Hegira (the flight of Mahomet to Medina), in the year 622 of the Christian era. His era is therefore 622 years behind that of the nations of Europe, and even more, for his years are shorter, being measured by the lunar month. The year 1885 then corresponds with the year of the Hegira 1302. Modern History has been subdivided. The long and elaborate development of modern society has filled eighteen centuries, and the period during which this development was confused and intermittent is therefore counted as an intermediate period, the Middle Ages, ending 1453 a.p., the date of the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks. This date has been chosen because it coincides with the majority of the great discoveries which pro- duced the rapid progress of the last four centuries. The time that has elapsed since 1453 has retained the name of modern history, while contemporary history is still in making from day to day. THE BEGINNINGS OF CIVILIZATION. If These divisions represent the progress of civilization and the various stages of humanity. But they cannot be compared with the ages of man without injustice. We cannot liken ancient civilization to infancy, for amongst the Greeks and the Romans it attained a high level of maturity and strength. But in many ways it was incomplete, and after its revival amongst modern nations it rose to a knowledge and mastery of nature and a moral dignity that antiquity never knew. CHAPTER II. THE MONUMENTS AND ART OF EGYPT. Summary: Egypt, the Nile—Herodotus: the Discoveries of Modern Science— The Monuments of Egypt: the Pyramids—The Tombs at Sakkarah, Lake Moeris, the Labyrinth—The Hyksos Invasion—The New Theban Empire— The Monuments of the New Theban Empire: the Hall of Karnak, Luxor, the Ramesseum—The Grottos of Abou-Simbel—The Egyptian Religion: Worship of Animals—The Doctrines of the Egyptian Priesthood — The Destiny of Man: The Immortality of the Soul— Funerals: Judgments of the Dead: The Mummies—Political Organi- zation — Government— Society— Manners and Customs— Morality — Agriculture— Industry —Commerce—Egyptian Art— Writing: ‘The Hieroglyphics—Literature and Science—Character of Egyptian Civili- zation. Norrs: The Hall of Karnak—The Colossi at Abou-Simbel—The Confessions of the Dead. Egypt : the Nile——Near the point where Africa approaches Asia lies a narrow valley walled in by two ranges of mountains, enclosed on the farther side by two deserts, and fertilized by the periodical inundations of a mighty river. This long and narrow strip of verdure, surrounded by mountains and menaced by the desert sands, is Egypt, the seat of the oldest organized society, of the first empire that acquired glory by its arms and its works of art. This is indeed the cradle of civilization. A few years ago, the beginnings of Egyptian history and even the source of the great river that fertilizes the land of Egypt were hidden in mystery. The sources of the Nile have been at last discovered, and archeologists have now retraced the com- mencement of a history which is practically the commencement of all authentic history. To Speke and Grant in 1862, and to Baker THE MONUMENTS AND ART OF EGYPT. 13 in 1864, we owe the knowledge of the lakes Victoria Nyanza and Albert Nyanza, whence come the abundant waters, that swollen by the equatorial rains, at fixed intervals overflow and fertilize with their mud the soil that borders their bed, and refresh a land which lies beneath a sky where a rain-cloud is seldom or never seen. We know, too, how the abundant harvests that regularly result from the inundations of the Nile, returning ample food to moderate labour, promoted the development of the Egyptian nation, how the Nile itself supplied to them a highway for com- munication, rendered doubly useful by the north winds that blow ‘up stream more than eight months of the year, carrying the traffic up into the interior while the current carries it down, how the Arabian desert on the east and the Libyan on the west secured to them comparative immunity from invasion and opportunity for internal progress. Herodotus - the Discoveries of Modern Science.—In ancient times the only knowledge that travellers from Europe could obtain about Egypt, was gained from the facts they gathered by observation during their journeys, for as the Egyptian language was unknown to them they could not penetrate the mystery in which this ancient and long-isolated people loved to enshroud the record of their past. The Greeks were deeply interested in Egypt, ascribing to it their own origin, and that of their religion and art. The Greek historian, Herodotus, who visited Egypt in the fifth cen- tury before the Christian era (460 or 455 3.c.), has left, in the second book of his history, a vivid and animated picture of the country. Herodotus unhesitatingly retailed all the stories that were told him by the Egyptian priests, but he made no secret of the fact that up to the reign of Psammeticus (604 B.c.) he merely recorded Egyptian tradition. Later on, neither Diodorus, although he lived under one of the last kings of the Grecian dynasty of the Ptolemies,* nor the geographer, Strabo, under Augustus, was apparently better informed. An Egyptian priest, Manetho, in the third century before the Christian era, wrote in Greek a history of Egypt, but only a few fragments of it have been preserved. * Towards 50 B.c. 14 THE HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION. It is in the monuments of Egypt, with their vast array of inscrip- tions, and secondarily in the papyrus MSS., that the real history of Egypt is to be found. The variety and importance of the monu- ments was first brought before the modern world by the labours of the scientific commission which accompanied General Bonaparte to Egypt in 1798. The history, however, still remained a sealed book. One of the prizes of Napoleon’s expedition, a black basalt stone, disinterred at Rosetta in 1798, and now in the British Museum, bore three parallel and horizontal inscriptions, all quite distinct. One was in hieroglyphics, the second in the characters called demotic or popular, the third in Greek. Although a great many scientific men exhausted their skill upon this trilingual inscrip- tion, which was a triple inscription of the same text, no one could make the Greek characters exactly apply to the hieroglyphic signs. Champollion was the first to obtain any success, as early as 1812, but further progress was largely aided by the labours of Dr. Young in 1819. In 1822 Champollion explained the principle of the mysterious writing in a letter to M. Dacier, permanent secretary to the Académie des Inscriptions. ‘To Champollion also is due the construction of a grammar and vocabulary of Ancient Egyptian , and he may fairly be called the founder of modern Egyptology. The way opened by Champollion was followed by a crowd of savants, who, in England, in Germany, and in France, have greatly advanced the knowledge of Egyptian antiquities, Egyptology takes an increasingly important place in the estima- tion of the learned world,* and if the results it has obtained are yet far from complete, it has already furnished us with material enough to enable us to retrace a sufficiently accur.te picture of Egyptian civilisation. The Monuments of Egypt: the Pyramids.—Protected from invasion by the same deserts that isolated them, the people who came from * England boasts of the work of Wilkinson and Birch. Germany, of Lepsius and de Brugsch. The French school is numerous, including, in addition te De Rouge and Mariette, Lenormant, J. DT. Ampére, Mas- pero, &c. THE MONUMENTS AND ART OF EGYPT, 15 Asia and settled in the Nile valley applied themselves to the regu- lation of the periodical inundations, and to the distribution of the water. They built towns on the hillocks, in order that the water should not reach them ; and afterwards, with the stones that the two mountain ranges of Libya and Arabia contain in abundance, and by the means of transit afforded by the Nile, they erected monuments that have defied the course of the centuries. On the left bank of the Nile, near the site of ancient Memphis, stands the Sphinx, a colossal statue hewn from the solid rock, with the body of a lion and the head of a man, over sixty feet in height and one hundred and forty in length, the paws projecting some fifty feet more. The sculpture of Egypt was chiefly symbolical, and in the Sphinx the lion’s body symbolized strength, the man’s head intelligence. Near to Jizeh, and not far from this strange monu- ment, rise the gigantic masses of the Pyramids, prodigious yet regular piles of enormous stones placed in tiers, a wonderful triumph of the works of man over the strength of time. The great pyramid is the loftiest building in the world, being originally 482 feet high. Successive dilapidations have now reduced it, indeed, to about 457 feet. It is higher than the steeple at Strasburg, or that of St. Stephen at Vienna, or than the dome of St. Peter’s, at Rome. ‘‘ Suppose,” says Ampére, ‘‘ the pyramid to be formed of hollow tin, it could be placed over St, Peter’s, at Rome, and the church would disappear like a nutmeg beneath a juggler’s cup.”’ The largest pyramid is called after Cheops (Suphis I.), the two others are rather smaller, that of Cephren 456 feet, and that of Mycerinus 218 feet. These strange monuments are probably the oldest buildings now standing in the world, and were constructed at least four thousand years before the Christian era, in the period of the old Memphian monarchy. ‘‘ To the pyramid of Cheops,” says Lepsius, ‘‘is fastened the first link of our monumental history, not only for Egyptian but for universal history.” But the pyramids of Jizeh are not the only ones which still remain in Egypt. About a hundred stand in the Delta, and some of them are higher than the pyramid of Mycerinus. The pyramids of Jizeh were majestic tombs erected for themselves by despotic 16 THE HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION. sovereigns ; and the scientific theory, which would consider the pyramid a kind of observatory, is quite unfounded. The Tombs at Sakkarah, Lake Moeris, the Labyrinth._—The tombs which have been unearthed near Sakkarah consist of a series of small pylons, or stepped pyramids, that are built so near together as to form narrow streets, blind alleys, a veritable city of the dead. The Great Sphinx. The Egyptians called their tombs ‘eternal houses,” and the rich decoration in the sepulchral chambers, the innumerable pictures which covered the walls, justify the name. Still, in these mortuary buildings the body is carefully hidden; a very deep vertical well leads to a horizontal passage, ending in a room where the mono- lithic sarcophagus is found. It was probably in the time of the middle monarchy, and during THE MONUMENTS AND ART OF EGYPT. 17 the twelfth dynasty, that the valley now called Fayoum was pre- pared to receive the waters of the Nile, and a wonderful basin known by the name of Lake Moeris preserved the overflow from the Nile, and enabled the Egyptians to redistribute the water from the lake in such a way as to correct the irregularities and caprices of the inundations. It is said that two pyramids were erected in the middle of the lake, each surmounted by a seated colossus, one of which, Herodotus tells us, represented the King who built them, the other, the Queen his wife. Modern savants identify this ingenious king with Amenemhe III. To the west of the lake, on a small tableland, stood the Laby rinth, an immense palace, which Herodotus described as the wonder of Egypt. This palace was about 667 feet long, and contained three thousand rooms, half of which were subterranean. Wonder- fully intricate passages joined these thousands of rooms, and no one dared venture amongst them without a guide. In 1843 the German explorer, Lepsius, discovered the ruins of this famous Labyrinth. We found, wrote he, hundreds of rooms, often very small rooms at the side of large ones, vast halls supported by small columns, joined by irregular corridors, with no distinction whether they are for entrance or exit; on this point the descrip- tions of Herodotus and Strabo are fully justified. As to the arrangement of the whole, it consists of three masses of buildings, surrounding a space 600 feet long by 500 feet wide. The fourth side, one of the smaller ones, is occupied by a pyramid, 800 feet wide at its base. On the east side the walls of the rooms are raised 10 feet above the ground, and from the top of the pyramid the whole plan of the edifice is visible. The Labyrinth was apparently used as both palace and temple, where statues of the divinities or of deceased kings were preserved, and probably also precious objects and sacred vestments, It was also the tom! of Amenemhe III. Lastly, in the tombs of Beni-Hassan, opposite Hermopolis Magna, “the dead,” says M. Renan, “lifts up his voice and relates his life.” The thousand details of private life painted on these sepul- chral walls, or mentioned in the inscriptions, have completed the Q 138 THE HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION. revelation of the splendour and prosperity of Egypt under the middle monarchy as fully as the exploration of the Memphian tombs has interpreted to us Egypt under the old monarchy. The Hyksos Invasion, the New Theban Empire.—Fourteen dynasties, some of which lasted more than two centuries, and counted fifty or sixty kings, had already reigned, first at Memphis and afterwards at Thebes, when an invasion of Asiatic tribes pro- foundly disturbed Egypt, in the twentieth century before the Christian era, These were the Shepherds, or Hyksos, as the Greeks called them, a Semitic people, of whom the chief tribe, the Kheta, has, owing to recent investigation, been identified with the Hittites. This government was less barbarous than was for a long time supposed, for modern archeologists have identified monuments, especially at Tanis, as contemporary with the Shepherd Kings, who continued the Egyptian dynasties and showed themselves appreciative patrons of Egyptian art. But the Egyptian nationality maintained itself, in the south, at Thebes, where the princes gradually regained their courage, and collected their strength, and finally began a religious war and drove out the invaders. Expelled by Aahmes, the shepherds returned to Asia, where they were followed up and defeated by the Egyptians, under Thothmes I., at the other side of the Euphrates; and Egypt, under the princes of the new Theban Monarchy, the eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties, once more attained a high state of prosperity. The zenith of Egypt’s greatness was reached when her rule, under Thothmes III., extended from Abyssinia to the Euphrates. On the walls of his greatest building, the Temple of Karnak, Thothmes has left a record of his successes in the form of a fine bas-relief. Amenhotep III. carried the military fame of Egypt from Mesopotamia to farther Ethiopia; he was also a great builder, and is best known from his colossal statue at Thebes, the celebrated Memnon, which has been supposed to audibly salute the sun at its rising. Seti I., the Rameses, and above all Rameses II., or Miamun, whose magnificence and military power gave birth to the Grecian legend of the famous Sesostris, and who is almost certainly to be identified with the Pharaoh who oppressed the THE MONUMENTS AND ART OF EGYPT. 19 children of Israel, frequently invaded Asia and Ethiopia, and have left as irrefragable evidence of their power the wonderful monu- ments at Thebes. The Monuments of the New Theban Empire ; the Hall of Karnak, Zuxor, the Ramesseum.—Ascending the Nile, between Keneh and he ast UR Sieg ——— erie = == (_ ——e bs ts: SEF Ge SS <7 SUNN SESS oS Entrance to the Tomb of Rameses III. 