Author . ^^*0j- o o o Title •^ ** s EL ....5:3... Imprint. 16—47372-2 a^O ^'^'Wr^^^*<^'-^ I H{ !y 1 f Russians. L Slavonic Branch | Poies, etc. II. OUR ARYAN ANCESTORS AND THEIR MIGRATIONS. About 3000 B. C, tlie Egyptians, in the valley of the Nile, and tlie Chal- deans, in the soutliern part of the valley of the Euphrates, were already very old and iiighly civilized nations, with strong governments and great cities, filled with temples and monuments. Europe, however, was still as wild as is, at present, the interior of Africa ; inhabited by the Iberians and the last of the wild people who had preceded them. The Aryan family of the white race was not yet divided into its five branches, but all were living together in Asia, in a beautiful country east of the Caspian Sea, which we shall call the Aryan Homestead. Just now, a feeling of great unrest seemed to take possession of the Aryans. They began to emigrate. The first body of them, who left the old home, moved south. For many hundreds of years afterward, these remained unseparated, having the same customs and the same worship ; but a religious dispute, finally, arose which caused them to divide into two bands. One, going east, reached the Indo coun- try and became the ancestors of the moilern Hindoos. The other, turning to the west, spread themselves over the Plateau of Iran, a plateau partly included in modern Persia. They became the ancestors of tiie Medes and Persians. The peoples of this first migration make what we call the Indo-Ikanic Bba.n'CH. Some time after the first emigration had taken place, another branch started out. It went around the southern end of the Caspian Sea, and, after hundreds of years, found itself on the western coast of Asia Minor. From here, a por- tion found their way across the sea, from island to island or by way of the Hellespont, to Greece, where they became the progenitors of the Cxreeks. The rest, also, crossed into Europe, but moved further to the west, and occupied Italy, where they became the Romans of after times. This is the Graeco- Italic Branch. Long after this the Celtic Branch left the Aryan home. It took a route diflferent from that of either of the preceding, and, passing north of the Cas- pian, leisurely, during the centuries that followed, made its way across the plains of wliat is now Russia until it came into modern Germany and France, either destroying or mingling with the Turanian Iberians, whom they found alread\' livin? there. The Celts were not, however, destined to forever enjoy their new lands in quiet, for in course of time their kinsfolks, the Germans, also decided to go West. Leaving the Aryan country, they slowly journeyed along the route that the Celts bad taken before them. When, at last, they reached the Celts in Central Europe, so many ages had passed, that they seem to have forgotten that they had ever belonged to the same family, for the Germans, pressing in on the first settlers, obliged them to flee to the westernmost edges of Europe, where we find them still. Some of the German tribe.s — the Angles, Saxons, and others — finally invaded England itself, settled it and remained there ; so that the English are descendants of the Germans. This invasion of England took place about five hundred years after the birth of Christ. Much of our English language is thus derived from that of the Germans. It is curious to note how the names of their gods still linger in our names for the days of the week. Woden was the All-father, correspond- ing to Zeus of the Greeks and Jupiter of the Romans, from whom we have W^oden's day, or Wednesday. Thor, the Thunderer, was the god of air and storm and rain. From him we have Thor's day, or Thursday. Freya, the fruitful goddess of peace and joy, gives us Freya-day, or Friday. Tieu was tlie dark god, to meet whom was death. From him we have Tieu's day, or Tuesday. Soetere, an obscure deity, gives us Soetere-day or Saturday. Eostere was the goddess of the dawn and of the spring. She lends her name to the Christian festival of the Resurrection, Easter. W^yrd was the death goddess, whose memory lingers in the word weird. The Aryan stock was not yet exhausted, for still another branch followed the Germans. They were the Slavs, who make the modern Russians and Poles. These different branches of Aryans coming into Europe, found the Mongo- lian Iberians before them, with whom they, everywhere, mingled to a greater or less degree. For this reason most of the modern European and American nations are descended partly from the Iberians and partly from the old Aryans. The Iberians were small and dark. The Aryans were fair in complexion and large in stature. In Greece, in Southern Italy, in Spain and Southern France, where the small, brunette Iberians were most numerous, as compared with the great, blonde Aryan invaders, the people are, still, mainly small in stature and dark in complexion. In Rnssia, in Norway and Sweden, where there were very few Iberians, the people still show the purity of their Aryan descent, in their fair complexion and large stature ; while in .Northern Italy, in Northern France, in Germany, in the Britisii Isles, and in America, the Iberian and Aryan statures and complexions are intermingled in endless variety. We must keep in mind, that these different migrations did not all take place at the same time or within a short period. They were made slowly, and, all together, nm.st have extended over a space of at least two thousand years. Each branch wandered, in a haphazard way, wherever it could find its route 9 most easily, settling down and living for years, perhaps centuries, in one place before moving farther. They drove before them tlieir flocks, carried with them all their possessions, and planted and raised their crops for food as they went. They had, when they started, no definite end in view, and the place of . final settlement was always determined by arising circunsstances. We must not think, either, of tiiese migrations as having ceased, even at the present time; for the Aryan nations of Europe are still pressing to the west and filling all America ; and here they are once more merging into one great family, somethina: as they were before any of them had left the old Arvan homestead east of the Caspian Sea. That the Aryan peoples had, in the beginning, this common origin, we have come to know from the careful comparative study of the root-forms of tlieir languages as well as of their early myths and legends, revealing the fact of a striking similarity. Thus, Jack the Giant-Killer, of the Cilermans, wear- ing his " seven leagued boots," is the same as the Greek Plermes and his winged sandals. While, again, the story of William Tell, of the northern nations; with his unerring aim, is but another version of the classic Apollo, stringing his "twanging bow.'' Still more strange is it that some of the nursery tales, familiar to the Hindoo children, are merely different renderings of those we were accustomed to hear in our own childhood. Taking single words — of which those for father, mother and brother are good examples — we find them occurring, with but little change of form, in several of the Aryan tongues. From this fascinating comparative study of myths and language we have been able to infer much with reference to the prehistoric culture and mode of life of the Aryans. We know that they personified and worshiped the Sun, the Dawn, Fire, the Winds and the Clouds, reverencing the all-embracing sky as the Heaven-Father. Thev were herdsmen and, .sometimes, farmers ; their wealth being reckoned in cattle, with the smaller domestic animals for small change ; it being they who first introduced the horse and the sheep into Europe. They kept bees, and, regretful to say, made an intoxicating drink from fermented honey. They cut their wheat with a sickel and had mills for grinding the grain into flour. For transporting their harvests they used rude wagons, fitted with wheels and axle-trees. The Aryan women could both sew and spin ; garments being woven out of sheep's wool. Leather was tanned and shoes of the same were worn. They built rough houses, and on the water were skillful in the management of their canoes and skiffs. They were warriors and knew something of the elements of astronomy and mathematics. Socially they had reached the stage where the family is the unit of society, the father being the priest and absolute lord of his house. Tenderness existed in the family relations, for the children received names expressive of endear- ment. The families, united, formed village communities, ruled by a chief or patriarch, who was assisted by a council of elders. " In these customs and beliefs of the early Aryans, we discover the germs 9 . 10 of many of the institutions of the classical Greeks and Romans and of the nations of modern Europe. Thus, in the council of elders around the village patriarch, we have the beginnings of the senates of Greece and Rome, and the national parliaments of later times. " Just as the teachings of the parental roof mould the life and character of the children that go out from under its discipline, so have the influences of that early Aryan home shaped the habits, institutions, and character of those peoples and families that, as its children, went out from it to establish new homes in widely different parts of the world." III. EGYPTIAN HISTORY Antiquity of Egyptian History. As to when Egyptian History began, tliere is no means of certainly knowing althougli It is to Le hoped that future discoveries among the tombs and monu- ments of Egypt may yet reveal this fact more definitely. A leading historian places Menes, the first great king, 5700 years before Christ. Another thinks his date is about 2700 B. C. A number of others place him at different dates ranging between these two extremes. So far as the inscriptions on the ancieni monuments prove anything, they are in favor of ti.e older dates We shall have, therefore, to regard the time of Mene.' reign, or that of the be^innin^ ot Egyptian History, as uncertain. _ After Menes, in the long history that followed, there succeeded each other in Egypt, three great empires and thirty-one different dynasties or lines of kings. We can scarcely imagine how long must have been the space of time lequired for so much liistory to transpire. Menes. He, It seems, founded the city of Memphis at the head of tlie Delta the first capital ot Egypt. To secure it from the inundations of the Nile he built around it vast embankments of earth and other engineering works. ' In doinff this, It IS thought that he actually changed the original course of the Nile He was the first to bring together into one large state all tlie petty kin-doms that had previously existed in the Delta, forming what is known as the Old Empire, which lasted, under many different kings, for at least a thousand years. The Pyramid Kings, About 2700 B. C. Of the Old Empire, the first kings of no>e after Menes were (he Pyramid Kings, whose dynasty was the Fourtli. They reigned, most likely, about 2700 B. C. They receive this name from the fact that they built the largest of the pyramids. Of them, Cheops was the builder of the Great Pyramid This is certain, for his name has been found upon some of the stones-painted on them by his workmen. The Pyramid Kings were cruPl oppressors of their people. Thousands of men were forced to labor in building these enormous piles of stone merely 12 to satisfy the proud ambition of the ruling Pharoah. When he died, his body was placed within ; tl:e passage-way which led to the sepulcher was closed by sliding granite portcullises and every trace of the opening so skillfully covered that it was impossible to tell where the entrance Avas. According to Herodotus, Cheops employed on the Great Pyramid one hundred thousand men for twent}' years On account of their oppression, so hateful to the people was the memory of these kings tha'. even two thousand years afterward, when Herodotus visited the country, the Egyptians did not like to speak the names of the builders of the two largest pyramids. The statues of Khafra, the builder of the second pyramid, have been discovered, broken into small pieces, at the bottom of a well in a temple near the Sphinx, into wliich, it is conjectured, they were thrown by the enraged people, perhaps long after his death. Queen Nitocris. Among the dynasties, following the Pyramid Kings is the Sixth in which lived the partly mythical Queen Nitocris, the original Cinderella. Pepi was another great ruler of this dynasty. The Twelfth Dynasty, About 2300 B. C. Under the Twelfth Dynasty, which ruled about 2300 B. C, we find that Memphis has ceased to be the capital, and that Thebes, farther up the valley, is now the reigning city. The Twelfth Dynasty is therefore a line of Theban kings. Particularly interesting monuments, made in the time of these kings, are the rock-hewn sepulchers of Beni Plassan. From the sculptures and paintings on the walls of these tombs we learn that the Egyptians were, at this time, acquainted with the manufacture of linen, glass, cabinet work, gold orna- ments, and many other things which indicate art and refinement. The paint- ings also reveal the customs and employments of the age. We might call these rock-chambers picture books of the life of the times. Several of the monarchs of this dynasty bore the name Usertasen ; various others that of Amenemliat. They seem to have been gno I rulers as well as very powerful kings, taking a real interest in the welfare of the people they governed. Under them the empire of the Pharaohs was extended far up the Nile valley to beyond the second cataract. The style of their architecture was grand and chaste. In the pillars of the tombs of Beni Hassan may be seen the elements of the Greek Doric style. The Shepherd Kings, About 2100 B. C. Soon after the period of the Twelfth Dynasty the power of Egypt greatly declined, and the kingdom even seems to have been broken up into many smaller states. Wandering shepherd tribes from Syria, in Asia, took the opportunity to invade the country and, taking posession of the fine pasture 13 lands of the Delta, gradually established their power over the whole of Egypt. These "Tartars of the South," as they may have been called, were violent and barbarous, and at first destroyed or mutilated the monuments of the con- quered Egyptians. But gradually they were changed by the civilization they, found existing around them, and in time they adopted ihe manners, customs, and culture of the Egyptians, when they seem to have set tlieniselves to the work of restoring the monuments they had broken, and of erecting new structures. It was probably at this time that Joseph was sold into Egypt, and that Jacob with his otiier sons came to live in the countrv. At last, after the intruders had ruled Egypt four hundred years — some say two hundred — they were driven back to Asia by the Theban kings, who had retreated into Ethiopia. The rule of the Shepherd kings makes what is known as the Middle Empire. The New Empire, 1650—527 B. C. The Thebin who led the revolt against the Shepherd kings was Amosis, who now becomes the first of the restored Theban kings and the founder of the New Empire. His dynasty, the Eighteenth, was jtrobably one of the greatest race of rulers that ever reigned upon the earth. To it bt longed Thothmes III and Amunoph III. Thothmes III, 1600 B. C. Thothmes, remarkable to say, e.xtended the empire hundreds of miles into Asia, until it reached the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. He is " the Alex- ander of Egyptian history." But not only was he a mighty conqueror, he was also a magnificent builder. There was scarcely a city in all the land of Egyi)t in wliich he did not erect a temple, a palace, or an obelisk. One of his obelisks, formed of a single piece of granite, making one of the largest worked stones in the world, has been transported across the ocean, and now stands a curious relic in the Central Park of New York city At Thebes is to be seen the most majestic ruin in the world ; it is that of the wonderful Temple of Karnak, the greater part of which was built I)y Thothnies, although for five hundred years after his time six succeeding kings continued to add to it Amunoph III, 1550 B.C. Amunoph rivaled Thothmes both in his wars and in his buildings. It is supposed that he erected the celebrated Vocal Memnon. The Nineteenth Dynasty, About 1-100-1280 B. C. The Nineteenth Dynasty rivaled the Eighteenth in greatness. The second king belonging to it was Seti I. He erecteil in the Teiuple of Karnak the world-renowned " Hall of Coluiuns," perhaps the most iinpressive edifice ever 14 reared by man. He also began a canal to connect the Red Sea with the Nile. Among his conquests, that of the Hittites, a great people in Asia, was most remarkable. Rameses II, 1370-1320 B. C. Rameses finished the canal begun by his father, Seti. He was as great a conqueror as Thothmes III, his wars being, principally, directed against the Hittite.5, a powerful people who inhabited the valley of the Euphrates ; but he evidently failed to subdue them, for we find, in the end, that he makes a treaty with them and marries the daughter of the Ilittite king. The descendants of Jacob, who had come to Egypt several hundred years before, in the time of the Shepherd Kings, had now so increased in numbers that they formed a great people. Rameses makes them into slaves and fear- fully oppresses them, so that under the reign of his son Menephtha, about 1300 B. C, they leave Egypt and are led by Moses, after forty years of wan- dering, to Palestine. This departure of the Israelites from Egypt is known as the E.xodus, the story of which is the most wonderful in all history. The must interesting recent discovery in Egypt is that of the finding of the royal mummies of Seti and Rameses. They are now in the Gizeh Museum, the faces of both being so well preserved that " were their subjects to return to earth lo-day they could not fail to recognize their old sovereigns." Photo- graphs of them have been made, and are to be seen in all parts of the civilized world; so that, strange as it may seem, we can now look on the pictured face of the man who, over three thousand years ago, oppressed the Hebrews, the Pharaoh whose daughter drew tlie infant Moses from among the rushes of the Nile. PsAMMETici's I, 666-6J2 B. C. We pass without comment a period of decline, lasting through six hundred years, when, in the TAventy-sixth Dynasty, we find Psammeticus King of Egypt ; the country having been, during the latter part of this decline, subject by turns to Ethi ipia and Assyria. Up to this time the Egyptians had not allowed foreigners to enter or trade in the Nile valley. It had been the custom either to put to death or to reduce to slavery strangers who ventured into the country. But Psammeticus threw open his kingdom to the commerce and influences of the world, greatly to the scandal of his subjects. His capital, Sais in the Delta, was full of Greek citi- zens, and Greek soldiers were employed in his armies. This liberal policy resulted in great advantage to foreign nations, not only in a commercial way, but in imparting to them the learning and culture of the Egyplians. Greece was especially benefited in this way. But it brought heavy mi.'sfortune on Egypt. Displeased wtih the position assigned the Greek soldiers in the army, two liundred thousand of the Egyptian soldiery emigrated in a body to Ethio- pia, whence no inducement that Psammeiicus wa-; able to ofler could persuade them to return. Pharaoh Necho, 612-596 B. C. The son of Psammeticus was Pharaoh Necho, who followed the liberal policy of his father. He attempted to reopen the old Red Sea canal, dug by Seti and Rameses, intending to make it both much wider and deeper, so that it would Hoat his largest ships. But the work was very unhealthful, and after losing from sickness one hundred and twenty thousand men who had been employed upon the work, he was forced to abandon it. The Last of the Pharaohs. Amasis, whose dates are 571-52V B C, was the last great Pharaoh. Egypt under him enjoyed a period of unusual prosperity. Diodorus says that the valley held, at this time, eighteen thousand cities. In 340 B. C. tlie Persians, under Artaxerxes III, made their final con■ 146 Carthage destroyed. J Reforms of the Gracchi 1.33-121 War with Jugurtha.— Marius, Sulla 112-106 Invasion of German tribes. Repulsed by Marius. 105-101 Social War 90- 89 First civil War, between Marius and Sulla 88- 83 Ponipey against the pirates and in the east 67- 61 rCwsar, ~1 First triumvirates Pompey, > 60 (Crassus. ) Ciesar's proconsulsuip in Gaul 58- 49 Second civil War, between Pompey and Cwsar 49- 45 C;esar made imperator 45 Ciesar's assassination 44 f Octavian,~j Second Iriuravirate -(Antony, v 43 ( Lepidus. I 29 CONTINUATION OF TOPICAL REVIEW FOR ROMAN HISTORY. Early Empire. (220 years.) '21 B. C. — 14 A. D. Augustus (Octavian), emperor. — •Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Livy (Golden Age). 4 B. C. Christ born. — Diodorus. Strabo died 24 A. D. f Tiberius. Caligula. I Claudius. Conquest of Britain. \ Nero. Persecution of Chi'istians. — Seneca, Lucan, Plutarch. Vespasian. Destruction of Jerusalem, 70 A. D. I Titus. Pompeii and Herculaneuifi overwhelmed, 79 A. D. — Pliny. I Domitian. f Nerva. I Trajan. Tacitus, Younger Pliny, Quintilian, Juvenal (Silver Age.) ] Hadrian. I Antoninus Pius. — Pausanias. I Marcus Anrelius. Pestilence, 166 A. D. Persecution of Christians. [ Commodus. A. D. 14-96. 98-193. A. D. 193-235. 270-275. Period op Transition. (85 years.) Septimius Severus. Caracalla. Edict of citizenship. Alexander Severus. Twenty-three different emperors follow, among whom are Va- lerian and Aurelian. — Zenobia, queen of Palmyra. The emperors of this period have been called the " Barrack Em- perors. Latter Empire. (190 years.) Where, during this period, two emperors rule jointly they have been called " Partnership Emperors." 384-305. Diocletian and Maximian. Several others until 314 A. D. 314-323. Constantine and Licinius. 323-337. Constantine sole emperor. Adopts Christianity. Makes Con- stantinople his capital. Council of Nicsea, 325 A. D. Constantius. Julian. 337-395. I Valentinian I and Valens. * Gratian and Theodosius. — Goths cross the Danube, 376. . Theodosius, sole emperor, 392 A. D. — 395 A. D. 30 95-408. 395-423. 423-455. 476. 476. Division of the empire under : Arcadius in the east ; Riifinus, prime adviser; Honorius in the west ; Stilocho, prime adviser. Alaric's first invasion, 402 A. D. Vandals invade Gaul, 406 A. D. Alaric's second invasion, 408 A. D. Valentinian III. -.Etius, prime adviser. — Boniface, Vandals cross from Spain to Africa, 429 A. D. Angles and Saxons begin to invade Britain, 449 A. D. Invasion of Gaul by Attila. Defeated by ^tius, 451 A. D. Death of Attila, 453 A. D. Occupation and plunder of Rome by Creiseric, the Vandal, from Africa, 455 A. D. Vandal empire in the western Mediterranean, 455-477 A. D. Count Ricimer in Rome, 455-472 A. D. Romulus Augustulus, last Roman emperor. Empire of the west broken up. i.