T. / //^rv^^/-^ Columbia SSnibersitp in tfje Citp of i5etD gorfe LIBRARY ■^vjjJL,..^^ GIVEN BY U ^' THE EASTERN NATIONS AND GREECE BY PHILIP VAN NESS MYERS. ,., Author of "A History of GrEeck,'' 'f.RoRYF, i Its k^st', and* Fall," and "A General History" ' ' * REFISED EDITION fpb P£^" GINN & COMPA W' ^^ * BOSTON • NEW YORK • qHICAGO • LONfiON KktereIJ* %T Stationers' Hall ♦• ' Copyright, 1904, by PHItlP VAN NESS MYERS *• ;AtL ^IGSITC RESERVED 911. 4 530 K13^X CTIjc atljenaeum ; ^xtii GINN & COMPANY PRIETORS . BOSTON ■ PRO- . U.S.A. PREFACE TO REVISED EDITION This little volume comprises the first half of my revised Ancient History (1904), with only slight changes in the system of cross references and in other minor features, made with the object of rendering the book independent of the chapters on Rome. I would here, repeating acknowledgments made in the preface of the Ancient History^ make grateful mention of the scholarly assistance given me by Professor Nathaniel Schmidt of Cornell University in the revision of the proof sheets of the Oriental part of the work, and of the kindly and valuable aid I have received from Dr. Rufus B. Richardson, for many years director of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, in reading and correcting the proofs of the Greek portion. P. V. N. M. College Hill, Ohio, June, 1904. CONTENTS PAGE List of Illustrations ix List of Plates xii Lists of Maps xiii CHAPTER I. General Introduction : Prehistoric Times i II. Races and Groups of Peoples at the Dawn of Histoiy . . 14 PART I — THE EASTERN NATIONS III. Ancient Egypt (from about 5000 to 30 B.C.) 20 I. The Land and the People 20 ^ II. Political History 23 III. Religion, Arts, and General Culture 32 IV. The Early City-States of Babylonia and the Old Babylonian Empire (from about 5000 to iioo B.C.) .... 46 I. Political History 46 II. Arts and General Culture 51 V. The Assyrian Empire (from an unknown date to 606 B.C.) . 62 I. Political Histoiy 62 II. The Civilization 66 VI. The Chaldean Empire (625-538 B.C.) 72 VII. The Hebrews 75 VIII. The Phoenicians 83 IX. The Persian Empire (558-330 B.C.) 88 I. Political History 88 II. Government, Religion, and Arts 94 X. India and China 98 I. India 98 II. China 102 V vi CONTENTS PART II — GREECE CHAPTER PAGE XI. The Land and the People 107 XII. Prehistoric Times according to Greek Accounts . . . . 115 XIII. The Inheritance of the Historic Greeks 127 I. Pohtical Institutions 127 II. Religious Ideas and Institutions 129 III. Language, Mythology, Literature, and Art . . 138 XIV. The Growth of Sparta 141 XV. The Age of Greek Colonization (about 750-600 B.C.) . . 152 XVI. The Age of the Tyrants (about 650-500 B.C.) 162 XVII. The History of Athens up to the Persian Wars .... 168 XVIII. Hellas Overshadowed by the Rise of Persia: Prelude to the Persian Wars 178 XIX. The Persian Wars (500-479 B.C.) 183 XX. The Making of the Athenian Empire (479-445 B.C.) . . 200 XXL The Age of Pericles (445-431 B.C.) 210 XXII. The Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.) 220 I. The War to the Peace of Nicias (431-421 B.C.) . 220 II. From the Peace of Nicias to the Defeat of the Sicilian Expedition (421-413 B.C.) 229 III. From the Sicilian Disaster to the Fall of Athens : the Decelean War (413-404 B.C.) 237 XXIII. The Spartan and the Theban Supremacy (404-362 B.C.) . 244 I. The Spartan Supremacy (404-371 B.C.) .... 244 II. The Ascendancy of Thebes (371-362 B.C.) . . . 254 XXIV. The Greeks of Western Hellas (413-336 B.C.) .... 259 XXV. The Rise of Macedonia : Reign of Philip II (359-336 B.C.) 266 XXVI. Alexander the Great (336-323 B.C.) 273 XXVII. The Grceco-Oriental World from the Death of Alexander to the Conquest of Greece by the Romans (323-146 B.C.) 286 XXVIII. Greek Architecture, Sculpture, and Painting 294 I. Architecture 295 II. Sculpture 3°° III. Painting 3°^ CONTENTS vii CHAPTER PAGE XXIX. Greek Literature -112 I. Introductoiy 012 II. The Period before 475 b.c 313 III. The Attic or Golden Age (475-300 B.C.) . . . 315 IV. The Alexandrian Age (300-146 B.C.) .... 324 XXX. Greek Philosophy and Science 327 XXXI. Social Life of the Greeks 340 Bibliography 350 Index and Pronouncing Vocabulary 355 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS After photographs, and from cuts taken from Baumeister's Denkmaeler dcs klassiscken Altertums, Oscar Jaeger's Weltgeschkhte, Schreiber's ^ 2?/rt5 ^ Classical A ntiquities, and other reliable sources. PAGE FIG. 1. The Earliest Implements of Paleolithic Type 3 2. Engraving of a Reindeer 4 3. Engraving of a Mammoth on the Fragment of a Tusk .... 4 4. A Prehistoric Egyptian Tomb 5 5. Primitive Methods of making Fire 7 6. Indian Picture Writing 10 7. Negro Captives 15 8. Egyptian Scene 20 9. Plowing and Sowing in Ancient Egypt 21 ID. Reaping the Grain in Ancient Egypt 21 11. Ivory Statuette of a King of the First Dynasty 23 12. A Detail of the Great Pyramid 24 13. Khufu, Builder of the Great Pyramid 25 14. The "Sheikh-el-Beled" 26 15. Tell el Amarna Letter 28 16. Phalanx of the Khita 29 17. Rameses II charging the Foe 3° 18. Brick-Making in Ancient Egypt 31 19. Forms of Egyptian Writing ZZ 20. The Rosetta Stone 34 21. Two Royal Names in Hieroglyphics 35 22. Mummy of a Sacred Bull • 3^ 23. Profile of Rameses II 3^ 24. Mummy Case with Mummy 39 25. " Servant for the Underworld " 4° 26. The Judgment of the Dead 4i 27. An Egyptian Obelisk 42 28. Tubular Drill Hole 42 29. A Scarab Amulet 43 30. Philae, "the Pearl of Egypt " 45 31. The Babil Mound at Babylon as it appeared in iSii .... 46 32. Ancient Babylonian Canals 47 T^^. Door Socket of Sargon I 49 34. Impression of a Seal of Sargon I • 5° ix X LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FIG. PAGE 35. Excavation at the Temple of Bel at Nippur 52 36. Arch discovered at Nippur 53 37. Cuneiform Writing 53 38. Table showing the Development of the Cuneifonn Writing . . 54 39. Contract Tablet 55 40. Writing Exercise Tablets of a Child 58 41. Hammurabi receiving the Code from the Sun-god 59 42. An Assyrian Winged Bull 62 43. Restoration of Sargon's Palace at Khorsabad 64 44. An Assyrian King (? Sennacherib) 65 45. Restoration of a Court in Sargon's Palace at Khorsabad ... 67 46. Emblem of Assyrian Deity 68 47. Transport of a Winged Bull 68 48. Assyrians flaying Prisoners alive 69 49. Lion Hunt 70 50. A Wounded Lioness 71 51. The Jewish Place of Wailing 77 52. Species of the Murex 83 53. Phoenician Galley 84 54. Phoenician Alphabet and Cuneiform Characters 86 55. Croesus on the Pyre 90 56. The Tomb of Cyrus at Pasargadae 90 57. Insurgent Captives brought before Darius 91 58. The Behistun Rock 92 59. Royal Persian Tombs near Persepolis 93 60. The King in Combat with a Monster 95 61. The Ruins of Persepolis 96 62. Chinese Characters 103 63. The Lions' Gate at Mycenae 108 64. The Plain of Olympia 109 65. Combat between Achilles and Hector 115 66. Battle between Greeks and Amazons ,» . . 117 67. Battle at the Ships between the Greeks and Trojans . . , . 119 68. Hissarlik, the Probable Site of Ancient Troy 120 69. Grave Circle at Mycenae 121 70. Inlaid Sword Blades found at Mycenae 121 71. Gallery in the South Wall at Tiryns 125 72. Fifty-Oared Greek Boat 126 73. Group of Greek Gods and Goddesses 131 74. The Carrying off of Persephone by Hades to the Underworld . 131 75. Apollo 133 76. Greek Runners 136 77. Sparta, wuth the Ranges of the Taygetus in the Background . . 142 78. Ruined Temples at Paestum 158 79. Coin of Cyrene 159 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xi FIG. PAGE 80. Coin of Corinth 160 81. Athens 168 82. The Athenian Tyrannicides, Harmodius and Aristogiton ... 174 83. Greek Warriors preparing for Battle 183 84. HopUte, or Heavy- Armed Greek Warrior 198 85. Pericles 210 86. The Bema, or Orator's Stand, on the Pnyx Hill, Athens . , . 211 87. The Caryatid Porch of the Erechtheum 215 88. The so-called Theseum at Athens 216 89. Alcibiades 231 90. Coin of Syracuse 264 91. Demosthenes 268 92. Alexander the Great 274 93. The so-called " Sarcophagus of Alexander " 284 94. The Dying Gaul 288 95. Coin of Athens 293 96. Orders of Greek Architecture 295 97. The Parthenon 298 98. The Theater of Dionysus at Athens 299 99. The Wrestlers 301 100. Stele of Aristion 302 loi. The Discobolus 302 102. Athenian Youth in Procession 303 103. Athena Parthenos 304 104. Head of the Olympian Zeus by Phidias 305 105. Nike or Victory of Paeonius 305 106. Hermes with the Infant Dionysus 306 107. The Nike of Samothrace 307 108. The Laocoon 3^8 109. Aphrodite of Melos 308 no. Portrait in Wax Paint 309 111. Homer 3^3 112. Bacchic Procession 316 113. Sophocles 3^8 114. Euripides 3^9 115. Herodotus 3^1 116. Thucydides 3-^ 117. Socrates 33^ 118. Plato 33- 119. Aristotle 333 120. A Greek School 34° 121. A Banquet Scene (Greek) 345 LIST OF PLATES FACING PAGE PLATE I. Babylon and its Three Towers. (A restoration) Frontispiece II. The Great Sphinx and the Pyramids of Gizeh. (From a photograph) 24 III. Fagade of Rock Temple at Ipsambul. (From a photograph) 28 IV. The Great Hall of Columns at Karnak. (From a photograph) 42 V. The Vaphio Cups and their Scrolls. (From photographs and drawings) 122 VI. The Acropolis of Athens. (From a photograph) 168 VII. The Piraeus and the Long Walls of Athens. (A restoration) 208 VIII. The Acropolis of Athens. (A restoration) 216 IX. The Mourning Athena. (From a photograph) 224 X. General View of Olympia. (A restoration) 298 LISTS OF MAPS COLORED MAPS After Kiepert, Schrader, Droysen, vSpruner-Sieglin, and Freeman. The Freeman charts have been so modified by omissions and additions that most of them as they here appear are practically new maps. PAGE 1. The Ancient World, showing Areas occupied by Hamites, Sem- ites, and Aryans 14 2. Ancient Egypt 20 3. Egyptian Empire, about 1450 b.c 30 4. Assyrian Empire, about 660 B.c 64 5. Median and Babylonian Empires, about 600 b.c 72 6. The Division of Solomon's Kingdom, about 953 B.C 78 7. The Persian Empire at its Greatest Extent, about 500 B.C. . . 92 8. General Reference Map of Ancient Greece 108 9. Greece and the Greek Colonies I54 [Q. The Greek World at the Beginning of the Peloponnesian War, 431 B.C 220 [I. Empire of Alexander the Great, about 323 B.c 274 SKETCH MAPS 1. The Tigris-Euphrates Valley 48 2. The World according to Homer 13° 3. Magna Graecia and Sicily i57 4. Plan of the Battle of Marathon 187 5. Map illustrating Invasion of Greece by Xerxes 194 6. Athens and Salamis ^97 7. Athens and her Long Walls 207 8. Pylos 227 9. March of the Ten Thousand Greeks 245 yiii THE EASTERN NATIONS AND GREECE CHAPTER I GENERAL INTRODUCTION: PREHISTORIC TIMES 1. The Antiquity of Man. — We do not know when man first appeared upon the earth. We only know that in ages long past, when both the climate and the outline of the continents were very different from what they are at present, primitive man roamed over them with animals now extinct ; and that, about 5000 B.C., when the historic curtain first rises, in some favored regions, as in the valleys of the Nile and the Euphrates, there were nations and civilizations already venerable with age, and possessing arts, governments, and institutions that bear evidence of slow growth through very long periods of time. 2. The Prehistoric and the Historic Age. — The uncounted mil- lenniums which lie back of the time when man began to keep written records of what he thought and did and of what befell him, are called the Prehistoric Age. The comparatively few centuries of human life which are made known to us through written records comprise the Historic Age. In the valleys of the Nile and the Euphrates there have been dis- covered written records which were made at least four or five thousand years before Christ ; so we say that the historic period began in those lands six or seven thousand years ago. On the island of Crete numerous inscriptions have recently been found that apparently were written as early as the fourth millennium b.c. These, however, have not yet been deciphered. Some written records used by Chinese historians seem to go back to the third 2 PREHISTORIC TIMES millennium before our era. In other regions the historic period still begins for us at a much later date. Thus the truly historic age did not open in Greece and Italy until about 800 or 700 B.C., and for the countries of Northern Europe, speaking broadly, not until about the beginning of our era. 3. How we learn about Prehistoric Man. — A knowledge of what prehistoric man was and what he did is indispensable to the his- torical student ; for the dim prehistoric ages of human life form the childhood of the race, — and the man cannot be understood without at least some knowledge of the child. But how, in the absence of written records, are we to find out anything about prehistoric man ? In many ways we are able to learn much about him. Thus, for instance, since we now know evo- lution to be the law of life on the earth, we may regard existing savage and semi-savage races as representing the prehistoric state of the advanced races. As it has been put, what they now are we once were. So by acquainting ourselves with the life and customs of these laggard races we acquaint ourselves with our own prehistoric past and that of all other civilized peoples. Again, the men who lived before the dawn of history left behind them many things which witness as to what manner of men they were. In ancient gravel beds along the streams where they fished or hunted, in the caves which afforded them shelter, in the refuse heaps (kitchen middens) on the sites of their villages or camping places, or in the graves where they laid away their dead, we find great quantities of tools and weapons and other articles shaped by their hands. From these things w^e learn what skill these early men had acquired as tool makers and to what degree of culture they had attained.^ 4. Divisions of Prehistoric Times. — The long period of prehis- toric times is divided into different ages which are named from the material which man used in the manufacture of his weapons and tools. The earliest epoch is known as the PaleoHthic or Old 1 Besides these material things which can be seen and handled, there are many immaterial things, as, for instance, language, which light up for us the dim ages before history (see sec. 11). THE PALEOLITHIC OR OLD STONE AGE Stone Age ; the following one as the Neolithic or New Stone Age ; and the later period as the Age of Metals. The division lines between these ages are not sharply drawn. In most countries the epochs run into and overlap one another, just as in modern times the Age of Steam runs into and overlaps the Age of Electricity. 5. The Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. — In the Old Stone Age man's implements were usually made of stone, and particularly of easily chipped flints, though sometimes bones, horns, tusks, and other material were used in their manufacture. These rude tools and weapons of Paleolithic man, found in gravel beds and in caves, are the very oldest things in existence shaped by human hands. The man of the Old Stone Age saw the retreating gla- ciers of the last great ice age, of which geology tells us. Among the animals which lived with him on the continent of Europe — we know most of PaleoHthic man there — were the mammoth, the cave bear, the elk, the rhinoceros, the wild horse, and the reindeer; species which are no longer found in the regions where primitive man hunted them. As the climate gradually grew warmer they either became extinct or retreated up the mountains or migrated towards the north. What we know of Paleolithic man may be summed up as follows : he was a hunter and fisher ; his habitation was a cave or a rock shelter; his implements were in the main roughly 2 These objects come from France. The central flint in the upper row is espe- cially interesting as being " undoubtedly the ancestor or forerunner of all arrow or spear heads" (Wilson). Of equal interest is the scraper (the upper right-hand flint) as " marking the first step taken by man in the art of tanning, and as being the oldest specialized tool or utensil known to him" {Ibid.). Fig. r. — The Earliest Implements of Paleolithic Type.^ (After Wilson) PREHISTORIC TIMES Fig. 2. — Engraving of a Reindeer ^ (Old Stone Age) shaped flints ; he had no domestic animals save possibly the dog and the reindeer ; he was practically ignorant of the art of making pottery ; he had no beUef in a future Ufe, at least we have no evidence that he buried his dead after the manner of those folk who have come to hold such a belief (sec. 6). The length of the Old Stone Age no one knows ; we do not attempt to reckon its duration by centuries or millenniums even, but only by geologic epochs. But we do know — and this is something of vastly greater moment than a knowledge of the duration of the age — that the long slow epochs did not pass away without some progress having been made by primeval man, which assures us that though so lowly a creature he was a creature endowed with capacity for growth and improvement, Before the end of the age man had learned the use of fire, as we know from the traces of fire found in the caves which were his abode, and had invented the bow and arrow, as is evidenced by arrowheads of flint and of bone which have been discovered. This important invention gave man what was to be one of his chief weapons in the chase and in war down to and even after the in- vention of firearms late in the historic age. But most prophetic of the great future before this savage or semi- savage cave man is the sense of form and beauty which he possessed ; for, strange as it may seem, the man of this epoch was in his way an artist. 3 These interesting art objects are from France. They represent the earliest artistic efforts of man of which we have knowledge. In comparison with them, the pictures on the oldest Egyptian monuments are modern. Fig. 3. — Engraving of a Mammoth on THE Fragment of a Tusk ^ (Old Stone Age) THE NEOLITHIC OR NEW STONE AGE 5 Hundreds of specimens of drawings or carvings, chiefly of animals, on bone or on ivory have been discovered. The accompanying cuts (Figs. 2 and 3) are reproductions of celebrated engravings made by Paleolithic artists. 6. The Neolithic or New Stone Age. — The Old Stone Age was followed by the New. Chipped or hammered stone implements still continued to be used, but what characterizes this period was the use of ground or polished implements. The North American Indians were in this stage of culture at the time of the discovery of the New World. The old Egyptians and Babylonians seem to have been just emerging from it when they first appear in the dawn of the historic day. Neolithic man in Europe was in many respects much advanced over Paleolithic man. He had learned to cultivate the soil ; he had learned to make pottery, to spin, and to weave ; he had domesti- cated various wild animals ; he built houses and constructed great earthen forts ; and he buried his dead in such a manner — with " accompanying gifts " (Fig. 4) — as to show that he had come to believe in a future life. 7. The Age of Metals. — Finally the long ages of stone passed into the Age of Metals. This age falls into three subdivisions, — the Age of Copper, the Age of Bronze, and the Age of Iron. Some peoples, like the African negroes, passed directly from the use of stone to the use of iron ; but in most of the countries of the Orient and of Europe the three metals came into use one after the other and in the order named. Speaking broadly, we may saji that the Age of Metals embraces the five millenniums preceding the opening of our era. This means that for some peoples, as for instance the Egyptians and the Babylonians, these epochs or stages of culture fall within their historic period, while for others, as for instance the Greeks and Fig. 4. — A Prehistoric Egyptian Tomb (From Sergi) 6 PREHISTORIC TIMES the Romans, they begin in their prehistoric and overlap their historic age.* The history of metals has been declared to be the history of civilization. Indeed, it would be almost impossible to overesti- mate their importance to man. Man could do very httle with stone implements compared wdth what he could do with metal implements. It was a great labor for primitive man, even with the aid of fire, to fell a tree with a stone axe and to hollow out the trunk for a boat. He w^as hampered in all his tasks by the rudeness of his tools. It was only as the bearer of metal imple- ments and weapons that he began really to subdue the earth and to get dominion over nature. All the higher cultures of the ancient world with which history begins were based on the knowledge and use of metals. 8. The Origin of the Use of Fire. — In this and following para- graphs we shall dwell briefly upon some of the special discoveries and achievements, several of which have already been mentioned, marking important steps in man's progress during the prehistoric ages. Prominent among these w^as the discovery of fire. The origin of the use of fire is hidden in the obscurity of pre- historic times. That fire was known to Paleohthic man we learn, as aheady noted, from the traces of it discovered in the caves and rock shelters which were his abode. No people has ever been found so low in the scale of culture as to be without it. As to the w^ay in which early man came into possession of fire we have no knowledge. Possibly he kindled his first fire from a glowing lava stream or from some burning tree trunk set aflame 4 The use of copper seems to have begun among the peoples of the Orient before 5000 B.C. It is a soft metal, and tools and weapons made of it were not so greatly superior to the stone ones then in use as to put them out of service. But either by accident or through experiment it was discovered that by mixing about nine parts of copper with one part of tin a new metal, called bronze, much harder than either tin or copper, could be made. So greatly superior were bronze to stone implements that their introduction caused the use of stone for tools and weapons to be discontinued, and consequently the Age of Bronze constitutes a well-defined and important epoch in the history of culture. Bronze seems to have been used by the first kmgs of Egypt, about 4500 B.C. From the East the metal was carried into Europe. Iron was already in use among the Oriental peoples about 1500 B.C., and was gradually introduced among the European tribes. THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS 7 by the lightning. However this may be, he had in the earliest times learned to produce the vital spark by means of friction. The fire borer, according to Tylor, is among the oldest of human inventions. Only gradually did primeval man learn the various properties of fire and discover the different uses to which it might be put, just as historic man has learned only gradually the possible uses of electricity. By some happy accident or discovery he learned that it would harden clay, and he became a potter ; that it would smelt ores, and he became a worker in metals ; and that it would aid him in a hundred other ways. " Fire," says Joly, " presided at the birth of nearly every art, or quickened its progress." The Fig. 5. — Primitive Methods of making Fire (After Ranke- Tylor) place it holds in the development of the family, of religion, and of the industrial arts is revealed by these three significant words — " the hearth, the altar, the forge." No other agent has contrib- uted more to the progress of civilization. Indeed, it is difficult to conceive how without fire primitive man could ever have emerged from the Age of Stone. 9. The Domestication of Animals. — " When we visit a farm at the present day and observe the friendly nature of the Hfe which goes on there, — the horse proudly and obediently bending his neck to his yoke ; the cow offering her streaming udder to the milk- maid ; the woolly flock going forth to the field, accompanied by their trusty protector, the dog, who comes fawning to his master, — this familiar intercourse between man and beast seems so natural that it is scarcely conceivable that things may once have been different. 8 PREHISTORIC TIMES And yet in the picture we see only the final result of thousands and thousands of years of the work of civilization, the enormous importance of which simply escapes our notice because it is by everyday wonders that our amazement is least excited."^ The most of this work of inducing the animals of the fields and the woods to become as it were members or dependents of the human family, to enter into a league of friendship with man and to become his helpers, was done by prehistoric man. When man appears in history, he appears surrounded by almost all the domestic animals known to us to-day. The horse was already his wiUing servant ; the dog was his faithful companion ; the sheep, the cow, and the goat shared his shelter with him. The domestication of animals had such a profound effect upon human life and occupation that it marks the opening of a new epoch in history. The hunter became a shepherd, and the hunting stage in culture gave place to the pastoral.^ 10. The Domestication of Plants. — Long before the dawn of history those peoples of the Old World who were to play great parts in early historic times had advanced from the pastoral to the agricultural stage of culture. Just as the step from the hunt- ing to the pastoral stage had been taken with the aid of a few of the most social species of animals, so had this second upward step from the pastoral to the agricultural stage been taken by means of the domestication of a few of the innumerable species of the seed grasses and plants growing wild in field and wood. Wheat and barley, two of the most important of the cereals, were probably first domesticated on the plains of Babylonia and from there carried over Asia and Europe. These grains, together with oats and rice, have been, in the words of Tylor, "the main- stay of human life and the great moving power of civilization." They constituted the basis of the earhest great states and civili- zations of Asia and Europe. 5 SCHRADER, Prehistoric Antiquities of the Aryan Peoples (London, 1890), p. 259. 6 It is of interest to know that most of the wild stocks whence have come our domestic animals are of Old- World origin. It is thought by some that one reason why the tribes of the New World at the time of its discovery were so far behind the peoples of the Old was that there were fewer tamable animals here. THE FORMATION OF LANGUAGE 9 The domestication of plants and the art of tilHng the soil effected a great revolution in prehistoric society. The wandering Ufe of the hunter and the herder now gave way to a settled mode of existence. Cities were built, and within them began to be amassed those treasures, material and immaterial, which constitute the precious heirloom of humanity. This attachment to the soil of the hitherto roving clans and tribes meant also the beginning of political life. The cities were united into states and great kingdoms were formed, and the political history of man began, as in the valleys of the Nile and the Euphrates. Early man seems to have reahzed how much he owed to the art of husbandry, for in the mythologies of many peoples some god or goddess is represented as having taught men how to till the soil and to plant the seed. It seemed to man that for so great a boon he must be beholden to the beneficence of the gods.'^ II. The Formation of Language. — Another great task and achievement of primitive man was the making of language. The earhest speech used by historic man, as Tylor observes, " teaches the interesting lesson that the main work of language- making was done in the ages before history." The vastness of this work is indicated by the rich and intricate nature of the languages with which history begins, for language- making, particularly in its earhest stages, is a very slow process. Periods of time hke geologic epochs must have been required for the formation out of the scanty speech of the first men, by the slow process of word-making, of the rich and copious languages already upon the lips of the great peoples of antiquity, the Hamitic 7 So thorough was prehistoric man's search for whatever in the plant world could be cultivated for food that historic man has not been able during the last 2000 years from the tens of thousands of wild plants to discover any species comparable in value to any one of the staple food-plants selected and domesticated by primeval man (De Candolle, Origin of Cultivated Plants, p. 45 1). It is interesting further to note that while early man exploited the organic kingdoms, that is to say the animal and vegetable realms, he made few and slight requisitions upon the forces of the inorganic world. It was reserved for the men of the later historic age to domesticate, so to speak, the powerful agents steam and electricity and by their utilization to effect revolutions in modern society like those effected in prehistoric times by the domes- tication of animals and plants. lO PREHISTORIC TIMES Egyptians, the Semitic Babylonians, the Aryans of India and Persia, and their kinsmen, the Greeks and Romans, when they first appear in the morning light of history. We need not dwell upon the inestimable value to man of the acquisition of language. Without it all his other acquisitions and discoveries would have remained comparatively fruitless, all his efforts to lift himself to higher levels of culture have been unavail- ing. Without it, so far as we can see, he must have remained forever in an unprogressive and savage or semi-savage state. 12. The Invention of Writing. — Still another achievement of prehistoric man, and after the making of language perhaps his greatest, certainly the most fruitful, was the invention of writing. The first form of writing used by primitive man was picture writing, such as was and is still used by some of the Indian tribes Fig. 6. — Indian Picture Writing.^ {Mi&x Mallery-Dejiiker) of the New World. In this system of writing the characters are rude pictures of material objects, as for instance a picture of an eye <2::5- to indicate the organ of sight ; or they are symbols of ideas, as for illustration a picture consisting of wavy lines beneath an arc representing the sky [^^ to indicate rain. This way of representing ideas, which >>>>>> seems natural to man, is known as ideographic writing, and the signs are called ideograms. A great step in advance is taken when the picture writer uses his pictures or symbols to represent not actual objects or ideas, but sounds of the human voice, that is, words. This step was taken in prehistoric times by different peoples independently. It seems to have been taken by means of the rebus, a mode of writing which children love to employ. What makes rebus writ- ing possible is the existence in every language of words having 8 Record of an Alaskan hunt. It reads thus : I go, by boat (indicated by pad- dle) ; sleep one night (hand to side of head denotes sleep), on island with two huts ; I go to another island ; two sleeps there ; hunt with harpoon, sea lion ; also with bow; return by boat with companion (indicated by two oars), to my lodge. THE INVENTION OF WRITING ii the same sound but different meanings. Thus in English the pro- noun / is sounded like the word eye, and the word ?'eign, to rule, like the word rain. Now the picture writer, wishing to express the idea I reign, could do so by the use of the two pictures or ideograms given above, in this way, <2:^ ^^^- ^^hen so used, the ideogram becomes a phonogram, and >>>>>> the writing is pho- netic or sound writing. In this manner the great chasm between picture writing and sound writing is bridged, and one of the most difficult steps taken in the development of a practical system of representing thought. In the first stage of sound writing, each picture or symbol stands for a whole word. In such a system as this there must of course be as many characters or signs as there are words in the language represented. In working out their system of writing the Chinese stuck fast at this point (sec. 112). Two additional steps beyond this stage are required in order to perfect the system. The first of these is taken when the char- acters are used to represent syllables instead of words. This reduces at once the number of signs needed from many thou- sands to a few hundreds, since the words of any given language are formed by the combination of a comparatively small number of syllables. With between four .and five hundred symbols the ancient Babylonians and Assyrians, who used this form of writing, were able to represent all the words of their respective languages (sec. 53). Characters or symbols used to represent syllables are called syllabic phonograms, and a collection of such signs is called a syllabary. While a collection of syllabic signs is a great improvement over a collection of word signs, still it is a clumsy instrument for expressing ideas, and the system requires still further simplifica- tion. This is done and the final step in developing a convenient system of writing is taken when the symbols are used to represent not syllables but elementary sounds of the human voice. Then the symbols become true letters, a complete collection of which is called an alphabet, and the mode of writing alphabetic. When and where the final step was taken we do not know. 12 PREHISTORIC TIMES But as early as the ninth century B.C. we find several Semitic peoples in possession of an alphabet.^ Through the agency of Phoenician and other traders this so-called Semitic alphabet was spread east and west, and became the parent of most of the existing alphabets of the world (sec. 93). With the invention of phonetic writing and the practice of keeping records, with names of actors and dates of events, the truly historic age for man begins. 13. The Great Bequest. — We of this twentieth century esteem ourselves fortunate in being the heirs of a noble heritage, — the inheritors of the precious accumulations of all the past centuries of history. We are not used to thinking of the men of the first generation of historic times as also the heirs of a great legacy. But even the scanty review we have made of what was discov- ered, invented, and thought out by man during the unmeasured epochs before history began cannot fail to have impressed us with the fact that a vast estate was transmitted by prehistoric to historic man. If our hasty glance at those far-away times has done nothing more than this, then we shall never again regard history quite as may have been our wont. We shall see everything in a new light; We shall see the story of man to be more wonderful than we once thought, the path which he has followed to be longer and more toilsome than we ever imagined. But our interest in the traveler will have been deepened through our knowing more of his origin, of his early hard and narrow hfe, and of his first painful steps in the path of civilization. We shall follow with deeper interest and sympathy this wonderful being, child of earth and child of heaven, this heir of all the ages, as he journeys on and upward with his face toward the light. 9 Our earliest inscriptions in the North Semitic alphabet date from the ninth cen- tury B.C.; but they show unmistakably that this script had then been in use for a considerable time. We probably possess South Arabian inscriptions written already in the fourteenth century B.C. While some scholars regard the Southern alphabet as a modification of the Northern, others consider both as independent adaptations of an earlier alphabetic script and are inclined to look to some of the yEgeo-Cretan systems of writing for a clew to the origin of the alphabet. REFERENCES 13 References. — Keary,io The Dawn of History. Starr, Some First Steps in Human Progress. Tylor, Anthropology, chaps, iv and vi, "Lan- guage" and "Writing"; and Primitive Culture, 2 vols. Lubbock, Pi-e- historic Times. Mason, Woman's Share in Prijnitive Culture. De Luce, Work and Workers Long Ago: An Introduction to the Study of History (announced for the fall of 1904). A special aim of this work is to illus- trate and unfold in a way which will appeal to young readers the several subjects touched upon in this chapter. Joly, Alan before Metals. Daw- kins, Early 3Ia?i in Britain. Hoernes, Primitive Man. Shaler, Domesticated Animals. Hoffmann, The Beginiiings of Writing. Clodd, The Story of the Alphabet. Taylor, The Alphabet, 2 vols. Parts of this work are antiquated ; the theory of the Egyptian origin of the alphabet is now discredited. Topics for Special Study. — i. The relation of domesticated animals to man's progress in civilization. See especially Shaler. 2. The Age of Bronze. 3. Pottery as an element and index of civilization. 4. The origin of writing. See particularly Hoffma?in, Clodd, and Mallery — the last in " Tenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1888-1889" (Smith- sonian Reports). 10 For full names of authors and for further information concerning works cited, see list at end of book. CHAPTER II RACES AND GROUPS OF PEOPLES AT THE DAWN OF HISTORY 14. Subdivisions of the Historic Age. — We begin now our study of the historic age, — a record of about seven thousand years. The story of these millenniums is usually divided into three parts, — Ancient, Mediaeval, and Modern History. Ancient History begins, as already indicated, with the earliest nations of which we can gain any certain knowledge through written records, and extends to the fall of the Roman Empire in the West, a.d. 476. Mediaeval History embraces the period, about one thousand years in length, lying between the fall of Rome and the discovery of the New World by Columbus, a.d. 1492. Modern History commences with the close of the mediaeval period and extends to the present time.-^ It is Ancient History alone with which we shall be concerned in the present volume. 15. The Races of Mankind in the Historic Period. — Distinc- tions in bodily characteristics, such as form, color, and features, divide the human species into three chief types or races, known as the Black or Ethiopian Race, the Yellow or Mongolian Race, and the White or Caucasian Race.^ But we must not suppose each of these three types to be sharply marked off from the others ; they shade into one another by insensible gradations. 1 It is thought preferable by some scholars to let the beginning of the great Teutonic migration (a.d. 376) or the restoration of the Empire by Charlemagne (a.d. 800) mark the end of the period of ancient history. Some also prefer to date the beginning of the modern period from the capture of Constantinople by the Turks (a.d. 1453) ; while still others speak of it in a general way as commencing about the close of the fifteenth century, at which time there were many inventions and dis- coveries, and a great stir in the intellectual world. 2 Some ethnologists reckon a greater number of types or races. The classification given is simply a convenient and practical one (see Table, p. 19). M THE YELLOW OR MONGOLIAN RACE 15 We assume the original unity of the human race. It is probable that the physical and mental differences of existing races arose through their progenitors having been subjected to different cli- matic influences and to different conditions of life through long periods of prehistoric time. There has been no perceptible change in the great types during the historic age. The paintings upon the oldest Egyptian monu- ments show us that at the dawn of history the principal races were as dis- tinctly marked as now, each bearing its racial badge of color and physiognomy. 16. The Black Race. — Africa south of the Sahara is the home of the peo- ples of the Black Race, but we find them on all the other continents and on many of the islands of the seas, whither they have migrated or been carried as slaves by the stronger races ; for since time immemorial they have been " hewers of wood and drawers of water " for their more favored brethren. 17. The Yellow or Mongolian Race. — Eastern and Northern Asia is the central seat of the Mongohan Race. Many of the Mongolian tribes are pastoral nomads, who roam over the vast Asian plains north of the great ranges of the Himalayas; their leading part in history has been to harass peoples of settled habits. But the most important peoples of this type are the Japanese and the Chinese. The latter constitute probably a fifth or more of the entire population of the earth. Already in times very remote this people had developed a civilization quite advanced on various lines, but having reached a certain stage in culture they did not continue to make so marked a progress. Not until recent times did either the Chinese or the Japanese become a factor of significance in world history. 18. The White Race and its Three Groups. — The so-called White Race embraces the historic nations. The chief peoples of Fig. 7. — Negro Captives (From the monuments of Thebes) Ilhistrating the permanence of race characteristics l6 RACES AND GROUPS OF PEOPLES this division of mankind fall into three groups, — the Hamitic, the Semitic, and the Aryan ^ or Indo-European. The members form- ing any one of these groups must not be looked upon as kindred in blood ; the only certain bond uniting the peoples of each group is the bond of language.* The ancient Egyptians were the chief people of the Hamitic branch. In the gray dawn of history we discover them already settled in the valley of the Nile, and there erecting great monu- ments so faultless in construction as to render it certain that those who planned them had had long previous training in the art of building. The Semitic family includes among its chief peoples the an- cient Babylonians and Assyrians, the Hebrews, the Phoenicians, the Aramaeans, the Arabians, and the Ethiopians. Most scholars regard Arabia as the original home of this family, and this penin- sula certainly seems to have been the great distributing center.^ It is interesting to note that three great monotheistic religions — the Hebrew, the Christian, and the Mohammedan — arose among peoples belonging to the Semitic family. The Aryan-speaking peoples form the most widely dispersed group of the White Race. They include the ancient Greeks and 8 Ethnologists have ceased to use this name, as well as its equivalents, Indo- European and Indo-Germanic, as an ethnic term; but there is no reason why it should be given up by the historian. It should be carefully noted, however, that where the term Aryan is applied to a people it simply means that the people thus designated use an Aryan speech, and that it does not mean that they are related by blood to any other Aryan-speaking people. Physical or racial relationships can- not be determined by the test of language. Think of the millions of English-speaking African negroes in the United States ! For a masterly discussion of the question of the ethnic types or races making up the population of Europe, see Ripley's T/ie Races of Europe (New York, 1899). 4 In the case of the Semites and the Hamites, it is probable that the most of the peoples forming each group are in the main actually of the same ethnic stock ; in the case of the Aryans, however, we certainly have to do with peoples belonging to several distinct ethnic subvarieties or types. 5 It is held by some, however, that the Semites at a very early time immigrated to Arabia from Africa, where they had lived in close relations to the Hamites. In successive waves they seem to have settled in the lands adjoining the Syro-Arabian desert, first the Babylonians and Assyrians, then apparently the Canaanitic and subsequently the Hebrew peoples, the Arabians and the Chaldeans, while Abyssinia clearly received its Semitic population from southwestern Arabia. THE ARYAN EXPANSION 17 Romans, all the peoples of modern Europe (save the Basques, the Finns and the Lapps, the Magyars or Hungarians, and the Ottoman Turks), together with the Persians and the Hindus and some other Asian peoples. 19. The Aryan Expansion. — Long before the dawn of history in Europe and while they were yet in the Neohthic stage of cul- ture^ (sec. 6), the clans and tribes of the hitherto undivided Aryan family began to break up and to scatter.' Some of these tribes in the course of their wanderings found their way into the great river plains of India and out upon the table-lands of Iran. They subjugated the aborigines of these lands and communicated to them their language. These Aryan invaders and the natives, thus Aryanized in speech and prob- ably somewhat changed in blood, became the progenitors of the Iranians and the Hindus of history.^ Other clans and tribes pushed into the peninsulas of Greece and Italy, and, minghng with the peoples already settled there, founded the Greek and Italian city-states, and from the germs of culture which they carried with them, or which they found among the native populations or afterwards received from the Oriental lands, developed what is known as the Classical Civilization. Yet other tribes of the family, either through peaceful expan- sion, through social relations, or through conquest, had, long before our era, made Aryan in speech almost all the remaining regions of Europe.^ 6 Our knowledge of this prehistoric culture of the primitive Aryan community is gained largely through a comparative study of the words of the different Aryan languages. Thus, take the word father. This word occurs with but little change of form in several of the Aryan tongues (Sanscrit, //M ; Persian, /^a^ar; Greek, irari^p; \jiX\w.^ pater ; German, Vater). 7 Some scholars seek the early home of the primitive Aryan folk in Asia, others look for it in Europe, while still others declare the search to be wholly futile. 8 It is very important to note that in every case where a non-Aryan people gave up their own language and adopted that of their Aryan conquerors, there must have taken place at the same time almost necessarily a mingling of the blood of the two races. " Thus it will be correct to say that an Aryan strain permeates all or most of the groups now speaking Aryan tongues." — Keane, Ethnology^ p. 396 (Cambridge Geographical Series, 1896). 9 This prehistoric Aryan expansion can best be made plain by the use of an his- torical parallel, — the Roman expansion. From their cradle city on the Tiber, the l8 RACES AND GROUPS OF PEOPLES Although the Aryan expansion movement began so long ago, still we should not think of it as something past and ended. The outward movement in modern times of the Aryan- speaking peoples of Europe, that is to say, the expansion of Europe into Greater Europe and the Europeanizing of the world, is merely the con- tinuation — and an illustration — of the Aryan expansion move- ment which went on in the obscurity of the prehistoric ages. Thus we see what leading parts, after what we may call the Semitic age, Aryan-speaking peoples have borne in the great drama of history. References. — Schrader, The Prehistoric Civilization of the Aryan Peoples. Ripley, The Races of Europe. Ihering, The Evolution of the Aryans. Keane, Man, Past and Present. Deniker, The Races of Man. Sergi, The Mediterranean Race. Ratzel, The History of Mankind, 2 vols. All these works are for the teacher and the advanced student. Brinton, Races and Peoples ; and Taylor, The Origin of the Aryans, can be used by younger readers. Topics for Special Study. — i. Causes of physical and mental differ- ences between races. See Brinton. 2. The Ar^-ans. See Taylor. ancient Romans — a folk Aryan in speech if not in race — went out as conquerors and colonizers of the Mediterranean world. Wherever they went they carried their language and their civilization with them. Many of the peoples whom they sub- jected gave up their own speech, and along with the civiUzation of their conquerors adopted also their language. In this way a large part of the ancient world became Romanized in speech and culture. When the Roman Empire broke up, there arose a number of Latin-speaking nations, — among these, the French, Spaniards, and Por- tuguese. During the modern age these Romanized nations, through conquest and colonization, have spread their Latin speech and civilization over a great part of the New World. Thus it has come about that to-day the language of the ancient Romans, differentiated into many dialects, is spoken by peoples spread over the earth from Rumania in Eastern Europe to Chile in South America. All these peoples we call Latins, not because they are all descended from the ancient Romans, — in fact they belong to many different ethnic stocks, — but because they all speak languages derived from the old Roman speech. Just as we use the term Latin here, so do we use the term Aryan in connection with the Aryan-speaking peoples. A WORKING CLASSIFICATION OF THE PRINCIPAL RACES AND PEOPLES The larger divisions (races) are based on physical characteristics, the smaller on language. Black Race (Ethiopian or Negro) Yellow Race (Mongolian or " Turanian ") White Race (Caucasian) Tribes and peoples whose true home is Central and Southern Africa. (i) The Chinese, Japanese, and kindred peoples of Eastern Asia; (2) the nomads (Tartars, Mongols, etc.) of Northern and Central Asia and of Eastern Russia ; (3) the Turks, the Magyars, or Hungarians, the Finns and Lapps, and the Basques, in Europe. / Egyptians, \ Libyans (modern Berbers). Babylonians, Assyrians, Phoenicians, Hebrews, Aramaeans, Arabians. f Hindus, Asiatics ^ Medes, 1^ Persians. Greeks, Hamites Semites Classical peoples Aryans, or Indo-Eu- ■< ropeans Celts Teutons ^ Slavs . [^ Romans. r Gauls, J Britons, I Scots (Irish), I Picts. r Germans, ■\ English, 1^ Scandinavians, f Russians, 1 Poles, etc. The Irish, the Welsh, the Scotch Highlanders, and the Bretons of Brittany (anciently Armorica), in France, are the presant representatives of the ancient Celts. 19 Fig. 8. — Egyptian Scene Part I— The Eastern Nations CHAPTER HI ANCIENT EGYPT (From about 5000 to 30 B.C.) I. The Land and the People 20. Egypt and the Nile. — The Egypt of history comprises the delta of the Nile and the flood plains of its lower course. These rich lands were formed in past geologic ages from the sediment brought down by the river in seasons of flood. The delta was known to the ancients as Lower Egypt, while the valley proper, reaching from the head of the delta to the First Cataract,^ a distance of six hundred miles, was called Upper Egypt. Through the same means by which Egypt was originally created is the land each year still renewed and fertilized ; ^ hence the Greek 1 About seven hundred miles from the Mediterranean low ledges of rocks stretch- ing across the Nile form the first obstruction to navigation in passing up the river. The rapids found here are termed the First Cataract. At this point the divided river forms the beautiful islet of Philae, " The Pearl of Egypt." 2 The rate of the fluviatile deposit is from three to five inches in a century. The surface of the valley at Thebes, as shown by the accumulations about the monuments, has been raised about seven feet during the last seventeen hundred years. 20 MED I Rosella MuiUh Cannpus Alexandria T.E R R A N E A N SEA V AjonisalenitV CLIMATE AND PRODUCTS 21 historian Herodotus, in a happy phrase, called the country " the gift of the Nile." Swollen by heavy tropical rains and the melting snows of the mountains about its sources, the Nile begins to rise in its lower parts late in June, and towards the first of October, when the inunda- tion has attained its greatest height, the country pre- sents the appear- ance of a turbid sea. Fig. 9. — Plowing and Sowing (From a papyrus) By the end of November the river has returned to its bed, leaving the fields covered with a film of rich earth. At the pres- ent day the plow is usually run lightly over the soft surface, but in the earliest times the grain was often sown upon the undis- turbed deposit, and trampled in by flocks of sheep and goats driven over the fields. In a few weeks 'after the sowing, the entire land, so recently a flooded plain, is overspread with a sea of verdure, which forms a striking contrast to the desert sands and barren hiHs that rim the valley. 21. Climate and Products. — In Lower Egypt, near the sea, the rainfaU in the winter is abundant ; but the climate of Upper Egypt is all but rainless, only a few slight showers, as a rule, falling throughout the year.^ This dryness of the Egyptian air is what has pre- served through so many thousand years, in such won- derful freshness of color and with such sharpness of outline, the numerous paintings and sculptures of the monuments of the country. Fig. 10. — Reaping the Grain (From a papyrus) 3 At irregular intervals of a few years, however, there occurs a real cloud-burst, and the mud-built villages of the natives are literally half dissolved and washed into the river. 22 ANCIENT EGYPT The southern line of Egypt only just touches the tropics ; still the climate, influenced by the wide and hot deserts that hem the valley, is semi-tropical in character. The fruits of the tropics and the cereals of the temperate zone grow luxuriantly. Thus favored in climate as well as in the matter of irrigation, Egypt became in early times the granary of the East. To it less favored countries, when stricken by famine, — a calamity so common in the East in regions dependent upon the rainfall, — looked for food, as did the families of Israel during drought and failure of crops in Palestine. 22. The Prehistoric Age in Egypt (from an unknown antiquity to about 5000 B.C.). — Traces of man's existence in the Nile valley during the Paleolithic period have been found in several places, while in numerous localities in all parts of Egypt south of the delta, implements belonging to the Neohthic time have been discovered. Our knowledge of the people inhabiting the country in prehistoric times has thus been greatly increased in recent years. They dressed in skins, lived in mud or reed huts, and hunted the wild animals which inhabited the forests that in those distant times covered the river plains and the now desert plateaus bordering the valley.* These aboriginal folk seem to have been of Hamitic stock, being apparently an offshoot of the ancient Libyan race. About 5000 B.C. there seems to have come into the valley a new people from the region of the Red Sea. These immigrants are believed to have come from some East African or South Ara- bian territory that had been under the influence of the culture which had already sprung up in the Babylonian plains. They may have brought with them, as has been supposed, implements of copper and bronze, some of the cereals, oxen, sheep and goats, a knowledge of the use of bricks for building material, a system of writing, and other elements of civilization. It is thought by some scholars that the historic Egyptians arose from the union of these invaders with the earlier settlers, while by other Egyptol- ogists it is maintained that there never was any essential change in the Hamitic character of this people. 4 The petrified remains of these forests, like the fossilized forests of Arizona in our own country, now lie strewn in places over the desert. One of these mummified forests is easily visited from the modern city of Cairo. THE THIRTY-ONE DYNASTIES 23 II. Political History 23. The Thirty-One Dynasties ; the Old, the Middle, and the New Empire. — The Pharaohs, or kings, that reigned in Egypt from Menes till the conquest of the country by Alexander the Great (332 B.C.) are grouped into thirty-one dynasties. Thirty of these we find in the lists of Manetho, an Egyptian priest who lived in the third century B.C., and who compiled in the Greek language a chronicle of the kings of the country from the manuscripts kept in the Egyptian temples. The first ten of these dynas- ties comprise what is known to Egyptologists as the Old Em- pire ; the next seven cover the period of the so-called Middle Empire ; and the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth what is designated as the New Em- pire. The remaining dynasties represent mainly the rule of foreigners or conquerors. The history of these thirty-one dy- nasties covers a period of up- wards of four thousand years. Three millenniums of this his- tory lie back of the beginning of the historic age in Greece and Italy. 24. Menes, and the First Three Dynasties (about 4500-3700 B.C.). — Menes was the founder of the so-called First Dynasty. 5 Found by Flinders Petrie at Abydos in 1903. " Clad in his thick embroidered robes, this old king, wily yet feeble with the weight of years, stands for the diplomacy and statecraft of the oldest civilized kingdom that we know" (Petrie). Fig. II. — Ivory Statuette of a King of the First Dynasty ^ (From Petrie's Abydos, Part II) 24 ANCIENT EGYPT Tradition represents him as the builder of the great city of Memphis, near the head of the delta, and the constructor of vast engineering and irrigation works in that region. What is believed to be his tomb has been recently discovered (in 1897). Since 1894 there have also been found monuments of other Pharaohs of the First Dynasty, besides various interesting memo- rials of the rulers of the two following dynasties. '^ Thus slo\\ly is the material for the history of these remote tmies being accumulated.^ 25. The Fourth Dynasty : the Pyramid Kings (about 3700-3550 B.C.). — The kings of the Fourth Dynasty, who reigned at Memphis, are called the pyramid builders. Khufu, the Cheops of the Greeks, was the greatest of these rulers. He built the Great Pyramid, at Gizeh, — "the greatest mass of masonry that has ever been put together by mor- tal man."^ A recent fortunate dis- covery ^ enables us now to look upon the face of this Cheops (Fig. 13), one of the earliest and most renowned Fig. 12. — A Detail of the Great Pyramid (From a photograph) 6 Recently the monuments of a number of kings who reigned in Egypt before Menes have been dis- covered. Some of these kings are known to have ruled over the lower as well as the upper country. Menes was formerly believed to have been the first king of all Egypt. The story of these earlier kings, as it may hereafter be learned from the monuments, must be called predynastic history. 7 This pyramid rises from a base covering thirteen acres to a height of four hundred and fifty feet. According to Herodotus, Cheops employed one hundred thousand men for twenty years in its erection. 8 Made by Flinders Petrie at Abydos. Read his article entitled " The Ten Temples of Abydos," in Harper's Magazine for November, 1903. THE FOURTH DYNASTY ^h ^5 personages of the ancient world. " The first tmng that strikes us," writes Professor Flinders Petrie, "is the enormous driving- power of the man, the ruling nature which it seems impossible to resist, the determination which is above all constraint and all opposition. As far as force of will goes, the strongest characters in history would look pliable in this pres- ence. . . . There is no face quite parallel to this in all the por- traits that we know, — Egyptian, Greek, Roman, or modern." To some king of this same family of pyramid builders is also ascribed, by some authorities, the sculpture of the gigantic human- headed Sphinx at the foot of the Great Pyramid. These sepulchral monuments, for the pyramids were the tombs of the Pharaohs who constructed them (sec. 40), and the great Sphinx are the most venerable memorials of the early world that have been preserved to us. Although standing so far back in the gray dawn of the historic morning, they mark not the beginning but in some respects the perfection of Egyptian art. They speak of long periods of human life, of ages of growth and experience, lying behind the era they repre- sent. It is this vast and mysterious background that impresses us even more than these giant forms cast up against it. Fig 3- -Khufu, Builder of the Great Pyramid (From Petrie 's Abydos, Part II) 26 ANCIENT EGYPT 26. The Twelfth Dynasty (about 2500-2300 b.c). — After the Sixth Dynasty Egypt for several centuries is almost lost from view. When finally the valley emerges from the obscurity of this period, the old capital Memphis has receded into the background and the city of Thebes has taken its place as the seat of the royal power. The period of the Twelfth Dynasty, a line of Theban kings, is one of the brightest in Egyptian history. It has been called Egypt's Golden Age. One of the most notable achievements of the period was the improvement made by one of the kings in the 'irrigation of the Fayum from Lake Moeris (see map, p. 20). This was an immense reser- voir — one of the most important irrigation w^orks of the Pharaohs — for storing the surplus waters of the Nile at the time of the annual inun- dation. The lake was formed by the Nile flowing into a depression in the desert west of Memphis. 27. The Hyksos or Shepherd Kings (about 1985 — 1575 b.c). — Soon after the bright period of the Twelfth Dynasty, Egypt again suf- fered a great eclipse. Nomadic tribes from Asia pressed across the eastern frontier of Egypt and gradu- ally took possession of the inviting pasture lands of the delta, and established there the empire of the Shepherd Kings. These Asiatic intruders were violent and barbarous, and destroyed or mutilated the monuments of the country. But gradually they were transformed by the civilization with which they were in con- tact, and in time they adopted the manners and culture of the Egyptians. It is thought by some scholars that it was during the supremacy of the Hyksos that the families of Israel found a refuge in Lower Egypt. Fig. 14. — The "Sheikh-el- Beled." (Gizeh Museum) Supposed portrait statue of one of the overseers of the work on the Great Pyramid. This is one of the masterpieces of Egyptian sculp- ture THE EIGHTEENTH DYNASTY 27 At last these intruders, after they had ruled in the valley more than four centuries, were expelled by the Theban kings and driven back into Asia. Various elements of the civilization which had long been de- veloping independently in the Asian lands were introduced into Egypt by the Hyksos. Among these elements we may quite safely include the horse and the war chariot, since these now appear for the first time upon the monuments of the country. From this period forward the war chariot holds a place of first importance in the armaments of the Pharaohs. 28. The Eighteenth Dynasty (about 1575-1359 b.c); Thoth- mes III The long struggle known as the War of Independence waged by the native Egyptian kings against the Hyksos intruders was brought to an end by a brave young Theban prince named Aahmes. He was the first sovereign of what is known as the Eighteenth Dynasty. The most eventful period of Egyptian history, covered by what is called the New Empire, now opens. Architecture and learning seem to have recovered at a bound from their long depression under the domination of the Shepherd Kings. To free his empire from the danger of another invasion from Asia, Aahmes determined to subdue the Syrian and Mesopota- mian tribes. This foreign policy, followed out by his successors, shaped many of the events of their reigns. It brought Egypt into her first conflict with a civilized power, for already in the valley of the Euphrates there had arisen a civilization rivaling that of the Pharaohs, and the great kings of Babylon had extended their influence and their authority westward to the Mediterranean (sec. 48), and thus were injured by the intrusion of the Egyptians into the Syrian lands.^ Thothmes III (about 1 500-1450 B.C.), one of the greatest kings of this Eighteenth Dynasty, has been called '' the Alexander of Egyptian history." During his reign the frontiers of the empire 5 " Her [Egypt's] sudden appearance in the heart of Syria gave a new turn to human history. The isolation of the ancient world was at an end ; the conflict of the nations was about to begin." — Maspero, The Struggle of ike Nations^ p. 108. 28 ANCIENT EGYPT reached their greatest expansion. His authority extended from the oases of the Libyan desert to beyond the Euphrates. Thothmes was also a magnificent builder. His architectural works in the valley of the Nile were almost numberless. He built a great part of the Temple of Karnak, at Thebes, the remains of which form the most majestic ruin in the world. His obelisks stand to-day in Constantinople, Rome, London, and New York. It was a Pharaoh of this Eighteenth Dynasty that set up the celebrated colossi at Thebes, one of which, under the name of the "Vocal Memnon," ^'^ acquired a wide reputation among the later Greeks and Romans.^^ 29. The Nineteenth Dynasty (about 1359-1253 B.C.). — The Pharaohs of the Nineteenth Dynasty rival those of the Eighteenth in their fame as conquerors and builders. It is their deeds and works, in connection with those of the preceding dynasty, that have given Egypt such a name and place in history. The two greatest names of this period are those of Seti I (about 1356-1347 B.C.) and Rameses II (about 1347-1280 B.C.). Seti was a great warrior. One of the most im- portant of his campaigns was that against the Hittites {^Khita in the inscriptions) and 10 When the rays of the morning sun fell upon the colossus it emitted low musical tones, which the Egyp- tians believed to be the greeting of the statue to the rising day. 11 The name of one of the sovereigns of this Eighteenth Dynasty (the " heretic king," Amenhotep IV, or Akhen- aten, 1403-1385 B.C.) is connected with one of the most interesting and important discoveries ever made on Oriental ground. This was the discovery in 1887, at Tell el Amarna, on the Nile, of several hundred letters, written in the Babylonian language and script and com- prising the correspondence, not only between the reigning Pharaoh and the kings of Assyria and Babylonia, but also between the Egyptian court and the Egyptian gov- ernors and vassal kings of various Syrian towns. The significance of this discovery consists in the revelation it makes of the deep hold that the civilization of Babylon had upon the Syrian lands cen- turies before the Hebrew invasion of Palestine. This means that the Hebrew develop- ment took place in an environment charged with elements of Babylonian culture. See Harper, Assyrian and Babylonian Literature, pp. 217-241. Fig. 15. — Tell el Amarna Letter (After Hilprecht) THE NINETEENTH DYNASTY 29 their allies. The Hittites were a powerful non-Semitic people, whose capital was Carchemish on the Euphrates, and whose strength and influence were now so great as to be a threat to Egyptian dominion in Syria.^^ Marching against these formidable enemies, Seti overcame their army with great slaughter, and returned to Egypt with his chariot, after the custom of those times, adorned with the heads of several of their chiefs. But Seti's deeds as a warrior are eclipsed by his achievements as a builder. He constructed the main part of what is perhaps the most im- pressive edifice ever raised by man — the world-renowned Hall of Col- umns in the Temple of Karnak, at Thebes. Rameses H, surnamed the Great, was the Sesostris of the Greeks. Ancient writers accorded him the first place among all the Egyptian sovereigns, and told most exaggerated ^'^ *^^ background town protected ^^ by walls and moats Stones of his conquests and achieve- ments. His long reign, embracing sixty-seven years, was indeed well occupied with military expeditions and the superintendence of great architectural works. The chief of his wars were those against the Hittites, of whom we have just spoken. Time and again is Rameses found with his host of war chariots in the country of this people, but he evidently failed to break their power ; for we find him at last concluding with them a celebrated treaty. In this treaty the chief of the Hittites is called "The Great King of the Khita," and is for- mally recognized as in every respect the equal of the king of Egypt. Fig. 16. — Phalanx of THE Khita 12 We know very little about this people, save that for several centuries they divided with Egypt and Assyria the dominion of Western Asia. They had a system of hiero- glyphic writing and left some inscriptions, but these have not yet been deciphered. 30 ANCIENT EGYPT The alliance was cemented by the marriage of a daughter of the Hittite king to Rameses. All this means that the Pharaohs had met their peers in the princes of the Hittites, and that they could no longer hope to become masters of Western Asia. Indeed, the empire of the Pha- raohs had already passed its culmination, and all Rameses' efforts were directed to upholding the fortunes of a declining state. It is the opinion of some scholars that this Rameses II was the oppressor of the children of Israel, the Pharaoh who " made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar and in brick, and in all Fig. 17. — Rameses II charging the Foe manner of service in the field" (Ex. i. 14), and that what is known as the Exodus took place in the reign of his son, Meneph- tha^^ (about 1275 B.C.). 30. The Twenty-Sixth Dynasty ; Psammetichus I (about 66^- 610 B.C.) and Necho II (610-594 b.c). — We pass without com- ment a long period of several centuries, marked, indeed, by great vicissitudes in the fortunes of the Egyptian monarchs, yet 13 In a recently discovered inscription Menephtha mentions among other Palestin- ian peoples Israel as having been made desolate and left without grain. (This is the only reference to Israel on any Egyptian monument.) The inference which some scholars draw from this is that this people had already settled down to agricultural life in Syria at the time of Menephtha ; while others reconcile the inscription with the Hebrew records by supposing that when the great immigration into Lower Egypt took place a part of the tribe or tribes of Israel remained behind in Syria. The Sixth Cataract of the Nile THE TWENTY-SIXTH DYNASTY 31 characterized throughout by a sure and rapid decline in the power and splendor of their empire. During the latter part of this period Egypt was tributary to Ethiopia or to Assyria ; but a native prince, Psammetichus by name, with the aid of Greek mercenaries, drove out the foreign garrisons. Psammetichus thus became the founder of the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty (about 663 B.C.). The reign of this monarch marks a new era in Egyptian history. Hitherto Egypt had secluded herself from the world behind bar- riers of race jealousy and pride. But Psammetichus being him- self, it seems, of non- Egyptian origin, and owing his throne chiefly to the swords of Greek soldiers, was led to reverse the policy of the past, and to throw the valley open to the commerce and Fig. 18. — Brick-Making in Ancient Egypt. (From Thebes) influences of the world. His capital, Sais, in the delta region, was filled with Greek citizens, and Greek mercenaries were em- ployed in his armies. This change of policy, occurring at just the period when the Greeks were coming prominently forward to play their great part in history, was a most significant event. Egypt became the instructor of this younger race. From this time on Greek phi- losophers are represented as becoming pupils of the Egyptian priests ; and without question the learning and philosophy of the old Egyptians exercised a profound influence upon the open, receptive mind of the Greek race, that was, in its turn, to become the teacher of the world. The son of Psammetichus, Necho H (610-594 B.C.), followed the liberal policy marked out by his father. In order to be able to bring together at any time his war ships either in the Red Sea or 32 ANCIENT EGYPT in the Mediterranean, he attempted to reopen an old canal uniting the Nile and the Red Sea, which had been dug by earlier Pharaohs, but had now become unnavigable. Failing in this undertaking, he fitted out an exploring expedition for the circumnavigation of Africa, in hopes of finding a natural water way connecting the two seas. The expedition, we have reason to believe, actually accom- plished the feat of sailing around the continent ; for the historian Herodotus, in his account of the enterprise, says that the voyagers upon their return reported that, when they were rounding the cape, the sun was on their right hand (to the north). This feature of the report, which led Herodotus to disbelieve it, is to us the very strongest evidence possible that the voyage was really performed. 31. The Last of the Pharaohs. — Before the end of Necho's reign Egypt became tributary to Babylon, and a little later bowed beneath the Persian yoke (sec. 97). Regaining her independ- ence, she soon lost it again. From about the middle of the fourth century B.C. to the present day no native prince has sat upon the throne of the Pharaohs. Upon the extension of the power of the Macedonians and the Greeks over the East through the conquests of Alexander the Great (Chapter XXVI), Egypt willingly accepted them as masters ; and for three centuries the valley was the seat of the renowned Graeco-Egyptian empire of the Ptolemies. The Romans finally annexed the region to their all-absorbing empire (30 B.C.). '' The mission of Egypt among the nations was fulfilled ; it had lit the torch of civilization in ages inconceivably remote, and had passed it on to other peoples of the West." HI. Religion, Arts, and General Culture 32. Classes of Society. — Egyptian society was divided into three chief classes,^* — priests, soldiers, and common people; the last embracing shepherds, husbandmen, shopkeepers, and artisans. 14 These divisions are more properly designated as classes than castes ; for the characteristic features of the latter, as existing among the Hindus (sec. 105), are that the members " must abstain from certain forbidden occupations, contract no THE EGYPTIAN SYSTEM OF WRITING 33 The sacerdotal order consisted of high priests, prophets, scribes, keepers of the sacred robes and animals, sacred sculptors, masons, and embalmers. They enjoyed freedom from taxation, and met the expenses of the temple service mainly from the income of the sacred lands, which are said to have embraced one third of the soil of the country. The priests were extremely scrupulous in the care of their per- sons. They bathed twice by day and twice by night, and shaved the entire body every third day. Their inner clothing was linen, woolen garments being thought unclean ; their diet was plain and even abstemious, in order that, as an old Greek writer explains, "their bodies might sit light as possible about their souls." Next to the priesthood in rank and honor stood the military order. Like the priests, the soldiers formed a landed class. To each soldier was given a tract of about eight acres, exempt from all taxes. When not in actual service he worked on his little plot of land. 33. The Egyptian System of Writing. — Perhaps the greatest achievement of the ancient Egyptians was the working out of a system of writing. By the opening of the fifth millennium B.C. Fig. 19. — Forms of Egyptian Writing. {Aitev //o/nme/) The top line is hieroglyphic script ; the bottom line is the same text in hieratic this system had passed through all the stages which we have already indicated as marking the usual development of a written language (sec. 12). But the curious thing about the system was this : when an improved method of writing had been worked out alliance beyond the limits of the caste, and must continue to practice the profession of their fathers " ; whereas among the Egyptians there were no such restrictions laid upon the two principal classes. The priest might become a soldier, and the soldier a priest, or the same person might be both at once. 34 ANCIENT EGYPT the old method was not discarded. Hence the Egyptian writing was partly picture writing and partly alphabetic writing, and exhibited besides all the intermediate forms. The Egyptians, as has been said, had developed an alphabet without knowing it. Just as we have two forms of letters, one for printing and another for writing, so the Egyptians employed three forms of script : the hieroglyphic, in which the pictures and symbols were carefully drawn, — a form generally employed in monumental inscriptions; the hieratic, a simplified form of the hieroglyphic, adapted to writing, and forming the greater part of the papyrus manuscripts ; and the demotic or e7icho- rial, a still further simplification of the hieratic form. 34. The Rosetta Stone and the Key to Egyptian Writing. — The key to the Egyptian writing was discovered by means of the Rosetta Stone, which was found by the French when they in- FiG. 20. — The Rosetta j j t- i t.t ■, • ^ Stone vaded Egypt under Napoleon m 1798. This precious relic, a heavy block of black basalt, is now in the British Museupi. It holds an inscrip- tion in the Egyptian and the Greek language, which is written in three different forms of script, — in the Egyptian hieroglyphic and demotic and in Greek characters. The chief credit of deciphering the Egyptian script and of opening up the long-sealed libraries of Egyptian learning is commonly allotted to the French scholar Champollion.^^ 35- Egyptian Literature The literature opened up to us by the decipherment of the Egyptian hieroglyphics is varied and instructive, revealing as it does the life and thought and scientific 16 The value of a number of demotic signs was discovered by Akerblad (1802). In the hieroglyphic text the English scholar Young recognized the name of Ptolemy (Ptolemaios, Ptolmis) and succeeded in deciphering this peculiar script (1818). ChampoUion verified the values assigned to some symbols by a comparison of the Rosetta inscription with another hieroglyphic and Greek inscription found on the island of Philae (1822), But his greatest merit consists in having determined the character of the Egyptian language as the mother of the Coptic, with which he was thoroughly familiar. THE EGYPTIAN GODS 35 attainments of old Egypt at a time when the Greek world was yet young. There is the ancient Book of the Dead,^^ intended for the use and instruction of the soul in its perilous journey to the realms of the blessed in the nether world ; there are novels or romances, and fairy tales, among which are " Cinderella and the Glass Slipper," and a story written expressly for the amuse- ment of the httle son of Rameses II; autobiographies, public and private letters, fables. and epics ; treatises on ( Tv I ^ ^ ' medicine, astronomy, ^-^ J[ and various other scien- /^ ~2 C ■"~" o tific subjects ; and books V ^~^ on history — in prose and in verse-whichfully ^^^- ^^--T^o Royal Names in .. , , , , Hieroglyphics justify the declaration of ,* *u /: . r .u l- , , , ^ ■' It was the first of these names which gave the clew Egyptian priests to the to the interpretation of the hieroglyphic script. Greek philosopher Solon : Through a comparison of the two the values of _ _ _, , * several symbols were definitely determined i^" "You Greeks are mere children, talkative and vain ; you know nothing at all of the past." 36. The Egyptian Gods. — It has been said of man that he is " incurably religious." This could certainly be said of the ancient Egyptians. Their thoughts seem to have dwelt much on the gods and on the future life. The ideas of God held by the learned among the Egyptians were, according to the Egyptologist Budge, almost the same as 16 The chief writing material used by the ancient Egyptians was the noted papyrus paper, manufactured from a reed which grew in the marshes and along the water channels of the Nile. From the names of this Egyptian plant, byblos and />aj>yrus, come our words " Bible " and " paper." l*" The twelve hieroglyphics used in writing these names have the following values : AK, ^s.1^ (]e, f]o, DP, "^A, c^:>or^T. <=>Pv, ^=M, (](]l(AI),nS, With these the reader will easily decipher the names. It should be noted that the last two signs in the longer word are used merely to indicate that the word is a feminine proper name, and that for the sake of symmetry one symbol is sometimes placed beneath another. The upper sign should be taken first. 36 ANCIENT EGYPT those of the Hebrew teachers of a later time. The inscriptions read : " God is a spirit and no man hath known his form ; He is the one Hving and true God ; He has existed from the beginning, and He is life ; He is the creator of the heavens and the earth, and all that therein is." But while entertaining such lofty views of the Supreme God, the Egyptian thinkers never came, as did the later Hebrews, to hold the idea that there is only one God beside whom there is no other. From first to last the Egyptians were polytheists, that is, worshipers of many gods. These divinities were often grouped in triads. First in impor- tance among these groups was that formed by Osiris, Isis (his wife and sister), and Horus, their son. The members of this triad were worshiped throughout Egypt. The god Set, called Typhon by the Greek writers, was the Satan of Egyptian mythology. While the beneficent Osiris was symbolized by the life-giving Nile, the malignant Typhon was emblemized by the terrors and barrenness of the desert. 37. Animal Worship. — The Egyptians regarded certain ani- mals as emblems of the gods, and hence worshiped them. To kill one of these sacred animals was adjudged the greatest impiety. Persons so unfortunate as to harm one through accident were sometimes murdered by the infuriated people. The scarab or beetle was especially sacred, being considered an emblem of life. Not only were various animals held sacred, as being the emblems of certain deities, but some were thought to be real gods. Thus the soul of Osiris, it was imagined, animated the body of some bull, which might be known from certain spots and markings. Fig. 22. — Mummy of a Sacred Bull (From a photograph) EGYPTIAN DOCTRINE OF A FUTURE LIFE 37 Upon the death of the sacred bull or Apis, as he was called, a great search, accompanied with loud lamentation, was made throughout the land for his successor ; for the moment the soul of Osiris departed from the dying bull it entered a calf that moment born. The body of the deceased Apis was carefully embalmed, and, amid funeral ceremonies of great expense and magnificence, deposited in the tomb of his predecessors.^^ Many explanations have been given to account for the existence of such a debased form of worship among so cultured a j)eople as the ancient Egyptians. There can be httle doubt that the religious system of Egypt arose from a mingling of the religions of the two races which seemed to have united to form the Egyp- tians of history (sec. 22), and that the low elements in it were nothing more nor less than the ideas, beliefs, and practices of the older prehistoric race of the Nile valley. 38. The Egyptian Doctrine of a Future Life. — The most fruitful of the reHgious ideas of the ancient Egyptians, the one of greatest import for their own history and for that of the world, was their doctrine of a future life. Among no other people of antiquity did the life beyond the tomb seem so real and hold so large a place in the thoughts of the living as among the people of old Egypt. It is difficult to give an account of this belief for the reason that there were different forms of it held at different times and in different places. But the essential part of the belief was that man has a double or soul which survives the death of the body. This belief in a future life, taken in connection with certain ideas respecting the nature of the soul's existence in the other world and of its needs, reacted in a remarkable way upon the earthly life of the people of ancient Egypt. It was the cause and motive of many of the things they did. 39. The Embalmment of the Body. — The first need of the soul was the possession of the old body, upon the preservation of 18 In 185 1 Marietta discovered this sepulchral chamber of the sacred bulls (the Serapeum). It is a narrow gallery two thousand feet in length cut in the Hmestone cliffs just opposite the site of ancient Memphis. A large number of immense granite cofl&ns and several mummified bulls were found. 38 ANCIENT EGYPT which the existence of the soul depended. If the body should waste away, the double, it was believed, would waste away with it.^^ Hence the anxious care with which the Egyptians sought to preserve the body against decay by embalming it. In the various processes of embalming, use was made of oils, resins, bitumen, and various aromatic gums. The bodies of the wealthy were preserved by being filled with costly aromatic and resinous substances, and swathed in bandages of linen. To a body thus treated is applied the term mummy. As this method of embalming was very costly, the bodies of the poorer classes were simply " salted and dried," and wrapped in coarse mats, preparatory to burial. It is estimated that from the time of Menes to the opening of the Christian era 200,000,000 mummies were laid in the earth in Upper Egypt alone. To this practice of the Egyptians of embalming their dead we owe it that we can look upon the actual faces of many of the ancient Pha- raohs. Towards the close of the last century (in 1881) the mummies of Thothmes III, Seti I, Rameses II, and those of about forty other kings, queens, princes, and priests, em- bracing nearly all the Pharaohs of the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, Twentieth, and Twenty-First Dynasties, were found in a secret rock chamber near Thebes. The faces of Seti and Rameses, both strong faces, are so remarkably preserved that, in the words of Maspero, "were their subjects to return to the earth to-day they could not fail to recognize their old sovereigns." Fig. 23. — Profile of Ram- eses 11. (From a photo- graph of the mummy) 19 This is Maspero's view. Wiedemann's is somewhat different. " The destruc- tion of the mummy," he says, "did not involve the destruction of the soul, but it narrowed the soul's circle of activity and limited its means of transmigration" (The Ancient Egyptian Doctrine of the bnniortality of the Sou/, p. 68). THE PYRAMIDS AS SEPULCHERS 39 40. The Pyramids as Sepulchers ; the Rock-Hewn Tombs. — The same belief which led to the embalmment of the body led also to the construction of secure and magnificent tombs. Upon the temporary homes of the living the Egyptians bestowed little care, but upon the " eternal abodes " of the dead they la\'ished unstinted labor and cost. The tombs of the official class and of the rich were sometimes structures of brick or stone, but more generally they were cham- bers cut in the limestone cliffs that rim the Nile valley. The bodies of the earlier Pharaohs were hidden away in the heart of great mountains of stone — the pyramids. Many of the later Pharaohs constructed for themselves magnificent rock-cut tombs, some of which are perfect labyrinths of corridors, halls, and cham- bers. In the hills back of Thebes, in the so-called Valley of the Tombs of the Kings, there are so many of these royal sepulchers that the place has been called the "Westminster Abbey of Egypt." 41. The "Accompanying Gifts " or the "Dowery of the Dead." — We have seen that the first need of the soul was the preservation of the old body. Along with the mummy there were often placed in the tomb a number of wood, clay, or gold portrait statuettes of the deceased. The lid of the coffin was also carved in the form of a mummy. The idea here was that, if through any accident the body were destroyed, the soul might avail itself of these sub- stitutes. It was the effort put forth by the artist to make these portrait images and carvings lifelike that contributed to bring early Egyptian sculpture to such a high degree of excellence. But not all the wants of the soul were met by the mummy and the substitute portrait images. It had need also of food and drink, and of everything else that the deceased had needed while on earth. Hence all these things were put into the tomb. But Fig. 24. — Mummy Case with Mummy 40 ANCIENT EGYPT as it was only the spirit or double of the things thus set out which the soul could make use of,^*^ it came to be believed that a picture or an inexpensive model in wood or clay of these objects would serve just as well as the actual objects themselves. Thus the pictures of different kinds of food and drink supplied the soul with " an unsubstantial yet satisfying repast " ; the rep- resentation of a vineyard provided it with a vineyard in the Osirian land ; the picture of a hunting scene afforded it the diver- sion of the chase ; and the picture of a boat made possible a pleasure sail on the celestial Nile. It was this belief which covered the walls of the Egyptian tombs with those bas-reliefs and paintings which have con- verted for us these chambers of the dead into picture galleries where the Egypt of the Pharaohs rises again into life before our eyes. 42. The Judgment of the Dead and the Negative Confession. — Death was a great equalizer among the Egyptians ; king and peasant alike must appear before the dread tribunal of Osiris and render an account of the deeds done in the body. Here the soul sought justification in such declarations as these, which form what is called the Negative Confession : " I have not blasphemed" ; " I have not stolen" ; "I have not slain any one treacherously" ; " I have not slandered any one or made false accusation " ; "I have not reviled the face of my father " ; " I have not eaten my heart through with envy." ^^ 20 Compare the thought of the savage who breaks the bow or other weapon placed in the grave with the body of its former owner, in order that its spirit may be released. 21 A statuette of a workman placed in the tomb along with the mummy. It was thought that the recital of certain magical formulas imparted life to the image. A number of these figures put in the tomb supplied the deceased with servants in the other world. 22 It will be noted that these are in substance the equivalent of six of the Ten Commandments of the Hebrews. Fig. 25. — "Servant FOR THE Under- world." 21 (After Wiedemann) THE JUDGMENT OF THE DEAD 41 In other declarations of the soul we find a singularly close approach to Christian morality, as for instance in this : " I have given bread to the hungry and drink to him who was athirst ; I have clothed the naked with garments." The truth of what the soul thus asserted in its own behalf was tested by the balances of the gods. In one of the scales was placed the heart of the deceased ; in the other, a symbol of truth or righteousness. The soul stood by watching the weighing. If the heart were found not light, the soul was welcomed to the Fig. 26. — The Judgment of the Dead. (From a papyrus) Showing the weighing of the heart of the deceased in the scales of truth companionship of the good Osiris. The fate of the unjustified seems to have been annihilation. This judgment scene in the nether world forms the most in- structive memorial of old Egypt that has been preserved to us. We here learn what sort of a conscience the Egyptian had devel- oped by the dawn of history ; for the confession and the doctrine of a judgment day date from the earliest period of Egyptian civil- ization. The moral teachers of Egypt here anticipated the moral teachers of Israel. " In the judgment hall of Osiris," writes Sayce, " we find the first expression of the doctrine which was echoed so many ages later by the Hebrew prophets, that what the gods require is mercy and righteousness rather than orthodoxy of belief." 43. Architecture, Sculpture, and Minor Arts. — At a compara- tively early period Egyptian civilization ceased to be progressive. 42 ANCIENT EGYPT The past was taken as a model, just as it is in China to-day. So what is here said of the arts is, speaking broadly, as true of them in the third millennium before Christ, or even earUer, as at any later period of Egyptian history. In the building art the ancient Egyptians, in some respects, have never been surpassed. The Memphian pyramids built by the earlier, and the Theban temples raised by the later Pharaohs have excited the as- tonishment and the admiration alike of all the successive gen- erations that have looked upon them. "Thebes," says Lenor- mant, " in spite of all the rav- ages of time and of the barba- rian still presents the grandest, the most prodigious assemblage of buildings ever erected by the hand of man." In the cutting and shaping of enormous blocks of the hardest stone, the Egyptians achieved "It is of the Fig. An Egyptian Obelisk results which modern stonecutters can scarcely equal, doubtful," says Rawlinson, "whether the steam-sawing present day could be trusted to produce in ten years from the quarries of Aberdeen a single obelisk such as those which the Pharaohs set up by dozens." ^^ Fig. 28. — Tubular Drill Hole 23 History of Ancient Egypt, vol. i, p. 498. The Egyp- tian stonecutters did much of their work with bronze tools, to which they were able by some process to give a very hard edge. In the very earliest times they had invented the tubular drill, which they set with hard cutting points. With this instrument they did work which engineers of to-day say could not be surpassed with the modem diamond drill. See Flinders Petrie, Ten Years^ Digging in Egypt, pp. 26, 27, Plate IV. — The Great Hall of Columns at Karnak (From a photograph) THE SCIENXES 43 Eg}'ptian sculpture seems to have grown out of pictorial writ- ing. The figure or character, at first a mere outline drawing, was after a time cut into the rock surface, and next the rock was chiseled away so as to leave the figure in low relief. The Eg)'p- tians barely reached the point so early attained by the Greeks, who cut the figure clear around, and forced it to stand out boldly, away from all support. As we have seen (sec. 25), sculpture was at its best in the earliest period ; that it became so imitative, unpro- gressive, and rigid was due to the influence of religion. The artist, in the portrayal of the figures of the gods, was not allowed to change a single hne of the sacred form. Wilkinson says that Menes would have recog- nized the statue of Osiris in the temples of the last of the Pharaohs. In many of the minor arts the Egyptians at- tained a surprisingly high degree of excellence. They were able in color- ing glass to secure tints as brilliant and beautiful as any which modern art has been able to produce. In gem cutting they showed wonderful skill. The sacred scarabaeus (beetle) was reproduced with linings so delicate that it is almost certain that magnifying glasses were used in the work. 44. The Sciences: Astronomy, Geometry, and Medicine. — The cloudless and brilliant skies of Egypt invited the inhabitants of the Nile valley to the study of the heavenly bodies.-"* And another circumstance closely related to their ver}- existence, the inundation of the Nile, following the changing cycles of the stars, could not but have, incited them to the watching and predicting of astro- nomical movements. Their obser\-ations led them to discover the length, very nearly, of the sidereal year, which they made to consist of 365 days, every fourth year adding one day, making the number Fig. 29. — A Scarab Amulet 24 Astrological speculations ^\-ere mingled with all the more solid astronomical attainments of the Egyptians. 44 ANCIENT EGYPT for that year 366. This was the calendar that Julius Caesar intro- duced into the Roman Empire, and which, slightly reformed by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582, has been the system employed by almost all the civilized world up to the present day. The Greeks accounted for the early rise of the science of geometry among the Egyptians by the necessity they were under of reestablishing each year the boundaries of their fields — the inundation obliterating old landmarks and divisions. The science thus forced upon their attention was cultivated with zeal and success. A single papyrus has been discovered that holds twelve geometrical theorems. The Egyptian physicians relied largely on magic, for every ail- ment was supposed to be caused by a demon that must be expelled by means of magical rites and incantations. But they also used drugs of various kinds ; the ciphers or characters employed by modern apothecaries to designate grains and drams are of Egyp- tian invention. 45- Egypt's Contribution to Civilization. — Egypt made valu- able gifts to civilization. From the Nile came the germs of much found in the later culture of the peoples of Western Asia, of the Greeks and Romans, and of the nations of modern Europe. " We are the heirs of the civiHzed past," says Sayce, " and a goodly portion of that civilized past was the creation of ancient Egypt." And as we should naturally suppose, it was in the sphere of religion that Egypt's bequest to us was largest. Thus, for instance, the doctrine of immortality, which entered the Western world with Christianity, stands in close relation to the Egyptian doctrine of a future life. " In Egypt," says Wiedemann, <' the Osirian faith and dogma were the precursors of Christianity, the foundations upon which it was able to build ; and altogether apart from their intrinsic worth and far-reaching influence, it is this which consti- tutes their significance in the history of the world." ^^ Selections from the Sources. — Records of the Past (New Series, edited by Sayce), vol. iii, " The Precepts of Ptah-Hotep." Petrie's Egyptian Tales (Second Series), ''Anpu and Bata.'' "The description of Bata is one of 25 TJie Ancient Egyptian Doctrine of Immortality^ p. x. REFERENCES 45 the most beautiful character drawmgs of the past " (Petrie). Herodotus. ii. 1-14. The student should bear in mind that the parts of Herodotus' work devoted to the Orient have a very different historical value from that possessed by those portions of the history which deal primarily with Greek affairs. " The net result of Oriental research," says Professor Sayce, " in its bearing upon Herodotus is to show that the greater part of what he professes to tell us of the history of Egypt, Babylonia, and Persia is really a collection of ' marchen,' or popular stories, current among the Greek loungers and half-caste dragomen on the skirts of the Persian empire. . . . After all, ... it may be questioned whether they are not of higher value for the history of the human mind than the most accurate descriptions of kings and generals, of wars and treaties and revolutions." References (Modern). — Maspero, The Dawn of Civilization, chaps, i-vi ; The Struggle of the N'ations, chaps, i-v ; and Manual of Egyptiati ArchcEology. Petrie, Ten Years' Digging in Egypt and A History of Egypt, vols. i-iv. Rawlinson, History of Ancient Egypt, 2 vols., and Story of Ancient Egypt. Wiedemann, Religion of the Ancient Egyptians and The Ancient Egyptian Doct7'ine of the Dntnortality of the Soul. Wil- kinson, Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians ; should be used with care — portions are antiquated. Erman, Life in Ancient Egypt. Budge, Egyptian Religiojt, Egyptian Ideas of the Euture Life, and The Mummy. Sayce, The Religions of Ancie7it Egypt and Babylonia. Perrot and Chipiez, History of Art in Ancient Egypt. Topics for Special Study. — i. The Book of the Dead. There is a translation by Budge and another by Davis. 2. Some results of recent excavations. See Petrie. 3. The ancient water system. 4. The nature of the government. 5. The myth of Osiris and the Osirian doctrine. 6. His- tory of the statuettes of servants placed in the tomb. See Maspero and Wiedemann. Fig. 30. — Phil^, "the Pearl of Egypt" Fig. 31. — The Babil Mound at Babylon as it appeared in 1811 CHAPTER IV THE EARLY CITY-STATES OF BABYLONIA AND THE OLD BABYLONIAN EMPIRE (From about 5000 to 11 00 B.C.) I. Political History 46. The Tigris and Euphrates Valley ; the Upper and the Lower Country. — We must now trace the upspringing of civilization in Babylonia, "The Asian Egypt." As in the case of Egypt, so in that of the Tigris and Euphrates valley,^ the physical features of the country exerted a great influ- ence upon the history of its ancient peoples. Differences in geological structure divide this region into an upper and a lower dis'trict ; and this twofold division in natural features is reflected, as we shall see, throughout its political history. The northern part of the valley, the portion that comprised ancient Assyria, consists of undulating plains, broken in places by mountain ridges. This region nourished a hardy and warlike race, and became the seat of a great miUtary empire. 1 The ancient Greeks gave to the land embraced by the Tigris and the Euphrates the name of Mesopotamia, which means " the land between the rivers." 46 THE TIGRIS AND EUPHRATES VALLEY 47 The southern part of the valley, the part known as Babylonia, is, like the delta region of Egypt, an alluvial deposit. The making of new land by the rivers has gone on steadily during historic times. The ruins of one of the ancient seaports of the country (Eridu) lie over a hundred miles inland from the pres- ent head of the Persian Gulf. In ancient times the land was protected against the inundations of the rivers, and w^atered in seasons of drought, by a stupendous system of dikes and canals, -t0:^.' i J' * ^ - V- ■ ^ - Fig. 32, — Ancieint Babylonian Canals which at the present day, in a ruined and sand-choked condition, cover like a network the face of the country. The productions of Babylonia are very like those of the Nile valley. The luxuriant growth of grain upon these alluvial flats excited the wonder of the Greek travelers who visited the East. Herodotus will not tell the whole truth for fear his veracity may be doubted. It is not strange that tradition should have located here Paradise, that primeval garden " out of the ground of which God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food." This favored plain in a remote period of antiquity became the seat of an agricultural, industrial, and 48 THE EARLY CITY-STATES OF BABYLONIA commercial population among which the arts of civilized life found probably their very earliest development. 47. The Babylonians a Mixed People. — The original inhabit- ants of Babylonia are thought by the majority of Assyrian scholars to have belonged to a non-Semitic race, and are generally known as Sumerians, from Sumer, the name of one of the ancient divisions of the country. They seem to have migrated into the valley from Map of the Tigris-Euphrates Valley the mountain district on the northeast. These people are believed to have laid the basis of civilization in the Euphrates valley. At a very early time there seem to have come into the country from Arabia immigrants of Semitic race. These foreigners were nomadic in habits, and altogether much less cultured than the Sumerians. Gradually, however, they adopted the arts of the people among whom they had settled, retaining, however, their own language, which in the course of time superseded the speech of the original inhabitants. The union of the two races formed the Babylonians of history. 48. The Age of City-States (about 5000-2250 b.c.) ; Sargon I (about 3800 B.C.). — When the light of history first falls upon the Mesopotamian lands, that is about 5000 B.C., it reveals the lower THE AGE OF CITY-STATES 49 river plain filled with city-states ^ like those which we find later in Greece and in Italy. Each city had its patron god and was ruled by a king. From the old Babylonian libraries (sec. 54) patient scholars are gradually reading the wonderful story of these ancient cities, probably the oldest built by man. The political side of their history may, for our present purpose, be sum- marized by saying that for a period of almost three millenniums — a period longer than that which has passed since Athens and Rome appeared in history — these records, as far as they have become known to us, are annals of wars waged for supremacy by one city and its gods against other cities and their gods. Of all the kings whose names have already been recovered from the monuments w^e shall here speak only of Sargon I, a Semitic king of Agade, whose reign forms some such landmark in early Babylonian history as that of the great Charlemagne forms in what w^e may regard as the corresponding period in the history of Western Europe.^ An inscription recently deciphered makes this king to have reigned as early as 3800 b.c.^ Sargon built up a powerful state in Babylonia and extended his rule to the Mediterranean, thus bringing the civilization of the Euphrates into significant contact with that rising in the West. 2 Prominent among these early cities were Eridu, Ur, Larsam, Uruk, Shirpuria, Nippur, Sippar, and Agade. 3 " He may fairly be called the Charlemagne of Babylonian history." — Peters, Nippur^ vol. ii, p. 251. 4 The inscription from which the date is derived is upon a cylinder of the last Babylonian king, Nabonidus, who reigned 555-558 B.C. He says that in restoring a temple at Sippar he found a cylinder which had been deposited 3200 years before his day by Naram-Sin, the son of Sargon. Fig. 33. — Door Socket of Sargon I (From Records of the Past) 50 THE EARLY CITY-STATES OF BABYLONIA Yet not as a warrior but as a patron of letters is Sargon destined to a sure place in history. He caused to be collected and edited the literature of the early period, and deposited the books in great libraries, which he established or enlarged, — the oldest and most valuable libraries of the ancient world. 49. The Rise of Babylon : Hammurabi founds the Old Babylonian Empire (about 2250 B.C.). — From the remotest times the city- states of Babylonia had for enemies the kings of Elam, a country bordering Babylonia on the east, and of which Susa was the capital For cen- turies at a time the Elamite kings held the cities of the plain in a state of more or less complete vassal- age. Their dominion was finally broken by a king of Babylon, a city which had been gradually rising into prominence, and which was to give to the whole country the name by which it is best known — Babylonia. The name of this king was Hammurabi (about 2250 B.C.). He united under his rule all the cities of Babylonia, and became the true founder of what is known as the Old Babylonian Empire. ' Hammurabi has been called the Babylonian Moses, for the rea- son that he promulgated a code of laws which in some respects is remarkably like the Mosaic code of the Hebrews. Concerning this oldest system of laws in the world we shall say something a little farther on (sec. 61). 50. The Old Babylonian Empire eclipsed by the Rising Assyrian Empire. — For more than fifteen hundred years after Hammu- rabi, Babylon continued to be the political and commercial center of an empire of varying fortunes, of changing dynasties, and of shifting frontiers. This long history, still only very imper- fectly known to us, we pass without notice. Fig. 34. — Impression of a Seal of Sar- gon I. (Date about 3800 B.C.) " Must be ranked among the masterpieces of Oriental engraving" (Maspero) THE REMAINS OF THE BABYLONIAN CITIES 51 Meanwhile a Semitic power had been slowly developing in the North. This was the Assyrian Empire, the later heart and center of which was the great city of Nineveh. For a long time Assyria was practically a province of the lower kingdom ; but in 728 B.C. Babylonia was conquered by an Assyrian king (Tiglath- Pileser III), and from that time on to 625 B.C. the country was for the most part under Assyrian control. II. Arts and General Culture 51. The Remains of the Babylonian Cities and Public Buildings. — The Babylonian plains are dotted with enormous mounds, generally inclosed by vast crumbled ramparts of earth. These "heaps" are the remains of the great walled cities, the palaces, temples, and shrines of the ancient Babylonians. The peculiar nature of these ruins arises from the character of the ancient Babylonian edifices and the kind of building material used in their construction. In the first place, in order to secure for their temples and palaces a firm foundation on the water-soaked land, as well as to lend to them a certain dignity or to render them more easily defended, the Babylonian kings raised their public buildings on enormous platforms of earth or adobe. These structures were often many acres in extent and were raised generally to a height of forty or more feet above the level of the plain. Upon these immense platforms were built the temples of the gods and the palaces of the king. The country affording neither timber nor stone, recourse was had to sun-dried bricks as the chief building material, burnt brick being used, in the main, only for the outer casing of the walls. The buildings were one-storied, with thick and heavy walls, and with roofs of huge cedar beams. Often the lower portion of the walls of the chief courts and chambers were paneled with glazed bricks. In their decay these edifices have sunk down into great heaps of earth, which the storms of centuries have furrowed with deep ravines, giving many of them the appearance of natural 52 THE EARLY CITY-STATES OF BABYLONIA ruin-crowiied hills, for which in truth some of the earher visitors to Babylonia mistook them. 52. Excavations and Discoveries. — About the middle of the nineteenth century some mounds of the upper country, near and on the site of ancient Nineveh, were excavated, and the world was astonished to see rising as from the tomb the palaces of the Fig. 35. — Excavation showing rAVEMPixTS in a Court of the Temple of Bel at Nippur. (After Hilprecht) The lower pavement, marked " i," was put down by Sargon I and Naram-Sin (about 3800 B.C.), and the upper one, marked " 5," by the Assyrian king Asshur-bani- pal (668-626 ? B.C.), The pavements are thus separated by a period of over 3000 years. great Assyrian kings (sec. 69). This was the beginning of exca- vations and discoveries in the Mesopotamian lands which during the past half century have restored the history of long-forgotten empires, reconstructed the history of the Orient, and given us a new beginning for universal history. Some of the most important finds in Babylonia were made during the closing years of the nineteenth century by the French at Tello,'' 5 Or Telloh, the site of ancient Lagash. Here magnificent statues showing a remarkably high development of sculpture, ruins of large temples, and an extensive temple library particularly rich in Sumerian writings, were found. CUNEIFORM WRITING 53 :^^ ^-^^- "%'fe^ -rJ^. fe and by the Expedition of the University of Pennsylvania, on the site of the ancient Xippur. The excavation here of the ruins of the great temple of Bel brought to light memorials which prove that this city was one of the religious centers of the old Baby- lonian world for more than four thousand years, — a period more than twice as long as that during which Rome has been the reli- gious center of Catholic Christendom. One of the most valuable things unearthed at Nippur was the temple library. But to appreciate the import of this a word is here necessary concerning the Babylonian system of writing and its decipherment. 53. Cuneiform Writing. — From the earliest period known to us, the Babylonians were in possession of a system of phonetic writing. To this system the term cuneiforjji ("from cimeus, a Fig. 37. — Cuneiform Writing Translation : •• Five thousand mighty cedars I spread for its roof " Fig. 36. — Arch discovered at Nip- pur. (After Hilprecht) This is the oldest true arch kno\s"n wedge) has been given on account of its wedge-shaped char- acters. The signs assumed this peculiar form from being impressed upon soft clay tablets with a triangular writing instru- ment (stylus). 54 THE EARLY CITY-STATES OF BABYLONIA This system of writing had been developed out of an earlier system of picture writing, as is plainly shown by a comparison of the earUer with the later forms of the characters (Fig. 38). The MEANING OUTLINE CHARACTER, B. C. 4500 ARCHAIC CUNEIFORM, B. C. 2500 ASSYRIAN, B. C. 700 UTE BABYLONIAN, B.C. 500 I. The sun <> <> ^T ^■ 2. God, heaven * •*- ^^ »^ 3- Mountain i< ^< V i< 4- Man /WTK ^^^ ^ ^ 5- Ox =!> ^ i^< 6. Fish ^ 4 fK M< Fig. 38. — Table showing the Development of the Cuneiform Writing. (After Ji^'hi^) Babylonians never developed the system beyond the syllabic stage (sec. 12). They employed a syllabary of between four and five hundred signs.^ This mode of writing was in use among the peoples of Western Asia from about 5000 B.C. down to the first century preceding our era. For the first four thousand years and more of this period it was just such an important factor in the civilization of the Semitic world as the Phoenician alphabet (sec. 93) during the last three thousand years has been in the civilization of the Aryan world. It was the chief corner stone of Semitic culture. 54. Books and Libraries. — The writing material of the Baby- lonians was usually clay tablets, averaging perhaps six inches 6 The Persians at a much later time borrowed the system and developed it into a purely alphabetic one. Their alphabet consisted of thirty-six characters. THE CONTENTS OF THE LIBRARIES 55 in length, two in width, and one in thickness. Those holding records of special importance, after having been once written upon and baked, were covered with a thin coating of clay, and then the matter was written in duplicate and the tablets again baked. If the outer writing were defaced by accident or altered by design, the re- moval of the outer coating would at once show the true text. The tablets were carefully preserved in Fig. 39. — Contract great public libraries. There was one or Tablet more of these collections in each of the The outer case has been 1 • r •■• r T) 1 1 • T' ^- broken to show the inner chief cities of Babylonia. Erech was espe- -^ ^ version cially renowned for its great library, and was known as " the City of Books." Often the temple of the chief deity was made the depositary of the collection of books. The temple library found at Nippur contained over 30,000 tablets. 55. The Decipherment of the Cuneiform Writing; the Contents of the Libraries. — Just as the key to the Egyptian writing was found by means of bilingual inscriptions, so was the key to the cuneiform script discovered by means of trilingual inscriptions, among which was a very celebrated one cut by a Persian king on the so-called Behistun Rock (sec. 98). Credit for the de- cipherment of the difficult writing is divided among several scholars.'^ The tablets have been found to cover the greatest variety of subjects. There are mythological tablets, which hold the stories of the Babylonians respecting their gods ; religious tablets, filled " Copies of trilingual inscriptions — written in Persian, Susian, and Babylonian — were brought from Persepolis to Europe at the end of the eighteenth century. The clew to the decipherment of the Persian text was found by Grotefend in 1802. He identified the names of Darius, Ilystaspes, and Xerxes, the word for "king" and nine of the thirty-nine signs. In 1835 Rawlinson copied a longer inscription in these same languages made by Darius on the rock at Behistun. Independently he arrived at the same conclusions as Grotefend. The column of the Acliaemenian inscriptions written in the language of Susiana was deciphered chiefly by Westergaard and Norris. It is the merit of Lowenstern to have taken the first successful steps to the decipherment of the Babylonian text in 1845 ; but our knowledge of the character of script and language is chiefly due to Hincks. 56 THE EARLY CITY-STATES OF BABYLONIA with prayers and hymns; legal tablets, containing laws, law cases, contracts, wills, loans, and various other matters o£ a com- mercial nature; legendary and epic tablets; and astronomical, geographical, historical, and mathematical tablets, — all revealing a very highly developed civilization. We will say just a word of what the tablets reveal respecting the religion and mythology of the Babylonians, and of the state of the sciences among them. 56. The Religion. — The tablets hold a large religious litera- ture, which forms one of the earhest and most instructive chapters in the rehgious history of the race. At the earhest period made known to us by the native records, we find the pantheon to em- brace many powerful local deities — the patron gods of the different cities — and nature gods ; but at no period do we find a Supreme God, such as had a place in the Egyptian religious system. Besides the great gods there was a vast multitude of lesser gods. The most prominent feature from first to last of the popular religion was the belief in spirits, particularly in wicked spirits, and the practice of magic rites and incantations to avert the malign influence of these demons. A second most important feature of the religion was what is known as astrology, or the foretelling of events by the aspects of the stars. This side of the religious system was most elaborately and ingeniously developed until the fame of the Chaldean astrol- ogers was spread throughout the ancient world. Alongside these low beliefs and superstitious practices there existed, however, higher and purer elements. This is best illus- trated by the so-called penitential psalms, dating, some of them, from the second millennium B.C., which breathe a spirit like that which pervades the penitential psalms of the Old Testament.^ 8 Here are a few lines of such a psalm: O my god who art angry with me, accept my prayer. May my sins be forgiven, my transgressions be wiped out. May the ban be loosened, the chain broken, May the seven winds carry off my sighs. [May] flowing waters of the stream wash me clean. Let me be pure like the sheen of gold. Jastrow, The Religion 0/ Babylonia and Assyria, p. 323. IDEAS OF THE FUTURE LIFE 57 The most instructive fact for us to note respecting this old Babylonian religion is the influence which it had upon the culture of later ages. For the most part this influence was of a baneful character, for it was chiefly the lower elements of the system, magic, sorcery, and astrology, which were absorbed by the bor- rowing nations of the West. Thus astrology among the later Romans and the popular beliefs of the Middle Ages in regard to evil spirits, exorcisms, charms, witches, and the devil, were in large part an inheritance from old Babylonia. This wretched heri- tage was transmitted from the East to the Western world at the same time that Christianity came in from Judea. 57. Ideas of the Future Life. — The beliefs of the Babylonians respecting the other world were in strange contrast to those of the Egyptians. In truth they gave but little thought to the after life ; and it is no wonder that they did not like to keep the subject in mind, for they imagined the life after death to be most sad and doleful. The abode of the dead (Arallu), the "dark land,'^^tlie "land of no return," was a dusky region beneath the earth. Bats flitted about in the dim light; dust was upon the lintels of the barred doors ; the souls drowsed in their places ; their food was dust and mud. There was no judgment of the dead as among the Egyptians. There was no distinction, in the case of the great multitude,^ between the good and the bad ; the same lot awaited all who went down to death. What makes this Babylonian conception of the nether world of great historical interest and importance is that it was adopted by the ancient Hebrews and exercised a most potent influence upon their rehgious life and thought (sec. 88). 58. The Place of the Temple in the Life of the People. — Religion among the Babylonians, as among all the peoples of antiquity, was largely an affair of the state. A chief care and duty of the king was the erection and repair of the temples and shrines of the gods.^° 9 There was a sort of Elysium, like that of the Greeks, for men of great deeds and great piety. 10 A peculiar architecttiral feature of the temple was an immense zis:s;nrat or tower, which consisted of a number of stages or platforms raised one upon another in the form of a great step pyramid. -( ii f i 58 THE EARLY CITY-STATES OF BABYLONIA The temples were much more than abodes of the gods and places of worship. A common adjunct of the sacred building was a library and school, which were in charge of the priests and scribes. The temples were also banks, and their courts places for the transaction of all manner of business. All kinds of con- tracts were drawn up by the temple scribes and copies of the same deposited for safe-keeping in the temple archives. An immense number of these contract tablets have been found, so that we now have probably a better knowledge of the - - , *'7V:^">*c;,_^ commercial affairs of the ,'U'f*'f ^J I ^''{\ o^d Babylonians than of • ' I ^ *-^ any other people of - ,^ I ^ .| antiquity. Many of the temples, like the churches and Fig. 40. — Writing Exercise Tablets of monasteries of mediaeval A Child Europe, were richly en- (Foundat Nippur; after /////r^^///) dowed with lands and other property. Indeed, the gods were the largest landowners in the state. The god Bel at Nippur seems to have owned a great part of the city and its lands. 59. The Epic of Creation or the Babylonian Genesis. — In what is called the Creation Epic, which has been recovered in a frag- mentary state from the cuneiform tablets, we have the Babylonian version of the creation of the heavens and the earth by the great god Marduk. This account of the creation has been an important factor in religious world history. In its earlier form it constituted a part of the inheritance from Babylonia of the ancestors of the Hebrews. In the hands of the Hebrew thinkers and teachers the tradition was remolded in such a way as to render it a means of moral and religious instruction, and thus was made the starting point of Hebrew religious literature, a literature which was destined to become an important part of the religious heritage of the younger Aryan nations of the West, LEGISLATION : THE CODE OF HAMMURABI 59 60. The Epic of Gilgamesh. — Besides their legends concern- ing the beginning of things, the Babylonians had a large number of so-called heroic and nature myths. The most noted of these form what is known as the Epic of Gilgamesh," the Babylonian Heracles. This is doubtless the oldest epic of the race. It held some such place in Babylonian literature and art as the cycle of myths and legends making up the epic of the Trojan War held in the literature and art of the Greeks. Echoes of it reached the yT^gean lands and helped to mold the Greek story of Her- acles (sec. 128). 61. Legislation: the Code of Hammurabi. — In 1901-2 the French excavators at Susa, in the ancient Elam, discovered a block of stone upon which was inscribed the code of laws set up by Hammurabi, king of Baby- lon, in the third millennium B.C. (sec. 49). The supreme inter- est which attaches to this code springs not alone from the circumstance that it is the oldest system of laws known to us, but from the further circumstance that without doubt it exercised a deep influence upon the later Hebrew code. The code casts a strong side light upon the Babylonian life of the period when it was compiled, and thus constitutes one of the most valuable monuments spared to us from the old Semitic world. It defines the rights and duties of husband and wife, master and slave, of merchants, gardeners, tenants, shepherds, — Fig. 41. — Hammurabi receiving THE Code from the Sun God (After Harper) n The epic is made up of a great variety of material. Some of its incidents may very likely have been dim recollections of the heroic deeds of some greit historical personage. One of the stories of greatest interest is that of the Deluge, from which the Bible story of the Flood was derived. 6o THE EARLY CITY-STATES OF BABYLONIA of all the classes which made up the population of the Baby- lonian Empire. As in the case of the later Hebrew code, the principle of retaliation determined the penalty for injury done another; it was an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and a limb for a limb. The owner of a vicious ox which had pushed or gored a man was required to pay a heavy fine, provided he knew the disposition of the creature and had not blunted its horns (see Ex. xxi. 28-32). The law fixes prices and wages, the hire for boats and wagons and of oxen for threshing, the fee of the surgeon, the wages of the brickmaker, of the tailor, of the carpenter, and of other artisans. There are also provisions forbidding under severe penalties the harboring of runaway slaves, provisions which read strangely like our ov/n fugitive slave laws of a half century ago. For more than two thousand years after its compilation this code of laws was in force in the Assyrian and Babylonian empires, and even after this lapse of time it was used as a text-book in the schools of the Mesopotamian lands. Probably no other code save the Mosaic or the Justinian has exerted a greater influence upon human society. "As the oldest body of laws in existence," says an eminent Assyrian scholar, " it marks a great epoch in the world's history, and must henceforth form the starting point for the systematic study of historic jurisprudence." 62 . Sciences : Astronomy, the Calendar, and Mathematics. — In astronomy the Babylonians made substantial progress. Their knowledge of the heavens came about both from their interest as astrologers in the stars, and from their needs as navigators of the Persian Gulf. They early divided the zodiac into twelve signs and named the zodiacal constellations, a memorial of their astro- nomical attainments which will remain forever inscribed upon the great circle of the heavens ; they foretold echpses of the sun and moon ; they invented the sundial to tell off the hours of sun- light and the water clock to measure the hours of darkness ; they divided the year into twelve months, the day and night into hours, and the hours into minutes, and devised the week of seven days, ending with a day of rest called Sabattu. Through Israel REFERENCES 6l this institution of the week with its sacred rest day became the heritage of the later world of culture.^"^ In the mathematical sciences, also, the Babylonians made con- siderable advance. A tablet has been found which contains the squares and cubes of the numbers from one to sixty. The duo- decimal system in numbers was the invention of the Babylonians, and it is from them that the system has come to us. The Babylonians invented measures of length, weight, and capacity. It was from them that all the peoples of antiquity derived their systems of weight and measure. Aside from letters, these are perhaps the most indispensable agents in the life of a people after they have risen above the lowest levels of barbarism. Selections from the Sources. — Harper's Assyrian and Babylonian Lit- erature (selected translations), pp. 408-413, " Ishtar's Descent to Hades." This is one of the choicest pieces of Babylonian literature. Sayce's Early Israel aftd the Surrounding Nations, pp. 313-319, " The Babylonian Account of the Deluge." This can be found also in Smith's The Chaldean Account of Genesis, chap. xvi. The Code of Hani7nurabi, in either the Johns or the Harper translation. " The Code of Hammurabi is one of the most impor- tant monuments of the human race" (Johns). References (Modern). — Maspero, The Dawn of Civilization, chaps, vii-ix, and The Struggle of the Nations, chap. i. Rawlinson, Five Great Monarchies, vol. i (first part). Rogers, History of Babylonia ajtd Assyria, vol. i. 'Ragozij^, The Story of Chaldea. Hommel, The Civilization of the East. GoODSPEED, A History of the Babylonians and Assyrians (to pt. iii). HiLPRECHT, Explorations in Bible Lands during the Nineteenth Century. Peters, Nippur, 2 vols. Jastrow, The Religion of Babylonia attd Assyria. King, Babylonian Religion and Mythology. Delitzsch, Babel and Bible. Sayce, Social Life among the Assyrians and Babyloniatis. Perrot and Chipiez, a History of Art in Chaldcea and Assyria, 1 vols. SCHMIDT, Out- lines of a History of Babyloftia and Assyria, with its carefully selected lists of authoritative works, will be of special service to the advanced student. Topics for Special Study. — i. Excavations and discoveries in Baby- lonia. 2. The cuneiform writing and its decipherment. 3. The Babylo- nian libraries. 4. Babylonian magic. 5. The penitential psalms. 6. The ancient canal system. 7. Trade and commerce. 12 The borrowing by the early Christian Church of the pagan festival celebrating the return of the sun from the winter solstice and the transforming of it into a festival (Christmas) commemorating the birth of Christ, furnishes an exact parallel to the borrowing and spiritualizing of the Babylonian Sabbath by the ancient Hebrews. " Israel," in the words of Cornill, " resembles in spiritual things the fabulous King Midas who turned everything he touched into gold." Fig. 42. — An Assyrian Winged Bull CHAPTER V THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE (From an unknown date to 606 B.C.) I. Political Historv 63. Introduction. — In the preceding chapter we traced the begmnings of civihzation among the early settlers of the low- lands of the Euphrates. Meanwhile, as has already been noticed, farther to the north, upon the banks of the Tigris, were grow- ing into strength and prominence a rival Semitic people, — the Assyrians. Of the place in world history of the empire repre- sented by this people we must now try to form some sort of idea. The story of Assyria is in the main a story of the Assyrian kings. To relate this story in detail would involve endless repe- tition of the royal records of military raids and campaigns in all the countries of Western Asia. We shall therefore speak of only two or three of those kings whose ability as conquerors or as organizers, or whose munificence as builders and patrons of arts and letters has caused their names to live among the renowned personages of the ancient world. 62 TIGLATH-PILESER III — SARGON II 63 64. Tiglath-Pileser III^ (745-727 B.C.). — One of the greatest of the later kings was Tiglath-Pileser III. He was a man of great energy and of undoubted military talent. The empire which had been built up by earlier kings having fallen into disorder, he restored the Assyrian power and extended the limits of the empire even beyond its former boundaries. But what renders the reign of this king a landmark not only in Assyrian, but, we may almost say, in universal history, is the fact that he was not a 'mere conqueror like his predecessors, but a political organizer of great capacity. Hitherto the empires that had arisen in Western Asia consisted simply of tributary or vassal cities and states, each of which, having its own king, was ready at the first favorable moment to revolt against its suzerain, who, like a mediaeval feudal king, was simply a great overlord, "a. king of kings." Now Tiglath-Pileser, though not the first to introduce, was the first to put into practice in a large way, the plan of reducing con- quered states to provinces, — that is, instead of allowing the princes that he conquered to rule as his vassals, he put in their places Assyrian magistrates, or viceroys, upon whose loyalty he c6tild depend. *'" This system gave a more compact and permanent character to his conquests. It is true he was not able to carry out his system perfectly ; but in realizing the plan to the extent that he did, he laid the basis of the power and glory of the great kings who followed him upon the Assyrian throne, and made the later Assyrian Empire, to a certain degree, the prototype of the suc- ceeding world empires of Darius, Alexander, and Caesar. 65. Sargon II (722-705 B.C.). — Sargon II was a great con- queror and builder. In 722 B.C. he captured Samaria, the siege of which had been commenced by his predecessor, and carried away the most influential classes of the "Ten Tribes" of Israel into captivity (sec. 84). The greater portion of the captives were scattered among the towns of Media, and probably became, for the most part, merged with the population of that region. 1 Formerly Tiglath-Pileser II. 64 THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE This transplanting of a conquered people was a regular govern- mental device of the Assyrian kings. It was done not only in order that conspiracy and revolt should be rendered practically impossible, but also in order that, with the old ties of country and home thus severed, the rising generation might the more easily forget past wrongs and old traditions and customs, and become blended with the peoples about them. Sargon was a famous builder. Near the foot of the Persian hills he founded a large city, which he named for himself ; and there he erected a royal residence, described in the inscriptions as "a palace of incom- parable magnifi- cence," the site of which is now pre- served by the vast mounds of Khorsa- bad (sec. 69). 66. Sennacherib (705-681 B.C.). ':;3 ''^'~ -'^-*~ -- To Sennacherib, Fig. 43. — Restoration of Sargon's Palace at the son of Sargon, Khorsabad. (From Place, Ninive et PAssyrie) we must accord the first place of re- nown among all the great names of the Assyrian Empire. His name, connected as it is with the history of Jerusalem and with many of the most wonderful discoveries among the ruined palaces of Nineveh, has become as familiar as that of Nebuchadnezzar in the story of Babylon. The fullness of the royal inscriptions of this reign enables us to permit Sennacherib to tell us in his own words of his great works and mihtary expeditions. Respecting the decoration of Nineveh, he writes : '' I raised again all the edifices of Nineveh, my royal city ; I reconstructed all its old streets, and widened those that were too narrow. I made the whole town a city shining like the sun." Concerning an expedition against Hezekiah, king of Judah, he says : " I took forty-six of his strong fenced cities ; and of the ASSHUR-BANI-PAL 65 smaller towns which were scattered about I took and plundered a countless number. And from these places I captured and carried off as spoil 200,150 people, old and young, male and female, together with horses and mares, asses and camels, oxen and sheep, a countless multitude. And Hezekiah himself I shut up in Jeru- salem, his capital city, like a bird in a cage, building towers round the city to hem him in, and raising banks of earth against the gates, so as to prevent escape." While Sennacherib was besieging Jerusalem, the king of Egypt appeared in the field in the south with aid for Hezekiah. This caused Sennacherib to draw off his forces from the siege to meet the new enemy ; but near the frontiers of Egypt the Assyrian host, according to the Hebrew account, was smitten by " the angel of the Lord," ^ and the king returned with a shattered army and without glory to his capital Nineveh. Sennacherib laid a heavy hand upon Babylon, which at this time was the lead- ing city of the lower country. That city having revolted, Sennacherib captured the place, and, as his inscription declares, destroyed it ''root and branch," casting Fig. 44. — An Assyrian the rubbish into the '' River of Babylon." ^ ^^^^ (• Sennacherib) The closing years of his reign Sennacherib employed in the dig- ging of canals and in the erection of a splendid palace at Nineveh. 67. Asshur-bani-pal (668-626? b.c). — This king, the Sarda- napalus of the Greeks, is distinguished for his magnificent patron- age of art and literature. During his reign Assyria enjoyed her Golden Age. He caused a great library to be collected at Nine- veh, in which was gathered whatever was of greatest value in the literature of the southern land. 2 This expression is a Hebraism, meaning often any physical cause of destruction, as a plague or storm. In the present case the destroying agency was probably a pestilence. 3 The city was rebuilt by Sennacherib's son and successor Esarhaddon I (680-668 B.C.). This king enlarged the empire by the conquest of Northern Arabia and of Egypt. 66 THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE But Asshur-bani-pal was also possessed of a warlike spirit. He broke to pieces, with terrible energy, in swift campaigns, the enemies of his empire. Elam especially was made an awful example of his vengeance ; its cities were leveled, and the whole country was laid waste. All the scenes of his sieges and battles he caused to be sculptured on the walls of his palace at Nineveh. These pictured panels are now in the British Museum. They are a perfect Iliad in stone. 68. The Fall of Nineveh (606 b.c). — Saracus, who came to the throne towards the end of the seventh century b.c, was the last of the long line of Assyrian kings. For nearly or quite six centuries the Ninevite kings had now lorded it over the East. There was scarcely a state in all Western Asia that during this time had not, in the language of the royal inscriptions, " borne the heavy yoke of their lordship " ; scarcely a people that had not suffered their cruel punishments, or tasted the bitterness of enforced exile. But now swift misfortunes were bearing down upon the oppressor from every quarter. Egypt revolted and tore Syria away from the empire ; from the mountain defiles on the east issued the armies of the recent-grown empire of the Aryan Medes, led by the renowned Cyaxares ; from the southern lowlands, anxious to aid in the over- throw of the hated oppressor, the Babylonians joined the Medes as allies, and together they laid close siege to Nineveh. The city was finally taken and sacked, and dominion passed away forever from the proud capital (606 b.c). Two hundred years later, when Xenophon with his Ten Thousand Greeks, in his memorable retreat (sec. 259), passed the spot, the once great city was a crumbling mass of ruins, of which he could not even learn the name. II. The Civilization 69. Assyrian Excavations and Discoveries. — In Assyria there are many mounds like those in Babylonia. These mark the sites of the old Assyrian cities ; for though stone in this upper country is abundant, the Assyrians, being colonists from the lower country, ASSYRIAN PALACES AND TEMPLES 67 continued to use in the main sun-dried bricks in the construction of their buildings.* Hence in their decay the Assyrian edifices have left just such earth-mounds as those which form the tombs of the old Babylonian cities and temples. In 1 843-1 844 M. Botta, the French consul at Mosul on the Tigris, excavated the mound at Khorsabad, and astonished the world with most wonderful specimens of Assyrian art from the palace of Sargon II. The sculptured and lettered slabs were Fig. 45. — Restoration of a Court in Sargon's Palace at Khorsabad. (After Fergusson) removed to the Museum of the Louvre, in Paris. In 1845-185 1 Layard disentombed the palace of Sennacherib and those of other kings at Nineveh and Calah, and enriched the British Museum with the treasures of his search. 70. Assyrian Palaces and Temples. — The Assyrian kings paid more attention to the royal residence than to the temples of the gods, though they were by no means neglectful of the latter. In imitation of the Babylonian sovereigns they built their palaces * Stone when employed was iTsed mainly for decorative purposes and for the foundation of walls. 68 THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE and temples upon artificial terraces or platforms. The great palace mound at Nineveh covers an area of about one hundred acres, and is sixty or seventy feet in height. Upon this mound stood several of the most splendid palaces of the Ninevite kings. The group of buildings constitut- ing the royal residence was often of enormous extent ; the various courts, halls, and chambers of the palace of Sennacherib, which surmounted the great platform at Nineveh, covered an area of twenty acres, while that of Sargon at Khorsabad was spread over about twenty-five acres. The palaces were one-storied. The rooms and galleries were plastered with stucco, paneled with precious woods, or lined with enameled bricks. The main halls, however, and the great open courts were faced with slabs of alabaster, covered with sculptures Fig. 46. — Emblem of Assyrian Deity Mmi.,iA hM\ m U#;^^nu rn luupijiru Fig. 47. — Transport OF a Winged Bull. (From Layard's Monu7Jie7its of Nineveh) and inscriptions, the illustrated narrative of the wars and the labors of the monarch. There were two miles of such sculptured paneling at Kouyunjik. At the portals, to guard the approach, were stationed the colossal human-headed bulls. 71. The Royal Library at Nineveh. — Within the palace of Asshur-bani-pal at Nineveh was discovered what is known as the Royal Library, from which over twenty thousand tablets were CRUELTY OF THE ASSYRIANS 69 taken. We learn from the inscriptions that a Hbrarian had charge of the collection. Catalogues of the books have been found, made out on clay tablets. The library was open to the public, for an inscription says, " I [Asshur-bani-pal] wrote upon the tab- lets ; I placed them in my palace for the instruction of my people." The greater part of the tablets were copies of older Babylonian works ; for the hterature of the Assyrians, as well as their arts and sciences, was borrowed almost in a body from the Babylo- nians.^ All the old libraries of the lower country were ransacked by the agents of Asshur-bani-pal, and copies of " the old masters " made for the new collection at Nineveh. In this way was pre- served in duplicate a considerable portion of the early Babylonian literature. The Hterary treasures secured from the Ninevite library are of greater interest and value to us than those yielded by any other Assyrian-Babylonian collection thus far unearthed. 72. Cruelty of the Assyrians. — The Assyrians have been called the " Romans of Asia." They were a proud, warhke, and _1L Fig. 48. — Assyrians flaying Prisoners Alive. (From a bas-relief) cruel race. Although possessing genuine religious feeling, still the Assyrian monarchs often displayed in their treatment of prisoners the disposition of savages. The sculptured marbles taken from the palaces exhibit the cruel tortures inflicted upon prisoners ; kings are being led before their conqueror with hooks thrust through their lips ; other prisoners are being flayed ahve ; the eyes of 5 The relations of Assyria to Babylonian civilization may be illustrated by the relations of Rome (also a military empire) to Greek culture. ;o THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE some are being bored out with the point of a spear ; and still others are having their tongues torn out. One royal inscription, which is a fair specimen of many others, runs as follows : " Their men, young and old, I took prisoners. Of some I cut off the feet and hands ; of others I cut off the noses, ears, and lips ; of the young men's ears I made a heap ; of the old men's heads I built a tower. I exposed their heads as a trophy in front of their city. The male children and the female children I burned in the flames." 73. Royal Sports. — The Assyrian king gloried in being, like the great Nimrod, " a mighty hunter before the Lord." In his inscrip- tions the wild beasts he has slain are as carefully enumerated as Fig. 49. — Lion Hunt. (From Nineveh) the cities he has captured. The monuments are covered with sculptures that represent the king engaged in the favorite royal sport. We see him slaying lions, bulls, and boars, as well as less dangerous animals of the chase, with which the uncultivated tracts of the country appear to have abounded. 74. Services rendered Civilization by Assyria. — Assyria did a work like that done by Rome at a later time. Just as Rome welded all the peoples of the Mediterranean world into a great empire, and then throughout her vast domains scattered the seeds of the civilization which she had borrowed from vanquished Greece, so did Assyria weld into a great empire the innumerable petty warring states and tribes of Western Asia, and then throughout her extended dominions spread the civilization which she had borrowed in a body from the conquered Babylonians. REFERENCES 71 In thus spreading abroad the best civilization of the Semitic world, Assyria caused it to come into contact with the as yet undeveloped culture of the Aryan-Greek world of the West. "It was from the East," declares Rawlinson, " that Greece derived her architecture, her sculpture, her science, her philosophy, her mathematical knowledge, — in a word, her intellectual life." There is doubtless exaggeration in this statement, yet it is cer- tainly true that the civilization of Greece, and through her the civilization of all the Western world, was greatly enriched by gifts, received through the agency of Assyria, from the early culture of the Mesopotamian lands. Selections from the Sources. —Records of the Past (New Series), vol. v, pp. 120-128, "The Nimrud Inscription of Tiglath-Pileser III," on miUtary and building operations ; and vol. iv, pp. 38-52, " Inscription on the Obe- lisk of Shalmaneser II," shows the harshness and cruelty of Assyrian war- fare. This inscription, along with many other selected translations, can also be found in Harper's Assyrian and Babylonian Literature. References (Modern). — Maspero, The Struggle of the Nations, chap, vi, and The Passing of the Empires, chaps, i-v. Rawlinson, Five Great Mon- archies, vol. i (last part). Goodspeed, A History of the Babylonians and Assyrians, pt. iii. Layard, Nineveh and its Remains. Perrot and Chip- lEZ, A History of Art in Chaldcea and Assyria, 2 vols. Rogers, A History of Babylonia and Assyria, vol. ii, pp. 1-295. Ragozin, The Story of Assyria. Topics for Special Study. — i. Layard's excavations and discoveries. 2. Sargon's palace at Khorsabad. 3. The relation of Assyrian civiliza- tion to the Babylonian. 4. Assyrian animal sculpture. 5. The Assyrian government. Fig. 50. — A Wounded Lioness (From an Assyrian sculpture) CHAPTER VI THE CHALDEAN EMPIRE (625-538 B.C.) 75. Babylon becomes again a World Power. — Nabopolassar (625-605 B.C.) was the founder of what is known as the Chaldean Empire.-^ At first a vassal king, when troubles and misfortunes began to thicken about the Assyrian court, he revolted and became independent. Later he entered into an alliance with the Median king against his former suzerain (sec. 68). Through the overthrow of Nineveh and the break-up of the Assyrian Empire, the Baby- lonian kingdom received large accessions of territory. For a short time thereafter Babylon filled a great place in history. 76. Nebuchadnezzar II (605-561 B.C.). — Nabopolassar was fol- lowed by his renowned son Nebuchadnezzar, whose gigantic archi- tectural works rendered Babylon the wonder of the ancient world. Jerusalem, having repeatedly revolted, was finally taken and sacked (sec. 85). The temple was stripped of its sacred vessels of silver and gold, which were carried away to Babylon, and the temple itself was given to the flames ; a part of the people were also carried away into the ''Great Captivity" (586 B.C.). With Jerusalem subdued, Nebuchadnezzar pushed with all his forces the siege of the Phoenician city of Tyre, whose investment had been commenced several years before. In striking language the prophet Ezekiel (xxix. 18) describes the length and hard- ness of the siege : " Every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled." After thirteen years Nebuchadnezzar was appar- ently forced to raise the siege. 1 Called also the New Babylonian Empire. Nabopolassar represented the Chal- deans (Kaldu), a people whose home was on the Persian Gulf, and who had carried on a long intermittent struggle with the rulers of Babylon for the possession of Babylonia, 72 THE FALL OF BABYLON 73 Nebuchadnezzar sought to rival even the Pharaohs in the exe- cution of immense works requiring a vast expenditure of human labor. Among his works were the Great Palace in the royal quarter of the city, the celebrated Hanging Gardens,^ the quays along the Euphrates, and the walls of the city. The gardens and the walls were reckoned by the ancients among the wonders of the world. Especially zealous was Nebuchadnezzar in the erection and restoration of the shrines of the gods. " Like dear life," runs one of his inscriptions, " love I the building of their lodging- places." He dwells with fondness on all the details of the work, and tells how — beginning each day his labors with prayer — he ornamented the panelings of the shrines with precious stones, roofed them with huge beams of cedar overlaid with gold and silver, and decorated the gates with plates of bronze, making the sacred abodes as "bright as the stars of heaven."^ 77. The Fall of Babylon (538 B.C.). — The glory of the New Babylonian Empire passed away with Nebuchadnezzar. To the east of the valley of the Tigris and the Euphrates there had been growing up an Aryan kingdom, the Medo-Persian, which at the time now reached by us had become a great imperial power. At the head of this new empire was Cyrus, a strong, ener- getic, and ambitious sovereign (sec. 96). Coming into colHsion with the Babylonian king Nabonidus he defeated his army in the open field, and the gates of the strongly fortified capital 2 The Hanging Gardens were constructed by Nebuchadnezzar to please his wife Amytis, who, tired of the monotony of the Babylonian plains, longed for the moun- tain scenery of her native Media. The gardens were probably built somewhat in the form of the tower temples, the successive stages being covered with earth and beau- tified with rare plants and trees, so as to simulate the appearance of a mountain rising in cultivated terraces towards the sky. 3 See the Inscription of Nebuchadnezzar, Records ofiJie Past (New Series), vol, iii. The spirit of the builder is revealed in the following lines : " To the rebuilding of Esagila my heart incited me ; I held it constantly in mind. I selected the best of my cedar trees, which I had brought from Mount Lebanon, the snow-capped forests, for the roofing of E-kua, the shrine of his lordship, and I decorated with brilliant gold the inner sides of the mighty cedar trunks, used in the roofing of E-kua. I adorned the under side of the roof of cedar with gold and precious stones. Concerning the rebuild- ing of Esagila, I prayed every morning to the king of the gods, the lord of lords." 74 THE CHALDEAN EMPIRE Babylon were without further resistance thrown open to the Persians* (538 B.C.). With the fall of Babylon the scepter of dominion, borne for so many millenniums by Semitic princes, was given into the hands of the Aryan peoples, who were destined from this time forward to shape the main course of events ^ and control the affairs of civilization. Selections from the Sources. — Harper's Assyrian and Babylonian Literature^ pp. 134-143, "The East India House Inscription of Nebu- chadnezzar II," a record of the king's great building operations ; and pp. 171-174, "The Cylinder of Cyrus," an account of the taking of Babylon. References (Modern). — Maspero, The Passing of the E?npires, chap, v, and Life in Ancient Egypt and Assyria^ chaps, xi-xx. Rogers, A Lfis- tory of Babylonia and Assyria, vol. ii, pp. 297-381. Goodspeed, A Llistory of the Babylonians and Assyrians, pt. iv. Sayce, The Religions of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia, pt. ii. Topics for Special Study. — i. Nebuchadnezzar as a builder. 2. The walls of Babylon. 3. Cylinder seals. 4 The device of turning the Euphrates, which Herodotus makes an incident of the siege, was not resorted to by Cyrus ; but it seems that a little later (in 521-519 B.C.), the city, having revolted, was actually taken in this way by the Persian king Darius. Herodotus confused the two events. 5 In the seventh and eighth centuries of the Christian era there was a revival of the Semitic power throughout the Orient by the Arabs, but the ascendancy of this race was of brief duration. A Cylinder Seal^ "Every man carries a seal" (Herodotus) 5 For the impression of this seal, see p. 50. CHAPTER VII THE HEBREWS 78. The Patriarchal Age. — The history of the Hebrews, as narrated in their sacred books, begins with the departure of the patriarch Abraham out of " Ur of the Chaldees." ^ The stories of Abraham and his nephew Lot, of Isaac and his sons Jacob and Esau, of the sojourn and the oppression of the descendants of Jacob in Egypt, of the Exodus under the leadership of the great legislator Moses, of the conquest of Canaan by his successor Joshua, and the apportionment of the land among the twelve tribes of Israel, — all these wonderful stories are told in the Old Hebrew Scriptures with a charm and simplicity that have made them the familiar possession of childhood. 79. The Age of the Judges (ending about 1050 B.C.). — A long period of anarchy and dissension followed the conquest and settlement of Canaan by the Hebrews. " There was no king in Israel : every man did that which was right in his own eyes." During this time there arose a line of national heroes, such as Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson, whose deeds of valor and daring, and the timely deliverance they wrought for the tribes of Israel from their foes, caused their names to be handed down with grateful remembrance to following ages. These popular leaders were called Judges because they usually exercised judicial functions, acting as arbiters between the differ- ent tribes, as well as between man and man. The last of the Judges was Samuel. 80. Founding of the Hebrew Monarchy (about 1050 b.c). — During the period of the Judges the tribes of Israel were united by no central government. But the common dangers to which 1 Ur was near Nippur. 75 'je THE HEBREWS they were exposed from the attacks of the half-subdued Canaan- itish tribes, and the example of the nations about them, led the people finally to begin to think of the advantages of union and of kingly rule. The situation of things throughout the world at just this time favored the rise of a Hebrew kingdom. All the great states of the Orient, — Egypt, Babylonia, Assyria, and the Hittite Empire, — exhausted by their struggles with one another for supremacy or undermined by other causes, were suffering a temporary decline, and the way was clear for the advance into the arena of world politics of another competitor for imperial dominion. The hitherto loose confederation was changed into a kingdom, and Saul of the tribe of Benjamin was made king of the new monarchy (about 1050 B.C.). 81. The Reign of David (about 1025-993 e.g.). — Upon the death of Saul, David, son of Jesse, of the tribe of Judah, assumed the scepter. After reducing to obedience all the tribes, David set about enlarging his dominions. He built up a real empire and waged wars of extermination against the troublesome tribes of Moab, Ammon, and Edom. David was a poet as well as a warrior. His lament over Saul and Jonathan^ is regarded as one of the noblest specimens of ele- giac poetry that has come down from Hebrew antiquity. Such was his fame that the authorship of a large number of hymns written in a later age was ascribed to him. 82. The Reign of Solomon (about 993-953 b.c). David was followed by his son Solomon. The son did not possess the father's talent for military affairs, but was a liberal patron of art, commerce, and learning. He erected with the utmost magnifi- cence of adornment the temple at Jerusalem, planned by his father David. King Hiram of Tyre, who was a close friend of the Hebrew monarch, aided him in this undertaking by supply- ing him with the celebrated cedar of Lebanon, and with Tyrian architects, the most skilled workmen at that time in the world. The dedication ceremonies upon the completion of the building 2 2 Samuel, i. 17-27, THE DIVISION OF THE KINGDOM 77 were most impressive. Thenceforth this temple was the center of the Jewish worship and of the national life. For the purpose of extending his commerce Solomon built fleets upon, the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. The most remote regions of Asia and Africa were visited by his ships, and their rich and wonderful products made to contribute to the wealth and glory of his kingdom. He maintained a magnificent court, and has hved in tradition as the wisest king of the East. ('k^'M^M Fig. 51. — The Place of Wailing Showing some of the foundation stones of Solomon's Temple at Jerusalem 83. The Division of the Kingdom (about 953 B.C.). — The reign of Solomon was brilliant, yet disastrous in the end to the Hebrew monarchy. In order to carry on his vast undertakings he had laid oppressive taxes upon his people. When Rehoboam, his son, succeeded to his father's place, the people entreated him to lighten the taxes that were making their very Hves a burden. He replied to the petition with haste and insolence : " My father," said he, '' chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions." Immediately all the tribes, save Judah and Benjamin, rose in revolt, and succeeded in setting up to the north of Jerusalem a rival kingdom, with Jeroboam as its first king. This northern 78 THE HEBREWS state, of which Samaria afterwards became the capital, was known as the Kingdom of Israel ; the southern, of which Jerusalem remained the capital, was called the Kingdom of Judah. Thus was torn in twain the empire of David and Solomon. United, the tribes might have maintained an empire capable of offering successful resistance to the encroachments of the power- ful and ambitious monarchs about them. But now the land became an easy prey to the spoiler. It was henceforth the path- way of the conquering armies of the Nile and the Euphrates. Between the powerful monarchies of these regions, as between an upper and nether millstone, the httle kingdoms were destined, one after the other, to be ground to pieces. 84. The Kingdom of Israel (953 ? -722 b.c). — The kingdom of the Ten Tribes maintained its existence for about two hundred years. Many passages of its history are recitals of the strug- gles between the worship of the national god Yahweh (Jehovah) and the idolatrous service of the gods of the surrounding nations. The cause of Yahweh was boldly espoused by a line of remarkable prophets, among whom Elijah and Ehsha in the ninth century, and Amos and Hosea in the eighth, stand preeminent. The little kingdom was at last overwhelmed by the Assyrian power. This happened 722 B.C., when Samaria, as we have already narrated in the history of Assyria (sec. 65), was captured by Sargon, king of Nineveh, and the flower of the people were carried away into captivity beyond the Mesopotamian rivers. The gaps made in the population of Samaria by this deporta- tion of its best inhabitants were filled with other subjects or captives of the Assyrian king. The descendants of these, mingled with the Israelites that were still left in the country, formed the Samaritans of the time of Christ. 85. The Kingdom of Judah (953?-586 b.c.). — This little kingdom, torn by internal religious dissensions, and often on the very verge of ruin from Egyptian or Assyrian armies, maintained an independent existence for over three centuries. But upon the extension of the power of Babylon to the west, Jerusalem was forced to acknowledge the suzerainty of the Babylonian kings. HEBREW LITERATURE 79 The kingdom at last shared the fate of its northern rival. Nebuchadnezzar, the powerful king of Babylon, in revenge for an uprising of the Jews, besieged and captured Jerusalem and carried away a large part of the people into captivity at Babylon (sec. 76). This event virtually ended the separate political life of the Hebrew race (586 B.C.). Henceforth Judea constituted simply a province of the empires — Babylonian, Persian, Mace- donian, and Roman — which successively held sway over the regions of Western Asia, with, however, just one flicker of national life under the Maccabees, during a part of the two centuries just preceding the birth of Christ. It only remains to mention those succeeding events which belong rather to the story of the Jews as a people than as a nation. Upon the capture of Babylon by the Persian king Cyrus (sec. 77), that monarch permitted the exiles to return to Jeru- salem and restore their temple. Jerusalem thus became again the center of the old Hebrew worship, and, although shorn of national glory, continued to be the sacred center of the ancient faith till the second generation after Christ. Then, in chastise- ment for repeated revolts, the city was laid in ruiits by the Romans ; while vast numbers of the inhabitants were slain, or perished by famine, and the remnant were driven into exile to different lands. Thus by a series of unparalleled calamities were the descendants of Abraham " sifted among all nations "; but to this day they chng with a marked devotion and loyalty to the faith of their fathers. 86. Hebrew Literature. — The literature of the Hebrews is a reli- gious one; for literature with them was in the main merely a means of inculcating rehgious truth or awakening devotional feeling. This unique literature is contained in sacred books known as the Old or Hebrew Testament, In these ancient writings, patri- archal traditions, histories, dramas, poems, prophecies, and per- sonal narratives blend in a wonderful mosaic, which pictures with vivid and grand effect the migrations, the deliverances, the calami- ties, — all the events and religious experiences making up the checkered life of the people of Israel. 8o THE HEBREWS Out of the Old arose the New Testamefit, which we should think of as a part of Hebrew hterature ; for although written in the Greek language and long after the close of the political life of the Jewish nation, still it is essentially Hebrew in thought and doctrine, and the supplement and crown of the Hebrew Scriptures. Besides the Sacred Scriptures, called collectively, by way of pre- eminence, the Bible (the Book), it remains to mention especially the Apocrypha, embracing a number of books that were composed after the decline of the prophetic spirit, and which show traces, as indeed do several of the later books of the Bible, of the influence of Persian and of Greek thought. These books are generally regarded by the Jews and Protestants as uncanonical, but in the main are considered by the Catholics as possessing equal authority with the other books of the Bible. Neither must we fail to mention the Talmud, a collection of Hebrew customs and traditions, with the comments thereupon of the rabbis, a work held by most Jews next in sacredness to the Holy Book ; the writings of Philo, an illustrious Alexandrian philosopher (born about 25 B.C.); and the Antiquities of the Jews and the Jewish War by the historian Josephus, who lived and wrote at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, that is, during the latter part of the first century after Christ. 87. Hebrew Religion and Morality. — The ancient Hebrews made httle or no contribution to science. They produced no new order of architecture ; the temple at Jerusalem was '' little more than a reproduction of a Babylonian sanctuary." In sculpture they did nothing; their religion forbade their making "graven images." Their mission was to work out the idea of one sole and just God, and to teach men that what God requires of them is that they shall do justice and practice righteousness. It was only gradually that the idea of the unity of God dawned upon the teachers of Israel. In the beginning the Hebrew Yahweh was a tribal god, and in all essential respects like the gods of the other nations. But in one thing the Hebrews from their first appearance in history differed from their neighbors. They were monolatrists. IDEAS OF THE FUTURE LIFE 8l that is, ivorshipers of one god although behevers in many gods. They regarded the gods of the other nations as real gods, but Yahweh was a jealous god and his people must not pay homage or offer sacrifice to any other. In holding this belief the Hebrews were from the first a peculiar people. The idea was the germ of a vast religious development. Gradually this early form of the Hebrew religion verged towards monotheism, that is, the doctrine that there is one sole God beside whom there is no other. At the same time there came into the loftier souls of the nation the true and worthier conception of God as holy and just and compassionate and loving, — as the Universal Father whose care is over not one people alone but over all peoples and all races. This history-making idea of God and his character, the most important of all the products of the life and thought of antiquity, was the most fruitful element in the bequest which the ancient Hebrews made to the younger Aryan world of Europe, and is largely what entitles them to the preeminent place they hold in the history of humanity. 88. Ideas of the Future Life. — Speaking of the Hebrew con- ception of the after life, Sir George Rawlinson says : " How it happened that in Egyptian thought the future life occupied so large a space, and was felt to be so real and so substantial, while among the Hebrews and the other Semites it remained, even after contact with Egypt, so vague and shadowy, is a mystery which it is impossible to penetrate." The Hebrew conception of the future life was borrowed from the Babylonians. Sheol was the Babylonian " land of no return " (sec. 57), a vague and shadowy region beneath the earth, a sad and dismal place. " The small and the great were there." There was no distinction even between the good and the bad ; the same lot awaited all who went down into the *' pit." The good man was thought to receive his reward in long life and prosperity here on earth. As time passed the Hebrews exchanged this gloomy Babylonian conception of the other life for one more like that of old Egypt, 82 THE HEBREWS so that it was finally by them that the doctrine of immortality and of a coming judgment was spread abroad in the Western world. Selection from the Sources. — The Old Testament, i Kings, v-viii, the building and the dedication by Solomon of the Temple at Jerusalem. References (Modern). — Sayce, Early Israel and the Stcrroiindhig Nations. Kent, A History of the Hebrew People, 2 vols. Renan, His- tory of the People of Israel, 4 vols. Corn ill. History of the People of Israel. Boughton, History of Ancient Peoples, pp. 345-427. HiLPRECHT, Recent Research in Bible Lands and Exploj-ations in Bible Lands in the Nineteenth Century. Consult Tables of Contents. Montefiore, Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion as illustrated by the Religion of the Ancient Hebrews. ^tOA., Light from the East. Duff, The Theology aitd Ethics of the Hebrews. The special student will of course consult McCurdy, History, Prophecy, and the Monuments. Topics for Special Study. — i. Influence of early Babylonian culture on Israel. 2. The Exile in Babylon and its influence upon the develop- ment of the Hebrew religion. 3. Eariier Hebrew ideas of the future life. 4. Temple and priest. 5. Prophecy and prophet. 6. Hebrew laws respecting usury, the land, and the bondsman. CHAPTER VIII THE PHCENICIANS 89. The Land and the People. — Ancient Phoenicia embraced a little strip of broken seacoast lying between the Mediterranean Sea and the ranges of Mount Lebanon.^ One of the most noted productions of the country was the fine fir timber cut from the forests that crowned the lofty ranges of the Lebanon Mountains. The " cedars of Lebanon " hold a prominent place both in the history and in the poetry of the East. Another celebrated product of the country w^as the Tyrian purple, which was obtained from several varieties of the murex, a species of shellfish, secured at first along the Phoenician coast, but later sought in distant waters, especially in the Grecian seas. The Phoenicians were of Semitic race. Their ancestors lived in the neighbor- hood of the Persian Gulf. From their seats in that region they migrated west- ward, like the ancestors of the Hebrews, y^^ ^_, _ ^^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^ and reached the Mediterranean before Murex. (After Maspero) the light of history had fallen upon its The mollusks which secrete the shores. famous purple dye of the _ , «. , r^, . ancient Tyrians 90. Tyre and Sidon. — The various Phoenician cities never coalesced to form a true nation. They constituted merely a sort of league or confederacy, the petty states of which generally acknowledged the leadership of Tyre or of Sidon, the two chief cities. The place of supremacy in the confederation was at first held by Sidon, but later by Tyre. 1 In the study of this chapter, the maps which will be found at pp. yS and 154 should be used. 83 84 THE PHCENICIANS From the eleventh to the fourth century B.C. Tyre controlled, almost without dispute on the part of Sidon, the affairs of Phoenicia. During this time the maritime enterprise and energy of her mer- chants spread the fame of the little island capital throughout the world. She was queen and mistress of the Mediterranean. During all the last centuries of their existence the Phoenician cities were, most of the time, tributary to one or another of the great monarchies about them. They acknowledged in turn the suzerainty of the Egyptian, the Assyrian, the Babylonian, the Per- sian, and the Macedonian kings. Alexander the Great after a memorable siege captured the city of Tyre and reduced it to ruins (332 B.C.). She recovered in a measure from this blow, but never regained the place she had previously held in the world. The larger part of the site of the once great city is now " bare as the top of a rock," — a place where the fishermen that still frequent the spot spread their nets to dry. 91. Phoenician Commerce. — When we catch our first ghmpse of the Eastern Mediterranean, about 1500 B.C., it is dotted with the sails of Phoenician navigators. It was natural that the people of the Phoenician coast should have been led to a seafar- ing life. The lofty mountains that back the little strip of shore seemed to shut them out from a career of conquest and to prohibit an extension of their land domains. At r — Y — v-\< \ Fig. 53. — Phcenician Galley. an Assyrian sculpture) (From the same time, the Mediterranean in front invited them to mari- time enterprise, while the forests of Lebanon in the rear offered timber in abundance for their ships. The Phoenicians, indeed, seem to have been the first navigators of the Great Sea who pushed out boldly from the shore and made PHOENICIAN COLONIES 85 voyages out of sight of land. It is believed that they were the first to steer their ships at night by the Polar Star, since the Greeks called this the Phoenician Star. One of the earliest centers of activity of the Phoenician traders was the ^gean Sea. Here they exchanged wares with the natives, searched the seas for the purple-yielding mollusks, and mined the hills for gold. Herodotus avers that a whole mountain on one of the islands was turned upside down by them in their search for ores. Towards the close of the tenth or the ninth century B.C. the jealousy of the Greek city-states, now growing into maritime power, closed the ^gean against the Phoenician adventurers. They then pushed out into the Western Mediterranean. One chief object of their quest here was tin, which was in great demand on account of its use in the manufacture of bronze. The precious metal was first supphed by the mines opened in the Iberian (Spanish) peninsula. Later the bold Phoenician sailors passed the Pillars of Hercules, braved the dangers of the Atlantic, and brought back from those stormy seas the tin gathered in the mines of Britain.^ 92. Phoenician Colonies. — Along the different routes pursued by their ships, and upon the coasts visited by them, the Phoenicians established naval stations and trading posts. The sites chosen were generally island^ or promontories easily defended, and visible from afar to approaching ships. Settlements were planted in Cyprus, in Rhodes, and on other islands of the ^gean Sea, and probably even in Greece itself. 2 From the mother city Tyre and from all her important colonies and trading posts radiated long routes of land travel by which articles were conveyed from the interior of the continents to the Mediterranean seaboard. Thus amber was brought from the Baltic, through the forests of Germany, to the mouth of the river Padus (Po), in Italy, while the tin of the British Isles was, at first, brought across Gaul to the outlets of the Rhone, and there loaded upon the Phoenician ships. The trade with India was carried on by way of the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, great cara- vans bearing the burdens from the ports at the heads of these seas across the Arabian and Syrian deserts to the warehouses of Tyre. Other routes led from Phoenicia across the Mesopotamian plains to Armenia, Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, and thence on into the heart of Central Asia. THE PHCENICIANS BABYLONIAN ARCHAIC PHCENICIAN, OLDARAM^AN BABYLONIAN NAMES AND SOUNDS SEMITIC NAMES J ^ ¥ /lal {al, al), to flow ; running water al-p ^ $ e s bait), biif), slit bet ) ~\^r^ gam, bend, bow glm-l ^ A A ^ kii{ti), gush, bright, ge, ear dal-t V i <\A<^ da, make, dal, shine, Dallu The shores of the islands of Sicily and Sardinia were fringed with Phoenician colonies ; while the coast of North Africa was dotted with such great cities as Utica, Hippo, and Carthage. Colonies were even planted beyond the Pillars of Hercules, upon the Atlantic sea- board. The Phoe- nician settlement ofGades, upon the western coast of Spain, is still pre- served in the modern Cadiz. 93. Arts dis- seminated by the Phoenicians; the Alphabet. — Com- merce has been called the path- breaker of civil- ization. Certainly it was such in an- tiquity when the Phoenician traders carried in their ships to every Mediterranean land the wares of the workshops of Tyre and Sidon, and along with these material products carried also the seeds of culture from the ancient lands of Egypt and Babylonia. In truth we can scarcely overrate the influence of Phoenician maritime enterprise upon the distribution of the arts and the spread of cul- ture among the early peoples of the Mediterranean area. " Egypt PHCENICIAN ANCIENT GREEK LATER GREEK ENGLISH ^^ i\ 4/lA A A A ^ ^ ^ B B /in A^ AC r C AA ^AVP A D ^ \^J^^^ E G E 1 A /^ F Z s z ^ Z Z Fig. 54. — Table showing (i) Possible Deriva- tion OF THE PHCENICIAN ALPHABET FROM Cuneiform Characters (after Ball) ; and (2) Development of English Letters from the phcenician ARTS DISSEMINATED BY THE PHCENICIANS ^y and Assyria," says Lenormant, "were the birthplace of material civihzation; the Phcenicians were its missionaries." Most fruitful of all the arts which the Phoenicians introduced among the peoples with whom they traded was the art of alpha- betic writing. As early at least as 900 b.c. they were in posses- sion of an alphabet. Now wherever the Phoenician traders went they carried this alphabet as " one of their exports." It was through them that the Greeks received it ; the Greeks passed it on to the Romans, and the Romans gave it to the German peoples. In this way our alphabet came to us from the ancient East. It would be difficult to exaggerate the importance of this gift of the alpha- bet to the Aryan-speaking peoples of Europe. Without it their civilization could never have become so rich and progressive as it did. Among the other elements of culture which the Phoenicians carr ied t o the peoples of the Mediterranean lands, the most important, after alphabetical writing, were syste ms of weights a nd measures. These are indispensable agents of civilization, and hold some such relation to the development of trade and com- merce as letters hold to the development of the intellectual life. Phoenician commercial enterprise was also one of the agencies through which the peoples of Europe learned the use of bronze, which marks an epoch in their growing culture. Bronze articles of Phoenician workmanship are found in the earliest tombs of the Greeks, the Etruscans, and the Romans. Selections from the Sources. — The Bible, Ezek. xxvii, A striking por- trayal by the prophet of the commerce, the trade relations, and the wealth of Tyre. The Voyage of Hanno, a. record of a Phoenician exploring expedi- tion down the western coast of Africa. A translation of this celebrated record will be found in Rawlinson's History of Phceiiicia, pp. 389-392. References (Modern). — Rawlinson, History of Phcenicia, and The Story of Phanicia. Kenrick, Phccnicia. Old (1855), but still valuable. Lenormant and Chevallier, Ancient History of the East, vol. ii. Con- sult Table of Contents. Sayce, The Ancient Empires of the East, chap. iii. DUNCKER, History of Antiquity, vol. ii, bk. iii, chaps, xi and xii. Topics for Special Study. — i. The trade routes of the Phoenicians. 2. The Phoenicians and the alphabet. 3. The Tyrian purple dye. CHAPTER IX THE PERSIAN EMPIRE (558-330 B.C.) I. Political History 94. Kinship of the Medes and Persians. — It was in very remote times that some Aryan tribes, separating themselves from the other members of the Aryan family, sought new abodes on the plateau of Iran. The tribes that settled in the south became known as the Persians ; while those that took possession of the mountain regions of the northwest were called Medes. The names of the two peoples were always very closely associated, as in the familiar legend, " The law of the Medes and Persians, w^hich altereth not." 95. The Medes at first the Leading Race. — Although the Persians were destined to become the dominant tribe of all the Iranian Aryans, still the Medes were at first the leading people. Cyaxares (625-585 B.C.) was their first prominent leader and king. We have already seen how, aided by the Babylonians, he overthrew the last king of Nineveh, and burned that capital (sec. 68). The destruction of the Assyrian power resulted in the speedy extension of the frontiers of the new Median Empire to the river Halys in Asia Minor. 96. Cyrus the Great (558-529 B.C.) founds a Great World Empire. — The leadership of the Median chieftains was of short duration. A certain Cyrus, king of Anshan, in Ekm, overthrew their power, and assumed the headship of both Medes and Persians. Through his energy and soldierly genius Cyrus soon built up an empire more extended than any over which the scepter had yet been swayed by Oriental monarch, or indeed, so far as we know, by any ruler before his time. 88 CYRUS THE GREAT 89 After the conquest of Media and the acquisition of the prov- inces formerly ruled by the Median princes, Cyrus rounded out his empire by the conquest of Lydia and Babylonia. Lydia was a country in the western part of Asia Minor. It was a land highly favored by nature. It embraced two rich river val- leys, — the plains of the Hermus and the Cayster, — which, from the mountains inland, slope gently to the island-dotted ^gean. The Pactolus, and other tributaries of the streams we have named, rolled down ** golden sands," while the mountains were rich in the precious metals. The coast region did not at first belong to Lydia; it was held by the Greeks, who had fringed it with cities. The capital of the country was Sardis, whose citadel was set on a lofty and precipitous rock. The Lydian throne was at this time held by Croesus (560— 546 B.C.), the last and most renowned of his race. Under him the Lydian dominions attained their greatest extension, embracing all the states of Asia Minor west of the Halys, save Lycia. The tribute Croesus collected from the Greek cities, which he had subjugated, and the revenues he derived from his gold mines, rendered him the richest monarch of his times, so that his name has passed into the proverb "rich as Croesus." Now the fall of Media, whi<:h had been a friendly and allied power, and the extension thereby of the domains of the conqueror Cyrus to the eastern frontiers of Lydia, naturally filled Croesus with alarm. He at once formed an alHance with Nabonidus, king of Babylon, and with Amasis, king of Egypt, both of whom, like Croesus, were filled with apprehensions respecting the safety of their own kingdoms. Furthermore, Croesus formed an alli- ance with the Greek city of Sparta, which was now rising into prominence. Without waiting for his alHes to join him, Croesus immediately crossed the river Halys and threw down the gage of battle to Cyrus. But he had miscalculated the strength and activity of his enemy. Cyrus defeated the Lydians in the open field, and after a short siege captured Sardis. Lydia now became a part of the Persian Empire (546 B.C.). 90 THE PERSIAN EMPIRE Fig. This war between Croesus and Cyrus derives a special impor- tance from the fact that it brought the Persian Empire into contact with the Greek cities of Asia, and thus led on directly to that memorable struggle be- tween Greece and Persia known as the Grasco-Persian War, the inci- dents of which we shall nar- rate in a later chapter. The fall of Lydia was quickly followed by that of Babylonia (in 538 B.C.), as has been already related as part of the story of the Chaldean Empire (sec. 77). Cyrus had now 55. — Crcesus on the Pyrei rounded out his dominions. Tradition says that Cyrus lost his life while leading an expe- dition against some Scythian tribes in the North. He was buried at Pasargadae, the old Persian capital, and there his tomb stands to-day, sur- rounded by the ruins of the mag- nificent buildings with which he adorned that city. The following cu- neiform inscription may still be read upon a pillar near the sepulcher : "I am Cyrus, the king, yig. 56. the Akhsemenian." Notwithstanding his seeming love for war and conquest, Cyrus possessed a kindly and generous disposition. Almost universal 1 Legend tells how Cyrus caused a pyre to be built on which to burn Crcesus, and how Apollo, because the king had made rich gifts to his shrine, put out the kindling fire by a sudden downpour of rain. ^^r The Tomb of Cyrus at Pasargad^. REIGN OF CAMBYSES 91 testimony has ascribed to him the purest and most beneficent character of any Eastern monarch. 97. Reign of Cambyses (529-522 b.c). — Cyrus the Great left tsvo sons, Cambyses and Smerdis ; the former, as the elder, inherited the scepter and the title of king. He began a despotic and unfortunate reign by causing his brother, whose influence he feared, to be secretly put to death. With far less ability than his father for their execution, Cambyses conceived even vaster projects of conquest and dominion. He determined to add the country of Africa to his vast inheritance. Upon some shght pre- text he invaded Egypt, captured Memphis, and ascended the Nile to Thebes. From here he sent an army of fifty thousand men to take possession of the oasis of Ammon,^ in the Lib- yan desert. Of the vast host not a man returned from the expedition. It is thought that the army was overwhelmed and buried by one of those _^,. ,M > *. V 1: Fig. 57. — Insurgent Captives brought BEFORE Darius (From the Behistun Rock) Beneath the foot of the king is Gomates, the false Smerdis fatal storms, called simoons, that so frequently sweep over those dreary wastes of sand. After a short, unsatisfactory stay in Egypt, Cambyses set out on his return to Persia. While on his way home, news was brought to him that his brother Smerdis had usurped the throne (an impostor, Gomates by name, who resembled the murdered Smerdis, had personated him, and actually seized the scepter). Entirely disheartened by this startling intelligence, Cambyses in despair took his own life. 2 This oasis was to serve as a basis of operations against Carthage, which Cambyses was planning to attack by way of the desert 92 THE PERSIAN EMPIRE 98. Reign of Darius I (521-484 b.c). — The Persian nobles soon rescued the scepter from the grasp of the false Smerdis, and their leader, Darius, took the throne. The first act of Darius was to punish those who had taken part in the usurpation of Smerdis. With quiet and submission secured throughout the empire, Darius gave himself, for a time, to the arts of peace. He built a palace at Susa, and erected magnificent structures at Persepolis ; reformed the adminstration of the government, making such wise and lasting changes that he has been called " the second founder of the Persian Empire " ; established post roads, instituted a coin- age for the realm, and upon the great Behistun Rock, a lofty, smooth-faced cliff on the western frontier of Persia, caused to be inscribed a record of all his achievements. And now the Great ^.-_ x-ving, lord of Western ^_ ^^ Asia and of Egypt, con- ~" ""^'^ ' ceived and entered upon Fig. 58. — The Behistun Rock . ^- r ♦. ^ the execution of vast (After Rawlitisofi-Hilprecht) , . . , . designs of conquest, the far-reaching effects of which were destined to live long after he had passed away. He determined to extend the frontiers of his empire into India and Europe alike. At one blow Darius brought the region of Northwestern India known as the Punjab under his authority, and thus by a single effort pushed out the eastern boundary of his empire so that it included one of the richest countries of Asia. Two campaigns in Europe followed. The second brought Darius into contact with the Greeks, of whom we shall soon hear much. How the armaments of the Great King fared at the hands of this freedom-loving people, who now appear for the first time as prominent participators in large world affairs, will be told when we come to narrate the history of the Greek city-states. REIGN OF XERXES I 93 We need now simply note the result, — the decisive defeat of the Persians at Marathon (490 B.C.). In the midst of preparations for another attempt upon Greece, and with the Egyptians in revolt, Darius suddenly died, in the year 484 B.C. 99. Reign of Xerxes I (484-464 b.c). — The successor of Darius, his son Xerxes, resolved to carry into execution his father's pur- pose of revenge. After crushing the Egyptian revolt and sup- pressing another uprising in Babylonia, the Great King was free to devote his attention to the distant Greeks. At the head of an immense army he crossed the Hellespont and invaded Greece. But in the naval battle of Salamis (sec. 212) his fleet was cut to Fig. 59. — Royal Persian Tombs near Persepolis. {k.i\Q.x Dieiilafoy) pieces by the Grecian ships, and the king, making a precipitate retreat into Asia, hastened to his capital Susa. Here, in the pleas- ures of the harem, he sought solace for his wounded pride and broken hopes. He at last fell a victim to palace intrigue, being slain in his own chamber (464 B.C.). 100. The Decline and Fall of the Persian Empire. — The power and supremacy of the Persian monarchy passed away with the reign of Xerxes. The last one hundred and forty years of the existence of the empire was a time of weakness and anarchy, which presents nothing that need claim our attention in this place. In the year 334 B.C. Alexander the Great, king of Macedonia, led a small army of Greeks and Macedonians across the Hellespont 94 THE PERSIAN EMPIRE intent upon the conquest of Asia. His succeeding movements and the establishment of the short-lived Macedonian monarchy upon the ruins of the Persian Empire are matters that properly belong to Grecian history, and will be related at a later stage of our story. II. Government, Religion, and Arts 1 01 . The Government. — Before the reign of Darius I the govern- ment of the Persian Empire was like that of all the great empires that had preceded it, save the Assyrian in a measure and for a short space of time ; that is to say, it consisted of a great num- ber of subject states, which were allowed to retain their own kings and manage their own affairs, only paying tribute and homage and furnishing contingents, when called upon in time of war, to the Great King. We have seen how weak was this rude and primitive type of government. Darius I, who possessed rare ability as an organizer, remodeled the system of his predecessors, and actually reahzed for the Persian monarchy what Tiglath-Pileser III had long before attempted, but only with partial and temporary success, to accom- plish for the Assyrian (sec. 64). The system of government which Darius thus first made a real fact in the world is known as the satrapal, a form represented to-day by the Turkish Empire. The entire kingdom was divided into twenty or more provinces, over each of which was placed a governor, called a satrap, appointed by the king. These officials held their position at the pleasure of the sovereign, and were thus rendered his subservient creatures. Each province contributed to the income of the king a stated revenue. There were provisions in the system by which the king might be apprised of the disloyalty of his satraps. Thus the whole dominion was firmly cemented together, and the facility with which almost sovereign states — which was the real character of the different parts of the empire under the old system — could plan and execute revolt, was removed. LITERATURE AND RELIGION 95 102. Literature and Religion : Zoroastrianism. — The literature of the ancient Persians was mostly religious. Their sacred book is called the Zend Avesta. The religious system of the Persians, as taught in the Zend Avesta^ is known as Zoroastrianism, from Zoroaster, its supposed founder. This great reformer and teacher is believed to have lived and taught about six centuries before our era. Zoroastrianism was a system of belief^ known as duahsm. Opposed to the "good spirit," Ormazd (Ahura Mazda), there was a "dark spirit," Ahriman (Angro-Mainyus), who was con- stantly striving to destroy the good creations of Ormazd by creating all evil things — storm, drought, pestilence, noxious animals, weeds and thorns in the world without, and evil in the heart of man within. From all eternity these two powers had been contending for the mastery; in the present neither had the decided advan- tage ; but in the near future Ormazd would triumph over Ahri- man, and evil be forever destroyed. The duty of man was to aid Ormazd by working with him against the evil-loving Ahriman. Fig. 60. — The King in Combat He must labor to eradicate every with a Monster evil and vice in his own bosom ; (^''^"^ Persepolis) to reclaim the earth from barrenness ; and to kill all noxious ani- mals — frogs, toads, snakes, lizards — which Ahriman had created. Herodotus saw with amazement the priests armed with weapons and engaged in slaying these animals as a " pious pastime." Agriculture was a sacred calling, for the husbandman was reclaim- ing the ground from the curse of the dark spirit.^ 3 The belief of the Zoroastrians in the sacredness of the elements — earth, water^^^ fire, and air — created a difficulty in regard to the disposal of dead bodies. They 96 THE PERSIAN EMPIRE T03. Architecture. — The simple religious faith of the Persians discouraged the erection of temples ; their sacred architecture included scarcely more than altar and pedestal. The palace of the monarch was the structure that absorbed the best efforts of the Persian architect. In imitation of the inhabitants of the valley of the Euphrates, the Persian kings raised their palaces upon lofty terraces or plat- forms. But upon the table-lands they used stone instead of brick, and at Persepolis built for the substruction of their palaces an Fig. 61. — The Ruins of Persepolis immense platform of massive masonry, which, with its sculptured stairways, is one of the most wonderful monuments of the world's ancient builders. This terrace, which is uninjured by the 2300 years that have passed since its erection, has been pronounced by competent judges the finest work of the kind that the ancient or even the modern world can boast. Surmounting this platform are the ruins of the residences of several of the Persian monarchs. The ruins consist mainly of could neither be burned, buried, thrown into the water, nor left to decay in a sepul- chral chamber or in the open air without jDolluting one or another of the sacred elements. So they were usually given to the birds and wild beasts. ARCHITECTURE 97 lofty columns and great monolithic door and window frames. Colossal winged bulls, copied from the Assyrians, stand as war- dens at the gateway of the ruined palaces. Numerous sculptures decorate the faces of the walls, and these throw much light upon the manners and customs of the ancient Persian kings. The successive palaces increase, not only in size, but in sumptuousness of adornment, thus registering those changes which may be traced in the national history. The residence of Cyrus was small and modest, while that of Artaxerxes III (359- 338 B.C.) equaled in size the great palace of the Assyrian Sargon. Again, the sculptures that adorn the residences of the earlier kings, Cyrus and Darius, represent the monarch engaged in bold and manly combat with lions and other monsters ; while already in the halls and chambers of the palace of Xerxes these give place X to representations of servants bearing articles of luxury intended /for royal use. "A tone of mere sensual enjoyment is thus given to the later edifice which is far from characterizing the earlier ; and the decline at the court, which history indicates as rapid about this period, is seen to have stamped itself, as such changes usually do, upon the national architecture" (Rawlinson). Selections from the Sources.— Herodotus, i. 46-55 and 71-91, on Cyrus and Croesus. Harper's Assyrian and Babylonian Literature, pp. 174-187, " The Large Inscription of Darius from Behistun." (We make no refer- ence either here or in the following chapter to the Sacred Books of the East, for the reason that these translations are in general not suited to young readers.) References (Modern). — Maspero, The Passing of the E7npires, chap. vi. Rawlinson, Five Great Monarchies, vol. iii, pp. 84-539. Sayce, The An- cient Empires of the East, chaps, iv and v. Wheeler, Alexander the Great, chap. xii. Iackson, Zoroaster, the Prophet of Ancient Ira7i. Topics for Special Study. — i. The sacredness of the elements, — fire, earth, water, and air. 2. Dualism in the Persian religion. 3. The Zejid Avesta. 4. The royal road from Susa to Sardis. 5. The satrapal system of government. 6. The ruins of Persepolis. CHAPTER X INDIA AND CHINA I. India 104. The Aryan Invasion. — At the time of the great Aryan dis- persion (sec. 19), some Aryan bands, journeying from the north- west, settled first the plains of the Indus and then occupied the valley of the Ganges. They reached the banks of the latter river as early probably as 1500 B.C. These fair-skinned invaders found the land occupied by a dark- skinned, non-Aryan race, whom they either subjugated and reduced to serfdom, or drove out of the great river valleys into the moun- tains and the haK-desert plains of the peninsula. In the course of time the conquered peoples, who doubtless formed the great majority of the population, adopted the language and the religion of the invaders. "They became Aryans in all things save in descent." ^ 105. The Development of the System of Castes. — The conflict and mingling of races in Northern India caused the population to become divided into four " social grades " or hereditary^ classes, based on color. These were (i) the nobles or warriors; (2) the Brahmans or priests ; ^ (3) the peasants and traders ; and (4) the Sudras. The last were of non-Aryan descent. Below these several grades were the Pariahs or outcasts, the lowest and most despised of the native races. The marked characteristics of this graded society were that intermarriage between the classes was forbidden, and that the members of different classes must not eat together or come into personal contact. 1 The unsubdued tribes of Southern India, known as Dravidians, retained their native speech. Over 54,000,000 of the present population of India are non-Aryan in language. 2 At a later period the Brahmans arrogated to themselves the highest rank. 98 THE VEDAS AND THE VEDIC RELIGION 99 The development of this system, which is known as the system of castes, is one of the most important facts in the history of India. The system, however, has undergone great modification in the lapse of ages, and is now less rigid than in earlier times. At the present day it rests largely on an industrial basis, the mem- bers of every trade and occupation forming a distinct caste. The number of castes is now about 2000. 106. The Vedas and the Vedic Religion. — The most important of the sacred books of the Hindus are called the Vedas. They are written in the Sanscrit language, which is the oldest form of Aryan speech preserved to us. The Rig Veda, the most ancient of the books, is made up of hymns which were composed chiefly during the long period, perhaps a thousand years or more, while the Aryans were slowly working their way from the mountains on the northwest of India across the peninsula to the Ganges. These hymns are filled with memories of the long conflict of the fair-faced Aryans with the dark-faced aborigines. The Hima- layas, through whose gloomy passes the early emigrants jour- neyed, must have deeply impressed the wanderers, for the poets often refer to the great dark mountains. The early religion of the Indian Aryans was a worship of the powers of nature. As this system characterized the period when the oldest Vedic hymns were composed, it is known as the Vedic religion. 107. Brahmanism and the Doctrine of the Transmigration of Souls. — As time passed this nature worship of the Vedic period developed into a form of religion known as Brahmanism. It is so named from Brahma, which is the Hindu name for the Supreme Being. Below Brahma there are many gods. A chief doctrine of Brahmanism is that all life, apart from Brahma, is evil, is travail and sorrow. We can make this idea plain to ourselves by recalling what are our own ideas of this earthly hfe. We call it a feverish dream, a journey through a vale of sorrow. Now the Hindu regards all existence, whether in this world or in another, in the same light. The only way to redemp- tion from evil lies in communion with and final reabsorption 100 INDIA AND CHINA into Brahma. But this return to Brahma is dependent upon the soul's purification, for no impure soul can be reabsorbed into Brahma. The purity of soul required for reunion with Brahma can best be attained by contemplation, self-control, and renun- ciation ; hence the asceticism of the Hindu devotee. As only a few in each generation reach the goal, it follows that the great majority of men must be born again, and yet again, until all evil has been purged away from the soul and eternal repose found in Brahma. He who lives a virtuous life is at death born into some higher caste, and thus he advances towards the longed- for end. The evil man, however, is born into a lower caste, or perhaps his soul enters some unclean animal. This doctrine of rebirth is known as the transmigration of souls. In the early period only the first three classes were admitted to the benefits of religion. The Sudras and the outcasts were for- bidden to read the sacred books, and for any one of the upper classes to teach a serf how to expiate sin was a crime. 1 08. Buddhism. — In the fifth century before our era a great teacher and reformer named Gautama (about 557-477 B.C.), but better known as Buddha, that is the Enhghtened, arose in India. He was more Christlike than any other teacher whose life and words are known to us. He was born a prince, but legend repre- sents him as being so touched by the universal misery of man- kind that he voluntarily abandoned the luxury of his home and spent his life in seeking out and making known to men a new and better way of salvation. His creed was very simple. What he taught the people was that they should seek salvation — that is, deliverance from existence, which like the Brahman he felt to be an evil — not through sacrifices and rites and self-torture, but through honesty and purity of heart, through charity and tender- ness and compassion toward all creatures that have Hfe.^ Buddha admitted all classes to the benefits of religion, the poor outcast as well as the high-born Brahman, and thus Buddhism 3 The aim, in Buddha's system, of moral striving is to suppress desire, and by- suppressing desire to gain the sought-for deliverance in Nirvana ("extinction"). Buddha did not recognize the existence of any god, and enjoined upon his disciples not to offer any prayers. His teachings have been greatly modified by his followers. ALEXANDER'S INVASION OF INDIA loi was a revolt against the earlier exclusive system of Brahmanism. It holds somewhat the same relation to Brahmanism that Chris- tianity bears to Judaism. Buddhism gradually gained ascendancy over Brahmanism ; but after some centuries the Brahmans regained their power, and by the eighth century after Christ the faith of Buddha had died out or had been crowded out of almost every part of India. But Buddhism has a profound missionary spirit, Hke that of Christianity, Buddha having commanded his disciples to make known to all men the way to salvation ; and consequently during the very period when India was being lost, the missionaries of the reformed creed were spreading the teachings of their master among the peoples of all the countries of Eastern Asia, so that to-day Buddhism is the religion of almost one third of the human race. Buddha has probably nearly as many followers as both Christ and Mohammed together. During its long contact with Buddhism, Brahmanism was greatly modified, and caught much of the gentler spirit of the new faith, so that modern Brahmanism is a very different religion from that of the ancient system ; hence it is usually given a new name, being known as Hinduism.^ 109. Alexander's Invasion of India (327 b.c). — Although we find obscure notices of India in the records of the early historic peoples of Western Asia, yet it is not until the invasion of the peninsula by Alexander the Great in 327 b.c. that the history of the Indian Aryans comes in significant contact with that of the progressive nations of the West. From that day to our own its systems of philosophy, its wealth, and its commerce have been more or less important factors in universal history. Columbus was seeking a short all-sea route to this country when he found the New World. And in the upbuilding of the imperial greatness of the England of to-day, the wealth and trade of India have played no inconsiderable part. 4 Among the customs introduced or revived by the Brahmans during this period was the rite of suttee, or the voluntary burning of the widow on the funeral pyre of her husband. 102 INDIA AND CHINA II. China no. General Remarks : the Beginning. — China was the cradle of a very old civilization, older perhaps than that of any other lands save Egypt and Babylonia; yet Chinese affairs have not until recently exercised any direct influence upon the general current of history. All through the later ancient and mediaeval times the country lay, vague and mysterious, in the haze of the world's horizon. During the Middle Ages the land was known to Europe under the name of Cathay. The beginning of the Chinese nation was a band of Turanian wanderers who came from the West into the Yellow River valley, probably prior to 3000 B.C. These immigrants pushed out or absorbed the aborigines whom they found in the land, and laid the basis of institutions that have endured to the present day. III. Dynastic History. — The government of China from a remote period has been a parental monarchy. The emperor is the father of his people. But though an absolute prince, he dare not rule tyrannically ; he must rule justly and in accordance with the ancient customs and laws. The Chinese have books that purport to give the history of the different dynasties that have ruled in the land from a vast antiq- uity ; but these records are largely mythical. While it is possible to glean some assured historic facts from the third and second millenniums B.C., it is not until we reach the eighth century B.C. that we tread on firm historical ground ; and even then we meet with little of interest in the dynastic history of the country until we come to the reign of Che Hwang-te (246-210 B.C.). This energetic ruler consolidated the imperial power, and executed great works of internal improvement, such as roads and canals. As a barrier against the incursions of the Huns, he began the erection of the celebrated Chinese Wall, a great rampart extending for about 1500 miles along the northern frontier of the country.^ 5 The Great Wall is one of the most remarkable works of man. " It is," says Dr. Williams, " the only artificial structure which would arrest attention in a hasty survey of the globe." ClIliNESE WRITING 103 From the strong reign of Che Hwang-te to the end of the period covered by ancient history, Chinese dynastic records present no matters of universal interest that need here occupy our attention. 112. Chinese Writing. — It is nearly certain that the art of pho- netic writing was known among the Chinese as early as 2000 B.C. The system employed is curiously cumbrous. In the absence of an alphabet, each word of the language is represented upon the written page by means of a symbol, or combination of symbols ; this, of course, requires that there be as many symbols or charac- ters as there are words in the language. The number sanctioned by good use is about 25,000; but counting obsolete signs, the number amounts to over 50,000. A knowledge of 5000 or 6000 characters, how- • ever, enables one ^Q^ ^ ^^ % 1> <=W A to read and write xirnLiroft 0- ti m :^ t; f A I 234567 signs shows con- clusively that the Fig. 62.- Showing the Derivation of Mod- •' ERN Chinese Characters from Earlier Chmese system of pictorial Writing.6 (From Deniker) writing, like that of all others with which we are acquainted, was at first pure picture writing (sec. 12). Time and use have worn the pictorial symbols to their present form. This Chinese system of representing thought, cumbrous and inconvenient as it is, is employed at the present time by one third of the human race. Printing from blocks was practiced in China as early as the sixth century of our era, and printing from movable types as early as the tenth or eleventh century, — that is to say, about four hun- dred years before the same art was invented in Europe. 113. The Teachers Confucius and Mencius. — The great teacher of the Chinese was Confucius (551-478 B.C.). He was not a 6 The upper line shows the earlier forms: i, morning; 2, noon; 3, mountain; 4, tree; 5, dog; 6, horse; 7, man. 104 INDIA AND CHINA prophet or revealer; he laid no claims to a supernatural knowl- edge of God or of the hereafter ; he said nothing of an Infinite Spirit, and but little of a future life. His cardinal precepts were obedience to parents and superiors, and reverence for the ancients and imitation of their virtues. He himself walked in the old paths, and thus added the force of example to that of precept. He gave the Chinese the Golden Rule, stated negatively : " What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others." The influence of Confucius has been greater than that of any other teacher excepting Christ and perhaps Buddha. Another great teacher of the Chinese was Mencius(372-2 88 B.C.). He was a disciple of Confucius and a scarcely less revered phi- losopher and moral teacher. 114. Chinese Literature; the Burning of the Books; Influence of this Literature. — The most highly prized portion of Chinese literature is embraced in what is known as the Five Classics and the Four Books, called collectively the Nine Classics. A consider- able part of the material of the Five Classics was collected and edited by Confucius. The Four Books, though not written by Confucius, yet bear the impress of his mind and thought, just as the Gospels teach the mind of Christ. The cardinal virtue incul- cated by all the sacred writings is filial piety. During the reign of Che Hwang-te (sec. in), Chinese htera- ture suffered a great disaster. That despot, for the reason that the teachers in their opposition to him were constantly quoting the ancient writings against his innovations, ordered the chief histor- ical books to be destroyed. Those who refused to give up their books he sent to work upon the Great Wall. But the people con- cealed the books in the walls of their houses, or better still hid them away in their memories ; and in this way the priceless inher- itance of antiquity was preserved until the storm had passed. It would be difficult to exaggerate the influence which the Nine Classics have had upon the Chinese nation. For more than 2000 years these writings have been the Chinese Bible. But their influence has not been wholly good. The Chinese in strictly obeying the injunction to walk in the old ways, to conform to the EDUCATION AND RELIGION 105 customs of the ancients, have failed to mark out any new foot- paths for themselves. Hence their lack of originahty, their habit of imitation ; hence one cause of the unchanging, unprogressive character of Chinese civihzation. 115. Education and Civil Service Competitive Examinations. — China has a very ancient educational system. The land was filled with schools, academies, and colleges more than a thousand years before our era, and education is to-day more general among the Chinese than among any other pagan people. A knowledge / of the sacred books is the sole passport to civil office and public \ employment. All candidates for places in the government must pass a series of competitive examinations in the Nine Classics. There are at the present day between two and three million per- sons studying for these literary tests. This system is practically y the same in principle as that which we, with great difficulty, are.,^ trying to estabhsh in connection with our own civil service. 116. The Three Religions, — Confucianism, Taoism, and Bud- dhism. — There are three leading religions in China, — Confu- cianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. The great sage Confucius is reverenced and worshiped throughout the empire. He holds somewhat the same relation to the system that bears his name that Christ holds to that of Christianity. Taoism takes its name from Tao, the beginning of all things. It is a very curious system of mystical ideas and superstitious practices. Buddhism was intro- duced into China about the opening of the Christian era, and soon became widely spread. There is one element common to all these religions, and that is the worship of ancestors. Every Chinese, whether he be a Confucianist, a Taoist, or a Buddhist, reverences his ancestors^ and prays and makes offerings to their spirits. 117. Policy of Non-Intercourse. — The Chinese have always been a very self-satisfied and exclusive people. They have jeal- ously excluded foreigners and outside influence from their coun- try. The Great Wall with which they have hedged in their country on the north is the symbol of their policy of isolation. Doubtless this characteristic of the Chinese has been fostered by I06 INDIA AND CHINA their geographical isolation ; for great mountain barriers and wide deserts cut the country off from communication with the rest of the Asiatic continent. And then their reverence for antiquity has rendered them intolerant of innovation and change. Hence, in part, the unwillingness of the Chinese to admit into their country railroads, telegraphs, and other modern improvements. For them to adopt these new-fangled inventions would be like our adopting a new religion. Such a departure from the ways and customs of the past has in it, to their way of thinking, something akin to disrespect and irreverence for ancestors. References (Modern). — For India : Ragozin, The Story of Vedic India. Hunter, /i Brief History of the Indian Peoples, chaps, i-vi, Dutt, The Civilization of India (Primer). Rhys Davids, Buddhist India, and Bud- dhism, its History and Literature. Warren, Biiddhism iit Translation. Hopkins, The Religions of India. Arnold, The Light of Asia. This is Buddhism idealized. For China : Williams, A History of China, being the historical chapters of the author's The Middle Kingdom. Legge, The Religions of China. Douglas, China. Giles, A History of Chinese Literature. Martin, The Lore of Cathay. Doolittle, Social Life of the Chinese. Topics for Special Study. — For India: i. The Vedas. 2. Early Indian architecture. 3. The suttee. 4. The caste system. 5. The doctrine of transmigration. 6. The rise of Buddhism. For China: i. Confucius. 2. The Great Wall. 3. The competitive ex- aminations. 4. The cardinal virtues. 5, Chinese writing. 6. The govern- ment. 7. Manners and customs. Part II — Greece CHAPTER XI THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE 1 1 8. Hellas. — The ancient people whom we call Greeks called themselves Hellenes and their land Hellas. But this term " Hellas " as used by the ancient Greeks embraced much more than modern Greece. " Wherever were Hellenes there was Hellas." Thus the name included not only Greece proper and the islands of the adjoining seas, but also the Hellenic cities in Asia Minor, in Southern Italy, and in Sicily, besides many other Greek settlements scattered up and down the Mediterranean and along the shores of the Hellespont and the Euxine. Yet Greece proper was the real home land of the Hellenes and the actual center of Greek life and culture. Therefore it will be necessary for us to gain at least some slight knowledge -of the divisions and physical features of this country before passing to the history of the people themselves. 119. Divisions of Greece. — Long arms of the sea divide the Greek peninsula into three parts, called Northern, Central, and Southern Greece. The southern portion, joined to the mainland by the Isthmus of Corinth, and now generally known as the Morea, was called by the ancients the Pelop onnesus ; that is, the ^^J\^u Island of Pelops, from its fabled colonizer. Northern Greece included the ancient districts of Thessaly and Epirus. Thessaly consists mainly of a large and beautiful valley^ walled in on all sides by rugged mountains. On its northern edge, between Olympus and Ossa, is a beautiful glen, named by the ancients the Vale of Tempe, the only practicable pass by 107 io8 THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE which the plain of Thessaly can be entered from the side of the sea. The district of Epinis stretched along the Ionian Sea on the west. In the deep recesses of its forests of oak was situated the renowned Dodonean oracle of Zeus. Central Greece was divided into eleven districts, among which were Phocis, Bceotia, and Attica. In Phoci s was the city of Delphi, famous for its oracle and temple ; in Boeotia, the city of TheB^s ; and in Attica was the brilliant Athens. The Attic land, as^^v^-shall learn, was'lhe central point of Greek history. The chief districts of Southern Greece were Corinthia, Arcadia, Achaea, Argolis, Laconia, Messenia, and Elis. The main part of Corinthia formed the isthmus uniting the Peloponnesus to Central Greece. Its chief city was Corinth, the gateway of the peninsula. Arcadia, sometimes called " the Switzerland of the Pelopon- nesus," formed the heart of the peninsula. This region consists /p^. of broken uplands shut li\AM ii^ from the surrounding coast plains by irregular mountain walls. The in- habitants of this district, because thus isolated, were, in the general intel- lectual movement of the Greek race, left far behind the dwellers in the more open and favored portions of Greece. It is the rustic, simple life of the Arca- dians that has given the term "Arcadian" its meaning of pastoral sim- FiG. 63. — The Lions' Gate at Mycen^ nliritv Achaea was a strip of land lying upon the Corinthian Gulf. Its cities did not take any active part in the affairs of Greece until the most brilliant period of her history was past (sec. 304). The Lions' Gate at Mycen^ DIVISIONS OF GREECE 109 Argolis formed a tongue of land jutting out into the ^gean. This region is noted as the home of an early prehistoric culture, and holds to-day the remains of cities — Mycenae and Tiryns — the kings of which built great palaces, possessed vast treasures in gold and silver, and held wide sway centuries before Athens had made for herself a name and place in history. The chief city of the region during the historic period was Argos. Laconia, or Lacedaemon, embraced a considerable part of the southern portion of the Peloponnesus. A prominent feature of Fig. 64. — The Plain of Olympia. (From Boetticher's Olympia) The valley of the Alpheus in Elis, where were held the celebrated Olympian games the physical geography of this region is a deep river valley, — the valley of the Eurotas, — from whence arose the descriptive name, " Hollow Lacedaemon." This district was ruled by the city of Sparta, the great rival of Athens. Messenia was a rich and fruitful region lying to the west of Laconia. It nourished a vigorous race, who in early times carried on a stubborn struggle with the Spartans, by whom they were finally overpowered. Elis, a district on the western side of the Peloponnesus, is chiefly noted as the consecrated land which held Olympia, the no THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE great assembling place of the Greeks on the occasion of the cele- bration of the most famous of their national festivals, — the so-called Olympian games. 120. Mountains. — The Cambunian Mountains form a lofty wall along a considerable reach of the northern frontier of Greece, shutting out at once the cold winds and hostile races from the north. Branching off at right angles to these mountains is the Pindus range, which runs south into Central Greece. On the northern border of Thessaly is Mount Olympus, the most celebrated mountain of the peninsula. The ancient Greeks thought it the highest mountain in the world (it is about 9700 feet in height), and beUeved that its cloudy summit was the abode of the gods. South of Olympus, close by the sea, are Ossa and Pelion, cele- brated in fable as the mountains which the giants, in their war against the gods, piled one upon another in order to scale Olympus. Parnassus and Helicon, in Central Greece, — beautiful moun- tains clad with trees and vines and filled with fountains, — were beUeved to be the favorite haunts of the Muses. Near Athens are Hymettus, praised for its honey, and PenteHcus, renowned for its marbles. The Peloponnesus is rugged with mountains that radiate in all directions from the central country of Arcadia. 121. The Rivers and Lakes of the Land. — Greece has no rivers large enough to be of service to commerce. Most of the streams are scarcely more than winter torrents. Among the most impor- tant streams are the Peneus, which drains the Thessalian plain ; the Alpheus in Elis, on the banks of which the Olympian games were celebrated ; and the Eurotas, which threads the central val- ley of Laconia. The Ihssus and Cephissus are little streams of Attica which owe their renown chiefly to the poets. The lakes of Greece are in the main scarcely more than stag- nant pools, the back water of spring freshets. In this respect, Greece, though a mountainous country, presents a striking con- trast to Switzerland, whose numerous and deep lakes form one of the most attractive features of Swiss scenery. ISLANDS ABOUT GREECE III 122. Islands about Greece. — Very much of the history of Greece is intertwined with the islands that lie about the main- land. On the east, in the ^gean Sea, are the Cyclades, so called because they form an irregular circle round the sacred island of Delos, where was a very celebrated shrine of Apollo. Between the Cyclades and Asia Minor lie the Sporades, which islands, as the name implies, are sown irregularly over that portion of the ^gean. They are simply the peaks of submerged mountain ranges, which may be regarded as a continuation beneath the sea of the mountains of Central Greece. Just off the coast of Attica is a large island called by the ancients Euboea, and known to-day as Euvia. Close to the Asian shores are the large islands of Lemnos, Lesbos, Chios, Samos, and Rhodes. In the Mediterranean, midway between Greece and Egypt, is the large island of Crete, noted in legend for its Labyrinth and its legislator Minos. To the west of Greece he the Ionian Islands, the largest of which was called Corcyra, now Corfu. The rugged island of Ithaca was the birthplace of Odysseus (Ulysses), the hero of the Odyssey. From the waters of the Saronic Gulf, within sight of the Attic shore, rises the island of yEgina, the inhabitants of which were long the rivals of the Athenians. In the same gulf, hugging the Attic coast, is Salamis, whose name commemorates a great sea fight between the Greeks and the Persians (sec. 212). 123. Climate and Productions. — There is a great variety in the climate of Greece. In the north and upon the uplands the climate is temperate, in the south semitropical. The slopes of the mountains in Northern Greece and in Arcadia support forests of beech, oak, and pine ; while the southern districts of the Peloponnesus nourish the date palm, the citron, and the orange. Attica, midway between the north and the south, is the home of the olive and the fig. The vine grows luxuriantly in almost every part of the land. Wheat, barley, grapes,^ and oil are to-day, as 1 At the present time the seedless grape (" currant") is the most profitable of all exports. 112 THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE they were in ancient times, the chief products of the country ; but flax, honey, and the products of herds of cattle and sheep have always formed a considerable part of the economic wealth of the land. The hills of Greece supphed many of the useful metals. The ranges of the Taygetus, in Laconia, yielded iron, in which the Lacedaemonians became skillful workers. Euboea furnished copper, which created a great industry. The hills of Southern Attica con- tained silver mines, which helped the Athenians to build their earliest navy (sec. 206, n. 4). Mountains near Athens and the hills of the island of Paros afforded beautiful marbles, which made possible the creation of such splendid temples as the Parthenon. 124. Influence of the Land upon the People. — The physical geography of a country has much to do with molding the char- acter and shaping the history of its people. Mountains, isolating neighboring communities and shutting out conquering races, foster the spirit of local patriotism and preserve freedom; the sea, inviting abroad and rendering intercourse with distant countries easy, awakens the spirit of adventure and develops commercial enterprise. Now Greece is at once a mountainous and a maritime country. Mountain walls fence it off into a great number of isolated dis- tricts, and this is one reason probably why the Greeks formed so many small independent states, and never could be brought to feel or to act as a single nation.^ The Grecian peninsula is, moreover, by deep arms and bays of the sea, converted into what is in effect an archipelago. Few spots in Greece are over forty miles from the sea. Hence its people were early tempted to a seafaring Hfe — tempted to follow what Homer calls the ''wet paths" of Ocean, to see whither they might lead. Intercourse with the old civilizations of the Orient 2 The history of the cantons of Switzerland affords a somewhat similar illustration of the influence of the physical features of a country upon the political fortunes of its inhabitants. But we must be careful not to exaggerate the influence of geography upon Greek history. For the root of feelings and sentiments which were far more potent than geographical conditions in keeping the Greek cities apart, see sees. 136 and 137. THE HELLENES 1 13 — which Greece faces ^ — stirred the naturally quick and versatile Greek intellect to early and vigorous thought. The islands strewn with seeming carelessness through the ^gean Sea were " stepping- stones," which invited intercourse between the settlers of Greece and the inhabitants of the delightful coast countries of Asia Minor, and thus blended the life and history of the opposite shores. How^ much the sea did in developing enterprise and intelli- gence in the cities of the maritime districts of Greece is shown by the contrast which the advancing culture of these regions presented to the lagging civilization of the peoples of the interior districts ; as, for instance, those of Arcadia, Again, the beauty of Grecian scenery inspired many of the most striking passages of the Greek poets ; and it is thought that the exhilarating atmosphere and brilliant skies of Attica were not un- related to the lofty achievements of the Athenian intellect. Indeed, we may almost assert that the wonderful culture of Greece was the product of a land of incomparable and varied beauties acting upon a people singularly sensitive to the influences of nature. 125. The Hellenes. — The historic inhabitants of the land we' have described were called by the Romans Greeks ; but, as we have already learned, they called themselves Hellenes, from their fabled ancestor Hellen. They were divided into four famihes or tribes, — the Achaeans, the lonians, the Dorians, and the ^Tlolians. The Achaeans are represented by the Greek legends as being the dominant race in the Peloponnesus in prehistoric times. They then overshadowed to such a degree all the other tribes as to cause their name to be frequently used for the Greeks in general. The lonians w^ere a many-sided, enterprising people, who, speaking broadly, were given to trade and commerce, and lived much upon the sea. They attained unsurpassed excellence in art, Hterature, and philosophy. The most noted Ionian city was Athens, whose story is a large part of the history of Hellas. The Dorians, in their typical communities, present themselves to us as a conservative, practical, and unimaginative race. Their 3 That is to say, the most and best of her harbors are on her eastern shore. Greece thus turns her back, as it were, to Italy. 114 THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE speech and their art were both alike without ornament. Their education was almost wholly gymnastic and military. The most important city founded by them was Sparta, the rival of Athens. In the different aptitudes and contrasted tendencies of these two great Hellenic famiUes lay, in the words of the historian Ranke, " the fate of Greece." They divided Hellas into two rival parties, which, through their jealousies and contentions, finally brought to utter ruin all the bright poHtical hopes and promises of the Hellenic race. The /Eolians formed a rather ill-defined division. In historic times the name is often made to include all Hellenes not enu- merated as lonians or Dorians. These several tribes, united by bonds of language and religion, always regarded themselves as members of a single family. They were proud of their ancestry, and as exclusive almost as the Hebrews. All non-Hellenic people they called Barbarians} When the mists of antiquity first rise from Greece, about the beginning of the eighth century B.C., we discover the several famiUes of the Hellenic race in possession of Greece proper, of the islands of the ^gean, and of the western coasts of Asia Minor. Respecting their prehistoric migrations and settlements we have little or no certain knowledge. References. — Curtius,^ vol. i, pp. 9-46. Grote (ten-volume ed.), vol. ii, pp. 141-163. Abbott, vol. i, chaps, i and ii. Holm, vol. i, chaps, ii and xiv. DuNCKER, vol. i, pp. 1-33. TozER, Classical Geography (Primer). Richardson, Vacation Days in Greece. Dr. Richardson was for many years Director of the American School of Archaeology at Athens. His delightful sketches of excursions to interesting historical sites will give a much better idea of the physical features of Greece than all the formal descriptions of the geographers. Butcher, Sonie Aspects of the Greek Genius ; for the mature student. Topics for Special Study. — i. Greece as Europe in miniature. 2. Geog- raphy and race as factors in history. 3. Characteristics of the Greeks. See Butcher. 4 At first this term meant scarcely more than " unintelligible folk " ; but later it came to express aversion and contempt. 5 We shall throughout cite the standard extended histories of Greece and of Rome by giving merely the author's name with volume and page. ^ Fig. 65. — Combat between Achilles and Hector, (From a vase) CHAPTER XII PREHISTORIC TIMES ACCORDING TO GREEK ACCOUNTS 1 126. Character of the Legends. — The real history of the Greeks does not begin before the eighth century b.c. All that lies back of that date is an inseparable mixture of myth, legend, and fact. Yet this shadowy period forms the background of Greek history, and we cannot understand the Greeks of historic times without some knowledge, at least, of what they believed their ancestors had done and had experienced, for these beliefs profoundly in- fluenced their own conduct. What has been said of the war against Troy, namely, *' If not itself a fact, the Trojan War became the cause of innumerable facts," is true of the whole body of Greek legends. These tales were recited by the historian, dramatized by the tragic poet, cut in marble by the sculptor, and depicted by the painter on the walls of portico and temple. They thus constituted a very vital part of the education of every Greek, and afforded the inspiration of many a great and worthy deed. Therefore, as a sort of prelude to the story we have to tell, we shall repeat some of the legends of the Greeks touching the beginnings of civihzation in Hellas, and respecting the labors and achievements of some of their greatest national heroes. But it 1 The prehistoric period in Greece is now commonly designated as the Mycencean Age, for the reason that Mycenae in Argolis was formerly believed to have been the center of the brilliant Bronze Age culture which characterized the second millen- nium B.C. in the ^Egean lands. Recent discoveries in Crete, however, suggest the possibility of that island having been the radiating point of this civilization. "5 Il6 PREHISTORIC GREECE must be carefully borne in mind that these legends are not history. Where, however, there seems to be sufficient ground to justify an opinion, we shall suggest what may be the grain of truth in any particular legend, or what part of it may be a dim though con- fused remembrance of actual events. 127. Oriental Immigrants. — The legends of the Greeks repre- sent the early growth of civilization among them as having been promoted by the settlement in Greece of Oriental immigrants, who brought with them the arts and culture of the different countries of the East. Thus from Egypt, legend affirms, came Cecrops, bringing with him the arts, learning, and priestly wisdom of the Nile valley. He is represented as the builder of Cecropia, which became afterwards the citadel of the illustrious city of Athens. From Phoenicia Cadmus brought the letters of the alphabet, and founded the city of Thebes. The Phrygian Pelops, the pro- genitor of the renowned heroes Agamemnon and Menelaus, settled in the southern peninsula, which was called after him Peloponnesus (the Island of Pelops). The nucleus of fact in all these legends is probably this, — that the European Greeks received certain of the elements of their culture from the East. Without doubt they got from thence letters,^ a gift of incomparable value, and hints in art, besides suggestions and facts in philosophy and science. 128. The Heroes : Heracles, Theseus, and Minos. — The Greeks believed that their ancestors were a race of heroes of divine or semi-divine lineage. Every tribe, district, city, and village even, preserved traditions of its heroes, whose wonderful exploits were commemorated in song and story. Many of these personages acquired national renown and became the revered heroes of the whole Greek race. The heroes were doubtless, in some cases, historical persons, but so much of myth and fable has gathered about their names that it is impossible to separate that which is really historical from what is purely fabulous. 2 See sec. 93. LEGENDS OF THE HEROES 117 Among the most noted of the heroes are Heracles (commonly called Hercules), Theseus, and Minos. Heracles was the greatest of the national heroes of the Greeks. He is represented as performing, besides various other exploits, twelve superhuman labors, — among which were the slaying of the Nemean lion, the destruction of the Lernsean hydra, the cleansing of the stables of Augeas, — and as being at last trans- lated from a blazing pyre to a place among the immortal gods. The myth of Heracles is made up in part of the very same tales that were told of the Chaldean hero Gilgamesh (sec. 60). Through the Phoenicians and the peoples of Asia Minor these stories found their way to the Greeks, who ascribed to their own Heracles the deeds of the Babylonian hero. Theseus, a descendant of Cecrops, was the favorite hero of the Athenians, being one of their legendary kings. Among his great works were the slaying of the Minotaur, — a monster which Fig. 66. — Battle between Greeks and Amazons (From a sarcophagus) Minos, king of Crete, kept in a labyrinth and fed upon youths and maidens sent from Athens as a forced tribute, — the defeat of the Amazons, a-nd the consolidation of the twelve boroughs or hamlets of Attica into a single state. The legend of Theseus doubtless contains a substantial kernel of history. The consolidation of Attica and the founding of Athens were certainly historical events, while the slaying of the Il8 PREHISTORIC GREECE Minotaur may be taken to symbolize the freeing of the Athenians from a tribute paid to the kings of Crete. Minos, who has just been mentioned as the king of Crete, was made by tradition a legislator of divine wisdom, the suppressor of piracy in the Grecian seas, and the founder of the first great maritime state of Hellas. This tradition of Minos preserves the memory of a Cretan kingdom which recent discoveries have proved was great and powerful as early as the seventeenth century before our era.^ 129. The Argonautic Expedition. — Besides the labors and ex- ploits of single heroes, such as we have been naming, the legends of the Greeks tell of various memorable enterprises which were conducted by bands of heroes. Among these were the Argonautic Expedition and the Siege of Troy. The tale of the Argonauts is told with many variations in the legends of the Greeks. Jason, a prince of Thessaly, with fifty companion heroes, among whom were Heracles, Theseus, and Orpheus, — the latter a musician of superhuman skill, the music of whose lyre moved trees and stones, — set sail in " a fifty-oared galley," called the Argo (hence the name Aj-gonauts, given to the heroes), in search of a ''golden fleece" which was fabled to be nailed to a tree and watched by a dragon in a grove on the eastern shores of the Euxine, — an inhospitable region of unknown terrors. The expedition was successful, and after many wonderful adventures the heroes returned in triumph with the sacred relic. Different meanings have been given to this tale. In its later forms we may beheve it to commemorate the maritime activity of the Greeks of prehistoric times in the North ^gean and the Black Sea. 130. The Trojan War (legendary date 11 94-1 184 B.C.). — The Trojan War was an event about which gathered a great circle of tales and poems, all full of an undying interest and fascination. Ilios, or Troy, was a strong-walled city which had grown up in Asia Minor just south of the Hellespont. The traditions tell 3 The center of this early Cretan culture was Cnossus. Here have been unearthed, by Mr. A. J. Evans, the remains of a wonderful, many-chambered palace, which he believes to represent the Labyrinth of the tradition. THE TROJAN WAR 1 19 how Paris, son of Priam, king of Troy, visited the Spartan king Menelaus, and ungenerously requited his hospitahty by secretly bearing away to Troy his wife Helen, famous for her rare beauty. All the heroes of Greece flew to arms to avenge the wrong. A host of a hundred thousand warriors was speedily gathered. Agamemnon, king of Mycenae and brother of Menelaus, was cho- sen leader of the expedition. Under him were the '' lion-hearted Achilles " of Thessaly, the " crafty Odysseus," king of Ithaca, the aged Nestor, and many more, — the most valiant heroes of all Hellas. Twelve hundred galleys bore the gathered clans from Aulis across the ^gean to the Trojan shores. For ten years the Greeks and their allies hold in close siege the city of Priam. On the plains beneath the walls of the capi- tal the warriors of the two armies fight in general battle or con- tend in single en- counter. At first Achilles is fore- most in every fight; but a fair- faced maiden, who had fallen to him , . Fig. 67. — Battle at the Ships between the as a prize, having ^ ' ^ , , . • .• v ^ ^ Greeks and Trojans. (After a vase painting) been taken from him by his chief, Agamemnon, he is filled with wrath and sulks in his tent. Though the Greeks are often sorely pressed, still the angered hero refuses them his aid. At last, however, his friend Patroclus is killed by Hector, eldest son of Priam, and then Achilles goes forth to avenge his death. In a fierce combat he slays Hector, fastens his body to a chariot, and drags it thrice round the walls of Troy. These later events, beginning with the wrath of Achilles and ending with the funeral rites of Patroclus and Hector, form the subject of the I/iad of Homer. The city is at last taken through a device of the artful Odys- seus, and is sacked and burned to the ground, ^neas, with his aged father Anchises and a few devoted followers, escapes, and I20 PREHISTORIC GREECE after long wanderings reaches the Italian land and there becomes the founder of the Roman race. There is probably a nucleus of fact in this the most elaborate and interesting of the Grecian legends. We may beheve it to be the dim recollection of a prehistoric conflict between the Greeks and the natives of Asia Minor, arising from the attempt of the former to secure a foothold upon the coast. That there really was in prehistoric times in the Troad a city which was the stronghold of a powerful and rich royal race has been placed beyond doubt by the excavations and discoveries of Dr. SchUemann and others.^ 'ipy^'^d^'^^^^ Fig. 68. — Hissarlik, the Probable Site of Ancient Troy* (From a photograph) 131. Return of the Grecian Chieftains. — After the fall of Troy the Grecian chieftains and princes returned home. The legends represent the gods as withdrawing their protection from the hitherto favored heroes, because they had not spared the altars of the Trojans. Consequently many of them were driven in endless wanderings over sea and land. Homer's Odyssey portrays the sufferings of the " much-enduring Odysseus," impelled by divine wrath to long journeyings through strange seas. 4 Dr. SchUemann was an enthusiastic student of Homer, who beheved in the poet as a narrator of actual events. In the year 1870 he began to make excavations in the Troad (at Hissarlik), on a spot pointed out by tradition as the site of ancient Troy. His faith was largely rewarded. He found the upper part of the hill where he carried on his operations to consist of the remains of a succession of nine towns or settlements. In the second stratum from the bottom he found remains of such a character that he was led to believe that they were the actual memorials of the Troy of the Iliad. Besides uncovering massive walls and gateways belonging to the defen- sive architecture of the place, and the foundations of a palace, he exhumed numerous articles of archaic workmanship in bronze, silver, and gold, including the so-called " Treasure of Priam." Later excavations on the spot, carried on by Dr. Dorpfeld, have shown that not the " second city " but the " sixth city " was probably the one whose siege and destruction is commemorated in the Iliad. RETURN OF THE GRECIAN CHIEFTAINS 121 In some cases, according to the tradition, advantage had been taken of the absence of the princes, and their thrones had been usurped. Thus in ArgoHs, ^gisthus had won the unholy love of ^«wr7?. Fig. 69. — Grave Circle at Mycen^.^ (After Tsoiintas-Manait) Clytemnestra, wife and queen of Agamemnon, who on his return was murdered by the guilty couple.^ In pleasing contrast with 5 Accepting as historically true those legends of the Greeks which represent Argolis as having in the earliest times nourished a race of powerful rulers, and Mycenae as having been the burial place of Agamemnon and his murdered com- panions, Dr. Schliemann, made confident by his wonderful discoveries at Hissarlik, began excavations at Mycens in the year ^,-,<^cr-xr:i^s' 1876. He soon unearthed remains of an even more remarkable character than those on the supposed site of Troy. The most interesting of all the discoveries made on the spot were several tombs (Fig. 69) holding the remains of nineteen bodies, which were surrounded by an im- mense number of arti- cles of gold, silver, and bronze, — golden masks and breast- plates, drinking cups of solid gold, bronze swords inlaid with gold and silver, and personal ornaments of every kind. There was one hundred pounds in weight of gold articles alone. This discovery is declared by Professor Manatt to be" the crowning historical revelation of our time." Dr. Schliemann believed that he had actually Fig. 70. — Inlaid Sword Blades FOUND AT Mycenae 122 PREHISTORIC GREECE this we have exhibited to us the constancy of Penelope, although sought by many suitors, during the absence of her husband Odysseus. 132. The Dorian Invasion, or the Return of the Heraclidae (legendary date 1104 B.C.). — We set the tradition of the return of the Heraclidae apart from the legends just detailed, for the reason that, as we shall see in a moment, it undoubtedly contains a large historical element. The legend tells how Heracles, an Achaean, in the times before the Trojan War ruled over the Peloponnesian Achseans. Just before that event his children were driven from the land. Eighty years after the war, the hundred years of exile appointed by the fates having expired, the descendants of the hero returned at the head of the Dorians from Northern Greece, effected the conquest of the greater part of the Peloponnesus, and established themselves as masters in the land that had formerly been ruled by their semi- divine ancestor. This legend seems to be a dim remembrance of a prehistoric invasion of the Peloponnesus by the Dorians from the north of Greece, and the expulsion or subjugation of the earlier Achaean population of the peninsula.'^ 133. Migrations to Asia Minor. — The Greek legends represent that the Dorian invasion of the Peloponnesus resulted in three found the body of Agamemnon, the leader of the Greeks at Troy, This conclusion of enthusiasm has not been accepted by archaeologists ; but all are agreed that the ancient legends, in so far as they represent Mycenae as having been in early pre- Dorian times the seat of an influential and wealthy royal race, rest on a basis of actual fact. In the years 1884-1885 Dr. SchUemann made extensive excavations at Tiryns, where he laid bare the foundations of the walls of the ancient citadel and the ruins of an extensive palace like that at Mycenae. Still more recent diggings by other archaeologists have made us more perfectly acquainted with the remarkable character of the buildings on both of these prehistoric sites. 6 The evidence furnished by recent archaeological discoveries certainly tends to justify the conclusion that that prehistoric civihzation of which Dr. Schliemann and others have brought to light so many wonderful remains, was, in Greece proper, violently overwhelmed, as though by a wave of semi-barbarism. Both Mycenae and Tiryns certainly perished in a great conflagration. What took place here in the Greek peninsula a thousand years before our era has been likened to what took place in the Italian peninsula in the fifth century after Christ, when the invading German tribes overwhelmed the civilization of Rome. Plate V. — The Vaphio Cups and their Scrolls. (Cups from photographs; the scrolls drawn from facsimiles of the cups) Found in a tomb at Vaphio, near Sparta, in 1889. " The finest product of the goldsmith's art left to our wondering eyes by the Achaean civilization of Greece" {Richardson). SOCIETY IN THE HEROIC AGE 123 distinct migrations from the mother land to the shores of Asia Minor and the adjoining islands. The northwestern shore of Asia Minor was settled mainly by ^olian emigrants from Boeotia. The neighboring island of Lesbos became the home and center of ^olian culture in poetry and music. The coast to the south of the Cohans was occupied by Ionian emigrants, who, uniting with their Ionian kinsmen already set- tled upon that shore, built up twelve splendid cities (Ephesus, Miletus, etc.), which finally united to form the celebrated Ionian confederacy. South of the lonians, all along the southwestern shore of Asia Minor, the Dorians established their colonies. They also settled the important islands of Cos and Rhodes, and conquered and colonized Crete. These traditions doubtless preserve the memory of a great shift- ing of the population of Greece caused by the incoming of the conquering Dorian race. The legends of the various settlements represent them as having been effected in a very short period ; but it is probable that the movement embraced several centuries, — possibly a longer time than has been occupied by the English race in colonizing the different lands of the Western World. With these migrations to the Asiatic shores the legendary age of Greece comes to an end. From this time forward we tread upon fairly firm historical ground. 134. Society in the Heroic Age as pictured in the Homeric Poems. — The poems of Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey, which were composed before historic times in Hellas,^ were beheved by the Greeks not only to give a truthful account of events connected with the Trojan enterprise, but also to reflect a faithful picture of society in the heroic age. Hence it remains for us to add a few words upon this subject, in order to complete our sketch of pre- historic Hellas as it presented itself to the imagination of a Greek of the historic period. 7 The Homeric poems, we may believe, were composed by bards in Ionia, where the descendants of the fugitives from the Greek peninsula at the time of the Dorian invasion (sec. 132) preserved traditions of the glories of the Mycenaean culture which that invasion had overwhelmed in European Greece. 124 PREHISTORIC GREECE The Homeric poems represent the Greeks in the heroic age as ruled by hereditary kings of semi-divine or superhuman Hneage. The Iliad says, "The rule of many is not a good thing : let there be one leader only, one king, him to whom Zeus has given the scepter and guardian authority, that he may rule." ^ The king was at once the priest, the judge, and the military leader of his people. He was expected to prove his divine right to rule by his courage, strength, wisdom, and eloquence. When he ceased to display these quahties, " the scepter departed from him." The king was surrounded by a council of chiefs or nobles. This council, however, was simply an advisory body. The king listened to what the nobles had to say upon any measure he might propose, and then acted according to his own will or judgment, restrained only by the time-honored customs of the community. Next to the council of the chiefs there was a general assembly, called the Agora, made up of all the common freemen. The mem- bers of this body could not take part in any debate, nor could they vote upon any question. They were called together to hear matters discussed by the king and his chiefs, that they might know what was resolved upon, and perhaps learn the arguments for and against the resolution. This body, so devoid seemingly of all authority in the Homeric age, was destined to become the all-powerful popular assembly in the democratic cities of historic Greece. Of the condition of the common freemen we know but little : the legendary tales were concerned chiefly with the kings and the nobles. We are certain, however, that the well-to-do class owned their farms and cultivated them with their own hands, and that the poorer class labored for hire on the estates of the nobles. Slavery existed, but the slaves did not constitute as numerous a class as they became in historic times, nor do they seem in general to have been treated harshly. In the family the wife held a much more dignified and honored position than that accorded her in later times. The charming story of the constant Penelope, which we find in the Odyssey, assures us that the Homeric age cherished a chivalric feeling for woman. 8 ii. 203, 206. SOCIETY IN THE HEROIC AGE 125 In all ranks of society life was marked by a sort of patriarchal simplicity. Manual labor was not yet thought to be degrading. Odysseus constructs his own house and raft, and boasts of his skill in swinging the scythe and guiding the plow. Spinning and weav- ing were the chief occupations of the women of all classes. One pleasing and prominent virtue of the age was hospitality. There being no public inns, a sort of gentle necessity forced to the entertainment of wayfarers. The reception accorded the stranger was the same simple and open-hearted hospitality that the Arab sheik of to-day extends to the traveler whom chance brings to his tent. But while hospi- table, the nobles of the heroic age were often cruel, violent, and treacherous. Homer represents his heroes as perpetrat- ing without a blush all sorts of frauds and villainies. Piracy was , , Fig. 71. — Gallery in the South Wall considered an honor- ^^ Tiryns able occupation. "It ,, ^. . ^ ,, , „ ... ... '■ " Tiryns the strong-walled." — /had, 11. 559 was customary in wel- coming a stranger to ask him whether his object in traveling was to enrich himself by piracy, just as we might to-day ask a person whether his object be to enrich himself by mercantile speculation." Architecture is represented as having made considerable advance. The cities are walled, and the palaces of the kings possess a certain barbaric splendor. Coined money is apparently unknown, wealth being reckoned chiefly in flocks and herds and in uncoined metals. The poems make no certain mention of the art of writing, but give glowing descriptions of sculptures of marvelous workmanship. They represent the Greeks as already skilled in shipbuilding, yet as possessing no definite knowledge of the Mediterranean beyond Greece proper and the neighboring islands and shores. r^-- ^^T-'^^'^^^- 126 PREHISTORIC GREECE References. — It is difficult to give references on the subject of this chapter, for the reason that Greek mythology is generally dealt with as a whole, no effort being made to separate from the mass of stories of the gods and heroes those which we may term historical legends, — that is, those which profess to deal with the experiences and deeds of the ancestors of the historic Greeks. However, the following works, after the Jliad and Odyssey (Bryant's translation), will be found useful in the present connec- tion. CuRTius, vol. i, pp. 47-78. Grote (ten-volume ed.), vol. i, pp. 309- 469. Abbott, vol. i, chap, v ; on the Homeric poems and the Homeric society. Holm, vol. i, chaps, iii-x. Seemann, The Mythology of Greece and Rome. CHURCH, Stories from Homer and Gi-eek Story and Song ; and ZiMMERN, Old Tales from Greece, are for youthful readers. Gayley, Classic Myths in English Literature ; chaps, xvii-xxvii give the tales of the older and the younger Greek heroes, including the legends of the Argonauts, the Seven against Thebes, and the Trojan War, The following works deal with the archaeological matters covered by the footnotes of this chapter: Schliemann, Troy audits Remains (1875) 5 Mycena (1878); Ilios (1881) ; Troja (1884); and Tiryns (1885). For an admirable summary of all these works of Dr. Schliemann's and a scholarly estimate of the historical import of his discoveries, see Schuchhardt, Schliei?iann'' s Excavations. Diehl, Excursions in Greece; an account of the results of excavations at Mycenae, Tiryns, and on other sites in Greece. Gardner, Neiv Chapters in Greek History, chaps, i-v ; compares the Greek legends with recent archaeological discoveries and 'discusses the question whether or not these discoveries may be regarded as a verification in any degree of the legends. Tsountas and Manatt, The Mycenccan Age. Hall, The Oldest Civilization of Greece. Ridgeway, The Early Age of Greece, 2 vols. Topics for Special Study. — i. Schliemann's Excavations at Mycenae. 2. The centers and the character of the culture of the Mycenaean Age. 3. Theories respecting the race represented by the so-called Mycenaean civiUzation. 4. The shield of Achilles. 5. The exploits of Perseus. 6. Comparison of archaeological researches and discoveries in Egypt and Babylonia and in the ^gean lands. Fig. 72. — Fifty-Oared Greek Boat. (After a vase painting) CHAPTER XIII THE INHERITANCE OF THE HISTORIC GREEKS 135. Introductory. — We have seen in the preceding chapter what the Greeks of the historic age beUeved respecting the life and doings of their forefathers in prehistoric times. It is certain that the prehistoric Greeks did not Hve in such a romantic world as their children imagined, and that they did not perform all the wonderful exploits which were attributed to them; yet it is certain that the Greek race before its appearance in history had had a long and wonderful experience. How do we know this? Just as we know that a man mature in character and rich in culture has seen much of the world. The Greeks when they appear in history appear with their heads and hands full of those things which are alone the gift of life. They possessed age-marked political and religious institutions, a wonderfully copious language, a rich and varied mythology, an unrivaled epic literature, and an art which though undeveloped was yet full of promise. Therefore to complete our introduction to the study of the Greeks of historic times, we shall now give a short account of their actual possessions when they first appeared in the light of history. I. Political Institutions 136. The City-State; its Elements, — the Clan, the Phratry, and the Tribe. — The light that falls upon Greece in the eighth and seventh centuries B.C. shows the land filled with cities. Respecting the nature of these cities we must say a word, for it is with them — with cities — that Greek history has to do. In the first place, each of these cities was an independent, self- governing community, like a modern nation. It was a city-stale. 127 128 INHERITANCE OF THE HISTORIC GREEKS It made war and peace and held diplomatic relations with its neighbors. Its citizens were aliens in every other city. In the second place, these city-states were, as we think of inde- pendent states, ver^^mall.^ In most cases each consisted of nothing more than a single walled town with a little circumjacent farming or pasture land. Sometimes, however, the city-state embraced, besides the central town, a large number of smaller places. Thus the city-state of Athens, in historic times, included all Attica with its hundred or more villages and settlements, some of which were walled towns. In all other cases, however, the outlying villages, if any, were so close to the walled town that all their inhabitants, in the event of a sudden raid by enemies, could get to the city gates in one or two hours at most. In the third place, each of these early cities was made up of a graded series of smaller bodies. At the bottom were clans/ {gentes). TTKes'e were^'united'tO'^rm phratries or brotherhoods ; the phratries were united to form tribes ; and the tribes were united to form the city. Of these several bodies the smallest, that is the clan, was the most important.^ The members of the clan were bound together not only by the ties of kinship, but also, as in the case of the members of the phratry and of the tribe, by the ties of religion. All were the actual or reputed descendants of a common ancestor whom they worshiped as a sort of guardian divinity. It was only members of these clans who at first enjoyed the rights of citizenship.^ 1 There is a limit, Aristotle argued, to the size of a city as there is to a plant, an animal, or a ship. It should be large enough, he maintained, to be " self-sufficing," and yet not too large to be well governed. That the government might be good he thought that the city should be small enough to enable each citizen to knovi^ all his fellow-citizens. 2 The clan was simply the expanded family ; for in primitive society the family as it expands holds together, being united by the worship of ancestors, whereas in advanced society as it expands it disintegrates, the several households no longer living together, but each usually going its own way. This forms a fundamental difference between primitive and modern society. 3 It was only after a long lapse of time that the ties which bound together these primitive family groups became relaxed, largely through a change in the religious beliefs of men, and that the way was thus paved for the entrance of strangers into THE INFLUENCE OF THE CITY 129 137. The Influence of the City upon Greek History. — We cannot understand Greek history unless we get at the outset a clear idea of the feelings of a Greek towards the city of which he was a member. It was the body in which he Hved, moved, and had his being. It was his country, his fatherland, for which he lived and for which he died. Exile from his native city was to him a fate scarcely less dreaded than death. This devotion of the Greek to his city was the sentiment which corresponds to patriotism amongst us, only, being a narrower as well as a religious feeling, it was much more intense. It was this strong city feeling among the Greeks which prevented them from ever uniting to form a single nation. The history of Greece from first to last is, in general, the history of a vast num- ber of independent cities wearing one another out with their never- ending disputes and wars arising from a thousand and one petty causes of rivalry, jealousy, and hatred. But it was this very thing that made Hfe in the Greek cities so intense and strenuous, and that developed so wonderfully the fac- ulties of the Greek citizen. There arose in the Hellenic cities a rich and many-sided culture, which became the precious legacy of Greece to the world at large. In a word, the wonderful thing which we call Greek civilization was the flower and fruitage of the city-state. II. Religious Ideas and Institutions 138. Ideas of the Greeks respecting the System of the Universe. — Forming another important element of the inheritance of the historic Greeks were their religious ideas and institutions. In speaking of these we shall begin with a word respecting their cosmography, or their ideas in regard to the system of the universe. the city. This great revokition, the greatest that ever took place in the society of antiquity, was already in progress, both in Italy and in Greece, at the opening of the historical period, and resulted finally in making property and residence instead of birth and worship the basis of civil and pohtical rights and privileges. See sees. 188, 227. 130 INHERITANCE OF THE HISTORIC GREEKS The Greeks supposed the earth to be, as it appears, a plane, circular in form like a shield. Around it flowed the " mighty strength of the ocean river," a stream broad and deep, beyond which on all sides lay realms of Cimmerian darkness and terror. The heavens were a solid vault, or dome, whose edge shut down close upon the earth. Beneath the earth, reached by subter- ranean passages, was Hades, a vast region, the realm of departed The World according to Homer souls. Still beneath this was the prison Tartarus, a pit deep and dark, made fast by strong gates of brass and iron. The sun was an archer god, borne in a fiery chariot up and down the steep pathway of the skies. Naturally it was imagined that the regions in the extreme east and west, which were bathed in the near splendors of the sunrise and the sunset, were lands of delight and plenty. The eastern was the favored country of the Ethiopians,^ a land which even Zeus himself so loved to visit that 6 There was also a western division of these people. THE OLYMPIAN COUNCIL 131 Fig. 73. — Group of Gods and Goddesses (From the frieze of the Parthenon) " The chief gods, in striking contrast with the monstrous divinities of the Oriental mythologies, had been moulded by the fine Hellenic imagination into human forms of surpassing beauty and grace " often he was found absent from Olympus when sought by suppHants. In the western region, adjoining the ocean stream, were the Isles of the Blest (Elysium), the abodes of the shades of heroes and poets.® 139. The Olym- pian Council. — At the head of the Greek pantheon there was a council of twelve members, comprising six gods and as many god- desses. The male deities were Zeus, the father of goSs and men; Posei- don, ruler of the sea ; Apollo, or Phoebus, the god of light, of music, and of prophecy ; Ares, tliTgoTofwar ; He phaestus , the deformed god of fire, and the forger of the thunderbolts of feu's ; Hernies , the wing-footed herald of the celestials, the god of invention and of commerce. The female di- vinities were Her;^, ^ ^ the proud and jealous queen of Zeus ; Athena, or P a 11 a s, -^"'w"!i o sprang full-grown from the forehead of Zeus, — the god- dess of wisdom and the patroness of the domestic arts ; Artemis, the Fig. 74. — The Carrying off of Persephone by Hades to the Underworld; her Leave- Taking of her Mother Demeter A myth of the seasons connected with the Eleusinian mysteries * These conceptions, it will be understood, belong to the early period of Greek mythol- ogy. As the geographical knowledge of the Greeks became more extended, they modi- fied considerably the topography not only of the upper but also of the nether world. 132 INHERITANCE OF THE HISTORIC GREEKS goddess of the chase ; Aphrodite^^the goddess of love and beauty, born of the white sea foam ; Hestia, the goddess of the hearth ; Demeter/ the earth mother, the goddess of grains and harvests.^ These'great deities were simply magnified human beings. They give way to fits of anger and jealousy. All the celestial council, at the sight of Hephaestus Hmping across the palace floor, burst into " inextinguishable laughter " ; and Aphrodite, weeping, moves all to tears. They surpass mortals rather in power than in size of body. They can render themselves visible or invisible to human eyes. Their food is ambrosia and nectar ; their movements are swift as light. They may suffer pain ; but death can never come to them, for they are immortal. Their abode is Mount Olympus and the airy regions above the earth. 140. The Delphian Oracle and its Influence on Greek Life and History. — The most precious part perhaps of the religious herit- age of the historic Greeks from the misty Hellenic foretime was the oracle of Apollo at Delphi. The Greeks believed that in the early ages the gods were wont to visit the earth and mingle with men. But even in Homer's time this familiar intercourse was a thing of the past, — a tradition of a golden age that had passed away. In historic times, though the gods often revealed their will and intentions through signs and portents, still they granted a more special communication of "i The cult or worship of Demeter and Persephone was connected with the Eleu- sinian mysteries celebrated at Eleusis in Attica, These secrets were so carefully- guarded that to this day it is not kno\vn what they really were. It seems, however, that the hopeful doctrine of a future life more real and satisfying than that repre- sented by the popular religion was taught, or at least suggested, by the symbolism of the mysteries, and that the initiated were helped thereby to live better and happier lives, 8 Besides the great gods and goddesses that constituted the Olympian Council, there was an almost infinite number of other deities, celestial personages, and mon- sters neither human nor divine. Hades ruled over the lower realms ; Dionysus was the god of wine ; Eros, of love ; Iris was the goddess of the rainbow, and the special messenger of Zeus ; Hebe (goddess) was the cupbearer of the celestials ; the goddess Nemesis was the punisher of crime, and particularly the queller of the proud and arrogant ; iEolus was the ruler of the winds, which he confined in a cave secured by mighty gates. There were nine Muses, inspirers of art and song. The Nymphs were beautiful maidens, who peopled the woods, the fields, the rivers, the lakes, and the ocean. Three Fates allotted Hfe and death, and three Furies (Eumenides, or Erinnyes) avenged crime, especially murder and sacrilegious crimes. Besides these there were the Centaurs, the Cyclopes, the Harpies, the Gorgons, and a thousand others. THE DELPHIAN ORACLE 133 counsel through what were known as oracles. These communi- cations, it was believed, were made sometimes by Zeus,^ but more commonly by Apollo. Not everywhere, but only in chosen places, did these gods manifest their presence and communicate the divine will. These favored spots were called oracles, as were also the responses there received. The most renowned of the Greek oracles, as we have intimated, was that at Delphi, in Phocis. Here, from a deep fissure in the rocks, arose stupefying vapors, which were thought to be the inspiring breath of Apollo. Over this spot was erected a temple in honor of the Revealer. The com- munication was generally received by the Pythia, or priestess, seated upon a tripod placed above the ori- fice. As she became overpowered by the vapors, she uttered the mes- sage of the god. These mutterings of the Pythia were taken down by attendant priests, interpreted, and written in hexameter verse. Some- times the divine will was communi- cated to the pious seeker by dreams and visions granted him while sleep- ing in the temple of the oracle. Some of the responses of the oracle contained plain and whole- some ad\ice ; but very many of them, particularly those that implied a knowledge of the future, were made obscure and ingen- iously ambiguous, so that they might correspond with the event however affairs should turn.^'^ The oracle of Delphi gained a celebrity wide as the world ; it was often consulted by the monarchs of Asia and the people of Fig. Apollo 9 The oracle of Zeus of ^\•idest repute w-as that at Dodona, in Epirus, where the priests listened for the voice of the god in the I'ustling leaves of the sacred oak. 10 Thus Croesus at the time he made vr^x on Cyrus (sec. 96) v-as told in response to his inquiry that if he undertook the w-ar he would destroy a great empire. He did, indeed — but the empire was his own. 134 INHERITANCE OF THE HISTORIC GREEKS Rome in times of extreme danger and perplexity. Among the Greeks scarcely any undertaking was entered upon without the will and sanction of the oracle being first sought. Especially true was this in the founding of colonies. Apollo was believed " to take delight in the founding of new cities." No colony, it was believed, could prosper that had not been estab- lished with the sanction or under the superintendence of the Delphian god.^^ The Delphian oracle, furthermore, exerted a profound influence upon Hellenic unity. Delphi was, in some respects, such a reli- gious center of Hellas as papal Rome was of mediaeval Europe. It was the common altar of the Greek race. By thus providing a worship open to all, Delphi drew together by bonds of religious sentiment and fraternity the numberless communities of Greece, and created, if not a political, at least a religious union that em- braced the entire Hellenic world. ^^ 141. The Olympian Games. — Another of the most characteristic of the religious institutions of the Greeks which they inherited from prehistoric times was the sacred games celebrated at Olym- pia in EHs, in honor of the Olympian Zeus. The origin of this festival is lost in the obscurity of tradition; but by the opening of the eighth century b.c. it had assumed national importance. In 776 B.C. a contestant named Coroebus was victor in the foot race at Olympia, and as from that time the names of the victors were carefully registered, that year came to be used by the Greeks as the starting point in their chronology. The games were held every fourth year, and the interval between two successive festivals was known as an Olympiad.-^^ 11 The managers of the oracle, doubtless through the visitors to the shrine, kept themselves informed respecting the islands and coasts of the Mediterranean, and thus were able to give good advice to those contemplating the founding of a new settlement. 1'-^ For an illustration of the influence of the oracle upon Greek morality, read the story of Glaucus (Herodotus, vi. 86). 13 The date of an occurrence was given by saying that it happened in the first, second, third, or fourth year of such an Olympiad, — the first, second, or third, etc. This mode of designating dates, however, did not come into general use in Greece before the third century B.C. THE GRECIAN GAMES 135 The contests consisted of foot races, boxing, wrestling, and other athletic games. Later, chariot racing was introduced, and became the most popular of all the contests. The competitors must be of Hellenic race ; must have undergone special training in the gymnasium ; and must, moreover, be unblemished by any crime against the state or sin against the gods. Spectators from all parts of the world crowded to the festival. The victor was crowned with a garland of sacred olive ; heralds proclaimed his name abroad; his native city received him as a conqueror, sometimes through a breach made in the city walls ; his statues, executed by eminent artists, were erected at Olympia and in his own city; sometimes even divine honor and worship were accorded to him ; and poets and orators vied with the artist in perpetuating his name and triumphs as the name and triumphs of one who had reflected immortal honor upon his native state. 142. The Pythian, the Nemean, and the Isthmian Games. — Besides the Olympian games there were transmitted from pre- historic times the germs at least of three other national festivals. These were the P ythian , held in honor of Apollo, near his shrine and oracle at Delphi ; the Nemean, celebrated in honor of Zeus, at Nemea, in Argolis; and the^fsthmian, observed in honor of Poseidon, on the Isthmus of Corinth. Just when these festivals had their beginnings it is impossible to say, but by the time the historic period had fairly opened, that is to say, by the sixth cen- tury B.C., they had lost their local and assumed a national charac- ter, and were henceforth to be prominent features of the common life of the Greek cities. 143. Influence of the Grecian Games. — For more than a thou- sand years these national festivals, particularly those celebrated at Olympia, exerted an immense influence upon the social, reli- gious, and Hterary life of Hellas. They enkindled among the widely scattered Hellenic states and colonies a c ommon Ijte r- ary taste and enthusiasm ; for into all the four great festivals, save the Olympian, were introduced, sooner or later, contests in poetry, oratory, and history. During the festivals, poets and 136 INHERITANCE OF THE HISTORIC GREEKS historians read their choicest productions, and artists exhibited their masterpieces. The extraordinary honors accorded to the victors stimulated the contestants to the utmost, and strung to the highest tension every power of body and mind. Particularly were the games promotXve- ol sculpture, since they afforded the sculptor living models for his art (sec. 318). "Without the Olympic games," says Holm, "we should never have had Greek sculpture." Moreover, they promoted intercourse^and jtrad e ; for the festi- vals naturally became great centers of traffic and exchange during the progress of the games. They softened, too, the manners of the people, turning their thoughts from martial ex- ploits and giving the states respite Fig. 76. — Greek Runners fr-om-warTtofdur^ ing the season in which the religious games were held it was sacrilegious to engage in military expeditions. They also promoted intercourse between the different Grecian cities and kept alive common^ellemcieelin^and sentiments. In all these ways, though they never drew the states into a com- mon political union, still they did impress a common character upon their social, intellectual, and religious Hfe.^* 144. The Amphictyonic Council. — Closely connected with the rehgious festivals were the so-called Amphictyonies, or " leagues of neighbors," which formed another important part of the bequest from the legendary age to historic Greece. These were asso- ciations of a number of cities or tribes for the celebration of religious rites at some shrine, or for the protection of some par- ticular temple. 14 The Olympian games, after having been suspended since the fourth century of our era, were revived, with an international character, in 1896, at Athens. DOCTRINE OF DIVINE JEALOUSY 137 Preeminent among all such unions was that known as the Delphic Amphictyony, or simply The Amphictyony, which was fabled to have been instituted by the hero Amphictyon, a pre- historic king of Attica. This was a league of twelve of the sub- tribes of Hellas, whose main object was the protection of the temple of Apollo at Delphi. Another of its purposes was, by humane regulations, to miti- gate the cruelties of war. The following oath was taken by the members of the league : "We will not destroy any Amphictyonic town, nor cut it off from running water, in war or in peace ; if any one shall do so, we will march against him and destroy his city." This was one of the first steps taken in the practice of international law. The Amphictyons waged in behalf of the Delphic god Apollo a number of crusades or sacred wars. The first of these occurred at the opening of the sixth century b.c. (probably about 595- 586), and was carried on against the Phocian towns of Crissa and Cirrha, whose inhabitants had been guilty of annoying the pilgrims on their way to the shrine. The cities were finally taken and leveled to the ground. Their territory was also con- secrated to the gods, which meant that it was never thereafter to be plowed or planted, or in any way devoted to secular use. 145. Doctrine of Divine Jealousy. — Several rehgious or semi- rehgious ideas, which were a bequest to the historic Greeks from primitive times, colored so deeply all their conceptions of life, and supplied them so often with motives of action, that we must not fail to take notice of them here. Two of these ideas related to the envious disposition of the gods and the nature of the life after death. The Greeks were impressed, as all peoples and generations have been, with the mutations of fortune and the vicissitudes of human life. Their observation and experience had taught them that long-continued good fortune and unusual prosperity often issue at last in sudden and overwhelming calamity. They attrib- uted this to the jealousy of the gods, who, they imagined, were envious of mortals that through such prosperity seemed to have 138 INHERITANCE OF THE HISTORIC GREEKS become too much like one of themselves. Thus the Greeks beheved the downfall of Croesus, after his extraordinary course of uninterrupted prosperity, to have been brought about by the envy of the celestials, and they colored the story to bear out this version of the matter. Later, as the moral feelings of the Greeks became truer, they put a different interpretation upon the facts. They said that the downfall of the great was not due to the etwy of the gods, but to their righteous indignation^ aroused by the insolence and pre- sumptuous pride engendered by over-great prosperity. 146. Ideas of the Future. — To the Greeks hfe here on earth was so bright and joyous a thing that they looked upon death as a great calamity. Moreover, they pictured life after death, except in the case of a favored few, as being hopeless and aimless.^^ The Elysian Fields, away in the land of sunset, were, indeed, filled with every delight ; but these were the abode only of the great heroes and benefactors of the race. The great mass of mankind were doomed to Hades, where the spirit existed as "a feeble, joyless phantom." '^^ So long as the body remained unburied, the shade wandered without rest ; hence the sacredness of the rites of sepulture. III. Language, Mythology, Literature, and Art 147. The Greek Language. — One of the most wonderful things which the Greeks brought out of their dim foretime was their language. At the beginning of the historic period their language was already one of the richest and most perfectly elaborated languages ever spoken by human Hps. Through what number of centuries this language was taking form upon the Hps of the 15 Homer makes the shade of the great Achilles in Hades to say: " I would be A laborer on earth and serve for hire Some man of mean estate, who makes scant cheer, Rather than reign o'er all who have gone down To death."— Od. xi. 489-490 (Bryant's trans.). 16 Compare sees. 57 and THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE GREEKS 139 forefathers of the historic Greeks, we can only vaguely imagine. It certainly bears testimony to a long period of Hellenic Hfe lying behind the historic age in Hellas. 148. The Mythology of the Greeks. — Another wonderful pos- session of the Greeks when they first appeared in history was their mythology. All races in the earher stages of their develop- ment are "myth-makers," but no race has ever created such a rich and beautiful mythology as did the ancient Greeks, and this for the reason that no other race was ever endowed with so fertile and lively an imagination. This mythology exercised a great influence upon the life and thought of the ancient Greeks. Their religion, their poetry, their art, and their history were one and all deeply impressed by this wonderful collection of legends and myths. Some of these stories inspired religious feeling ; some afforded themes to the epic and tragic poets ; others suggested subjects to the sculptor — the whole mythology was cut in marble ; and still others inspired the actors in Greek history to many an heroic deed or adventurous undertaking. 149. Early Greek Literature ; the Homeric Poems. — The rich and flexible language of the Greeks had already in prehistoric times been wrought into epic poems whose beauty and perfec- tion are unequaled by the similar productions of any other people or race. These epics transmitted from the Greek foretime are known as the "Homeric poems," consisting of the Iliad ^xA the Odyssey. Neither the exact date nor the authorship of the Homeric poems is known (sec. 330). That they were the prized possession of the Greeks at the beginning of the historical period is all that it is important for us to note here. They were a sort of Bible to the Greeks, and exercised an incalculable influence not only upon the religious but also upon the literary life of the entire Hellenic world. 150. Early Greek Art. — In the field of art the heritage of his- toric Greece from the legendary age consisted rather in a certain inherited instinct or feeling for the beautiful than in acquired 140 INHERITANCE OF THE HISTORIC GREEKS skill. " The Homeric poetry was, indeed," says Professor Jebb, "instinct with the promises of Hellenic art. Such qualities of poetical thought, such forms of language, announced a race from which great artists might be expected to spring." ^^ This prophecy we shall see passing into fulfillment in the ideal perfection of the art of Phidias and Praxiteles. References. — Curtius, vol. ii, pp. i-i 1 1. Grote (ten-volume ed.), vol. ii, pp. 164-194; vol. iii, pp. 276-297. Holm, vol. i, chaps, i, xi, and xix. CouLANGES, The Ancient City, bks. i-iii. Fowler, The City-State of the Greeks a7id Rofnans, chaps, i-iii. Richardson, Vacation Days in Greece, " Delphi, the Sanctuary of Greece," and " Dodona." Gardner, A^ezv Chap- ters in Greek History, chap, ix, " Olympia and the Festivals," and chap, xiii, "Eleusis and the Mysteries." Diehl, Excursions in Greece, chap, vii; on the Grecian games. Topics for Special Study. — i. Religion as the organizer of the ancient city-state. See Coidanges and Fo7vler. 2. The Doctrine of Divine Envy in Herodotus. Consult Index under Crcesics, Poly crates, and Artabajius. 3. The influence of the Delphian oracle compared with that of the mediaeval Papacy. 4. The story of Demeter and Persephone. 5. The Eleusinian mysteries. 6. The Olympian games. 17 "When the Hellenes created the Epos, they were already Greeks; i.e. the chosen people of poetry and art." — Perrot and Chipiez, History of Art in Primitive Greece, vol. i, p. 7. CHAPTER XIV THE GROWTH OF SPARTA 151. The Early Ascendancy of Argos ; King Pheidon. — We have seen how the Dorians, long before the historic period, in- vaded the Peloponnesus,^ and subjected or drove out the greater part of the Achaean population then possessing the land (sec. 132). One result of the invasion was the establishment of a number of Dorian city-states, of which Sparta, in the south of the peninsula, came in time to be chief and leader. But before Sparta acquired supremacy in the Peloponnesus, another Dorian city in the north had secured, and for a consid- erable time maintained, a position of preeminence. This was Argos, which arose in Argolis, near the ruins of the old Mycenaean strongholds.^ For a long time we see the rising city-state only through the mist of uncertain tradition. Shadowy forms of Argive kings move before us, but it is not until the eighth century before our era that we are able to make out clearly the figure of a single per- sonage. Then King Pheidon stands out in a light strong enough to enable us to pronounce him a man of real flesh and blood .^ The most noteworthy matter associated by tradition with the name of Pheidon is connected with the economic life of the times. He is said to have been the first to coin copper and silver in 1 Previous to their migration the Dorians dwelt in Thessaly, on the eastern slopes of the Pindus. Driven from their seats by an invasion, they migrated south- ward, and after dwelling for a time in Central Greece, moved on into the Pelopon- nesus. A part of the race, however, remaining behind, formed the Doris of historic times. 2 At Mycenae, the city of Agamemnon, the Dorian conquerors walked for centu- ries over the graves of the ancient royal race of that city without the least concep- tion of what treasures of gold and silver were buried beneath their feet (sec. 131, n. 5). 3 The date of Pheidon is not known with certainty, but probably it falls about 770-730 B.C. 141 142 THE GROWTH OF SPARTA Greece, and to have introduced a new or improved scale of weights and measures. This Pheidonian system of coinage, weights, and measures was of Babylonian origin (sec. 62 ) . Its introduction into Greece shows how deep an influence the civilization of the East was at this early period exercising upon the rising cities of Hellas. After Pheidon, Argos sank into comparative obscurity. In the sixth century she was overshadowed by the rising Dorian cities of Corinth and Sicyon, and especially by the growing power of Sparta. 152. The Location of Sparta. — Sparta, the most renowned after Athens of the cities of Hellas, was the chief of the Dorian cities m-- '-J3 rr^^^^mm^^^^s^ ■%JSMM^^m^^^%k 1 1 ^^^ »«S|fRl '.nj ^li-^^-^^^-^3^3.^^W-i- ■^^^^^7K-. mmii^'m f -^F'^ J 1 njl ^ii^^^^^ ^^'^^M »%r ■ B ^^■^ jaf,,,.,;:;' ;-; .■^. ^ :M^ii ^^y.„-« J & SI^hS ^-/" : ' .::m. .,..-^ w^^fc*^ «* =- ■' !;■ ■'• ^^' -.^^K- '■' --■ - -'^^ ■ = ■ - ■ ^''r'''.' ■ ' "'-^-.-:. ■ - ■ , ^^/^^^F''-'-' :-^'-^^ - ■ - 51 3iff3 -.fewp-n ly ■, .^-^T^TfiSf'"', jSifei-*--- life ^S H. '^^ ':'^ '^l^k ^^S Fig. 77. — Sparta, with the Ranges of the Tavgetus in THE Background. (From a photograph) of the Peloponnesus which owed their origin or importance to the circumstances of the Dorian invasion. It was situated in the deep valley of the Eurotas, in Laconia, about thirty miles from the sea. The settlement took its name, Sparta,'^ from the circumstance that the group of villages was built upon tillable ground, whereas the core of most (Ireek cities consisted of a lofty rock or acrop- olis. But Sparta needed no citadel. Her situation, surrounded as she was by almost impassable mountain barriers, and far removed 4 liTrapTT], sown land. 3 CLASSES IN THE SPARTAN STATE 143 from the sea, was her sufficient defense. Indeed, the Spartans seem to have thought it unnecessary even to erect a wall round their city, which stood open on every side until late and degen- erate times. And events justified this feeling of security. So difficult of access to an enemy is the valley, that during more than four hundred years of Spartan history the waters of the Eurotas never once reflected the camp fires of an invading army. 153. Classes in the Spartan State. Before proceeding to speak of the social and political institutions of the Spartans, we must first notice the three classes — Spartans, Perioeci, and Helots — into which the population of Laconia was divided. / The Spartans proper were the descendants of the conquerors of the country, and were Dorian in race and language. They com- posed but a small fraction of the entire population, at no period numbering more th an ten thousand men cap able of bearing arms. "2^. The Perioeci (dwellers around), who constituted the second class, were the subjugated jiatives. They are said to have out- numbered the Spartans three to one. They were allowed to retain possession of their lands, but were forced to pay tribute- rent, and in times of war to fight for the glory and interest of their Spartan masters. The third and lowest class was composed of slaves, or serfs, called Helo^. The larger number of these were laborers upon the estates of the Spartans. They were the property of the state, and not of the individual Spartan lords, among whom they were distributed by lot. These Helots had no rights, practically, which their Spartan masters felt bound to respect. It is affirmed that when they grew too numerous for the safety of the state, their numbers were thinned by a deliberate massacre of the surplus population.^ 5 " Once, when they [the Spartans] were afraid of the number and vigour of the Helot youth, this was wliat they did: They proclaimed that a selection would be made of those Helots who claimed to have rendered the best service to the Lacedaemonians in war, and promised them liberty. The announcement was intended to test them; it was thought that those among them who were foremost in asserting tlieir freedom would be most high-spirited, and most likely to rise against their masters. So they selected about two thousand, who were crowned with 144 THE GROWTH OF SPARTA 154. The Legend of Lycurgus. — Of the history of Sparta before the First Olympiad we have no certain knowledge. According to tradition, peace, prosperity, and rapid growth were secured through the adoption of a most remarkable political constitution framed by a great lawgiver named Lycurgus.*^ Legend represents Lycurgus as having fitted himself for his great work through an acquaintance, by converse with priests and sages, with the laws and institutions of different lands. He is said to have studied with zeal the laws of Minos, the legendary law- giver of Crete, and to have become learned, like the legislator Moses, in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. Upon the return of Lycurgus to Sparta, — we still follow the tradition, — his learning and wisdom soon made him the leader of a strong party. After much opposition a system of laws and regulations drawn up by him was adopted by the Spartan people. Then, binding his countrymen by a solemn oath that they would carefully observe his laws during his absence, he went into an unknown exile. It is probable that Lycurgus was a real person, and that he had something to do with shaping the Spartan constitution. But it is almost certain that he simply reformed a constitution already in existence ; for it is a proverb that constitutions grow and are not made. Circumstances, doubtless, were in the main the real creator of the peculiar political institutions of Sparta, — the cir- cumstances that surrounded a small band of conquerors in the midst of a large and subject population. 155. The Spartan Constitution : the Kings ; the Senate ; the General Assembly ; and the Ephors. — The so-called constitution of Lycurgus provided for two joint kings, a Senate of Elders, a General Assembly, and a sort of executive board composed of five persons called Ephors. garlands and went in procession round the temples ; they were supposed to have received their liberty ; but not long afterwards the Spartans put them all out of the way, and no man knew how any one of them came by his end." — Thucydides, iv. 80 (Jowett's trans.). 6 The date of Lycurgus falls somewhere in the ninth century B.C., probably near its close. THE SPARTAN CONSTITUTION 145 The two kings corresponded in some respects to the two consuls in the later Roman republic/ One served as a check upon the other. This double sovereignty worked admirably ; for five centuries there was no successful attempt on the part of a Spartan king to subvert the constitution. The power of the joint kings, it should be added, came to be rather nominal than real, save in time of war. The Senate consisted of twenty-eight elders. The two coordi- nate kings were also members, thus raising the number to thirty. The duties of the body seem to have been both of a judicial and a legislative character. No one could become a senator until he had reached the age of sixty. The General Assembly was composed of all the citizens of Sparta over thirty yearFoF^ageT'^'Ey this Wd'y laws were made and questions of peace and war decided ; but nothing could be brought before it save such matters as the Senate had previously decided might be entertained by it. In striking contrast to the custom at Athens, all matters were decided without general debate, only the magistrates and persons specially invited being allowed to address the assemblage. The Spartans were fighters, not talkers ; they hated windy discussion. The board of Ephors was composed, as we have noticed, of five persoJiSv,elected in some way not known to us. This body gradually drew to itself many of the powers and functions of the Senate, as well as much of the authority of the associate kings. 156. Regulations as to Land, Trade, and Money. — Plutarch says that Lycurgus, seeing that the lands had fallen largely into the hands of the rich, made a general redistribution of them, allotting an equal portion to each of the nine thousand Spartan citizens, and a smaller and less desirable portion to each of the 7 Various explanations are given of the origin of this dual monarchy. One theory supposes one king to represent the Achaean race and the other the Dorian ; a second assumes that the double monarchy arose from the union of two Dorian settlements ; while still a third regards the two kings as representing two leading families at Sparta, whose rival claims to the throne were accommodated by raising a member of each to the royal dignity. See Abbott, History of Greece, vol i, pp. 206, 207. 146 THE GROWTH OF SPARTA thirty thousand Perioeci. It is not probable that there ever was such an exact division of landed property. The Spartan theory, it is true, seems to have been that every free man should possess a farm large enough to support him without work, so that he might give himself wholly to his duties as a citizen ; but as a matter of fact there existed, at certain periods at least, great inequality in landed possessions among the Spartans. In the fourth century, according to Plutarch, not more than one hun- dred of the citizens held any land at all. The Spartans were forbidden to engage in commerce or to pursue any trade ; all their time must be passed in the chase, or in gymnastic and martial exercises. Iron was made the sole money of the state. This money, as described by Plutarch, was so heavy in proportion to its value that the amount needed to make a trifling purchase required a yoke of oxen to draw it. The object of Lycurgus in instituting such a currency was, we are told, to prevent its being used for the purchase of worthless foreign stuff. ^ 157. The Public Tables. — The most peculiar, perhaps, of the Spartan institutions were the public meals. In order to correct the extravagance with which the tables of the rich were often spread, Lycurgus is said to have ordered that all the citizens should eat at public and common tables. This was their custom, but Lycurgus could have had nothing to do with instituting it. It was part of their military life. Every citizen was required to contribute to these common meals a certain amount of flour, fruit, game, or pieces from the sacrifices ; if any one failed to pay his contribution, he was degraded and disfranchised. Excepting the Ephors, none, not even the kings, was excused from sitting at the common mess. 8 The real truth about this iron money is simply this : the conservative, non- trading Spartans retained longer than the other Grecian states the use of a primi- tive medium of exchange. Gold and silver money was not introduced into Sparta until about the close of the fifth century B.C., when the great expansion of her interests rendered a change in her money system absolutely necessary. In referring the establishment of the early currency to Lycurgus the Spartans simply did in this case just what they did in regard to their other usages. EDUCATION OF THE YOUTH 147 One of the kings, returning from an expedition, presumed to dine privately with his wife, but received therefor a severe reproof. A luxury-loving Athenian once visited Sparta and seeing the coarse fare of the citizens, which seems to have consisted in the main of a black broth, is reported to have declared that now he understood the Spartan disregard of life in battle : " Any one," said he, "must naturally prefer death to life on such fare as this." 158. Education of the Youth. — Children at Sparta were regarded as belonging to the state. Every male infant was brought before the Council of Elders, and if it did not seem Hkely to become a robust and useful citizen, was exposed in a mountain glen. At seven the education and training of the youth were committed to the charge of pubhc officers, called boy trainers. The aim of the entire course was to make a nation of soldiers who should contemn toil and danger and prefer death to military dishonor. The mind was cultivated only as far as might contribute to the main object of the system. Reading and writing were not taught, and the art of rhetoric was despised. Only martial poems were recited. The Spartans had a profound contempt for the subtle- ties and Hterary acquirements of the Athenians. Spartan brevity was a proverb, whence our word laconic (from Laconia), meaning a concise and pithy mode of expression. Boys were taught to respond in the fewest words possible. At the public tables they were not permitted to speak until questioned ; they sat " silent as statues." As Plutarch puts it, " Lycurgus was for having the money bulky, heavy, and of little value ; and the language, on the contrary, very pithy and short, and a great deal of sense compressed in a few words." But while the mind was neglected, the body was carefully trained. In running, leaping, wrestling, and hurling the spear the Spartans acquired the most surprising nimbleness and dex- terity. At the Olympian games Spartan champions more fre- quently than any others bore off the prizes of victory. But before all things else was the Spartan youth taught to bear pain unflinchingly. He was inured to the cold of winter by being forced to pass through that season with only the light dress 148 THE GROWTH OF SPARTA of summer. His bed was a bundle of river reeds. Sometimes he was placed before the altar of Artemis and scourged just for the purpose of accustoming his body to pain. Frequently, it is said, boys died under the lash without revealing their suffering by look or moan. Another custom tended to the same end as the foregoing usage. The boys were at times compelled to forage for their food. If detected, they were severely punished for having been so unskillful as not to get safely away with their booty. This custom, as well as the fortitude of the Spartan youth, is familiar to all through the story of the boy who, having stolen a young fox and concealed it beneath his tunic, allowed the animal to tear out his vitals with- out betraying himself by the movement of a muscle. That the laws and regulations of the Spartan constitution were admirably adapted to the end in view, — the rearing of a nation of skillful and resolute warriors, — the long military supremacy of Sparta among the states of Greece abundantly attests. 159. The Spartan Conquest of Messenia : the First and Second Messenian Wars (about 743-723 and 645-631 b.c). — The most important event in Spartan history between the age of Lycurgus and the commencement of the Persian Wars was the long contest with Messenia, known as the First and Second Messenian Wars. Messenia was one of those districts of the Peloponnesus which, like Laconia, had been taken possession of by Dorian bands at the time of the great invasion. It was the most pleasant and fertile of all the Peloponnesian districts which fell into the hands of the Dorians. Here the intruding Dorians, contrary to what was the case in Laconia, had mingled with the native population to form a new mixed race. The real cause of the war which now broke out between the Spartans and the Messenians was probably Spartan lust of con- quest. The occasion is said to have been some border trouble about some cattle or other petty matter. The struggle falls into two periods, the so-called First and Second Messenian Wars (about 743-723 and 645-631 B.C.). Of these early wars of Sparta the accounts are confused and contradictory. It is only THE SPARTAN CONQUEST OF MESSENIA 149 the general course of events that we can make out with any degree of certainty. In the first war the Messenians, under the lead of their patriot king Aristodemus, offered an obstinate resistance to the Spartan invaders. A strongly fortified city on the cHffs of Mount Ithome was the last rallying place of the hard-pressed Messenians. But after a prolonged siege this citadel fell into the hands of the Spartans, and the first war came to an end. The conquered Messenians were reduced to vassalage, their rela- tion to the Spartans becoming somewhat like that of the Perioeci of Laconia. Many of the better class, choosing exile to servitude, fled beyond the sea to Ionia or to Italy in search of new homes. An interval of two generations separated the First from the Second Messenian War. Then the sons of the sons of those Messenians who had made the first brave fight against the Spartan invaders of their land, taking advantage of Sparta's misfortunes in war, flew to arms with the desperate determination to drive out the enslavers of their country. The Messenians were aided in their struggle by Argos and some of the Arcadian states that were jealous of the rising power of Sparta. But the freedom which the fathers could not preserve the sons could not regain. The uprising was finally crushed,^ and as a punishment for their revolt the Spartans laid upon the necks of the reconquered people a still heavier yoke of servitude. From the state of Perioeci they were reduced to the degrading and bitter condition of the Helots of Laconia. As at the end of the first war, so now many of the nobles fled the country and found hospitahty as exiles in other lands. Some of the fugitives conquered for themselves a place in Sicily and gave name and importance to the still existing city of Messana (Messina), on the Sicilian straits. Thus Sparta secured possession of Messenia. From the end of the Second Messenian War on to the decline of the Spartan power 9 According to tradition the Spartans owed in part their final victory to a poet named Tyrtasus, who, at a critical period of the war, reanimated their drooping spirits by his inspiring war songs. ISO THE GROWTH OF SPARTA in the fourth century B.C., the Messenians were the serfs of the Spartans. All the southern part of the Peloponnesus was now Spartan territory. 1 60. Spartan Supremacy established in Central and Northern Peloponnesus. — After Sparta had secured possession of Messenia, her influence and power advanced steadily until her leadership was acknowledged by all the other states of the Peloponnesus save Argos. This city naturally made a stout fight for the maintenance of her ancient supremacy (sec. 151). But an awful disaster left her shorn of power, though not of independence. Defeated in battle, the Argives on one occasion fled for refuge to a sacred grove near at hand. Here they were hemmed in by the Spartans, and then the wood set afire. The six thousand Argives within the grove perished to a man, those that endeavored to escape the flames falling by the Spartan swords. Thus in a single day two thirds of the fighting population of Argos were destroyed.^*^ This terrible crime left Spartan influence supreme in Argolis. Argos remained, it is true, a free city, but her authority extended only a little distance beyond her walls. Even before the complete destruction of the Argive power by Sparta she had formed close alhances with the important Dorian cities of Corinth and Sicyon. At the same time, gaining influence at Olympia, in Ehs, she secured the virtual management of the Olympian games. Through these national festivals her name and fame were spread throughout all Hellas. Sparta now began to be looked to even by the Greek cities beyond the Peloponnesus as the natural leader and champion of the Greeks. ^Her renown was also, it seems, spreading even among barbarian nations ; for about the middle of the sixth century B.C. we hear of an attempt made by Croesus, king of Lydia, to secure her for an ally in his unfortunate war with Persia, which was at that time the rising power in Asia (sec. 96). Having now traced in brief outline the rise of Sparta to supremacy in the Peloponnesus, we must turn aside to take a 10 The date of this massacre is unknown. It probably occurred about 505 B.C. REFERENCES 151 wider look over Hellas, in order to note an expansion movement of the Hellenic race which resulted in the establishment of Hel- lenes upon almost every shore of the then known world. Selections from the Sources. — Plutarch, Life of Lycurgzis. Thu- CYDIDES, i. 10, beginning; ibid. 18, beginning; ibid. 20, beginning; iv. 17, beginning. References (Modern). — Curtius, vol. i, pp. 175-315. Grote (ten- volume ed.), vol. ii, pp. 259-377. Abbott, vol. i, chaps, v-viii. Holm, vol. i, chaps, xv-xvii. Duncker, vol. i, pp. 336-435; vol. ii, pp. 53-73. Allcroft and Masom, Early Grecian History, chaps, viii and xi. Oman, History of Greece, chaps, vii and viii. Greenidge, Handbook of Greek Constitutional History, chap, v, sees. 1-3. Gilbert, The Constitutional Antiquities of Sparta and Athens ; first part. A book for the special student. Topics for Special Study. — i. The origin of the double sovereignty at Sparta. 2. The women of Sparta. 3. Legends of the Messenian wars. 4. The Helots of Laconia. 5. The Spartan constitution. CHAPTER XV THE AGE OF GREEK COLONIZATION (About 750-600 B.C.) 161 . Causes of Greek Colonization. — The latter half of the eighth and the seventh century B.C. constituted a period in Greek his- tory marked by great activity in the estabhshment of colonies. This expansion movement of the Greek race forms an important chapter not only in Hellenic but also, as we shall learn, in general history. The inciting causes of Greek colonization at the period named ^ were various. One was the growth in wealth of the cities of the home land 2 and the consequent expansion of their trade _and j commerce. This development had created an eager desire for wealth, and had given birth to a spirit of mercantile enterprise. Thousands were ready to take part in any undertaking which seemed to offer a chance for adventure or to open a way to the ^^ quick acquisition of riches. Another motive of eniigration was supplied by the j^itical unrest which at this time filled almost all the cities of Greece. The growth within their walls of a wealthy trading class, who naturally desired to have a part in the government, brought this order in conflict with the oligarchs, who in most of the cities at this time held in their hands all poUtical authority. The resulting contentions, issuing in the triumph now of this party and then of that, or perhaps in the rise of a tyrant whose rule often bore heavily on all orders alike, created a large discontented class, who were ready to undergo the privations attending the founding 1 We are not concerned in the present chapter with the earlier emigration from continental Greece to Asia Minor caused by the Dorian invasion of the Peloponnesus (sec. 133). 2 By the " home land," as we here use the term, we mean the western shore of Asia Minor, the islands of the JEgezn, and Greece proper. 152 CHARACTER OF A GREEK COLONY 153 of new homes in remote lands, if only thereby they might secure freer conditions of life. Other motives blended with those already mentioned. There was the restless_ Gree k spirit, the Greek love of adventure, which doubtless impelled many of the young and ardent to embark in the undertakings. To this class especially did Sicily and the other little-known lands of the West present a peculiar attraction. To all these inciting causes of the great emigration must be added the aggressiaQS_Qf_S.parta upon her neighbors in the Pelopon- nesus. We have already seen that many of the Messenians, at the end of their first and again at the close of their second unsuccess- ful struggle with Sparta, joined the emigrants who just then were setting out for the colonies in the western seas (sec. 159). 162. Relation of a Greek Colony to its Mother City. — The his- tory of the Greek colonies would be uninteUigible without an understanding of the relation in which a Greek colony stood to the city sending out the emigrants. There was a fundamental difference between Greek colonization and Roman. The Roman colony was subject to the authority of the mother city. The emigrants remained citizens or semi-citi- zens of Rome.® The Greek colony, on the other hand, was, in almost all cases, wholly independent of its parent city. The Greek mind could not entertain the idea of one city as rightly ruling over another, even though that other were her own daughter colony.'* But while there were no political bonds uniting the mother city and her daughter colonies, still the colonies were attached to their parent country by ties of kinship, of culture, and of filial piety. The sacred fire on the altar of the new home was kindled from 3 In this respect the colonies of Rome resembled those of modern European states. 4 Besides these independent colonies, however, which were united to the mother city by the ties of friendship and reverence alone, there was another class of colo- nies known as dcruchies. The settlers in these did not lose their rights of citi- zenship in the mother city, which retained full control of their affairs. Such settlements, however, were more properly garrisons than colonies, and were few in number compared with the independent communities. Athens had a number of such colonies. 154 THE AGE OF GREEK COLONIZATION embers piously borne by the emigrants from the public hearth of the mother city, and testified constantly that the citizens of the two cities were members of the same though a divided family. Thus by the ties of religion were the mother and the daughter city naturally drawn into close sympathy. The feehng that the colonists entertained for their mother coun- try is shown by the names which they often gave to the prominent objects in and about their new home. Just as the affectionate memory of the homes from which they had gone out prompted the New England colonists to reproduce in the new land the names of places and objects dear to them in the old, so did the cherished remembrance of the land they had left lead the Greek emigrants to give to the streets and temples and fountains and hills of their new city the familiar and endeared names of the old home. 163. The Condition of the Mediterranean World favorable to the Colonizing Movement. — The Mediterranean lands were at this time, say during the eighth and seventh centuries B.C., in a most favorable state for this colonizing movement of the Greeks. The cities of Phoenicia, the great rivals of the Greeks in maritime enterprise, hadb^e^L^rippled by successive blows from the Assyr- ian kings, who just now wei^e pushing out their empire to the Mediterranean. This laming of the mercantile activity of Tyre and Sidon left their trade and that of theiL^colonies a prey to the Greeks. It should be noticed, however, that after the decline of the cities of Phoenicia, the Phoenician colony of Carthage on the African shore gradually grew into a new center of Semitic trade and colonizing activity, and practically shut the Greeks out of the greater part of the Mediterranean lying west of Sicily. Another circumstance was favorable to Greek colonization. The shores of the Mediterranean were at this time, speaking broadly, unoccupied. The great kingdoms of later times, Lydia, Persia, Macedonia, and Rome, had not yet arisen, or were still inland powers, and indifferent respecting the coast lands ; while the barbarian tribes whose territories bordered upon the sea of course attached no special value to the harbors and commercial THE CHALCIDIAN COLONIES 155 sites along their coasts. But these peoples were advancing in culture and were beginning to feel a desire for the manufactures 01 foreign lands, and consequently had a strong motive for welcoming the Greek traders to their shores. 164. The Chalcidian Colonies (about 750-650 b.c). — An early and favorite colonizing ground of the Greeks was the Macedonian coast. Here a triple promontory juts far out into the ^gean. On this broken shore, Chalcis of Euboea, with the help, however, of emigrants from other cities, founded so many colonies — thirty- two owned her as their mother city — that the land became known as Chalcidice.^ One of the chief attractions of this shore to the Greek colonists and traders was the rich copper, silver, and gold deposits found in the mountains of the promontory and of the back country. The immense slag heaps found there to-day bear witness to the former importance of the mining industry of the region. The hills, too, were clothed with heavy forests which furnished excellent timber for shipbuilding, and this was an important item in the trade of the Chalcidian colonies, since timber in many parts of Greece proper was far from abundant. The Chalcidian colonies exercised a very important influence upon the course and development of Greek history. Their im- portance in the history of culture can hardly be overestimated. Through them it was, in large measure, that the inland tribes of Macedonia, particularly the ruling class, became so deeply tinc- tured with Hellenic civihzation. It was this circumstance which, as we shall learn, gave special historical significance to the Mace- donian conquests of later times, making them as it did something more than the mere destructive forays of barbarians (sees. 277 and 284). 165. Colonies on the Hellespont, the Propontis, and the Bos- porus. — A second region full of attractions to the colonists of the enterprising commercial cities of the mother country was that embracing the Hellespont and the Bosporus, together with the 5 Potidaea, however, one of the most important cities in Chalcidice, was a colony of Corinth. 156 THE AGE OF GREEK COLONIZATION connecting sheet of water known to the Greeks as the Propontis. These water channels, forming as they do the gateway to the Northern world, early drew the attention of the Greek traders. Here was founded, among other cities, Byzantium (658 B.C.). The city was built, under the special direction of the Delphian oracle, on one of the most magnificent sites for a great emporium that the ancient world afforded. It was destined to a long and checkered history. 166. Colonies in the Euxine Region. — The tale of the Argo- nauts (sec. 129) shows that in prehistoric times the Greeks proba- bly carried on trade with the shores of the Euxine. The chief products of the region were fish, grain, and cattle, besides timber, gold, copper, and iron. The fisheries, particularly, of the region formed the basis of a very active and important trade. The fish markets of the com- mercial Ionian cities of European Greece and of Asia Minor, in which fish formed a chief article of diet among the poorer classes, were supplied in large measure by the products of these northern fisheries. So large was the trade in cereals that we may call this Black Sea region the granary of Greece, in the same sense that North Africa and Egypt were in later times called the granary of Rome. Still another object of commerce in the Euxine was slaves. This region was a sort of slave hunters' land — the Africa of Hellas. It suppHed to a great degree the slave markets of the Hellenic world. In the modern Caucasian slave trade of the Mohammedan sultans we may recognize a survival of a commerce which was active twenty-five hundred years ago. Eighty colonies in the Euxine are said to have owned Miletus as their mother city. The coast of the sea became so crowded with Greek cities, and the whole region was so astir with Greek enterprise, that the Greeks came to regard this quarter of the world, once looked upon as so remote and inhospitable, as almost a part of the home country. 167. Colonies on the Ionian Islands and the Adjacent Shores. — At the same time that the tide of Hellenic migration was flowing COLONIES ON THE IONIAN ISLANDS 157 towards the north it was also flowing towards the west and covering the Ionian Islands and the coasts of Southern Italy and Sicily. The group of islands lying oif the western coast of Greece, known as the Ionian Isles, together with the adjacent continental shores, formed an important region of Greek colonization. Corinth, as was natural from her position, took a prominent partjn the Magna Gr^xia and Sicily establishment of colonies here. One of the most important of her settlements was Corcyra. The relations of this colony to its mother city were very unfilial, and a quarrel between them was one of the immediate causes of the Peloponnesian War (sec. 232). The colonies on the islands in the Ionian Sea formed the half- way station to Italy, and it was by the way of these settlements that Italy during the era of colonization received a large and steady stream of immigrants. 158 THE AGE OF GREEK COLONIZATION i68. Colonies in Southern Italy : Magna Graecia. — At this time, Italy, with the exception of Etruria on the western coast, was occu- pied by tribes that had made but little progress in culture. The power of Rome had not yet risen. Hence the land was practically open to settlement by any superior or enterprising race. Consequently it is not surprising that during the Greek coloniz- ing era Southern Italy became so thickly set with Greek cities as to become known as Magna Grcecia, " Great Greece." Here were founded during the latter part of the eighth century B.C. the important city of Taras, the Tarentum of the Romans (708 B.C.); the ^olian city of Sybaris (721 b.c), noted for the luxurious life of its citizens, whence our term Sybarite, meaning a ^^ voluptuary/ the G:reat -Ruined Temples at P^STUM Paestum was the Greek Posidonia, in Lucania. These ruins form the most noteworthy existing monuments of the early Greek occupation of South- ern Italy Croton (711 B.C.), distinguished for its schools of philosophy and its victors in the Olympian games; and Rhegium (about 715 B.C.), the mother of statesmen, historians, poets, and artists. Upon the western coast of the peninsula was the city of Cumae (Cyme), famed throughout the Grecian and the Roman world 6 Sybaris is said, doubtless with exaggeration, to have been able to raise an army, counting subject allies, of three hundred thousand men. In a war with Croton it was wholly destroyed, all its inhabitants being either killed or driven into exile, and the lands of the city being taken possession of by the conquerors (510 B.C.). This destruc- tion of so populous and wealthy a city was one of the heaviest calamities which up to that time had befallen the Hellenic world. COLONIES IN SICILY AND GAUL 159 on account of its oracle and sibyl. This was probably the oldest Greek colony in Italy. The chief importance of the cities of Magna Graecia for civili- zation springs from their relations to Rome. Through them, with- out doubt, the early Romans received many primary elements of culture, deriving thence probably their knowledge of letters as well as of Greek constitutional law. 169. Greek Colonies in Sicily and Southern GauL — The island of Sicily is in easy sight from the Italian shore. About the same time that the southern part of the peninsula was being filled with Greek colonists, this island was also receiving a swarm of immi- grants. Here was planted by the Do- rian Corinth the city of Syracuse (734 B.C.), which, before Rome had become great, waged war on equal terms with Carthage. Upon the southern shore of the island arose Agrigentum (Acragas), which became, after Syracuse, the most important of the Greek cities in Sicily. Sicily was the most disorderly and tumultuous part of Hellas. It was the " wild West " of the Hellenic world. It was the land of romance and adventure, and seems to have drawn to itself the most untamed and venturesome spirits among the Greeks. To the grounds of disorder and strife existing among the Greek colonists themselves were added two other elements of discord, — the native barbarians and the Phoenicians. That part of Gaul which touches the Mediterranean where the Rhone empties into the sea was another region occupied by Greek colonists. A chief attraction here was the amber and tin brought overland from the Baltic and from Britain. Here were estabhshed several colonies, chief among which was Mas- salia (about 600 B.C.), the modern Marseilles. Fig. 79. — Coin of Cyrene l6o THE AGE OF GREEK COLONIZATION 170. Colonies in North Africa and Egypt: Cyrene and Nau- cratis. — In the sevejith century B.C. the Greeks, in obedience to the commands of the Delphian Apollo, founded on the African coast, nearly opposite the island of Crete, the important colony of Cyrene, which became the metropohs of a large dis- trict known as Cyrenaica. The site of the city was one of the best on the African shore. In the Nile delta the Greeks early estabhshed the important station of Naucratis. This colony was at the height of its pros- perity in the sixth century B.C., although it certainly existed as early as the beginning of the seventh century. It was the gate- way through which Hellenic influences passed into Egypt and Egyptian influences passed out into Greece. 171. Place of the Colonies in Grecian History. — The history of dispersed Hellas is closely interwoven with that of continental Hellas. In truth, a large part of the history of Greece would be unintelligible should we lose sight of Greater Greece, just as a large part of the history of Europe since the seven- teenth century cannot be un- FiG. 80. — Coin OF Corinth , ., . i 1 j derstood without a knowledge of Greater Europe. In colonial interests, rivalries, and jealousies we shall find the inciting cause of many of the contentions and wars between the cities of the home land. Indeed, the more we learn of the relations of the colonies to their mother cities and to the native races of the countries in which they were planted, the more clearly shall we recognize the vast significance for Greek history — and for universal his- tory as well — of the colonization movement which we have been tracing. In its influence upon the social and intellectual devel- opment of mankind it may w^ell be compared to that expansion of the English race which has estabhshed peoples of English speech and culture in so many lands and upon so many shores of both the Old and the New World. REFERENCES l6l Selections from the Sources. — Herodotus, iv. 150-153 and 156-159; on the part taken by the Delphian oracle in the founding of Cyrene. References. — Curtius, vol. i, pp. 432-500. Grote (ten-volume ed.), vol. iii, pp. 163-220 and 247-275. Abbott, vol. i, pp. 333-365. Holm, vol. i, chap. xxi. Cox, vol. i, pp. 141-183. Greenidge, Handbook of Greek Constittitional History, chap, iii, sec. i. Oman, History of Greece, chap. ix. Bury, History of Greece, chap. ii. Allcroft and Masom, Early Grecian History, chap. vi. Timayexis, vol. i, pt. ii, chap. v. Topics for Special Study. — i. The Delphian oracle and Greek col- onization. 2. Life in the Greek colonies. 3. A comparison of Greek and Roman colonies. 4. Colonies of subjects compared with colonies of citi- zens. See Freeman's Greater Greece and Greater Britaifi. 5. The decree establishing Brea. See Greenidge. Advanced students may consult Hicks' Historical Inscriptions, n. 29. CHAPTER XVI THE AGE OF THE TYRANTS (About 650-500 B.C.) 172 . The Character and Origin of the Greek Tyrannies. — As we have seen, the Homeric poems represent the preferred form of government in prehistoric times as having been a patriarchal monarchy (sec. 134). By the dawn of the historic period, how- ever, these paternal monarchies of the Achaean age had given place, in almost all the chief cities, to oligarchies or aristocracies. The power of the "Zeus-born" king had passed into the hands of the nobles of his former council. A httle later, just as the Homeric monarchies had been super- seded by oligarchies, so were these in many of the Greek cities superseded by tyrannies. By the term tyrannos (tyrant) the Greeks did not mean one who ruled harshly, but simply one who held the supreme_a uthor - ity in the state illegally. Some of the Greek tyrants were mild and beneficent rulers, though too often they were all that the name implies among us. Sparta was almost the only important state which did not at one time or another fall into the hands of a tyrant. The so-called Age of the Tyrants lasted, speaking in a general way, from about 650 to 500 B.C., although we hear of tyrants^^ ruling in some cities long before the earHer and in others long after the later date. The causes that led to the overthrow in so many cities of oligarchic rule and the establishment of government by a single person were various. A main cause, however, of the rise of tyrannies is found in the misrule of the oligarchs, into whose hands the royal authority of earlier times had passed. By their selfish, cruel, and arbitrary administration of the government, 162 GREEK FEELING TOWARDS THE TYRANTS 163 they provoked the revolt of the people and invited destruction. The factions, too, into which they were divided weakened their authority and paved the way for their fall. Working with the above causes to undermine the influence of the oligarchs, was the advance in intelligence and wealth of the trading classes in the mercantile and commercial states of Greece, especially in the Ionian cities, and their resulting discon- tent with the oppressive rule of the aristocratic families and desire to participate in the government. Generally the person setting up a tyranny was some ambitious disappointed member of the aristocracy, who had held himself out as the champion of the people, and who, aided by them, had succeeded in overturning the hated government of the oligarchs. 173. The Greek Feeling towards the Tyrants. — The tyrants sat upon unstable thrones. The Greeks, always lovers of free- dom, had an inextinguishable hatred of these despots ; and of course the nobles who were excluded from participation in public affairs, and who were often dealt harshly with by the tyrants and driven into exile, were continually plotting against them. Fur- thermore, the odious vices and atrocious crimes of some of them caused the whole class to be regarded with the utmost abhor- rence, — so much so that tyrannicide (that is, the killing of a tyrant) came to be regarded by the Greeks as a supremely vir- tuous act. The slayer of a tyrant was looked upon as a devoted patriot and preeminent hero (sec. 187). Consequently the tyrannies were, as a rule, short-lived, rarely lasting longer than three generations. They were usually vio- lently overthrown, and the old oligarchies reestablished, or de- mocracies set up in their place. Speaking broadly, the Dorian cities preferred aristocratic, and the Ionian cities democratic, government. Sparta, which state, as has been noted, never fell into the hands of a tyrant, was very active in aiding those cities that had been so unfortunate as to have their government usurped by des- pots to drive out the usurpers and to reestablish their aristocratic l64 THE AGE OF THE TYRANTS constitutions.^ Athens, as we shall see, on escaping from the tyranny under which she for a time rested, — that of Pisistratus and his sons (sees. 185-187), — became the representative and ardent champion of democracy. 174. Typical Tyrants: Periander of Corinth (625-585 B.C.). — To repeat in detail the traditional accounts of all the tyrants that arose in the different cities of Hellas during the age of the t}Tannies would be both wearisome and unprofitable ; wearisome because the tales of the various despots possess a singular same- ness, and unprofitable because these stories are often manifestly colored and distorted by popular prejudice and hatred, since the Greeks of a later time could hardly speak temperately of a t\Tant, so unutterably odious to them was merely the name itself. We shall therefore simply give in brief form the story of two or three of these unconstitutional rulers, who may be taken as fair representatives of their class. Among the most noted of the t}Tants was Periander of Corinth (625-585 B.C.). According to Herodotus, Periander learned from Thrasybulus, t\Tant of Miletus, the art of pla>ing the t\Tant safely. Ha^-ing sent a messenger to that despot to ask him respecting the best way to conduct his government, Thrasybulus is said to have conducted the envoy to a field of grain, and, as they walked through it, to have broken off and thro\\Ti away such heads as hfted themselves above the others. Then, without a word, he dismissed the messenger. The man, returning to Periander, reported that he had been able to secure from Thrasybulus not a single word of ad^^ce, but told how singularly he had acted in destro\-ing the best of his crop of grain. Periander understood the parable, and straightway began to destroy all those citizens whose heads overtopped the others. Periander maintained a court which rivaled in splendor that of an Oriental potentate. Like many another tyrant, he was a 1 Her aim in this policy was to strengthen her own influence in these cities by preserving in them institutions like her own, and by keeping the control of their public affairs in the hands of a few famihes who should be under the necessity of looking to her for the support of their authority. POLYCRATES, TYRANT OF SAMOS 165 generous patron of artists and literary men. He was also, either through piety or through policy, a hberal patron of the gods. He re\ived the Isthmian games, adding to the festival g}-mnastic con- tests, and made splendid votive offerings to the temples at Olympia. 175. Polycrates, Tyrant of Samos (535-522 B.C.). — Another tvrant whose deeds were noised throughout the Hellenic world, and the ^icissitudes of whose career left a deep impression upon the Greek imagination, was Polycrates of Samos (535-522 B.C.). Polycrates established his rule in Samos in the way so common with the tATants, — by overturning through Aiolence the govern- ment of his own order, the ohgarchs. HaAing made Samos his stronghold, Polycrates conquered many of the surrounding islands in the .^gean, together with several of the cities of the Asian mainland, and made himself the head of a maritime empire, which he maintained %\-ith a fleet that was the largest any Greek state had up to that time collected. Like Periander, Polycrates maintained a magnificent court, to which, among other persons of fame and learning, he inAited the celebrated l\Tic poet Anacreon, a native of Ionia, who seems to have enjoyed to the full the gay and easy life of a courtier, and who, inspired by the congenial atmosphere of his patron's palace, sung so voluptuously of love and wine and festi\-it}- that the term Anacreontic has come to be used to characterize all poetr)' over-redolent of these themes. The astonishing good fortune and uninterrupted prosperit}- of the t}Tant awakened, according to Herodotus, the alarm of his friend and ally, Amasis, king of Eg>-pt, who became conduced that such felicit}- in the lot of a mortal must awaken the emy of the gods (sec. 145), and accordingly broke off his alliance with him. The issue justified the worst fears of Amasis. Polycrates was lured to the Asian shore by a Persian satrap, a bitter enemy of his, and put to a shameful and cruel death. 176. Benefits conferred by the Tyrants upon Greek Civilization. — The rule of the t)-rants conferred upon Greek ciWlization some benefits which, perhaps, could not have been so well secured imder any other form of government. l66 THE AGE OF THE TYRANTS. Thus the tyrants, through the connections which they naturally formed with foreign kings and despots, brQke_Jh^_Jsola^i£n__m_ which the Greek cities up to this time had lived. Pheidon of Argos — a tyrant of the better class — was in close relations with the Lydian kings; and Polycrates, as we have seen, was the friend and ally of Amasis, king of Egypt. These connections between the courts of the tyrants and those of the rulers of Oriental coun- tries opened the cities of the H ellenic world_to the influences of th ose lands of cul toe^ vvidpnerriEeii^ horizon, and ^nlarged the sphere of their commerc ial enterprise. Again, the tyrants, some ot them at least, as for example Peri- ander of Corinth, Polycrates of Samos, and Pisistratus of Athens, were libe ral patrons of art and liter^re. Poetry and music flourished in the congemaTanmJspEere of their luxurious courts, while architecture was given a great impulse by the public build- ings and works which many of them undertook with a view of embeUishing their capitals, or of winning the favor of the poorer classes by creating opportunities for their employment. Thus it happened that the age of the tyrants was a period marked by an unusually rapid advance of many of the Greek cities in their artistic, intellectual, and industrial life. In the poUtical realm also the tyrants rendered eminent serv- ices to Greece. By dep^essin^e^^ligaidlieiarid lifting the people they created a sort of political e£uality_bejtween these rival ordejs of society, and thereby helped to pave the way for the incoming of democracy. In still another way — in the way implied in Emerson's adage to the effect that bad kings help us, if only they are bad enough did the tyrants render a great service to the cause of constitu- tional government in the Greek cities. As we have seen, they rendered rule by a single person unrestrained by law inexpres- sibly odious to the Greeks, and thus deepened their love for con- stitutional government and made them extremely watchful of their freedom. The bare suspicion that any person was scheming to make himself a tyrant was often enough to insure his immediate expulsion from the city or the infliction of some worse punishment. REFERENCES 167 Selections from the Sources. — Herodotus ; consult Index for stories of Cypselus, Polycrates, and Periander. Pausanias, v. 17-19. References (Modern). — Curtius, vols, i and iii. Consult Index under Tyratmis. Grote (ten-volume ed.), vol. ii, pp. 378-421. Abbott, vol. i, pp. 366-397, and Introduction to. vol. ii. Holm, vol. i, chap. xxii. DuNCKER, vol. ii, pp. 295-431. Fowler, The City-State of the Greeks and Romans, chaps, iv and v. Mahaffy, Problems in Greek History, chap. iv. Cox, Lives of Greek Statesmen, " Polykrates." Greenidge, Handbook of Greek Constitutional History, chap. ii. BuRY, History of Greece, pp. 146-157. Oman, History of Greece, chap. x. Topics for Special Study. — i. Phalaris of Agrigentum. 2. The Tyrants as patrons of religion, art, and literature. 3. The chest of the Cypselids. See above, reference to Pausanias, for description. Abbott also may be consulted. 4. Tyranny as a stage in political development. Y\G. 8i. — Athens. (From a photograph) CHAPTER XVII THE HISTORY OF ATHENS UP TO THE PERSIAN WARS 177. The Attic People. — The population of Attica in historic times was essentially Ionian in race, but there were in it strains of other Hellenic stocks, besides some non-Hellenic elements as well. This mixed origin of the population is believed to be one secret of the versatile yet well-balanced character which distin- guished the Attic people above all other branches of the Hellenic family. It is not the comparatively pure, but the mixed races, like the English people, that have made the largest contributions to civilization.^ 178. The Site of Athens. — Four or five miles from the sea, a little hill, about one thousand feet in J ength and half as many in width, rises about one hundred and fifty feet above the level of the plains of Attica. The security afforded by this eminence doubtless led to its selection as a stronghold by the early settlers of the Attic plains. Here a few buildings, perched upon the sum- mit of the rock and surrounded by a palisade, constituted the be- ginning of the capital whose fame has spread over all the world. 1 One important fact connected with the prehistoric settlement of Attica is that the inhabitants seem never to have been subjected by a foreign race, as happened in the case of most of the districts of the Peloponnesus ; for we find no class in Attica corresponding, for instance, to the Helots of Laconia. This circumstance had much to do in determining the course of Attic history. 168 THE EARLY GOVERNMENT 169 179. The Kings of Athens. — In the Prehistoric Age Athens was ruled by kings, like all the other Grecian cities. The names of Theseus and Codrus are the most noted of the regal line. To Theseus tradition ascribed the work of uniting the separate Attic \dllages or strongholds, twelve in number, into a single city- state. This prehistoric union, however or by whomsoever effected, laid the basis of the greatness of Athens. How much the union meant for Athens, how it stood related to her ascendancy after- wards in Greece, is perhaps shown by the history of Thebes. Although holding the same relation to Bceotia that Athens held to Attica, Thebes never succeeded in uniting the Boeotian towns into a single city-state, and consequently fretted away her strength in constant bickerings and wars with them. 180. The Archons. — Codrus was the last h ereditary kin g of f Athens. His successor, elected by the nobles from the royal family, was simply r uler for Hfe. There were twelve life kings, *^ and then (in 752 B.C.) the authority of the regal office was still further diminished by limiting the rule of the king to ten year s^ J Forty years later the office was thrown open to all the nobles, ^^ and soon afterwards (in 682 B.C.) the term of office was reduced to one year. As the power of the king was diminished, his old- time duties were assigned to magistrates chosen by the nobles from among themselves. The outcome of these changes was that a Uttle after the opening of the seventh century we find a bboardofnin£jpersons, called Archons, of whom the king in a sub- {q ordinate position was one, standing at the head of the Athenian state. The old Homeric monarchy had become an oligarchy. 181. The Council of the Areopagus and the General Assembly. — Besides the board of Archons there was in the Athenian state at this time a very important tribunal, called the Council of the Areopagus.^ This council was composed excJu^ivelyofex-.-\rcjions, ^nd^cgiiseauentlv was a ^urely^aristocr^^ Its members held office for^feT^Tlie duty of the council was to see that the laws wei:e_duly_pbserved, and to judge and punish transgressors. 2 So called from the name of the hill "Apetos 7rd7os, " Hill of Ares," which was the assembling place of the council. 170 HISTORY OF ATHENS There was no appeal from its decisions. This council was, at the opening of the historic period, the real power in the Athenian state. In addition to the board of Archons and the Council of the Areopagus, there is some evidence of the existence of a general assembly (*EKKXr) prohibited the practice of securing debts on the body of the debtor. No Athenian was ever after this sold for debt. 6 The authorities are not agreed as to whether or not Draco made any changes in the constitution. 7 This is Aristotle's account of the matter {Athenian ConstiUition, ch. 6). According to other accounts, Solon annulled only debts secured on land or on the person of the debtor. Solon also reform ed th e monetary system. There was no connection between this measure and theTancellation of debts, as was generally held before the recent discovery of Aristotle's work on the Athenian constitution. 172 HISTORY OF ATHENS Such were the most important of the economic reforms of Solon. His constitutional reforms were equally wise and benefi- cent. The Ecclesia, or popular assembly, was at this time com- posed of all those persons who were able to provide themselves with arms and armor ; that is to say, of all the members of the three" highest oTYhe four property classes into which the people were divided. The fourth and poorest class, the Thetes, were excluded. Solon opened the Ecclesia to them, giving them the right to vote, but not to hold office. He also made other changes in the constitution whereby the magistrates became responsible (^ to the people, who henceforth not only elected them, but judged them in case they did wrong. Besides these relief measures and constitutional reforms Solon enacted various laws hi the interest of^ nxo r ality and good citizen- ship. The most noted of these ordinances is his so-called Sedi- tion Law. Observing that in the frequent political contentions which disturbed the state, some of the citizens, consulting their personal comfort, refrained from taking part in the fight between \ the contending factions, Solon rn ade a l aw to the effect that^ny / / one failing_to_take_sides_o^ citizenship and be regarded as infamous. Solon's idea seems to have been that by this measure he would secure the more general participation in political affairs of " good citizens." ^ 185. Pisistratus makes himself Tyrant of Athens (560 B.C.). — The reforms of Solon naturally worked hardship to many per- sons. These became bitter enemies of the new order of things. Moreover, the reformed constitution failed to work smoothly. Taking advantage of the situation, Pisistratus, an_ambitious noble and a nephew of thejawgiver Solon, resolved to seize the siipreme^^pmver. This man courted popular favor and called himself '' the friend of the people." His uncle Solon seems to have been almost the only man who penetrated his designs.^ He told the citizens that Pisistratus was aiming to make himself 8 It is interesting to note that among the measures urged by modern reformers to correct the evils of modern democracy is found one, compulsory voting, which in principle is wholly like the Sedition Law of the Athenian statesman. CHARACTER OF THE RULE OF PISISTRATUS 173 tyrant of Athens. But the people paid no heed to the warnings of Solon, and Pisistratus was left undisturbed to consummate his plot against the liberties of the city. One day having inflicted many wounds upon himself, he drove his chariot hastily into the public square, and pretended that he had been thus set upon by the nobles, because of his devotion to the people's cause. The people voted him a guard of fifty men. Under cover of raising this company, Pisistratus gathered a much larger force, seized the Acropolis, and made himself master of Athens. Though twice expelled from the city, he as often returned and reinstated himself in the tyranny. 186. Character of the Rule of Pisistratus. — Pisistratus gave Athens a mild rule, and under him the city enjoyed a period of great prosperity. He may be taken as a type of the better class of GreeFlyrants, and much that was said in an earlier chapter respecting the domestic and foreign policies of these rulers finds illustration in the circumstances of his reign. It was, as we have seen, the general policy of the tyrants to strengthen themselves by means of foreign^^iances. This we find Pisistratus doing. He entered into alliances with _Sparta, Thebes, Macedonia, and other states. Through these various con- 1 nections Pisistratus made firmer his position both at home and J abroad, while giving at the same time a wider range to the grow- . ing fame of Athens and enlarging the field of enterprise of the ; Athenian traders. / But before all else was the tyrant, in imitation of so many others of his class, a liberal patron of the gods. He established what was known as the Great Panathenaea, a festival celebrated every fourth year in honor of Athena, the patron goddess of Athens ; ^ instituted a new festival in honor of Dionysus ; and began at Athens the erection of a temple to Zeus Olympius on > V such a magnificent scale that it remained unfinished until the , ( resources of the Roman emperor Hadrian, nearly seven hundred ^ I years later, carried the colossal building to completion. 9 An annual festival in honor of the same patron goddess continued to be cele brated as hitherto, but henceforth was known as the Less Panathenaea. 174 HISTORY OF ATHENS Nor did Pisistratus fail to follow the traditional policy of the tyrants in respect to the patronage of letters. He invited to his court the Hterary celebrities of the day. He is said to have caused the Homeric poems to^,e collected and edited, and to have gath- ered at Athens the first publicliSrary ; but the testimony for the truth of these traditions is not of the highest character. He is said also to have added to the em- bellishments of the Lyceum, a sort of public park just outside the city walls, which in after times became one of the favorite resorts of the poets, philosophers, and pleasure seekers of the capital. 187. Expulsion of the Tyrants from Athens (510 B.C.). — The two sons of Pisistratus, Hippias and Hip- parchus, succeeded to his power. At first they emulated the example of their father, and Athens flourished under their rule. But at length an unfortunate event gave an entirely different tone to the government. Marble statues in the Naples Hipparchus, having insulted a young Museum, recognized as ancient ,, j tt j- ^i • ' , T° . . . noble named Harmodius, this man, copies of the bronze statues set ' ' up at Athens in commemoration in connection with his friend Aris- of the assassination of the tyrant ^ogiton and some Others, planned Hipparchus ° . to assassinate both the tyrants. Hip- parchus was slain, but the plans of the conspirators miscarried as to Hippias. Harmodius was struck down by the guards of the tyrants, and Aristogiton, after having been tortured in vain in order to force him to reveal the names of the other conspirators, was put to death. We have already spoken of how tyrannicide appeared to the Greek mind as an eminently praiseworthy act (sec. 173). This is well illustrated by the grateful and venerated remembrance in which Harmodius and Aristogiton were ever held by the Fig. 82. — The Athenian Tyrannicides, Harmodius AND Aristogiton THE CONSTITUTION OF CLISTHENES 175 Athenians. Statu£|/vv ere raised in their honor (Fig. 82), and the story of their deed was rehearsed to the youth as an incentive to patriotism and self-devotion. The plot had a most unhappy effect upon the disposition of Hippias. It caused him to become suspicious and severe. His rule now became a tyranny indeed. With the help of the Spar- tans he was finally driven out of the city. 188. The Constitution of Clisthenes (508 b.c). — Straightway upon the expulsion of the tyrant Hippias there arose a great strife between the commons led by CHslhenes, who wished to conduct the government on the lines drawn by Solon, and the nobles, who aimed at the restoration of the old aristocratic rule. The issue was the triumph of the popular party. The consti- ^tution was now put into the hands of Clisthenes in order that he might mold it into a form still more democratic than that given . it by Solon. Thus in the year 508 B.C. Clisthenes became the/ ^ third great legislatOL_QLthe Athenians. j The most important of CHsthenes' measures was that by which he conferred Athenian citizenship upon all the free inhabitafits of Attica}^ This was what we should call an extension of the fran- chise. The measure made such a radical change in the constitution in the interest of the masses that Clisthenes rather than Solon is /', regarded by many as the real founder of the Athenian democracy. 189. Ostracism. — Among the other innovations or institutions of Clisthenes was the celebrated one known as ostracism. By 10 The population of Attica comprised originally four tribes {d)v\a.i). Each of the tribes contained three phra tries or brotherhoods {(ppaTpiae) ; the phratries were com- posed of gentes (yivr)) or clans ; and the clans were made up of families. In place of these four tribes (they were not dissolved but merely deprived of all political sig- nificance) Clisthenes formed ten new tribes in which he enrolled all the freemen of Attica, including, it would seem, resident aliens and emancipated slaves. These new tribes, which were practically geographical divisions of Attica, were each made up of a number of local subdivisions called demcs, or townships. The dejnes con- stituting any given tribe were scattered about Attica. The object of this was to break up the old factions, and also to give each tribe some territory in or near Athens, so that at least some of its members should be within easy reach of the meeting place of the Ecclesia. A few years after the creation of these new tribes an important change was made in the organization of the army. In place of the four strategi or \ generals who commanded the forces of the four old tribes, ten generals were now \ elected, one by each of the ten new tribes. 176 HISTORY OF ATHENS means of this process any person who had excited the suspicions or displeasure of the people could, without trial, be banished from Athens for a period of ten years. Six thousand votes ^^ cast against any person in a meeting of the popular assembly was a decree of banishment. The name of the person whose banishment was sought was written on a sjiell or a piece of pottery, in Greek ostra- kon (oarpaKov), whence the term ostracism. The design of this institution was to prevent the recurrence of such a usurpation as that of the Pisistratidse. It was first used to get rid of some of the old friends of the ex-tyrant Hippias, who, the Athenians had reason to beheve, were plotting for his return. \ Later the vote came to be employed, as a rule, simply to set- tle disputes between rival leaders of pohtical parties, and when thus used was designed to put an end to dangerous contentions between powerful factions in the state. Thus the vote merely expressed political preference, the ostracized person being simply the defeated. candidate for popular favor. No stigma or disgrace attach^, t^ him. "^The power that the device of ostracism lodged in the hands of the people was not always wisely used, and some of the ablest and most patriotic statesmen of Athens were sent into exile through the influence of some demagogue who for the moment had caught the popular ear.^^ 190. Sparta opposes the Athenian Democracy. — The aristocratic party at Athens was naturally bitterly opposed to all these demo- cratic innovations. The Spartans also viewed with disquiet and jealousy this rapid growth of the Athenian democracy, and, invit- ing Hippias over from Asia, tried to overthrow the new govern- ment and restore him to power. But they did not succeed in 11 Or possibly a majority of the votes cast in an assembly of not less than six thousand citizens. The authorities are not clear. 12 The institution was short-lived. It was resorted to for the last time during the Peloponnesian War (418 B.C.). The people then, in a freak, ostracized a man, Hyperbolus by name, whom all admitted to be the meanest man in Athens. This, it is said, was regarded as such a degradation of the institution, as well as such an honor to the mean man, that never thereafter did the Athenians degrade a good man or honor a bad one by a resort to the measure. REFERENCES 1/7 their purpose, because their aUies refused to aid them in such an undertaking, and Hippias went away to Persia to seek aid of King Darius. We shall hear of him again. Selections from the Sources. — Plutarch, Life of Solon. Aristotle, Athenian Constiiution, 13-19. References (Modern). — Curtius, vol. i, pp. 316-431- Grote (ten- volume ed.), vol. ii, pp. 422-529; vol. iii, pp. 324-398. Abbott, vol. i, chaps, ix, xiii, and xv. The accounts of the Athenian constitution in Curtius, Grote, and Abbott, which were written before the discovery of the Aristo- telian treatise, must be read with caution and under the light of the new evi- dence. Holm, vol. i, chaps, xxvi-xxviii. Allcroft and Masom, Early^ Grecian History, chaps, xii-xv. Cox, Lives of Greek Statesmen, " Solon," " Peisistratus," and " Kleisthenes." Greenidge, Handbook of Greek Con- stitutional History, chap, vi, sees. 1-3. Gilbert, The Constitutional Antiq- uities of Sparta and Athens (last half). Oman, History of Greece, chaps, xi and xii. Bury, History of Greece, chap, iv, sec. iv ; and chap, v, sec. ii. Youthful readers will enjoy Harrison, Story of Greece, chaps, xvi-xviii. Topics for Special Study. — i. Legends of Solon. 2. The Alcmaeon- idse and the Delphian temple and oracle. 3. The constitution of Clisthenes. 4. The story of Athena and Poseidon. 5. Was ostracism defensible ? See Grote. 6. The rebelHon of Cylon. CHAPTER XVIII HELLAS OVERSHADOWED BY THE RISE OF PERSIA: PRELUDE TO THE PERSIAN WARS 191. The Real Cause of the Persian Wars. — In a foregoing chapter on Greek colonization we showed how the expansive energies of the Greek race, chiefly during the eighth and seventh centuries B.C., covered the islands and shores of the Mediterranean world with a free, liberty4oying, ^_£rogLessive, a nd ever-gro wing population of Hellenic speech and culture. The first half of the sixth century had barely passed before this promising expansion movement was first checked and then seri- ously cramped by the rise of a great despotic Asiatic power, the ^ Persian-Empire, which, pushing outward from its central seat on the table-lands of Iran to the ^gean Sea, before the close of the century had subjugated the Greek cities of Asia Minor and was threatening to overwhelm in like manner those of European Greece. Here m^st besought the real cause of the memorable wars between Hellas and Persia. To understand, then, the character and import of the contest which we are approaching, we must now turn from our study of the rising cities of Greece in order to cast a glance at this colossal empire whose giant shadow was thus darkening the bright Hellenic world, and whose steady encroachments upon the Greek cities threatened to leave the Greeks no standing room on the earth. As we have already watched from the standpoint of the Oriental world the rise of the Persian Empire (Chapter IX), we shall here notice only those conquests of the Persian kings which concerned the Hellenic race, in whose fortunes we cannot now but feel an absorbing interest. 192. Import for Greece of the Fall of the Lydian Kingdom (about 546 B.C.). — It will be recalled that the Persian Empire was founded 178 CYRUS AND THE ASIATIC GREEK CITIES 179 by Cyrus the Great (sec. 96). Of his various conquests it con- cerns us here to note only that of the Lydian kingdom and the Greek cities of Asia Minor. The fall of the Lydian kingdom has a special significance for Grecian history from the fact that po wer in A sia^nor now passed from the hands of the tolerant, Greek-loving Lydian kings into the hands of intolerant, Greek-hating Persians. The rulers of Lydia appreciated Greek civilization, and were friends of the Greek gods [And patrons of the Greek shrines. The Persian kings, however, speaking generally,^ were ignorant and disdain fuL of Gree k cul- ture, and as monotheists were naturally^hostil^to_Greek_\vorship. ^ The Greeks had now good reason, as Curtius says, to tremble for city^ temple ,_ and alt ar. /f ^t ^ 193. ConquestbyCynisof the Asiatic Greek Cities (5 46-5 44 B.C.). — The Greek cities of the Asian coast which had formed part of the Lydian kingdom soon reahzed of what serious concern to them was the revolution that had transferred authority in Asia Minor from Lydian to Persian hands. Cyrus had asked them to join him in his war against Croesus, but all except Miletus, satisfied with the easy conditions which that king had imposed upon them, refused to listen to any proposal of the kind. Upon the downfall of Croesus, these cities hastened to offer submission to the conqueror, asking that he would allow them to retain all the privileges which they had enjoyed under the Lydian monarchy. Cyrus refused their petition. Thereupon they closed their gates against him, and resolved to fight for their liberties. In a short time, however, all were reduced to submission. Many of the lonians, rather than live in Ionia as slaves, aban- doned their old homes and sought new ones among the colonies of Western Hellas and on the Thracian shore. All the remaining inhabitants of the Asian Greek cities, together with those of the large islands of Chios and Lesbos, became subjects of the Persian king. The cities retained the management of their own affairs, under such governments as they chanced to have, but were forced to pay tribute, and to furnish contingents to the army of their master. 1 Cyrus was liberal-minded and tolerant. l8o THE RISE OF PERSIA Thus at one blow was the whole of the eastern shore of the ^gean, the cradle and home of the earliest development in Greek poetry, philosophy, and art, lost to the Hellenic world. 194. Conquest of Phoenicia, Egypt, Cyprus, and Cyrene by Cam- byses (529-522 b.c). — Under Cyrus' son, Cambyses, the Persian power pressed still more heavily upon the Greek world. Cambyses first brought the cities of Phoenicia under his author- ity, and thus obtained control of their large naval resources. Straightway their galleys were ordered to be put in readiness to aid in the proposed subjection of Egypt. To the Phoenician fleet when collected was added a large contingent of ships furnished by the Asian Greeks, who were thus compelled to assist their master in reducing to slavery the rest of the world. Cyprus, a dependency of Egypt, was now conquered, and the naval strength of that island added to the already formidable armament of the Persian king. Supported by his fleet, Cambyses marched his army from Syria into Egypt and, as already stated (sec. 97), speedily brought that country under his control. The conquest of Egypt drew after it the subjection to the Persian power of the Greek colonies of Cyrene and Barca on the African coast. This extension of the authority of the Persian king over Phoe- nicia, Cyprus, Egypt, and the Greek colonies of the African shore, was another severe blow to Greek interests and Greek independ- ence. The naval armaments of all these maritime countries were now subject to the orders of the Persian despot, and were ready to be turned against those of the Greeks who still were free. 195. Destruction of the Sea Power of Polycrates in the ^gean (522 B.C.). — But it was the extension of the Persian authority in the West that most intimately concerned the Greek world. The year preceding the accession of Darius I to the Persian throne had witnessed the fall of Polycrates (sec. 175) and the virtual destruc- tion of his maritime empire in the ^gean. The dominion of Polycrates was scarcely more, it is true, than a piratical sea power ; yet it was a Greek state, and might have proved, in the critical time fast approaching, an effectual barrier SCYTHIAN EXPEDITION OF DARIUS I i8l in the ^gean against the barbarian wave of conquest which now threatened to overwhelm even the cities of European Greece. 196. The Scythian Expedition of Darius I ; Conquests in Europe (513? B.C.). — The growing anxiety of the Greeks in the home land was intensified by the passage of the Bosporus, about the year 513 B.C., by an immense Persian army led by Darius in person, and aimed at the Scythians, old foes of the Asian peoples, inhabit- ing the bleak steppes which comprise South Russia of to-day. The outcome of this expedition was the addition of both Thrace and Macedonia, together with important islands in the Northern ^gean, to the Persian Empire, and in the advance of its western frontier to the passes of the mountains which guard Greece on the north. The greater part of the shores of the ^gean was now in the possession of the Great King.^ That sea which had so long been the special arena of Greek activity and Greek achievement had become practically a Persian lake. Moreover, through the loss of the Hellespontine regions the Greeks were cut off from the Euxine, which had come to be such an important part of the Hellenic world. 197. The Rise of the Persian Power in the East synchronizes with the Rise of the Power of Carthage in the West. — At the same time that the Greeks of the Eastern Mediterranean were thus falling under the yoke of the Persians, and the liberty of the cities in the home land was being threatened with extinction, the Greeks in Sicily were being hard pressed by another barbarian people, the Phoenicians. The power of Carthage was rising, and the Greek cities of Sicily were just now engaging in a doubtful contest with her for the possession of the island. Thus all round the horizon threatening clouds were darkening the once bright prospects of the Hellenic world. It was, indeed, a critical moment in the history of the Greek race. As Ranke says, " It cannot be denied that the energetic Greek world was in danger of being crushed in the course of its vigorous development." 2 Consult map after p. 92. l82 THE RISE OF PERSIA Selections from the Sources. — Herodotus, i. 152, 153 and iv. 137; will afford a glimpse into the thought of the times. References (Modern). — Curtius, vol. ii, pp. 112-193. Grote (ten- volume ed.), vol. iii, pp. 399-491. Abbott, vol. i, pp. 486-506. Holm, vol. i, chap, xxiii. Oman, History of Greece, pp. 1 18-140. Timayenis, vol. i, pt. iii, chap, i. Cox, The Greeks and Persians, chap. iii. Bury, History of Greece, pp. 223-241. Harrison, Story of Greece, chaps, xxiii-xxv. Topics for Special Study. — i. Croesus and Delphi. 2. Character and culture of the Asiatic Greeks. Fig. S^. — Greek Warriors preparing for Battle CHAPTER XIX THE PERSIAN WARS (500-479 B.C.) 198. The Beginning of the Ionian Revolt (500 B.C.); the Burn- ing of Sardis (499 B.C.). — The Greek cities reduced to servitude by Persia could neither long nor quietly endure the loss of their independence. In the year 500 B.C. Ionia became the center of a widespread rebeUion against the Great King. The Athenians sent twenty ships to the aid of their Ionian kins- men.^ Sardis was taken and laid in ashes (499 B.C.). Defeated in battle, the Athenians, thoroughly disheartened, forsook their Ionian confederates and sailed back to Athens. This unfortunate expedition was destined to have tremendous consequences. The Athenians had not only burned Sardis, but " had set the whole world on fire." When the news of the affair reached Darius at Susa, he asked, Herodotus tells us, who the Athenians were, and being informed, called for his bow, and placing an arrow on the string, shot upward into the sky, saying as he let fly the shaft, " Grant, O Zeus, that I may have ven- geance on the Athenians." After this speech, he bade one of his servants every day when his dinner was spread to repeat to him three times these words : " Master, remember the Athenians." 199. Spread of the Rebellion; the Fall of Miletus (494 B.C.); End of the Revolt (493 b.c). — Deserted by the Athenians, the 1 The Eretrians of Euboea joined the Athenians with five triremes. 183 l84 THE PERSIAN WARS only course left to the lonians was to draw as many cities as possible into the revolt. They accordingly stirred up to rebel- lion against the Persian king all the Greek cities of the Helles- pont and the Propontis, together with the Carians, and all the Greek and barbarian cities, save one, on the island of Cyprus. The movement threatened the destruction of the Persian power in all those regions where its yoke had been laid upon the neck of once free Hellenes. This was an opportune time for setting fast limits to the threatening advance of the Persian arms, and had Sparta and Athens with the other cities of Greece only lent such aid to their Asiatic kinsmen as considerations of duty and prudence dictated, the decisive battle between Greek and barbarian might have been fought in this Ionian war, and European Greece have been saved from the great invasion. But the inability of the Greek cities to stand together in a common cause was never more lamentably illustrated than at just this moment. The mihtary resources of the Great King were now collected for the suppression of the rebellion which thus at a blow had separated from his empire the long reach of Asiatic coast land from the Bosporus to Lycia. The land and sea forces of the Persians closed in around Miletus. After a long siege the city was taken. The most of the men were slain, while the women and children were carried off in a body and settled near the mouth of the Tigris. The cruel fate of Miletus stirred deeply the feelings of the Athenians. They must have felt that they themselves were, in a measure at least, responsible for the calamity, through their desertion of the cause of their kinsmen. When, the year follow- ing the fall of the city, there was presented in the theater at Athens a drama entitled the Capture of Miletus, the people were moved to tears, and afterwards fined the author " for recalling to them their own misfortune." They also made a law forbidding the presentation of the piece again. The remaining cities of Ionia shared the fate of Miletus. They were sacked and destroyed, and the fairest of the boys FIRST EXPEDITION OF DARIUS 185 and maidens were carried off for the service of the Great King. Also all the Greek cities on the European side of the Hellespont were taken and burned. The first serious attempt of the enslaved Greeks to recover their lost freedom was thus suppressed. The eastern half of the Greek world, filled with the ruins of once flourishing cities, and bearing everywhere the cruel marks of barbarian warfare, lay again in vassalage to the Great King. " The mild Ionian heavens did their part to heal the wounds : the waste places were again in time built upon, and cities, such as Ephesus, bloomed again in great prosperity ; but as to a history of Ionia, that was for all time past." ^ 200. The First Expedition of Darius against Greece (492 B.C.). — With the Ionian revolt crushed and punished, Darius deter- mined to chastise the European Greeks, and particularly the Athenians, for their insolence in giving aid to his rebellious subjects. A large land and naval armament was fitted out and placed under the command of Mardonius, the son-in-law of Darius; The land forces suffered severe losses at the hands of the bar- barians of Thrace, and the fleet was wrecked by a violent storm off Mount Athos, three hundred ships being lost (492 B.C.). 201. Darius' Second Expedition (490 B.C.). — Undismayed by this disaster, Darius issued orders for the raising and equipping of another and stronger armament. Meanwhile he sent heralds to the various Grecian states to demand earth and water, which elements among the Persians were symbols of submission. The weaker states gave the tokens required ; but the Athenians and Spartans threw the envoys of the king into pits and wells, and bade them help themselves to what earth and water they wanted. By the beginning of the year 490 B.C., another Persian army of 120,000 men had been mustered for the second attempt upon Greece. This armament was intrusted to the command of the experienced generals Datis and Artaphernes, but was under the guidance of the traitor Hippias (sec. 190). A fleet of six hundred 2 Curtius, Griech. Gesc/i., vol. i, p. 629 (6th ed.). l86 THE PERSIAN WARS ships bore the army from the coasts of Asia Minor over the ^gean towards the Grecian shores. After receiving the submission of the most important of the Cyclades, and capturing and sacking the city of Eretria upon the island of Eubcea, the Persians landed at Marathon, barely one day's journey from Athens. Here is a sheltered bay, which is edged by a crescent-shaped plain, backed by the rugged ranges of Parnes and Pentelicus. Upon this level ground the Persian generals drew up their army, flushed and confident with their recent successes. 202. The Battle of Marathon (490 b.c). — The Athenians made surpassing efforts to avert from their city the impending destruc- tion. Instead of awaiting behind their walls the coming of the Persians, they decided to offer them battle in the open field at Marathon. Accordingly they marched out 10,000 strong. While the Athenians were getting ready for the fight, a fleet runner, Phidippides by name, was hurrying with a message to Sparta for aid. The practical value of the athletic training of the Greeks was now shown. In just thirty-six hours Phidippides was in Sparta, which is one hundred and thirty-five or forty miles from Athens. He informed the Spartans of the capture of Ere- tria by the barbarians, and besought their immediate aid, that Athens, the most ancient of Grecian states, might not suffer a similar fate. But it so happened that it lacked a few days of the full of the moon, during which interval the Spartans, owing to an old superstition, dared not set out upon a mihtary expedi- tion. Nevertheless, they promised aid, but marched from Sparta only in time to reach Athens after all was over. The Plat^ans, however, firm and grateful friends of the Athe- nians on account of the protection they had accorded them against the Thebans, no sooner had received their appeal for help than they responded to a man, and joined them at Marathon with a thousand heavy-armed soldiers. The Athenians and their faithful allies took up their position just where the hills of Pentelicus sink into the plain of Marathon. The Persian host, numbering 100,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry, THE BATTLE OF MARATHON 187 occupied the low ground in their front, while their war ships and transports covered the beach behind. The Athenians resolved to attack the enemy and not wait to be attacked. Sacrifices having been offered and the omens being auspicious, the charge was sounded and the Greeks advanced on a run towards the Persian lines. The issue of the battle was for a time doubtful. Then the tide turned in favor of the Athenians. SCALE OF MILES 6- k i Plan of the Battle of Marathon The Persians were pushed back towards the shore and driven to their ships with great slaughter. Miltiades, the Athenian general who was in supreme command, at once dispatched a courier to Athens with intelligence of his victory. The messenger reached the city in a few hours, but so breathless that, as the people thronged eagerly around him to hear the news he bore, he could merely gasp, "Victory is ours," and fell dead. But the danger was not yet over. The Persians, instead of returning to the coast of Asia, bore down upon Athens, thinking to take the city before the Athenian army could return from Marathon. Miltiades, however, informed by watchers on the hills of the movements of the enemy, straightway set out with his little l88 THE PERSIAN WARS army for the capital, which he reached just at evening, probably on the day following the fight at Marathon. The next morn- ing when the Persian generals would have made an attack upon Athens, they found themselves confronted by the same men who had beaten them back from the Marathon shore. Shrinking from another encounter with these citizen soldiers, the Persians spread their sails and bore away for the Ionian shore. The day following the battle the Spartans, two thousand in number, arrived at Athens. Before returning home they visited the battlefield and looked upon the yet unburied bodies of the Persians.^ They bestowed generous praise upon the Athenians for the brave fight they had made, and, true soldiers as they were, doubtless regretted that they had not had part in it. Thus the cloud that had lowered so threateningly over Hellas was for a time dissipated. The most imposing honors were accorded to the heroes who had achieved the glorious victory, and their names and deeds were transmitted to posterity in song and marble. The bodies of the one hundred and ninety-two Athenians who had fallen were buried on the field, and an enor- mous mound of earth was raised over them. 203. Results of the Battle of Marathon. — The battle of Mara- thon is justly reckoned as one of the "decisive battles of the world." It marks a turning point in the history of humanity. The battle decided that no longer the despotism of the East, with its repression of all individual action, but the freedom of the West, with all its incentives to personal effort, should mark the future centuries of history. The tradition of the fight forms the prelude of the story of human freedom and progress. Again, by the victory Hellenic civilization was saved to mature its fruit, not for Hellas alone but for the world. We cannot con- ceive what European civiHzation would be like without those rich and vitalizing elements contributed to it by the Greek, and espe- cially by the Athenian, genius. But the germs of all these might have been smothered and destroyed had the barbarians won the day at Marathon. Ancient Greece, as a satrapy of the Persian 3 Herodotus makes the loss of the Persians 6400. MILTIADES FALLS INTO DISGRACE 189 Empire, would certainly have become what modern Greece became as a province of the empire of the Ottoman Turks. Moreover, the overwhelming defeat which the handful of Athe- nian freemen had inflicted upon the immense hordes of the Great King broke the spell of the Persian name and destroyed forever the prestige of the Persian arms. The victory gave the Hellenic peoples that position of authority and preeminence that had been so long held by the successive races of the East. It marked the beginning of European history. The great achievement further especially revealed the Athe- nians to themselves. The consciousness of resources and power became the inspiration of their after deeds. They did great things thereafter because they believed themselves able to do them. From the battle of Marathon dates the beginning of the great days of imperial Athens. 204. Miltiades falls into Disgrace. — The distinguished services Miltiades had rendered his country made him the hero of the hour at Athens. Taking advantage of his popularity, he per- suaded the Athenians to put in his hands a fleet for an enterprise respecting the nature of which no one save himself was to know anything whatever. Of course it was generally supposed that he meditated an attack upon the Persians or their alHes, and with full faith in the judgment as well as in the integrity of their favorite, the Athenians gave him the command he asked. But Miltiades abused the confidence placed in him. He led the expedition against the island of Paros simply to avenge some private wrong. The undertaking w^as unsuccessful, and Miltiades, severely wounded, returned to Athens, where he was brought to trial for his conduct. His eminent services at Marathon pleaded eloquently for him, and he escaped being sentenced to death, but was subjected to a heavy fine. This he was unable to pay, and, being cast into prison, died soon after from the effects of his wound. His son Cimon afterwards paid the fine. But the stain of Miltiades' act could not be effaced even by filial piety, and a dark blot remained upon a reputation otherwise the most resplendent in Grecian history. I go THE PERSIAN WARS 205. Themistocles and his Naval Policy. — At this time there came prominently forward at Athens a man whose genius, aided by favoring circumstances, was to create the naval greatness of the Athenian state. This was Themistocles, a sagacious, farsighted, versatile statesman, who, in his own words, though "he knew nothing of music and song, did know how of a small city to make a great one." He was an ambitious man, whom " the trophies of Miltiades robbed of sleep." Athens was at this time engaged in a war with the island of ^gina. Themistocles saw clearly that this. war could be brought to a successful issue only through the adoption by Athens of a maritime pohcy that should transform her land forces into a naval power overwhelmingly superior to that of her rival. But it was not alone this enemy close at hand that Themistocles had in view. While many among the Athenians were incHned to believe that the battle of Marathon had freed Athens forever from the danger of another Persian attack, Themistocles was clear- sighted enough to perceive that that battle was only the begin- ning of a tremendous struggle between Hellas and Persia, and the signal for still another and more formidable invasion of Greece by the barbarians. Hence he labored incessantly to persuade the Athenians to strengthen their navy as the only rehable defense of Hellas against subjection to the Persian power. 206. Aristides opposes the Policy of Themistocles and is ostra- cized (483 B.C.). — Themistocles was opposed in this policy by Aristides, called the Just, a man of the most scrupulous integrity, who feared that Athens would make a serious mistake if she con- verted her land force into a naval armament. This seemed to him a wide departure from the traditions of the fathers. The contention grew so sharp between the two that ostracism was called into use to decide the matter. Six thousand votes were cast against Aristides, and he was sent into exile. It is related that while the vote that ostracized him was being taken in the popular assembly, an iUiterate peasant, who was a stranger to Aristides, asked him to write the name of Aristides uDon his tablet. As he placed the name desired upon the shell, XERXES' PREPARATIONS TO INVADE GREECE 191 the statesman asked the man what wrong Aristides had ever done him. " None," responded the voter ; " I do not even know him; but I am tired of hearing him called the Just." After the banishment of Aristides, Themistocles was free to carry out his naval poHcy without any serious opposition, and soon Athens had the largest fleet of any Greek city, with a splendid harbor at Piraeus.* 207. Xerxes' Preparations to invade Greece. — No sooner had the news of the disaster at Marathon been carried to Darius than he began to make gigantic preparations to avenge this second defeat and insult. It was in the midst of these plans for revenge that, as we have already learned, death cut short his reign, and his son Xerxes came to the throne. Urged on by his nobles as well as by exiled Greeks at his court, who sought to gratify ambition or enjoy revenge in the humiliation and ruin of their native land, Xerxes, though at first disinclined to enter into a contest with the Greeks, at length ordered the preparations begun by his father to be pushed for- ward with the utmost energy. For eight years all Asia was astir with the work of preparation. Levies were made upon all the provinces that acknowledged the authority of the Great King, from India to Macedonia, from the regions of the Oxus to those of the Upper Nile. From all the maritime states upon the Mediterranean were demanded vast contingents of war galleys, transport ships, and naval stores. While these land and sea forces were being gathered and equipped, gigantic works were in progress on the Thracian coast and on the Hellespont to insure the safety and facilitate the march of the coming hosts. It will be recalled that the expedition of Mardonius was ruined by the destruction of his fleet in rounding the promontory of Mount Athos (sec. 200). That the war ships and transports 4 Circumstances happily concurred in the advancement of Themistocles' plans. Just at this time there was a large sum of money in the treasury of the city, which had been derived from the public silver mines at Laurium, in the southeastern part of Attica. This money was about to be divided among the citizens ; Themistocles persuaded them to devote it to the building of war ships. 192 THE PERSIAN WARS of the present armament, upon the safety of which the success of his undertaking so wholly depended, should not be exposed to the dangers of a passage around this projecting tongue of land, Xerxes determined to dig a canal across the neck of the isthmus. This great work consumed three years. Traces of the cutting may be seen to-day. At the same time that the canal at Mount Athos was being excavated, a still more gigantic work was in progress upon the Hellespont. Here Europe was being bound to Asia by a double bridge of boats, probably at a point where the strait is about one and a half miles in width. This work was in the hands of Egyptian and Phoenician artisans. By the spring of the year 481 b.c. the preparations for the long-talked-of expedition were about completed, and in the fall of that year we find Xerxes upon his way to Sardis, which had been selected as the rendezvous of the contingents of the great army of invasion. Just as Xerxes was about to march from Sardis, news was brought to him that the bridges across the Hellespont had been broken by a violent storm. Herodotus relates that Xerxes was thrown into a great passion by this intelligence, and ordered the architects of the bridges to be put to death and the Hellespont to be scourged with three hundred lashes. The scourgers carried out obediently the orders of their master, and as they lashed the traitorous and rebelHous waters cursed them '' in non-Hellenic and blasphemous words." 208. Disunion of the Greeks: Congress at Corinth (481 b.c). — Startling rumors of the gigantic preparations that the Persian king was making to crush them were constantly borne across the JEgesin to the ears of the Greeks in Europe. Finally came intelligence that Xerxes was about to begin his march. Some- thing must now be done to meet the impending danger. Mainly through the exertions of Themistocles, a council of the Greek cities was convened at Corinth in the fall of 481 b.c. But on account of feuds, jealousies, and party spirit, only a small number of the states of Hellas could be brought to act DISUNION OF THE GREEKS 193 in concert. Argos would not join the proposed confederation through hatred of Sparta; Thebes, through jealousy of Athens. The Cretans, to whom an embassy had been sent soliciting aid, refused all assistance. The Corcyraeans promised to help, but they were not sincere. Gelo, the tyrant of Syracuse, offered to send over a large armament, provided he were given the chief com- mand of the allied forces. His aid on such terms was refused. Thus, through different causes, many of the Greek cities held aloof from the confederation, so that only about fifteen or six- teen states were brought to unite their resources against the barbarians ; and even the strength of many of these cities that entered into the alliance was divided by party spirit. The friends of aristocratic government were almost invariably friends of Persia, because the Persian king looked with more favor upon aristocratic than democratic government in his subject Greek cities. Thus, for the sake of a party \dctory, the oligarchs were ready to betray their country into the hands of the barbarians. Furthermore, the Delphian oracle was wanting in courage, if not actually disloyal, and by its timid responses disheartened the patriot party. But under the inspiration of Themistocles the patriots in con- vention at Corinth determined upon desperate resistance to the barbarians. It was at first decided to concentrate a strong force in the Vale of Tempe, and at that point to dispute the advance of the enemy ; but this being found impracticable, it was resolved that the first stand against the invaders should be made at the Pass of Thermopylae. The Spartans were given the chief command of both the land and the naval forces. The Athenians might fairly have insisted upon their right to the command of the allied fleet, but they patriotically waived their claim for the sake of harmony. 209. The Passage of the Hellespont. — With the first indica- tions of the opening spring of 480 B.C., just ten years after the defeat at Marathon, the vast Persian army was astir and concen- trating from all points upon the Hellespont. The passage of this Strait, as pictured to us in the inimitable narration of Herodotus, 194 THE PERSIAN WARS is one of the most dramatic of all the spectacles afforded by history. Herodotus affirms that for seven days and seven nights the bridges groaned beneath the living tide that Asia was pouring into Europe. Upon an extended plain called Doriscus, on the European shore, Xerxes drew up his vast army for review and census.^ The enumeration completed, the immense army, accompanied along the shore by the fleet, marched forward through Thrace, and so on toward Greece. Map illustrating Invasion of Greece by Xerxes 210. The Battle of Thermopylae (480 b.c). — Leading from Northern into Central Greece is a narrow pass, pressed on one side by the sea and on the other by rugged mountain ridges. At the foot of the cliffs break forth several hot springs, whence the name of the pass, Thermopylae, or Hot Gates. At this point, in accordance with the decision of the Corinthian congress, was offered the first resistance to the progress of the 5 According to Herodotus, the land and naval forces of Xerxes amounted to 2,317,000 men, besides about 2,000,000 slaves and attendants. It is certain that these figures are a great exaggeration, and that the actual number of the Persian army could not have exceeded 600,000 men aside from attendants and camp followers. THE BATTLE OF THERMOPYL^ I95 Persian army. Leonidas, king of Sparta, with three hundred Spartan soldiers and about six thousand allies from different states, held the pass. As the Greeks were about to celebrate the Olym- pian games, which their religious scruples would not allow them to postpone, they left this little handful of men unsupported to hold in check the great army of Xerxes until the festival days should be past. The Spartans could be driven from their advantageous position only by an attack in front, as the Grecian fleet prevented Xerxes from landing a force in their rear. Before assaulting them, Xerxes summoned them to give up their arms. The answer of Leonidas was, "Come and take them." For two days the Persians tried to storm the pass. The Asiatics were driven to the attack by their officers armed with whips. But every attempt to force the way was repulsed ; even the Ten Thousand Immortals, the bodyguard of the Great King, were hurled back from the Spartan front like waves from a cliff. But an act of treachery on the part of a native Greek, Ephial- tes by name, " the Judas of Greece," rendered unavailing all the bravery of the keepers of the pass. A byway leading over the mountains to the rear of the Spartans was revealed to Xerxes. The startHng intelligence was brought to Leonidas that the Per- sians were descending the mountain path in his rear. He saw instantly that all was lost. The allies were permitted to seek safety in flight while opportunity remained ; but for him and his Spartan companions there could be no thought of retreat. Death in the pass, the defense of which had been intrusted to them, was all that Spartan honor and Spartan law now left them. The next day, surrounded by the Persian host, they fought with desperate valor ; but, overwhelmed by mere numbers, they were slain to the last man. With them also perished seven hundred Thespians who had chosen death with their companions. The fight at Thermopylae echoed through all the after centuries of Grecian history. The Greeks felt that all Hellas had gained great glory on that day when Leonidas and his companions fell, and they gave them a chief place among their national heroes. 196 THE PERSIAN WARS Memorial pillars marked for coming generations the sacred spot, while praising inscriptions and epitaphs told in brief phrases the story of the battle. Among these was an inscription in special memory of the Spartans who had fallen, which, commemorating at once Spartan law and Spartan valor, read, " Stranger, go tell the Lacedaemonians that we lie here in obedience to their commands !" ^ 211. The Athenians abandon their City and betake Themselves to their Ships. — Athens now lay open to the invaders. The Peloponnesians, thinking of their own safety simply, commenced throwing up defenses across the Isthmus of Corinth, working day and night under the impulse of an almost insane fear. Athens was thus left outside to care for herself. Counsels were divided. The Delphian oracle had obscurely declared, " When everything else in the land of Cecrops shall be taken, Zeus grants to Athena that the wooden walls alone shall remain unconquered, to defend you and your children." The oracle was believed to be, as was declared, "firm as adamant." But there were various opinions as to what was meant by the "wooden walls." Some thought the Pythian priestess directed the Athenians to seek refuge in the forests on the mountains ; others, that the oracle meant they should defend the Acropohs, which in ancient times had been surrounded with a wooden palisade ; but Themistocles (who it is thought may have himself prompted the oracle) contended that the ships were plainly indicated. The last interpretation was acted upon. All the soldiers of Attica were crowded upon the vessels of the fleet at Salamis. The aged men, with the women and children, were carried out of the country to different places of safety. All the towns of Attica, with the capital, were thus abandoned to the conquerors. 6 While Leonidas and his men were striving to hold the pass, the Greek fleet, stationed at Artemisium at the head of the island of Eiiboea, was endeavoring to prevent the Persian fleet from entering the strait between the island and the mainland. For three days the Greeks fought here the Persian ships (the battle of Artemisium), and then, upon receipt of the news that the pass was lost, retreated down the Euboean straits, and came to anchor in the gulf of Salamis, near Athens. THE NAVAL BATTLE OF SALAMIS 97 A few days afterwards the Persians entered upon the deserted plain, which they rendered more desolate by ravaging the fields and burning the empty towns. Athens shared the common fate, and her temples sank in flames. Sardis was avenged. The joy in distant Susa was unbounded. 212. The Naval Battle of Salamis (480 b.c.). — Just off the coast of Attica, separated from the mainland by a narrow passage of water, hes the island of Salamis. Here lay the Greek fleet,'^ awaiting the Persian attack. To hasten on the attack before Athens and Salamis dissensions should divide the Greek forces, Themistocles resorted to the following stratagem. He sent a messenger to Xerxes representing that he himself was ready to espouse the Persian cause, and advised an immediate attack upon the alHed fleet, which he represented as being in no condition to make any formidable resistance. Xerxes was deceived. He ordered an immediate attack. From a lofty throne upon the shore he him- self overlooked the scene and watched the result. The Persian fleet was broken to pieces and two hundred of the ships destroyed.^ ^ Under the supreme command of the Spartan Eurybiades. 8 The entire Persian fleet numbered about 750 vessels; the Grecian, about 380 ^ips, mostly triremes. 198 THE PERSIAN WARS The blow was decisive. Xerxes, fearing that treachery might burn or break the Hellespontine bridges, instantly dispatched a hundred ships to protect them ; and then, leaving Mardonius with three hundred thousand men to retrieve the disaster of Salamis, and effect, as he promised to do, the conquest of the rest of Greece, the monarch with a strong escort made an ignominious retreat into Asia. 213. Mardonius tries to bribe the Athenians; the Battle of Plataea (479 b.c). — With the opening of the spring of 479 b.c, Mardonius sent an embassy to Athens, promising the Athenians many things provided they would come over to the Persian side. The Athenians' reply was, " While the sun holds his course in the heavens, we will never form a league with the Persian king." Upon receiving this answer Mardonius, breaking up his winter camp in Thessaly, marched south, and, after ravaging Attica anew, withdrew into Boeotia. Sit- ting down in a fortified camp near Thebes, he awaited the coming of the Greeks. Here the Greeks confronted him with the largest army they had ever gathered.^ In the battle which followed, known as the battle of Plataea, Mardonius was slain and his army virtually annihilated. Fig. 84. - HOPLITE, or Heavy- ^^^ g^^y^ ^^ jl j^ , Armed Greek Warrior j \-r,y B.C.). — Upon the same day, ac- cording to tradition, that the Greeks won the victory over the Persian army at Plataea, they gained another over a combined land and sea force at Cape Mycale in lonia.^^ This victory at Mycale was a fitting sequel to the one at Plataea : that had freed European Greece from the presence of the bar- barians ; this, in the phrase of Herodotus, " restored to Grecian 9 There were 110,000 men, of which number 38,000 were hoplites. The Spartan Pausanias was in chief command. 10 The Spartan king Leotychides was in chief command of the aUied Greek fleet MEMORIALS AND TROPHIES OF THE WAR 199 freedom the Hellespont and the islands." For straightway Samos, Chios, Lesbos, and other islands of the JEgesm that had been in vassalage to Persia were now liberated, and received as members into the confederacy of the patriot states of the mother land.^^ 215. Memorials and Trophies of the War. — The glorious issue of the war caused a general burst of joy and exultation through- out Greece. Poets, artists, and orators all vied with one another in commemorating the deeds of the heroes whose valor had warded off the impending danger. Nor did the pious Greeks think that the marvelous deliverance had been effected without the intervention of the gods in their behalf. To the temple at Delphi was gratefully consecrated a tenth of the immense spoils in gold and silver from the field of Platsea; and upon the Acropolis at Athens was erected a colossal statue of Athena, made from the brazen arms gathered from the field at Marathon, while within the sanctuary of the goddess were placed the broken cables of the Hellespontine bridges, at once a proud trophy of victory and a signal illustration of the divine punishment that had befallen the audacious and impious attempt to lay a yoke upon the sacred waters of the Hellespont. Selections from the Sources. — ^schylus, T/ie Persians ; an his- torical drama which celebrates the victory of Salamis, Herodotus, v. 49-54 ; Aristagoras pleads before Cleomenes. Plutarch, Life of Thetnis- tocles and Life of Aristides. References (Modern). — Curtius, vol. ii, pp. 209-238 and 271-331. Grote (ten-volume ed.), vol. iii, pp. 492-521 ; vol. iv, pp. 102-201 and 242-294. Abbott, vol. ii, pp. 74-139 and 175-205. Holm, vol. ii, chaps, i-iv. Cox, The Greeks and the Persians. Creasy, Decisive Battles of the World, chap, i, "The Battle of Marathon." Church, Pictures from Greek Life and Story, chaps, iii-viii ; for youthful readers. Teachers will find valuable topographical material in Grundy, The Great Persian War. Topics for Special Study. — i. The Delphian oracle in the Persian Wars. 2. Themistocles. 3. ^schylus' The Persians, 4. Incidents of the battle of Salamis. 5. The story of Plataea. 11 On the very day of the battle of Salamis, according to tradition, Gelo, tyrant of Syracuse, gained a great victory over the Carthaginians under Hamilcar at the battle of Himera, in the north of Sicily. So it was a memorable day for Hellas in the West as well as in the East. CHAPTER XX THE MAKING OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE (479-445 ^■^■) 216. The Rebuilding of Athens; the New "Walls. — After the battle of Plataea and the expulsion of the barbarians from Greece, the Athenians who had found an asylum at Salamis, ^gina, and other places returned to Athens. They found only a heap of ruins where their city had once stood. Under the lead of Themistocles, the people with admirable spirit set themselves to the task of rebuilding their homes and erecting new walls. The exalted hopes for the future of their city which had been raised in the Athenians by their almost incredible achievements during the past few months, together with their resolve to create an asylum large enough to receive the whole population of Attica in case of another invasion, so that they should never again be forced to become exiles without a city, led them to trace a vast circuit of seven miles around the AcropoHs as the line of the new ramparts. The rivalstates of the Peloponnesian League watched the pro- ceedings of the Athenians with the most jealous interest. The Spartans sent an embassy to dissuade them from rebuilding their walls, hypocritically assigning as the ground of their interest in the matter their fear lest, in case of another Persian invasion, the city, if captured, should become a stronghold for the enemy. But the Athenians persisted in their purpose, and in a marvel- ously short time had raised the wall to such a height that they could defy interference. 217. The Fortifications of the Piraeus (478-477 B.C.). — At the same time that the work of restoration was going on at Athens, the fortifications of the harbor of Piraeus, begun, as we have seen, at an earUer date (sec. 206), were being enlarged and strengthened. THE TREACHERY OF PAUSANIAS 201 Themistocles was here merely carrying out the maritime policy which he had formulated for the Athenians before the invasion of Xerxes, and to which the circumstances of the past few months had given a most emphatic indorsement. That Athens' supremacy depended upon control of the sea had become plain to all. Consequently the haven town was now surrounded with walls even surpassing in strength and fully equahng in compass the new walls of the upper city. The Piraeus soon grew into a bustling commercial city, one of the chief centers of trade in the Hellenic world. In close connection with Themistocles' policy respecting the Piraeus itself stands his policy in regard to the Athenian navy. The advice which he had given the Athenians respecting the creation of a fleet had proved so wise and prescient that they were quite ready now to Usten to his further counsel, so that he easily led them to the resolve to add each year twenty well- equipped triremes to the fleet with which they had fought at Salamis.^ 218. The Treachery of Pausanias. — While the building opera- tions we have described were going on at Athens and the Piraeus, the confederate fleet, under the command of the Spartan Pau- sanias, was engaged in setting free those Greek cities which were still held enslaved by the Persians. The elevation to which he had been lifted seems to have pro- duced in Pausanias a sort of dizziness. His insensate ambition suggested to him the scheme of making himself tyrant of all Greece. He beHeved that, by securing the cooperation of Xerxes through offering to rule in Greece as his viceroy, he could consummate this amazing piece of treachery. In pur- suance of his plans, he sent to Susa the Persian prisoners he 1 A few years after this Themistocles fell into disfavor and was ostracized (471 B.C.). He finally bent his steps to Susa, the Persian capital. King Artaxerxes appointed him governor of Magnesia in Asia Minor and made provision for his wants by assigning to three cities the duty of providing for his table: one was to furnish bread, a second wine, and a third meat. Plutarch relates that one day as the exile sat down to his richly loaded board he exclaimed, " How much we should have lost, my children, if we had not been ruined ! " He died probably about 460 B.C. 202 MAKING OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE had taken, together with a letter in which he actually offered to become the son-in-law of the Great King. Xerxes was naturally greatly pleased with the prospect thus afforded him of yet annexing Greece as a satrapy to his empire, and sent Pausanias assurances of every assistance in men and money. The head of Pausanias seemed now to be completely turned. He dressed like a Persian, surrounded himself with Persian guards, and deported himself generally as though already a satrap of the Great King and tyrant of Hellas. Matters soon reached a crisis. Some Ionian sailors, indignant beyond self-restraint at the conduct of Pausanias, while cruising one day, purposely ran their ship into his galley ; and when he, beside himself with rage, upbraided them for their conduct, they told him to betake himself home, adding that nothing but the memory of Plataea restrained them from visiting upon him then and there the punishment he so richly deserved. Shortly after this a summons came to Pausanias from the Ephors at Sparta, whither information of the state of affairs in the fleet had been carried, commanding him to return home and give an explanation of his behavior.^ Having repudiated the authority of Pausanias, the Ionian fleet straightway turned to the Athenian general Aristides as leader and commander. Thus was transferred from Sparta to Athens that command of the allied fleet of the Greek cities which the Athenians had patriotically yielded to the Spartans when the inva- sion by Xerxes was impending (sec. 208), but to which even at that time they had a just claim, as having the largest navy in Hellas. 219. The Formation of the Confederacy of Delos (477 b.c). — Under the inspiration of Aristides, the Ionian states, in order that they might be able to carry on more effectively the work to which they had set their hands of liberating the Greek cities yet in the power of the Persians, now formed a league known as the 2 Pausanias obeyed the summons of the Ephors. He escaped punishment at this time, but a little later he was caught in treasonable correspondence with the Persians. To avoid arrest he fled for refuge to the sanctuary of Athena at Sparta. The Ephors, not daring to seize him there, caused the roof of the temple to be removed, and walling up the entrance, left the traitor to die of starvation (about 470 B.C.). THE CONFEDERACY OF DELOS 203 Confederacy of Delos, in which Sparta and her Peloponnesian alhes were to have no part. All the Asian cities of Ionia and ^olis, almost all the island towns of the ^gean, the cities of Chalcidice, together with those just set free along the Hellespont and the Bosporus, became members of the alliance. The league was a free association of independent and equal states. Athens was indeed to be Ihe head of the confederacy, but she was not on that account to possess or to exercise any irresponsible authority over the oJ;her members of the union. Aristides was chosen as the first president. Matters of common concern were to be in the hands of a congress convened yearly in the sacred island of Delos and composed of delegates from all the cities. At Delos, also, in the temple of Apollo was to be kept the com- mon treasure chest, to which each state was to make contribution according to its ability. What proportion of the ships and money should be contributed by the several states for carrying out the purposes of the union was left at first entirely to the decision of Aristides, such was the confidence all possessed in his fairness and incorruptible integrity ; and so long as he retained control of the matter, none of the allies ever had cause for complaint. The formation of this Delian league constitutes a prominent landmark in Grecian history. It meant not simply the transfer from Sparta to Athens of leadership in the maritime affairs of Hellas. ~ It meant that all the promises of Panhellenic union in the great alliance formed at Corinth in 481 B.C. had come to naught. It meant, since the Peloponnesian Confederacy still continued to exist, that henceforth Hellas was to be a house divided against itself. 220. The Athenians convert the Delian League into an Empire. — The Confederacy of Delos laid the basis of the imperial power of Athens. The Athenians misused their authority as leaders of the league, and gradually, during the interval between the forma- tion of the union and the beginning of the Peloponnesian War, reduced their allies, or confederates, to the condition of tributaries and subjects. Athens transformed the league into an empire in the following manner. The contributions assessed by Aristides upon the different 204 MAKING OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE members of the confederation consisted of ships for the larger states and of money payments for the smaller ones. From the first, Athens attended to this assessment matter, and saw to it that each member of the league made its proper contribution. After a while, some of the cities preferring to make a money pay- ment in heu of ships, Athens accepted the commutation, and then, building the ships herself, added them to her own navy. Thus the confederates disarmed themselves and armed their master. Very soon the restraints which Athens imposed upoji her aUies became irksome, and they began to refuse, one after another, to pay the assessment in any form. Naxos, one of the Cyclades, was the first island to secede from the league (466 B.C.). But Athens had no idea of admitting any such doctrine of state rights, and with her powerful navy forced the Naxians to remain within the union and to pay an increased tribute. What happened in the case of Naxos happened in the case of other members of the confederation. By the year 449 B.C. only three of the island members of the league — Lesbos, Chios, and Samos — still retained their independence. They alone of all the former allies did not pay tribute. Even before the date last named (probably about 457 B.C.) the Athenians had transferred the common treasury from Delos to Athens, and, diverting the tribute from its original purpose, were beginning to spend it, not in the prosecution of war against the barbarians, but in the carrying on of home enterprises, as though the treasure were their own revenue. About this time also the congress probably ceased to exist. Thus what had been simply a voluntary confederation of sovereign and independent cities was converted into what was practically an absolute monarchy, with the Attic democracy as the imperial master. Thus did Athens become a " tyrant city." From being the liberator of the Greek cities she had become their enslaver. What made this servitude of the former allies of Athens all the more galling was the fact that they themselves had been com- pelled to forge the very chains which fettered them ; for it was THE LEADERSHIP OF CIMON 205 their money that had built and was maintaining the fleet by which they were kept in subjection and forced to do whatever might be the will of the Athenians.^ 221. The Leadership of Cimon. — One of the ablest and most distinguished of the generals who commanded the forces of the Athenians during this same period when they were enslaving their confederates was Cimon, the son of Miltiades. After the expul- sion of the Persians from Greece, he became one of the most successful of the Grecian admirals to whom was intrusted the com- mand of the armaments designed to wrest from them the islands of the ^gean and the Hellenic cities of the Asiatic coast.* But Cimon was something more than a mere soldier and admiral. He was a statesman whose policies, though possibly sometimes unwise, were at least patriotic and indicative of an outlook that embraced not Athens alone but all Hellas. His disposition was kind and generous, and he dispensed his riches with a free hand in benefactions to the poor, in the erection of magnificent public monuments at Athens, and in the beautifying of the parks and walks in and about the city. 222. Revolt of the Spartan Helots; Cimon's Loss of Favor. — The popularity of Cimon at last declined, and he suffered ostra- cism, as had Aristides and Themistocles before him. Cimon's loss of public favor came about in this manner. In the year 464 B.C. vSparta was almost completely destroyed by an earthquake. Twenty thousand of the inhabitants are said to have perished. No sooner had the news of the situation at Sparta spread among the Helots, than they seized arms and hastened thither with the purpose of making an end once for all of their oppressors. But the Spartans who had survived the catastrophe were on the alert, and the attack was repulsed. The Messenians, however, were now in arms. Intrenching themselves in the old 3 Sentiment in most of the subject cities, it should be noted, was divided. While the aristocratic class was generally the bitter enemy of Athens, the lower classes were as a rule friends of the Athenian democracy. But the frequent revolts from Athens show how strong in most cases was the sentiment of home rule. 4 Of his many victories over the Persians the most important was that at the mouth of the Eurymedon, in Pamphylia, in 466 B.C. 2o6 MAKING OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE stronghold of Mount Ithome, they maintained against their formeT masters a long and bitter struggle known as the Third Messenian War (464-456 B.C.). The Spartans, finding themselves unable to reduce their revolted serfs to submission, were forced to ask aid of the other Grecian states. Pericles, one of the leading statesmen in Athens at this time, implored his countrymen not to lend themselves to the build- ing up of the power of their rival. But the aristocratic Cimon, who had always entertained the most friendly feelings for the Spartans, exhorted the Athenians to put aside all sentiments of enmity and jealousy, and to extend succor to their kinsmen in this desperate posture of their affairs. " Let not Greece," said he, " be lamed, and thus Athens herself be deprived of her yoke fellow." The great services Cimon had rendered the state entitled him to be heard. The assembly voted as he advised, and so the Athenians fought for some time side by side with the Lacedaemonians. But the Spartans were distrustful of the sincerity of their allies, and this feehng gradually grew into positive fear lest the Athenians should take advantage of their position in the country and pass over to the side of the enemy. Acting under this apprehension, which was probably entirely groundless, they, with characteristic Spartan bluntness, dismissed the Athenian forces.^ The discourtesy of this action aroused the most bitter resentment at Athens. The party of Pericles, who had opposed the policy of lending aid to their rivals as unwise and weakly sentimental, took advantage of the angry feehngs of the people to secure the ostracism of Cimon as the leader of the aristocratic party and the friend of Sparta® (461 B.C.). At the same time Pericles and his friend and supporter Ephialtes, as the leaders of the liberal party, effected some important changes in the Athenian constitution^ which made it almost purely democratic in character. 5 After a prolonged struggle the Spartans succeeded in subduing the rebellion and in reestablishing throughout Messenia the old order of things. 6 Cimon was recalled from exile in 454 B.C. and again led the fleets of Athens against the Persians. He died in the year 449 B.C. 7 These changes concerned the ancient council of the Areopagus. The great and patriotic services rendered by this council during the Persian Wars had given it a PERICLES COMES TO THE HEAD OF AFFAIRS 207 223. Pericles comes to the Head of Affairs (about 460 b.c.) ; Ms Policy. — Pericles was now the most prominent leader in Athens,^ and from this time on until his death shortly after the opening of the Peloponnesian War, he was the very soul of the Athenian democracy. His policy was just the opposite of that of Cimon, which was the maintenance in Greece of a dual hegemony, Sparta being allowed leadership on land and Athens leadership on the sea. Athens and her Long Walls' place of great influence and power during the years immediately following the battles of Salamis and Plataea. But public sentiment had now changed. The council was regarded by the democratic party with some such feelings of distrust and hatred as are entertained by the English Liberals towards the House of Lords. It seemed to them, as indeed it was, the stronghold of aristocratic prejudice and conservatism. The court was now stripped of important powers, which were conferred upon the various courts and boards of a popular character. This reform amounted to a revo- lution. It swept away the last bulwark in the constitution against the inroads of the democratic spirit. It removed the last check upon the will of the people. Henceforth the Athenians were to be their own censors and judges as well as their own legislators. 8 The very year that Cimon was ostracized, Ephialtes, the able liberal statesman who had led the attack upon the Areopagus, had been struck down by the hand of an assassin. 9 It is the opinion of Ernest Arthur Gardner, in opposition to the view which has been generally held, that there were only two walls, the one shown on the map as the Southern being the so-called Phaleric Wall. See his Ancient Athens, pp. 56-59. 208 MAKING OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE Pericles believed that such a double leadership was impracticable, and the whole aim of his policy was to make the authority of Athens supreme not only on the sea but also on the land. 224. Pericles fosters the Naval Power of Athens ; the Construc- tion of the Long Walls ; the Conquest of ^gina (456 B.C.). — As a part of his maritime policy, Pericles persuaded the Athenians to push to completion what were known as the Long Walls ^° (about 457-455 B.C.), which united Athens to the port of Pirseus. By means of these great ramparts Athens and her principal port, with the intervening land, were converted into a vast fortified district, capable in time of war of holding the entire population of Attica. With her communication with the sea thus secured, and with a powerful navy at her command, Athens could bid defiance to her foes on sea and land. One of the most important conquests, in its bearing upon their maritime supremacy, made by the Athenians during Pericles' lead- ership, was the subjugation of the island of ^gina, which Hes in front of the harbor of Piraeus. This small but powerful state, which for a long time had been a formidable rival of Athens by sea, was now compelled to surrender its war galleys and to pay tribute (456 B.C.). 225. Pericles tries in vain to create a Land Empire; the Thirty Years' Truce (445 b.c). — At the same time that Pericles was making Athens' supremacy by sea more secure, he was endeavor- ing to build up for her a land empire in Central Greece. As Athe- nian influence in this quarter increased, Sparta became more and more jealous, and strove to counteract it by enhancing the power of Thebes, and by lending support to the aristocratic party in the various cities of Boeotia. The contest between the two rivals was long and bitter. At first the Athenians were worsted, but at length the tide turned in their favor. All the cities of Boeotia, Phocis, and Locris fell 10 It is probable that Cimon began the work on these defenses. The ramparts were each between four and five miles in length, and sixty feet high. They were defended by numerous towers, which, when Athens became crowded, were used as shops and private dwellings. THE THIRTY YEARS' TRUCE 209 under the power of Athens, and it seemed as though Pericles' dream of a land empire as well as of a naval dominion was about to be realized. But fortune once more inclined to the side of the aristocratic party. The Athenian army experienced an overwhelming defeat (at Coronea, 447 B.C.), and Pericles was fain to seek peace with Sparta. The negotiations ended in the well-known Peace of Peri- cles, or the Thirty Years' Truce (445 B.C.). By its terms each of the rival cities was left at the head of the confederation it had formed, but neither was to interfere with the subjects or allies of the other, while those cities of Hellas which were not yet members of either league were to be left free to join either according to choice. The real meaning of the truce was that Athens gave up her ambition to establish a land empire and was henceforth to be content with supremacy on the seas. Selections from the Sources. — Plutarch, Life of Aristides and Life of Cimon. Thucydides, i. 90-93 ; tells how Themistocles outwitted Sparta. References (Modern). — Curtius, vol. ii, pp. 353-459- Grote (ten- volume ed.), vol. iv, pp. 330-437. Abbott, vol. ii, pp. 243-415. Holm, vol. ii, chaps, vii-xiv. Allcroft, The Making of Athens, chaps, viii and X. Oman, History of Greece, chaps, xxii-xxiv. Bury, History of Greece, chap. viii. Cox, The Athenian Empire (earlier chapters) ; and Lives of Athenian Statesmen, "Aristeides," " Themistokles," " Pausanias," " Kimon." Greenidge, Handbook of Greek Constitutional History, chap, vi, sec. 5. Topics for Special Study. — i. The Confederacy of Delos. 2. Cimon. 3. Aristides. 4. Athens' relations to the cities of her empire. 5. The ancient temple as a sanctuary or place of refuge. CHAPTER XXI THE AGE OF PERICLES (445-431 B.C.) 226. General Character of the Period. — The fourteen years immediately following the Thirty Years' Truce are usually desig- nated as the Years of Peace. During all this period Athens was involved in only one short war of note. And not only was there peace throughout the empire of Athens, but also throughout the Mediterranean world. There was peace between the Eastern Greeks and the Persians, as well as between the Western Greeks and the Carthaginians. The rising city of Rome, too, was at peace with her neighbors. Thus there was peace throughout the world, as happened again four centuries later in the reign of the Roman 6mperor Augustus (sec. 507). And as that later period of peace marked the Golden Age of Rome, so did this earlier era mark the Golden Age of Athens.^ The epoch, as we here limit it, embraced less than half the lifetime of a single genera- tion, yet its influence upon the civilization of the world can hardly be overrated. During this short period Athens gave birth to more great men — poets, artists, statesmen, and philosophers — than all the world besides has produced in any period of equal length. Among all the great men of this age Pericles stood preemi- nent. Such was the impression he left upon the period in which he lived that it is called after him the Periclean Age.^ Yet 1 Lloyd, The Age of Pericles^ vol. ii, p. 11 1. 2 This designation is a very elastic one : by it is often meant the whole period marked by the influence of Pericles, say from the assassination of Ephialtes in Fig. 85. — Pericles GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE 1'J:RI(JD 21 I Pericles' authority was simply that which talent and character justly confer. He ruled, as Plutarch says, by the art of persua- sion. His throne was the bema.^ The people were at this period the source and fountain of all power. The reforms and revolutions of a century and more had finally removed all restraints upon their will, and that will was now supreme. Every matter which concerned Athens and her empire was dis- cussed and decided by the popular assembly. Never before in the his- tory of the world had any people enjoyed such un- restricted political liberty as did the citizens of Athens as this time, and never before were any people, through so inti- mate a knowlerlge of public affairs, so well fitted to take part in the administration of government. As a rule, every citizen was 461 B.C. to the death of Pericles in 429 B.C.; and again it is employed to designate the entire period of Athenian ascendancy from the battle of Plata;a to the outbreak of the Feloponnesian War. 3 It is natural, of course, that one who occupies such a position as that held by Pericles should awaken many jealousies and stir numerous resentments. And Pericles did have many enemies, and was frequently subjected to annoyance and persecution. Usually the attacks upon him were made indirectly through his friends. Thus charges of corruption and sacrilege were brought against his friend Phidias (sec. 320, n. 11), which without doubt were primarily intended to annoy Pericles. Also A?;pasia, a brilliant Milesian woman who was associated with Peri- cles in a way condemned by modern morality, was charged among other things with impiety. Pericles was able to sectire her acquittal only by making before the court a most abject plea in her defense. Again, Anaxagoras, a philosr)pher to the lofti- ness of whose teachings Plutarch attributes in large measure the elevation and liberality of the views of Pericles, who was his friend and disciple, was prosecuted on the charge of irreligion (sec. 351). J I',. :■,().- 'I Hi: UkMA, or CjkATOR's STANI), OS THE Pnyx Hill, Athkns (see sec. 182, n. 3) (From a photograph) 212 THE AGE OF PERICLES qualified to hold public office. At all events the Athenians acted upon this assumption, as is shown by their extremely democratic practice of filling almost all the public offices by the use of the lot. Only a very few positions, and these in the army and navy, which called for special qualifications, were filled by ballot or open voting. 227. The Limitation of Citizenship to Persons of Pure Attic Descent. — A few years before the time where we have now arrived, Pericles had secured the enactment of a law which had a very important bearing upon the history of the period with which we are dealing. This was a law limiting Athenian citi- zenship to persons born of an Athenian father and an Athenian mother.^ The passing of this law marks a most significant change in the policy of the Athenian state. Up to this time Athens had been the most liberal of all the cities of Greece in the admission of aliens or semi-aHens to the franchise of the city, and it was this Hberal policy that had contributed largely to make Athens strong and to give her the imperial position she held among the states of Hellas. Aside from the formation of a federal union like the later Achaean League (sec. 304),- it was the sole policy through which Athens could hope to unite into a real nation the various cities she had brought under her rule. It was the policy which Rome was just now adopting, and by the steady adhesion to which she was to make of the multitude of Itahan cities and tribes a great nation, and gain the dominion of the world. ^ Probably it was impossible for Athens to play in history the part of Rome. The feeling of the Greek for his own city was too strong. But we cannot help asking ourselves when we see Athens thus abandoning the liberal principle which had carried her so far, what might have been her future had she only steadily adhered to her earlier policy and kept her gates, as Rome did 4 The ground for this piece of legislation probably was that since the rights and y;^^. privileges of Athenian citizenship were becoming valuable those possessing these >■ rights were anxious to keep them as exclusively as possible to themselves, 6 Compare sees. 391, 395, 415, 470, 471, 512, and 527 of the Ancient History (revised ed.). SYSTEM OF PAYMENT FOR PUBLIC SERVICES 213 hers, wide open to strangers, and thereby kept full and strong the ranks of her citizens. We are told that as an immediate result of the law in question almost five thousand persons were disfranchised. 228. Pericles takes the Citizens into the Pay of the State. — It was a fixed idea of Pericles that in a democracy there should be not only an equal distribution of political rights among all classes, but also an equahzation of the means and opportunities of exercising these rights, together with an equal participation by all in social and intellectual enjoyments. By such an equaliza- tion of the privileges and pleasures of political and social life, he would destroy the undue influence of the rich over the poor, and banish class envy and discord. In promoting his views Pericles carried to great length the system of payment for the most common public services. Thus he introduced, or at least organized, the system of payment for miUtary services ; hitherto the Athenian, save probably as respects service in the fleet, had served his country in time of war with- out compensation. He also secured the payment of the citizen for serving as a juryman, — a very important innovation. Through his influence also, or that of his party, salaries were, during this period, attached to the various civil offices, all of which were originally unpaid positions. This reform enabled the poorer citi- zens to offer themselves as candidates for the different magis- tracies, which under the earher system, notwithstanding the provisions of the constitution, had been practically open only to men of means and leisure. It was the same motives that prompted the above innovations which led Pericles to introduce or to extend the practice of sup- plying all the citizens with free tickets to the theater and other places of amusement, and of banqueting the people on festival days at the public expense. Respecting the effect of these par- ticular measures upon the character of the Athenian democracy, we shall say a word in a following paragraph. The outcome of the general policy of Pericles was that before the beginning of the Peloponnesian War almost every citizen of 214 THE AGE OF PERICLES Athens was in the pay of the state. Aristotle says that more than twenty thousand were receiving payment for one kind of service or another.^ 229. The Dicasteries. — Among the services just enumerated for which the citizen received a payment from the state was that rendered by the Athenian juryman in the great popular courts. These tribunals formed such a characteristic feature of the Athens of Pericles that we must pause here long enough to cast a glance upon them. Each year there were chosen by lot from those Athenian citizens of thirty years of age and upwards who had volunteered for jury service six thousand persons."^ One thousand of this number was held in reserve ; the remaining five thousand were divided into ten sections of five hundred each. These divisions were called dicasteries^ and the members dicasts or jurymen. Although the full number of jurors in a dicastery was five hundred, still the usual number sitting on any given case was between two hundred and four hundred. Sometimes, however, when an important case was to be heard, the jury would number two thousand or even more. There was an immense amount of law business brought before these courts ; for they tried not only all cases arising between the citizens of Athens, but attended also to a large part of the law business of the numerous cities of Athens' great empire. All cases arising between subject cities, all cases in which an Athenian citizen was interested, and finally, indeed, all important cases arising in the dependent states, were brought to Athens and heard in these courts. It is easy to see that the volume of business transacted in them must have been immense. The pay of the juror was at first one obol per day ; but later this was increased to three obols, a sum equal to about eight 6 The various classes and magistrates supported by the pubhc funds are given as follows: 6000 dicasts, 1600 bowmen, 1200 horsemen, 500 senators, 500 harbor guards, 50 city guards, 700 domestic magistrates, 700 foreign magistrates, 2500 hop- lites, 4000 sailors, the crews of 20 watch ships, 2000 sailors forming crews of ships employed in collecting tribute, together with jailers and other officers {Athenian Constitution^ ch. 24). 7 Collectively known as the Hclicea, THE DICASTERIES 215 cents in our money. This, it seems, was sufficient to maintain an Athenian citizen of the poorer class. When a case was to be tried, it was assigned by lot to one of the dicasteries, this method of allotment being observed in order to guard against bribery. The average Athenian enjoyed sitting on a jury. As Lloyd says, " the occupation fell in wonderfully with his humor." The influence of the courts upon the Athenian character was far from wholesome. They fostered certain traits of the Athenians which needed the bridle ,^- ^., I \ 1:' -^ rather than the goad. The decision of the jurors was final. There was no body or coun- cil in the state to review their deci- sion. The judg- ment of a dicas- tery was never reversed or an- nulled. The deci- sions of the dicasts were not always consonant with justice ; but probably the verdicts were, on the whole, as just and reasonable as are those of the modern jury. 230. Pericles adorns Athens with Public Buildings. — Athens having achieved such a position as she now held, it was the idea of Pericles that the Athenians should so adorn their city that it should be a fitting symbol of the power and glory of their empire. Nor was it difficult for him to persuade his art-loving countrymen to embelhsh their city with those masterpieces of architecture that wm -^ Fig. 87. — The Caryatid Porch of the Erechtheum.8 (From a photograph) 8 The Erechtheum was built, some time after the death of Pericles, on the site of an older temple which perished with the other buildings on the Acropolis at the time of the Persian invasion. 2l6 THE AGE OF PERICLES in their ruins still excite the admiration of the world. Among the various edifices constructed at this time was the Odeon or " Music Hall," erected just beneath the Acropohs. This building was intended for the musical contests that were held in connection with the Panathenaic festivals (sec. i86). But the most noteworthy of the Periclean structures were grouped upon the Acropohs. Here, as the gateway to the sacred inclosure of the citadel, were erected the magnificent Propylaea, which have served as a model for similar structures since the time of Pericles. Here also was raised the beautiful Parthenon, sacred to the virgin goddess Athena. The architects of this build- ing were Ictmus and Callicrates; the celebrated sculptures of the frieze were de- signed by Phidias. Within was the celebrated ivory and gold statue of the goddess. The So-called Theseum AT Athens ^^^^ ^he temple (From a photograph) Stood the colossal ^, . . fxu 1, ^ J f /- 1 4. 1 bronze statue of This IS one of the best preserved of Greek temples Athena, — made, it is said, from the spoils of Marathon, — whose ghttering spear point was a beacon to the mariner sailing in from Sunium.^ The Athenians obtained a considerable portion of the money needed for the prosecution of their great architectural and art undertakings from the treasury of the Delian Confederacy. The allies naturally declaimed bitterly against this proceeding, com- plaining that Athens with their money was " adorning herself as a vain woman decks her body with gay ornaments." But Pericles' answer to these charges was that the money was contributed 9 For additional details concerning the art matters here dealt with, see sees. 313 and 320. Fig. 88. THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 217 to the end that the cities of the league should be protected against the Persians, and that so long as the Athenians kept the enemy at a distance they had a right to use the money as they pleased. 231. Strength and Weakness of the Athenian Empire. — Under Pericles Athens had become the most powerful naval state in the world. In one of his last speeches (sec. 235), made soon after the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War, in which he recounts the resources of the Athenian Empire, Pericles says to his fellow- citizens : " There is not now a king, there is not any nation in the universal world, able to withstand that navy which at this juncture you can launch out to sea." And this was no empty boast. The earlier empires of the Orient that once had held wide dominion had long since fallen, and the later Medo-Persian power which had arisen upon their ruins, and which at the opening of the fifth century b.c. was threatening to extend its authority over the world, had been checked in its insolent advance by Hellenic valor and discipHne, so that at this time there was no power in the East that the Athenians need fear. In the West, Rome had not yet risen into prominence, and Carthage was barely able to contend upon equal terms with the Greek cities of Sicily. Beyond question the Hellenes were at this moment the leading race in the world ; and Athens, notwithstanding the limitations placed upon her ambition by the terms of the Thirty Years' Truce (sec. 225), was the real head of Hellas. The ^gean had become an Athenian lake. Its islands and coast lands, together with the Hellespontine region, formed practically an Athenian Empire. The revenue ships of Athens collected tribute from two hundred Greek cities. It seemed almost as though the union of the cities of Hellas was to be effected on an imperial basis through the energy and achievements of the Athenians. But the most significant feature of this new imperial power was the remarkable combination of material and intellectual resources which it exhibited. Never before had there been such a union of the material and the intellectual elements of civilization at the 2i8 THE AGE OF PERICLES seat of empire.^'^ Literature and art had been carried to the utmost perfection possible to human genius. Art wa^ represented by the inimitable creations of Phidias and Polygnotus, while the drama was illustrated by the incomparable tragedies of ^schylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.^^ But there were elements of weakness in the splendid imperial structure. The Athenian Empire was destined to be short-lived because the principles upon which it rested were in opposition to the deepest instinct of the Greek race, — to that sentiment of local patriotism which invested each individual city with polit- ical sovereignty (sec. 137). Athens had disregarded this feeling. Pericles himself acknowledged that in the hands of the Athenians sovereignty had run into a sort of tyranny. The so-called con- federates were the subjects of Athens. To her they paid tribute. To her courts they were dragged for trial.^^ Naturally the subject cities of her empire — that is, the patriotic or home rule party in these dependent states — regarded Athens as the destroyer of Hellenic liberties, and watched impatiently for the first favorable moment to revolt and throw off the yoke that she had imposed upon them. Hence the Athenian Empire rested upon a foun- dation of sand. Had Athens, instead of enslaving her confederates of the Delian League, only been able to find some way of retaining them as alUes in an equal union, — a great and perhaps impossible task under the then existing conditions of the Hellenic world, — as 10 « The average ability of the Athenian race [was], on the lowest possible esti- mate, very nearly two grades higher than our own ; that is, about as much as our race is above that of the African negro. This estimate, which may seem prodigious to some, is confirmed by the quick intelligence and high culture of the Athenian commonalty, before whom literary works were recited, and works of art exhibited of a far more severe character than could possibly be appreciated by the average of our race, the calibre of whose intellect is easily gauged by a glance at the contents of a railway bookstall." — Galton, Hereditary Genius, p. 342 (2d Am. ed., 1887); quoted by Kidd, Social Evolution, ch. ix. 11 For short notices of the lives and works of these artists and poets, see sees. 320, 325, and 337. 12 The subject cities were allowed to maintain only their lower courts of justice ; all cases of importance, as we have seen (sec. 229), were carried to Athens, and there decided in the Attic tribunals. THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 219 head of the federated Greek race she might have secured for Hellas the sovereignty of the Mediterranean, and the history of Rome might have ended with the first century of the republic. Furthermore, there were elements of weakness within the Athe- nian democracy itself. Greatly as Pericles had exalted Athens, and vastly as he had extended her reputation, still by some of his measures he had sown the seeds of future evils. In his system of wholesale public doles and gratuities he had introduced or encouraged pracFices that had the same demorahzing effects upon the Athenians that the free distribution of corn at Rome at a later time had upon the Roman populace. These pernicious prac- tices cast discredit upon labor, destroyed frugality, and fostered idleness, thus sapping the virtues and strength of the Athenian democracy. Illustrations of these weaknesses, as well as of the strength of the Athenian Empire, will be afforded by the great struggle between Athens and Sparta known as the Peloponnesian War, the causes and chief incidents of which we shall next rehearse. Selections from the Sources. — Plutarch, Life of Pericles. Thucyd- IDES, ii. 65 ; on the character of Pericles. References (Modern). — Curtius, vol. ii, pp. 460-641. Grote (ten- volume ed.), vol. iv, pp. 438-533. Abbott, vol. iii, chaps, i and ii. Holm, vol. ii, chaps, xv-xx. Bury, History of Greece, chap. ix. Cox, The Athenian Empire ; and Lives of Greek Statesmen, " Ephialtes " and " Perikles." Lloyd, The Age of Pericles, vol. ii, chaps. xH and xlii. Butler, The Story of Athens, chap. vii. Abbott, Pericles and the Golden Age of Athens, chaps, x-xviii. Grant, Greece in the Age of Pericles^ chaps, vii, viii, and xii. Mahaffy, Survey of Greek Civilization, chap. v. Topics for Special Study. — i. The buildings of Athens. 2. The drama in the Periclean Age. 3. "A Day in Athens." 4. The popular courts. 5. The imperialism of Pericles. CHAPTER XXII THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR (431-404 B.C.) I. The War to the Peace of Nicias (431-421 b.c.) 232. The Immediate Causes of the War. — Before the end of the hfe of Pericles the growing jealousy between Ionian Athens and Dorian Sparta and her allies broke out in the long and calamitous struggle known as the Peloponnesian War. Pericles had foreseen the coming storm : " I descry war," he said, " lower- ing from the Peloponnesus." One immediate cause of the war was the interference of Athens, on the side of the Corcyraeans, in a quarrel between them and their mother city Corinth. The real root of this trouble between Corinth and Corcyra was mercantile rivalry. Both were enter- prising commercial cities, and both wished to control the trade of the islands and the coast towns of Western Greece. The motive of the Athenians for interesting themselves in this quarrel between mother and daughter was to prevent any accession to the naval power of Corinth by her possible acquisition of the fleet of the Corcyraeans, and to make sure of Corcyra as an important station and watch post on the route to Italy. The second immediate cause of the war was the blockade by the Athenians of Potidaea, in Chalcidice. This was a Corinthian colony, but it was a member of the Delian League, and was now being chastised by Athens for attempted secession. Corinth, as the ever-jealous naval rival of Athens, had endeavored to lend aid to her daughter, but had been worsted in an engagement with the Athenians. With affairs in this shape, Corinth, seconded by other states that had causes of complaint against Athens, appealed to Sparta, THE AFFAIR AT PLAT^A 221 as the head of the Dorian alliance, for aid and justice. The Spartans, after listening to the deputies of both sides, decided that the Athenians had been guilty of injustice, and declared for war. The resolution of the Spartans was indorsed by the Pelo- ponnesian confederation, and apparently approved by the Delphian oracle, which, in response to an inquiry of the Spartans as to what would be the issue of the proposed undertaking, assured them that '' they would gain the victory, if they fought with all their might." 233. The Beginning : Attack upon Plataea by the Thebans. — The first act in the long and terrible drama was enacted at night, within the walls of Plataea. This city, though in Boeotia, was under the protection of Athens, and would have nothing to do with the Boeotian League. Anxious to get possession of this place before the actual outbreak of the war which they saw to be inevitable, the Thebans planned its surprise and capture. Three hundred Thebans gained access to the unguarded city in the dead of night, and, marching to the public square, summoned the Plataeans to exchange the Athenian for a Boeotian alliance. The Plataeans were upon the point of acceding to all the de- mands made upon them, when, discovering the small number of the enemy, they attacked and overpowered them in the darkness, and took one hundred and eighty of them prisoners. These cap- tives they afterwards put to death, in violation, as the Thebans maintained, of a sacred promise that their lives should be spared. This wretched affair at Plataea precipitated the war (431 B.C.). The preparations on either side were now pushed forward with increased zeal and energy. There was great enthusiasm, Thu- cydides tells us, on both sides of the Isthmus, particularly among the young men, who, having never seen war, were eager for its new experiences and excitements. 234. The Peloponnesians invade and ravage Attica (431 B.C.). — As soon as the news of the affair at Platcea had reached Sparta, all her allies were at once summoned to send their contingents in haste to the Isthmus, prepared for a campaign in Attica. A great army was soon collected there under the command of the Spartan king Archidamus. 222 THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR Meanwhile Pericles, carrying out the general plan of campaign that had been resolved upon by the Athenians under his advice, had gathered all the inhabitants of the villages, towns, and scat- tered farmhouses of Attica within the walls of the capital. The people brought with them their household goods, even '' the woodwork of their homes." Their cattle they transported to Euboea and other places of safety. Everything that could not be carried away was abandoned to the enemy. Into the plain thus deserted, as it had been a generation before at the time of the Persian invasion, the Peloponnesians marched, just at the season when the grain was ripening, and as they advanced towards Athens ravaged the country far and near. Even the barbarians had not wasted it more ruthlessly. From the walls of the city the Athenians could see the flames of their burning houses, which recalled to the old men the sight they had witnessed from the island of Salamis just forty-nine years before. This destruction of their property before their very eyes naturally frenzied the people, and they began to upbraid Pericles, and demanded that he should give up his cowardly policy of crouching behind walls, and lead the army out to meet the enemy in open battle. Perceiving that the people were beside themselves with anger, Pericles turned a deaf ear to all their abuse, and refused to com- ply with their demands, but sent out bodies of cavalry to protect the property near the city walls. The failure of provisions finally compelled the Peloponnesians to withdraw from the country. They retreated through Boeotia, and from the Isthmus the contingents of the different cities scattered to their homes. 235. Funeral Oration of Pericles. — It was the custom of the Athenians to bury with public and imposing ceremonies the bodies of those who fell in battle. In the funeral procession the bones of the dead of each tribe were borne in a single chest on a litter, while an empty litter covered with a pall was carried for those whose bodies had not been recovered. The remains were laid in the public cemetery, outside the city gates. The only FUNERAL ORATION OF PERICLES 223 time that the Athenians departed from this custom was after the battle of Marathon, when the dead were buried on the field where they had fallen, as a special tribute to their valor and self-devotion (sec. 202). After the burial of the remains, some person chosen by his fellow-citizens on account of his special fitness for the ser- vice delivered an oration over the dead, extolling their deeds and exhorting the living to an imitation of their virtues. It was during the winter following the campaign we have described that the Athenians celebrated the funeral ceremonies of those who had fallen thus far in the war. Pericles was chosen to give the oration on this occasion. This funeral speech, as reported by Thucydides,^ is one of the most valuable memorials preserved to us from antiquity. All the circumstances under which the oration was pronounced lent to it a peculiar and pathetic interest. The speaker took advantage of the occasion to describe the institutions to which Athens owed her greatness, and to picture the glories of the imperial city for which the heroes they lamented had died. He first spoke of the fathers from whom they had inherited their institutions of freedom, and their great empire, and then passed on to speak of the character and spirit of those institutions through which Athens had risen to power and great- ness. The Athenian government, he said, was a democracy; for all the citizens, rich and poor alike, participated in its adminis- tration. There was freedom of intercourse and of action among the citizens, each doing as he liked ; and yet there was a spirit of reverence and respect for law. Numerous festivals and games furnished amusement and relaxation from toil for all citizens. Life in the great city was more enjoyable than elsewhere, being enriched by fruits and goods from all the world. 1 Respecting the speeches which Thucydides introduces so frequently in his narrative, he himself says : "As to the speeches which were made either before or during the war, it was hard for me, and for others who reported them to me, to recollect the exact words. I have therefore put into the mouth of each speaker the sentiments proper to the occasion, expressed as I thought he would be likely to express them, while at the same time I endeavored, as nearly as I could, to give the general purport of what was actually said" (Jowett's Thucydides, i. 15). 224 THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR The speaker praised, too, Athens' military system, in which the citizen was not sacrificed to the soldier, as at Sparta; and yet Athens was alone a match for Sparta and all her allies. He extolled the intellectual, moral, and social virtues of the Athe- nians, which were fostered by their free institutions, and declared their city to be '' the school of Hellas " and the model for all other cities. Continuing, the speaker declared that Athens alone of all existing cities was greater than the report of her in the world ; and that she would never need a Homer to perpetuate her mem- ory, because she herself had set up everywhere eternal monuments of her greatness. "Such is the city," he exclaimed impressively, " for whose sake these men nobly fought and died ; they could not bear the thought that she might be taken from them ; and every one of us who survive should gladly toil on her behalf." Then followed words of tribute to the valor and self-devotion of the dead, whose sepulchers and inscriptions were not the graves and the memorial stones of the cemetery — " for the whole earth is the sepulcher of famous men," and the memorials of them are "graven not on stone but in the hearts of mankind." Finally, with words of comfort for the relatives of the dead, the orator dismissed the assembly to their homes.^ "Thus did Pericles represent to the Athenian citizens the nature of their state, and picture to them what Athens should be. Their better selves he held before them, in order to strengthen them and to lift them above themselves, and to inspire in them self-devotion and constancy and bravery. With new courage 2 Thucydides, ii. 35-46, for the whole oration. 3 A bas-relief recently excavated on the Acropolis of Athens. Dr. Charles Waldstein thinks that this sculpture may " have headed an inscription containing the names of those who had fallen in battle, which record was placed in some public spot in Athens or on the Acropohs. Our Athene-Nike would then be stand- ing in the attitude of mourning, with reversed spear, gazing down upon the tomb- stone which surmounts the grave of her brave sons." As to the possible connection of this relief with the funeral oration of Pericles, Dr. Waldstein says : " Though I do not mean to say that the inscription which it surmounted referred immediately to those who had fallen in the campaign of 431 B.C., I still feel that the most perfect counterpart in literature is the famous funeral oration of Pericles as recorded by Thucydides." Plate IX. — The Mourning Athena.^ (From a photograph) THE PLAGUE AT ATHENS 225 turned they from the graves of the fallen to their homes, and went forward to meet whatever destiny the gods might have ordained" (Curtius). That funeral day was, indeed, one of the great days in ancient Athens. 236. The Plague at Athens (430 b.c.) ; the Death of Pericles (429 B.C.). — Very soon had the Athenians need to exercise all those virtues which the orator had admonished them to cherish ; for upon the return of the next campaigning season the Pelopon- nesians, having mustered again two thirds of all their fighting forces, broke once more into Attica and ravaged the land anew, giving to the flames such villages and farmhouses as had escaped destruction the previous year. The Athenians, adhering to their policy of avoiding a battle in the open field, remained behind their walls, enduring as best they might the sight of the smoke of their burning homes drifting over the plain. The walls of Athens were unassailable by the hostile army ; but unfortunately they were no defense against a more terrible foe. A pestilence broke out in the crowded city and added its horrors to the already unbearable calamities of war. The mortality was frightful. One fourth of the population of the city was swept away. In the third year of the war the plague reappeared at Athens. Pericles, who had been the very soul and life of Athens during all these dark days, fell a victim to the disease. The plague had pre\dously robbed him of his sister and his two sons. The death of his younger son had bowed him in grief, and as he laid the usual funeral wreath upon the head of the dead boy, for the first time in his life, it is said, he gave way to his feelings in a passionate outburst of tears. In dying, the great statesman is reported to have said that he regarded his best title to honored remembrance to be that "he had never caused an Athenian to put on mourning." After the death of Pericles the leadership of affairs at Athens fell to a great degree into the hands of demagogues. The mob element got control of the Ecclesia, so that hereafter we shall find many of its measures marked neither by virtue nor by wisdom. 226 THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 237. The Cruel Character of the War: the Athenians wreak Vengeance upon the Mytileneans, and the Spartans upon the Plataeans. — On both sides the war was waged with the utmost vindictiveness and cruelty. As a rule, all the men captured by either side were killed. In the year 428 b.c. the city of Mytilene, on the island of Lesbos, revolted from the Athenians. With the rebellion sup- pressed, the fate of the Mytileneans was in the hands of the Athenian assembly. Cleon, a rash and violent leader of the democratic party, proposed that all the men of the place, six thousand in number, should be slain, and the women and chil- dren sold as slaves. This infamous decree was passed, and a galley dispatched bearing the sentence for execution to the Athenian general at Mytilene. By the next morning, however, the Athenians had repented of their hasty resolution. A second meeting of the assembly was hurriedly called, the barbarous vote was repealed, and a swift tri- reme, bearing the reprieve, set out in anxious haste to overtake the former galley, which had twenty-four hours the start. The trireme reached the island just in time to prevent the execution of the cruel edict. The second resolution of the Athenians, though more discrimi- nating than the first decree, was quite severe enough. Over one thousand of the nobles of Mytilene were killed, the walls of the city were thrown down, and the larger part of the lands of the island was given to citizens of Athens.* Still more unrelenting and cruel were the Spartans. In the summer of the same year that the Athenians wreaked such vengeance upon the Mytileneans, the Spartans and their allies captured the city of Plataea, put to death all the men, sold the women as slaves, and turned the site of the city into pasture land. 238. The Athenians seize Pylos (425 b.c); the Surrender of a Spartan Force ; the Significance of this. — Soon after the affair 4 These settlers were cleruchs (sec. 162, n. 4). They did not cultivate with their own hands the lands received ; these were tilled by the native Lesbians, who paid the new proprietors a fixed rent. THE ATHENIANS SEIZE PYLOS 227 at Mytilene and the destruction of Plataea, an enterprising general of the Athenians, named Demosthenes, seized and fortified a point of land (Pylos) on the coast of Messenia. The Spartans made every effort to dislodge the enemy. In the course of the siege some Lacedaemonians, having landed upon an adjacent little island (Sphacteria), were so unfortunate as to be cut off from the mainland by the sudden arrival of an Athenian fleet. After hav- ing made a splendid fight, they were completely surrounded and hopelessly outnumbered. They must now either surrender or die. They decided to surrender. Among those giving themselves up were over a hun- dred Spartans, some of whom were members of the best families at Sparta. All the prisoners were carried to Athens. The surrender of Spartan soldiers had hitherto been deemed an incred- ible' thing. ''Nothing which happened during the war," declares Thucydides, "caused greater amazement in Hellas ; for it was universally imagined that the Lacedaemonians would never give up their arms, either under the pressure of famine or in any other extremity, but would fight to the last and die sword in hand." The real significance of the affair was the revelation it made of thejelaxing at Sparta of that tense military discipline and spirit which had given the Spartans such a place and reputation in the Hellenic world. It was the beginning of the end. In passing from Thermopylae to Pylos we cross a great divide in Spartan history. The prisoners were held at Athens as hostages for the security of Attica in the future, the Spartans being informed that if they made another invasion of the country all the captives would be put to death. Pylos was garrisoned with Athenian and Messe- nian troops, and as a harboring place for runaway Helots became a thorn in Sparta's side. 228 THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 239. The Spartan Brasidas suggests a New Plan of Campaign against Athens. — Seven years of the war had now passed since the first blow was struck, and so far from Sparta's promise to emancipate the cities enslaved by Athens having been fulfilled, Laconia itself was being held in close siege, with more than a hundred Spartans in captivity at Athens. From this humiliating condition Sparta was rescued by the abiUty and energy of her general Brasidas. Brasidas saw clearly that Athens could be reached only through her allies and colo- nies. He proposed to the Spartans that they should stir to revolt some group of the tributary cities of Athens, and then, working from this center of defection, spread the revolt as widely as possible. For the initiation of his policy, Brasidas suggested the Thracian shore, one of the most important of the possessions of Athens ; for from the prosperous tribute-paying cities here Athens drew large revenues, while the forests that covered the mountains sup- plied in great abundance timber for the building of her ships. The plan was adopted, and with a little army of Helots and mercenaries picked up in different parts of the Peloponnesus, Brasidas set out on his adventurous undertaking, which was not altogether unlike Hannibal's in the great fight between Carthage and Rome. He traversed Baotia, marched on through Thes- saly, and soon was among the cities of Chalcidice, tributary to Athens, and offering himself to them as a liberator. Several of the towns opened their gates to him, — and that was the begin- ning of the end of the sea empire of Athens. The Athenians were thoroughly alarmed. They sent to the Thracian shore several armaments, one of which was led by the notorious Cleon, to hold what they still possessed there and to win back what they had lost. In what is known as the battle of Amphipolis (422 B.C.) the Athenians and their allies suffered a severe defeat. Cleon was killed and Brasidas was mortally wounded. 240. The Peace of Nicias (421 b.c). — Both sides were now weary of the war. Negotiations for peace were opened, which, ARGOS STRIVES FOR SUPREMACY 229 after many embassies back and forth, resulted in what is known as the Peace of Nicias, because of the prominent part that Athe- nian general had in bringing it about. The treaty provided for a truce of fifty years. The essential condition was that each party should give up to the other all prisoners and captured places. II. From the Peace of Nicias to the Defeat of THE Sicilian Expedition (421-413 b.c.) 241. Argos endeavors to regain her Lost Supremacy. — The key to the history of the first three or four years of the period between the Peace of Nicias and the setting out of the great Athenian expedition to Sicily is found in the dissatisfaction of the allies of Sparta with the provisions of that treaty, and the taking advantage of this situation by Argos to regain her ancient ascendancy in the Peloponnesus (sec. 151). Chief among the dissatisfied Spartan confederates were the Corinthians. They were angry because certain places had not been given back to them, and accused Sparta of having sacrificed her allies to the advancement of her own interests. It was they who had stirred up the hostilities at the beginning, and it was they who now fanned the embers of the war into a raging flame again. They went to Argos and persuaded the Argives that it was an opportune time for them, by placing themselves at the head of a league of all the Hellenic cities opposed either to Sparta or to Athens, to regain their old place of leadership. Circumstances did indeed seem to favor such an undertaking. Sparta's military reputation had received a severe blow by the affair at Pylos as well as by her entire conduct of the war. Moreover, Argos had taken no part in the wasting war of the last ten years, but had all this while been steadily developing her resources. Therefore the Argives were quite ready to embark in the ambitious project proposed by the Corinthians. The commissioners whom the Argives sent among the cities ill-disposed to Sparta to propose to them an alliance with Argos met with a friendly reception. Mantinea, in Arcadia, and other 230 THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR cities seceded from the old Peloponnesian Confederacy and joined the new league. Athens also became a member of it. 242. The Battle of Mantinea (418 B.C.) reestablishes Sparta's Leadership in the Peloponnesus. — It now began to look as though leadership in the Peloponnesus was about to be trans- ferred from Sparta to Argos, from the city of Menelaus to the land of Agamemnon. But a single battle put an entirely differ- ent look upon affairs. The Spartans met the Argives and their alHes near Mantinea and inflicted upon them a decisive defeat. The battle of Mantinea was one of the most important which had thus far marked the war. It ruined forever the hopes of Argos of regaining her ancient leadership in the Peloponnesus. It restored to Sparta that ascendancy which recent circumstances had so nearly destroyed. It wiped out the disgrace of Sphac- teria, and did much to reestablish the greatly impaired military reputation of the Spartans. 243. The Fall of Melos (416 b.c). — The next matter of note in the period whose history we are outlining was an act of piracy — to use plain words — on the part of the Athenians. The pleasant island of Melos, which is one of the westerly lying of the Cyclades, was the only island in the ^gean, with the exception of Thera, that was not at this time included in the Athenian Empire. The Melians were Dorians and regarded Sparta as their mother city. The Athenians determined to take possession of this island, being moved thereto by several motives. They wished to round out their dominions and secure, a ''scientific frontier" for their sea possessions in that part of the ^gean. Furthermore, the independence of the Melians made the other islanders subject to Athens discontented and restless ; they could not see why they should pay tribute to Athens while the Melians went free. Hence for this reason also the Athenians resolved to reduce the island to the same condition as the others. Added to these motives was a desire for more lands, like the Lesbian fields (sec. 237, n. 4), for distribution among Athenian citizens, and, perhaps what weighed more than all else, a thirst to ALCIBIADES 231 revenge upon some Dorian people the wiping out by the Spartans of the Plataean state. So the Athenians in the summer of 416 B.C. sent an expedition to the island and commanded the Melians to at once acknowl- edge the suzerainty of Athens. The demand, if we may here trust Thucydides' account, was based on no other ground than Athens' imperial interests and the right of the strong to rule the weak. The Melians, relying on the righteousness of their cause and the help of their Lacedaemonian kinsmen, refused, at the bidding of Athens, to surrender their independence, which according to their traditions they had enjoyed for seven centuries. So the city of Melos was blockaded by sea and beset by land, and in a few months, neither the gods nor the Lacedaemonians bringing help, the whole island was in the hands of the Athenians. All the men were at once put to death, and the women and children sold into slavery. The island was then repopulated by settlers sent out from Athens. The Athenians had now rounded out their dominions in the T^gean, and Platsea was avenged. But the Hellenic world never forgave the Athenians for the ^^^^^^ crime, which was one of the worst, because so unprovoked and so deliberately planned, committed by either party during the Pelo- ponnesian War. 244. Alcibiades. — It becomes necessary for us here to introduce a new leader of the Athenian demos, Alcibiades, who played a most conspicuous part, not only in Athenian but also in Hellenic affairs, from this time on to near ^ ~ "^ ^ , ^ , . Fig. 89. — Alcibiades the close of the Peloponnesian War. Alcibiades was a young man of noble lineage and of aris- tocratic associations. He was versatile, brilliant, and resource- ful, but unscrupulous, reckless, and profligate. He was a pupil 232 THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR of Socrates, but he failed to follow the counsels of his teacher. His astonishing escapades kept all Athens talking, yet seemed only to attach the people more closely to him, for he possessed all those personal traits which make men popular idols. His influence over the democracy was unlimited. By the unscrupu- lous employment of the various arts known to the successful demagogue he was able to carry through the Ecclesia almost any measure that it pleased him to advocate. The more prudent of the Athenians were filled with apprehen- sion for the future of the state under such guidance. The noted misanthrope Timon gave expression to this feeling when, after Alcibiades had secured the assent of the popular assembly to one of his impolitic measures, he said to him : " Go on, my brave boy, and prosper; for your prosperity will bring on the ruin of all this crowd." And it did, as we shall see. 245. Debate in the Athenian Assembly in regard to sending an Expedition to Sicily. — Very soon after their seizure of Melos the Athenians embarked in an undertaking that was freighted with the most momentous consequences not only to themselves but to the whole Hellenic world. This was an expedition to Sicily. The immediate occasion of their sending out this expedition was an appeal for help from the city of Egesta against the Dorian city of Selinus. These places were situated on the western coast of Sicily, and were engaged in a quarrel over some border land and some other tri\ial matters. Syracuse was giving aid to the people of Sehnus, and the Egestaeans, being hard pressed, had sent envoys to Athens to plead for assistance. The Athenians voted to send to Sicily a fleet of sixty vessels, under the command of the generals Alcibiades, Nicias, and Lamachus. The resolution to engage in the tremendous enter- prise seems to have been taken lightly by the Athenians, which was quite in keeping with their usual way of doing things ; but a few days after their first vote, a second meeting of the Ecclesia having been called for the purpose of making arrangements for the equipment of the armament, Nicias, who was opposed to the undertaking, tried to persuade the people to reconsider A DEBATE IN THE ATHENIAN ASSEMBLY 233 their original vote and give up the project. This opened the flood gates of a regular Athenian debate. Nicias stated the reasons why he thought the proposed expedi- tion should be abandoned. His first point was that the situation at home — with the cities of the Thracian shore in open and unpunished revolt, and with other subject cities watching for a favorable moment to rebel — was such as to render it very unwise for them to send so far away a large part of their fighting force. The Athenians should secure well their present empire before attempting to conquer a new one in the Western world. Nicias also reminded the Athenians that there were still great unfilled gaps in their ranks made by the plague and by a war that had known scarcely any real intermission during sixteen years. The finances of the state, too, needed to be husbanded. The speaker then proceeded to pay his attention to Alcibiades, who was the real instigator of the whole movement. He appealed to the citizens of experience and mature judgment not to allow grave public affairs to be thus toyed with by this harebrained youth, and those like him, with whom he had filled the benches of the assembly. He appealed to them, by a fearless holding up of their hands, to avert from Athens the greatest danger that had ever threatened the city.^ This speech of Nicias summarizes the arguments that should have weighed with the Athenians in deterring them from em- barking in the hazardous undertaking that they had in mind. But from the speeches that followed, and their reception by the assembly, it was evident that the veteran general had not carried his audience with him. He was supported by a few speakers, but the most opposed his conservative policy. The leader of the war party, as has already appeared, was Alcibiades. He made himself the mouthpiece of his party, and replied to Nicias in a violent and demagogic speech, which he closed by telling the Athenians that if they wished to rule, instead of being ruled, they must maintain that enterprising and aggressive policy that had won for them their empire. To 5 Thucydides, vi. 9-14, for the entire speech. 234 THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR adopt Nicias' policy of inaction and indolent repose was simply to give up their imperial position. Let old and young unite, he said, in lifting Athens to a yet greater height of power and glory. With Sicily conquered, the Athenians would probably become lords of the whole Hellenic world. Alcibiades evidently had the ear of the meeting. Nicias perceived this, and realizing that to address arguments to the understand- ing of the people in their present martial mood would be useless, changed his tactics, and in a second speech strove to frighten them from the undertaking by dwelling upon the size and expense of the armament they must place at the disposal of their generals. This speech produced just the opposite effect upon the meet- ing from that which Nicias had hoped. The vastness of the enterprise, the magnificent proportions of the armament needed, as pictured by Nicias, seemed to captivate the imagination of the Athenians, and they were more eager than ever to embark in the undertaking. The expedition further presented itself to the ardent imagination of the youth as a sort of pleasure and sight-seeing excursion among the wonders of the land of the " Far West." Those who had no mind of their own in the mat- ter or who were opposed to the undertaking were carried away or were silenced by the enthusiasm of the others ; and so it came about that, almost without a dissenting voice, the assembly voted for the expedition. 246. The Departure of the Expedition from the Piraeus (415 B.C.). — The day of the departure of the Athenian fleet from the Piraeus was one of the great days in ancient Athens. It was yet early morning when the soldiers and sailors poured down from the upper city into the harbor town and began to man the ships. "The entire population of Athens," says Thu- cydides, who must have been an eyewitness of the stirring scene which he describes, " accompanied them, citizens and strangers alike, to witness an enterprise of which the greatness exceeded behef." Prayers having been offered and libations made to the gods, the paean was raised and the ships put out to sea.^ 6 Thucydides, vi. 32. THE RECALL OF ALCIBIADES 235 Anxiously did those remaining behind watch the departing ships until they were lost to sight. Could the anxious watchers have foreseen the fate of the splendid armament, their anxiety would have passed into despair : * 'Athens itself was sailing out of the Piraeus, never to return." 247. The Recall of Alcibiades; he flees to Sparta and "plays the traitor." — Scarcely had the expedition arrived at Sicily, before Alcibiades, who was one of the generals in command of the armament, was summoned back to Athens to answer a charge of impiety."' Fearing to trust himself in the hands of his enemies at Athens, he fled to Sparta, and there, by traitorous counsel, did all in his power to ruin the very expedition he had planned. The surest way, Alcibiades told the Spartans, in which to wreck the plans of the Athenians was to send to Sicily at once a force of heavy-armed men, and above *all a good Spartan gen- eral, who alone would be worth a whole army ; for the Sicilians, disunited and jealous of each other, needed to have some one among them to whom all would defer. Alcibiades also suggested to the Spartans that they should seize and garrison Decelea, a strong and commanding position in Attica, only fourteen miles from Athens. He informed the Spartans that the Athenians were in constant fear lest their ene- mies should do just this thing. The occupation of this place by a Peloponnesian force would be much more annoying and dis- astrous to the Athenians than the occupation of Pylos by the Athenians had been to the Lacedaemonians. The Spartans acted upon the advice given them by Alcibiades. They made preparations for fortifying Decelea, as he had advised, and sent to Sicily their ablest general GyHppus, with instructions to push the war there with the utmost vigor. 248. Sad Plight of the Athenians before Syracuse; the Fatal Eclipse; the Retreat; the End of the Tragedy (413 b.c). — The ' Just upon the eve of the departure of the expedition, the numerous statues of Hermes scattered throughout the city were grossly mutilated.' Alcibiades was accused of having had a hand in the affair, and furthermore of having mimicked the sacred rites of the Eleusinian mysteries. 236 THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR affairs of the Athenians in Sicily at just this time were prosper- ing greatly. But the arrival of Gylippus changed everything at once. After some severe fighting in which the Athenians lost heavily, they resolved to withdraw their forces from the island while retreat by the sea was still open to them. Just as the ships were about to weigh anchor, there occurred an eclipse of the moon. This portent caused the greatest con- sternation among the Athenian troops. Nicias unfortunately was a superstitious man, having full faith in omens and divination. He sought now the advice, not of his colleagues, but of his sooth- sayers. They pronounced the portent to be an unfavorable one, and advised that the retreat be delayed thirty-seven days. Never did a reliance upon omens more completely undo a people. The salvation of the Athenians depended absolutely upon their immediate retreat. The delay prescribed by the diviners was fatal. It seems the irony of fate that the Athenians, who of all the peoples of antiquity had most completely freed themselves from superstition, who more than any other men had learned to depend in the management of their affairs upon their own intelH- gence and judgment, should perish through a superstitious regard for omens and divination. Further disaster and a failure of provisions finally convinced the Athenians that they must without longer delay fight their way out by sea or by land. They resolved to make an attempt first to break through the blockade at the mouth of the harbor, and thus open a way of escape by the sea. Failing in this, they proposed to burn their ships, cut their way through the sur- rounding enemy, and march to some friendly city. The attempt to fight their way out of the harbor failed dismally. There was now no course open save retreat by land. Making such preparations as they could for their march, they set out. '' They were," says Thucydides, whose words alone can picture the dis- tress of the scene, " in a dreadful condition : indeed they seemed not like an army, but Hke the fugitive population of a city cap- tured after a siege ; and of a great city, too ; for the multitude who were marching numbered not less than forty thousand." END OF THE SICILIAN EXPEDITION 237 Pursued and harassed by the Syracusans, the fleeing multitude was practically annihilated. Only a few escaped. The prisoners, about 7000 in number, were crowded in deep, open stone quar- ries around Syracuse, in which prison pens hundreds soon died of exposure and starvation. Most of the wretched survivors were finally sold into slavery. The generals Nicias and Demosthenes ^ were both executed. The tragedy of the Sicilian expedition was now ended. Two centuries were to pass before Sicily was again to become the arena of transactions equally significant for universal history. Then another imperial city was to seek in Sicily, with Heaven more propitious, the path to universal dominion. III. From the Sicilian Disaster to the Fall of Athens; the Decelean War (413-404 b.c.) 249. How the Intelligence of the Disaster in Sicily was received at- Athens. — There was never any official report made to the Athenians at home respecting the fate of their fleet and army in Sicily ; for there was no one left who could make such a report. Several weeks passed before the news of the disaster reached Athens ; and when finally chance survivors of the catastrophe came in with the terrible intelligence, the Athenians treated as ridiculous fabrications their reports of what had happened in the island. It was no wonder that the Athenians refused to believe the stories of the fugitives ; the tidings were simply incredible. Finally, however, the Athenians were forced to recognize the truth of the reports. Their first incredulity now gave way to mingled feelings of anger, grief, and fear. Their first emotions, when at last they really comprehended the magnitude and com- pleteness of the disaster that had befallen their city, seem to have been feelings of furious wrath against the orators, soothsayers, oracle mongers, and all who had advised or encouraged the 8 In response to urgent appeals from Nicias, the Athenians in the spring of 413 B.C. had sent out to Italy large reinforcements under the general Demosthenes. 238 THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR undertaking, forgetting that it was they themselves who, in spite of the advice of Nicias and others, had voted the expedition.^ But even anger had to make place for grief. It was the young men especially who had eagerly pushed forward for a place in the departing ships. There was scarcely a family in Athens that did not mourn a son or near relative, while all mourned neighbors and friends and fellow-citizens. And the cause of grief was not simply that relatives and friends had not returned ; all the circumstances attending their fate made the grief of those remaining the deeper and more inconsolable. Uncertainty shrouded the fate of friends ; the dead lay without the indispensable rites of burial ; the living, reserved for a worse fate, were suffering the horrors of imprison- ment in the quarries of Syracuse, or were already toiling in slavery. A panic of fear, too, had seized upon the people. They saw their city stripped of its men and ships, and thus defenseless in the midst of a world of enemies. In imagination they saw all their old deadly enemies, the Boeotians, the Corinthians, the Spartans, and all the others — they reahzed now in their help- lessness how many enemies they had made — already at their city gates. 250. Effect of the Occupation of Decelea by the Spartans. — What contributed greatly to this feeling of helpless fear was the fact that the city was already virtually in a state of siege by land through the occupation of Decelea by the Peloponnesians (sec. 247). The fortification of Decelea was the master stroke of the Spartans during the war. Thucydides says that the occupation of this place by the enemy was " a chief cause " of the final fall of Athens. Attica was not simply lost to Athens, but was practi- cally transformed into a Laconian land. The garrison so com- pletely devastated the surrounding country that all the sheep and cattle of the Athenians perished, while a great multitude of their slaves escaped. The overland route from the Euboean straits, by which a large part of the food supplies of Athens was ordinarily brought to the city, was blocked, and everything had 9 Thucydides, vii. i. NEW ATHENIAN ARMY AND NAVY 239 now to be brought in by ship. The citizens, moreover, were in constant fear of a surprise, for Decelea was within sight of Athens, and were worn out with watching their walls night and day. Indeed, such a determining effect did the occupation by the Spartans of this strategic point exercise upon the remainder of the war that this latter period of it, as already noted, is known as the Decelean War. 251. Measures adopted by the Athenians for maintaining the War. — After a time the vehemence of their first feelings gave place in the Athenians to a calmer temper, and gradually, since the expected enemy did not appear, to a more hopeful mood ; and with most admirable courage they set to work to retrieve their seemingly irretrievable fortune. Measures were concerted for the raising of a new army, for the awful disaster had swept away more than one third of the effective fighting force of the -city. Counting their aUies, the Athenians had lost in Sicily sixty thousand men. To fill, in so far as pos- sible, the great gaps in their ranks, they now passed a decree recalling from banishment all save such as had actually joined the enemy. The garrisons on the Peloponnesian shore, save the one at Pylos, were called home to help man the walls of the city. And as with the army, so was it with the fleet. It had been practically swept out of existence. Nearly two hundred ships had been lost on the Sicilian shores. The harbor of the Piraeus was almost empty. But the Athenians now set energetically to work to repair their loss. Ship timber was brought from Mace- donia and Thrace, and the docks of the Piraeus soon presented a scene of bustling activity. The spring following the disaster saw a considerable fleet of new ships ready to challenge again the enemy on the seas. 252. Alcibiades is recalled and tries to undo the Mischief he has done (411-407 B.C.). — Had the Athenians been united among themselves, perhaps their efforts might not have been in vain. But the aristocratic party, for the sake of ruining the democracy, were wilHng to ruin the empire. Taking advantage of the absence of the army from Athens, they overturned the 240 THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR government, and established a sort of aristocratic rule (411 B.C.), under which affairs were in the hands of a council of Four Hundred. The Athenian troops, however, who were at Samos, would not recognize the new government. They voted themselves to be the true Athens, took an oath to uphold the democracy, and forgetting and forgiving the past, recalled Alcibiades — who had been intriguing for his return — and gave him command of the army, thereby well illustrating what the poet Aristophanes said respecting the disposition of the Athenians towards the spoiled favorite, — "They love, they hate, but cannot live without him." Alcibiades detached the Persians from the side of the Spartans, — he himself had traitorously persuaded them again to inter- meddle in the affairs of the Greeks, — and gained some splendid victories for Athens. But he could not undo the evil he had done. He had ruined Athens beyond redemption by any human power. Consequently the struggle grew more and more hopeless. Alcibi- ades was defeated, and, fearing to face the Athenians, who had deposed him from his command, sought safety in flight.^*^ 253. The Battle of Arginusae (406 B.C.); the Condemnation of the Athenian Generals. — The most important engagement of the following year was the great sea fight between the Peloponnesian fleet of one hundred and twenty ships and the Athenian fleet of one hundred and fifty ill-equipped vessels, at the islets of Arginusae, which lie between Lesbos and the Asian shore. The Athenians were victorious, but twenty-five of their ships were wrecked in the terrible encounter. The splendid victory was marred by a great misfortune and a great crime. After the battle forty-seven of the Athenian ships had been detailed to rescue the crews of the wrecked galleys, while the remainder pursued the fleeing enemy. A severe storm arising, the rescuing party was unable to reach the wrecks, and the crews perished. Although no one seems to have been to blame, at least criminally to blame, for the misfortune, still the W Some years later he was killed in Asia Minor, one account says by political, but another by personal, enemies (404 B.C.). CAPTURE OF THE ATHENIAN FLEET 24I assembly at Athens, by a hurried and illegal vote, notwithstanding the protest of the philosopher Socrates, who happened at the time to be one of the presiding officers of the Ecclesia, con- demned eight of the generals in command of the fleet to death, and carried the decree into effect as to the six who were present in the city. This action of the Athenians was another of the crimes of the democracy, and one of which the people afterwards bitterly repented. 254. Capture of the Athenian Fleet by Lysander at -^gospot- ami (405 B.C.). — The year following the condemnation of the Athenian generals the war was virtually ended by the surprise and capture of the Athenian fleet at ^gospotami (goat's rivers), on the Hellespont, by the Spartan general Lysander. All of the prisoners save the native Athenians were released ; these were led out and, to the number of four thousand it is said, put to death, the usual rites of burial being denied their bodies. The excuse offered for this massacre was that the Athenians had thrown some prisoners from a precipice, and also that they had determined to cut off the right hand of all the prisoners they might make. Probably there was no truth in these accusations, but they served as a pretext for the barbarous act. It is worthy of note here that the Greeks had advanced beyond that state of barbarism in war where the life of the prisoner is taken merely for the sake of taking it, and had begun to recog- nize the right of the vanquished at least to life, unless this right had been forfeited by some special act of treachery or disregard of the generally recognized laws of war. 255. The Fall of Athens (404 b.c). — Among the few Athe- nian vessels that escaped capture at the hands of Lysander was the state ship Paralus, which hastened to Athens with the tidings of the terrible misfortune. It arrived in the nighttime, and from the Piraeus the awful news, published by a despairing wail, spread up the Long Walls into the upper city. "That night," says Xenophon, "no one slept." ^^ All knew that the fate of Athens was sealed. 11 Hellenica, ii. 2, 3-4. 242 THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR The towns on the Thracian and Macedonian coasts and the islands of the ^gean belonging to the Athenian Empire now fell into the hands of the Peloponnesians. Athens was besieged by sea and land, and soon forced to surrender. Some of the allies insisted upon a total destruction of the city and the conversion of its site into pasture land. The Spartans, however, with appar- ent magnanimity, declared that they would never consent thus ** to put out one of the eyes of Greece." The real motive of the Spartans in sparing the city was their fear lest, with Athens blotted out, Thebes or Corinth should become too powerful, and the leadership of Sparta be thereby endangered. The final resolve of the conference was that the lives of the Athenians should be spared, but that they should be required to demolish their Long Walls and those of the Piraeus, to give up all their ships save twelve, to allow their exiles to return, and to bind themselves to do Sparta's bidding both by sea and by land. The Athenians were forced to surrender on these hard and humiliating conditions. Straightway the victors dismantled the harbor at Piraeus, burning the unfinished ships on the docks, and then began the demolition of the Long Walls and the fortifica- tions, the work going on to the accompaniment of festive music and dancing; for the Peloponnesians, says Xenophon, looked upon that day as the beginning of hberty for the Plellenes. The long war was now over. The dominion of the imperial city of Athens was at an end, and the great days of Greece were past. 256. The Results of the War. — "Never," says Thucydides, commenting upon the lamentable results of the Peloponnesian War, " never were so many cities captured and depopulated. . . . Never were exile and slaughter more frequent, whether in the war or brought about by civil strife." Greece never recovered from the blow which had destroyed so large a part of her population. Athens was merely the wreck of her former self. The harbor of the Piraeus, once crowded with the ships of the imperial city, was now empty. The population of the capital had been terribly thinned. Things were just the reverse now of what they were RESULTS OF THE WAR 243 at the time of the Persian invasion, when, with Athens in ruins, Themistocles at Salamis, taunted with being a man without a city, could truthfully declare that Athens was there on the sea in her ships. Now the real Athens was gone ; only the empty shell remained. And with her was gone every good hope of the Greek cities ever being gathered into a nation, and an end thereby placed to their never-ceasing contentions and wars. Not Athens alone, but all Hellas, bore the marks of the cruel war. Sites once covered with pleasant villages or flourishing towns were now plow and pasture land. But more lamentable than all else was the effect of the war upon the intellectual and moral life of the Greek race. The Grecian world had sunk many degrees in morality ; while the vigor and productiveness of the intellectual and artistic life of Hellas, the center and home of which had been Athens, were impaired beyond recovery. The achievements of the Greek intellect, especially in the fields of philosophic thought, in the century following the war were, it is true, wonderful ; but these triumphs merely show, we may believe, what the Hellenic mind would have done for art and general culture had it been permitted, unchecked, and under the favoring and inspiring conditions of liberty and self-govern- m.ent, to disclose all that was latent in it. Selections from the Sources. — Plutarch, Life of Alcibiades. Thucyd- IDES, ii. 35-46; the funeral oration of Pericles. Xenophon, Helleiiica, i. 4 ; the return of Alcibiades to Athens. References (Modern). — Curtius, vol. iii, pp. 321-413. Grote (ten- volume ed.), vols, iv-vi. Abbott, vol. iii, chaps, iii-xii. Holm, vol. ii, chaps, xxi-xxviii. Cox, History of Greece, vol. ii, pp. 104-594; and Lives of Greek Statesmen, " Kleon," " Brasidas," " Demosthenes," and " Nikias." For a connected history of the Sicilian Greek cities, see Freeman, The Sto7y of Sicily. Creasy, Decisive Battles of the World, chap, ii, " Defeat of the Athenians at Syracuse, B.C. 413." Topics for Special Study. — i. The debate in the Athenian assembly on the proposed Sicilian expedition. See Thucydides, vi. 8-23. 2. The siege of Plataea. 3. Alcibiades. 4. Nicias. CHAPTER XXIII THE SPARTAN AND THE THEBAN SUPREMACY (404-362 B.C.) I. The Spartan Supremacy (404-371 b.c.) 257. The Character of the Period. — Throughout the Pelopon- nesian War, Sparta had maintained that her only purpose in war- ring against Athens was to regain for the Grecian cities the Hberty of which Athens had deprived them. But no sooner was the power of Athens broken than Sparta herself began to play the tyrant, and set up in Greece a despotism far more unendurable than any that Athens had ever maintained. The cities freed from the rule of Athens, instead of being left free to manage their own affairs, were at once made the sub- jects of Sparta. Their democratic governments were overthrown and authority was placed in the hands of oligarchic councils or bands, generally composed of ten persons, and hence known as decarchies, whose tyranny was supported by Lacedaemonian garrisons. Further, Spartan governors, called ha?'mosis, officers who exercised the arbitrary authority of Persian satraps, were sent to the different cities. The experience of Athens under the rule of the board of oligarchs into whose hands Lysander delivered the city may be taken as typical of the experiences of the other cities whose affairs the Spartans regulated in like manner. 258. The Thirty Tyrants at Athens (404-403 B.C.). — One of the conditions exacted by Lysander of the Athenians upon their surrender was that they should allow the return of the exiled oligarchs. This measure was intended by Lysander to pave the way for the abolition of the democratic government, and it worked just as he had planned. 244 EXPEDITION OF THE TEN THOUSAND GREEKS 245 Upon the return of the oHgarchs the democracy was over- thrown, and m its place was set up an oligarchic government, administered by a board of thirty persons, at the head of which was Critias. These men instituted such an infamous tyranny that they were known as the Thirty Tyrants. Their rule was a perfect reign of terror, and was supported by a Lacedaemonian garrison established on the Acropolis. The tyranny was too atrocious to endure long. It was brought to an end by a band of exiles, and the old democratic consti- tution, somewhat changed, was reestabHshed (403 B.C.). The memory of the Thirty Tyrants was assigned to eternal execration. / T \e ^ R A N E A N s\e A March of the Ten Thousand Greeks 259. The Expedition of the Ten Thousand Greeks (40 1-400 b.c.) . — Shortly after these transactions at Athens there took place an affair of momentous consequences in Asia. This was the famous expedition of the Ten Thousand Greeks through the heart of the dominions of the Great King. The circumstances of this remark- able exploit were these. Cyrus, brother of the Persian king Artaxerxes IT, and satrap in Asia Minor, feeling that he had been unjustly excluded from the 246 SPARTAN AND THEBAN SUPREMACY throne by his brother, secretly planned to dethrone him. From various quarters he gathered an army of over 100,000 barbarians and about 13,000 Greek mercenaries under the lead of a Spartan named Clearchus, and set out on the undertaking. The march of the expedition through Asia Minor and across the Mesopotamian plains was, strangely enough, unimpeded by the Persians, and Cyrus had penetrated to the very heart of the Persian Empire before, at Cunaxa in Babylonia, his farther advance was disputed by Artaxerxes with an army numbering, it is said, 800,000 men. In the battle which here followed the splendid conduct of the Greeks won the day for their leader. Cyrus, how- ever, was slain; and Clearchus and the other Grecian generals were treacherously seized and put to death. The Greeks, in a hurried night meeting, chose new generals to lead them back to their homes. The chief of these was Xeno- phon, the popular historian of the expedition. Under his direc- tion the Greeks made one of the most memorable retreats in all history. They traversed the plains of the Tigris, and then, in the midst of the winter season, crossed the snowy passes of the mountains of Armenia. Finally, after almost incredible hardships, the head of the retreating column reached the top of a moun- tain ridge whence the waters of the Euxine appeared to view. A great shout, ''Thalassa.! Thalassa!'' (The sea ! the sea !), arose and spread back through the column, creating a tumult of joy among the soldiers, weary with their seemingly endless marching and fighting. The Greeks had struck the sea at the spot where stood the Greek colony of Trapezus (now Trebizond), whence they finally made their way home. The march of the Ten Thousand is regarded as one of the most remarkable military exploits of antiquity. Its historical significance is derived from the fact that it paved the way for the later expedition of Alexander the Great. This it did by revealing to the Greeks the decayed state of the Persian Empire, and showing how feeble was the resistance which it could offer to the march of an army of disciplined soldiers. CONDEMNATION AND DEATH OF SOCRATES 247 260. The Condemnation and Death of Socrates (399 b.c). — While Xenophon was yet away on his expedition, there hap- pened in his native city one of the saddest tragedies in history. This w^as the trial and condemnation to death by the Athenians of their fellow-citizen Socrates, the greatest moral teacher of pagan antiquity. The double charge upon which he was condemned was worded as follows : " Socrates is guilty of crime, — first, for not worship- ing the gods whom the city w^orships, but in introducing new divinities of his own ; next, for corrupting the youth. The pen- alty is death." We are surprised that such a man as Socrates should have been the object of such a prosecution in tolerant, free-thinking, and freedom-loving Athens. But his prosecutors were moved by other motives besides zeal for the national worship. Socrates during his long life, — he was now an old man of seventy years, — spent as an uncompromising teacher of truth and righteous- ness, had made many personal enemies. He had exposed by his searching questions the ignorance of many a vain pretender to wisdom, and stirred up thereby many lasting resentments. He had disturbed many pious people by the unconventional w^ay in which he talked about the popular gods. The fact that Alci- biades and Critias had both been disciples of his was used to show the dangerous tendency of his teachings. Socrates again had offended many through his opposition to the Athenian democracy; for he did not always approve of the way the Athenians had of doing things, and told them so plainly. He favored, for instance, the limitation of the franchise, and ridiculed the Athenian method of selecting magistrates by the use of the lot (sec. 226), as though the lot could pick out the men best fitted to govern. But the people, especially since the events of the year 404 B.C., were very sensitive to all criticism of this kind which tended to discredit their cherished democratic institutions. The trial was before a dicastery or citizen court (sec. 229) composed of over five hundred jurors. Socrates made no serious 248 SPARTAN AND THEBAN SUPREMACY attempt to secure a favorable verdict from the court, steadily refusing to make any unbecoming appeal to his judges for clem- ency. Instead of doing this, he embraced the opportunity to tell the jurors some wholesome truths; and after he had been pronounced guilty, when called upon, according to custom, to name the penalty which he would have the court inflict,^ he said that he thought he deserved to be supported for the rest of his life at the public expense. He finally, however, yielding to the entreaties of his friends, proposed a penalty of thirty minae.^ The dicasts, irritated by the words and manner of Socrates, pronounced against him by a majority vote the extreme sentence of death. It so happened that the sentence was pronounced just after the sacred ship that yearly bore the offerings to Delos in com-- memoration of the deliverance of the Athenian youth from the Cretan Minotaur (sec. 128) had set sail on its holy commission, and since by a law of the city no one could be put to death while it was away, Socrates was led to prison, and there remained for about thirty days before the execution of the sentence. This period Socrates spent in serene converse with his friends upon those lofty themes that had occupied his thoughts during all his life. When at last the hour for his departure had arrived, he bade his friends farewell, and then calmly drank the cup of poison hemlock. 261. The Spartan King Agesilaus and the War in Asia Minor against the Persians (399-394 b.c). — We must now turn from Athenian matters to view the affairs of the Greeks in Asia Minor. Momentous consequences issued from the unsuccessful attempt of Cyrus to dethrone his brother. Artaxerxes set about to chas- tise the Greek cities of the coast which, through moral support or active cooperation, had aided Gyms. These cities appealed to Sparta to defend them from Persian vengeance. 1 The way of fixing the penalty in an Athenian court was this : the accuser named a penalty (in this case the prosecutor had named death) and then the condemned was at liberty to name another. The jury then chose between the two. They must impose one or the other penalty ; they were not at liberty to choose a third. 2 A mina was equivalent to about ^i8 or ^20. THE CORINTHIAN WAR 249 The Spartans sent the assistance solicited. After the war had been maintained for some time with no very decisive results for either party, new vigor was infused into it on the Spartan side by the appearance upon the scene of the Spartan king Agesilaus. This man was consumed by an ambition to emulate the exploits of Agamemnon. He believed, relying on what the Ten Thou- sand Greeks had achieved, that he should be able to march to Susa and overthrow completely the Persian power. Agesilaus was an able commander, and by his successes threat- ened to make an end of the Persian authority in Asia Minor. Just at this moment the Ephors were constrained to recall him to the defense of Spartan interests in Greece proper. 262. The Corinthian War (395-387 B.C.). — Unable to cope with the Spartans in the open field in Asia, the Great King, in order to secure their withdrawal, had resorted to the device of stirring up trouble for them at home. This it was easy to do, for the tyrannical course of Sparta had won for her universal fear and hatred. The emissaries of Artaxerxes, by means of persuasions and bribes, succeeded in forming a coalition of the chief states of European Greece against her. There now began a long and tedious struggle known as the Corinthian War (395-387 B.C.), in which the Spartans, with the few alhes that remained true to them, contended against the united forces of Corinth, Athens, Thebes, Argos, and other Greek states, together with the troops and ships of Persia. As a part of their policy to strengthen the enemies of Sparta, the Persians aided the Athenians in rebuilding the Long Walls and the fortifications of the Piraeus. The restoration of their walls seemed to the exultant and hopeful Athenians the pledge of the restoration of their fallen empire. But this restoration of the defenses of Athens naturally stirred the jealousy of her new allies, so that their zeal in the prosecu- tion of the war against Sparta slackened, while at the same time it awakened the fears of the Spartans, who, after maintaining the struggle for some years longer, resolved to save their authority in Greece proper by making peace with the Persians. 250 SPARTAN AND THEBAN SUPREMACY 263. The Peace of Antalcidas (387 B.C.). — In pursuance of this resolution they sent to Susa an ambassador named Antalcidas, through whose efforts were arranged the articles of a treaty, which is called after him the Peace of Antalcidas. By the terms of this treaty, famous because, so infamous, all the Greek cities of Asia Minor, as well as the island of Cyprus and the island city of Clazomenae, were handed over to the Persians. Three islands — Lemnos, Imbros, and Scyros — were given to Athens. All the other islands and the states of the Grecian mainland were left each in a condition of absolute independence. No city was to rule over others or to exact tribute from them. The edict of King Artaxerxes closed as follows : " Whosoever refuses to accept this peace, him I shall fight, assisted by those who are of the same mind [which meant the Spartans], by land as well as by sea, with ships and with money." Thus were the Asian Greeks betrayed by Sparta into the hands of the barbarians. Thus were the hated Persians, through her shameful betrayal of Hellenic interests, made the arbiters in Greek affairs. 264. Sparta forces the Terms of the Peace upon the Other Gre- cian Cities, but disregards them herself. — Sparta regarded herself as the executor of the Peace. One of its articles said that every city should be independent, — that no city should rule over an- other ; and Sparta now set about enforcing this provision of the treaty, not with a view to giving liberty to cities that were being held in unwilling subjection by more powerful neighbors, but solely for the purpose of breaking up all unions and confedera- tions that might place a check upon her ambition and tyranny. Under the operation of the treaty, the Bceotian League fell to pieces. The Spartans saw to it that the dissolution was com- plete, and that there should be no chance for Thebes to revive her presidency of the Boeotian towns. The government in the different places was put in the hands of oligarchs friendly to Sparta. Plataea was restored, and a Spartan garrison placed in the town. Thus all Boeotia was broken up into petty states wholly dependent upon Sparta. SPARTA BREAKS UP THE OLYNTHIAN LEAGUE 25 I From the dissolution of the Boeotian League the Spartans pro- ceeded to the dissolution of the Arcadian city of Mantinea. The articles of the Peace did not of course have any application to individual cities, but the Spartans, nevertheless, stretched its terms so as to make them apply to the case in hand, since they ima- gined the Mantineans to be unfriendly in their feelings towards them. They ordered, them to tear down their walls. The Man- tineans refusing to comply with this mandate, the Spartans laid siege to the town, and soon forced it to surrender. The city was now broken up into five unwalled villages, four fifths of the inhab- itants being forced to tear down their houses in the old town and put them up again out in the country. The Olynthian Confederacy was next dissolved. This was a most important union of Macedonian and Grecian towns in the Chalcidian region. It was a free and equal federation of cities, somewhat Hke the original Confederacy of Delos (sec. 219). The towns had adopted common laws, sanctioned intermarriage be- tween their citizens, and adopted Hberal regulations respecting residence and commerce. It was one of the most promising attempts that had yet been made to create an Hellenic nation out of the isolated cities of Hellas. The Spartans had committed many sins against Hellenic liber- ties, but none that drew after it a more lamentable train of con- sequences than this. The Olynthian League, had it been allowed to consolidate itself, might have proved a bulwark to Greece against the encroachments of the kings of Macedonia. The military movements of the Spartans against the Olynthian Confederacy connect themselves with a shameful act of perfidy committed by them against the Thebans. As a Spartan general was marching through Boeotia on his way to Chalcidice, he, con- sumed by a desire to do some great thing, made a secret descent upon Thebes while the inhabitants were engaged in the celebra- tion of a festival, and seized and garrisoned the citadel (382 B.C.). All Greece stood aghast at the perfidious, high-handed pro- ceeding, and looked to see the Spartans at home repudiate the act of their general. They did so in this way : they fined the 252 SPARTAN AND THEBAN SUPREMACY general for his conduct and deposed him from his command, — but retained possession of the stolen citadel. 265. The Liberation of Thebes by Pelopidas (379 b.c.) and the Revival of the Boeotian League (374 b.c). — Even Xenophon, the admirer and steady friend of the Lacedaemonians, was con- strained to see in the misfortunes that now began to befall Sparta the divine retribution upon her for her violation of her solemn pledge to leave the Grecian cities free, and above all for her crime in seizing the citadel of the Thebans. As if to meet the requirements of ideal justice, the avengers of the wrongs of Thebes were raised up from among those very persons whom that treacherous act had made exiles from their native city. Among those exiles who had found an asylum at Athens was Pelopidas, a Theban of distinguished family. Taking with him six other exiles, Pelopidas entered Thebes by stealth, and by means of a stratagem slew the leaders of the oligarchic party. The people were then called to arms, the Lacedaemonian garrison was compelled to withdraw from the citadel, and the government was taken into the hands of the popular party. The old Bceotian League was now revived, with Thebes as the presiding city.^ 266. The Battle of Leuctra (371 b.c.). — But the Spartans would not have it so. They sent an army into Bceotia to com- pel Thebes to restore independence to the various Boeotian towns. The Thebans, led now by Epaminondas, a devoted friend of Pelopidas and the greatest statesman and commander Thebes ever produced, marched out and met the invaders at Leuctra, not far from ThespiEe. The Spartans had no other thought than that they should gain an easy victory over the Thebans ; and it was generally expected that Thebes would now be broken up into villages as Mantinea had been, or perhaps destroyed utterly. 8 This revolution in Boeotia marks the beginning of a new chapter in Grecian history. Encouraged by the event, Athens formed a new confederacy Uke the old DeHan League. The union numbered at last over seventy members. Even Thebes joined it. The confederacy was to rest on principles of absolute equahty and jus- tice. Its affairs were to be directed by an assembly composed of representatives of all the allied cities. The members were to make contributions to a common fund,- but there was to be no more tribute collecting by Athens. THE BATTLE OF LEUCTRA 253 / But the military genius of Epaminondas had prepared for /Hellas a startling surprise. He had introduced in the arrange- ment and movement of his battle line one of the greatest inno- -vations thaUaaaik the advance in the art" of war. Hitherto the ^^reeks had fought drawn up in extended and "compairatively thin opposing lines, not more than twelve ranks deep. The Spartans at Leuctra formed their line in the usual way. Epaminondas, on the other hand, massed his best troops in a soHd column, that is in a phalanx, fifty deep, on the left of his battle hne, the rest being drawn up in the ordinary extended line. With all ready for the at- tack, the phalanx was set in motion first, the center of the Hne next, and the right wing last, so that the solid column should strike the enemy's line before the center or right should come into action. The result was that the phalanx plowed through the thin line Plan of the Battle of Leuctra of the enemy "as the beak ^^^ of a ship plows through a wave," — and the day was won. Of the seven hundred Spartans in the fight four hundred were killed. The manner in which the news of the overwhelming calamity was received at Sparta affords a striking illustration of Spartan dis- cipline and self-control. It so happened that when the messenger arrived the Spartans were celebrating a festival. The Ephors would permit no interruption of the entertainment. They merely sent fists of the fallen to their famiUes, and ordered that the women should make no lamentation nor show any signs of grief. " The following day," says Xenophon, " those who had lost relatives in the battle appeared on the streets with cheerful faces, while those whose relatives had escaped, if they appeared in public at all, went about with sad and dejected looks." 254 SPARTAN AND THEBAN SUPREMACY Historians have very naturally been led to contrast this scene at Sparta with that at Athens upon the night of the receipt of the news of the disaster of yEgospotami (sec. 255). , The contrast impresses us with the wide interval which separated the Athenian from the Spartan. The moral effect of the battle was greater perhaps than that of any other battle ever fought in Greece, except possibly that of Marathon. It was the first time that a Spartan army with its king had been fairly beaten in a great battle by an enemy inferior in numbers. The Spartan forces at Thermopylae headed by their king had, it is true, been annihilated, — but annihilation is not defeat. Consequently the impression which the event produced V throughout Greece was profound. The prestige of Sparta was /destroyed. Her leadership was brought to an end. II. The Ascendancy of Thebes (371-362 b.c.) 267. Epaminondas ravages Laconia (370 B.C.). — The victory of the Thebans at Leuctra lifted Thebes at once to a commanding position in Greece. Almost all the states of Central Greece now entered into an alliance with her. So many were her allies, and so eager were all to inflict punishment upon Sparta for all her past acts of usurpation and despotism, that Epaminondas was able to raise an immense army, numbering, it is said, sixty or seventy thousand, for the invasion of the Peloponnesus. The primary object of the expedition was to aid the Arcadians in forming a confederacy for defense against Sparta.^ Once in Arcadia with his army, Epaminondas, yielding to the wishes of his allies, pushed on into Laconia, ravaged it from the northern mountains to the sea on the south, and even threatened Sparta 4 Up to this time the Arcadians had lived for the most part in isolated and inde- pendent villages. In all the country there were only a few walled towns. Largely because of this state of things, Sparta had been able to hold the different towns and villages in subjection, and compel them to do her bidding. Just now, stirred by an impulse towards union, they were building a federal capital which they had named Megalopolis (" Great City"). Sparta was interfering and trying to prevent the for- mation of the federal state. THE FOUNDING OF MESSENE 255 itself. The Spartan women had never before seen the camp fire of an enemy ; and the sight of the hostile army is said to have excited them to frantic demonstrations of distress. 268. The Founding of Messene and the Liberation of the Mes- senians (370 b.c). — From Laconia, Epaminondas marched into Messenia. The emancipation of the Messenians from their Spar- tan masters was proclaimed, and Messenia, which for three hun- dred years had been a part of Laconia, was separated from Sparta and made an independent state. In thus restoring independence to the Messenians, Epaminondas was merely enforcing against Sparta the terms of the Peace of Antalcidas, the articles of which she had herself dictated, and which said that all the Greek cities should be left free and independent. The Helots and Perioeci, converted by the proclamation of emancipation into freemen, engaged in the work of building a new city, Messene, which was to represent their restored nation- ality. The walls went up amidst music and rejoicing. Messenian exiles, the victims of Spartan tyranny, flocked from all parts of the Hellenic world to rebuild their homes in the home land. This emancipation and restoration of the Messenians forms one of the most interesting transactions in Greek history. Two years after their liberation a Messenian boy was crowned as a victor in the foot race at Olympia. For three hundred years the Messe- nians had had neither lot nor part in these national games, for only free Hellenes could become contestants. How the news of the victory was received in Messenia is not recorded, but we probably should not be wrong were we to imagine the rejoicings there to have been unlike anything the Greek world had ever seen before. The liberation of Messenia was a terrible blow to Spartan pride and an unmeasured loss and damage to her power. It was intol- erable to her in the Peloponnesian War to have a hostile garrison intrenched at a single point on the Messenian coast (sec. 238). Now all Messenia had become an asylum for runaway Helots from Laconia, and the residence and stronghold of her former subjects, imbittered by centuries of hard bondage. 256 SPARTAN AND THEBAN SUPREMACY Thus had Epaminondas in a few short months effected one of the greatest revolutions in Grecian history. In his own words, he " had liberated all the Greek cities, restored independence to Messenia, and surrounded Sparta with a perpetual blockade." 269. The Thebans extend their Influence in the North — and ** go to Susa." — About the time that Epaminondas was effect- ing such changes in the Peloponnesus, his friend Pelopidas was extending the influence of Thebes in the North. At this time Alexander, tyrant of Pherse in Thessaly, was hold- ing the other Thessalian cities in unwilling subjection. Some of them rose against him and called upon Thebes to help deliver them from his tyranny. Pelopidas led a Theban force into the country, and forced Alexander to grant freedom to the revolted towns (368 B.C.). Pelopidas then marched against the regent of Macedonia, who had been interfering in Thessalian affairs, and forced him to enter into an alliance with Thebes and to give hostages. Among these hostages was a young Macedonian prince named PhiHp, of whom we shall hear much later on as king of Macedon. Thus the expe- dition of Pelopidas resulted in both Thessaly and Macedonia being brought into dependent relations to Thebes. The year following these achievements Pelopidas was sent as an envoy to Susa to secure from the Great King the recognition of Thebes instead of Sparta as the head of the Greek cities and as the practical executor of the articles of the Peace of Antalcidas. Thebes secured all she desired. This appeal to the Persian king, whereby he was recognized as the rightful arbiter in Greek affairs, was the most censurable act of the Thebans during their period of supremacy. But in going to Susa the Thebans were merely walking in a path worn by the Spartans and other Greeks. 270. The Battle of Mantinea and the Death of Epaminondas (362 B.C.). — In the year 362 B.C. Epaminondas made his fourth^ and what proved to be his last expedition into the Peloponnesus. 5 During the years 369 and 367 B.C. Epaminondas made his second and third expeditions beyond the Isthmus, but accompUshed nothing of importance. SITUATION IN GREECE AFTER MANTINEA 257 In Arcadia, near Mantinea, he joined battle with the Spartans and their alhes. Epaminondas employed the same tactics on this field as had given him the victory at Leuctra (sec. 266), and with the same result. But the victory was dearly purchased with the life of Epaminondas, who just as the day was won fell mortally wounded with a spear thrust in the breast. In accordance with the dying counsel of Epaminondas, the victorious Thebans and their allies negotiated a peace with the enemy. Its basis was that everything should remain just as it then was. Particularly was Messene to be recognized as a free and independent city. The peace was agreed to by all the states on both sides, save by the Spartans, who angrily and obstinately refused to recognize the independence of Messene. 271. The Situation in Greece after the Death of Epaminondas. — The supremacy of Thebes ended on the day that Epaminondas was borne to the tomb. There was none among her citizens capable of maintaining for her the leadership in Greece which her great commander and statesman had won. All the chief cities of Greece now lay in a state of exhaustion or of helpless isolation. Sparta had destroyed the empire of Athens ; ^ Thebes had broken the dominion of Sparta, but had exhausted herself in the effort. There was now no city energetic, resourceful, unbroken in spirit and strength, such as was x\thens at the time of the Persian Wars, to act as leader and champion of the Greek states. Yet never was there greater need of such leadership in Hellas than at just this moment; for the Mace- donian monarchy was now rising in the north and threatening the independence of all Greece. In a succeeding chapter we shall trace the rise of this semi- barbarian power, and tell how the cities of Greece, mutually exhausted by their incessant quarrels, were reduced to a state of dependence upon its sovereign. But first we shall turn aside 6 Athens had indeed made herself the center of a new confederacy (sec. 265, n. 3) and had recovered some of her old possessions, but she \s'as, after all, only the shadow of her former self. 258 SPARTAN AND THEBAN SUPREMACY for a moment from the affairs of the cities of Greece proper, in order to cast a glance upon the Greeks of Magna Graecia and Sicily. Selections from the Sources. — Plutarch, Life of Pelopidas. Xeno PHON, Anabasis, iii. 2 ; a speech of Xenophon to his soldiers. Plato, Apology, xxxi.-xxxiii. ; the bearing of Socrates before his judges. References (Modern). — Curtius, vol. iv. Grote (ten-volume ed.) vol. vi, pp. 451-533; vol. vii, pp. 81-172 (on Socrates); pp. 173-348 (on the expedition of Cyrus); pp. 349-550; vol. viii, pp. 1-365. Holm, vol. ii chap. XXX ; vol. iii, chaps, i-x. Bury, History of Greece, chap. xiv. Oman, History of Greece, pp. 407-469. Sankey, The Spartan and Theban Supremacies. Topics for Special Study. — i. The trial and condemnation of Socrates 2. The expedition of the Ten Thousand Greeks. 3. Athens' new con federacy. 4. Pelopidas. 5. The Sacred Band of Thebes. CHAPTER XXIV THE GREEKS OF WESTERN HELLAS (413-336 B.C.) 272. The Carthaginians lay waste Hellenic Sicily. — It will be remembered that it was the inhabitants of Egesta who invited the Athenians into Sicily to aid them against the neighboring city of Selinus ^ (sec. 245). Shortly after the destruction of the Athenian armament before Syracuse, these same people appealed to the Carthaginians to come to their aid against the same old enemy. The Carthaginians came with a great army of 100,000 men under the lead of Hannibal, a grandson of the Hamilcar who seventy years before this had been defeated and slain by Gelo, tyrant of Syracuse, on the memorable field of Himera (sec. 214, n. 11). Sehnus was besieged by them, and after a brave resistance was finally taken by storm. The inhabitants were either mas- sacred or carried away into slavery, and the walls and temples of the city destroyed (409 B.C.). Hannibal next led his army against Himera, which he soon captured. In revenge for the death of his ancestor, Hannibal offered up to his gods an awful holocaust of three thousand of his prisoners, and razed the city to the ground (409 B.C.). The dismay created throughout the Hellenic world by this wiping out by the Western barbarians of this ancient and powerful Greek city was like that created by the destruction of Miletus by the Eastern barbarians at the beginning of the Persian Wars (sec. 199). A few years later the Carthaginians laid siege to Agrigentum, which was at this time one of the most populous and prosperous cities of the Hellenic world. A long and stubborn resistance was ended by threatened famine. The inhabitants escaped massacre 1 For places referred to in this chapter see map on p. 157. 259 26o THE GREEKS OF WESTERN HELLAS by a hurried flight under cover of the darkness of night. Two hundred thousand fugitives, men, women, and children, made up the pitiable procession. The homeless multitude found asylum among the various Greek communities in the island. All wlio had not been able to join the night march were massacred by the enemy. Thus in the course of three years did the Carthaginians, finding their opportunity in the dissensions of the Greek cities, succeed in blotting out several of the largest and most prosperous of the Hellenic communities of Sicily. Throughout a considerable part of the island Hellenic civilization, planted centuries before, was practically uprooted. As we shall see, the land afterwards recovered in a measure from the terrible blow, and enjoyed a short bloom of prosperity ; nevertheless the resources and ener- gies of this part of the Hellenic world, like those of continental Greece through the unhappy causes we have recounted in other chapters, were permanently and irremediably impaired. 273. Dionysius I, Tyrant of Syracuse (405-367 B.C.). — The alarm, distress, and anarchy occasioned by the invasions of the Carthaginians afforded the opportunity at Syracuse for a man of low birth, named Dionysius, to usurp the government. His career as despot of the city was long and remarkable, embracing a period of thirty-eight years. Dionysius occupied a large part of his prolonged reign in ever- renewed attempts to drive the Carthaginians out of Sicily. The issue of the protracted struggle was that at the end of his rule the frontier between the Carthaginian and the Greek territory was practically the same as at the beginning of his tyranny. At the same time that Dionysius was carrying on his campaigns against the foreigners, he was reducing the free Greek Sicilian cities to a state of dependence upon Syracuse. But Dionysius did not confine his operations to Sicily. With his power fairly consolidated in the island, he turned his atten- tion to Magna Grsecia. He conquered all the cities here, from Rhegium to Croton. Many of the cities he destroyed as ruth- lessly as though he were a barbarian without Hellenic sympathies DIONYSIUS I, TYRANT OF SYRACUSE 26 1 and instincts. Some of the inhabitants he sold into slavery, others he transported to Sicily to swell the population of Syra- cuse. Even the temples he robbed of their treasures. The conquered Italian lands were incorporated in the empire of the tyrant, which now embraced practically all of Western Hellas. Thus upon the ruins of a vast number of once free and prosperous Greek cities Syracuse was raised to a position of power and influence corresponding to that which Athens had so recently held in Eastern Hellas. But the militar}^ operations of Dionysius exhibit only one phase of his many-sided activity. The tyrant possessed a Pericles' love of art, and during his rule he adorned Syracuse with many splen- did pubhc buildings, meeting the expense of their erection by crushing taxes levied on his subjects and the confiscation of the riches of the wealthy. Since Athens was now dismantled, Syra- cuse was at this time probably the most splendid and powerful city in the whole Hellenic world. Dionysius was also a patron of Hterature and philosophy. Plato (sec. 354) was for a time a guest at his court; but the views of the philosopher, or his way of presenting them, seem to have been displeasing to the tyrant, who caused him to be sold as a slave, from which condition he was ransomed by a friend. Dionysius was himself a poet of no mean ability, and composed a tragedy to which the Athenians awarded the first prize at the Dionysiac festival. The tyrant particularly aspired to be the recipient of the honors and prizes awarded at the great festivals at Olympia. He wrote poems to be recited to the crowds that gathered there, and sent chariots to run in the races. In the year 384 B.C. he sent an unusually magnificent embassy to represent him at the games. His ambassadors at this time were insulted, and were even threatened with personal violence by the people. Various circumstances contributed to the vehemence of the feelings of the Olympian visitors against Dionysius. There was the general abhorrence of tyrants ingrained in the Greek mind ; and there was the special enormity of the crimes of the S>Tacusan 262 THE GREEKS OF WESTERN HELLAS despot against Greek freedom, witnessed to by the crowds of exiles, the victims of his unbearable tyranny, who filled the cities of Eastern Hellas. Besides all this, the critical condition of the Greek world at large at just this moment created a special susceptibihty to Panhellenic sentiment in all generous and large-minded Greeks. It was only three years before this Olympic festival that the dis- graceful Peace of Antalcidas had abandoned the Greeks of Asia to the Persian king (sec. 263). And now the freedom of the Western Greeks had been extinguished by the tyrant of Syra- cuse. The seriousness of the situation was vividly pictured by the great orator Lysias, who, in denouncing the tyrant to the crowds at Olympia, exclaimed, *'The Hellenic world is on fire at both ends." The object of universal detestation, Dionysius carried his life in his hands. The state of constant apprehension in which he lived is illustrated by the story of the sword of Damocles.^ The Damoclean sword did not fall during the lifetime of Dionysius. He ended his life by a natural death, and transmitted his power to his son, who ascended the throne as Dionysius the Younger. 274. Dionysius the Younger (367-343 B.C.). — The young Dionysius lacked the ability of his father to play the tyrant, and left the government at first very largely in the hands of his father- in-law, Dion, a man of philosophic tastes, and in some respects a dreamer. Through Dion's influence Plato was once more brought to Syracuse and introduced to Dionysius. The philoso- pher urged the despot to change his tyranny into a regulated monarchy, and to give freedom to the cities of his empire. For a time the tyrant seemed to yield to the influence of his teacher, but very soon the breath of calumny poisoned his mind against both Dion and Plato, the former of whom he was made to believe 2 A courtier nJmed Damocles having expressed to Dionysius the opinion that he must be supremely happy, the tyrant invited him to a sumptuous banquet, assign- ing to him his own place at the board. When the courtier was in the midst of the enjoyments of the table, Dionysius bade him look up. Turning his eyes towards the ceiling, Damocles was horrified at the sight of a sword, suspended by a single hair, dangling above his head. " Such," observed Dionysius, "is the life of a tyrant." TIMOLEON THE LIBERATOR 263 was plotting to undermine his power. Dion was exiled ; Plato was permitted to return to Greece. Freed from the restraints of philosophy, Dionysius plunged into reckless dissipation and began to exhibit the more ignoble traits of his character. His reign was a troubled one and was filled with all sorts of vicissitudes. Most of the Sicilian cities broke away from the empire. The Carthaginians began again to harass the island. Everything was in confusion, and distress among the people was universal. 275. Timoleon the Liberator (344-336 B.C.) : the Golden Era of the Sicilian Greek Cities. — Under the stress of these circum- stances the Syracusans sent an embassy to Corinth, their mother city, for help to free themselves from the tyrant Dionysius. The Corinthians listened favorably to the appeal, and sent to the suc- cor of the Syracusans a small force under the lead of Timoleon, a man who at home had shown his love for liberty by consenting to the death of his own brother when he attempted to make himself tyrant of Corinth. Arriving at Syracuse, Timoleon quickly drove out the tyrant and restored the government to the people. He also expelled the despots who were holding in slavery other Greek cities in the island, and restored freedom to these places. At the same time he engaged in battle with the Carthaginians, who were still trou- bling the Greeks, and inflicted upon them a memorable defeat. Syracuse and the other Sicilian Greek cities now entered upon the golden era of their history. The desolation that reigned throughout Sicily when Timoleon first entered the island can with difficulty be pictured. Plutarch tells us that cattle and horses were pastured in the streets and market places of the once populous cities, while deer and other wild animals were hunted in the deserted suburbs. A few years before Timoleon embarked on his expedition, Plato had expressed a fear that the Hellenic race would become extinct in Sicily. Under the reign of liberty and order instituted by Timoleon, the empty cities began to fill with inhabitants. Exiles flocked back from all quarters. Corinth, mindful that Syracuse was her 264 THE GREEKS OF WESTERN HELLAS own daughter colony, gathered from all parts of Eastern Hellas colonists for the repeopling of the city. At one time ten thousand emigrants sailed together for Sicily. This great influx of population, and the new and unwonted courage and energy infused into the people by the beneficent measures of Timoleon, brought to Hel- lenic Sicily a period of remarkable expansion and prosperity. With his great work of freeing and repeopling Sicily accom- plished, Timoleon resigned his authority and retired to private life. He died in the year 336 B.C., loved and revered by all the Sicihan Greeks as their liberator and benefactor. 276. The Later Fortunes of the Greek Cities of Sicily and Magna Graecia. — The golden age of the Greek cities of the West came to an end shortly after the death of Timoleon. In Fig. 90. — Coin of Syracuse the year 316 B.C. the noted Agathocles made himself tyrant of Syracuse. He reigned for twenty-eight years. After his death a period of discord followed, and then the government fell into the hands of another celebrated tyrant, Hiero II (about 270- 216 B.C.), who became the firm ally of Rome in her struggle with Carthage. Soon after the death of Hiero, as a punishment for its having forsaken the Roman -for a Carthaginian alliance, the Romans extinguished the independence of the city and made it a part of their dominions. The Italian cities, which had regained their independence at the time that Timoleon destroyed the power of the Dionysian dynasty, were many of them soon afterwards conquered by the REFERENCES 265 native Italian tribes, and finally all were overwhelmed by the rising power of Rome. Having made this hasty review of the course of events in Western Hellas, we must now return to Greece proper in order to trace further the fortunes of the cities of the home land. Selections from the Sources. — Plutarch, Life of Timoleon and Life of Dion. References (Modern). — Grote (ten-volume ed.), vol. iii, pp. 366-495, vol. ix, pp. 1-194. Holm, vol. iii, chap. xi. Oman, LListory of Greece, pp. 441-449. Allcroft and Masom, LListory of Sicily, chaps, vii-xi. Freeman, LListory of Sicily, vol. iv, chaps, x and xi ; and The Story of Sicily, chaps, x and xi. An interesting brief treatment of the rule of Dionysius the Elder will be found in Bury, LListory of Greece, pp. 639-666. Topics for Special Study. — i. Dionysius the Elder. 2. The Cartha- ginians in Sicily. 3. Monuments of Greek civilization in Sicily. See Richardson's Vacation^Days in Greece. 4. " The tyrannies and democracies of Greek cities were in their nature not adapted to create and maintain large empires." Bury makes this statement with reference to the work of Dionysius the Elder. Discuss this. CHAPTER XXV THE RISE OF MACEDONIA: REIGN OF PHILIP II (359-336 B.C.) 277. The Macedonians and their Rulers. — We have reached now the threshold of a new era in Greek history. A state, hitherto but Uttle observed, at this time rose suddenly into prominence and began to play a leading part in the affairs of the Greek cities. This state was Macedonia, a country lying north of the Cambunian Mountains and back of Chalcidice (see map, p. 274). The peoples of Macedonia were for the most part mountaineers who had not yet passed beyond the tribal state.^ They were a hardy, warhke race, possessing the habits and the virtues of coun- try people. They were Aryans in speech, but since they did not speak pure Greek and were backward in culture, they were looked upon as barbarians by their more refined city kinsmen of the South. The ruling race in the country, however, were of Hellenic stock. They claimed to be descended from the royal house of Argos, and this claim had been allowed by the Greeks, who had permitted them to appear as contestants in the Olympian games, — a privilege, it will be recalled, accorded only to those who could prove pure Hellenic ancestry. Their efforts to spread Greek culture among their subjects, combined with intercourse with the Greek cities of Chalcidice, had resulted in the native barbarism of the Macedonian tribes being overlaid with a veneer of Hellenic civilization. 278. The Youth of Philip of Macedon. — Macedonia first rose to importance during the reign of Philip H (359-336 B.C.), 1 There were, however, a few towns in Macedonia, of which /Egae and Pella, each of which was in turn the seat of the royal court, were of chief note. 266 PHILIP EXTENDS HIS DOMINIONS 267 generally known as Philip of Macedon. He was a man of pre- eminent ability, of wonderful address in diplomacy, and of rare genius as an organizer and military chieftain. Several years of Philip's boyhood were passed as a hostage at Thebes (sec. 269). This episode in the Ufe of the prince had a marked influence upon his later career ; for just at this time Epaminondas was the leading spirit among the Thebans, and it was in the companionship of this consummate military tactician and commander that Philip learned valuable lessons in the art of war. The " Macedonian phalanx," ^ which Philip is said to have originated, and which holds some such place in the military his- tory of Macedonia as the "legion" holds in that of Rome, was simply a modification of the Theban phalanx that won the day at Leuctra and again at Mantinea. Nor was this all. Besides the knowledge of military affairs which he acquired, the quick and observant boy gained during his enforced residence at Thebes an insight into Greek character and Greek pohtics which sened him well in his later diplomatic dealings with the Greek cities. The death of his brother Perdiccas brought Philip to the Mace- donian throne in the year 359 B.C. With affairs settled at home and his kingdom consolidated, the ambition of the youthfuLking led him to endeavor to subject the Greek cities to his authority. 279. Philip extends his Dominions in Chalcidice and Thrace. — PhiHp's first encroachments upon Cxreek territory were made in the Chalcidian region. He coveted particularly the possession of Amphipolis, which was the gateway from Macedonia into Thrace. He easily made prize of the city (358 B.C.). Philip next captured the important city of Pydna, on the Ther- maic Gulf. After\vards he wrested Potidaea from Athens, and just to create enmity between the Athenians and the Olynthians, possi- ble allies against him, gave the city to the latter. 2 The phalanx was formed of soldiers drawn up sixteen files deep and armed with pikes so long that those of the first five ranks projected beyond the front of the column, thus opposing a perfect thicket of spears to the enemy. On level ground it was irresistible. 268 THE RISE OF MACEDONIA The western portions of Thrace were next conquered by Phihp and added to his growing dominions. In this quarter he founded the well-known city of Philippi.^ His Thracian conquests gave him control of the rich gold mines of this region, and furnished him with the means which he later so freely used to corrupt and bribe the leaders of the Greek cities. 280. Demosthenes and his Olynthiac Orations; Philip destroys Olynthus and Other Chalcidian Cities (348 B.C.). — The Athenian orator Demosthenes (sec. 343) was one of the few who seemed to understand the real designs of Philip. His penetration, hke that of Pericles, descried a cloud lowering over Greece — this time from the North. With all the persuasion of his wonderful eloquence he strove to stir up the Athenians to resist the encroachments of the king of Mace- don. He hurled against him his famous Philippics, speeches so filled with fierce denunciation that they have given name to all writings characterized by bitter criticism or violent invective. Demosthenes was opposed in his war policy by a considerable peace party at Athens, among the leaders of which were Phocion and ^schines. Phocion was an upright and incorruptible man and an able and trusted general. He opposed Demosthenes for the reason that he thought the inter- ests of Athens would be best served through the maintenance of friendly relations with Macedonia, ^schines was a gifted orator, who, there is reason to beHeve, corrupted by Macedo- nian gold, traitorously used his influence at Athens to promote the plans of Phihp. 3 Philippi was the first European city in which the Gospel was preached. The preacher was the Apostle Paul, who went over from Asia in obedience to the vision in which a man of Macedonia seemed to stand and pray, " Come over into Mace- donia, and help us." Fig. 91. — Demosthenes (Vatican Museum) PHILIP AND THE SECOND SACRED WAR 269 The field of Philip's aggressions at just this time was the Chal- cidian peninsula. He was intent upon the destruction of Olynthus and her confederacy. Demosthenes, as we have intimated, appears to have been almost the only man at Athens who recognized the significance of the struggle on the Thracian shore. He saw clearly that the fall of the Greek cities there meant the fall, sooner or later, of the cities of Greece proper. In three speeches, known as the Olynthiac orations, he strove to arouse his countrymen to a sense of the imminence of the danger which was threatening. The burden of the three orations was, It is better for us to fight Philip in Chalcidice than in Attica. If Philip takes Olynthus, he will soon be here. The speeches are filled with complaining comparisons between the alert and patriotic spirit evinced by the Athenians in earlier times when the Persians were at the gates of Greece, and the languid, pusillanimous temper of the citizens now when the Macedonians were threatening the northern passes of the land. In the second speech the orator endeavors to encour- age, the Athenians to action by showing that Philip's power was rather apparent than real. " It is impossible," he says, " to build up an empire by injustice, perjury, and falsehood." The eloquence of Demosthenes was all in vain. The Athenians could not be stirred to timely action. Olynthus fell into the hands of PhiHp (348 B.C.), and with it all the other cities of the Chal- cidian Confederacy, thirty-two in all. Many of the towns were destroyed and a great part of their inhabitants sold into slavery. 281. Philip and the Second Sacred War (355-346 B.C.). — Up to this time Philip had not come directly in contact with the states of Greece proper. But shortly after he had added the Chalcidian lands to his empire he acquired in the following way a voice and vote in the affairs of the cities of the peninsula. The Phocians were accused of having put to secular use some of the lands which, at the end of the First Sacred War (sec. 144), had been consecrated to the Delphian Apollo. Taken to task and heavily fined for this act by the other members of the Delphian Amphictyony, the Phocians seized the temple and used the treas- ure in the maintenance of a large force of mercenary soldiers. 270 THE RISE OF MACEDONIA The Amphictyons, not being able to punish the Phocians for their " impiety," '^ were forced to ask help of Philip, who gladly rendered the assistance sought. The Phocians were finally constrained to yield to superior force. A heavy punishment was inflicted upon them by the Amphictyonic council. All their cities save one were broken up into villages, and the inhabitants were forced to undertake to pay back in yearly installments the treasure they had taken from the Delphian shrine. The place which the Phocians had held in the Delphian Amphictyony was given to Philip, upon whom was also bestowed the privilege of presiding at the Pythian games. The position which he had now secured was exactly such as he had coveted.^ He now awaited a further opportunity to extend and strengthen his authority in Greece. 282. The Battle of Chaeronea (338 B.C.).— The opportunity soon came. The Phocians having been again adjudged guilty of sacrilege in using some lands belonging to the Delphian Apollo, Phihp was a second time asked to help punish them. He gladly undertook the commission, and straightway led an army into Central Greece. But instead of proceeding to mete out punish- ment to the trespassers upon the holy ground, he seized and began to fortify a little town in Phocis. This procedure plainly revealed his purpose to make himself master of the country. Moved by the realization of a common peril and by the persua- sion of Demosthenes, the Athenians and the Thebans, in spite of their immemorial enmity one towards the other, now united their forces and met Philip at Chaeronea, in Bceotia. The battle was stubbornly fought, but finally went against the aUies, who were driven from the field with heavy loss. It is of interest to note that the Macedonian phalanx was led by the youthful Alexander, the son of Philip, who on this memorable field began his great career as a commander. The result of the battle was the subjuga- tion of all Greece to the authority of the Macedonian foreigner. 4 The Phocians claimed that they took the treasure merely as a loan (compare sec. 311, n. 2). r L 1 J 5 As further outcomes of the war, Philip had made himself master of Thessaly and had got possession of the Pass of Thermopylae. THE CONGRESS AT CORINTH 271 283. The Congress at Corinth ; Plan to invade Asia (338 B.C.). — Soon after the battle of Ch^ronea, Philip convened at Corinth a council of the Grecian states. At this meeting was adopted a constitution, drafted by Phihp, which united the various Greek cities and Macedonia in a sort of federation, with Macedonia as the leading state. Differences arising between members of the federation were to be referred for settlement to the Amphic- tyonic assembly. But Philip's main object in calling the congress was not so much to promulgate a federal constitution for the Greek cities as to secure their aid in an expedition which he had evidently long been meditating for the conquest of the Persian Empire. The exploit of the Ten Thousand Greeks (sec. 259) had shown the feasi- bility of such an undertaking. The plan was indorsed by the congress. Every Greek city was to furnish a contingent for the army of invasion. PhiHp was chosen leader of the expedition, and commander-in-chief of the war forces of Greece. All Greece was now astir with preparations for the great enter- prise. By the spring of the year 336 B.C. the expedition was ready to move, and the advance forces had already crossed over into Asia, when Philip, during the festivities attending the mar- riage of his daughter, was assassinated by a young noble, who sought thus to avenge a personal affront. His son Alexander succeeded to his place and power. 284. Results of Philip's Reign. — Philip by his achievements made possible the greater achievements of his son. He paved the way for Alexander's remarkable conquests by consolidat- ing the Macedonian monarchy and organizing an army which was the most effective instrument of warfare the world had yet seen. But the most important outcome of PhiHp's activity and policy was the union of the Macedonian monarchical and military system with Hellenic culture. This was the historical mission of Philip. Had not Hellenic civilization been thus incorporated with the Macedonian system, then the wide conquests of Alexander would have resulted in no more good for humanity than those of a 272 THE RISE OF MACEDONIA Tamerlane or an Attila.® And, on the other hand, Greek cul- ture, had not this union been effected by Phihp, would have remained comparatively isolated, would never have become so widely spread as it did among the peoples and races of antiquity. In the words of the historian Ranke, "The Greeks, had they remained alone, would never have succeeded in winning for the intellectual life which they had created a sure footing in the world at large." Greece conquered the world by being conquered. It was Hellenic institutions, customs, and manners, the Hellenic language and civilization, which the extended conquests of Alex- ander spread throughout the Eastern world. It is this which makes the short-lived Macedonian Empire so important a factor in universal history. Selections from the Sources. — Plutarch, Life of Demosthenes. Demosthenes, Oration on the Croivn, 297-306. This masterpiece of Demosthenes has been called " The funeral oration of extinct Athenian and Grecian freedom." In these passages the orator points out the cause of his country's downfall. References (Modern). — Grote (ten-volume ed.), vol. ix, pp. 195-504. CuRTius, vol. V. Holm, vol. iii, chaps, xiv-xix. Wheeler, Alexander the Great, chaps, i and iv. Hogarth, Philip and Alexander of Macedon (first part). Bury, History of Greece, pp. 681-737. Oman, History of Greece, pp. 490-520. Allcroft and Masom, Decline of Hellas, pp. 32-104. Timayenis, vol. ii, pp. 38-91. Mahaffy, Problems in Greek Histojy, chap, vii, " Practical Politics in the Fourth Century." Topics for Special Study. — i. Philip II and Peter the Great of Russia compared. 2. Imperialism vs. Home Rule ; or. Was Demosthenes' policy of opposition to Philip wise ? See Mahaffy's Problems. 3. Phocion. 4. The Macedonian army. See Curteis. 5. The Philippics of Demosthenes. 6 Mongol or Turanian conquerors. CHAPTER XXVI ALEXANDER THE GREAT (336-323 B.C.) 285. The Youth of Alexander; Formative Influences. — Alex- ander was only twenty years of age when he came to his father's throne. Those traits of temper and mind which marked his man- hood and which fitted him to play so great a part in history were foreshown in early youth — if we may believe the tales that are told of his sayings and doings as a boy. The familiar story of the vicious steed Bucephalus, which none dared either to mount or to approach, but which was subdued in a moment by the skillful handling of the little prince, reveals that subtle magnetism of his nature by which he acquired such wonderful influence and com- mand over men in after years. The spirit of the man is again shown in the complaint of the boy when news of his father's victories came to him : "Boys," said he to his playmates, "my father will get ahead of us in everything, and will leave nothing great for you or me to do." Certain influences under which the boy came in his earliest years left a permanent impress upon his mind and character. By his mother he was taught to trace his descent from the great Achilles, and was incited to emulate his exploits and to make him his model in all things. The Iliad, which recounts the deeds of that mythical hero, became the prince's inseparable companion. After his mother's influence, perhaps that of the philosopher Aristotle, whom Philip persuaded to become the tutor of the youthful Alexander, was the most potent and formative. This great teacher implanted in the mind of the young prince a love of literature and philosophy, and through his inspiring companion- ship and lofty conversation exercised over the eager, impulsive 273 274 ALEXANDER THE GREAT boy an influence for good which Alexander himself gratefully- acknowledged in later years. 286. Troubles attending the Accession of Alexander. — For about two years after his accession to the Macedonian throne, Alexander was kept busy in thwarting conspiracies and suppressing open revolts against his authority. While the young king was campaigning against some barbarian tribes on his northern frontier a report was spread in Greece that he was dead. The Thebans rose in revolt and called upon the Athenians to join them. Demosthenes favored the appeal, and began to stir up the Athenians and ^ others to unite with the Thebans in freeing the Grecian land from the foreigners. But Alexander was not dead. Before the Greek cities had settled upon any plan of concerted action, Alexander with his army was in front of Thebes. In a sharp battle outside the gates the Thebans were defeated and their city was captured. As a warning to the other Greek towns, Alex- ander razed the city to the ground, spar- ing only the temples and the house of the poet Pindar, and sold 30,000 of the inhab- itants into slavery. Thus was one of the largest and most renowned of the cities of Greece wiped out of existence. The destruction of Thebes produced the greatest consternation throughout Greece, for many of the cities were implicated in the attempted revolution which had brought that city to ruin. But having meted out vengeance to Thebes, Alexander dealt leniently with the other towns that had by public decrees or othenvise expressed hostility to him, and simply insisted upon the surrender or punishment of a few of the most active enemies of Macedonia. 287. Alexander crosses the Hellespont ; the Battle of the Granicus (334 B.C.). — Alexander was now free to carry out his father's scheme in regard to the Asiatic expedition. In the spring Fig. 92. — Alexander THE Great (Capitoline Museum) THE BATTLE OF ISSUS 275 of 334 B.C., with all his plans matured, he set out at the head of an army numbering about 35,000 men for the conquest of the Persian Empire. Crossing the Hellespont, Alexander first proceeded to the plain of ancient Troy, in order to place a garland upon the supposed tomb at that place of his mythical ancestor Achilles. Proceeding on his march, Alexander met a Persian army on the banks of the Granicus, over which he gained a decisive victory. Three hundred suits of armor, selected from the spoils of the field, were sent as a votive offering to the temple of Athena at Athens. The victory at the Granicus laid all Asia Minor open to the invader, and soon practically all of its cities and tribes were brought to acknowledge the authority of the Macedonian.^ 288. The Battle of Issus (333 b.c). — At the northeast corner of the Mediterranean lies the plain of Issus. Here Alexander met a Persian army, numbering, it is said, 600,000 men, and inflicted upon it an overwhelming defeat. The family of Darius,^ including his mother, wife, and children, fell into the hands of Alexander; but the king himself escaped from the field, and hastened to his capital Susa to raise another army to oppose the march of the conqueror. 289. The Siege of Tyre (332 b.c). — Before penetrating to the heart of the empire, Alexander turned to the south, in order to effect the subjugation of Phoenicia, that he might command the Phoenician fleets and prevent their being used either to sever his communication with Greece or to aid revolts in the cities there against his authority. The island-city of Tyre, after a memorable siege, was taken by means of a mole, or causeway, built with 1 At Gordium, in Phrygia, Alexander performed an exploit which has given the world one of its favorite apothegms. In the temple at this place was a chariot to the pole of which a yoke was fastened by a curiously intricate knot. An oracle had been spread abroad to the effect that whoever should untie the knot would become master of Asia. Alexander attempted the feat. Unable to loosen the knot, he drew his sword and cut it. Hence the phrase " cutting the Gordian knot," — meaning a short way out of a difficulty. 2 Darius III, Codomannus (336-330 B.C.). 276 ALEXANDER THE GREAT incredible labor through the sea to the city. This mole was con- structed out of the ruins of old Tyre and the forests of Lebanon. It still remains, uniting the rock with the mainland. When at last, with the aid of the Sidonian fleet, the city was taken after a siege of seven months, 8000 of the inhabitants were slain and 30,000 sold into slavery, — a terrible warning to those cities that should dare to close their gates against the Macedonian. The reduction of Tyre has been pronounced the greatest miHtary achievement of Alexander. After the fall of Tyre the cities of Palestine and Philistia, with the sole exception of Gaza, surrendered at once to the conqueror. Gaza resisted stubbornly, but after a siege of three months was taken and its inhabitants were sold as slaves. Batis, the brave defender of the place, was fastened by Alexander to a chariot and dragged until dead round the walls of the city. This was in imitation of the treatment said to have been accorded by Achilles to the body of Hector (sec. 130). 290. Alexander in Egypt. — With the cities of Phoenicia and the fleets of the Mediterranean subject to his control, Alexander easily effected the reduction of Egypt. The Egyptians, indeed, made no resistance to the Macedonians, but wilHngly exchanged masters. While in the country, Alexander founded at one of the mouths of the Nile a city named after himself Alexandria. Ranke declares this to have been the " first city in the world, after the Pirseus at Athens, erected expressly for purposes of commerce." The city became the meeting place of the East and West; and its importance through many centuries attests the farsighted wisdom of its founder. A less worthy enterprise of the conqueror was his expedition to the oasis of Siwah, located in the Libyan desert, where were a celebrated temple and oracle of Zeus Ammon. To gratify his own vanity, as well as to impress his new Oriental subjects, Alexander evidently desired to be declared of celestial descent. The priests of the temple, in accordance with the wish of the king, gave out that the oracle pronounced Alexander to be the THE BATTLE OF ARBELA 2// son of Zeus and the destined ruler of the world. It would seem that Alexander was quite fully persuaded that, hke the early Greek heroes, he was allied to the race of the gods. 291. The Battle of Arbela (331 B.C.). — From Egypt Alexander recommenced his march towards the Persian capital. While yet in Phoenicia, he had received from Darius proposals of peace and alliance. The Great King had offered a large ransom for his family, and a surrender of all the provinces of his empire lying west of the Euphrates, but Alexander had refused to make peace even on such terms. " There cannot be two suns in the heavens," is said to have been his reply to the proposal. Marching through Syria, Alexander directed his course eastward and crossed the Euphrates and the Tigris without opposition ; but on the plains of Arbela, not far from the ancient Nineveh, he found his farther advance disputed by Darius with an immense army, numbering, if we may rely upon our authorities, over a million men. It was a motley host, made up of various Asiatic barba- rians, together with a large number of Greek mercenaries. Ele- phants and scythe-armed chariots impressed an Oriental stamp upon the vast array. The army of Alexander amounted to only about 47,000 foot and horse. But discipline counted for more than numbers. In the battle which was soon joined, the charge of the Macedonian cavalry and phalanx proved irresistible, and the vast Persian host was overthrown with enormous slaughter and scattered in flight. Darius fled from the field, as he had done at Issus, and sought safety behind the walls of the Median capital Ecbatana. The battle of Arbela was one of the decisive combats of history. It marked the end of the long struggle between the East and the West, between Persia and Greece, and prepared the way for the spread of Hellenic civilization over all Western Asia. 292. Alexander at Babylon, Susa, and Persepolis. — From the field of Arbela Alexander marched south to Babylon, which opened its gates to him without opposition. To win the favor of the Babylonians, he restored the temples which Xerxes had destroyed, and offered sacrifices in the temple of Bel. 2;8 ALEXANDER THE GREAT Susa was next entered by the conqueror. Here he seized incredible quantities of gold and silver ($57,000,000 it is said), the treasure of the Great King. He also found here and sent back to Athens the bronze statues of Harmodius and Aristogiton ^ (sec. 187), which had been carried off by Xerxes at the time of the invasion of Greece. From Susa Alexander's march was next directed to Persepohs, where he secured a treasure more than twice as great ($138,000,- 000 according to some) as that found at Susa. Upon Persepohs Alexander wreaked vengeance for all Greece had suffered at the hands of the Persians. Many of the inhabitants were massacred and others sold into slavery, while the palaces of the Persian kings were given to the flames.* Alexander having thus overthrown the power of Darius now began to regard himself not only as his conqueror but as his suc- cessor, and was thus looked upon by the Persians. He assumed the pomp and state of an Oriental monarch, and required the most obsequious homage from all who approached him. His Greek and Macedonian companions, unused to paying such serv- ile adulation to their king, were much displeased at Alexander's conduct, and from this time on to his death intrigues and con- spiracies were being constantly formed among them against his power and life. 293. The Pursuit and Death of Darius. — From Persepohs Alexander set out in pursuit of Darius, who, as we have seen, had escaped from the field at Arbela to the city of Ecbatana. As the Macedonians approached the king fled, thinking to find a safe retreat in the remote northeastern provinces of his empire. But as Alexander pressed closely after the fugitive, one of the attendants of Darius, a general named Bessus, treacherously stabbed his master, and left him in a dying state by the wayside. By the time Alexander reached the spot the king was dead. According to Plutarch, Alexander caused the body to be sent to 3 So Arrian, iii. i6. Other authorities, however, make it to have been some successor of Alexander who returned the statues. 4 Read Dryden's Alexander's Feast. CONQUEST OF BACTRIA AND SOGDIANA 279 the aged mother of Darius, in imitation of the surrender by Achilles of the body of Hector to his father Priam. 294. Conquest of Bactria and Sogdiana (329-328 b.c). — After the death of Darius, Alexander led his army towards the east, and, after subduing many tribes that dwelt about the southern shore of the Caspian Sea and among the mountainous regions of what is now known as Afghanistan, boldly conducted his soldiers over the snowy and dangerous passes of the Hindu Kush, and descended into the province of Bactria. After the reduction of this country, Alexander subdued the tribes of Sogdiana, a coun- try lying still farther to the north. Throughout these remote regions Alexander founded numerous cities, several of which bore his own name. One of them is said to have been built, wall and houses, in twenty days. These new cities were peopled with captives, and by those veterans who, because of fatigue or wounds, were no longer able to follow the conqueror in his swift campaigns. Alexander's stay in Sogdiana was saddened by his murder of his dearest friend CHtus, who had saved his life at the Granicus. Both were heated with wine when the quarrel arose ; after the deed Alexander was overwhelmed with remorse.^ 295. Conquests in India. — With the countries north of the Hindu Kush subdued and settled, Alexander recrossed the moun- tains and led his army down into the rich and crowded plains of India (327 B.C.). Here again he showed himself invincible, and received the submission of many of the native princes of the country. Alexander's desire was to extend his conquests to the Ganges, but his soldiers began to murmur because of the length and hard- ness of their campaigns, and he reluctantly gave up the under- taking. To secure the conquests already made, he founded, at different points in the valley of the Indus, Greek towns and 5 The Macedonian kingdom which grew out of the conquests of Alexander in Central Asia lasted for about two centuries after his death. Traditions of the con- queror still linger in the land, and coins and plate with subjects from classic mythology are frequently turned up at the present day. 280 ALEXANDER THE GREAT colonies. One of these he named Alexandria, after himself; another Bucephala, in memory of his favorite steed ; and still another Nicaea, for his victories. The modern museum at Lahore contains many relics of Greek art dug up on the site of these Macedonian cities and camps. 296. Rediscovery of the Sea Route from the Indus to the Euphrates. — It was Alexander's next care to bind these distant conquests in the East to those in the West. To do this, it was of the first importance to establish water communication between India and Babylonia. Now, strange as it may seem, the Greeks had no positive knowledge of what sea the Indus emptied into, and only a vague idea that there was a water way from the Indus to the Euphrates.^ This important maritime route, once known to the civilized world, had been lost, and needed to be rediscovered. So the conqueror Alexander now turned explorer. He sailed down the Indus to the head of the delta, where he founded a city which he called Alexandria. This was to be to the trade of India what Alexandria upon the Nile was to that of Egypt. With this new commercial city established, Alexander sailed on down to the mouth of the river, and was rejoiced to find himself looking out upon the southern ocean. He now dispatched his trusty admiral Nearchus with a con- siderable fleet to explore this sea and to determine whether it communicated with the Euphrates. He himself, with the larger part of the army, marched westward along the coast. His march thus lay through the ancient Gedrosia, now Beluchistan, a region frightful with burning deserts, amidst which his soldiers endured almost incredible privations and sufferings. After a trying and calamitous march of over two months Alexander, with the survivors of his army, reached Carmania. Here, to his unbounded joy, he was joined by Nearchus, who had 6 According to Arrian, when Alexander reached the Indus he at first thought that he had struck the upper course of the Nile. The presence in the river of crocodiles like those in Egypt was one thing that led him to this conclusion {Anabasis of Alexander, vi. i). THE PLANS OF ALEXANDER 281 made the voyage from the Indus successfully, and thus '' rediscov- ered one of the most important maritime routes of the world," the knowledge of which among the Western nations was never again to be lost. To appropriately celebrate his conquests and discoveries, Alex- ander instituted a series of religious festivals, amidst which his soldiers forgot the dangers of their numberless battles and the hardships of their unparalleled marches, which had put to the test every power of human endurance. And well might these veterans glory in their achievements. In a few years they had conquered half the world and changed the whole course of history. 297. The Plans of Alexander ; the Hellenizing of the World. — As the capital of his vast empire, which now stretched from the Ionian Sea to the Indus, Alexander chose the ancient Babylon, upon the Euphrates. He proposed to make this old Semitic city the center of his domains for the reason that such a loca- tion of the seat of government would help to promote his plans, which aimed at nothing less than the union and Hellenizing of the world. Not only were the peoples of Asia and Europe to be blended by means of colonies, but even the floras of the two continents were to be intermingled by the transplanting of plants and trees from one continent to the other. Common laws and customs and a common language were to unite the nations into one great family. Intermarriages were to blend the races. Alex- ander himself married a daughter of Darius HI, and also another of Artaxerxes Ochus ; to ten thousand of his soldiers, whom he encouraged to take Asiatic wives, he gave magnificent gifts. 298. The Mutiny at Opis (324 B.C.). — Not all the old soldiers of Alexander approved of his plans and measures, particularly since in these magnificent projects they seemed to be relegated to a second place. His Macedonian veterans were especially greatly displeased that he should enlist in his service effeminate Asiatics, and dress and equip them in the Macedonian fashion. They also disapproved of Alexander's action in wearing the Persian costume and surrounding himself with Persian attend- ants. So when Alexander proposed to send back to Macedonia 282 ALEXANDER THE GREAT the aged and the maimed among his veterans, the soldiers broke out in open mutiny. Alexander caused the instigators of the sedition to be executed, and then made to the mutinous soldiers a speech such as they had never Hstened to before. He recalled to their minds how his father Philip had found them vagabond shepherds tending a few sheep on the mountain-sides in Macedonia, and had made them conquerors and rulers of all Thrace and Greece ; and how he himself had made them conquerors of the empire of the Great King, the possessors of the riches of the world and the envied of all mankind.'' By these words the mutinous spirit of the soldiers was com- pletely subdued, and with every expression of contrition for their fault and of devotion to their old commander they begged for forgiveness and reinstatement in his favor. Alexander was moved by their entreaties, and gave them assurances that they were once more his companions and kinsmen. The reconciliation was celebrated by a magnificent banquet in which more than nine thousand participated.^ 299. The Death of Alexander (323 b.c). — In the midst of his vast projects Alexander was seized by a fever, brought on doubt- less by his insane excesses, and died at Babylon, 323 B.C., in the thirty-second year of his age. His soldiers could not let him die without seeing him. The watchers of the palace were obliged to open the doors to them, and the veterans of a hundred battle- fields filed sorrowfully past the couch of their dying commander. His body was carried first to Memphis, but afterwards to Alex- andria, in Egypt, and there inclosed in a golden coffin, over which was raised a splendid mausoleum. His ambition for celes- tial honors was gratified in his death ; for in Egypt and elsewhere ' Arrian, vii. 9, 10. 8 It was soon after this meeting that Alexander's dearest friend, Hephaestion, died at Ecbatana. Alexander indulged in most extravagant expressions of grief He caused a funeral pyre to be erected at a cost, it is said, of 10,000 talents ($12,000,000), and instituted in memory of his friend magnificent funeral games. He even ordered the tops of the towers of the surrounding cities to be cut off, and the horses and mules to be put in mourning by having their manes docked. ALEXANDER'S CHARACTER 283 temples were dedicated to him, and divine worship was paid to his statues. 300. His Character. — We must not pass this point without a few words, at least, respecting the character of this remarkable man, who, in a brief career of twelve years, changed entirely the currents of history, forcing them into channels which they would not have followed but for the influence of his Hfe and achievements. We cannot deny to Alexander, in addition to a remarkable genius for military affairs, an alert and comprehensive intellect. The wisdom shown by him in the selection of Alexandria in Egypt as the great depot of the exchanges of the East and the West has been amply demonstrated by the rare fortunes of that city. His plan for the union of Europe and Asia and the fusion of their dif- ferent races might indeed seem visionary were it not that the de- gree in which this was actually realized in some parts of his empire during subsequent centuries attests the sanity of the attempt. Alexander had fine tastes, and liberally encouraged art, science, and Hterature. Praxiteles, Lysippus, and Apelles^ had in him a munificent patron ; and to his preceptor Aristotle he sent large collections of natural-history objects gathered in his extended expeditions. He had an impulsive, kind, and generous nature : he avenged the murder of his enemy Darius ; and he repented in bitter tears over the body of his faithful CHtus. He exposed him- self like the commonest soldier, sharing with his men the hard- ships of the march and the dangers of the battlefield. But Alexander was, even judged by the moral requirements of his own time, a man of many faults. He indulged in shameful excesses, and gave way to outbreaks of passion that transformed a usually mild and generous disposition into the fury of a madman. The vindictive cruelty that he sometimes manifested in his treat- ment of prisoners can be only partially extenuated by a reference to the usages and the standard of humanity of the age. The con- tradictions of his Hfe cannot, perhaps, be better expressed than in the words once applied to the gifted Themistocles : "He was greater in genius than in character." 9 For something concerning these artists, see sees. 322 and 327. 284 ALEXANDER THE GREAT 301. Results of Alexander's Conquests. — The remarkable con- quests of Alexander had far-reaching consequences. First, they ended the long struggle between Persia and Greece, and spread Hellenic civilization over Egypt and Western Asia.^*' Second, the distinction between Greek and barbarian was oblit- erated, and the sympathies of men, hitherto so narrow and local, were widened, and thus an important preparation was made for the reception of the cosmopolitan creed of Christianity. Fig. 93. — The So-Called "Sarcophagus of Alexander" The finest of sixteen sarcophagi found at Sidon in 1887 Third, the world was given a universal language of culture, which was a further preparation for the spread of Christian teachings. Fourth, the sea route from India to Europe was rediscovered. This the historian Ranke, regarding its influence upon trade and commerce, views as one of the most important results of Alex- ander's expedition. 10 It was rather the outer forms than the real inner Ufe and spirit of the old Greek civilization which were adopted by the non-Hellenic peoples of Egypt and Western Asia. Hence the resulting culture is given a special name. " This civilization, Greek in its general character, but pervading people not exclusively Greek by race, is properly called Hellenism, which means — not 'being Hellenes,' or Greeks, but — 'doing like Hellenes'; and as the adjective answering to Hellas is Hellenic, so the adjective answering to Hellenism \^ HelUnisHcP — ]^^^, Greek Literature, p. 138. REFERENCES 285 But the evil effects of these conquests were also positive and far- reaching. The sudden acquisition by the Greeks of the enormous wealth of the Persian Empire, and contact with the vices and the effeminate luxury of the Oriental nations, had a most demoral- izing effect upon Hellenic life. Greece became corrupt, and she in turn corrupted Rome. Thus the civihzation of classical antiquity was undermined. Selections from the Sources. — Plutarch, Life of Alexander. Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander, vii. 9, Alexander's speech to his soldiers reminding them of the debt they owe to his father ; and vii. 28-30, for an estimate of Alexander's character. References (Modern). — Wheeler, Alexander the Great ; affords a most interesting and scholarly treatment of our subject. Dodge, Alexander. Hogarth, Philip and Alexander of Macedon (last part). Budge, The Life and Exploits of Alexander the Great. Mahaffy, Survey of Greek Civili- zation, chap, viii ; The Story of Alexander'' s Empire and Greek Life and Thought, chap. ii. Grote (ten-volume ed.), vol. ix, pp. 505-549 ; vol. x, pp. 1-112. Holm, vol. iii, chaps, xx-xxvii. Timayenis, vol. ii, pp. 91- 148. Allcroft and Masom, Decline of Hellas, pp. 105-161. Bury, His- tory of Greece, pp. 738-836. Curteis, Rise of the Macedonian Empire. Freeman, Historical Essays (Second Series), "Alexander." Topics for Special Study. — i. Different civilizations in the Persian Empire. 2. Alexander as a god. Bring this into harmony with the ideas of the time, both in Greece and in Egypt. This is a subject for mature students. 3. Influence of Alexander's conquests upon civilization. 4. "On the Persian system of government by territorial division was ingrafted the Greek system of government by city-communities " (Wheeler). Discuss this. 5. Alexander's letter to Darius. See Bury. 6. Alexander as a general. CHAPTER XXVII THE GRiECO-ORIENTAL WORLD FROM THE DEATH OF ALEXANDER TO THE CONQUEST OF GREECE BY THE ROMANS (323-146 B.C.) 302. Partition of Alexander's Empire. — There was no one who could wield the sword that fell from the hand of Alexander. It is said that, when dying, being asked to whom the kingdom should belong, he replied, " To the strongest," and handed his signet ring to his general Perdiccas. But Perdiccas was not strong enough to master the difficulties of the situation.^ Indeed, who is strong enough to rule the world? Consequently the vast empire created by Alexander's unpar- alleled conquests was distracted by the wranglings and wars of his successors, and before the close of the fourth century B.C. had become broken into many fragments.^ Besides minor states,' 1 Perdiccas, in conjunction with his brother generals, ruled at first as regent for Philip Arrhid^Eus, an illegitimate brother of Alexander, who was proclaimed titular king. Later the government was administered in the name of Arrhidaeus and Alexander the Younger, a posthumous son of Alexander. This son was murdered some years later by Cassander, the ruler of Macedonia. 2 The most important of the battles of this psriod was the battle of Ipsus, in Phrygia, 301 B.C. 3 Of these lesser states the following should be noted : a. Rhodes. — The city of Rhodes, on the island of the same name, became the head of a federation of adjacent island and coast cities, and thus laid the basis of a remarkable commercial prosperity and naval power. It was one of the chief centers of Hellenistic culture, and acquired a wide fame through its schools of art and rhetoric. Julius Csesar and Cicero both studied here under Rhodian teachers of oratory. b. Pontus. — Pontus (Greek for sea), a state of Asia Minor, was so called from its position upon the Euxine. It was never thoroughly conquered by the Macedo- nians. It has a place in history mainly because of the luster shed upon it by the transcendent ability of one of its kings, Mithradates the Great (120-63 B.C.), who spread the fame of the little kingdom throughout the world by his able, and for a long time successful, resistance to the Roman arms. 286 MACEDONIA 287 four monarchies rose out of the ruins. Their rulers were Cassan- der, Lysimachus, Seleucus Nicator, and Ptolemy, who had each assumed the title of king. The great horn was broken, and instead of it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven.^ Cassander governed Macedonia, and claimed authority over Greece ; Lysimachus held Thrace and the western part of Asia Minor ; Seleucus Nicator ruled Syria and the countries eastward to the Indus ; and Ptolemy held sway over Egypt. The kingdom of Lysimachus soon disappeared. The other monarchies were longer lived, but all were finally overwhelmed by the now rapidly rising power of Rome. In the following para- graphs we will trace in brief outline the fortunes of each, so long as they remained independent states. 303. Macedonia (323-146 b.c). — The story of Macedonia from the death of Alexander on to the conquest of the country by the Romans is made up largely of the quarrels and crimes of rival aspirants for the crown that Philip and Alexander had worn. During a great part of the period the successive Mace- donian kings were exercising or attempting to exercise authority over the cities of Greece. Respecting the extent of their power or influence in the peninsula we shall find it more convenient to speak in the following section. Macedonia was one of the first countries east of the Adriatic to come in hostile contact with the great military republic of the West. After much intrigue and a series of wars, the country was finally brought into subjection to the Italian power and made into a Roman province* (146 b.c). 304. Greece : the Celtic Invasion ; the Achaean and ^tolian Leagues. — From the subjection of Greece by Philip of Macedon to the absorption of Macedonia into the growing dominions of Rome, the Greek cities of the peninsula were, as we have said, much of the time at least under the real or nominal suzerainty of the Macedonian kings. But the Greeks were never made for royal subjects, and consequently they were in a state of chronic revolt against this foreign authority. 4 Daniel, viii. 8. 5 See sees. 451, 453 of the Ancient History (revised ed.). 288 THE GRi^CO-ORIENTAL WORLD Thus, no sooner had they heard of the death of Alexander than several of the Grecian states rose against the Macedonian general Antipater, and carried on with him what is known as the Lamian War (323-321 B.C.). The struggle ended disastrously for the Greeks, and Demosthenes, who had been the soul of the movement, to escape falling into the hands of Antipater, put an end to his own Hfe by means of poison. The next matter of moment in the history of Greece was an invasion of the Gauls (278 b.c), kinsmen of the Celtic tribes that about a century before this time had sacked the city of Rome. These terrible marauders, pouring down from the north, r,^-r:^^:^^^^^'ZZ]. Fig. 94, — The Dying Gaul. (Capitoline Museum) A memorial of the Gallic invasion of Greece in the third century b.c. ravaged Greece as far south as Delphi and the Pass of Ther- mopylae. If we may believe the Greek accounts, they met with heroic resistance and were driven back with great loss. A Httle later some of the tribes settled in Asia Minor and there gave name to the province of Galatia.^ The celebrated Greek sculp- ture, the Dying Gaul, is a most interesting memorial of this episode in Greek history (Fig. 94). In the third century B.C. there arose in Greece two important confederacies, known as the Achaean and ^tolian leagues, whose history embraces almost every matter of interest and instruction 6 It was to these people that St. Paul addressed one of his epistles. See his Epistle to the Galatians. THE ACH^AN AND ^TOLIAN LEAGUES 289 in the later political life of the Greek cities."^ These late attempts at federation among the Grecian cities were one expression of that tendency towards nationalism that marks this period of Greek history. They were fostered by the intense desire of all patriotic Hellenes to free themselves from the hated arbitership of Macedonia. The Greeks had learned at last — but unhap- pily too late — that the liberty they prized so highly could be maintained only through union. The Achaean League (281-146 b.c.) was in its beginnings simply a revival of a very ancient religious union of the cities of Achsea, but it came finally to embrace all the states of the Peloponnesus as well as some cities beyond its limits. It was one of the most successful efforts ever made to unite the Greek cities into a real federal state in which all the members should enjoy perfect equality of rights and privileges.^ The ^tolian League, established about 280 b.c, was composed not of cities but of tribes, — chiefly the half-civilized tribes of the mountainous regions of Central Greece. Its chieftains dis- played Httle of the statesmanship evinced by the leaders of the Achaean League, and it never became prominent in Greek affairs save from a mihtary point of view. Both of the leagues were broken up by Rome. In the year 146 B.C. Corinth, the most splendid city at this time of all Greece, and the most important member of the Achaean League, was taken by the Romans, the men were killed, the women and chil- dren sold into slavery, the rich art treasures of the city sent as trophies to Rome, and its temples and other buildings given to the flames. This was the last act in the long and varied drama of the pohtical life of ancient Greece. Henceforth it constituted simply a portion of the Roman Empire, and bore the name of Achaea. / ?■ For a study of these confederations, the first of whicl/was very much like our own federal union, consult Freeman's work entitled Histor^/of Federal Constitid'wns. 8 The chief promoters of the movement were Arflus (271-213 B.C.) and Philo- poemen (about 252-183 B.C.), both of whom were trusted generals of the league and men of eminent ability and enlightened patriotism. Pausanias calls Philopoemen " the last of the Greeks." 290 THE GR^CO-ORIENTAL WORLD 305. Syria, or the Kingdom of the Seleucidae (312-65 B.C.). — This kingdom, during the two centuries and more of its existence, played an important part in the civil history of the world. Under its first king it comprised nominally almost all the countries of Asia conquered by Alexander, thus stretching from the Hellespont to the Indus ; but in reaUty the monarchy embraced only Asia Minor, Syria, and the old Assyria and Babylonia. Its rulers were called Seleucidse, from the founder of the kingdom, Seleucus Nicator. Seleucus Nicator (312-281 B.C.), besides being a ruler of unu- sual abiHty, was a most liberal patron of learning and art. He is declared to have been " the greatest founder of cities that ever lived." Throughout his dominions he founded a vast number, some of which endured for many centuries, and were known far and wide as homes and centers of Hellenistic civihzation. Antioch on the Orontes, in Northern Syria, became after Seleu- cia on the Tigris the capital of the kingdom, and obtained an in- fluence and renown as a center of population and trade which have given its name a sure place in history. This colonization of Western Asia by Greeks was, as has already been remarked, one of the most noteworthy results of the Gra^co- Macedonian conquests. The founding of all these cities, however, as the historian Ranke observes, "must not be reckoned solely to the credit of Seleucus and Alexander. Their origin was closely connected with the main tendencies of Greek coloniza- tion. The Greeks had struggled long and often to penetrate into Asia, but so long as the Persian Empire remained supreme they were energetically repulsed, and it was only as mercenaries that they found admittance. This bar was now removed. Released from all restrictions and attracted by the revolution in pohtics, the Greeks now streamed into Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt." The successors of Seleucus Nicator led the kingdom through checkered fortunes. On different sides provinces fell away and became independent states.^ Antiochus III (223-187 B.C.), called 9 The most important of these were the following : a. Pergamum. — This was a state in Western Asia Minor which became inde- pendent upon the death of Seleucus Nicator (281 B.C.). Under the patronage of KINGDOM OF THE PTOLEMIES IN EGYPT 291 " the Great," raised the kingdom for a short time into great prom- inence ; but through attempting to make conquests in Europe, and further through giving asylum to the Carthaginian general Hannibal, he incurred the fatal hostility of Rome. Quickly driven by the Roman legions across the Hellespont, he was hopelessly defeated at the battle of Magnesia (190 B.C.). After this battle the Syrian kingdom was of very little importance in the world's affairs. At last, brought again into coUision with Rome, the coun- try was overrun by Pompey the Great and became a part of the Roman Republic ^^ (63 B.C.). 306. Kingdom of the Ptolemies in Egypt (323-30 B.C.). — The Graeco-Egyptian empire of the Ptolemies was by far the most important, in its influence upon the civilization of the world, of all the kingdoms that owed their origin to the conquests of Alexander. The founder of the house and dynasty was Ptolemy I, surnamed Soter (323-283 B.C.). Ptolemy was a general under Alexander, and seemed to possess much of his great commander's ability and restless energy, with a happy freedom from his worst faults. Upon the partition of the empire of Alexander, Ptolemy had received Egypt, with parts of Arabia and Libya. To these he added by conquest Coele-Syria, Phoenicia, Palestine, Gyrene, and Cyprus. Following the usage of the time, he transported a hun- dred thousand Jews from Jerusalem to Alexandria, attached them to his person and policies by wise and conciliatory measures, and thus effected, in such measure as was possible, at this great capital of the Nile, that fusion of the races of the East and the West which was the dream of Alexander. the Romans it gradually grew into a powerful kingdom. Its capital, also called Pergamum, became a most noted center of Greek learning and civilization, and through its great library and university gained the renown of being, next to Alexan- dria in Egypt, the greatest city of the Hellenistic world. Parchment (it is worth noting that this word is derived from Pergamum) was here first extensively used for books in place of the Egyptian papyrus, the exportation of which the rulers of Egypt at this time forbade. b. Parthia. — Parthia was a powerful non-Aryan state that grew up east of the Euphrates in the lands that formed the heart and center of the old Persian Empire (from about 255 B.C. to 226 a.d.). Its kings were at first formidable enemies of the rulers of Syria, and later of the Romans. 10 Compare sees. 452, 484 of the Ancient History (revised ed.). 292 THE GR^CO-ORIENTAL WORLD Under Ptolemy, Alexandria became the great depot of exchange for the productions of the world. At the entrance of the harbor stood the Pharos, or Hghthouse, — the first structure of its kind, — which Ptolemy built to guide the fleets of the world to his capital. This edifice was reckoned one of the Seven Wonders. But it was not alone the exchange of material products that was comprehended in Ptolemy's scheme. His aim was to make his capital the intellectual center of the world, — the place where the arts, sciences, literatures, and even the religions of the world should meet and mingle. He founded the famous Museum,^^ a sort of college, which became the " University of the East," and established the renowned Alexandrian Library. He encouraged poets, artists, philosophers, and teachers in all departments of learning to settle in Alexandria by conferring upon them immu- nities and privileges, and by gifts and a munificent patronage. His court embraced the learning and genius of the age. Ptolemy Philadelphus (283-247 B.C.) followed closely in the footsteps of his father, carrying out as far as possible the plans and policies of the preceding reign. He added largely to the royal Hbrary, and extended to scholars the same liberal patronage that his father had before him. It was under his direction that the important translation into Greek of the old Hebrew Testament was made (sec. 345). Altogether the Ptolemies reigned in Egypt almost exactly three centuries (323-30 B.C.). The rulers who held the throne for the last two hundred years were, with few exceptions, a succession of monsters, such as even Rome in her worst days could scarcely equal. The story of the beautiful but dissolute Cleopatra, the last of the house of the Ptolemies, belongs properly to the history of Rome, which city was now interfering in the affairs of the Orient. In the year 30 B.C., the year which marks the death of Cleopatra, Egypt was made a Roman province. 307. Conclusion. — We have now traced the poHtical fortunes of the Greek race through about six centuries of authentic history. 11 " The Museum was the first example of a permanent institution for the cultivation of pure science founded by a government; that was something great" (Holm). REFERENCES 293 In succeeding chapters, in order to render more complete the picture we have endeavored to draw of ancient Hellas, we shall add some details respecting Hellenic art, literature, philosophy, and society, — details which could not well have been introduced in the foregoing chapters without interrupting the movement of the narrative. Even a short study of these matters will help us to form a more adequate conception of that wonderful, many-sided genius of the Hellenic race which enabled Hellas, *' captured, to lead captive her captor." Selections from the Sources. — Plutarch, Life of Philopcemen and Life of Aratus. References (Modern). — Holm, vol. iv; the best history m Enghsh of the period. Grote (ten-volume ed.), vol. x, pp. 213-326. Gardner, A^eio Chapters in Greek History, chap, xv, " The Successors of Alexander and Greek Civilization in the East." Mahaffy, The Story of Alexander's Empire ; Greek Life and Thought from the Age of Alexander to the Roman Conquest ; and A Survey of Greek Civilization, chaps, viii and ix. Green- IDGE, Handbook of Greek Constitutional History, chap. vii. Freeman, History of Federal Government, chaps, v-ix, gives with great fullness the history of the Achaean League ; and Periods of European History (first lecture). Sayce, The Religions of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia, lect. x, " The Place of the Egyptian Religion in the History of Theology." David- son, The Education of the Greek People, chap, viii, " Greek Education in Contact with the Great Eastern World." Draper, Intellectual Develop- ment of Etcrope ; has an account of the Alexandrian Museum. Topics for Special Study. — i. The Museum and Library at Alexandria. 2. The Achaean League. See Free7nan and Greenidge. 3. " Hellenism and the fate of the Greek Constitution." See Greenidge, chap. viii. 4. Daphne at Antioch. 5. Rhodes as a center of Hellenistic culture. See Hobn. Fig. 95. — Coin of Athens. (Third century B.C.) CHAPTER XXVIII GREEK ARCHITECTURE, SCULPTURE, AND PAINTING 308. Introductory: the Greek Sense of Beauty. — The Greeks were artists by nature. Everything they made, from the shrines for their gods to the meanest utensils of domestic use, was beau- tiful. <' Ugliness gave them pain hke a blow." Beauty they placed next to holiness ; indeed, they almost or quite made beauty and goodness the same thing. It is said that it was noted by the Greeks as something strange and exceptional that Socrates was good, notwithstanding he was ugly in feature. The ■ first maxim in Greek art was the same as that which formed the first principle in Greek morality — "Nothing in excess." The Greek eye was ofi'ended at any exaggeration of parts, at any lack of symmetry or proportion in an object. The proportions of the Greek temple are perfect. Any deviations from the canons of the Greek artists are found to be departures from the ideal. Clearness of outline was another requirement of Greek taste. The aesthetic Greek had a positive dislike of all vagueness or indis- tinctness of form. Contrast the clear-cut lines of a Greek temple with the vague, vanishing lines of a mediaeval Gothic cathedral. It is possible that Nature herself taught the Greeks these first principles of their art. Nature in Greece never goes to extremes. The mountains and islands are never overlarge. The climate is rarely excessively cold or oppressively hot. And Nature here seems to abhor vagueness. The singular transparency of the atmosphere, especially that of Attica, lends a remarkable clear- ness of outline to every object. The Parthenon in its clear-cut features seems modeled after the hills that lie with such absolute clearness of form against the Attic sky. 294 ORDERS OF GREEK ARCHITECTURE 295 I. Architecture 309. Orders of Greek Architecture. — By the close of the sixth century Greek architecture had made considerable advance and presented three distinct styles or orders. These are known as the Doric, the Ionic, and the Corinthian (Fig. 96). They are distinguished from one another chiefly by differences in the pro- portions and ornamentation of the column. The Doric column is without a base and has a perfectly plain capital. At first the Doric temples of the Greeks were almost as ^_^,§P^^ Doric Ionic Fig. 96. — Orders of Greek Architecture massive as those of the Egyptian builders, but gradually they grew less heavy as they became permeated with the freer Greek spirit. The Ionic column is characterized by the spiral volutes of the capital. This form was principally employed by the Greeks of Ionia, whence its name. The Corinthian order is distinguished by its rich capital, formed of acanthus leaves. The addition of the acanthus leaves is said to have been suggested to the artist Callimachus by the pretty effect of a basket surrounded by the leaves of an acanthus plant, upon which it had accidentally fallen. This order was not much employed in Greece before the time of Alexander the Great. 296 GREEK ARCHITECTURE AND SCULPTURE The entire structure was made to harmonize with its supporting columns. The general characteristics of the orders are happily suggested by the terms we use when we speak of the " severe " Doric, the "graceful" Ionic, and the "ornate" Corinthian. Speaking of the place which these styles held in Greek archi- tecture and have held in that of the world since Greek times, an eminent authority says, " We may admit that the invention and perfecting of these orders of Greek architecture has been (with one exception — the introduction of the arch) the most important event in the architectural history of the world." 310. Greek Architecture chiefly Sacred ; Early Greek Temples. — Religion was the very breath of Greek architecture. It was religious feeling which created the noblest monuments of the architectural genius of Hellas.^ Hence in the few words which we shall have to say respecting Greek architecture our attention will be confined almost exclusively to the temples of Greece. In the earliest times the Greeks had no temples save the forests. The statues of the gods were first placed beneath the shelter of a tree or within its hollow trunk. After a time a build- ing rudely constructed of the trunks of trees and shaped like the habitations of men marked the first step in advance. Then stone took the place of the wooden frame. With the introduc- tion of a durable material the artist was encouraged to expend more labor and care upon his work. At the same time he received helpful hints from the old builders of the East. Thus architec- ture began to make rapid strides, and by the century following the age of Solon at Athens there were many beautiful temples in different parts of the Hellenic world. 311. The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. — One of the oldest as well as most beautiful of Greek edifices of the Ionic order was the temple of Artemis (Diana) at Ephesus. It was counted as one of the wonders of the ancient world. The value of the gifts and votive offerings to the temple was beyond all calculation ; 1 The architecture of the Mycenaean Age, which was represented by the palace,— there were no temples in that age, — seems to have exercised but little influence upon the sacred architecture of the classical age. THE DELPHIAN TEMPLE 297 kings and cities vied with one another in the cost and splendor of their donations. Painters and sculptors were eager to have their masterpieces assigned a place within its walls, so that it became a great national gallery of paintings and statuary.- Just after the middle of the third century of our era the bar- barian Goths robbed the shrine and left it a ruin. Builders of a later date used the ruins as a stone quarry.^ Some of the cele- brated jasper columns of the temple may be seen to-day in the great mosque (once the church of St. Sophia) at Constantinople. 312. The Delphian Temple. — The first temple erected at Del- phi over the spot whence issued the mysterious vapors (sec. 140) was a rude wooden structure. In the year 548 b.c. the temple then standing was destroyed by fire. All the cities and states of Hellas contributed to its rebuilding. The later structure was impressive both from its colossal size and the massive simplicity that characterizes the Doric style of architecture. It was crowded with the spoils of many battlefields, with the rich gifts of kings, and with rare works of art. After remaining long secure, through the awe and reverence which its oracle inspired, it finally, like the temple at Ephesus, suffered fre- quent spoliation. The Phocians despoiled the temple of a treasure equivalent, it is estimated, to more than $10,000,000 (sec. 281), and later the Romans seem to have stripped it bare of its art treasures.* 313. The Athenian Parthenon. — We have already glanced at the Parthenon, the sanctuary of the virgin goddess Athena, upon 2 Besides being in a sense museums, the temples of the Greeks were also banks of deposit. The priests often loaned out on interest the money deposited with them, the revenue from this source being added to that from the leased lands of the temple and from the tithes of war booty to meet the expenses of the services of the shrine (compare sec. 58). Usually the temple property in Greece was managed solely by the priests, but the treasure of the Parthenon at Athens formed an exception to this rule. The treasure here belonged to the state, and was controlled and disposed of by the vote of the people. Even the personal property of the goddess, the gold drapery of the statue, which was worth about ^^600,000, could be used in case of great need; but it must be replaced in due time, with a fair interest. 3 The site of the temple was for many centuries lost; but in 1871 Mr. Wood, an excavator, uncovered portions of its ancient pavement, and brought to light fragments of sculpture, which may now be seen in the British Museum, •i At all events the spade has turned up comparatively little of value on the site of the temple, which was thoroughly excavated towards the close of the last century. 298 GREEK ARCHITECTURE AND SCULPTURE the Acropolis at Athens (sec. 230). This temple, which is built in the Doric order, of marble from the neighboring PenteHcus, is regarded as the finest specimen of Greek architecture. The art exhibited in its construction is an art of ideal perfection. After standing for more than two thousand years, and having Fig. 97. — The Parthenon. (From a photograph) " A summary of all that is best and most characteristic in Greek architecture and sculpture " (Ernest Arthur Gardner) served successively as a pagan temple, a Christian church, and a Mohammedan mosque, it finally was made to serve as a Turkish powder magazine in a war with the Venetians in 1687. During the progress of this contest a bomb ignited the magazine, and more than half of the wonderful masterpiece was shivered into fragments. Even in its ruined state the structure constitutes the most highly prized memorial that we possess of the builders of the ancient world .^ 314. Olympia and the Temple of Zeus Olympius. — The sacred plain of the Alpheus in Elis was, as we have learned, the spot where were held the celebrated Olympian games. Here was raised a magnificent Doric temple consecrated to Zeus Olympius, and around it were grouped a vast number of shrines, treasure- houses, porticoes, and various other structures. For many centuries these buildings adorned the consecrated spot and witnessed the recurring festivals. But in the fifth 5 For short notices of other buildings at Athens, see sec. 230. THE MAUSOLEUM AT HALICARNASSUS 299 century of our era the Christian emperor Theodosius II ordered their destruction, as monuments of paganism, and the splendid structures were given to the flames. Earthquakes, landsHps, and the floods of the Alpheus completed in time the work of destruc- tion and buried the ruins beneath a thick layer of earth. For centuries the desolate spot remained unvisited; but late in the last century the Germans thoroughly excavated the temple site and the sites of about forty other neighboring structures. The remains unearthed were of such an extensive nature as to make possible a restoration of the noble assemblage of buildings (PI. X) which we may believe re-creates with fidelity the scene looked upon by the visitor to Olympia in the days of its architectural glory. 315. Theaters and Other Structures. — The Greek theater was semicircular in form, and open to the sky, as shown in the accom- panying cut. The structure comprised three divisions : first, the K^^^^^'i: Fig. 98. — The Theater of Dionysus at Athens (From a photograph) semicircle of seats for the spectators ; second, the orchestra, or dancing place for the chorus, which embraced the space between the lower range of seats and the stage ; and third, the stage, a narrow platform for the actors. 300 GREEK ARCHITECTURE AND SCULPTURE The most noted of Greek theaters was the Theater of Dio- nysus at Athens, which was the model of all the others. It was cut partly in the native rock on the southeastern slope of the Acropolis, the Greeks in the construction of their theaters gener- ally taking advantage of a hillside. There were about one hundred rows of seats, the lowest, bordering the orchestra, consisting, in later times, of sixty-seven marble armchairs. The structure, it is said, would hold thirty thousand spectators. 316. The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. — This structure was a monumental tomb designed to preserve the memory of Mauso- lus, king of Caria, who died 352 b.c. The chief remains of the mausoleum are numerous sculptures dug up on the site and now preserved in the British Museum. It is the tradition of this beau- tiful structure that has given the world a name for all monuments of unusual magnificence raised in memory of the dead. II. Sculpture 317. Traces of Oriental Influence in Early Greek Art. — The earliest art in Greece to which we can without hesitation apply the term " Hellenic " exhibits distinct marks of Oriental influ- ence.^ From both Egypt and Assyria the early Greek artist received models in gold, silver, ivory, and other material, deco- rative designs, and a knowledge of technical processes. But this was all. The Greek was never a servile imitator. His true artistic feeling caused him to reject everything unnatural and grotesque in the designs and models of the Eastern artists, while his kindling genius breathed into the rigid figures of the Oriental sculptor the breath of hfe, and endowed them with the beauty and grace of the living form. From the beginning of the sixth century b.c. forward to the fifth we can trace clearly the growing excellence of Greek sculpture until it blooms in the supreme beauty of the art of the Periclean Age. 6 The relation of the sculpture of the Mycenaean Age to that of historic times in Greece is really unknown. It is probable, however, that in the primitive art of the Mycenaean period we may recognize an early stage of the art of the age of Phidias. THE GYMNASIUM AND GREEK SCULPTURE 30I 318. Influence of the Olympian Games and the Gymnasium upon Greek Sculpture. — Towards the latter part of the sixth century B.C. it became the custom to set up images of the victors in the Olympian games. The ground at Olympia became crowded with " a band of chosen youth in imperishable forms." Now, in repre- senting the figures of the gods it was thought, if not impious, at least presumptuous, to change materially the conventional forms ; and thus a certain Egyptian rigidity was imparted to all the pro- ductions of the artist. But in the representation of the forms of mere men the sculptor was bound by no conventionalism, being per- fectly free to exercise his skill and genius in handling his subject. Progress and improvement now became possible. In still another way did the Olym- pian contests and the exercises of the gymnasia exert a most helpful influence upon Greek sculpture. They afforded the artist unrivaled opportunities for the study of the human form. " The whole race," as Symonds says, " lived out its sculp- ture and its painting, rehearsed, as it were, the great works of Phidias and Polygnotus, in physical exer- cises, before it learned to express itself in marble or in color." As the sacred buildings increased in number and costliness the services of the artist were called into requisition for their adorn- ment. Every available space was filled with statues and groups of figures executed by the most renowned artists and representing the national deities, the legendary heroes, victors at the public games, or incidents in the life of the state in which piety saw the special interposition of the god in whose honor the shrine had been raised. 319. The Archaic Period, down to the Persian Wars. — The oldest remains of Greek sculpture are specimens of carvings in Fig. 99. — The Wrestlers " Particularly were the games pro- motive of sculpture, since they af- forded the sculptor living models for his art" (sec. 143) 302 GREEK ARCHITECTURE AND SCULPTURE I I / { relief. A good example of this archaic phase of Greek sculpture is seen in the tombstone of Aristion (Fig. loo), discovered in Attica in 1838. The date of this work is placed at about 550 B.C. A sort of Assyrian rigidity still binds the limbs of the figure and a j certain archaism of manner characterizes the I whole ; still thtre are suggestions of the grace ' and freedom of a truer and higher art."^ j 320. The Period of Perfection of Greek Sculp- ture : the Age of Phidias. — Greek sculpture was at its best during the last half of the fifth century B.C. Our space will permit us merely to mention three or four of the great sculptors who contributed to the glory of the age, and name what the world regards as their masterpieces. Myron, whose best work was executed probably about 460 B.C., was a contempo- rary of Phidias. His works were chiefly in bronze. They were strikingly lifelike. One of his most celebrated pieces was the pj^.^oiT— Ihrowing the Discobolus, eYi\.z&c\i,Y., Babel and Bible. Ed. by C. H. \V. Johns. N.Y., Putnam. 1903. De Luce, M. L., IVork and Workers Long Ago : An Introduction to the Study of History. Announced for the fall of 1904. T>Q^x{\V&x,]., The Races of Man. New ed. N.Y., Scribner. 1901. Doolittle, J., Social Life of the Chinese. N.Y., Harper. 1865, 1867. 2 v. Douglas, R. K., China. N.Y., Putnam. 1899. (Story of the Nations.) Duff, A., The Theology and Ethics of the Hebrews. N.Y., Scribner. 1902. Duncker, M., The History of Antiquity. Trans, by Evelyn Abbott. London, Bentley. 1877-1882. 6 v. 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London, Macmillan. 1895. Plato and Platonism. London, Macmillan. 1893. Perrot, G., and Chipiez, C, History of Art in Primitive Greece. Trans. by W. Armstrong. London, Chapman. 1894. 2 v. Richardson, R. B., Vacation Days in Greece. N.Y., Scribner. 1903. Ridgeway, W., The Early Age of Greece. Cambridge [Eng.] University Press. 1901. 2 V. Sankey, C, The Spartan and Theban Supremacies. N.Y., Scribner. 1898. SchUemann, H., Ilios. N.Y., Harper. 188 1. Mycence. N.Y., Scribner. 1878. Tiryns. N.Y., Scribner. 1885. Troja. London, Murray. 1884. Troy and its Remains. London, Murray. 1875. Schuchhardt, C, Schliemann's Excavations. London, Macmillan. 1891. Seemann, O., The Mythology of Greece and Rome. London, Ward. 1877. Symonds, J. A., Studies of the Greek Poets. N.Y., Harper. 18S0. 2 v. Tarbell, F. B., A History of Greek Art. Meadville, Flood. 1896. Timayenis, T. T., History of Greece. N.Y., Appleton. 188 3-1900. 2 v. Toy, C. H., Judaism and Christianity. Boston, Little. 1890. 354 GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY Tozer, H. F., Classical Geography. London, Macmillan. 1876. (Primer.) Tsountas, C, and Manatt, J. I., The MycencBan Age. Boston, Houghton. 1897. Wheeler, B. I., Alexander the Great. N.Y., Putnam. 1900. Wright, J. lA.., Masterpieces of Greek Literature. Boston, Houghton. 1902. Zeller, E., The Stoics, Epicureans, and Sceptics. Lond., Longmans. 1892. Zimmem, A., Old Tales from Greece. N.Y., Whittaker. 1897. SOURCES Most of the primary works to which we have made reference are to be found in the Bohn Library and Harper's Classical Library. We name here by way of special recommendation editions of a few of the most important translations, together with several valuable collections of translations and extracts. Aristotle, The Constitution of Athens. Trans, by Poste. London, Macmillan. Kxxizxv, Anabasis of Alexander. Trans, by Chinnock. London, Bell. 1893. Code of Hammurabi, The. Trans, by Harper. Chicago, University Press. 1904. The same, trans, by Johns. Edinb., Clark. 1903. Demosthenes, (9ra//<9«j-. Trans, by Kennedy. N.Y., Scribner. 1889. 5 V. Egyptian Book of the Bead, The. Trans, by Davis. N.Y., Putnam. 1894. The same, trans, by Budge. London, Kegan Paul. 1898. 3 v. Extracts from the Sources. Department of History of Indiana University. Harper, R. F., Assyrian and Babylonian Literatiire. N.Y., Appleton, 1901. Herodotus. Trans, by Raw^linson. N.Y., Scribner. 1875. 4 v. Monroe, P. N., Source Book of the History of Education for the Greek and Roman Period. N.Y., Macmillan. 1901. Yz.Vi%zx^\zs., Description of Greece. Trans, by Shilleto. Lond., Bell. 1886. 2 v. Plato, Dialogues. Trans, by Jowett. N.Y., Macmillan. 1892. 5 v. . The Republic. Trans, by Jowett. Oxford, Clarendon Press. 1881. Plutarch, Z/Wj-. Trans, by Stewart and Long. London, Bell. 1 880-1 882. 4 V. Polybius, ^/j/^r/^J-. Trans, by Shuckburgh. London, Macmillan. 1889. 2 v. Records of the Past. Trans, of the Assyrian and Egyptian monuments. Ed. by Birch. Lond., Bagster. 12 v. New Series. Ed. by Sayce. 6 v. Sacred Books of the East. Ed. by Max Muller. Ox., Clarendon Pr. 1879-1904. Thucydides. Trans, by Jowett. Oxford, Clarendon Press. 1900. 2 v. Xenophon, Aftabasis and Hellenica. Tr. by Daykins. Lond., Macmillan. 2 v. INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY Note. — In the case of words whose correct pronunciation has not seemed to be clearly indicated by their accentuation and syllabication, the sounds of the letters have been denoted thus : a, like a in gray ; a, like d, only less prolonged; a, like a in have ; a, like a m. far ; a, like a in all ; e, like ee in meet ; e, like e, only less prolonged; e, like e in end ; e, like e in there ; e, like e in err ; I, like / in ptne ; i, like i in pin ; 6, like o in note ; 6, like d, only less prolonged ; 6, like o in not ; 6, like o in drb ; oo, like ^(? in moon ; \x, like u in ?7j-^; ii, like the French u ; € and ch, like k ; 9, like s ; g, like ^ in get ; g, like/; s, like 0; ch, as in German ach ; G, small capital, as in German Hamburg ; n, like ni in minion ; n denotes the nasal sound in French, being similar to ng in song. Aahmes (a'mes), Theban prince, 27. Abraham, Hebrew patriarch, 75. A-chae'a, description of, 108. A-ehae'an League, 288, 289. A-ehse'ans in the Heroic Age, 113. A-ehii'les, 119. Ac'ra-gas. See Agrigenticm. Acropolis, the, at Athens, 168 ; buildings on, 216. iE'gae, 266 n. i. -^-ge'an Sea, islands in, iii, ^-gr'na, island, 190; fall of, 208; sculptures of temple at, 302 n. 7. yE-gis'thus, 121. ^-gos-potVmi, capture of Athenian fleet at, 241. ^-ne'as, 1 19. ^-o'li-ans, the, 114; early settle- ments in Asia Minor, 123. ^s'chi-nes, 268. iEs'chy-lus, tragic poet, 317, 318. -^-to'li-an League, 289. Agade (ag-a-da'), 49 n. 2. Ag-a-mem'non, 116, 119. A-gath'o-cles, tyrant of Syracuse, 264. A-ges'i-la'us, Spartan king, conducts campaign against Persians in Asia Minor, 248, 249. Ag'o-ra, the, in the Heroic Age, 124. Ag-ri-gen'tum, founded, 1 59 ; sacked _ by Carthaginians, 259, 260. Ah'ri-man, 95. A-hu'ra Maz'da. See Ormazd. A'ker-blad, 34 n. 15. Akhenaten. See Ametthotep IV. Al-cas'us, lyric poet, 314. Al-9i-bra-des, personal traits, 231, 232 ; speech in favor of the Sicil- ian Expedition, 233, 234; charged with mutilation of the Hermae, 235 n. 7 ; his recall to Athens, 235 ; his flight and counsel to the Spartans, 235 ; his recall, 239 ; gains victories for the Athenians, 240 ; is deposed from his com- mand, 240; his death, 240 n. 10. Alexander the Great, his youth and accession to the throne, 273, 274; destroys Thebes, 274 ; crosses the Hellespont, 274, 275 ; at the tomb of Achilles, 275 ; at the battle of Granicus, 275; cuts the Gordian knot, 275 n. I ; at the battle of Issus, 275; at the siege of Tyre, 275, 276; in Egypt, 276; at Arbela, 277 ; at Babylon and Per- sepolis, 277, 278; in Bactria and Sogdiana, 279 ; in India, 279 ; his plans, 281 ; his speech to muti- nous soldiers at Opis, 281, 282; 355 356 INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY his death, 282 ; his character, 283 ; results of his conquests, 284, 285 ; partition of his empire, 286, 287. Alexander, tyrant of Pherae, 256. Alexandria, in Egypt, founded, 276; in India, founded, 280. Alexandrian Age, Uterature of, 324, 325- Alexandrian Library, 292. Alphabet, the Semitic, origin of, 12 n. 9 ; disseminated by the Phoeni- cians, 87. Al-phe'us, river, no, A-ma'sis, king of Egypt, 89. A-men-ho'tep IV, 28 n. 11. Ammon, oasis of, 91. Amos, Hebrew prophet, 78. Am-phic'ty-o-ny, the, 136, 137. See Sacred Wars. Am-phip'o-lis, battle at, 228 ; cap- tured by Philip II, 267. Am'y-tis, 73 n. 2. A-na'cre-on or A-nac're-on, lyric poet, at court of Polycrates, 165; his poetry, 314, 315. An-ax-ag'o-ras, prosecution of, 211 n. 3 ; his philosophy, 329. A-nax-i-man'der, 327 n. 2. An-ax-im^e-nes, 327 n. 2. Ancestor worship, among the Chinese, 105. An-chrses, 119. Angro Mainyus (an'gro min'yous). See Ahriman. Anshan (iin'shan), in Elam, 88. An-tar9i-das, Peace of, 250; its execution by Sparta, 250, 251. An-tig'o-ne, 319. Antioch, 290. An-tro-ehus III, the Great, king of Syria, 290, 291. An-tip'a-ter, 288. A-pel'les, Greek painter, 310. Aph'ro-drte, goddess, 132; statue of, at C nidus, 306. Apis, sacred Egyptian bull, 36, 37. A-poc'ry-pha, the, 80. A-pori6, his oracle at Delphi, 133, 134; the founder of colonies, 134. A-raHu, Babylonian Hades, 57. A-ra'tus, general of the Achaean _ League, 289 n. 8. Ar-be'la, battle of, 277. Ar-ca'di-a, geography of, 108. Ar-ca'di-ans, rustic manners of, 108 ; _ form a confederacy, 254 n. 4. Ar-ehi-da'mus, king of Sparta, 221. Ar-ehir6-ehus, 314 n. i. Ar-ehi-me'des, the mathematician, Architecture, Babylonian, 51 ; Egyp- tian, 41, 42; Persian, 96, 97; Greek, 294-300. Archons at Athens, 169. A-re-op'a-gus, council of the, 169, 1 70 ; stripped of its authority, _ 206 n. 7. A'res, 131. Ar-gi-nu'sae, battle of, 240 ; condem- nation of Athenian generals after, .. 240, 241. Ar'go-lis, description of, 109. Ar'go-nauts, the, 118. Ar'gos, early ascendancy of, 141 ; lamed by the Spartans, 150; be- comes head of league in Pelo- ponnesian War, 229; hopes of leadership ruined at Mantinea, 230. Ar-is-tar'chus, the astronomer, 337. Ar-is-tl'des, his character, 190; op- poses the naval policy of Themis- tocles, 190 ; is ostracized, 190 ; is chosen commander of the Ionian fleet in place of Pausanias, 202 ; president of the Delian League, 203. A-ris'tT-on, stele of, 302. A-ris-to-de'mus, king of Messenia, 149. A-ris-to-gi'ton, the Athenian tyran- nicide, 174. Ar-is-toph'a-nes, comic poet, 320. Ar'is-tot-le, life and works, ^12^, 334. Ar-rhi-doe'us, 286 n. i. Ar-ta-pher'nes, Persian general, 185. Artaxerxes (ar-tax-erx'es) II, 245, __ 250; III, 97. Ar'te-mis, goddess, 131; temple of, at Ephesus, 296, 297. Ar-te-mis'l-um, naval battle of, 196 n. 6. Ar'y-ans, use of the term, 16 n. 3 ; chief peoples, 16, 17; primitive culture of, 17 n. 6 ; Aryan expan- sion, 17, 18; invasion of India by, 98. Asia Minor, migrations to, of Greeks, 122, 123. INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY 357 As-pa'si-a, 211 n. 3, 342. As-shur-ban'i-pal, 65, 66; as patron of literature, 69. Assyria, the countiy, 46; excava- tions and discoveries in, 66, 67. Assyrian Empire, rise of, 51 ; politi- cal history, 62-66; civilization, 66-71 ; services rendered to civili- zation, 70, 71. Astrology among the Babylonians, 56, 57- Astronomy, among the Egyptians, 43 ; among the Babylonians, 60 ; among the Greeks, -^^TfT- A-the'na, goddess, 131 ; statue of, by Phidias, 304. Athenian constitution, 169, 170; the Solonian reforms, 172; the Clisthenean reforms, 175, 176. Athenian Empire, outgrowth of the Delian League, 203-205 ; strength and weakness of, 217-219. Athenians, the, their part in the burn- ing of Sardis, 183 ; form a navy in iEginetan War, 190, 191 n. 2 ; Gal- ton's remarks on, 218 n. 10. Athens, relation of, to villages and towns of Attica, 128; history of, up to the Persian Wars, 168-178; histoiy of, under kings, 169 ; mon- archy transformed into an oli- garchy, 169; classes at, 170; abandoned by Athenians, 196 ; burned by the Persians, 197 ; re- building of, after the Persian Wars, 200 ; in the Periclean Age, 210-219; conspiracy of the Four Plundred at, 239, 240 ; her fall (404 B.C.), 241, 242; Thirty Ty- rants at, 244, 245 ; her new con- federacy, 252 n. 3, A'thos or Ath'os, Mount, destruc- tion of Persian fleet at, 185 ; canal at, cut by Xerxes, 192. Attica, central point of Greek his- tory, 108; ethnic elements of its population, 168; consolidation of the villages of, 169 ; the four so- called "Attic tribes," 175 n. 10; ten new Attic tribes formed by Clisthenes, 175 n. 10, Babylon, rise of, 50 ; destroyed by Sennacherib, 65 ; fall of, 73, 74. Babylonia, geology, 46, 47 ; produc- tions, 47 ; remains of its cities, 5 1 ; excavations and discoveries in, 52 ; becomes part of Persian Empire, 90. Babylonian Empire, political history, 48-51 ; civilization, 51-61. Babylonian Genesis, the, 58. Bactria, conquest of, by Alexander, 279. Ba'tis, 276. Be-his-tun' Rock, 92. Beluchistan (bel-oo-chis-tan^), 280. Be'ma, the Athenian, 170 n. 3. Be-ro'sus, 324. Bes'sus, Persian general, 278. Boe-6'ti-a, 108. Boeotian League, dissolved by Sparta, 250; its revival, 252. Book of the Dead, 35. Bos'po-rus, the, 155. Bot'ta, M., 67. Brah'ma, 99, 100. Brahmanism, 99, 100. Brahmans, the, 99. Bras'i-das, Spartan general, 228. Bronze, Age of, 6 n. 4 ; in the iEgean lands, 115 n. i. Buddha (bood'ha), 100. Buddhism, 100, loi ; in China, 105. By-zan'ti-um, founding of, 156. Cad'mus, 116. Calendar, the Egyptian, 43, 44 ; the Babylonian, 60. Cal-lic'ra-tes, architect, 216. Cal-limVchus, 295. Cam-bu'ni-an Mountains, no. Cam-by 'ses, 91. Car'che-mish, 29. Car-ma'ni-a, 280. Carthage, at the time of the Per- sian Wars, 181. Cas-san'der, 287. Caste, Hindu system of, 98, 99. Cathay (kath-a'). See China. Cayster (ka-is'ter), river, 89. ^e-cro'pi-a, nucleus of Athens, 116. Ce'crops, 1 16. ^elts, ancient and present repre- sentatives, 19. Ce-phis'sus, stream, no. Chasr-o-ne'a, battle of, 270. 358 INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY Chal-9id'i-9e, the name, 155; rela- tion to Macedonia of colonies in, 266. Char9is, colonies of, on Macedo- nian shore, 155. Chaldaean Empire, the, 72-74. Chaldaeans, early home, 72 n. i. Champollion (sham-pori-on), 34 n. 15. Cha'res, Greek sculptor, 307. Che Hwang-te (she whong-te), Chi- nese ruler, 102. Che'ops, 24, 25. China, early history, 102-106. Chinese, writing, 103 ; literature, 104; competitive examinations, 105. Chinese Wall, the, 102. Chl'os, island, iii. Cimon, son of Miltiades, pays his father's fine, 189; commander of the Athenian fleet, 205; at the Eurymedon, 205 n. 4 ; his recall, 206 n. 6; his ostracism, 206; rival of Pericles, 206. Cirr'ha, destroyed by Amphictyons, 137- City-state, the Greek, 127-129. Clan. See Gens. Cle-ar'chus, a general of the Ten Thousand, 246. Cle'on, his advice in regard to the Mytileneans, 226; his death, 228. Cle'ru-chies, nature of, 153 n. 4; settlement formed by Athenians in Lesbos, 226 n. 4. Clis'the-nes, constitution of, 175. Cirtus, murdered by Alexander, 279. Clyt-em-nes'tra, wife of Agamem- non, 121. Cnossus (nos'us), Cretan city, 118 n. 3. Co'drus, king of Athens, 169. Colonies, Greek : causes of Greek colonization, 152, 153; relation of, to the mother city, 153, 154; cleruchies, 153 n. 4; in Chalcid- ice, 155; on the Hellespont, the Propontis, and the Bosporus, 155, 156; in the Euxine region, 156; on the Ionian Islands, 157; in Southern Italy, 158; in Sicily and Southern Gaul, 159 ; in North Africa and Egypt, 160; place of, in Grecian history, 160. Colossus of Rhodes, 307. Competitive examinations, Chinese, 105. Confucianism, 105. Confucius, Chinese sage, 103, 104. Cor-9y'ra, city, founded, 157 ; quarrel with Corinth, 220. Corcyra, island, iii. Corinth, forms early alliance wdth Sparta, 150; Greek council at, in 481 B.C., 192, 193; quarrel with Corcyra, 220; congress convened at, by Philip of Macedon, 271. Corinth, isthmus of, 107. Corinthia, description of, 108. Corinthian War, 249. Co-rcE'bus, victor at Olympia, 134. Cor-o-ne'a, battle of (394 B.C.), 209. Crete, in Greek legend, in. Cris'sa, destroyed by Amphictyons, 137- Crit'i-as, Athenian oligarch, 245. Croe'sus, king of Lydia, 89, 90 n. i. Cro'ton founded, 158. ■Cu'mae, oracle at, 158, 159. ■€u-nax'a, battle of, between Cyrus and Artaxerxes, 246. Cuneiform wTiring, 53, 54; its de- cipherment, 55 n. 7. Cy-ax'a-res, king of the Medes, 66, 88. (^yc'la-des, the, iir. Cyclopes (sl-kl5'pez), the, 132 n. 8. Qy'lon, rebellion of, 170 n. 4. gyn'ics, the, 334. Qyr-e-na'i-ca, 160. (^y-re'ne, founded, 160; brought under Persian rule, 180. Qy-ro-pce-dl'a, the, of Xenophon, 322. (^yrus the Younger, 245, 246. Cyrus the Great, 88-91. Dam'o-cles, story of, 262 n. 2. Darius I, reign, 92, 93 ; reorganizes the empire, 94; conquests in Europe, 181; first expedition against Greece, 185 ; second, 185- 188; III, 275, 277, 278. Da'tis, Persian general, 185. David, king, 76. Decarchies, established by Sparta, 244. INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY 359 De9-e-le'a, its occupation urged on the Spartans by Alcibiades, 235; effects upon Athens of its occu- pation by the Spartans, 238. Decelean War, the, 237, 242. DeUan League. See Delos, Con- federacy of. De'los, Confederacy of, its forma- tion, 202, 203 ; transformed into an empire by the Athenians, 203- 205. De'los, island, iii. Delphian oracle, the, 132-134; in- fluence on Hellenic unity, 134; its services in Greek colonization, 134 n. II ; consulted by Croesus, 133 n. 10; its attitude in the Persian Wars, 193; message to the Athenians at the time of the Persian Wars, 196; oracle given Spartans at beginning of Pel6- ponnesian War, 221. Deme (dem), the Attic, 175 n. 10. De-me'ter, cult of, 132 n. 7. De-moc'ri-tus, 329. De-mos'the-nes, Athenian admiral, seizes Pylos, 227; carries rein- forcements to Nicias, in Sicily, 237 n. 8; his execution, 237. Demosthenes, the orator, his Olyn- thiacs, 269 ; his Philippics, 268 ; his oration on the crown, 323. Di-cas'te-ries, Athenian, description of, 214, 215; method of fixing penalty, 248 n. i. Dl-6-d6'rus Sic'u-lus, 325. Dl-og'e-nes, the Cynic, 334. Di'on, counselor of Dionysius II, 262, 263. Dl-o-nys'i-us I, tyrant of Syracuse, 260-262; II, the Younger, 260- 263. Dl-o-ny'sus, 132 n. 8 ; theater of, at Athens, 300. Dis-cob'o-ltis, the, 302. Do-do'na, oracle at, 133 n. 9. Domestication of animals, 7, 8 n. 6; of plants, 8, 9 n. 7. Dorian invasion, the, legend of, 122, Dorians, characteristics of, 113, 114 ; conquer the Peloponnesus, 122; early migrations, 141 n. I. Do-ris'cus, plain of, 194. Dowery of the dead, 5 ; in ancient Egypt, 39' 40. Draco, his code, 170, 171. Drama, the Attic, origin of, 316; leading ideas of Greek tragedy, 317- Dravidians, the, 98 n. i. Ec-bat'a-na, 278. Ec-cle'si-a, at Athens, in earliest times, 170; Thetes admitted to, by Solon, 172; place of meeting, 170 n. 3. Education, Chinese, 105 ; Greek, 340-342; at Sparta, 147, 148. E-ges'ta (or .^gesta), asks aid of Athens, 232 ; of the Cartha Tinians, 259- Egypt, geology, 20 ; delta of the Nile, 20; climate und products, 21, 22; Prehistoric Age in, 22; political history, 23-32 ; the thirty- one dynasties, 23; Old, Middle, and New empires, 23; civiliza- tion, 32-44 ; her contribution to civiHzation, 44 ; under the Ptole- mies, 291, 292. Elam, 50. El-eu-sin'i-an Mysteries, the, 132 n. 7. Elgin (ergin), Lord, 304 n. 9. Elijah, the prophet, 78. E'Us, description of, 109. Elisha, the prophet, 78. Elysian (e-lizh'an) Fields, the, 138. Em-ped'o-cles, 329. E-pam-i-non'das, at Leuctra, 252, 253; ravages Laconia, 254; in Arcadia, 254; his second and third expeditions into the Pelo- ponnesus, 256 n. 5; fourth expe- dition, 256; his death, 257. Eph'e-sus, early Ionian colony, 123. Eph-i-al'tes, Greek traitor. 195. Ephialtes, leader of attack upon the Areopagus, 206; his assassina- tion, 207 n. 8. Eph'ors, the, at Sparta, 144, 145. Ep-i-cu'rus, 335. E-pT'rus, district of, 108. Er-a-tos'the-nes, geographer, 337. E'rech, city, 55. Er-ech-the'um, the, 215 n. 8. 360 INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY E-re'tri-a, aids the Ionian rebels, 183 n. I ; destroyed by the Per- sians, 186. Eridu (a'ri-doo), city, 49 n. 2. Erinnyes (e-rin'i-ez), the, 132 n. 8. E'ros, 132 n. 8. E-sar-had'don I, 65 n. 3. Eu-boe'a, island, 1 1 1 . Eu'clid, the mathematician, 237- Eumenides (u-men'i-dez), the, 132 n. 8. Eu'pa-trids, the, at Athens, 170. Euphrates, valley of the, 46. Eu-rip'i-des, tragic poet, 319, 320. Eu-ro'tas, valley of the, 109. Eu-iy-bra-des, Spartan king, at Salamis, 197 n. 7. Eu-rym'e-don, battle of the, 205 n. 4. Euxine Sea (uk'sin), Greek colonies on, 156; trade of, 156. Fates, the, 132 n. 8. Fayum (fi-oom'), district of the, 26. Fire, origin of its use, 6, 7 ; meth- ods of fire-making, 7. Four Hundred, the, conspiracy of, at Athens, 239, 240. Friendship among the Greeks, 342, 343- Future life, doctrine of, among the Egyptians, 37 ; among the Baby- lonians, 57 ; among the Hebrews, 81 ; among the Greeks, 138, Ga'des, 86. Galton, quoted, 218 n. 10. Gauls, their invasion of Greece, 288. Gau'ta-ma. See Buddha. Gaza, reduced by Alexander, 276. Ge-dro'si-a, 280. Ge'lo, tyrant of Syracuse, 193. Gens (clan), the, among the Greeks, 128, notes 3 and 4, 175 n. 10. Geometry, science of, among the Egyptians, 44. Gideon, Hebrew judge, 75. Girga-mesh, Epic of, 59. Go-ma'tes. See Snierdis. Gordian knot, 275 n. i. Gor'di-um, 275 n. i. Gor'gi-as, 330 n. 4. Gra-ni'cus, battle of, 275. Great Wall, the Chinese, 102 n. 5. Grecian games, influence of, 135. Greece, home land of the Hellenes, 107 ; divisions of, 107-1 10 ; moun- tains of, no; rivers and lakes of, no; islands round, in; climate and productions of, ni, 112; in- fluence of land upon the people, 112, 113; Oriental settlers in, 116. Greeks, their legends, 115-123; in- . heritance of, 127-140; religious ideas and institutions, 129-138; their language, 138; their mythol- ogy, 139; their early literature, 139; their early art, 139, 140. See Hellenes. Grotefend (gro'te-fend), 55 n. 7. Gy-lip'pus, Spartan general, 235. Gymnastic art, influence upon sculp- ture, 301. Hades (ha'dez), 130. Hal-i-car-nas'sus, mausoleum at, 300. Hriys, the, 88. Hamites, 16, 19. Hammurabi (ham-moo-ra'be), Baby- lonian king, 50 ; his code, 59, 60. Hanging gardens of Babylon, 73 n. 2. Har-mo'di-us, the Athenian tyranni- cide, 1 74 ; statue of, carried off by Xerxes, sent back by Alex- ander, 278. Harmosts, Spartan, 244. He'be, 132 n. 8. Hebrews, the, in Egypt, 26, 30 n.13 ; the " Exodus," 30 ; Patriarchal Age, 75; Age of the Judges, 75; founding of the monarchy, 75, 76; reign of David, 76; reign of Solomon, 76; division of the monarchy, 77, 78; kingdom of Israel, 78 ; kingdom of Judah, 78, 79 ; literature, 79, 80 ; religion and morality, 80, 8 1 ; ideas of the future life, 81. Hector, son of Priam, 119. Hel'en, wife of Menelaus, nQ. He-li-ae'a, the, 214. Heri-con, Mount, no. Hel'las, term defined, 107. Hel-le'nes, or Hel'lenes, Greece proper ^their home land, 107; in- fluence of land upon, 112; divi- sions of, 113, 114. See Greeks. INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY 361 Hellenism, term defined, 284 n. 10. HeHes-pont, the, bridged by Xerxes, 192. He'lots, the, at Sparta, 143; "mas- sacre of, by Spartans, 143 n. 5; revolt of, 205, 206. He-phaes'ti-on, 282 n. 8. He-ph^es'tus, 131. He'ra, 131. Her'a-cles, twelve labors of, 177. Her-a-cli'dse, return of the, 122. Her-a-cli'tus, 327 n. 2. Her'mes, 131. Her'mus, river, 89. He-rod'o-tus, 321. He'si-od, 314. Hes'ti-a, 132. He-ta^'rae, the, 342. Hez-e-ki'ah, king of Judah, 64, 65- Hfe-ro II, tyrant of Syracuse, 264. Hieroglyphics, Egyptian, 33, 34; decipherment of, 34 n. 1 5. Him'e-ra, battle of, 199 n. 11. Himera, Sicilian city, destroyed by Carthaginians, 259. Hinduism, loi. Hip-par'chus, astronomer, 337. Hipparchus, Athenian tyrant, 174. Hip'pi-as, 174; driven from Athens, 175; goes to Susa, 177; guides the Persians to Marathon, 185. Hip'po, 86. Hip-poc'ra-tes, physician, 338. Hiram, king of Tyre, 76. His-sar'lik, excavations at, 120 n. 4. Historic Age, divisions of, 14 n. i. Hittites, the, 28, 29, 30. Homer, 313. Homeric poems, date and author- ship of, 123 n. 7 ; their picture of society in prehistoric Greece, 123- 125. Ho'rus, Egyptian deity, 36. Hosea, Hebrew prophet, 7^. Hyk's5s, the, 26, 27. Hy-met'tus, Mount, no. Hys-tas'pes, 55 n. 7. Ic-tl'nus, architect, 216. Ideograms defined, 10. Iliad, subject of the, 119. Homeric poems. iri-os. See Troy. See I-lis'sus, stream, no. India, early histoiy, 98-101 ; con- quests in, by Darius, 92 ; by Alex- ander, 279. Ionia, cities of, subjected by Lydian kings, 89 ; reduced by Cyrus, 179 ; revolt against Persians, 183; sup- pression of the revolt, 184; at the end of the Ionian revolt, 185. Ionian Islands, the, in. lonians, characteristics of, n3 ; set- tlements of, in Asia Minor, 123. See Ionia. Ip'sus, battle of (301 B.C.), 286 n. 3. Iran (e-ran'), plateau of, 88. Tris, 132 n. 8. Iron Age, 5, 6 n. 4. I-sae'us, Greek orator, 323 n. 6. Is'lam. See Alo/iammedanism. i-'soc'ra-tes, Greek orator, 323 n. 6. Israel, capdvity of, 63 ; kingdom of, 78. Ls'sus, battle of, 275. Isthmian games, the, 135. Ith'a-ca, birthplace of Odysseus, n i. l-th5'me. Mount, 149. Japanese, the, racial relationship, Jason, legendary prince of Thessaly, n8. Jealousy of the gods, doctrine of, Jeph'thah, Hebrew hero, 75. Jerusalem, taken by Nebuchadnez- zar, 72; destroyed by the Ro- mans, 79. Josephus, historian, 80. Judah, kingdom of, 78, 79. Judgment of the Dead, the, in Egyp- tian theology, 40, 41. Kar'nak, Temple of, 28; Hall of Columns at, 29. Khor-sa-bad', 67. Khufu. See Cheops. Kitchen middens, 2. Kouyunjik (koo-yobn-jek'), native name of largest mound at Nine- veh, 68 ; excavated by Layard, 68. Ea9'e-dns'mon, descriptive epithet "■ hollow," 109. Lacedaemonians. See Spartans. 362 INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY La-co'ni-a, geography of, 109 ; classes in, 143; ravaged by Epaminondas, 254- La'gash, city, 52 n. 5. Lam'a-ehus, Athenian general, 232. La'mi-an War, 288. Language, formation of, 9, 10. La-oc'o-on, the, 307, 308. Larsam, city, 49 n. 2. Lau'ri-um, silver mines at, 191 n. 4; revenue from, used by the Athe- nians for building a navy, 191 n. 4. Lebanon, Mount, 83. Lem'nos, island, in. Lenormant (leh-nor-moii'), quoted, 87. Le-on'i-das, king of Sparta, at Ther- mopylae, 195. Le-o-tych'i-des, Spartan king, 198 n. 10. Les^bos, island, 1 1 1 ; settled by JEo- lians, 123. Leuc'tra, battle of, 252-254. Literature, Assyrian, 69 ; Babylonian, 55, 56, 58, 59; Chinese, 104; Egyp- tian, 34, 35; Greek, 314-325; He- brew, 79, 80. Long Walls, at Athens, 207 n. 9, 208 n. 10; their demolition by the Peloponnesians, 242 ; restora- tion of, 249. Ly-ce'um, the, adorned by Pisistra- tus, 174. Ly-cur'gus, legend of, 144. Lydia, the land, 89 ; conquered by Cyrus the Great, 89; import of this for Greece, 179. Ly-san'der, Spartan general, cap- tures Athenian fleet at ^^gos- potami, 241 ; sets up oligarchic rule at Athens, 244. Lys'i-as, Athenian orator, at Olym- pia, 262 ; mentioned, 323 n. 6. Ly-sim'a-chus, 287. Ly-sip'pus, sculptor, 307. Mac'ca-bees, the, 79. Macedonia, submits to Darius, 181 ; under Philip II, 266-272; its rulers, 266; its population, 266; after Alexander's death, 287. Magna Graecia, the name, 1 58 ; colo- nies of, 158, 159; cities of, conquered by Dionysius I of Syra- cuse, 260. Mag-ne'si-a, battle of, 291. Man'e-tho, 23, 324. Man-ti-ne'a, city, 251 ; battle of (418 B.C.), 230; battle of (362 B.C.), 256, 257. Mar'a-thon, battle of, 186-188 ; re- sults of, 188, 189. Mar-do'ni-us, Persian general, expe- dition against Eretria and Athens, 185; left behind by Xerxes in Greece, 198; attempts to bribe the Athenians, 198; his death, 198. Mar'duk, Babylonian deity, 58. Mas-sa'li-a, founded, 1 59. Mausoleum, at Halicamassus, 300. Mau-so'lus, king of Caria, 300. Medes, the, 88. Medicine, science of, among the Egyptians, 44 ; among the Greeks, 338, 339. Meg-a-lop'o-lis, founding of, 254 n. 4. Me'los, taken possession of, by the Athenians, 230, 231. Memnon, the Vocal, 28 n. 10. Memphis, in Egypt, 24. Me-nan'der, 320 n. 4. Mencius (men'shi-us), Chinese sage, 104. Men-e-la'us, 116. Me-neph'tha, 30. Me'nes, 23, 24. Mesopotamia, the name, 46 n. i. Mes-sa'na, Greek colony, 149. Mes-se'ne, founding of, by Epami- nondas, 255. Mes-se'ni-a, its physical character- istics, 109. Mes-se'ni-an wars, First and Second, 148-150; Third, 205, 206. Messenians, liberation of, by Epami- nondas, 255. Metals, Age of, 5, 6. MMe'tus, early Ionian colony, 123; colonies of, in Euxine region, 156; fall of, 184. Mil-ti'a-des, in command at Mara- thon, 187 ; his disgrace and death, 189. Mi'nos, king of Crete, founder of maritime empire, 118. Min'o-taur, the, 117. INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY 363 Mce'ris, Lake, 26. Moses, Hebrew lawgiver, 75. Myc'a-le, battle of, 19S, 199. My-ce'nae, seat of prehistoric race, 109, 115 n. I, 121 n. 5, 122 n. 6; in Dorian times, 141 n. 2. Mycenaean Age, 1 1 5 n. i ; architec- ture of, 296 n. I ; relation of My- ceneean art to that of prehistoric times in Greece, 300 n. 6. My'ron, sculptor, 302. Myt-i-le'ne, revolt of, 226; fate of the Mytilenasan prisoners, 226. Nab-o-nrdus, king of Babylon, 73. Nab-o-po-las'sar, 73. Na-ram'-Sin, Babylonian king, 49 n. 4. Nau'cra-tis, founded, 160. Nax'os, secedes from the Delian League, 204. Ne-ar'ehus, Alexander's admiral, 2S0, 281. Neb-ii-chad-nez'zar II, 72, 73. Ne'chS II, 31, 32. Negative confession, the, in Egyp- tian theology, 40, 41. Ne'me-a, 135. Nemean games, the, 135. Nem'e-sis, 132 n. 8, 317. Nemesis, doctrine of, in Greek tragedy, 317. Neolithic Age, 5, Neoplatonism, its conflict w'ith Christianity, 336. Nes'tor, 119. Ni9'i-as, Athenian general, given command in the Sicilian expedi- tion, 232; speech against the ex- pedition, 233 ; reply to Alcibiades, 234 ; in Sicily, 236; his execution, 237. Nicjiias, Peace of, 228, 229. Nile, the, delta of, 20; First Cata- ract, 20 n. I ; deposits of, 20 n. 2 ; inundation, 21. Nin'e-veh, decoration of, by Sen- nacherib, 64 ; its fall, 66 ; palace mound at, 68 ; Royal Library found at, 68, 69. Nippur (nip-poo?), city, 49 n. 2 ; excavations at, 53; its temple library, 53. Nir-van'a, 100 n. 3. Obelisks, Egyptian, 42. O-de'on, the, at Athens, 216. O-dys'seus, 119, 120. Od'ys-sey, subject of the, 120. See Homeric poems. CEd'i-pus Colofteus, 319. O-lym'pi-a, location of, 109, no; national Greek games at, 134. Olympia, temple of Zeus Olympius at, 298 ; excavation of the site, 299. O-lym'pi-ad, First, 134; mode of designating dates by, 134 n. 13. Olympian Council, the, 131. Olympian games, the, 134, 135; re- vival of, 136 n. 14 ; influence upon Greek sculpture, 136. O-lym'pus, Mount, no. Olynthian Confederacy, dissolved by Sparta, 251 ; towns of, de- stroyed by Philip of Macedon, 269. O'pis, 281. Oracles among the Greeks. See Delphiati oracle. Oratory, Greek, 322, 323. Orders of Greek architecture, 295, 296. Or'mazd, 95. O-srris, Egyptian deity, 36. Os'sa, Mount, no. Ostracism, 175, 176. Pac-to'lus, river, 89. Pae-o'ni-us, Nike of, 305. Painting, Greek, 308-310; use of color by the Greeks in connection with sculpture and architecture, 309 n. 19. Paleohthic Age, 3-5. Pan-ath-e-nas'a, the Great, estab- lished by Pisistratus, 173; the Less, 173 n. 9. Papyrus paper, 35 n. 16. Par'a-lus, Athenian state ship, 241. Par-nas'sus, Mount, 1 10. Pa'ros, marbles of, 112. Parrhasius (par-ra'shi-us), Greek painter, 310. Parthenon, the, 2r6; treasure in, 297 n. 2 ; description of, 297, 298 ; sculptures of, 303 n. 9. Parthia, 290 n. 9. Pa-sar'ga-dae, 90. 364 INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY Pa-tro'clus, 119. Pau-sa'ni-as, at Plataea, 198 n. 9 ; his treason and death, 201, 202 n. 2. Pausanias, traveler and writer, 338. Pe'h-on, Mount, no. Pel'la, 266 n. i. Pe-lop'i-das, Ubgrates Thebes, 252 ; in Thessaly, 256; goes to Susa as an envoy, 256. Pel-o-pon-ne'sian War, the, causes of, 220; events of, 221-242; re- sults of, 242, 243. See Table of Contents. Pel-o-pon-ne'sus, the name, 116; conquered by the Dorians, 122. Pe'lops, fabled colonizer of the Pelo- ponnesus, 1 16. Pe-neFo-pe, 122, 124. Pe-ne'us, river, 1 10. Pen-teri-cus, Mount, no. Per-dic'cas, king of Macedonia, 267. Perdiccas, regent, 286 n. i. Per'ga-mum (or Pergamus), center of Hellenistic culture, 290 n. 9. Per-i-an'der, tyrant of Corinth, 164, 165. Per'i-cles, opposes Cimon, 206 ; comes to the head of affairs in Athens, 207 ; fosters the naval power of Athens, 208 ; negotiates the Thirty Years' Truce w^th Sparta, 209 ; his position at Athens, 210, 211; attacks upon, 211 n. 3; his law limiting citizen- ship, 212; takes citizens into pay of the state, 213; adorns Athens with public buildings, 215-217; effects of his system of public doles, 219; funeral oration of, 222-224; his death, 225. Pericles, the Age of, 210-219. Per-i-oe'9i, the, in Laconia, 143. Per-seph'o-ne, cult of, 132 n. 7. Per-sep'o-lis, structures at, 96, 97 ; destroyed by Alexander, 278. Persian Empire, political history of, 88-94 ; nature of government, 94 ; cramps the Greek world, 1 78-181 ; wars with Greece, 183-199; con- quered by Alexander the Great, 274-280. Persians, relation to the Medes, 88; literature and religion, 95. Phado, 332. Phalanx, Macedonian, Theban origin of, 253, 267 n. 2. Pha'ros, the, at Alexandria, 292. Phei'don, king of Argos, 141, 142. Phid'i-as, his masterpieces, 303-305. Phi-dip'pi-des, Greek runner, 186. Philae, island, 20 n. i. Philip II, king of Macedon, his youth, 256, 267 ; his accession to the throne, 267 ; his conquests in Chalcidice and Thrace, 267, 268 ; in the Second Sacred War, 269, 270 ; his victory at Chaeronea, 270 ; his plan to invade Asia, 271; his death, 271; results of his reign, 271, 272. Phi-lip'pl, founded, 268. Phi'lo, 80. Phil-o-poe'men, 289 n. 8. Phocians, in Second Sacred War, 269, 270. Pho'ci-on, Athenian statesman, 268. Pho'cis, district of Greece, 108. Phoe'bus. See Apollo. Phoe-nic'i-a, the land, S3 ; products of, 83. Phoenicians, their early migrations, 83 ; their commerce, 84, 85 ; col- onies, 85, 86; routes of trade, 85 n. 2 ; arts disseminated by, 86, 87. Phonograms, defined, 11. Phra'try, the, 128, 175 n. 10. Pindar, 274, 315. Piracy in the Heroic Age, 125. Pi-ras'us, the, fortified by Themis- tocles, 200, 201 ; dismantled by the Peloponnesians, 242. Pi-sis'tra-tus makes himself tyrant of Athens, 172, 173; character of his rule, 173. Platae'a, attack upon by Thebans (431 B.C.), 221 ; its destruction, 226; battle of, 198. Plataeans, the, at Marathon, 186. Plato, at court of Dionysius I of Syracuse, 261 ; visits Dionysius the Younger, 262 ; life and works, Plu'tarch, 325. Pnyx (niks), the, at Athens, i7on.3. Po-lyb'i-us, historian, 325. Pol-y-cli'tus, sculptor, 305. Po-lyc'ra-tes, tyrant of Samos, 165; fall of, 180. INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY 365 Pol-yg-no'tus, painter, 309. Po-lyx'e-na, daughter of Priam, 309 n. 20. Pontus, state in Asia Minor, 286 n. 3. Po-sei'don, 131. Pos-i-do^ni-a, 158. Pot-i-dae'a, Corinthian colony, 155 n. 5 ; revolt of, against Athens, 220 ; captured by Philip II, 267. Prax-it'e-les, 306. Prehistoric Age, defined, i ; in what way know^ledge of, secured, 2 ; divisions of, 2 ; in Egypt, 22 ; in Greece, 11 5-1 25. Printing, art of, among the Chinese, 103. Prod'i-cus, 330 n. 4. Pro-me'theus, the Titan, 318 n. 2. Prop-y-lze'a, the, 216. Pro-tag'o-ras, 330 n. 4. Psam-met'i-chus I, 30, 31. Ptol'e-my, Claudius, astronomer, 338. Ptolemy I, Soter, 291, 292; II, Philadelphus, 292. Punjab (poon-jjib'), the, 92. Py'los, seized and fortified by the Athenians, 226, 227. Pyramids, the, 24 ; as tombs, 39. Pyramid Kings, 24, 25. Pyr'rho, the skeptic, ^j^- Py-thag'o-ras, 328. Pyth'i-a, the, 133. Pythian games, 135. Races of mankind, 14-17 and notes ; table of, 19. Ra-me'ses II, 28-30; mummy of, ;^8. Re-ho-b5'am, 77. Rhe'gi-um, founded, 158. Rhodes, island, iii ; settled by Do- rians, 123; center of Hellenistic culture, 286 n. 3 ; school of sculp- ture at, 307. Rosetta Stone, the, 34. Sabbath, Babylonian rest day, 60, 61 n. 12. Sacred War, First, 137; Second, 269; Third, 270. Sa'is, 31. SaFa-mis, battle of, 197. Salamis, island, 1 11. Samaria, captured by Sargon II, 63. Sa'mos, island, iii. Samson, Hebrew hero, 75. Sappho (safTo), 314. Sar'a-cus, last king of Nineveh, 66. Sar'dis, capital of Lydia, 89; cap- tured by Cyrus, 89 ; sacked by the Greeks, 183, Sar'gon, I, 49, 50; II, reign, 63, 64. Sa-ron'ic Gulf, in. Saul, king of the Hebrews, 76. Scar-a-bas'i, Egyptian, 36, 43. Sco'pas, 306. Se-leu'9i-dce, kingdom of the, 290, 291. Se-leu'cus Ni-ca'tor, 290. Se-ll'nus, quarrel with Egesta, 232 ; destroyed by Carthaginians, 259. Sen-naeh'e-rib, reign, 64, 65. Sep'tu-a-gint, the, 324. Ser-a-pe'um, the, 37 n. 18. Sesostris. See Katneses II. Set, Egyptian god, 36. , Se'ti I, 28, 29. Seven Sages, the, 327. She'ol, the Hebrew underworld, 81. Shepherd Kings. See Hyksos. Shirpurla (shir-poo r'la), city, 49 n. 2. Sicilian Expedition, the, 232-237; debate at Athens respecting, 232- 234 ; departure of, from the Pi- raeus, 234 ; the end, 235-237 ; how new^s of disaster was received at Athens, 237, 238, Sicily, Greek colonies in, 159; golden era of the Sicilian Greek cities, 263, 264; affairs of, be- tween 436 and 413 B.C., 259-264. Sidon, 83. Sl-mon'i-des of Ceos, lyric poet, 315. Sip'par, city, 49 n. 2. Siwah (see'wa), oasis of, 276. Slavery among the Greeks, 124, 347» 348. Smer'dis, the false, 91, 92. Socrates, his trial and death, 247, 24S;_his teachings, 330, 331. Sog-di-a'na, conquest of, by Alexan- der, 279. Solomon, king, 76, 77. So'lon, his economic reforms, \']\\ constitutional reforms, 172; spe- cial laws enacted by, 172. 366 INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY Sophists, the, 330. Sophocles, tragic poet, 319. Sparta, location of, 142; the name, 142 ; classes in, 143 ; Spartan in- stitutions, 144-148; early history of, 148-150; two kings at, 145 n. 7; public tables, 146; educa- tion of Spartan youth, 147, 148; conquers Messenia, 148-150; be- comes supreme in Central and Northern Peloponnesus, 150. Spartan constitution, the, 144, 145. Spartan supremacy (404-371 B.C.), 244-254. Spartans, number of, 143; detach- ment of, shut up in Sphacteria, 227 ; their surrender, 227 ; import of this event, 227. Spar-ti-a'tae, the. See Spartans. Sphac-te'ri-a, island, 227. Sphinx, the, 25. Spor'a-des, ijie, iii. Stoics, the, 334, 335. Stra'bo, the geographer, 337. Su'mer, 48. Sumerians, the, 48. Su'ni-um, cape, 216. Susa, capital of Elam, 50; capital of Persian Empire, 92 ; taken by Alexander, 278. Sut-tee', loi n. 4. Syb'a-ris, founded, 158; destroyed by Croton, 1 58 n. 6. Syl'la-ba-ry, defined, 1 1 . Symposium, the, features of, 345. Syracuse, founded, 159; operations of the Athenians at, in the Pelo- ponnesian War, 236; under the Dionysian tyrants, 260-263 ; its golden era, 263, 264. TaFmud, 80. Ta'o-ism, 105. Taras. See Tarentum. Tarentum, Greek colony, 1 58. Tar'ta-rus, in Greek myth, 1 30. Ta-yg'e-tus Mountains, 112. Tell el A-mar'na, cuneiform letters discovered at, 28 n. 11. Tello (or Telloh), 52. Tem'pe, Vale of, 107. Ten Thousand, expedition of the, 245, 246. Tha'les, 327, 328. Theaters, Grecian, description of, 299 ; entertainments of, 340-345. Thebes, in Egypt, ruins at, 42. Thebes, in Greece, seized by the Spartans, 251; liberated by Pe- lopidas, 252 ; hegemony of, 254- 257 ; destroyed by Alexander the Great, 274. The-mis'to-cles, his character, 190; his naval policy, 190; his agency in convening the Council of Cor- inth, 192 ; interprets the oracle of the "wooden walls," 196, 197 ; his policy in regard to the Piraeus and the Athenian navy, 200, 201 ; his ostracism and death, 201 n. i. The-oc'ri-tus, poet, 325. Ther-mop'y-lae, battle of, 194-196. Thermopylae, Pass of, the name, I94._ The-se'um, the, 216. Theseus (the'sus), king of Athens, Thes'pis, tragic poet, 316. Thes'sa-ly, description of, 107. The'tes, 172. Thirty Tyrants, the, at Athens, 244, 245- Thirty Years' Truce, the, 208, 209. Thoth'mes III, 27, 28. Thras-y-bu'lus, tyrant of Miletus, 164. Thu-cyd'i-des, the historian, char- acter of the speeches in his history, 223 n. I ; banished from Athens, 322 ; his history, 322. Tig'lath Pi-le'ser III, 51 ; his reign, 63- Tigris, valley of the, 46. Ti-mo'le-on, the Liberator, frees Syracuse from the tyrant Diony- sius the Younger, 263 ; his death, 264. Ti'mon, the misanthrope, 232. Tl'ryns, seat of prehistoric race, 109, 122 n. 6. Transmigration, Hindu doctrine of, 99, 100. Tra-pe'zus, 246. Treb'i-zond. See Trapezus. Tribes among the Greeks, 128. Trojan War, the legend of, 1 18-120. Troy, 118. See Hissarlik. Ty'phon, See Set. INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY 367 Tyrants, the Greek, Age of, 162- 166; character and origm of rule, 162, 163; Greek feeling towards, 163; Sparta's opposition to, 163; benefits conferred by, 165, 166; Pisistratidae, at Athens, 173,174; expulsion from Athens, 174, 175. Tyre, besieged by Nebuchadnezzar, 72; history of, 83, 84; siege of, by Alexander, 275, 276. Tyr-tas'us, 149 n. 9. Ur, city of, 49 n. 2. Uruk (oo'rook), city, 49 n, 2. Ve'das (or va'das), sacred books of the Hindus, 99. Woman, social position of, in Greece, 342. Writing, invention of, 10-12; Egyp- tian system, 33, 34; Chinese, 103.' Xan-thip'pe, 331 n. 6. Xen'o-phon, with the Ten Thousand Greeks, 246; his works, 322. Xerxes (zerks'ez) I, reign, 93, 94; prepares to invade Greece, 191, 192; crosses the Hellespont, 193; reviews army at Doriscus, 194; after the battle of Salamis, 198. Yah-weh (yah-wa'), 78. Zend A-ves'ta, 95. Ze'n5, the Stoic, 334. Zeus (zus), 131 ; oracles of, 133 n. 9. Zeus Ammon, oracle of, 276. Zeuxis (zukslss), Greek painter, 310. Zo-ro-as'ter, 95. Zoroastrianism, 95. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES This book is due on the date indicated below, or at the expiration of a definite period after the date of borrowing, as provided by the rules of the Library or by special arrange- ment with the Librarian in charge. DATE BORROWED DATE DUE DATE BORROWED DATE DUE 1 7 No'45r f tB F C28(i14i)m100 "33 o COLUMBIA UNiyERSJTYUBR ^ / " 0068098251 (!<. - r^93Z- FEB 2 1933