Читать бесплатно онлайн книгу автора Unwritten Literature of Hawaii / The Sacred Songs of the Hula
Anne Soulard, Charles Franks, Robert Fite, and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team.
EARLY EUROPEAN HISTORY
BY
HUTTON WEBSTER, PH.D.
"There is no part of history so generally useful as that which relates to the progress of the human mind, the gradual improvement of reason, the successive advances of science, the vicissitudes of learning and ignorance, which are the light and darkness of thinking beings, the extinction and resuscitation of arts, and the revolutions of the intellectual world." —SAMUEL JOHNSON, Rasselas.
PREFACE
This book aims to furnish a concise and connected account of human progress during ancient, medieval, and early modern times. It should meet the requirements of those high schools and preparatory schools where ancient history, as a separate discipline, is being supplanted by a more extended course introductory to the study of recent times and contemporary problems. Such a course was first outlined by the Regents of the University of the State of New York in their Syllabus for Secondary Schools, issued in 1910.
Since the appearance of the Regents' Syllabus the Committee of Five of the American Historical Association has made its Report (1911), suggesting a rearrangement of the curriculum which would permit a year's work in English and Continental history. Still more recently the Committee on Social Studies of the Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education, in its Report (1916) to the National Education Association has definitely recommended the division of European history into two parts, of which the first should include ancient and Oriental civilization, English and Continental history to approximately the end of the seventeenth century, and the period of American exploration.
The first twelve chapters of the present work are based upon the author's Ancient History, published four years ago. In spite of many omissions, it has been possible to follow without essential modification the plan of the earlier volume. A number of new maps and illustrations have been added to these chapters.
The selection of collateral reading, always a difficult problem in the secondary school, is doubly difficult when so much ground must be covered in a single course. The author ventures, therefore, to call attention to his Readings in Ancient History. Its purpose, in the words of the preface, is "to provide immature pupils with a variety of extended, unified, and interesting extracts on matters which a textbook treats with necessary, though none the less deplorable, condensation." A companion volume, entitled Readings in Medieval and Modern History, will be published shortly. References to both books are inserted in footnotes.
At the end of what has been a long and engrossing task, it becomes a pleasant duty to acknowledge the help which has been received from teachers in school and college. Various chapters, either in manuscript or in the proofs, have been read by Professor James M. Leake of Bryn Mawr College; Professor J. C. Hildt of Smith College; Very Rev. Patrick J. Healy, Professor of Church History in the Catholic University of America; Professor E. F. Humphrey of Trinity College; Dr. James Sullivan, Director of the Division of Archives and History, State Dept. of Education of New York; Constantine E. McGuire, Assistant Secretary General, International High Commission, Washington; Miss Margaret E. McGill, of the Newton (Mass.) High School; and Miss Mabel Chesley, of the Erasmus Hall High School, Brooklyn. The author would also express appreciation of the labors of the cartographers, artists, and printers, to whose accuracy and skill every page of the book bears witness.
HUTTON WEBSTER
LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, February, 1917
[Illustration: ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL GEMS.
1 Steatite from Crete, two lions with forefeet on a pedestal, above
a sun
2 Sardonyx from Elis, a goddess holding up a goat by the horns
3 Rock crystal a bearded Triton
4 Carnelian, a youth playing a trigonon
5 Chalcedony from Athens, a Bacchante
6 Sard, a woman reading a manuscript roll, before her a lyre
7 Carnelian, Theseus
8 Chalcedony, portrait head, Hellenistic Age
9 Aquamarine, portrait of Julia daughter of the emperor Titus
10 Chalcedony, portrait head, Hellenistic Age
11 Carnelian, bust portrait of the Roman emperor Decius
12 Beryl, portrait of Julia Domna wife of the emperor Septimius
Severus
13 Sapphire, head of the Madonna
14 Carnelian, the judgment of Paris, Renaissance work
15 Rock crystal, Madonna with Jesus and St. Joseph, probably Norman
Sicilian work]
CONTENTS
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
LIST OF MAPS
LIST OF PLATES
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY
CHAPTER
I. THE AGES BEFORE HISTORY.
1. The Study of History 2. Prehistoric Peoples 3. Domestication of Animals and Plants 4. Writing and the Alphabet 5. Primitive Science and Art 6. Historic Peoples
II. THE LANDS AND PEOPLES OF THE EAST TO ABOUT 500 B.C.
7. Physical Asia
8. Babylonia and Egypt
9. The Babylonians and the Egyptians
10. The Phoenicians and the Hebrews
11. The Assyrians
12. The World Empire of Persia
III. ORIENTAL CIVILIZATION.
13. Social Classes 14. Economic Conditions 15. Commerce and Trade Routes 16. Law and Morality 17. Religion 18. Literature and Art 19. Science and Education
IV. THE LANDS OF THE WEST AND THE RISE OF GREECE TO ABOUT 500 B.C.
20. Physical Europe 21. Greece and the Aegean 22. The Aegean Age (to about 1100 B.C.) 23. The Homeric Age (about 1100-750 B.C.) 24. Early Greek Religion 25. Religious Institutions—Oracles and Games 26. The Greek City-State 27. The Growth of Sparta (to 500 B.C.) 28. The Growth of Athens (to 500 B.C.) 29. Colonial Expansion of Greece (about 750-500 B.C.) 30. Bonds of Union among the Greeks
V. THE GREAT AGE OF THE GREEK REPUBLICS TO 362 B.C.
31. The Perils of Hellas 32. Expeditions of Darius against Greece 33. Xerxes and the Great Persian War 34. Athens under Themistocles, Aristides, and Cimon 35. Athens under Pericles 36. The Peloponnesian War, 431-404 B.C. 37. The Spartan and Theban Supremacies, 404-362 B.C. 38. Decline of the City-State
VI. MINGLING OF EAST AND WEST AFTER 359 B.C.
39. Philip and the Rise of Macedonia 40. Demosthenes and the End of Greek Freedom 41. Alexander the Great 42. Conquest of Persia and the Far East, 334-323 B.C. 43. The Work of Alexander 44. Hellenistic Kingdoms and Cities 45. The Hellenistic Age 46. The Graeco-Oriental World
VII. THE RISE OF ROME TO 264 B.C.
47. Italy and Sicily 48. The Peoples of Italy 49. The Romans 50. Early Roman Society 51. Roman Religion 52. The Roman City State 53. Expansion of Rome over Italy, 509 (?)-264 B.C. 54. Italy under Roman Rule 55. The Roman Army
VIII. THE GREAT AGE OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC, 264-31 B.C.
56. The Rivals Rome and Carthage, 264-218 B.C.
57. Hannibal and the Great Punic War, 218-201 B.C.
58. Roman Supremacy in the West and in the East, 201-133 B.C.
59. The Mediterranean World under Roman Rule
60. The Gracchi
61. Marius and Sulla
62. Pompey and Caesar
63. The Work of Caesar
64. Antony and Octavian
65. The End of an Epoch
IX. THE EARLY EMPIRE: THE WORLD UNDER ROMAN RULE, 31 B.C.-l80 A.D.
66. Augustus, 31 B.C.-l4 A.D. 67. The Successors of Augustus, 14-96 A.D. 68. The "Good Emperors," 96-180 A.D. 69. The Provinces of the Roman Empire 70. The Roman Law and the Latin Language 71. The Municipalities of the Roman Empire 72. Economic and Social Conditions in the First and Second Centuries 73. The Graeco-Roman World
X. THE LATER EMPIRE: CHRISTIANITY IN THE ROMAN WORLD, 180-395 A.D.
74. The "Soldier Emperors," 180-284 A.D. 75. The "Absolute Emperors," 284-395 A.D. 76. Economic and Social Conditions in the Third and Fourth Centuries 77. The Preparation for Christianity 78. Rise and Spread of Christianity 79. The Persecutions 80. Triumph of Christianity 81. Christian Influence on Society
XI. THE GERMANS TO 476 A.D.
82. Germany and the Germans 83. Breaking of the Danube Barrier 84. Breaking of the Rhine Barrier 85. Inroads of the Huns 86. End of the Roman Empire in the West, 476 A.D. 87. Germanic Influence on Society
XII. CLASSICAL CIVILIZATION.
88. The Classical City
89. Education and the Condition of Children
90. Marriage and the Position of Women
91. The Home and Private Life
92. Amusements
93. Slavery
94. Greek Literature
95. Greek Philosophy
96. Roman Literature
97. Greek Architecture
98. Greek Sculpture
99. Roman Architecture and Sculpture
100. Artistic Athens
101. Artistic Rome
XIII. WESTERN EUROPE DURING THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES, 476-962 A.D.
102. The Ostrogoths in Italy, 488-553 A.D. 103. The Lombards in Italy, 568-774 A.D. 104. The Franks under Clovis and His Successors 105. The Franks under Charles Martel and Pepin the Short 106. The Reign of Charlemagne, 768-814 A.D. 107. Charlemagne and the Revival of the Roman Empire, 800 A.D. 108. Disruption of Charlemagne's Empire, 814-870 A.D. 109. Germany under Saxon Kings, 919-973 A.D. 110. Otto the Great and the Restoration of the Roman Empire, 962 A.D. 111. The Anglo-Saxons in Britain, 449-839 A.D. 112. Christianity in the British Isles 113. The Fusion of Germans and Romans
XIV. EASTERN EUROPE DURING THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES, 395-1095 A.D.
114. The Roman Empire in the East 115. The Reign of Justinian, 527-565 A.D. 116. The Empire and its Asiatic Foes 117. The Empire and its Foes in Europe 118. Byzantine Civilization 119. Constantinople
XV. THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN THE EAST AND IN THE WEST TO 1054 A.D.
120. Development of the Christian Church 121. Eastern Christianity 122. Western Christianity: Rise of the Papacy 123. Growth of the Papacy 124. Monasticism 125. Life and Work of the Monks 126. Spread of Christianity over Europe 127. Separation of Eastern and Western Christianity 128. The Greek Church 129. The Roman Church
XVI. THE ORIENT AGAINST THE OCCIDENT: RISE AND SPREAD OF ISLAM, 622-1058 A.D.
130. Arabia and the Arabs 131. Mohammed: Prophet and Statesman, 622-632 A.D. 132. Islam and the Koran 133. Expansion of Islam in Asia and Egypt 134. Expansion of Islam in North Africa and Spain 135. The Caliphate and its Disruption, 632-1058 A.D. 136. Arabian Civilization 137. The Influence of Islam
XVII. THE NORTHMEN AND THE NORMANS TO 1066 A.D.
138. Scandinavia and the Northmen 139. The Viking Age 140. Scandinavian Heathenism 141. The Northmen in the West 142. The Northmen in the East 143. Normandy and the Normans 144. Conquest of England by the Danes; Alfred the Great 145. Norman Conquest of England; William the Conqueror 146. Results of the Norman Conquest 147. Norman Conquest of Southern Italy and Sicily 148. The Normans in European History
XVIII. FEUDALISM
149. Rise of Feudalism
150. Feudalism as a System of Local Government
151. Feudal Justice
152. Feudal Warfare
153. The Castle and Life of the Nobles
154. Knighthood and Chivalry
155. Feudalism as a System of Local Industry
156. The Village and Life of the Peasants
157. Serfdom
158. Decline of Feudalism
XIX THE PAPACY AND THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE, 962-1273 A.D.
159. Characteristics of the Medieval Church 160. Church Doctrine and Worship 161. Church Jurisdiction 162. The Secular Clergy 163. The Regular Clergy 164. The Friars 165. Power of the Papacy 166. Popes and Emperors, 962-1122 A.D. 167. Popes and Emperors, 1122-1273 A.D. 168. Significance of the Medieval Church
XX. THE OCCIDENT AGAINST THE ORIENT, THE CRUSADES, 1095-1291 A.D.
169. Causes of the Crusades 170. First Crusade, 1095-1099 A.D. 171. Crusaders' States in Syria 172. Second Crusade, 1147-1149 A.D., and Third Crusade, 1189-1192 A.D. 173. Fourth Crusade and the Latin Empire of Constantinople, 1202-1261 A.D. 174. Results of the Crusades
XXI THE MONGOLS AND THE OTTOMAN TURKS TO 1453 A.D.
175. The Mongols
176. Conquests of the Mongols, 1206-1405 A.D.
177. The Mongols in China and India
178. The Mongols in Eastern Europe
179. The Ottoman Turks and their Conquests, 1227-1453 A.D.
180. The Ottoman Turks in Southeastern Europe
XXII. EUROPEAN NATIONS DURING THE LATER MIDDLE AGES
181. Growth of the Nations
182. England under William the Conqueror, 1066-1087 A.D., the Norman
Kingship
183. England under Henry II, 1154-1189 A.D., Royal Justice and the
Common Law
184. The Great Charter, 1215 A.D.
185. Parliament during the Thirteenth Century
186. Expansion of England under Edward I, 1272-1307 A.D.
187. Unification of France, 987-1328 A.D.
188. The Hundred Years' War between England and France, 1337-1453 A.D.
189. The Unification of Spain (to 1492 A.D.)
190. Austria and the Swiss Confederation, 1273-1499 A.D.
191. Expansion of Germany
XXIII. EUROPEAN CITIES DURING THE LATER MIDDLE AGES
192. Growth of the Cities 193. City Life 194. Civic Industry—the Guilds 195. Trade and Commerce 196. Money and Banking 197. Italian Cities 198. German Cities, the Hanseatic League 199. The Cities of Flanders
XXIV. MEDIEVAL CIVILIZATION
200. Formation of National Languages 201. Development of National Literatures 202. Romanesque and Gothic Architecture, the Cathedrals 203. Education, the Universities 204. Scholasticism 205. Science and Magic 206. Popular Superstitions 207. Popular Amusements and Festivals 208. Manners and Customs
XXV. THE RENAISSANCE
209. Meaning of the Renaissance 210. Revival of Learning in Italy 211. Paper and Printing 212. Revival of Art in Italy 213. Revival of Learning and Art beyond Italy 214. The Renaissance in Literature 215. The Renaissance in Education 216. The Scientific Renaissance 217. The Economic Renaissance
XXVI. GEOGRAPHICAL DISCOVERY AND COLONIZATION
218. Medieval Geography
219. Aids to Exploration
220. To the Indies Eastward—Prince Henry and Da Gama
221. The Portuguese Colonial Empire
222. To the Indies Westward: Columbus and Magellan
223. The Indians
224. Spanish Explorations and Conquests in America
225. The Spanish Colonial Empire
226. French and English Explorations in America
227. The Old World and the New
XXVII. THE REFORMATION AND THE RELIGIOUS WARS, 1517-1648 A.D.
228. Decline of the Papacy 229. Heresies and Heretics 230. Martin Luther and the Beginning of the Reformation in Germany, 1517-1522 A.D. 231. Charles V and the Spread of the German Reformation, 1519-1556 A.D. 232. The Reformation in Switzerland: Zwingli and Calvin 233. The English Reformation, 1533-1558 A.D. 234. The Protestant Sects 235. The Catholic Counter Reformation 236. Spain under Philip II, 1556-1598 A.D. 237. Revolt of the Netherlands 238. England under Elizabeth, 1558-1603 A.D. 239. The Huguenot Wars in France 240. The Thirty Years' War, 1618-1648 A.D.
XXVIII. ABSOLUTISM IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND, 1603-1715 A.D.
241. The Divine Right of Kings 242. The Absolutism of Louis XIV, 1661-1715 A.D. 243. France under Louis XIV 244. The Wars of Louis XIV 245. The Absolutism of the Stuarts, 1603-1642 A.D. 246. Oliver Cromwell and the Civil War, 1642-1649 A.D. 247. The Commonwealth and the Protectorate, 1649-1660 A.D. 248. The Restoration and the "Glorious Revolution," 1660-1689 A.D. 249. England in the Seventeenth Century
APPENDIX—Table of Events and Dates
INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Disk of Phaestus.
A Papyrus Manuscript.
A Prehistoric Egyptian Grave.
A Hatchet of the Early Stone Age.
Arrowheads of the Later Stone Age.
Early Roman Bar Money.
Various Signs of Symbolic Picture Writing.
Mexican Rebus.
Chinese Picture Writing and Later Conventional Characters.
Cretan Writing.
Egyptian and Babylonian Writing.
The Moabite Stone (Louvre, Paris).
Head of a Girl (Musée S. Germain, Paris).
Sketch of Mammoth on a Tusk found in a Cave in France.
Bison painted on the Wall of a Cave.
Cave Bear drawn on a Pebble.
Wild Horse on the Wall of a Cave in Spain.
A Dolmen.
Carved Menhir.
Race Portraiture of the Egyptians.
The Great Wall of China.
Philae.
Top of Monument containing the Code of Hammurabi (British Museum,
London).
Khufu (Cheops), Builder of the Great Pyramid.
Menephtah, the supposed Pharaoh of the Exodus.
Head of Mummy of Rameses II (Museum of Gizeh).
The Great Pyramid.
The Great Sphinx.
A Phoenician War Galley.
An Assyrian.
An Assyrian Relief (British Museum, London).
The Ishtar Gate, Babylon.
The Tomb of Cyrus the Great.
Darius with his Attendants.
Rock Sepulchers of the Persian Kings.
A Royal Name in Hieroglyphics (Rosetta Stone).
An Egyptian Court Scene.
Plowing and Sowing in Ancient Egypt.
Transport of an Assyrian Colossus.
Egyptian weighing Cow Gold.
Babylonian Contract Tablet.
An Egyptian Scarab.
Amenhotep IV.
Mummy and Cover of Coffin (U.S. National Museum, Washington).
The Judgment of the Dead.
The Deluge Tablet (British Museum, London).
An Egyptian Temple (Restored).
An Egyptian Wooden Statue (Museum of Gizeh).
An Assyrian Palace (Restored).
An Assyrian Winged Human headed Bull.
An Assyrian Hunting Scene (British Museum, London).
A Babylonian Map of the World.
An Egyptian Scribe (Louvre, Paris).
Excavations at Nippur.
Excavations at Troy.
Lions' Gate, Mycenae.
Silver Fragment from Mycenae (National Museum, Athens).
A Cretan Girl (Museum of Candia, Crete).
Aegean Snake Goddess (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston).
A Cretan Cupbearer (Museum of Candia, Crete).
The François Vase (Archaeological Museum, Florence).
Consulting the Oracle at Delphi.
The Discus Thrower (Lancelotti Palace, Rome).
Athlete using the Strigil (Vatican Gallery, Rome).
"Temple of Neptune," Paestum.
Croesus on the Pyre.
Persian Archers (Louvre, Paris).
Gravestone of Aristion (National Museum, Athens).
Greek Soldiers in Arms.
The Mound at Marathon.
A Themistocles Ostrakon (British Museum, London).
An Athenian Trireme (Reconstruction).
"Theseum".
Pericles (British Museum, London).
An Athenian Inscription.
The "Mourning Athena" (Acropolis Museum, Athens).
A Silver Coin of Syracuse.
Philip II.
Demosthenes (Vatican Museum, Rome).
Alexander (Glyptothek, Munich).
The Alexander Mosaic (Naples Museum).
A Greek Cameo (Museum, Vienna).
The Dying Gaul (Capitoline Museum, Rome).
A Graeco-Etruscan Chariot (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York).
An Etruscan Arch.
Characters of the Etruscan Alphabet.
An Early Roman Coin.
A Roman Farmer's Calendar.
Cinerary Urns in Terra Cotta (Vatican Museum, Rome).
A Vestal Virgin.
Suovetaurilia (Louvre, Paris).
An Etruscan Augur.
Coop with Sacred Chickens.
Curule Chair and Fasces.
The Appian Way.
A Roman Legionary.
A Roman Standard Bearer (Bonn Museum).
Column of Duilius (Restored).
A Carthaginian or Roman Helmet (British Museum, London).
A Testudo.
Storming a City (Reconstruction).
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Spada Palace, Rome).
Marcus Tullius Cicero (Vatican Museum, Rome).
Gaius Julius Caesar (British Museum, London).
A Roman Coin with the Head of Julius Caesar.
Augustus (Vatican Museum, Rome).
Monumentum Ancyranum.
Pompeii.
Nerva (Vatican Museum, Rome).
Column of Trajan.
The Pantheon.
The Tomb of Hadrian.
Marcus Aurelius in his Triumphal Car (Palace of the Conservatori, Rome).
Wall of Hadrian in Britain.
Roman Baths, at Bath, England.
A Roman Freight Ship.
A Roman Villa.
A Roman Temple.
The Amphitheater at Arles.
A Megalith at Baalbec
The Wall of Rome
A Mithraic Monument
Modern Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives
Madonna and Child
Christ the Good Shepherd (Imperial Museum, Constantinople)
Interior of the Catacombs
The Labarum
Arch of Constantine
Runic Alphabet
A Page of the Gothic Gospels (Reduced)
An Athenian School (Royal Museum, Berlin)
A Roman School Scene
Youth reading a Papyrus Roll
House of the Vettii at Pompeii (Restored)
Atrium of a Pompeian House
Pompeian Floor Mosaic
Peristyle of a Pompeian House
A Greek Banquet
A Roman Litter
Theater of Dionysus, Athens
A Dancing Girl
The Circus Maximus (Restoration)
Gladiators
A Slave's Collar
Sophocles (Lateran Museum, Rome)
Socrates (Vatican Museum, Rome)
Corner of a Doric Façade
Corner of an Ionic Façade
Corinthian Capital
Composite Capital
Tuscan Capital
Interior View of the Ulpian Basilica (Restoration)
A Roman Aqueduct
The Colosseum (Exterior)
The Colosseum (Interior)
A Roman Cameo
Tomb of Theodoric at Ravenna
Charlemagne (Lateran Museum Rome)
The Iron Crown of Lombardy
Cathedral at Aix la Chapelle
Ring Seal of Otto the Great
Anglo Saxon Drinking Horn
St. Martin's Church, Canterbury
Canterbury Cathedral
A Mosaic of Justinian
The Three Existing Monuments of the Hippodrome, Constantinople
Religious Music
The Nestorian Monument
Papal Arms
St. Daniel the Stylite on his Column
Abbey of Saint Germain des Prés, Paris
A Monk Copyist
Mecca
A Letter of Mohammed
A Passage from the Koran
Naval Battle showing Use of "Greek Fire"
Interior of the Mosque of Cordova
Capitals and Arabesques from the Alhambra
Swedish Rock Carving
A Runic Stone
A Viking Ship
Norse Metal Work (Museum, Copenhagen)
Alfred the Great
Alfred's Jewel (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford)
A Scene from the Bayeux Tapestry (Museum of Bayeux, Normandy)
Trial by Combat
Mounted Knight
Pierrefonds
Château Gaillard (Restored)
King and Jester
Falconry
Farm Work in the Fourteenth Century
Pilgrims to Canterbury
A Bishop ordaining a Priest
St. Francis blessing the Birds
The Spiritual and the Temporal Power
Henry IV, Countess Matilda, and Gregory VII
Contest between Crusaders and Moslems
"Mosque of Omar," Jerusalem
Effigy of a Knight Templar
Richard I in Prison
Hut-Wagon of the Mongols (Reconstruction)
Tomb of Timur at Samarkand
Mohammed II
The "White Tower"
A Passage from Domesday Book
Windsor Castle
Extract from the Great Charter
Coronation Chair, Westminster Abbey
A Queen Eleanor Cross
Royal Arms of Edward III
English Archer
Walls of Carcassonne
A Scene in Rothenburg
House of the Butchers' Guild, Hildesheim, Germany
Baptistery, Cathedral, and "Leaning Tower" of Pisa
Venice and the Grand Canal
Belfry of Bruges
Town Hall of Louvain, Belgium
Geoffrey Chaucer
Roland at Roncesvalles
Cross Section of Amiens Cathedral
Gargoyles on the Cathedral of Notre Dame, Paris
View of New College, Oxford
Tower of Magdalen College, Oxford
Roger Bacon
Magician rescued from the Devil
The Witches' Sabbath
Chess Pieces of Charlemagne
Bear Baiting
Mummers
A Miracle Play at Coventry, England
Manor House in Shropshire, England
Interior of an English Manor House
Costumes of Ladies during the Later Middle Ages
Dante Alighieri
Petrarch
An Early Printing Press
Facsimile of Part of Caxton's "Aeneid" (Reduced)
Desiderius Erasmus (Louvre, Paris)
Cervantes
William Shakespeare
Shakespeare's Birthplace, Stratford-on-Avon
Richard II
Geographical Monsters
An Astrolabe
Vasco da Gama
Christopher Columbus (Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid)
Isabella
Ship of 1492 A.D.
The Name "America"
Ferdinand Magellan
Aztec Sacrificial Knife
Aztec Sacrificial Stone
Cabot Memorial Tower
John Wycliffe
Martin Luther
Charles V
John Calvin
Henry VIII
Ruins of Melrose Abbey
Chained Bible
St. Ignatius Loyola
Philip II
The Escorial
William the Silent
Elizabeth
Crown of Elizabeth's Reign
London Bridge in the Time of Elizabeth
The Spanish Armada in the English Channel
Cardinal Richelieu (Louvre, Paris.)
Gustavus Adolphus
Cardinal Mazarin
Louis XIV
Versailles
Medal of Louis XIV
Marlborough
Gold Coin of James I
A Puritan Family
Charles I
Execution of the Earl of Strafford
Oliver Cromwell
Interior of Westminster Hall
Great Seal of England under the Commonwealth (Reduced)
Boys' Sports
Silver Crown of Charles II
A London Bellman
Coach and Sedan Chair
Death Mask of Sir Isaac Newton
LIST OF MAPS
Distribution of Semitic and Indo-European Peoples.
Physical Map of Asia.
Egyptian Empire (about 1450 B.C.)
Canaan as divided among the Tribes.
Solomon's Kingdom.
Assyrian Empire (about 660 B.C.)
Lydia, Media, Babylonia, and Egypt (about 550 B.C.)
Persian Empire at its Greatest Extent (about 500 B.C.)
Ancient Trade Routes
Phnician and Greek Colonies.
Physical Map of Europe.
Ancient Greece and the Aegean.
Aegean Civilization.
Greek Conquests and Migrations.
The World according to Homer, 900 B.C.
Greece at the Opening of the Persian Wars, 490 B.C.
Vicinity of Athens.
Greece at the Opening of the Peloponnesian War.
Route of the Ten Thousand.
Empire of Alexander the Great (about 323 B.C.)
Kingdoms of Alexander's Successors (about 200 B.C.)
The World according to Eratosthenes, 200 B.C.
The World according to Ptolemy, 150 A.D.
Ancient Italy and Sicily.
Vicinity of Rome.
Expansion of Roman Dominions in Italy, 509-264 B.C.
Colonies and Military Roads in Italy.
Expansion of Roman Dominions, 264-133 B.C.
Expansion of Roman Dominions, 133-31 B.C.
Expansion of Roman Dominions, 31 B.C.-180 A.D.
Plan of Jerusalem and its Environs.
Roman Britain.
Roman Empire (about 395 A.D.)
Palestine.
Growth of Christianity to the End of the Fourth Century.
Germanic Migrations to 476 A.D.
Europe at the Deposition of Romulus Augustulus, 476 A.D.
Plan of the Ulpian Basilica
Plan of Ancient Athens
Plan of the Parthenon
Plan of Ancient Rome
Europe at the Death of Theodoric, 526 A.D.
Europe at the Death of Justinian, 565 A.D.
Growth of the Frankish Dominions, 481-768 A.D.
Europe in the Age of Charlemagne, 800 A.D.
The Frankish Dominions as divided by the Treaties of Verdun
(843 A.D.) and Mersen (870 A.D.)
Europe in the Age of Otto the Great, 972 A.D.
Anglo-Saxon Britain
Peoples of Europe at the Beginning of the Tenth Century
The Roman Empire in the East during the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries
Vicinity of Constantinople
Plan of Constantinople
Plan of Kirkstall Abbey, Yorkshire
Growth of Christianity from the Fifth to the Fifteenth Century
Expansion of Islam
Discoveries of the Northmen in the West
England under Alfred the Great
Dominions of William the Conqueror
Plan of Château Gaillard
Plan of Hitchin Manor, Hertfordshire
Germany and Italy during the Interregnum, 1254-1273 A.D.
Mediterranean Lands after the Fourth Crusade, 1202-1204 A.D.
The Mongol Empire
Russia at the End of the Middle Ages
Empire of the Ottoman Turks at the Fall of Constantinople, 1453 A.D.
Dominions of the Plantagenets in England and France
Scotland in the Thirteenth Century
Unification of France during the Middle Ages
Unification of Spain during the Middle Ages
Growth of the Hapsburg Possessions
The Swiss Confederation, 1291-1513 A.D.
German Expansion Eastward during the Middle Ages
Trade Routes between Northern and Southern Europe in the
Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries
Medieval Trade Routes
Plan of Salisbury Cathedral, England
The World according to Cosmas Indicopleustes, 535 A.D.
The Hereford Map, 1280 A.D.
Behaim's Globe
Portuguese and Spanish Colonial Empires in the Sixteenth Century
The West Indies
An Early Map of the New World (1540 A.D.)
The Great Schism, 1378-1417 A.D.
Europe at the Beginning of the Reformation, 1519 A.D.
Extent of the Reformation, 1524-1572 A.D.
The Netherlands in the Sixteenth Century
Western Europe in the Time of Elizabeth
Europe at the End of the Thirty Years' War, 1648 A.D.
Acquisitions of Louis XIV and Louis XV
Europe after the Peace of Utrecht, 1713 A.D.
England and Wales—The Civil Wars of the Seventeenth Century
Ireland in the Sixteenth Century
LIST OF PLATES
Ancient and Medieval Gems
Stonehenge
The Rosetta Stone (British Museum, London)
The Vaphio Gold Cups (National Museum, Athens)
Greek Gods and Goddesses: Zeus, Hera, Apollo, Aphrodite
Aphrodite of Melos (Louvre, Paris)
Hermes and Dionysus (Museum of Olympia)
Sarcophagus from Sidon (Imperial Ottoman Museum, Constantinople)
Laocoön and his Children (Vatican Museum, Rome)
Victory of Samothrace (Louvre, Paris)
Oriental, Greek, and Roman Coins
A Scene in Sicily
Bay of Naples and Vesuvius
Relief on the Arch of Titus
The Parthenon
Views of Pediment and Frieze of Parthenon
Acropolis of Athens (Restoration)
Acropolis of Athens from the Southwest
Roman Forum and Surrounding Buildings (Restored)
Roman Forum at the Present Time
Sancta Sophia, Constantinople
Fountain of Lions in the Alhambra
The Taj Mahal, Agra
Campanile and Doge's Palace, Venice
Illuminated Manuscript
Reims Cathedral
Cologne Cathedral
Interior of King's College Chapel, Cambridge
Ghiberti's Bronze Doors at Florence
St. Peter's, Rome
Italian Paintings of the Renaissance
Flemish, Spanish, and Dutch Paintings of the Renaissance
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY
PERIODICALS
All serious students of history should have access to the American Historical Review (N. Y., 1895 to date, quarterly, $4.00 a year). This journal, the organ of the American Historical Association, contains articles by scholars, critical reviews of all important works, and notes and news. The History Teacher's Magazine is edited under the supervision of a committee of the American Historical Association (Philadelphia, 1909 to date, monthly, $2.00 a year). Every well-equipped school library should contain the files of the National Geographic Magazine (Washington, 1890 to date, monthly, $2.00 a year) and of Art and Archeology (Washington, 1914 to date, monthly, $3.00 a year). These two periodicals make a special feature of illustrations.
WORKS ON THE STUDY AND TEACHING OF HISTORY
Useful books for the teacher's library include H. E. Bourne, The Teaching of History and Civics in the Elementary and the Secondary School (N. Y., 1902, Longmans, Green, and Co., $1.50), Henry Johnson, The Teaching of History (N. Y., 1915, Macmillan, $1.40), H. B. George, Historical Evidence (N.Y., 1909, Oxford University Press, American Branch, 75 cents), Frederic Harrison, The Meaning of History and Other Historical Pieces (New ed., N.Y., 1900, Macmillan, $1.75), J. H. Robinson, The New History (N. Y., 1912, Macmillan, $1.50), and H. B. George, The Relations of History and Geography (4th ed., N. Y., 1910, Oxford University Press, American Branch, $1.10). The following reports are indispensable:
The Study of History in Schools. Report to the American Historical Association by the Committee of Seven (N. Y., 1899, Macmillan, 50 cents).
The Study of History in Secondary Schools. Report to the American Historical Association by a Committee of Five (N. Y., 1911, Macmillan, 25 cents).
Historical Sources in Schools. Report to the New England History Teachers' Association by a Select Committee (N. Y., 1902, Macmillan, out of print).
A History Syllabus for Secondary Schools. Report by a Special Committee of the New England History Teachers' Association (N. Y., 1904, Heath, $1.32).
A Bibliography of History for Schools and Libraries. Published under the auspices of the Association of History Teachers of the Middle States and Maryland (2d ed., N. Y., 1915, Longmans, Green, and Co., 60 cents).
DICTIONARIES AND ENCYCLOPEDIAS
The most useful dictionaries of classical antiquities are H. B. Walters, A Classical Dictionary (N. Y., 1916, Putnam, $6.50) and H. T. Peck, Harper's Dictionary of Classical Literature and Antiquities (N. Y., 1897, American Book Co., $6.00). Cambridge University, England, has published A Companion to Greek Studies, edited by L. Whibley (2d ed., N. Y., 1906, Putnam, $6.00), and A Companion to Latin Studies, edited by J. E. Sandys (N. Y., 1911, Putnam, $6.00). These two volumes treat every phase of ancient life in separate essays by distinguished scholars. For chronology, genealogies, lists of sovereigns, and other data the most valuable works are Arthur Hassall, European History, 476-1910 (new ed., N. Y., 1910, Macmillan, $2.25), G. P. Putnam, Tabular Views of Universal History (new ed., N. Y., 1915, Putnam, $2.50), and Karl J. Ploetz, A Handbook of Universal History, translated by W. H. Tillinghast (Boston, 1915, Houghton Mifflin Co., $3.00).
SYLLABI
The Illustrated Topics for Ancient History, arranged by D. C. Knowlton (Philadelphia, McKinley Publishing Co., 65 cents), contain much valuable material in the shape of a syllabus, source quotations, outline maps, pictures, and other aids. The following syllabi have been prepared for collegiate instruction:
Botsford, G. W. A Syllabus of Roman History (N. Y., 1915, Macmillan, 50 cents).
Munro, D. C., and SELLERY, G. C. A Syllabus of Medieval History, 395- 1500 (N. Y., 1913, Longmans, Green, and Co., $1.00).
Richardson, O. H. Syllabus of Continental European History from the Fall of Rome to 1870 (Boston, 1904, Ginn, boards, 75 cents).
Stephenson, Andrew. Syllabus of Lectures on European History (Terre
Haute, Ind., 1897, Inland Publishing Co., $1.50).
Thompson, J. W. Reference Studies in Medieval History (2d ed., Chicago, 1914, University of Chicago Press, $1.25). A rich collection of classified references.
ATLASES
An admirable collection of maps for school use is W. R. Shepherd, Historical Atlas (N. Y., 1911, Holt, $2.50), with about two hundred and fifty maps covering the historical field. The latest and one of the best of the classical atlases is Murray's Small Classical Atlas, edited by G. B. Grundy (N. Y., 1904, Oxford University Press, American Branch, $1.35). A special feature of this work is the adoption of the system of colored contours to indicate configuration. The Atlas of Ancient and Classical Geography in "Everyman's Library" (N. Y., 1910, Dutton, 35 cents) might well be purchased by every student. Other valuable works are E. W. Dow, Atlas of European History (N. Y., 1907, Holt, $1.50) and Ramsay Muir, A New School Atlas of Modern History (N. Y., 1911, Holt, $1.25). Much use can be made of the inexpensive and handy Literary and Historical Atlas of Europe by J. G. Bartholomew in "Everyman's Library" (N. Y., 1910, Dutton, 35 cents).
WALL MAPS AND CHARTS
Kiepert's New Wall Maps of Ancient History (Chicago, Rand, McNally, and Co.) and Johnston's Classical Series (Chicago, A. J. Nystrom and Co.) may be obtained singly, mounted on common rollers, or by sets in a case with spring rollers. The text is in Latin. The Spruner-Bretschneider Historical Maps are ten in number, size 62 x 52 inches, and cover the period from A.D. 350 to 1815. The text is in German (Chicago, Nystrom, each $6.00; Rand, McNally, and Co., each $6.50). Johnston's Maps of English and European History are sixteen in number, size 40 x 30 inches, and include four maps of ancient history (Chicago, Nystrom, each $2.50). A new series of European History Maps, thirty-nine in number, size 44 x 32 inches, has been prepared for the study of ancient history by Professors J. H. Breasted and C. F. Huth, and for medieval and modern history by Professor S. B. Harding (Chicago, Denoyer-Geppert Co., complete set with tripod stand, $52.00; in two spring roller cases, $73.00). These maps may also be had separately. The maps in this admirable series omit all irrelevant detail, present place names in the modern English form, and in choice of subject matter emphasize the American viewpoint. The school should also possess good physical wall maps such as the Sydow-Habenicht or the Kiepert series, both to be obtained from Rand, McNally, and Co. The text is in German. Phillips's Model Test Maps and Johnston's New Series of Physical Wall Maps are obtainable from A. J. Nystrom and Co. The only large charts available are those prepared by MacCoun for his Historical Geography Charts of Europe. The two sections, "Ancient and Classical" and "Medieval and Modern," are sold separately (N. Y., Silver, Burdett, and Co., $15.00). A helpful series of Blackboard Outline Maps is issued by J. L. Engle, Beaver, Penn. These are wall maps, printed with paint on blackboard cloth, for use with an ordinary crayon. Such maps are also sold by the Denoyer-Geppert Co., Chicago.
OUTLINE MAPS
The "Studies" following each chapter of this book include various exercises for which small outline maps are required. Such maps are sold by D. C. Heath and Co., Boston, New York, Chicago. Useful atlases of outline maps are also to be had of the McKinley Publishing Co., Philadelphia, Atkinson, Mentzer and Grover, Chicago, W. B. Harison, New York City, and of other publishers.
ILLUSTRATIONS
The best photographs of ancient works of art must usually be obtained from the foreign publishers in Naples, Florence, Rome, Munich, Paris, Athens, and London, or from their American agents. Such photographs, in the usual size, 8 x 10 inches, sell, unmounted, at from 6 to 8 francs a dozen. All dealers in lantern slides issue descriptive catalogues of a great variety of archaeological subjects. In addition to photographs and lantern slides, a collection of stereoscopic views is very helpful in giving vividness and interest to instruction in ancient history. An admirable series of photographs for the stereoscope, including Egypt, Palestine, Greece, and Italy, is issued by Underwood and Underwood, New York City. The same firm supplies convenient maps and handbooks for use in this connection. The Keystone stereographs, prepared by the Keystone View Company, Meadville, Penn., may also be cordially recommended. The architecture, costumes, amusements, and occupations of the Middle Ages in England are shown in Longmans' Historical Illustrations (six portfolios, each containing twelve plates in black-and-white, Longmans, Green, and Co., 90 cents, each portfolio). The same firm issues Longmans' Historical Wall Pictures, consisting of twelve colored pictures from original paintings illustrating English history (each picture, separately, 80 cents; in a portfolio, $10.50). Other notable collections are Lehmann's Geographical Pictures, Historical Pictures, and Types of Nations, and Cybulski's Historical Pictures (Chicago, Denoyer-Geppert Co.; each picture separately mounted on rollers, $1.35 to $2.25). The New England History Teachers' Association publishes a series of Authentic Pictures for Class Room Use, size 5 x 8 inches, price 3 cents each. The Catalogue of the Collection of Historical Material at Simmons College, prepared by the New England History Teachers' Association (2d ed., Boston, 1912, Houghton Mifflin Co., 25 cents), contains an extensive list of pictures, slides, models, and other aids to history teaching. Among the more useful collections in book form of photographic reproductions and drawings are the following:
Fechneimer, Hedwig. Die Plastik der Ägypter (2d. ed., Berlin, 1914, B.
Cassirer, 12 marks). 156 plates of Egyptian sculpture.
Fougčres, Gustvae. La vie publique et privée des Grecs et des Romains (2d ed., Paris, 1900, Hachette, 15 francs). An album of 85 pictures.
Furtwängler, Adolf. Masterpieces of Greek Sculpture (N. Y., Scribner, $15.00).
Hekler, Anton. Greek and Roman Portraits (N. Y., 1913, Putnam, $7.50). 311 plates, with comment and bibliography.
Hill, G. F. Illustrations of School Classics (N. Y., 1903, Macmillan, $2.50).
Muzik, H., and Perschinka, F. Kunst und Leben im Altertum (Vienna, 1909,
F. Tempsky; Leipzig, G. Freytag, 4.40 marks).
Osborne, Duffield. Engraved Gems (N. Y., 1913, Holt, $6.00).
Parmentier, A. Album historique (Paris, 1894-1905, Colin, 4 vols., each 15 francs). Illustrations covering the medieval and modern periods, with descriptive text in French.
Rheinhard, Hermann. Album des klassischen Altertums (Stuttgart, 1882,
Hoffman, 18 marks). 72 pictures in colors.
Rouse, W. H. D. Atlas of Classical Portraits. Greek Section, Roman Section (London, 1898, Dent, 2 vols., each 1_s_. 6_d_.). Small, half-tone engravings, accompanied by brief biographies.
Schreiber, Theodor. Atlas of Classical Antiquities (N. Y., 1895,
Macmillan, $6.50).
WORKS OF TRAVEL
To vitalize the study of geography and history there is nothing better than the reading of modern books of travel. Among these may be mentioned:
Allinson, F. G. and Allinson, Anne C. E. Greek Lands and Letters (Boston, 1909, Houghton Mifflin Co., $2.50). An entertaining work of mingled history and geography.
Barrows, S. J. The Isles and Shrines of Greece (Boston, 1898, Little,
Brown, and Co., $2.00).
Clark, F. E. The Holy Land of Asia Minor (N. Y., 1914, Scribner, $1.00).
Popular sketches.
Dunning, H. W. To-day on the Nile (N. Y., 1905, Pott, $2.50).
——— To-day in Palestine (N. Y., 1907, Pott, $2.50).
Dwight, H. G. Constantinople, Old and New (N. Y., 1915, Scribner, $5.00).
Edwards, Amelia B. A Thousand Miles up the Nile (2d ed., N. Y., 1888,
Dutton, $2.50).
Forman, H. J. The Ideal Italian Tour (Boston, 1911, Houghton Mifflin
Co., $1.50). A brief and attractive volume covering all Italy.
Hay, John. Castilian Days (Boston, 1871, Houghton Mifflin Co., $1.25).
Hutton, Edward, Rome (N. Y., 1909, Macmillan, $2.00).
Jackson, A. V. W. Persia, Past and Present (N. Y., 1906, Macmillan, $4.00).
Lucas, E. V. A Wanderer in Florence (N. Y., 1912, Macmillan, $1.75).
Manatt, J. I. Aegean Days (Boston, 1913, Houghton Mifflin Co., $3.00).
Describes the most important islands of the Aegean.
Marden, P. S. Greece and the Aegean Islands (Boston, 1907, Houghton
Mifflin Co., $3.00).
Paton, W. A. Picturesque Sicily (2d ed., N. Y., 1902, Harper, $2.50).
Richardson, R. B. Vacation Days in Greece (N. Y., 1903, Scribner, $2.00).
Warner, C. D. In the Levant (N. Y., 1876, Harper, $2.00).
HISTORICAL FICTION
The following works of historical fiction comprise only a selection from a very large number of books suitable for supplementary reading. For extended bibliographies see E. A. Baker, A Guide to Historical Fiction (new ed., N. Y., 1914, Macmillan, $6.00) and Jonathan Nield, A Guide to the Best Historical Novels and Tales (3d ed., N. Y., 1904, Putnam, $1.75). An excellent list of historical stories, especially designed for children, will be found in the Bibliography of History for Schools and Libraries, parts viii-ix.
Bulwer-Lytton, Edward. The Last Days of Pompeii (Boston, 1834, Little,
Brown, and Co., $1.25).
Champney, Elizabeth W. The Romance of Imperial Rome (N. Y., 1910,
Putnam, $3.50).
Church, A. J. Roman Life in the Days of Cicero (N. Y., 1883, Macmillan, 50 cents).
——— Stories of Charlemagne and the Twelve Peers of France (N. Y., 1902, Macmillan, $1.75).
Cox, G. W. Tales of Ancient Greece (Chicago, 1868, McClurg, $1.00).
Dahn, Felix, Felicitas (Chicago, 1883, McClurg, 75 cents). Rome, 476
A.D.
Doyle, A. C. The White Company (Boston, 1890, Caldwell, 75 cents). The
English in France and Castile, 1366-1367 A.D.
Ebers, Georg, Uarda (N. Y., 1877, Appleton, 2 vols., $1.50). Egypt, fourteenth century B.C.
Eliot, George. Romola (N. Y., 1863, Dutton, 35 cents). Florence and
Savonarola in the latter part of the fifteenth century.
Fénelon, François. Adventures of Telemachus, translated by Dr.
Hawkesworth (Boston, Houghton Mifflin Co., $2.25).
Hale, E. E. In His Name (Boston, 1873, Little, Brown, and Co., $1.00).
The Waldenses about 1179 A.D.
Hardy, A. S. Passe Rose (Boston, 1889, Houghton Mifflin Co., $1.25).
Franks and Saxons of Charlemagne's time.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter (N. Y., 1850, Dutton, 35 cents). Massachusetts in the seventeenth century.
Henty, G. A. The Young Carthaginian (N. Y., 1886, Scribner, $1.50).
Second Punic War.
Hugo, Victor. Notre Dame (N. Y. 1831, Dutton, 35 cents). Paris, late fifteenth century.
Irving, Washington. The Alhambra (N. Y., 1832, Putnam, $1.00). Sketches of the Moors and Spaniards.
Jacobs, Joseph (editor). The Most Delectable History of Reynard the Fox
(N. Y., 1895, Macmillan, $1.50).
Kingsley, Charles S. Hypatia (N. Y., 1853, Macmillan, $1.25).
Alexandria, 391 A.D.
——— Westward Ho! (N. Y., 1855, Button, 35 Cents). Voyages of Elizabethan seamen and the struggle with Spain.
Kipling, Rudyard. Puck of Pooks Hill (N. Y., 1906, Doubleday, Page, and
Co., $1.50). Roman occupation of Britain.
Lang, Andrew. The Monk of Fife (N. Y., 1895, Longmans, Green, and Co., $1.25). The Maid of Orleans and the Hundred Years' War.
Lane, E. W. (translator). The Arabian Nights' Entertainments (2d ed., N.
Y., 1859, Macmillan, 35 cents).
London, Jack. Before Adam (N. Y., 1907, Macmillan, $1.50). Prehistoric life.
Manzoni, Alessandro. The Betrothed (N. Y., 1825, Macmillan, 2 vols., 70 cents). Milan under Spanish rule, 1628-1630 A.D.
Mason, Eugene (translator). Aucassin and Nicolette and other Medieval
Romances, and Legends (N. Y., 1910, Dutton, 35 cents).
Newman, J. H. Callista (N. Y., 1856, Longmans, Green, and Co., $1.25).
Persecution of Christians in North Africa, 250 A.D.
Reade, Charles. The Cloister and the Hearth (N. Y., 1861, Dutton, 35 cents). Eve of the Reformation.
Scheffel, J. Von. Ekkehard, translated by Helena Easson (N. Y., 1857,
Dutton, 35 cents). Germany in the tenth century.
Scott, (Sir) Walter. The Talisman (N. Y., 1825, Dutton, 35 cents). Reign of Richard I, 1193 A.D.
——— Ivanhoe (N. Y., Heath, 50 cents). Richard I, 1194 A.D.
Sienkiewicz, Henryk. Quo Vadis? (Boston, 1896, Little, Brown, and Co., $2.00). Reign of Nero.
Stevenson, R. L. The Black Arrow (N. Y., 1888, Scribner, $1.00). War of the Roses.
"Twain, Mark." A Connecticut Yankee at the Court of King Arthur (N. Y., 1889, Harper, $1.75).
Wallace, Lew. Ben-Hur; a Tale of the Christ (N. Y., 1880, Harper, $1.50).
Waterloo, Stanley. The Story of Ab (2d ed., N. Y., 1905, Doubleday,
Page, and Co., $1.50). Prehistoric life.
HISTORICAL POETRY
It is unnecessary to emphasize the value, as collateral reading, of historical poems and plays. To the brief list which follows should be added the material in Katharine Lee Bates and Katharine Coman, English History told by English Poets (N. Y., 1902, Macmillan, 60 cents).
Browning, Robert. Echetlos and Pheidippides.
Burns, Robert. The Battle of Bannockburn.
Byron (Lord). Song of Saul before His Last Battle, The Destruction of Sennacherib, Belshazzar's Feast, Prometheus, "Greece" (The Corsair, canto iii, lines 1-54), "Modern Greece" (Childe Harold, canto ii, stanzas 85-91), "The Death of Greece" (The Giaour, lines 68-141), "The Isles of Greece" (Don Juan, canto in), and "The Colosseum" (Childe Harold, canto iv, stanzas 140-145).
Clough, A. H. Columbus.
Coleridge, S. T. Kubla Khan.
Domett, Alfred. A Christmas Hymn
Drayton, Michael. The Battle of Agincourt.
Dryden, John. Alexander's Feast.
Jonson, Ben. Hymn to Diana.
Keats, John. Ode on a Grecian Urn.
Kingsley, Charles. Andromeda and The Red King.
Landor, W. S. Orpheus and Eurydice.
Longfellow, H. W. "The Saga of King Olaf" (Tales of a Wayside Inn) and The Skeleton in Armor.
Lowell, J. R. Rhoecus and The Shepherd of King Admetus.
Macaulay, T. B. Lays of Ancient Rome ("Horatius," "Virginia," "The Battle of Lake Regillus," and "The Prophecy of Capys"), The Armada, and The Battle of Ivry.
Miller, Joaquin. Columbus.
Milton, John. Ode on the Morning of Christ's Nativity.
Praed, W. M. Arminius.
Rossetti, D. G. The White Ship.
Schiller, Friedrich. The Maid of Orleans, William Tell, Maria Stuart, and Wallenstein.
Scott, (Sir) Walter. "Flodden Field" (Marmion, canto vi, stanzas 19-27, 33-35).
Shakespeare, William. Coriolanus, Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra,
King John, Richard the Second, Henry the Fourth, parts i and ii, Henry
the Fifth, Henry the Sixth, parts i, ii, and iii, Richard the Third,
Henry the Eighth, and The Merchant of Venice.
Shelley, P. B. To the Nile, Ozymandias, Hymn of Apollo, Arethusa, and Song of Proserpine.
Tennyson, Alfred. Ulysses, Oenone, The Death of Oenone, Demeter and
Persephone, The Lotus-Eaters, Boadicea, St. Telemachus, St. Simeon
Stylites, Sir Galahad, and The Revenge: a Ballad of the Fleet.
Thackeray, W. M. King Canute.
Wordsworth, William. Laodamia.
SOURCES
Full information regarding the best translations of the sources of ancient, medieval, and modern history is to be found in one of the Reports previously cited—Historical Sources in Schools, parts ii-iv. The use of the following collections of extracts from the sources will go far toward remedying the lack of library facilities.
Botsford, G. W., and Botsford, Lillie S. Source Book of Ancient History
(N. Y., 1912, Macmillan, $1.30).
Davis, W. S. Readings in Ancient History (Boston, 1912, Allyn and Bacon, 2 vols., $2.00).
Duncalf, Frederic, and Krey, A. C. Parallel Source Problems in Medieval
History (N. Y., 1912, Harper, $1.10).
Fling, F. M. A Source Book of Greek History (N. Y., 1907, Heath, $1.12).
Munro, D. C. A Source Book of Roman History (N. Y., 1904, Heath, $1.12).
Ogg, F. A. A Source Book of Medieval History (N. Y., 1907, American Book
Co., $1.50).
Robinson, J. H. Readings in European History (Abridged ed., Boston, 1906, Ginn, $1.50).
Thallon, Ida C. Readings in Greek History (Boston, 1914, Ginn, $2.00).
Thatcher, O. J., and McNeal, E. H. A Source Book for Medieval History
(N. Y., 1905, Scribner, $1.85).
Webster, Hutton. Readings in Ancient History (N. Y., 1913, Heath, $1.12).
——— Readings in Medieval and Modern History (N. Y., 1917, Heath, $1.12).
Translations and Reprints from the Original Sources of European History (N. Y., 1894-1899, Longmans, Green, and Co., 6 vols., each $1.50).
MODERN WORKS
Most of the books in the following list are inexpensive, easily procured, and well adapted in style and choice of topics to the needs of immature pupils. A few more elaborate and costly volumes, especially valuable for their illustrations, are indicated by an asterisk (*). For detailed bibliographies, often accompanied by critical estimates, see C. K. Adams, A Manual of Historical Literature (3d ed., N. Y., 1889, Harper, $2.50), and the Bibliography of History for Schools and Libraries, parts iii-v.
GENERAL WORKS
Carlyle, Thomas. On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History (N.
Y., 1840, Dutton, 35 cents).
Creasy, E. S. The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World from Marathon to
Waterloo (N. Y., 1854, Dutton, 35 cents).
Gibbins, H. De B. The History of Commerce in Europe (26. ed., N. Y., 1897, Macmillan, 90 cents).
Herbertson, A. J., and Herbertson, F. D. Man and His Work (3d ed., N. Y., 1914, Macmillan, 60 cents). An introduction to the study of human geography.
Jacobs, Joseph. The Story of Geographical Discovery (N. Y., 1898,
Appleton, 35 cents).
Jenks, Edward. A History of Politics (N. Y., 1900, Dutton, 35 cents). A very illuminating essay.
Keane, John. The Evolution of Geography (London, 1899, Stanford, 6s.).
Helpfully illustrated.
Myres, J. L. The Dawn of History (N. Y., 1912, Holt, 50 cents).
Pattison, R. P. B. Leading Figures in European History (N. Y., 1912,
Macmillan, $1.60). Biographical sketches of European statesmen from
Charlemagne to Bismarck.
Reinach, Salomon. Apollo; an Illustrated Manual of the History of Art throughout the Ages, translated by Florence Simmonds (last ed., N. Y., 1914, Scribner, $1.50). The best brief work on the subject.
Seignobos, Charles. History of Ancient Civilization, edited by J. A.
James (N. Y., 1906, Scribner, $1.25).
——— History of Medieval and of Modern Civilization, edited by J. A. James (N. Y., 1907, Scribner, $1.25).
PREHISTORIC TIMES
Clodd, Edward. The Story of Primitive Man (N Y., 1895, Appleton, 35 cents). Generally accurate and always interesting.
——— The Childhood of the World (2d ed., N. Y., 1914, Macmillan, $1.25).
Elliott, G. F. S. Prehistoric Man and His Story (Philadelphia, 1915,
Lippincott, $2.00).
Holbrook, Florence. Cave, Mound, and Lake Dwellers (N. Y., 1911, Heath, 44 cents).
Mason, O. T, Woman's Share in Primitive Culture (N. Y., 1900, D. Appleton, $1.75). The only work on the subject; by a competent anthropologist.
* Osborn, H. F. Men of the Old Stone Age (N. Y., 1915 Scribners, $5.00).
An authoritative, interesting, and amply illustrated work.
* Spearing, H. G. The Childhood of Art (N. Y., 1913, Putnam, $6.00).
Deals with primitive and Greek art; richly illustrated.
Starr, Frederick. Some First Steps in Human Progress (Chautauqua, N. Y., 1895, Chautauqua Press, $1.00). A popular introduction to anthropology.
Tylor, (Sir) E. B. Anthropology (N. Y., 1881, Appleton, $2.00). Incorporates the results of the author's extensive studies and still remains the best introduction to the entire field.
ORIENTAL HISTORY
Baikie, James. The Story of the Pharaohs (N. Y., 1908, Macmillan, $2.00). A popular work; well illustrated.
* Ball, C. J. Light from the East (London, 1899, Eyre and Spottiswoode, 15s.). An account of Oriental archaeology, with special reference to the Old Testament.
Banks, E. G. The Bible and the Spade (N. Y., 1913, Association Press, $1.00). A popular presentation of Oriental archaeology.
* Breasted, J. H. A History of Egypt from the Earliest Times to the Persian Conquest (2d ed., N. Y., 1909, Scribner, $5.00). The standard work on Egyptian history.
Clay, A. T. Light on the East from Babel (4th ed., Philadelphia, 1915,
Sunday School Times Co., $2.00).
* Erman, Asolf. Life in Ancient Egypt (N. Y., 1894, Macmillan, $6.00).
* Handcock, P. S. P. Mesopotamian Archaeology (N. Y. 1912, Putnam, $3.50).
Hogarth, D. G. The Ancient East (N. Y., 1915, Holt, 50 cents). "Home
University Library."
* Jastrow, Morris, Jr. The Civilization of Babylonia and Assyria (Philadelphia, 1915, Lippincott, $6.00). A finely illustrated work by a great scholar.
Macalister, R. A. S. A History of Civilization in Palestine (N. Y., 1912, Putnam, 35 cents). "Cambridge Manuals."
Maspero, (Sir) Gaston. Life in Ancient Egypt and Assyria (N.Y., 1892,
Appleton, $1.50). Fascinating and authoritative.
Ragozin, Zénaďde A. Earliest Peoples (N. Y., 1899, Harison, 60 cents). A well-written, fully-illustrated account of prehistoric man and the beginnings of history in Babylonia.
——— Early Egypt (N. Y., 1900, Harison, 60 cents).
GREEK AND ROMAN HISTORY
Abbott, Evelyn. Pericles and the Golden Age of Athens (N. Y., 1891,
Putnam, $1.50). "Heroes of the Nations."
Baikie, James. The Sea-Kings of Crete (2d ed., N. Y., 1912, Macmillan, $1.75). A clear and vivid summary of Cretan archaeology.
Blümner, Hugo. The Home Life of the Ancient Greeks, translated by Alice
Zimmern (3d ed., N. Y., 1910, Funk and Wagnalls Co., $2.00).
Bulley, Margaret H. Ancient and Medieval Art (N. Y., 1914, Macmillan, $1.75). An elementary treatment, particularly designed for schools.
Church, A. J., and Gilman, Arthur. The Story of Carthage (N. Y., 1886,
Putnam, $1.50). "Story of the Nations"
Davis, W. S. The Influence of Wealth in Imperial Rome (N. Y., 1910,
Macmillan, $2.00). An interesting treatment of an important theme.
——— A Day in Old Athens (Boston, 1914, Allyn and Bacon, $1.00).
——— An Outline History of the Roman Empire (N. Y., 1909, Macmillan, 65 cents). Covers the period 44 B.C.-378 A.D.
* Dennie, John. Rome of To-day and Yesterday; the Pagan City (5th ed.,
N. Y., 1909, Putnam, $3.50).
Fowler, W. W. Rome (N. Y., 1912, Holt, 50 cents).
——— The City-State of the Greeks and Romans (N. Y., 1893, Macmillan, $1.00). The only constitutional history of the classical peoples intelligible to elementary students.
——— Social Life at Rome in the Age of Cicero (N. Y., 1909, Macmillan, 50 cents). In every way admirable.
——— Julius Caesar and the Foundation of the Roman Imperial System (2d ed., N. Y., 1897, Putnam, $1.50). "Heroes of the Nations."
* Gardner, E. A. Ancient Athens (N. Y., 1902, Macmillan, $3.50).
Gayley, C. M. The Classic Myths in English Literature and in Art (2d ed., Boston, 1911, Ginn, $1.60). Of special importance for the illustrations.
Goodyear, W. H. Roman and Medieval Art (2d ed., N. Y., 1897, Macmillan, $1.00).
Grant, A. J. Greece in the Age of Pericles (N. Y., 1893, Scribner, $1.25).
Gulick, C. B. The Life of the Ancient Greeks (N. Y., 1902, Appleton, $1.40).
* Hall, H. R. Aegean Archeology (N. Y., 1915, Putnam, $3.75). A well- written and well-illustrated volume.
Hawes, C. H., and Hawes, HARRIET B. Crete, the Forerunner of Greece (N.
Y., 1909, Harper, 75 cents).
How, W. W. Hannibal and the Great War between Rome and Carthage (London, 1899, Seeley, 2_s_.).
Jones, H. S. The Roman Empire, B.C. 29-A.D. 476 (N. Y., 1908, Putnam, $1.50). "Story of the Nations."
* Lanciani, Rudolfo. The Ruins and Excavations of Ancient Rome (Boston, 1898, Houghton Mifflin Co., $4.00).
Mahaffy, J. P. Old Greek Life (N. Y., 1876, American Book Co., 35 cents).
——— What have the Greeks done for Modern Civilization? (N. Y., 1909, Putnam, $1.50).
Mahaffy, J. P., and Gilman, Arthur. The Story of Alexander's Empire (N. Y., 1887, Putnam, $1.50). The only concise narrative of the Hellenistic period.
* Mau, August. Pompeii: its Life and Art, translated by F. W. Kelsey (N.
Y., 1899, Macmillan, $2.50).
Morris, W. O'C. Hannibal and the Crisis of the Struggle between Carthage and Rome (N. Y., 1897, Putnam, $1.50). "Heroes of the Nations."
Oman, Charles. Seven Roman Statesmen of the Later Republic (N. Y., 1902, Longmans, Green, and Co., $1.60). A biographical presentation of Roman history.
Pellison, Maurice. Roman Life in Pliny's Time, translated by Maud
Wilkinson (Philadelphia, 1897, Jacobs, $1.00).
Pickard-Cambridge, A. W. Demosthenes and the Last Days of Greek Freedom
(N. Y., 1914, Putnam, $1.50). "Heroes of the Nations."
Powers, H. H. The Message of Greek Art (N. Y., 1913, Macmillan, 50 cents).
Preston, Harriet W., and Dodge, Louise. The Private Life of the Romans
(N. Y., 1893, Sanborn, $1.05).
Robinson, C. E. The Days of Alcibiades (N. Y., 1916, Longmans, Green, and Co., $1.50), A picture of Greek life and culture in the Age of Pericles.
* Seymour, T. D. Life in the Homeric Age (N. Y., 1907, Macmillan, $4.00).
* Stobart, J. C. The Glory that was Greece: a Survey of Hellenic Culture and Civilization (Philadelphia, 1911, Lippincott, $7.50).
——— The Grandeur that was Rome: a Survey of Roman Culture and Civilization (Philadelphia, 1912, Lippincott, $7.50).
Strachan-Davidson, J. S. Cicero and the Fall of the Roman Republic (N.
Y., 1894, Putnam, $1.50). "Heroes of the Nations."
Tarbell, F. B. A History of Greek Art (2d ed., N. Y., 1905, Macmillan, $1.00).
Tozer, H. F. Classical Geography (N. Y., 1883, American Book Co., 35 cents). A standard manual.
Tucker, T. G. Life in Ancient Athens (N. Y., 1906, Macmillan, $1.25).
The most attractive treatment of the subject.
——— Life in the Roman World of Nero and St. Paul (N. Y., 1910, Macmillan, $2.50).
* Walters, H. B. The Art of the Greeks (N. Y., 1900, Macmillan, $6.00).
* ——— The Art of the Romans (N. Y., 1911, Macmillan, $5.00).
* Weller, C. H. Athens and its Monuments (N. Y., 1913, Macmillan, $4.00).
Wheeler, B.I. Alexander the Great and the Merging of East and West into
Universal History (N. Y., 1900, Putnam, $1.50). "Heroes of the Nations."
Wilkins, A. S. Roman Antiquities (N. Y., 1884, American Book Co., 35 cents).
MEDIEVAL HISTORY
Adams, G. B. The Growth of the French Nation (N. Y., 1896, Macmillan, $1.25). The best short history of France.
Archer, T. A., and Kingsford, C. L. The Crusades (N. Y., 1894, Putnam, $1.50).
Baring-Gould, Sabine. Curious Myths of the Middle Ages (N. Y., 1869,
Longmans, Green, and Co., $1.25).
Bateson, Mary. Medieval England (N. Y., 1903, Putnam, $1.50). Deals with social and economic life. "Story of the Nations."
Cheyney, E. P. An Introduction to the Industrial and Social History of England (N. Y., 1901, Macmillan, $1.40). The best brief work on the subject.
Church, R. W. The Beginning of the Middle Ages (N. Y., 1877, Scribner, $1.00).
Cutts, E. L. Scenes and Characters of the Middle Ages (London, 1872, De
La More Press, 7s. 6d.). An almost indispensable book; illustrated.
Davis, H. W. C. Medieval Europe (N. Y., 1911, Holt, 50 cents).
——— Charlemagne, the Hero of Two Nations (N. Y., 1899, Putnam, $1.50). "Heroes of the Nations."
Emerton, Ephraim. An Introduction to the Study of the Middle Ages (Boston, 1888, Ginn, $1.10). The most satisfactory short account, and of special value to beginners.
Foord, Edward. The Byzantine Empire (N. Y., 1911, Macmillan, $2.00). The most convenient short treatment; lavishly illustrated.
* Gibbon, Edward. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire, edited by J. B. Bury (N. Y., 1914, Macmillan, 7 vols., $25.00).
The best edition, illustrated and provided with maps, of this standard
work.
* Green, J. R. Short History of the English People, edited by Mrs. J. R. Green and Miss Kate Norgate (N. Y., 1893-1895, Harper, 4 vols., $20.00). A beautifully illustrated edition of this standard work.
Guerber, H. A. Legends of the Middle Ages (N. Y., 1896, American Book
Co., $1.50).
Haskins, C. H. The Normans in European History (Boston, 1915, Houghton
Mifflin Co., $2.00).
Hodgkin, Thomas. The Dynasty of Theodosius (N. Y., 1899, Oxford University Press, American Branch, $1.50). Popular lectures summarizing the author's extensive studies.
Jessopp, Augustus. The Coming of the Friars, and Other Historic Essays
(N. Y., 1888, Putnam, $1.25). A book of great interest.
* Lacroix, Paul. Science and Literature in the Middle Ages and at the
Period of the Renaissance (London, 1880, Bickers and Son, out of print).
Lawrence, W. W. Medieval Story (N. Y., 1911, Columbia University Press, $i.50). Discusses the great literary productions of the Middle Ages.
Mawer, Allen. The Vikings (N. Y, 1913, Putnam, 35 cents).
Munro, D. C., and Sellery, G. C Medieval Civilization (2d ed., N. Y., 1907, Century Co., $2.00). Translated selections from standard works by French and German scholars.
Rait, R. S. Life in the Medieval University (N. Y., 1912, Putnam, 35 cents). "Cambridge Manuals."
Synge, M. B. A Short History of Social Life in England (N. Y., 1906,
Barnes, $1.50).
Tappan, Eva M. When Knights were Bold (Boston, 1912, Houghton Mifflin Co., $2.00). An economic and social study of the Feudal Age; charmingly written.
Tickner, F. W. A Social and Industrial History of England (N. Y., 1915, Longmans, Green, and Co., $1.00). Very simply written and well illustrated.
* Wright, Thomas. The Homes of Other Days (London, 1871, Trübner, out of print). Valuable for both text and illustrations.
TRANSITION TO MODERN TIMES
Cheyney, E. P. European Background of American History, 1300-1600 (N.
Y., 1904, Harper, $2.00).
Creighton, Mandell. The Age of Elizabeth (13th ed., N. Y., 1897,
Scribner, $ 1.00). "Epochs of Modern History."
Fiske, John. The Discovery and Colonization of North America (Boston, 1905, Ginn, 90 cents).
Gardiner, S. R. The Thirty Years' War (N. Y., 1874, Scribner, $1.00).
Goodyear, W. H. Renaissance and Modern Art (N. Y., 1894, Macmillan, $1.00).
Hudson, W. H. The Story of the Renaissance (N. Y., 1912, Cassell, $1.50). A well-written volume.
Hulme, E. M. The Renaissance, the Protestant Revolution, and the Catholic Reformation in Continental Europe (rev. ed., N. Y., 1915, Century Co., $2.50). The best work on the subject by an American scholar.
* Joyce, T. A. Mexican Archaeology (N. Y., 1914, Putnam, $4.00).
——— South American Archaeology (N. Y., 1912, Putnam, $3.50).
Kerr, P. H., and Kerr, A. C. The Growth of the British Empire (N. Y., 1911, Longmans, Green, and Co., 50 cents).
Oldham, J. B. The Renaissance (N. Y., 1912, Dutton, 35 cents).
Seebohm, Frederic. The Era of the Protestant Revolution (N. Y., 1875,
Scribner, $1.00). "Epochs of Modern History."
CHAPTER I
THE AGES BEFORE HISTORY
1. THE STUDY OF HISTORY
SUBJECT MATTER OF HISTORY
History is the narrative of what civilized man has done. It deals with those social groups called states and nations. Just as biography describes the life of individuals, so history relates the rise, progress, and decline of human societies.
MANUSCRIPTS AND BOOKS
History cannot go back of written records. These alone will preserve a full and accurate account of man's achievements. Manuscripts and books form one class of written records. The old Babylonians used tablets of soft clay, on which signs were impressed with a metal instrument. The tablets were then baked hard in an oven. The Egyptians made a kind of paper out of the papyrus, a plant native to the Nile valley. The Greeks and Romans at first used papyrus, but later they employed the more lasting parchment prepared from sheepskin. Paper seems to have been a Chinese invention. It was introduced into Europe by the Arabs during the twelfth century of our era.
[Illustration: THE DISK OF PHAESTUS Found in 1908 A.D. in the palace at Phaestus, Crete. The disk is of refined clay on which the figures were stamped in relief with punches. Both sides of the disk are covered with characters. The side seen in the illustration contains 31 sign groups (123 signs) separated from one another by incised lines. The other side contains 30 sign groups (118 signs). The inscription dates from about 1800 B.C.]
[Illustration: A PAPYRUS MANUSCRIPT The pith of the papyrus, a plant native to the Nile valley, was cut into slices, which were then pressed together and dried in the sun. Several of the paper sheets thus formed were glued together at their edges to form a roll. From papyros and byblos, the two Greek names of this plant, have come our own words, "paper" and "Bible." The illustration shows a manuscript discovered in Egypt in 1890 A.D. It is supposed to be a treatise, hitherto lost, on the Athenian constitution by the Greek philosopher Aristotle.]
INSCRIPTIONS AND REMAINS
A second class of written records consists of inscriptions. These are usually cut in stone, but sometimes we find them painted over the surface of a wall, stamped on coins, or impressed upon metal tablets. The historian also makes use of remains, such as statues, ornaments, weapons, tools, and utensils. Monuments of various sorts, including palaces, tombs, fortresses, bridges, temples, and churches, form a very important class of remains.
BEGINNINGS OF HISTORY
History, based on written records, begins in different countries at varying dates. A few manuscripts and inscriptions found in Egypt date back three or four thousand years before Christ. The annals of Babylonia are scarcely less ancient. Trustworthy records in China and India do not extend beyond 1000 B.C. For the Greeks and Romans the commencement of the historic period must be placed about 750 B.C. The inhabitants of northern Europe did not come into the light of history until about the opening of the Christian era.
2. PREHISTORIC PEOPLES
THE PREHISTORIC PERIOD
In studying the historic period our chief concern is with those peoples whose ideas or whose deeds have aided human progress and the spread of civilization. Six-sevenths of the earth's inhabitants now belong to civilized countries, and these countries include the best and largest regions of the globe. At the beginning of historic times, however, civilization was confined within a narrow area—the river valleys of western Asia and Egypt. The uncounted centuries before the dawn of history make up the prehistoric period, when savagery and barbarism prevailed throughout the world. Our knowledge of it is derived from the examination of the objects found in caves, refuse mounds, graves, and other sites. Various European countries, including England, France, Denmark, Switzerland, and Italy, are particularly rich in prehistoric remains.
[Illustration: A PREHISTORIC EGYPTIAN GRAVE The skeleton lay on the left side, with knees drawn up and hands raised to the head. About it were various articles of food and vessels of pottery.]
THE TWO AGES
The prehistoric period is commonly divided, according to the character of the materials used for tools and weapons, into the Age of Stone and the Age of Metals. The one is the age of savagery; the other is the age of barbarism or semicivilization.
THE STONE AGE
Man's earliest implements were those that lay ready to his hand. A branch from a tree served as a spear; a thick stick in his strong arms became a powerful club. Later, perhaps, came the use of a hard stone such as flint, which could be chipped into the forms of arrowheads, axes, and spear tips. The first stone implements were so rude in shape that it is difficult to believe them of human workmanship. They may have been made several hundred thousand years ago. After countless centuries of slow advance, savages learned to fasten wooden handles to their stone tools and weapons and also to use such materials as jade and granite, which could be ground and polished into a variety of forms. Stone implements continued to be made during the greater part of the prehistoric period. Every region of the world has had a Stone Age. [1] Its length is reckoned, not by centuries, but by milleniums.
[Illustration: A HATCHET OF THE EARLY STONE AGE
A hatchet of flint, probably used without a helve and intended to fit the
hand. Similar implements have been found all over the world, except in
Australia.]
[Illustration: ARROWHEADS OF THE LATER STONE AGE
Different forms from Europe, Africa, and North America.]
THE AGE OF METALS
The Age of Metals, compared with its predecessor, covers a brief expanse of time. The use of metals came in not much before the dawn of history. The earliest civilized peoples, the Babylonians and Egyptians, when we first become acquainted with them, appear to be passing from the use of stone implements to those of metal.
COPPER
Copper was the first metal in common use. The credit for the invention of copper tools seems to belong to the Egyptians. At a very early date they were working the copper mines on the peninsula of Sinai. The Babylonians probably obtained their copper from the same region. Another source of this metal was the island of Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean. The Greek name of the island means "copper."
BRONZE
But copper tools were soft and would not keep an edge. Some ancient smith, more ingenious than his fellows, discovered that the addition of a small part of tin to the copper produced a new metal—bronze—harder than the old, yet capable of being molded into a variety of forms. At least as early as 3000 B.C. we find bronze taking the place of copper in both Egypt and Babylonia. Somewhat later bronze was introduced into the island of Crete, then along the eastern coast of Greece, and afterwards into other European countries.
IRON
The introduction of iron occurred in comparatively recent times. At first it was a scarce, and therefore a very precious, metal. The Egyptians seem to have made little use of iron before 1500 B.C. They called it "the metal of heaven," as if they obtained it from meteorites. In the Greek Homeric poems, composed about 900 B.C. or later, we find iron considered so valuable that a lump of it is one of the chief prizes at athletic games. In the first five books of the Bible iron is mentioned only thirteen times, though copper and bronze are referred to forty-four times. Iron is more difficult to work than either copper or bronze, but it is vastly superior to those metals in hardness and durability. Hence it gradually displaced them throughout the greater part of the Old World. [2]
FIRST STEPS TOWARD CIVILIZATION
During the prehistoric period early man came to be widely scattered throughout the world. Here and there, slowly, and with utmost difficulty, he began to take the first steps toward civilization. The tools and weapons which he left behind him afford some evidence of his advance. We may now single out some of his other great achievements and follow their development to the dawn of history.
3. DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS AND PLANTS
HUNTING AND FISHING STAGE
Prehistoric man lived at first chiefly on wild berries, nuts, roots, and herbs. As his implements improved and his skill increased, he became hunter, trapper, and fisher. A tribe of hunters, however, requires an extensive territory and a constant supply of game. When the wild animals are all killed or seriously reduced in number, privation and hardship result. It was a forward step, therefore, when man began to tame animals as well as to kill them.
DOMESTICATION OF THE DOG
The dog was man's first conquest over the animal kingdom. As early as the Age of Metals various breeds appear, such as deerhounds, sheep dogs, and mastiffs. The dog soon showed how useful he could be. He tracked game, guarded the camp, and later, in the pastoral stage, protected flocks and herds against their enemies.
THE COW
The cow also was domesticated at a remote period. No other animal has been more useful to mankind. The cow's flesh and milk supply food: the skin provides clothing; the sinews, bones, and horns yield materials for implements. The ox was early trained to bear the yoke and draw the plow, as we may learn from ancient Egyptian paintings. [3] Cattle have also been commonly used as a kind of money. The early Greeks, whose wealth consisted chiefly of their herds, priced a slave at twenty oxen, a suit of armor at one hundred oxen, and so on. The early Romans reckoned values in cattle (one ox being equivalent to ten sheep). Our English word "pecuniary" goes back to the Latin pecus, or "herd" of cattle.
[Illustration: EARLY ROMAN BAR MONEY A bar of copper marked with the figure of a bull. Dates from the fourth century B.C.]
THE HORSE
The domestication of the horse came much later than that of the cow. In the early Stone Age the horse ran wild over western Europe and formed an important source of food for primitive men. This prehistoric horse, as some ancient drawings show, [4] was a small animal with a shaggy mane and tail. It resembled the wild pony still found on the steppes of Mongolia. The domesticated horse does not appear in Egypt and western Asia much before 1500 B.C. For a long time after the horse was tamed, the more manageable ox continued to be used as the beast of burden. The horse was kept for chariots of war, as among the Egyptians, or ridden bareback in races, as by the early Greeks.
OTHER ANIMALS DOMESTICATED
At the close of prehistoric times in the Old World nearly all the domestic animals of to-day were known. Besides those just mentioned, the goat, sheep, ass, and hog had become man's useful servants. [5]
PASTORAL STAGE
The domestication of animals made possible an advance from the hunting and fishing stage to the pastoral stage. Herds of cattle and sheep would now furnish more certain and abundant supplies of food than the chase could ever yield. We find in some parts of the world, as on the great Asiatic plains, the herdsman succeeding the hunter and fisher. But even in this stage much land for grazing is required. With the exhaustion of the pasturage the sheep or cattle must be driven to new fields. Hence pastoral peoples, as well as hunting and fishing folk, remained nomads without fixed homes. Before permanent settlements were possible, another onward step became necessary. This was the domestication of plants.
AGRICULTURAL STAGE
The domestication of plants marked almost as wonderful an advance as the domestication of animals. When wild seedgrasses and plants had been transformed into the great cereals—wheat, oats, barley, and rice—people could raise them for food, and so could pass from the life of wandering hunters or shepherds to the life of settled farmers. There is evidence that during the Stone Age some of the inhabitants of Europe were familiar with various cultivated plants, but agriculture on a large scale seems to have begun in the fertile regions of Egypt and western Asia. [6] Here first arose populous communities with leisure to develop the arts of life. Here, as has been already seen, [7] we must look for the beginnings of history.
4. WRITING AND THE ALPHABET
PICTURE WRITING
Though history is always based on written records, the first steps toward writing are prehistoric. We start with the pictures or rough drawings which have been found among the remains of the early Stone Age. [8] Primitive man, however, could not rest satisfied with portraying objects.
[Illustration: VARIOUS SIGNS OF SYMBOLIC PICTURE WRITING 1, "war" (Dakota Indian); 2, "morning" (Ojibwa Indian); 3, "nothing" (Ojibwa Indian); 4 and 5, "to eat" (Indian, Mexican, Egyptian, etc.).]
He wanted to record thoughts and actions, and so his pictures tended to become symbols of ideas. The figure of an arrow might be made to represent, not a real object, but the idea of an "enemy." A "fight" could then be shown simply by drawing two arrows directed against each other. Many uncivilized tribes still employ picture writing of this sort. The American Indians developed it in most elaborate fashion. On rolls of birch bark or the skins of animals they wrote messages, hunting stories, and songs, and even preserved tribal annals extending over a century.
SOUND WRITING; THE REBUS
A new stage in the development of writing was reached when the picture represented, not an actual object or an idea, but a sound of the human voice. This difficult but all-important step appears to have been taken through the use of the rebus, that is, writing words by pictures of objects which stand for sounds. Such rebuses are found in prehistoric Egyptian writing; for example, the Egyptian words for "sun" and "goose" were so nearly alike that the royal title, "Son of the Sun," could be suggested by grouping the pictures of the sun and a goose. Rebus making is still a common game among children, but to primitive men it must have been a serious occupation.
[Illustration: MEXICAN REBUS The Latin Pater Noster, "Our Father," is written by a flag (pan), a stone (te), a prickly pear (noch), and another stone (te).]
[Illustration: CHINESE PICTURE WRITING AND LATER CONVENTIONAL CHARACTERS]
WORDS AND SYLLABLES
In the simplest form of sound writing each separate picture or symbol stands for the sound of an entire word. This method was employed by the Chinese, who have never given it up. A more developed form of sound writing occurs when signs are used for the sounds, not of entire words, but of separate syllables. Since the number of different syllables which the voice can utter is limited, it now becomes possible to write all the words of a language with a few hundred signs. The Japanese, who borrowed some of the Chinese symbols, used them to denote syllables, instead of entire words. The Babylonians possessed, in their cuneiform [9] characters, signs for about five hundred syllables. The prehistoric inhabitants of Crete appear to have been acquainted with a somewhat similar system. [10]
LETTERS
The final step in the development of writing is taken when the separate sounds of the voice are analyzed and each is represented by a single sign or letter. With alphabets of a few score letters every word in a language may easily be written.
[Illustration: CRETAN WRITING
A large tablet with linear script found in the palace at Gnossus, Crete
There are eight lines of writing, with a total of about twenty words
Notice the upright lines, which appear to mark the termination of each
group of signs.]
EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHICS
The Egyptians early developed such an alphabet. Unfortunately they never gave up their older methods of writing and learned to rely upon alphabetic signs alone. Egyptian hieroglyphics [11] are a curious jumble of object- pictures, symbols of ideas, and signs for entire words, separate syllables, and letters. The writing is a museum of all the steps in the development from the picture to the letter.
PHOENICIAN ALPHABET
As early, apparently, as the tenth century B.C. we find the Phoenicians of western Asia in possession of an alphabet. It consisted of twenty-two letters, each representing a consonant. The Phoenicians do not seem to have invented their alphabetic signs. It is generally believed that they borrowed them from the Egyptians, but recent discoveries in Crete perhaps point to that island as the source of the Phoenician alphabet.
[Illustration: EGYPTIAN AND BABYLONIAN WRITING Below the pictured hieroglyphics in the first line is the same text in a simpler writing known as hieratic. The two systems, however, were not distinct; they were as identical as our own printed and written characters. The third line illustrates old Babylonian cuneiform, in which the characters, like the hieroglyphics, are rude and broken-down pictures of objects. Derived from them is the later cuneiform shown in lines four and five.]
DIFFUSION OF THE PHOENICIAN ALPHABET
If they did not originate the alphabet now in use, the Phoenicians did most to spread a knowledge of it in other lands. They were bold sailors and traders who bought and sold throughout the Mediterranean. Wherever they went, they took their alphabet. From the Phoenicians the Greeks learned their letters. Then the Greeks taught them to the Romans, from whom other European peoples borrowed them. [12]
[Illustration: THE MOABITE STONE, (Louvre, Paris) Found in 1868 A.D. at Diban east of the Dead Sea. The monument records the victory of Mesha king of Moab, over the united armies of Israel and Judah about 850 B.C. The inscription, consisting of 34 lines is one of the most ancient examples of Phoenician writing.]
5. PRIMITIVE SCIENCE AND ART
FOUNDATIONS OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE
We have already seen that prehistoric men in their struggle for existence had gathered an extensive fund of information. They could make useful and artistic implements of stone. They could work many metals into a variety of tools and weapons. They were practical botanists, able to distinguish different plants and to cultivate them for food. They were close students of animal life and expert hunters and fishers. They knew how to produce fire and preserve it, how to cook, how to fashion pottery and baskets, how to spin and weave, how to build boats and houses. After writing came into general use, all this knowledge served as the foundation of science.
COUNTING AND MEASURING
We can still distinguish some of the first steps in scientific knowledge. Thus, counting began with calculations on one's fingers, a method still familiar to children. Finger counting explains the origin of the decimal system. The simplest, and probably the earliest, measures of length are those based on various parts of the body. Some of our Indian tribes, for instance, employed the double arm's length, the single arm's length, the hand width, and the finger width. Old English standards, such as the span, the ell, and the hand, go back to this very obvious method of measuring on the body.
CALCULATION OF TIME; THE CALENDAR
It is interesting to trace the beginnings of time reckoning and of that most important institution, the calendar. Most primitive tribes reckon time by the lunar month, the interval between two new moons (about twenty- nine days, twelve hours). Twelve lunar months give us the lunar year of about three hundred and fifty-four days. In order to adapt such a year to the different seasons, the practice arose of inserting a thirteenth month from time to time. Such awkward calendars were used in antiquity by the Babylonians, Jews, and Greeks; in modern times by the Arabs and Chinese. The Egyptians were the only people in the Old World to frame a solar year. From the Egyptians it has come down, through the Romans, to us. [13]
[Illustration: STONEHENGE On Salisbury Plain in the south of England: appears to date from the close of the New Stone Age or the beginning of the Bronze Age. The outer circle measures 300 feet in circumference; the inner circle, 106 feet. The tallest stones reach 25 feet in height. This monument was probably a tomb, or group of tombs, of prehistoric chieftains.]
EARLY DRAWING AND PAINTING
The study of prehistoric art takes us back to the early Stone Age. The men of that age in western Europe lived among animals such as the mammoth, cave bear, and woolly-haired rhinoceros, which have since disappeared, and among many others, such as the lion and hippopotamus, which now exist only in warmer climates. Armed with clubs, flint axes, and horn daggers, primitive hunters killed these fierce beasts and on fragments of their bones, or on cavern walls, drew pictures of them. Some of these earliest works of art are remarkably lifelike.
[Illustration: HEAD OF A GIRL (Musée S. Germain, Paris)
A small head of a young girl carved from mammoth ivory. Found at
Brassempouy, France, in cave deposits belonging to the early Stone Age.
The hair is arranged somewhat after the early Egyptian fashion. Of the
features the mouth alone is wanting.]
[Illustration: PREHISTORIC ART
SKETCH OF MAMMOTH ON A TUSK FOUND IN A CAVE IN FRANCE
CAVE BEAR DRAWN ON A PEBBLE
BISON PAINTED ON THE WALL OF A CAVE
WILD HORSE ON THE WALL OF A CAVE IN SPAIN.
Later he pictured an aurochs—later he pictured a bear—
Pictured the sabre toothed tiger dragging a man to his lair—
Pictured the mountainous mammoth hairy abhorrent alone—
Out of the love that he bore them scribing them clearly on bone—
KIPLING.]
EARLY ARCHITECTURE
A still later period of the Stone Age witnessed the beginnings of architecture. Men had begun to raise huge dolmens which are found in various parts of the Old World from England to India. They also erected enormous stone pillars, known as menhirs. Carved in the semblance of a human face and figure, the menhir became a statue, perhaps the first ever made.
As we approach historic times, we note a steady improvement in the various forms of art. Recent discoveries in Egypt, Greece, Italy, and other lands indicate that their early inhabitants were able architects, often building on a colossal scale.
[Illustration: A DOLMEN Department of Morbihan, Brittany. A dolmen was a single chambered tomb formed by laying one long stone over several other stones set upright in the ground. Most if not all dolmens were originally covered with earth.]
[Illustration: CARVED MENHIR
From Saint Sernin in Aveyron, a department of southern France.]
SIGNIFICANCE OF PREHISTORIC ART
Their paintings and sculptures prepared the way for the work of later artists. Our survey of the origins of art shows us that in this field, as elsewhere, we must start with the things accomplished by prehistoric men.
6. HISTORIC PEOPLES
RACES OF MAN
At the dawn of history the various regions of the world were already in the possession of many different peoples. Such physical characteristics as the shape of the skull, the features, stature, or complexion may serve to distinguish one people from another. Other grounds for distinction are found in language, customs beliefs, and general intelligence.
CLASSIFICATION OF RACES
If we take complexion or color as the basis of classification, it is possible to distinguish a few large racial groups. Each of these groups occupies, roughly speaking, its separate area of the globe. The most familiar classification is that which recognizes the Black or Negro race dwelling in Africa, the Yellow or Mongolian race whose home is in central and eastern Asia, and the White or Caucasian race of western Asia and Europe. Sometimes two additional divisions are made by including, as the Red race, the American Indians, and as the Brown race, the natives of the Pacific islands.
THE WHITE RACE
These separate racial groups have made very unequal progress in culture. The peoples belonging to the Black, Red, and Brown races are still either savages or barbarians, as were the men of prehistoric times. The Chinese and Japanese are the only representatives of the Yellow race that have been able to form civilized states. In the present, as in the past, it is chiefly the members of the White race who are developing civilization and making history.
INDO-EUROPEANS AND SEMITES
Because of differences in language, scholars have divided the White or Caucasian race into two main groups, called Indo-Europeans and Semites. [14] This classification is often helpful, but the student should remember that Indo-European and Semitic peoples are not always to be sharply distinguished because they have different types of language. There is no very clear distinction in physical characteristics between the two groups. A clear skin, an oval face, wavy or curly hair, and regular features separate them from both the Negro and the Mongolian.
PRINCIPAL INDO-EUROPEAN PEOPLES
The Indo-Europeans in antiquity included the Hindus of India, the Medes and Persians dwelling on the plateau of Iran, the Greeks and Italians, and most of the inhabitants of central and western Europe. All these peoples spoke related languages which are believed to be offshoots from one common tongue. Likeness in language does not imply that all Indo-Europeans were closely related in blood. Men often adopt a foreign tongue and pass it on to their children.
PRINCIPAL SEMITIC PEOPLES
The various Semitic nations dwelling in western Asia and Arabia were more closely connected with one another. They spoke much the same type of language, and in physical traits and habits of life they appear to have been akin. The Semites in antiquity included the Babylonians and Assyrians, the Hebrews, Phoenicians, and Arabs.
[Illustration: RACE PORTRAITURE OF THE EGYPTIANS Paintings on the walls of royal tombs. The Egyptians were painted red, the Semites yellow, the Negroes black, and the Libyans white, with blue eyes and fair beards. Each racial type is distinguished by peculiar dress and characteristic features.]
[Illustration: Map. Distribution of SEMITIC and INDO-EUROPEAN PEOPLES]
PEOPLES OF UNCERTAIN RELATIONSHIP
At the opening of the historic period still other parts of the World were the homes of various peoples who cannot be classed with certainty as either Indo-Europeans or Semites. Among these were the Egyptians and some of the inhabitants of Asia Minor. We must remember that, during the long prehistoric ages, repeated conquests and migrations mingled the blood of many different communities. History, in fact, deals with no unmixed peoples.
STUDIES
1. On an outline map indicate the areas occupied in antiquity by Semites and Indo-Europeans.
2. Find definitions for the following terms: society, nation, state, government, institution, culture, and civilization.
3. Explain the abbreviations B.C. and A.D. In what century was the year 1917 B.C.? the year 1917 A.D.?
4. Look up the derivation of the words "paper" and "Bible."
5. Distinguish between the three stages of savagery, barbarism, and civilization, and give examples of existing peoples in each stage.
6. Can you name any savages still living in the Stone Age?
7. What stone implements have you ever seen? Who made them? Where were they?
8. Why should the discovery of fire be regarded as of more significance than the discovery of steam?
9. Why has the invention of the bow-and-arrow been of greater importance than the invention of gunpowder?
10. How does the presence of few tameable animals in the New World help to account for its tardier development as compared with the Old World?
11. What examples of pastoral and agricultural life among the North American Indians are familiar to you?
12. Give examples of peoples widely different in blood who nevertheless speak the same language.
13. In the classification of mankind, where do the Arabs belong? the Persians? the Germans? the inhabitants of the United States?
14. Enumerate the most important contributions to civilization made in prehistoric times.
FOOTNOTES
[1] There are still some savage peoples, for instance, the Australians, who continue to make stone implements very similar to those of prehistoric men. Other primitive peoples, such as the natives of the Pacific islands, passed directly from the use of stone to that of iron, after this part of the world was opened up to European trade in the nineteenth century.
[2] Iron was unknown to the inhabitants of North America and South America before the coming of the Europeans. The natives used many stone implements, besides those of copper and bronze. The Indians got most of their copper from the mines in the Lake Superior region, whence it was carried far and wide.
[3] See the illustration, page 45.
[4] See the illustration, page 14.
[5] In the New World, the only important domestic animal was the llama of the Andes. The natives used it as a beast of burden, ate its flesh, and clothed themselves with its wool.
[6] The plants domesticated in the New World were not numerous. The most important were the potato of Peru and Ecuador, Indian corn or maize, tobacco, the tomato, and manioc. From the roots of the latter, the starch called tapioca is derived.
[7] See page 2.
[8] See the illustration, page 14.
[9] Latin cuneus, "a wedge".
[10] See page 71.
[11] From the Greek words hieros, "holy," and glyphein, "to carve" The Egyptians regarded their signs as sacred.
[12] Our word "alphabet" comes from the names of the first two letters of the Greek alphabet, alpha (a) and beta (b).
[13] See page 186 and note 2.
[14] The Old Testament (Genesis, x 21-22) represents Shem (or Sem), son of Noah, as the ancestor of the Semitic peoples. The title "Indo- Europeans" tells us that the members of that group now dwell in India and in Europe. Indo-European peoples are popularly called "Aryans," from a word in Sanskrit (the old Hindu language) meaning "noble."
CHAPTER II
THE LANDS AND PEOPLES OF THE EAST TO ABOUT 600 B.C. [1]
7. PHYSICAL ASIA
GRAND DIVISIONS OF ASIA
Ancient history begins in the East—in Asia and in that part of Africa called Egypt, which the peoples of antiquity always regarded as belonging to Asia. If we look at a physical map of Asia, we see at once that it consists of two very unequal divisions separated by an almost continuous mass of mountains and deserts. These two divisions are Farther and Nearer, or Eastern and Western, Asia.
[Illustration: Map, PHYSICAL MAP OF ASIA.]
FARTHER ASIA
Farther Asia begins at the center of the continent with a series of elevated table-lands which rise into the lofty plateaus, known as the "Roof of the World." Here two tremendous mountain chains diverge. The Altai range runs out to the northeast and reaches the shores of the Pacific near Bering Strait. The Himalaya range extends southeast to the Malay peninsula. In the angle formed by their intersection lies the cold and barren region of East Turkestan and Tibet, the height of which, in some places, is ten thousand feet above the sea. From these mountains and plateaus the ground sinks gradually toward the north into the lowlands of West Turkestan and Siberia, toward the east and south into the plains of China and India.
CHINA
The fertile territory of central China, watered by the two streams, Yangtse and Hoangho, was settled at a remote period by barbarous tribes. The civilization which they slowly developed in antiquity has endured with little change until the present day. The inhabitants of neighboring countries, Korea, Japan, and Indo-China, owe much to this civilization. It has exerted slight influence on the other peoples of Asia because the Chinese have always occupied a distant corner of the continent, cut off by deserts and mountains from the lands on the west. As if these barriers were not enough, they raised the Great Wall to protect their country from invasion.
[Illustration: THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA The wall extends for about fifteen hundred miles along the northern frontier of China. In 1908 AD it was traversed for its entire length by an American Mr. W. E. Geil. He found many parts of the fortification still in good repair, though built twenty one centuries ago.]
Behind this mighty rampart the Chinese have lived secluded and aloof from the progress of our western world. In ancient times China was a land of mystery.
INDIA
India was better known than China, especially its two great rivers, the Indus and the Ganges, which flow to the southwest and southeast, respectively, and make this part of the peninsula one of the most fertile territories on the globe. Such a land attracted immigrants. The region now known as the Punjab, where the Indus receives the waters of five great streams, was settled by light-skinned Indo-Europeans [2] perhaps as early as 2000 B.C. Then they occupied the valley of the Ganges and so brought all northern India under their control.
INDIA AND THE WEST
India did not remain entirely isolated from the rest of Asia, The Punjab was twice conquered by invaders from the West; by the Persians in the sixth century B.C., [3] and about two hundred years later by the Greeks. [4] After the end of foreign rule India continued to be of importance through its commerce, which introduced such luxuries as precious stones, spices, and ivory among the western peoples.
NEARER ASIA
Nearer, or Western Asia, the smaller of the two grand divisions of the Asiatic continent, is bounded by the Black and Caspian seas on the north, by the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, and Indian Ocean on the south, eastward by the Indus River, and westward by the Mediterranean and the Nile. Almost all the countries within this area played a part in the ancient history of the Orient.
COUNTRIES OF NEARER ASIA
The lofty plateaus of central Asia decline on the west into the lower but still elevated region of Iran. The western part of Iran was occupied in antiquity by the kindred people known as Medes and Persians. Armenia, a wild and mountainous region, is an extension to the northwest of the Iranian table-land. Beyond Armenia we cross into the peninsula of Asia Minor, a natural link between Asia and Europe. Southward from Asia Minor we pass along the Mediterranean coast through Syria to Arabia. The Arabian peninsula may be regarded as the link between Asia and Africa.
INFLUENCE OF GEOGRAPHICAL CONDITIONS
These five countries of Nearer Asia were not well fitted to become centers of early civilization. They possessed no great rivers which help to bring people together, and no broad, fertile plains which support a large population. Armenia, Asia Minor, and Syria were broken up into small districts by chains of mountains. Iran and Arabia were chiefly barren deserts. But two other divisions of Nearer Asia resembled distant India and China in the possession of a warm climate, a fruitful soil, and an extensive river system. These lands were Babylonia and Egypt, the first homes of civilized man.
8. BABYLONIA AND EGYPT
THE TIGRIS AND THE EUPHRATES
Two famous rivers rise in the remote fastnesses of Armenia—the Tigris and the Euphrates. As they flow southward, the twin streams approach each other to form a common valley, and then proceed in parallel channels for the greater part of their course. In antiquity each river emptied into the Persian Gulf by a separate mouth. This Tigris-Euphrates valley was called by the Greeks Mesopotamia, "the land between the rivers."
PRODUCTIONS OF BABYLONIA
Babylonia is a remarkably productive country. The annual inundation of the rivers has covered its once rocky bottom with deposits of rich silt. Crops planted in such a soil, under the influence of a blazing sun, ripen with great rapidity and yield abundant harvests. "Of all the countries that we know," says an old Greek traveler, "there is no other so fruitful in grain." [5] Wheat and barley were perhaps first domesticated in this part of the world. [6] Wheat still grows wild there. Though Babylonia possessed no forests, it had the date palm, which needed scarcely any cultivation. If the alluvial soil yielded little stone, clay, on the other hand, was everywhere. Molded into brick and afterwards dried in the sun, the clay became adobe, the cheapest building material imaginable.
BABYLONIA AN EARLY CENTER OF CIVILIZATION
In Babylonia Nature seems to have done her utmost to make it easy for People to gain a living. We can understand, therefore, why from prehistoric times men have been attracted to this region, and why it is here that we must look for one of the earliest seats of civilization. [7]
LOWER AND UPPER EGYPT
Egypt may be described as the valley of the Nile. Rising in the Nyanza lakes of central Africa, that mighty stream, before entering Egypt, receives the waters of the Blue Nile near the modern town of Khartum. From this point the course of the river is broken by a series of five rocky rapids, misnamed cataracts, which can be shot by boats. The cataracts cease near the island of Philae, and Upper Egypt begins. This is a strip of fertile territory, about five hundred miles in length but averaging only eight miles in width. Not far from modern Cairo the hills inclosing the valley fall away, the Nile divides into numerous branches, and Lower Egypt, or the Delta, begins. The sluggish stream passes through a region of mingled swamp and plain, and at length by three principal mouths empties its waters into the Mediterranean.
[Illustration: PHILAE The island was originally only a heap of granite bowlders. Retaining walls were built around it, and the space within when filled with rich Nile mud, became beautiful with groves of palms and mimosas. As the result of the construction of the Assuan dam, Philae and its exquisite temples are now submerged during the winter months, when the reservoir is full.]
EGYPT THE GIFT OF THE NILE
Egypt owes her existence to the Nile. All Lower Egypt is a creation of the river by the gradual accumulation of sediment at its mouths. Upper Egypt has been dug out of the desert sand and underlying rock by a process of erosion centuries long. Once the Nile filled all the space between the hills that line its sides. Now it flows through a thick layer of alluvial mud deposited by the yearly inundation.
ANNUAL INUNDATION OF THE NILE
The Nile begins to rise in June, when the snow melts on the Abyssinian mountains. High-water mark, some thirty feet above the ordinary level, is reached in September. The inhabitants then make haste to cut the confining dikes and to spread the fertilizing water over their fields. Egypt takes on the appearance of a turbid lake, dotted here and there with island villages and crossed in every direction by highways elevated above the flood. Late in October the river begins to subside and by December has returned to its normal level. As the water recedes, it deposits that dressing of fertile vegetable mold which makes the soil of Egypt perhaps the richest in the world. [8]
EGYPT AN EARLY CENTER OF CIVILIZATION
It was by no accident that Egypt, like Babylonia, became one of the first homes of civilized men. Here, as there, every condition made it easy for people to live and thrive. Food was cheap, for it was easily produced. The peasant needed only to spread his seed broadcast over the muddy fields to be sure of an abundant return. The warm, dry climate enabled him to get along with little shelter and clothing. Hence the inhabitants of this favored region rapidly increased in number and gathered in populous towns and cities. At a time when most of their neighbors were still in the darkness of the prehistoric age, the Egyptians had entered the light of history.
9. THE BABYLONIANS AND THE EGYPTIANS
INHABITANTS OF BABYLONIA
The earliest inhabitants of Babylonia of whom we know anything were a people called Sumerians. They entered the Babylonian plain through the passes of the eastern mountains, three or four thousand years before the Christian era. Here they formed a number of independent states, each with its capital city, its patron god, and its king. After them came Semitic tribes from the deserts of northern Arabia. The Semites mingled with the Sumerians and adopted Sumerian civilization.
HAMMURABI, KING OF BABYLONIA, ABOUT 2000 B.C.
Of all the early Babylonian kings the most famous was Hammurabi. Some inscriptions still remain to tell how he freed his country from foreign invaders and made his native Babylon the capital of the entire land. This city became henceforth the real center of the Euphrates valley, to which, indeed, it gave its name. Hammurabi was also an able statesman, who sought to develop the territories his sword had won. He dug great canals to distribute the waters of the Euphrates and built huge granaries to store the wheat against a time of famine. In Babylon he raised splendid temples and palaces. For all his kingdom he published a code of laws, the oldest in the world. [9] Thus Hammurabi, by making Babylonia so strong and flourishing, was able to extend her influence in every direction. Her only important rival was Egypt.
[Illustration: TOP OF MONUMENT CONTAINING THE CODE OF HAMMURABI (British Museum, London) A block of black diorite nearly 8 feet high, on which the code is chiseled in 44 columns and over 3600 lines. The relief at the top of the monument shows the Babylonian king receiving the laws from the sun god who is seated at the right.]
The origin of the Egyptians is not known with certainty. In physical characteristics they resembled the native tribes of northern and inhabitants eastern Africa. Their language, however, shows of Egypt close kinship to the Semitic tongues of western Asia and Arabia. It is probable that the Egyptians, like the Babylonians, arose from the mingling of several peoples.
MENES, KING OF EGYPT, ABOUT 3400 B.C.
The history of Egypt commences with the union of the two kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt under Menes. An ancient tradition made him the builder of Memphis, near the head of the Delta, and the founder of the Egyptian monarchy. Scholars once doubted these exploits and even regarded Menes himself as mythical. Recently, however, his tomb has been discovered. In the gray dawn of history Menes appears as a real personage, the first of that line of kings, or "Pharaohs," who for nearly three thousand years ruled over Egypt.
[Illustration: Map, EGYPTIAN EMPIRE About 1450 B.C.]
THE PYRAMID KINGS, ABOUT 3000-2500 B.C.
Several centuries after Menes we reach the age of the kings who raised the pyramids. Probably no other rulers have ever stamped their memory so indelibly on the pages of history as the builders of these mighty structures. The most celebrated monarch of this line was the Pharaoh whom the Greeks called Cheops. The Great Pyramid near Memphis, erected for his tomb, remains a lasting witness to his power.
[Illustration: TWO FAMOUS PHARAOHS
Khufu (Cheops) builder of the Great Pyramid
Menephtah the supposed Pharaoh of the Exodus]
[Illustration: THE GREAT PYRAMID The pyramid when completed had a height of 481 feet. It is now 451 feet high. Its base covers about thirteen acres. Some of the blocks of white limestone used in construction weigh fifty tons. The facing of polished stone was gradually removed for building purposes by the Arabs. On the northern side of the pyramid a narrow entrance once carefully concealed, opens into tortuous passages which lead to the central vault. Here the sarcophagus of the king was placed. This chamber was long since entered and its contents rifled.]
[Illustration: THE GREAT SPHINX This colossal figure, human headed and lion bodied, is hewn from the natural rock. The body is about 150 feet long, the paws 50 feet, the head 30 feet. The height from the base to the top of the head is 70 feet. Except for its head and shoulders the figure has been buried for centuries in the desert sand. The eyes, nose and beard have been mutilated by the Arabs. The face is probably that of one of the pyramid kings.]
AFTER THE PYRAMID KINGS
For a long time after the epoch of the pyramid kings the annals of Egypt furnish a record of quiet and peaceful progress. The old city of Memphis gradually declined in importance and Thebes in Upper Egypt became the capital. The vigorous civilization growing up in Egypt was destined, however, to suffer a sudden eclipse. About 1800 B.C. barbarous tribes from western Asia burst into the country, through the isthmus of Suez, and settled in the Delta. The Hyksos, as they are usually called, extended their sway over all Egypt. At first they ruled harshly, plundering the cities and enslaving the inhabitants, but in course of time the invaders adopted Egyptian culture and their kings reigned like native Pharaohs. The Hyksos are said to have introduced the horse and military chariot into Egypt. A successful revolt at length expelled the intruders and set a new line of Theban monarchs on the throne.
THE EGYPTIAN EMPIRE
The overthrow of the Hyksos marked a new era in the history of Egypt. From a home-loving and peaceful people the Egyptians became a warlike race, ambitious for glory. The Pharaohs raised powerful armies and by extensive conquests created an Egyptian Empire, reaching from the Nile to the Euphrates.
IMPERIAL SPLENDOR OF EGYPT
This period of the imperial greatness of Egypt is the most splendid in its history. An extensive trade with Cyprus, Crete, and other Mediterranean Islands introduced many foreign luxuries. The conquered territories in Syria paid a heavy tribute of the precious metals, merchandise, and slaves. The forced labor of thousands of war captives enabled the Pharaohs to build public works in every part on their realm. Even the ruins of these stupendous structures are enough to indicate the majesty and power of ancient Egypt.
RAMESES II, ABOUT 1292-1225 B.C.
Of all the conquering Pharaohs none won more fame than Rameses II, who ruled for nearly seventy years. His campaigns in Syria were mainly against the Hittites, a warlike people who had moved southward from their home in Asia Minor and sought to establish themselves in the Syrian lands. Rameses does not appear to have been entirely successful against his foes. We find him at length entering into an alliance with "the great king of the Hittites," by which their dominion over northern Syria was recognized. In the arts of peace Rameses achieved a more enduring renown. He erected many statues and temples in various parts of Egypt and made Thebes, his capital, the most magnificent city of the age.
[Illustration: HEAD OF MUMMY OF RAMESES II (Museum of Gizeh) The mummy was discovered in 1881 AD in an underground chamber near the site of Thebes. With it were the coffins and bodies of more than a score of royal personages. Rameses II was over ninety years of age at the time of his death. In spite of the somewhat grotesque disguise of mummification, the face of this famous Pharaoh still wears an aspect of majesty and pride.]
DECLINE OF THE EGYPTIAN POWER
Rameses II was the last of the great Pharaohs. After his death the empire steadily declined in strength. The Asiatic possessions fell away, never to be recovered. By 1100 B.C. Egypt had been restricted to her former boundaries in the Nile valley. The Persians, in the sixth century, brought the country within their own vast empire.
10. THE PHOENICIANS AND THE HEBREWS
THE PHOENICIANS
The Phoenicians were the first Syrian people to assume importance. Their country was a narrow stretch of coast, about one hundred and twenty miles in length, seldom more than twelve miles in width, between the Lebanon Mountains and the sea. This tiny land could not support a large population. As the Phoenicians increased in numbers, they were obliged to betake themselves to the sea. The Lebanon cedars furnished soft, white wood for shipbuilding, and the deeply indented coast offered excellent harbors. Thus the Phoenicians became preeminently a race of sailors. Their great cities, Sidon and Tyre, established colonies throughout the Mediterranean and had an extensive commerce with every region of the known world.
THE HEBREWS
The Hebrews lived south of Phoenicia in the land of Canaan, west of the Jordan River Their history begins with the emigration of twelve Hebrew tribes (called Israelites) from northern Arabia to Canaan. In their new home the Israelites gave up the life of wandering shepherds and became farmers. They learned from the Canaanites to till the soil and to dwell in towns and cities.
PERIOD OF THE JUDGES
The thorough conquest of Canaan proved to be no easy task. At first the twelve Israelitish tribes formed only a loose and weak confederacy without a common head. "In those days there was no king in Israel, every man did what was right in his own eyes." [10] The sole authority was that held by valiant chieftains and law-givers, such as Samson, Gideon, and Samuel, who served as judges between the tribes and often led them in successful attacks upon their foes. Among these were the warlike Philistines, who occupied the southwestern coast of Canaan. To resist the Philistines with success it was necessary to have a king who could bring all the scattered tribes under his firm, well-ordered rule.
REIGNS OF SAUL AND DAVID
In Saul, "a young man and a goodly," the warriors of Israel found a leader to unite them against their enemies. His reign was passed in constant struggles with the Philistines. David, who followed him, utterly destroyed the Philistine power and by further conquests extended the boundaries of the new state. For a capital city he selected the ancient fortress of Jerusalem. Here David built himself a royal palace and here he fixed the Ark, the sanctuary of Jehovah. Jerusalem became to the Israelites their dearest possession and the center of their national life.
[Illustration: Map, CANAAN as Divided among THE TRIBES]
REIGN OF SOLOMON, ABOUT 955-925 B.C.
The reign of Solomon, the son and successor of David, was the most splendid period in Hebrew history. His kingdom stretched from the Red Sea and the peninsula of Sinai northward to the Lebanon Mountains and the Euphrates. With the surrounding peoples Solomon was on terms of friendship and alliance. He married an Egyptian princess, a daughter of the reigning Pharaoh. He joined with Hiram, king of Tyre, in trading expeditions on the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. The same Phoenician monarch supplied him with the "cedars of Lebanon," with which he erected at Jerusalem a famous temple for the worship of Jehovah. A great builder, a wise administrator and governor, Solomon takes his place as a typical Oriental despot, the most powerful monarch of the age.
[Illustration: A PHOENICIAN WAR GALLEY From a slab found at Nineveh in the palace of the Assyrian king, Sennacherib. The vessel shown is a bireme with two decks. On the upper deck are soldiers with their shields hanging over the side. The oarsmen sit on the lower deck, eight at each side. The crab catching the fish is a humorous touch.]
SECESSION OF THE TEN TRIBES, ABOUT 925 B.C.
But the political greatness of the Hebrews was not destined to endure. The people were not ready to bear the burdens of empire. They objected to the standing army, to the forced labor on public buildings, and especially to the heavy taxes. The ten northern tribes seceded shortly after Solomon's death and established the independent kingdom of Israel, with its capital at Samaria. The two southern tribes, Judah and Benjamin, formed the kingdom of Judea, and remained loyal to the successors of Solomon.
[Illustration: Map, SOLOMON'S KINGDOM]
DECLINE OF THE HEBREW POWER
The two small Hebrew kingdoms could not resist their powerful neighbors. About two centuries after the secession of the Ten Tribes, the Assyrians overran Israel. Judea was subsequently conquered by the Babylonians. Both countries in the end became a part of the Persian Empire.
11. THE ASSYRIANS
GREATNESS OF ASSYRIA, 745-626 B.C.
Assyria, lying east of the Tigris River, was colonized at an early date by emigrants from Babylonia. After the Assyrians freed themselves from Babylonian control, they entered upon a series of sweeping conquests. Every Asiatic state felt their heavy hand. The Assyrian kings created a huge empire stretching from the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf, the Mediterranean, and the Nile. For the first time in Oriental history Mesopotamia and Egypt, with the intervening territory, were brought under one government.
CHARACTER OF ASSYRIAN RULE
This unification of the Orient was accomplished only at a fearful cost. The records of Assyria are full of terrible deeds—of towns and cities without number given to the flames, of the devastation of fertile fields and orchards, of the slaughter of men, women, and children, of the enslavement of entire nations. Assyrian monarchs, in numerous inscriptions, boast of the wreck and ruin they brought to many flourishing lands.
[Illustration: AN ASSYRIAN
From a Nineveh bas-relief. The original is colored.]
SARGON II, 722-705 B.C.
The treatment of conquered peoples by the Assyrian rulers is well illustrated by their dealings with the Hebrews. One of the mightiest monarchs was an usurper, who ascended the throne as Sargon II. Shortly after his succession he turned his attention to the kingdom of Israel, which had revolted. Sargon in punishment took its capital city of Samaria (722 B.C.) and led away many thousands of the leading citizens into a lifelong captivity in distant Assyria. The Ten Tribes mingled with the population of that region and henceforth disappeared from history.
[Illustration: ANCIENT ORIENTAL EMPIRES
Map, THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE about 660 B.C.
Map, LYDIA, MEDIA, BABYLONIA and EGYPT about 550 B.C.]
SENNACHERIB, 705-681 B.C.
Sargon's son, Sennacherib, though not the greatest, is the best known of Assyrian kings. His name is familiar from the many references to him in Old Testament writings. An inscription by Sennacherib describes an expedition against Hezekiah, king of Judea, who was shut up "like a caged bird in his royal city of Jerusalem." Sennacherib, however, did not capture the place. His troops were swept away by a pestilence. The ancient Hebrew writer conceives it as the visitation of a destroying angel: "It came to pass that night that the angel of Jehovah went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand; and when men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies." [11] So Sennacherib departed, and returned with a shattered army to Nineveh, his capital.
[Illustration: AN ASSYRIAN RELIEF (British Museum, London)
The relief represents the siege and capture of Lachish, a city of the
Canaanites, by Sennacherib's troops. Notice the total absence of
perspective in this work.]
DOWNFALL OF ASSYRIA, 606 B.C.
Although Assyria recovered from this disaster, its empire rested on unstable foundations. The subject races were attached to their oppressive masters by no ties save those of force. When Assyria grew exhausted by its career of conquest, they were quick to strike a blow for freedom. By the middle of the seventh century Egypt had secured her independence, and many other provinces were ready to revolt. Meanwhile, beyond the eastern mountains, the Medes were gathering ominously on the Assyrian frontier. The storm broke when the Median monarch, in alliance with the king of Babylon, moved upon Nineveh and captured it. The city was utterly destroyed.
[Illustration: THE ISHTAR GATE, BABYLON Explorations on the site of Babylon have been conducted since 1899 A.D. by the German Oriental Society. Large parts of the temple area, as well as sections of the royal palaces, have been uncovered. The most important structure found is the Ishtar Gate. The towers which flank it are adorned with figures of dragons and bulls in brilliantly colored glazed tile.]
PARTITION OF ASSYRIA
After the conquest of the Assyrian Empire the victors proceeded to divide the spoils. The share of Media was Assyria itself, together with the long stretch of mountain country extending from the Persian Gulf to Asia Minor. Babylonia obtained the western half of the Assyrian domains, including the Euphrates valley and Syria. Under its famous king, Nebuchadnezzar (604-561 B.C.), Babylonia became a great power in the Orient. It was Nebuchadnezzar who brought the kingdom of Judea to an end. He captured Jerusalem in 586 B.C., burned the Temple, and carried away many Jews into captivity. The day of their deliverance, when Babylon itself should bow to a foreign foe, was still far distant.
12. THE WORLD EMPIRE OF PERSIA
CYRUS THE GREAT, 553-529 B.C.
Not much earlier than the break-up of the Assyrian Empire, we find a new and vigorous people pressing into western Iran. They were the Persians, near kinsmen of the Medes. Subjects at first of Assyria, and then of Media, they regained their independence and secured imperial power under a conquering king whom history knows as Cyrus the Great. In 553 B.C. Cyrus revolted against the Median monarch and three years later captured the royal city of Ecbatana. The Medes and Persians formed henceforth a united people.
[Illustration: THE TOMB OF CYRUS THE GREAT The mausoleum is built of immense marble blocks joined together without cement. Its total height including the seven steps is about thirty five feet. A solitary pillar near the tomb still bears the inscription 'I am Cyrus, the King, the Achaemenian.']
CONQUEST OF LYDIA BY CYRUS, 546 B.C.
The conquest of Media was soon followed by a war with the Lydians, who had been allies of the Medes. The throne of Lydia, a state in the western part of Asia Minor, was at this time held by Croesus, the last and most famous of his line. The king grew so wealthy from the tribute paid by Lydian subjects and from his gold mines that his name has passed into the proverb, "rich as Croesus." He viewed with alarm the rising power of Cyrus and rashly offered battle to the Persian monarch. Defeated in the open field, Croesus shut himself up in Sardis, his capital. The city was soon taken, however, and with its capture the Lydian kingdom came to an end.
CAPTURE OF BABYLON, 539 B.C.
The downfall of Lydia prepared the way for a Persian attack on Babylonia. The conquest of that country proved unexpectedly easy. In 539 B.C. the great city of Babylon opened its gates to the Persian host. Shortly afterwards Cyrus issued a decree allowing the Jewish exiles there to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple, which Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed. With the surrender of Babylon the last Semitic empire in the East came to an end. The Medes and Persians, an Indo-European people, henceforth ruled over a wider realm than ever before had been formed in Oriental lands.
CAMBYSES, 529-522 B.C.
Cyrus was followed by his son, Cambyses, a cruel but stronghanded despot. Cambyses determined to add Egypt to the Persian dominions. His land army was supported by a powerful fleet, to which the Phoenicians and the Greeks of Cyprus contributed ships. A single battle sufficed to overthrow the Egyptian power and to bring the long rule of the Pharaohs to a close. [12]
DARIUS THE GREAT, 521-485 B.C.
The reign of Darius, the successor of Cambyses, was marked by further extensions of the frontiers. An expedition to the distant East added to the empire the region of the Punjab, [13] along the upper waters of the Indus. Another expedition against the wild Scythian tribes along the Danube led to conquests in Europe and brought the Persian dominions close to those of the Greeks. Not without reason could Darius describe himself in an inscription which still survives, as "the great king, king of kings, king of countries, king of all men."
[Illustration: DARIUS WITH HIS ATTENDANTS Bas-relief at Persepolis. The monarch's right hand grasps a staff or scepter, his left hand, a bunch of flowers. His head is surmounted by a crown, his body is enveloped in the long Median mantle. Above the king is a representation of the divinity which guarded and guided him. In the rear are two Persian nobles, one carrying the royal fan, the other the royal parasol.]
[Illustration: ROCK SEPULCHERS OF THE PERSIAN KINGS The tombs are those of Darius, Xerxes, and two of their successors. They are near Persepolis.]
ORGANIZATION OF THE PERSIAN EMPIRE
It was the work of Darius to provide for his dominions a stable government which should preserve what the sword had won. The problem was difficult. The empire was a collection of many peoples widely different in race, language, customs, and religion. Darius did not attempt to weld the conquered nations into unity. As long as the subjects of Persia paid tribute and furnished troops for the royal army, they were allowed to conduct their own affairs with little interference from the Great King.
THE SATRAPAL SYSTEM
The entire empire, excluding Persia proper, was divided into twenty satrapies, or provinces, each one with its civil governor, or satrap. The satraps carried out the laws and collected the heavy tribute annually levied throughout the empire. In most of the provinces there were also military governors who commanded the army and reported directly to the king. This device of intrusting the civil and military functions to separate officials lessened the danger of revolts against the Persian authority. As an additional precaution Darius provided special agents whose business it was to travel from province to province and investigate the conduct of his officials. It became a proverb that "the king has many eyes and many ears."
PERSIAN ROADS
Darius also established a system of military roads throughout the Persian dominions. The roads were provided at frequent intervals with inns, where postmen stood always in readiness to take up a letter and carry it to the next station. The Royal Road from Susa, the Persian capital, to Sardis in Lydia was over fifteen hundred miles long; but government couriers, using relays of fresh horses, could cover the distance within a week. An old Greek writer declares with admiration that "there is nothing mortal more swift than these messengers." [14]
UNION OF THE EAST UNDER PERSIA
The political history of the East fitly ends with the three Persian conquerors, Cyrus, Cambyses, and Darius, who thus brought into their huge empire every great state of Oriental antiquity. Medes and Persians, Babylonians and Assyrians, Lydians, Syrians, and Egyptians—all were at length united under a single dominion. In the reign of Darius this united Orient first comes into contact with the rising power of the Greek states of Europe. So we may leave its history here, resuming our narrative when we discuss the momentous conflict between Persia and Greece, which was to affect the course, not alone of Persian or Greek, but of all European history. [15]
[Illustration: Map, THE PERSIAN EMPIRE AT ITS GREATEST EXTENT (About 500
B. C.)]
STUDIES
1. On the map Physical Map of Asia, section 7. Physical Asia, topic Grand Divisions of Asia, see what regions of Asia are less than 500 feet above sea level; less than 3000 feet; less than 9000 feet; less than 15,000 feet; over 15,000 feet.
2. On an outline map of the Orient indicate eight important rivers, two gulfs, three inland seas, the great plateaus and plains, the principal mountain ranges, two important passes, and the various countries and cities mentioned in this chapter.
3. On an outline map draw the boundaries of the Persian Empire under Darius, showing what parts were conquered by Cyrus, Cambyses, and Darius, respectively.
4. For what were the following places noted: Jerusalem; Thebes; Tyre; Nineveh; and Babylon?
5. For what were the following persons famous: Hammurabi; Rameses II; Solomon; Cyrus; Nebuchadnezzar; and Darius?
6. Define and illustrate these terms: empire, kingdom, province, tributary state, satrapy.
7. Identity these dates: 606 B.C.; 539 B.C.; and 540 B.C.
8. Why was India better known in ancient times than China?
9. What modern countries are included within the limits of ancient Iran?
10. Why was a canal through the isthmus of Suez less needed in ancient times than to-day?
11. Can you suggest any reasons why the sources of the Nile remained unknown until late in the nineteenth century?
12. What is the origin of the name Delta applied to such a region as Lower Egypt?
13. Comment on the statement: "Egypt as a geographical expression is two things—the Desert and the Nile. As a habitable country it is only one thing—the Nile."
14. Why did the Greek traveler, Herodotus, call Egypt "the gift of the Nile"?
15. Distinguish between Syria and Assyria.
16. What is the exact meaning of the words, Hebrew, Israelite, and Jew? Describe some features of Assyrian warfare (illustration, page 35).
17. What modern countries are included within the limits of the Persian Empire under Darius?
18. Trace on the map facing page 40 the course of the Royal Road, noting the countries through which it passed.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Webster, Readings in Ancient History, chapter ii, "The Founders of the Persian Empire: Cyrus, Cambyses, and Darius."
[2] See page 16.
[3] See page 39.
[4] See page 125.
[5] Herodotus, i, 193.
[6] See page 8.
[7] It is interesting to note that Hebrew tradition (Genesis, ii, 8-15) places Paradise, the garden of God and original home of man, in southern Babylonia. The ancient name for this district was Edin (Eden).
[8] The problem of regulating the Nile inundation so as to distribute the water for irrigation when and where it is most needed has been solved by the building of the Assuan dam. It lies across the head of the first cataract for a distance of a mile and a quarter, and creates a lake two hundred and forty miles in length. This great work was completed in 1912 A.D. by the British officials who now control Egypt.
[9] See page 50.
[10] Judges, xvii, 6.
[11] 2 Kings, xix, 35. See Byron's poem, The Destruction of Sennacherib.
[12] See page 29.
[13] See page 21.
[14] Herodotus, viii, 98.
[15] See chapter v.
CHAPTER III
ORIENTAL CIVILIZATION [1]
13. SOCIAL CLASSES
REDISCOVERY OF THE ORIENT
Our present knowledge of the Orient has been gained within recent times. Less than a century ago no one could read the written records of the Egyptians and Babylonians. The decipherment of the Rosetta Stone, which contained an inscription in both Greek and hieroglyphics, led to the understanding of Egyptian writing. Scholars later succeeded in interpreting the Babylonian cuneiform script. Modern excavations in the valleys of the Nile and the Euphrates have now provided them with abundant material for study in the shape of books and inscriptions. As these are gradually deciphered, new light is being thrown on all features of ancient Oriental civilization.
[Illustration: A ROYAL NAME IN HIEROGLYPHICS (ROSETTA STONE) The cut shows the symbols contained in one of the oval rings, or cartouches, for Ptolemaios, the Greek name of King Ptolemy. Each symbol represents the initial letter of the Egyptian name for the object pictured. The objects in order are: a mat, a half-circle, a noose, a lion, a hole, two reeds, and a chair-back. The entire hieroglyph is read from left to right, as we read words in English.]
[Illustration: THE ROSETTA STONE. British Museum, London. A block of black basalt, three feet seven inches in height, found in 1799 A.D., near the Rosetta mouth of the Nile.]
THE KING AS AUTOCRAT
The Oriental peoples, when their history opens, were living under the monarchical form of government. The king, to his subjects, was the earthly representative of the god. Often, indeed, he was himself regarded as divine. The belief in the king's divine origin made obedience to him a religious obligation for his subjects. Every Oriental monarch was an autocrat. Every Oriental monarchy was a despotism.
THE KING'S DUTIES
The king had many duties. He was judge, commander, and high priest, all in one. In time of war, he led his troops and faced the dangers of the battle field. During intervals of peace, he was occupied with a constant round of sacrifices, prayers, and processions, which could not be neglected without exciting the anger of the gods. To his courtiers he gave frequent audience, hearing complaints, settling disputes, and issuing commands. A conscientious monarch, such as Hammurabi, who describes himself as "a real father to his people," must have been a very busy man.
[Illustration: AN EGYPTIAN COURT SCENE Wall painting from a tomb at Thebes. Shows a Pharaoh receiving Asiatic envoys bearing tribute. They are introduced by white robed Egyptian officials. The Asiatics may be distinguished by their gay clothes and black, sharp pointed beards.]
NOBLES AND PRIESTS
Besides the monarch and the royal family there was generally in Oriental countries an upper class of landowners. In Egypt the Pharaoh was regarded as sole owner of the land. Some of it he worked through his slaves, but the larger part he granted to his favorites, as hereditary estates. Such persons may be called the nobles. The different priesthoods also had much land, the revenues from which kept up the temples where they ministered. In Babylonia, likewise, we find a priesthood and nobility supported by the income from landed property.
THE MIDDLE CLASS
The middle class included professional men, shopkeepers independent farmers, and skilled craftsmen. Though regarded as inferiors, still they had a chance to rise in the world. If they became rich, they might hope to enter the upper class as priests or government officials.
WORKMEN AND PEASANTS
No such hopes encouraged the day laborer in the fields or shops. His lot was bitter poverty and a life of unending toil. If he was an unskilled workman, his wages were only enough to keep him and his family. He toiled under overseers who carried sticks and used them freely. "Man has a back," says an Egyptian proverb, "and only obeys when it is beaten." If the laborer was a peasant, he could be sure that the nobles from whom he rented the land and the tax collectors of the king would leave him scarcely more than a bare living.
SLAVES
At the very bottom of the social ladder were the slaves. Every ancient people possessed them. At first they were prisoners of war, who, instead of being slaughtered, were made to labor for their masters. At a later period people unable to pay their debts often became slaves. The treatment of slaves depended on the character of the master. A cruel and overbearing owner might make life a burden for his bondmen. Escape was rarely possible. Slaves were branded like cattle to prevent their running away. Hammurabi's code [2] imposed the death penalty on anybody who aided or concealed the fugitives. There was plenty of work for the slaves to perform—repairing dikes, digging irrigation canals, and erecting vast palaces and temples. The servile class in Egypt was not as numerous as in Babylonia, and slavery itself seems to have assumed there a somewhat milder form.
[Illustration: TRANSPORT OF AN ASSYRIAN COLOSSUS A slab from a gallery of Sennacherib's palace at Nineveh. The immense block is being pulled forward by slaves, who work under the lash.]
14. ECONOMIC CONDITIONS
FARMING
Such fruitful, well-watered valleys as those of the Nile and the Euphrates encouraged agricultural life. Farming was the chief occupation. Working people, whether slaves or freemen, were generally cultivators of the soil. All the methods of agriculture are pictured for us on the monuments. We mark the peasant as he breaks up the earth with a hoe or plows a shallow furrow with a sharp-pointed stick. We see the sheep being driven across sown fields to trample the seed into the moist soil. We watch the patient laborers as with hand sickles they gather in the harvest and then with heavy flails separate the chaff from the grain. Although their methods were very clumsy, ancient farmers raised immense crops of wheat and barley. The soil of Egypt and Babylonia not only supported a dense population, but also supplied food for neighboring peoples. These two lands were the granaries of the East.
[Illustration: PLOWING AND SOWING IN ANCIENT EGYPT]
MANUFACTURING
Many industries of to-day were known in ancient Egypt and Babylonia. There were blacksmiths, carpenters, stonecutters, workers in ivory, silver, and gold, weavers, potters, and glass blowers. The creations of these ancient craftsmen often exhibit remarkable skill. Egyptian linens were so wonderfully fine and transparent as to merit the name of "woven air." Babylonian tapestries, carpets, and rugs enjoyed a high reputation for beauty of design and color. Egyptian glass with its waving lines of different hues was much prized. Precious stones were made into beads, necklaces, charms, and seals. The precious metals were employed for a great variety of ornaments. Egyptian paintings show the goldsmiths at work with blowpipe and forceps, fashioning bracelets, rings, and diadems, inlaying objects of stone and wood, or covering their surfaces with fine gold leaf. The manufacture of tiles and glazed pottery was everywhere carried on. Babylonia is believed to be the original home of porcelain. Enameled bricks found there are unsurpassed by the best products of the present day.
TRADE
The development of the arts and crafts brought a new industrial class into existence. There was now need of merchants and shopkeepers to collect manufactured products where they could be readily bought and sold. The cities of Babylonia, in particular, became thriving markets. Partnerships between tradesmen were numerous. We even hear of commercial companies. Business life in ancient Babylonia wore, indeed, quite a modern look.
MONEY
Metallic money first circulated in the form of rings and bars. The Egyptians had small pieces of gold—"cow gold"—each of which was simply the value of a full-grown cow. [3] It was necessary to weigh the metal whenever a purchase took place. A common picture on the Egyptian monuments is that of the weigher with his balance and scales. Then the practice arose of stamping each piece of money with its true value and weight. The next step was coinage proper, where the government guarantees, not only the weight, but also the genuineness of the metal.
[Illustration: EGYPTIAN WEIGHING "COW GOLD"]
COINAGE
The honor of the invention of coinage is generally given to the Lydians, whose country was well supplied with the precious metals. As early as the eighth century B.C. the Lydian monarchs began to strike coins of electrum, a natural alloy of gold and silver. The famous Croesus,[4] whose name is still a synonym for riches, was the first to issue coins of pure gold and silver. The Greek neighbors of Lydia quickly adopted the art of coinage and so introduced it into Europe. [5]
BANKING
The use of money as a medium of exchange led naturally to a system of banking. In Babylonia, for instance, the bankers formed an important and influential class. One great banking house, established at Babylon before the age of Sennacherib, carried on operations for several centuries. Hundreds of legal documents belonging to this firm have been discovered in the huge earthenware jars which served as safes. The Babylonian temples also received money on deposit and loaned it out again, as do our modern banks. Knowledge of the principles of banking passed from Babylonia to Greece and thence to ancient Italy and Rome.
15. COMMERCE AND TRADE ROUTES
ASIATIC COMMERCE
The use of the precious metals as money greatly aided the exchange of commodities between different countries. The cities of the Tigris- Euphrates valley were admirably situated for commerce, both by sea and land. They enjoyed a central position between eastern and western Asia. The shortest way by water from India skirted the southern coast of Iran and, passing up the Persian Gulf, gained the valley of the two great rivers. Even more important were the overland roads from China and India which met at Babylon and Nineveh. Along these routes traveled long lines of caravans laden with the products of the distant East—gold and ivory, jewels and silks, tapestries, spices, and fine woods. Still other avenues of commerce radiated to the west and entered Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt. Many of these trade routes are in use even to-day.
[Illustration: Map, ANCIENT TRADE ROUTES]
COMMERCE WITH EUROPE
While the inhabitants of Babylonia and Assyria were able to control the caravan routes of Asia, it was reserved for a Syrian people, the Phoenicians, to become the pioneers of commerce with Europe. As early as 1500 B.C. the rich copper mines of Cyprus attracted Phoenician colonists to this island. [6] From Cyprus these bold mariners and keen business men passed to Crete, thence along the shores of Asia Minor to the Greek mainland, and possibly to the Black Sea. Some centuries later the Phoenicians were driven from these regions by the rising power of the Greek states. Then they sailed farther westward and established their trading posts in Sicily, Africa, and Spain. At length they passed through the strait of Gibraltar into the Atlantic and visited the shores of western Europe and Africa.
[Illustration: Map, PHOENICIAN AND GREEK COLONIES]
PHOENICIAN IMPORTS AND EXPORTS
The Phoenicians obtained a great variety of products from their widely scattered settlements. The mines of Spain yielded tin, lead, and silver. The tin was especially valuable because of its use in the manufacture of bronze. [7] From Africa came ivory, ostrich feathers, and gold; from Arabia, incense, perfumes, and costly spices. The Phoenicians found a ready sale for these commodities throughout the East. Still other products were brought directly to Phoenicia to provide the raw materials for her flourishing manufactures. The fine carpets and glassware, the artistic works in silver and bronze, and the beautiful purple cloths [8] produced by Phoenician factories were exported to every region of the known world.
PHOENICIAN VOYAGES OF EXPLORATION
The Phoenicians were the boldest sailors of antiquity. Some of their long voyages are still on record. We learn from the Bible that they made cruises on the Red Sea and Indian Ocean and brought the gold of Ophir— "four hundred and twenty talents"—to Solomon. [9] There is even a story of certain Phoenicians who, by direction of an Egyptian king, explored the eastern coast of Africa, rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and after three years' absence returned to Egypt through the strait of Gibraltar. A much more probable narrative is that of the voyage of Hanno, a Carthaginian admiral. We still possess a Greek translation of his interesting log book. It describes an expedition made about 500 B.C. along the western coast of Africa. The explorers seem to have sailed as far as the country now called Sierra Leone. Nearly two thousand years elapsed before a similar voyage along the African coast was undertaken.
PHOENICIAN SETTLEMENTS
Wherever the Phoenicians journeyed, they established settlements. Most of these were merely trading posts which contained the warehouses for the storage of their goods. Here the shy natives came to barter their raw materials for the finished products—cloths, tools, weapons, wine, and oil—which the strangers from the East had brought with them. Phoenician settlements sometimes grew to be large and flourishing cities. The colony of Gades in southern Spain, mentioned in the Old Testament as Tarshish, [10] survives to this day as Cadiz. The city of Carthage, founded in North Africa by colonists from Tyre, became the commercial mistress of the Mediterranean. Carthaginian history has many points of contact with that of the Greeks and Romans.
16. LAW AND MORALITY
BABYLONIAN CONTRACTS
It is clear that societies so highly organized as Phoenicia, Egypt, and Babylonia must have been held together by the firm bonds of law. The ancient Babylonians, especially, were a legal-minded people. When a man sold his wheat, bought a slave, married a wife, or made a will, the transaction was duly noted on a contract tablet, which was then filed away in the public archives. Instead of writing his name, a Babylonian stamped his seal on the wet clay of the tablet. Every man who owned property had to have a seal.
CODE OF HAMMURABI
The earliest laws were, of course, unwritten. They were no more than the long-established customs of the community. As civilization advanced, the usages that generally prevailed were written out and made into legal codes. A recent discovery has given to us the almost complete text of the laws which Hammurabi, the Babylonian king, ordered to be engraved on stone monuments and set up in all the chief cities of his realm. [11]
SUBJECT MATTER OF HAMMURABI'S CODE
The code of Hammurabi shows, in general, a high sense of justice. A man who tries to bribe a witness or a judge is to be severely punished. A farmer who is careless with his dikes and allows the water to run through flood his neighbor's land must restore the value of the grain he has damaged. The owner of a vicious ox which has gored a man must pay a heavy fine, provided he knew the disposition of the animal and had not blunted its horns. A builder who puts up a shaky house which afterwards collapses and kills the tenant is himself to be put to death. On the other hand, the code has some rude features. Punishments were severe. For injuries to the body there was the simple rule of retaliation: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a limb for a limb. A son who had struck his father was to have his hands cut off. The nature of the punishment depended, moreover, on the rank of the aggrieved party. A person who had caused the loss of a "gentleman's" eye was to have his own plucked out; but if the injury was done to a poor man, the culprit had only to pay a fine.
[Illustration: BABYLONIAN CONTRACT TABLET The actual tablet is on the right, on the left is a hollow clay case or envelope.]
IMPORTANCE OF HAMMURABI'S CODE
Hammurabi's laws thus present a vivid picture of Oriental society two thousand years before Christ. They always remained the basis of the Babylonian and Assyrian legal system. They were destined, also, to exert considerable influence upon Hebrew legislation. Centuries after Hammurabi the enactments of the old Babylonian king were reproduced in some of the familiar regulations of the laws of Moses. In this way they became the heritage of the Hebrews and, through them, of our modern world.
THE MOSAIC CODE
The laws which we find in the earlier books of the Bible were ascribed by the Hebrews to Moses. These laws covered a wide range of topics. They fixed all religious ceremonies, required the observance every seventh day of the Sabbath, dealt with marriage and the family, stated the penalties for wrongdoing, gave elaborate rules for sacrifices, and even indicated what foods must be avoided as "unclean." No other ancient people possessed so elaborate a code. The Jews throughout the world obey, to this day, its precepts. And modern Christendom still recites the Ten Commandments, the noblest summary of the rules of right living that has come down to us from the ancient world.
17. RELIGION
NATURE WORSHIP
Oriental ideas of religion, even more than of law and morality, were the gradual outgrowth of beliefs held by the Asiatic peoples in prehistoric times. Everywhere nature worship prevailed. The vault of heaven, earth and ocean, sun, moon, and stars were all regarded either as themselves divine or as the abode of divinities. The sun was an object of especial adoration. We find a sun god, under different names, in every Oriental country.
BABYLONIAN BELIEF IN EVIL SPIRITS
Another inheritance from prehistoric times was the belief in evil spirits. In Babylonia and Assyria this superstition became a prominent feature of the popular religion. Men supposed themselves to be constantly surrounded by a host of demons which caused insanity, sickness, disease, and death— all the ills of life. People lived in constant fear of offending these malignant beings.
MAGIC
To cope with evil spirits the Babylonian used magic. He put up a small image of a protecting god at the entrance to his house and wore charms upon his person. If he felt ill, he went to a priest, who recited a long incantation supposed to drive out the "devil" afflicting the patient. The reputation of the Babylonian priests was so widespread that in time the name "Chaldean" [12] came to mean one who is a magician. Some of their magical rites were borrowed by the Jews, and later by the Romans, from whom they entered Christian Europe. Another Babylonian practice which spread westward was that of divination, particularly by inspecting the entrails of animals slain in sacrifice. This was a very common method of divination among the Greeks and Romans. [13]
[Illustration: EGYPTIAN SCARAB The beetle, as a symbol of birth and resurrection, and hence of immortality, enjoyed much reverence in ancient Egypt. A scarab, or image of the beetle, was often worn as a charm and was placed in the mummy as an artificial heart.]
ASTROLOGY
Astrology received much attention. It was believed that the five planets, comets, and eclipses of the sun and moon exerted an influence for good or evil on the life of man. Babylonian astrology likewise extended to western lands and became popular among the Greeks and Romans. Some of it survives to the present time. When we name the days Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, we are unconscious astrologers, for in old belief the first day belonged to the planet Saturn, the second to the sun, and the third to the moon. [14] Superstitious people who try to read their fate in the stars are really practicing an art of Babylonian origin.
EGYPTIAN ANIMAL WORSHIP
Less influential in later times was the animal worship of the Egyptians. This, too, formed a heritage from the prehistoric past. Many common animals of Egypt—the cat, hawk, the jackal, the bull, the ram, the crocodile—were highly reverenced. Some received worship because deities were supposed to dwell in them. The larger number, however, were not worshiped for themselves, but as symbols of different gods.
MONOTHEISM IN PERSIA
In the midst of such an assemblage of nature deities, spirits, and sacred animals, it was remarkable that the belief in one god should ever have arisen. The Medes and Persians accepted the teachings of Zoroaster, a great prophet who lived perhaps as early as 1000 B.C. According to Zoroaster, Ahuramazda, the heaven-deity, is the maker and upholder of the universe. He is a god of light and order, of truth and purity. Against him stands Ahriman, the personification of darkness and evil. Ahuramazda in the end will overcome Ahriman and will reign supreme in a righteous world. Zoroastrianism was the only monotheistic religion developed by an Indo- European people. [15]
[Illustration: AMENHOTEP IV A striking likeness of an Egyptian king (reigned about 1375-1358 B.C.) who endeavored to introduce monotheism in Egypt by abolishing the worship of all gods except the sun god. This religious revolution ended in failure for after the king's death the old deities were restored to honor.]
HEBREW MONOTHEISM
The Hebrews, alone among the Semitic peoples of antiquity, were to develop the worship of their god, Jehovah, into a lasting monotheism. This was a long and gradual process Jehovah was at first regarded as the peculiar divinity of the Hebrews. His worshipers did not deny the existence of the gods of other nations. From the eighth century onward this narrow conception of Jehovah was transformed by the labors of the Hebrew prophets. They taught that Jehovah was the creator and ruler of the world and the loving father of all mankind. On Hebrew monotheism two world religions have been founded—Mohammedanism and Christianity.
EGYPTIAN IDEAS OF THE FUTURE LIFE
We do not find among the early Hebrews or any other Oriental people very clear ideas about the life after death. The Egyptians long believed that the soul of the dead man resided in or near the tomb, closely associated with the body. This notion seems to have first led to the practice of embalming the corpse, so that it might never suffer decay. If the body was not preserved, the soul might die, or it might become a wandering ghost, restless and dangerous to the living. Later Egyptian thought regarded the future state as a place of rewards and punishments. One of the chapters of the work called the Book of the Dead describes the judgment of the soul in the spirit world. If a man in the earthly life had not murdered, stolen, coveted the property of others, blasphemed the gods, borne false witness, ill treated his parents, or committed certain other wrongs, his soul would enjoy a blissful immortality.
[Illustration: MUMMY AND COVER OF COFFIN (U.S. National Museum,
Washington)]
BABYLONIAN AND HEBREW IDEAS OF THE FUTURE LIFE
Some Oriental peoples kept the primitive belief that after death all men, good and bad alike, suffered the same fate. The Babylonians supposed that the souls of the departed passed a cheerless existence in a gloomy and Hebrew underworld. The early Hebrew idea of Sheol, "the land of darkness and the shadow of death," [16] was very similar. Such thoughts of the future life left nothing for either fear or hope. In later times, however, the Hebrews came to believe in the resurrection of the dead and the last judgment, conceptions afterwards adopted by Christianity.
18. LITERATURE AND ART
THE EGYPTIAN BOOK OF THE DEAD
Religion inspired the largest part of ancient literature. Each Oriental people possessed sacred writings. The Egyptian Book of the Dead was already venerable in 3000 B.C. It was a collection of hymns, prayers, and magical phrases to be recited by the soul on its journey beyond the grave and in the spirit world. A chapter from this work usually covered the inner side of the mummy case.
[Illustration: THE JUDGMENT OF THE DEAD From a papyrus containing the Book of the Dead. The illustration shows a man and his wife (at the left) entering the hall in the spirit world, where sits the god of the dead with forty two jurors (seen above) as his assistants. The heart of the man, symbolized by a jar, is being weighed in balances by a jackal-headed god against a feather, the symbol of truth. The monster in the right hand corner stands ready to devour the soul, if the heart is found lighter than the feather.]
THE BABYLONIAN EPICS
Much more interesting are the two Babylonian epics, fragments of which were found on clay tablets in a royal library at Nineveh. The epic of the Creation tells how the god Marduk overcame a terrible dragon, the symbol of primeval chaos, and thus established order in the universe. Then with half the body of the dead dragon he made a covering for the heavens and set therein the stars. Next he caused the new moon to shine and made it the ruler of the night. His last work was the creation of man, in order that the service and worship of the gods might be established forever. The second epic contains an account of a flood, sent by the gods to punish sinful men. The rain fell for six days and nights and covered the entire earth. All men were drowned except the Babylonian Noah, his family, and his relatives, who safely rode the waters in an ark. This ancient narrative so closely resembles the Bible story in Genesis that we must trace them both to a common source.
[Illustration: THE DELUGE TABLET (British Museum London)
Contains the narrative of the flood as pieced together and published by
George Smith in 1872 A.D. There are sixteen fragments in the restoration.]
[Illustration: AN EGYPTIAN TEMPLE (RESTORED) The building extended along the Nile for nearly eight hundred feet. A double line of sphinxes led to the only entrance, in front of which were two obelisks and four colossal statues of Rameses II. Behind the first gateway, or pylon came an open court surrounded by a portico upheld by pillars. The second and third pylons were connected by a covered passage leading into another open court. Lower rooms at the rear of the temple contained the sanctuary of the god, which only the king and priests could enter.]
THE HEBREW BIBLE
All these writings are so ancient that their very authors are forgotten. The interest they excite is historical rather than literary. From Oriental antiquity only one great work has reached us that still has power to move the hearts of men—the Hebrew Bible.
EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE
Architecture, in Egypt, was the leading art. The Egyptians were the first people who learned to raise buildings with vast halls supported by ponderous columns. Their wealth and skill, however, were not lavished in the erection of fine private mansions or splendid public buildings. The characteristic works of Egyptian architecture are the tombs of the kings and the temples of the gods. The picture of the great structure at Thebes, which Rameses II completed, [17] will give some idea of an Egyptian temple with its gateways, open courts, obelisks, and statues.
[Illustration: AN EGYPTIAN WOODEN STATUE, (Museum of Gizeh) Found in a tomb near Memphis. The statue, which belongs to the age of the pyramid kings, represents a bustling, active, middle-class official.]
ARCHITECTURE IN BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA
The architecture of Babylonia and Assyria was totally unlike that of Egypt, because brick, and not stone, formed the chief building and Assyria material. In Babylonia the temple was a solid, square tower, built on a broad platform. It consisted usually of seven stages, which arose one above the other to the top, where the shrine of the deity was placed. The different stages were connected by an inclined ascent. The four sides of the temple faced the cardinal points, and the several stages were dedicated to the sun, moon, and five planets. In Assyria the characteristic building was the palace. But the sun-dried bricks, of which both temples and palaces were composed, lacked the durability of stone and have long since dissolved into shapeless mounds.
EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE
The surviving examples of Egyptian sculpture consist of bas-reliefs and figures in the round, carved from limestone and granite or cast in bronze. Many of the statues appear to our eyes very stiff and ungraceful. The sculptor never learned how to pose his figures easily or how to arrange them in an artistic group. In spite of these defects some Egyptian statues are wonderfully lifelike. [18]
[Illustration: AN ASSYRIAN PALACE (RESTORED) The royal residence of Sargon II near Nineveh was placed upon a high platform of brick masonry the top of which was gained by stairs and an inclined roadway. The palace consisted of a series of one storied rectangular halls and long corridors surrounding inner courts. They were provided with imposing entrances flanked by colossal human headed bulls representing guardian spirits. The entire building covered more than twenty three acres and contained two hundred apartments. In the rear is seen a temple tower.]
SCULPTURE IN BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA
Few examples have reached us of Babylonian and Assyrian sculpture in the round. As in Egypt, the figures seem rigid and out of proportion. The Assyrian bas-reliefs show a higher development of the artistic sense, especially in the rendering of animals. The sculptures that deal with the exploits of the kings in war and hunting often tell their story in so graphic a way as to make up for the absence of written records.
ORIENTAL PAINTING
Painting in the ancient East did not reach the dignity of an independent art. It was employed solely for decorative purposes. Bas-reliefs and wall surfaces were often brightly colored, The artist had no knowledge of perspective and drew all his figures in profile, without any distinction of light and shade. Indeed, Oriental painting, as well as Oriental sculpture, made small pretense to the beautiful. Beauty was born into the world with the art of the Greeks.
[Illustration: AN ASSYRIAN WINGED HUMAN HEADED BULL]
[Illustration: AN ASSYRIAN HUNTING SCENE (British Museum, London)
A bas relief from a slab found at Nineveh.]
19. SCIENCE AND EDUCATION
ARITHMETIC AND GEOMETRY
Conspicuous advance took place in the exact sciences. The leading operations of arithmetic were known. A Babylonian tablet gives a table of squares and cubes correctly calculated from 1 to 60. The number 12 was the basis of all reckonings. The division of the circle into degrees, minutes, and seconds (360°, 60', 60") was an invention of the Babylonians which illustrates this duodecimal system A start was made in geometry. One of the oldest of Egyptian books contains a dozen geometrical problems. This knowledge was afterwards developed into a true science by the Greeks.
ASTRONOMY
In both Egypt and Babylonia the cloudless skies and still, warm nights early led to astronomical research. At a remote period, perhaps before 4000 B.C., the Egyptians framed a solar calendar, [19] consisting of twelve months, each thirty days in length, with five extra days at the end of the year. This calendar was taken over by the Romans, [20] who added the system of leap years. The Babylonians made noteworthy progress in some branches of astronomy. They were able to trace the course of the sun through the twelve constellations of the zodiac and to distinguish five of the planets from the fixed stars. The successful prediction of eclipses formed another Babylonian achievement. Such astronomical discoveries must have required much patient and accurate observation.
GEOGRAPHY
Geographical ideas for a long time were very crude. An ancient map, scratched on clay, indicates that about eight centuries before Christ the Babylonians had gained some knowledge, not only of their own land, but even of regions beyond the Mediterranean. The chief increase in man's knowledge of the world in ancient times was due to the Phoenicians. [21]
PRACTICAL SCIENCES
The skill of Oriental peoples as mechanics and engineers is proved by their success as builders. The great pyramids exactly face the points of the compass. The principle of the round arch was known in Babylonia at a remote period The transportation of colossal stone monuments exhibits a knowledge of the lever, pulley, and inclined plane. [22] Babylonian inventions were the sundial and the water clock, the one to register the passage of the hours by day, the other by night. The Egyptians and Babylonians also made some progress in the practice of medicine.
[Illustration: A BABYLONIAN MAP OF THE WORLD A tablet of dark brown clay, much injured, dating from the 8th or 7th century B.C. The two large concentric circles indicate the ocean or, as it is called in the cuneiform writing between the circles, the 'Briny Flood.' Beyond the ocean are seven successive projections of land, represented by triangles. Perhaps they refer to the countries existing beyond the Black Sea and the Red Sea. The two parallel lines within the inner circle represent the Euphrates. The little rings stand for the Babylonian cities in this region.]
THE TEMPLE SCHOOL
The schools, in both Egypt and Babylonia, were attached to the temples and were conducted by the priests. Writing was the chief subject of instruction. It took many years of patient study to master the cuneiform symbols or the even more difficult hieroglyphics. "He who would excel in the school of the scribes," ran an ancient maxim, "must rise with the dawn." Writing was learned by imitating the examples supplied in copy- books. Some of the model letters studied by Egyptian boys of the twentieth century B.C. have come down to us. Reading, too, was an art not easy to learn. Dictionaries and grammars were written to aid the beginner. A little instruction was also provided in counting and calculating.
[Illustration: AN EGYPTIAN SCRIBE (Louvre, Paris)]
THE SCRIBES
Having learned to read and write, the pupil was ready to enter on the coveted career of a scribe. In a community where nearly every one was illiterate, the scribes naturally held an honorable place. They conducted the correspondence of the time. When a man wished to send a letter, he had a scribe write it, signing it himself by affixing his seal. When he received a letter, he usually employed a scribe to read it to him. The scribes were also kept busy copying books on the papyrus paper or clay tablets which served as writing materials.
THE TEMPLE LIBRARY
Every large city of Babylonia possessed a collection of books. Several of the larger libraries have been discovered. At Nippur, in Babylonia, thirty thousand clay tablets were found. Another great collection of books was unearthed in a royal palace at Nineveh. This Assyrian library seems to have been open for the general use of the king's subjects. The Egyptians also had their libraries, usually as adjuncts to the temples, and hence under priestly control.
WIDESPREAD POPULAR IGNORANCE
Learning and education were so closely limited to a few individuals that the mass of the people were sunk in deepest ignorance. Men could not pursue knowledge for themselves, but had to accept every thing on authority. Hence the inhabitants of Oriental lands remained a conservative folk, slow to abandon their time-honored beliefs and very unwilling to adopt a new custom even when clearly better than the old. This absence of popular education, more than anything else, made Oriental civilization unprogressive.
[Illustration: EXCAVATION AT NIPPUR Nippur was the ancient "Calneh in the land of Shinar" (Genesis, x, 10) Excavations here were conducted by the University of Pennsylvania during 1889-1900 A.D. The city contained an imposing temple, a library, a school, and even a little museum of antiquities.]
STUDIES
1. What was the origin of the "divine right" of kings?
2. Explain what is meant by despotism; by autocracy.
3. What European state comes nearest to being a pure despotism? What European monarch styles himself as an autocrat?
4. What do the illustrations on pages 38, 43 tell about the pomp of Oriental kings?
5. Why did the existence of numerous slaves in Egypt and Babylonia tend to keep low the wages of free workmen? Why is it true that civilization may be said to have begun "with the cracking of the slave whip"?
6. What light is thrown on the beginnings of money in ancient Egypt by the illustration on page 47?
7. Name some objects which, in place of the metals, are used by primitive peoples as money.
8. Interest in Babylonia was usually at the rate of 20% a year. Why is it so much lower in modern countries?
9. On the map, page 48, indicate the trade routes between eastern and western Asia which met in Mesopotamia.
10. The Phoenicians have been called "the English of antiquity." Can you give any reason for this characterization?
11. Why should the Phoenicians have been called the "colossal peddlers" of the ancient world?
12. What books of the Bible contain the laws of Israel?
13. What reasons can you suggest for the universal worship of the sun?
14. Define polytheism and monotheism, giving examples of each.
15. Describe the Egyptian conception of the judgment of the dead (illustration, page 56).
16. How many "books" are there in the Old Testament?
17. What is the Apocrypha?
18. How are the pyramids proof of an advanced civilization among the Egyptians?
19. What is a bas-relief? Select some examples from the illustrations.
20. From what Oriental peoples do we get the oldest true arch? the first coined money? the earliest legal code? the most ancient book?
21. Enumerate the most important contributions to civilization made in Oriental antiquity.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Webster, Readings in Ancient History, chapter 1, "Three Oriental Peoples as Described by Herodotus."
[2] See page 25.
[3] See page 6.
[4] See page 37.
[5] For illustrations of Oriental coins see the plate facing page 134.
[6] See page 4.
[7] See page 5.
[8] "Tyrian purple" was a dye secured from a species of shellfish found along the Phoenician coast and in Greek waters.
[9] See I Kings, ix, 26-28. The site of Ophir is not known, though probably it was in southern Arabia.
[10] See Ezekiel, xxvii, 12, 25.
[11] A monument containing the code of Hammurabi was found on the site of Susa in 1901-1902 A.D. See the illustration, page 25.
[12] Chaldea was another name for Babylonia.
[13] See page 148.
[14] The names of four other week days come from the names of old Teutonic deities. Tuesday is the day of Tyr, Wednesday of Woden (Odin), Thursday of Thunor (Thor), and Friday of the goddess Frigga. See page 304.
[15] Zoroastrians are still to be found in the East In Persia, now a Mohammedan country, there is a little band of devoted followers of Zoroaster, who keep up to this day the tenets of their ancient faith. In India the Parsees of Bombay are the descendants of those Persians who fled from Persia at the time of the Mohammedan conquest (page 376), rather than surrender their cherished beliefs and embrace a new religion.
[16] Job, X, 21.
[17] See page 28.
[18] See the illustrations, pages 27, 54, 58, 63.
[19] See page 13.
[20] See page 186, note 2.
[21] See page 48.
[22] See the illustration, page 46.
CHAPTER IV
THE LANDS OF THE WEST AND THE RISE OF GREECE TO ABOUT 500 B.C. [1]
20. PHYSICAL EUROPE
EUROPE A PENINSULA OF ASIA
The continent of Asia, projecting its huge bulk southwestward between the seas, gradually narrows into the smaller continent of Europe. The boundary between the two regions is not well defined. Ancient geographers found a convenient dividing line north of the Black Sea in the course of the river Don. Modern map makers usually place the division at the Ural Mountains, the Caspian Sea, and the Caucasus. Each of these boundaries is more or less arbitrary. In a geographical sense Europe is only the largest of the great Asiatic peninsulas.
PHYSICAL FEATURES OF EUROPE
But in physical features the two continents disclose the most striking contrasts. The sea, which washes only the remote edges of Asia, penetrates deeply into Europe and forms an extremely irregular coast line with numerous bays and harbors. The mountains of Europe, seldom very high and provided with easy passes, present no such barriers to intercourse as the mightier ranges of Asia. We miss in Europe the extensive deserts and barren table-lands which form such a feature of Asiatic geography. With the exception of Russia the surface, generally, is distributed into plains, hills, and valleys of moderate size. Instead of a few large rivers, such as are found in Asia, Europe is well supplied with numerous streams that make it possible to travel readily from one district to another.
CENTRAL AND NORTHERN EUROPE
The almost unbroken mountain chain formed by the Pyrenees, the Alps, and the Balkans, sharply separates the central land mass of Europe from the regions to the south. Central Europe consists, in general, of lowlands, which widen eastward into the vast Russian plain. Northern Europe includes the British Isles, physically an extension of Europe, and the peninsulas of Scandinavia and Finland, between the Baltic Sea and the Arctic Ocean. Twenty centuries ago central and northern Europe was a land of forests and marshes, of desolate steppes and icebound hills. The peoples who inhabited it—Celts in the west, Teutons or Germans in the north, Slavs in the east —were men of Indo-European [2] race and speech. They were still barbarians. During ancient times we hear little of them, except as their occasional migrations southward brought them into contact with the Greeks and the Romans.
SOUTHERN EUROPE
Southern Europe comprises the three peninsulas of Spain, Italy, and the Balkans, which reach far south into the Mediterranean. This great inland sea is divided into two parts near the center, where Africa and the island of Sicily almost touch each other across a narrow strait. The eastern part contains several minor seas, of which the one called the Aegean had most importance in Greek history.
21. GREECE AND THE AEGEAN
THE AEGEAN SEA
The Aegean is an almost landlocked body of water. The Balkan peninsula, narrowing toward the Mediterranean into the smaller peninsula of Greece, confines it on the west. On the east it meets a boundary in Asia Minor. The southern boundary is formed by a chain of islands, while the only opening northward is found in the narrow passage leading to the Black Sea. The coasts and islands of the Aegean thus make up a little world set off by itself.
[Illustration: Map, PHYSICAL MAP OF EUROPE]
CONTINENTAL GREECE
Continental Greece is a tiny country. Its greatest length is scarcely more than two hundred and fifty miles; its greatest breadth is only one hundred and eighty miles. Mountain ridges, offshoots of the Balkans, compose the greater part of its area. Into the valleys and deep gorges of the interior the impetuous sea has everywhere forced a channel. The coast line, accordingly, is most irregular—a constant succession of sharp promontories and curving bays. The mountains, crossing the peninsula in confused masses, break it up into numberless valleys and glens which seldom widen into plains. The rivers are not navigable. The few lakes, hemmed in by the hills, have no outlets except in underground channels. In this land of the Greeks no place is more than fifty miles from a mountain range, or more than forty miles from some long arm of the Mediterranean.
THE AEGEAN ISLANDS
From the Greek mainland to the coast of Asia Minor the traveler follows a route thickly studded with rocky islands. They are near enough together to permit the passage from one to another without losing sight of land. The Aegean islands thus served as "stepping-stones" between Greece and Asia Minor. [3]
WESTERN ASIA MINOR
Western Asia Minor resembles Continental Greece in its deeply indented coast, variety of scenery, and mild climate. The fertile river valleys of this region early attracted Greek colonists. They built here many flourishing cities, especially along the central coast, which came to be known as Ionia.
INFLUENCE OF GEOGRAPHICAL CONDITIONS
Greek history well illustrates the influence of geographical conditions on the life of a people. In the first place, mountain ranges cut up Continental Greece into many small states, separated from one another by natural ramparts. Hence the Greeks loved most of all their own local independence and always refused to unite into one nation under a single government. In the second place, the near presence of the sea made sailors of the Greeks and led them to devote much energy to foreign commerce. They early felt, in consequence, the stimulating effects of intercourse with other peoples. Finally, the location of Greece at the threshold of Asia, with its best harbors and most numerous islands on the eastern coast, enabled the country to receive and profit by all the culture of the Orient. Greece faced the civilized East.
22. THE AEGEAN AGE (TO ABOUT 1100 B.C.)
A PREHISTORIC CIVILIZATION
The Greeks of historic times knew very little about their prehistoric period. Instead of accurate knowledge they had only the beautiful legends preserved in ancient poems, such as the Iliad and the Odyssey. Within our own day, however, remarkable excavations have disclosed the remains of a widespread and flourishing civilization in times so distant that the historic Greeks had lost all sight of it. As in the Orient, [4] the labors of modern scholars are yearly adding to our knowledge of ancient life.
[Illustration: Map, AEGEAN CIVILIZATION]
[Illustration: EXCAVATIONS AT TROY The great northeast tower of the sixth city. The stairs at the right belong to the eighth city.]
SCHLIEMANN'S EXCAVATIONS AT TROY
The man who did most to reveal the prehistoric civilization of Greece was a wealthy German merchant named Heinrich Schliemann. An enthusiastic lover of Homer, he believed that the stories of the Trojan War related in the Iliad were not idle fancies, but real facts. In 1870 A.D. he started to test his beliefs by excavations at a hill called Hissarlik, on the northwestern coast of Asia Minor. Here tradition had always fixed the site of ancient Troy. Schliemann's discoveries and those of later explorers proved that at Hissarlik at least nine successive cities had come into existence, flourished, and passed away. Excavations completed in 1892 A.D. have shown that the sixth city in order from the bottom was the one described in the Homeric poems. It had powerful walls defended by towers, well-fortified gates, and palaces of stone. The marks of fire throughout the ruins indicate that the city must have been destroyed by a disastrous conflagration.
SCHLIEMANN'S EXCAVATIONS AT MYCENAE AND TIRYNS
The remarkable disclosures at Troy encouraged Schliemann to excavate other Homeric sites. At Mycenae, a prehistoric city of Argolis in Greece, he laid bare six rock-hewn graves, containing the skeletons of nineteen persons, men, women, and children. The faces of the dead had been covered with thin masks of gold, and their bodies had been decked with gold diadems, bracelets, and pendants. The other funeral offerings include gold rings, silver vases, and a variety of bronze weapons. At Tiryns, once the capital of Argolis, he uncovered the ruins of an extensive structure with gateways, open courts, and closed apartments. Characteristic of this edifice were the separate quarters occupied by men and women, the series of storerooms for provisions, and such a modern convenience as a bathroom with pipes and drains. In short, the palace at Tiryns gives us a clear and detailed picture of the home of a Homeric prince.
[Illustration: LIONS' GATE, MYCENAE The stone relief, of triangular shape, represents two lions (or lionesses) facing each other on opposite sides of a pillar. The heads of the animals have been lost.]
EVANS'S EXCAVATIONS AT GNOSSUS
But the fame of even Schliemann's discoveries has been somewhat dimmed by the excavations made since 1900 A.D. on the site of Gnossus, the ancient capital of the island of Crete. At Gnossus an Englishman, Sir Arthur Evans, has found the remains of an enormous palace, with numerous courts, passages, and rooms. Here is the royal council chamber with the throne on which the king once sat. Here are the royal magazines, still filled with huge earthenware jars for the storage of provisions. A great number of brilliant pictures—hunting scenes, landscapes, portraits of men and women—cover the palace walls. Buried in some of the chambers were thousands of clay tablets with inscriptions which, if ever read, will add new chapters to ancient history. [5]
[Illustration: THE VAPHIO GOLD CUPS (National Museum, Athens) These beautiful objects were found in 1888 within a "bee-hive" tomb at Vaphio in Laconia. The two cups are of beaten gold, ornamented with designs in repoussé work. The first scene represents a wild-bull hunt. The companion piece pictures four tame bulls under the care of a herdsman.]
[Illustration: SILVER FRAGMENT FROM MYCENAE (National Museum, Athens) A siege scene showing the bows, slings, and huge shields of Mycenaean warriors. In the background are seen the masonry of the city wall and the flat-roofed houses.]
ANTIQUITY OF AEGEAN CIVILIZATION
These discoveries in the Aegean enable us to place another venerable center of civilized life by the side of Babylonia and Egypt. As early as 3000 B.C. the primitive inhabitants of the Aegean were giving up the use of stone tools and weapons for those of metal. Bronze soon came into general use, as is shown by the excavations. The five centuries between 1600 and 1100 B.C. appear to have been the time when the civilization of the Aegean Age reached its highest development.
THE FINE ARTS
Remarkable progress took place during Aegean times in some of the fine arts. We find imposing palaces, often splendidly adorned and arranged for a life of comfort. Wall paintings, plaster reliefs, and fine carvings in stone excite our admiration. Aegean artists made beautiful pottery of many shapes and cleverly decorated it with plant and animal forms. They carved ivory, engraved gems, and excelled in the working of metals. Some of their productions in gold, silver, and bronze were scarcely surpassed by Greek artists a thousand years later. [6]
COMMERCE
There was much intercourse throughout the Mediterranean during this
period. Products of Aegean art have been found as far west as Sicily,
Italy, and Spain, Aegean pottery has frequently been discovered in
Egyptian tombs. Some objects unearthed in Babylonia are apparently of
Aegean workmanship. In those ancient days Crete was mistress of the seas.
Cretan merchants preceded the Phoenicians as carriers between Asia and
Europe. [7] Trade and commerce thus opened up the Mediterranean world to
all the cultural influences of the Orient.
[Illustration: A CRETAN GIRL (Museum of Candia, Crete) A fresco painting from the palace of Gnossus. The girl's face is so astonishingly modern in treatment that one can scarcely believe that the picture belongs to the sixteenth century B.C.]
DOWNFALL OF AEGEAN CIVILIZATION
Aegean civilization did not penetrate beyond the shores of Asia Minor, the islands, and the coasts of Continental Greece. The interior regions of the Greek peninsula remained the home of barbarous tribes, which had not yet learned to build cities, to create beautiful objects of art, or to traffic on the seas. By 1100 B.C. their destructive inroads brought the Aegean Age to an end.
23. THE HOMERIC AGE (ABOUT 1100-750 B.C.)
COMING OF THE NORTHERN BARBARIANS
The barbarians who overthrew Aegean civilization seem to have entered Greece from the north, perhaps from the region the Danube River. They pushed gradually southward, sometimes exterminating or enslaving the earlier inhabitants of the country, but more often settling peaceably in their new homes. Conquerors and conquered slowly intermingled and so produced the one Greek people which is found at the dawn of history. These Greeks, as we shall call them henceforth, also occupied the islands of the Aegean Sea and the coast of Asia Minor. The entire basin of the Aegean thus became a Greek world.
[Illustration: AEGEAN SNAKE GODDESS (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) A gold and ivory statuette found in Crete. Dates from the sixteenth century B.C. The goddess wears the characteristic Cretan dress, with low- cut jacket and full skirt with five plaited flounces. On her head is an elaborate crown.]
THE HOMERIC EPICS
The period between the end of the Aegean Age and the opening of historic times in Greece is usually called the Homeric Age, because many features of its civilization are reflected in two epic poems called the Iliad and the Odyssey. The former deals with the story of a Greek expedition against Troy; the latter describes the wanderings of the hero Odysseus on his return from Troy. The two epics were probably composed in Ionia, and by the Greeks were attributed to a blind bard named Homer. Many modern scholars, however, consider them the work of several generations of poets. The references in the Iliad and the Odyssey to industry, social life, law, government, and religion give us some idea of the culture which the historic Greeks received as their inheritance.
INDUSTRY
The Greeks as described in the Homeric epics were in a transitional stage between the life of shepherds and that of farmers. Wealth consisted chiefly of flocks and herds, though nearly every freeman owned a little plot of land on which he cultivated grain and cared for his orchard and vineyard. There were few skilled workmen, for almost everything was made at home. A separate class of traders had not yet arisen. Commerce was little followed. The Greeks depended on Phoenician sailors to bring to their shores the commodities which they could not produce themselves. Iron was known and used, for instance, in the manufacture of farm tools. During Homeric times, however, that metal had not yet displaced copper and bronze. [8]
SOCIAL LIFE
Social life was very simple. Princes tended flocks and built houses; princesses carried water and washed clothes. Agamemnon, Odysseus, and other heroes were not ashamed to be their own butchers and cooks. The Homeric knights did not ride on horseback, but fought from chariots. They sat at table instead of reclining at meals, as did the later Greeks. Coined money was unknown. Trade was by barter, values being reckoned in oxen or in lumps of gold and silver. Men bought their wives by making gifts of cattle to the parents. The art of writing is mentioned only once in the Homeric poems, and doubtless was little used.
[Illustration: A CRETAN CUPBEARER (Museum of Candia, Crete) A fresco painting from the palace of Gnossus. The youth carries a silver cup ornamented with gold. His waist is tightly drawn in by a girdle, his hair is dark and curly, his profile is almost classically Greek.]
LAW AND MORALITY
The times were rude. Wars, though petty, were numerous and cruel. The vanquished suffered death or slavery. Piracy, flourishing upon the unprotected seas, ranked as an honorable occupation. It was no insult to inquire of a seafaring stranger whether he was pirate or merchant. Murders were frequent. The murderer had to dread, not a public trial and punishment, but rather the personal vengeance of the kinsmen of his victim. The Homeric Greeks, in fact, exhibited the usual defects and vices of barbarous peoples.
HOMERIC GEOGRAPHY
The Iliad and Odyssey disclose a considerable acquaintance with peninsular Greece and the coasts of Asia Minor. Cyprus, Egypt, and Sicily are also known in part. The poet imagines the earth as a sort of flat shield, with Greece lying in the center. [9] The Mediterranean, "The Sea," as it is called by Homer, and its continuation, the Euxine, [10] divided the world into two equal parts. Surrounding the earth was "the great strength of the Stream of Ocean," [11] a river, broad and deep, beyond which lay the dark and misty realm of the mythical Cimmerians. The underworld of Hades, home of the dead, was beneath the surface of the earth.
[Illustration: Map, THE WORLD according to HOMER (900 B.C.)]
[Illustration: Map, GREEK CONQUESTS AND MIGRATIONS]
24. EARLY GREEK RELIGION
THE OLYMPIAN COUNCIL
We may learn from the Homeric poems what were the religious ideas held by the early Greeks. The greater gods and goddesses were not numerous. Less than a score everywhere received worship under the same names and in all the temples. Twelve of the chief deities formed a select council, which was supposed to meet on the top of snow-crowned Olympus. The Greeks, however, did not agree as to what gods and goddesses should be included in this august assemblage.
ATTRIBUTES OF THE DEITIES
Many of the Olympian deities appear to have been simply personifications of natural phenomena. Zeus, "father of gods and men," as Homer calls him, was a heaven god, who gathered the clouds in storms and hurled the lightning bolt. Apollo, a mighty god of light, who warded off darkness and evil, became the ideal of manly beauty and the patron of music, poetry, and healing. Dionysus was worshiped as the god of sprouting and budding vegetation. Poseidon, brother of Zeus, ruled the sea. Hera, the wife of Zeus, represented the female principle in nature. Hence she presided over the life of women and especially over the sacred rites of marriage. Athena, who sprang full-grown from the forehead of Zeus, embodied the idea of wisdom and all womanly virtues. Aphrodite, who arose from the foam of the sea, was the goddess of love and beauty. Demeter, the great earth- mother, watched over seed-time and harvest. Each deity thus had a kingdom and a function of its own.
[Illustration: GREEK GODS AND GODDESSES
ZEUS OTRICOLI, Vatican Gallery, Rome
HERA, Ludovisi Villa, Rome
APOLLO OF THE BELVEDERE, Vatican Gallery, Rome
APHRODITE OF CNIDUS, Glyptothek, Munich]
[Illustration: THE APHRODITE OF MELOS (Louvre, Paris) More commonly known as the "Venus of Milo." The statue was discovered in 1820 A.D. on the island of Melos. It consists of two principal pieces joined together across the folds of the drapery. Most art critics date this work about 100 B.C. The strong serene figure of the goddess sets forth the Greek ideal of female loveliness.]
CONCEPTIONS OF THE DEITIES
The Greeks made their gods and goddesses after themselves. The Olympian divinities are really magnified men and women, subject to all human passions and appetites, but possessed of more than human power and endowed with immortality. They enjoy the banquet, where they feast on nectar and ambrosia; they take part in the struggles of the battle field; they marry and are given in marriage. The gods, morally, were no better than their worshipers. They might be represented as deceitful, dissolute, and cruel, but they could also be regarded as upholders of truth and virtue. Even Homer could say, "Verily the blessed gods love not evil deeds, but they reverence justice and the righteous acts of men." [12]
[Illustration: THE FRANÇOIS VASE (Archaeological Museum, Florence) Found in an Etruscan grave in 1844 A.D. A black-figured terra cotta vase of about 600 B.C. It is nearly three feet in height and two an one half feet in diameter. The figures on the vase depict scenes from Greek mythology.
Calydonian boar hunt
Games at the funeral of Patroclus
Peleus Thetis and the gods
Pursuit of Troilus by Achilles
Animal scenes, sphinxes, etc.]
IDEAS OF THE OTHER WORLD
Greek ideas of the other world were dismal to an extreme. The after-life in Hades was believed to be a shadowy, joyless copy of the earthly existence. In Hades the shade of great Achilles exclaims sorrowfully, "Nay, speak not comfortably to me of death. Rather would I live on earth as the hireling of another, even with a landless man who had no great livelihood, than bear sway among all the dead." [13] It was not until several centuries after Homer that happier notions of the future life were taught, or at least suggested, in the Eleusinian mysteries. [14]
25. RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS: ORACLES AND GAMES
ORACLE OF APOLLO AT DELPHI
The Greeks believed that communications from the gods were received from certain inspired persons at places called oracles. The oracle of Apollo at Delphi in Phocis enjoyed the utmost veneration. It lay within a deep cave on the rocky side of Mount Parnassus. Out of a chasm rose a volcanic vapor which had a certain intoxicating power. The Pythia, or prophetess of Apollo, sat on a tripod over the steaming cleft and inhaled the gas. The words she uttered in delirium were supposed to come from the god. They were taken down by the attendant priests, written out in verse, and delivered to the suppliants.
INQUIRIES AT THE ORACLE
The fame of Apollo as the patron of inspiration and prophecy spread throughout Greece and penetrated to foreign lands. Every year thousands of visitors made their way to Apollo's shrine. Sick men prayed for health, childless men prayed for offspring. Statesmen wished to learn the fate of their political schemes; ambassadors sent by kings and cities sought advice as to weighty matters of peace and war. Above all, colonists came to Delphi in order to obtain directions as to the best country in which to settle. Some of the noblest cities of the Greek world, Cyrene and Byzantium, for example, [15] had their sites fixed by Apollo's guidance.
[Illustration: CONSULTING THE ORACLE AT DELPHI]
CHARACTER OF THE RESPONSES
The priests who managed the oracle and its responses were usually able to give good advice to their inquirers, because news of every sort streamed into Delphi. When the priests were doubtful what answer to give, the prophecy of the god was sometimes expressed in such ambiguous fashion that, whatever the outcome, neither Apollo nor his servants could be charged with deceit. For instance, when Croesus, the Lydian king, was about to attack Cyrus, he learned from the oracle that "if he warred with the Persians he would overthrow a mighty empire" [16]—but the mighty empire proved to be his own. [17]
THE OLYMPIAN GAMES
Athletic games were held in different parts of Greece from a remote period. The most famous games were those in honor of Zeus at Olympia in Elis. They took place every fourth year, in midsummer. [18] A sacred truce was proclaimed for an entire month, in order that the thousands of spectators from every part of Greece might arrive and depart in safety. No one not of Greek blood and no one convicted of crime or of the sin of impiety might participate in the contests. The candidates had also to prove that they were qualified for the severe tests by a long and hard training. Once accepted as competitors, they could not withdraw. The man who shrank back when the hour of trial arrived was considered a coward and was punished with a heavy fine.
THE CONTESTS
The games occupied five days, beginning with the contests in running. There was a short-distance dash through the length of the stadium, a quarter-mile race, and also a longer race, probably for two or three miles. Then followed a contest consisting of five events: the long jump, hurling the discus, throwing the javelin, running, and wrestling. It is not known how victory in these five events taken together was decided. In the long jump, weights like dumb-bells were held in the hands, the swing of the weights being used to assist the spring. The discus, which weighed about twelve pounds, was sometimes hurled more than one hundred feet. The javelin was thrown either by the hand alone or with the help of a thong wound about the shaft and held in the fingers. In wrestling, three falls were necessary for a victory. The contestants were free to get their grip as best they could. Other contests included boxing, horse races, and chariot races. Women were apparently excluded from the games, yet they were allowed to enter horses for the races and to set up statues in honor of the victors.
[Illustration: THE DISCUS THROWER (DISCOBOLUS) (Lancelotti Palace, Rome) Marble copy of the bronze original by Myron, a sculptor of the fifth century B.C. Found in 1781 A.D. on the Esquiline Hill, Rome. The statue represents a young man, perhaps an athlete at the Olympian games, who is bending forward to hurl the discus. His body is thrown violently to the left with a twisting action that brings every muscle into play.]
THE VICTOR'S REWARD
The Olympian festival was profoundly religious, because the display of manly strength was thought to be a spectacle most pleasing to the gods. The winning athlete received only a wreath of wild olive at Olympia, but at home he enjoyed the gifts and veneration of his fellow-citizens. Poets celebrated his victories in noble odes. Sculptors reproduced his triumphs in stone and bronze. To the end of his days he remained a distinguished man.
[Illustration: HERMES AND DIONYSUS (Museum of Olympia) An original statue by the great sculptor, Praxiteles. It was found in 1877 A.D. at Olympia. Hermes is represented carrying the child Dionysus, whom Zeus had intrusted to his care. The symmetrical body of Hermes is faultlessly modeled; the poise of his head is full of dignity; his expression is refined and thoughtful. Manly strength and beauty have never been better embodied than in this work.]
[Illustration: ATHLETE USING THE STRIGIL (APOXYOMENUS) (Vatican Gallery,
Rome)
Marble copy of the bronze original by Lysippus, a sculptor of the fourth century B.C. The statue represents an athlete rubbing his arm with a flesh scraper to remove the oil and sand of the palestra, or exercising ground. His slender form suggests quickness and agility rather than great strength.]
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE GAMES
There were few Greeks who at least once in their lives did not attend the festival. The crowds that gathered before and after the games turned the camp into a great fair, at which merchants set up their shops and money changers their tables. Poets recited their lines before admiring audiences and artists exhibited their masterpieces to intending purchasers. Heralds read treaties recently formed between Greek cities, in order to have them widely known. Orators addressed the multitude on subjects of general interest. The games thus helped to preserve a sense of fellowship among Greek communities.
26. THE GREEK CITY-STATE
NATURE OF THE CITY STATE
The Greeks in Homeric times had already begun to live in towns and cities. A Greek city, being independent and self-governing, is properly called a city-state. Just as a modern nation, it could declare war, arrange treaties, and make alliances with its neighbors. Such a city-state included not only the territory within its walls, but also the surrounding district where many of the citizens lived.
THE CITIZENS
The members of a Greek city-state were very closely associated. The citizens believed themselves to be descended from a common ancestor and so to be all related. They were united, also, in the worship of the patron god or hero who had them under his protection. These ties of supposed kinship and common religion were of the utmost importance. They made citizenship a privilege which came to a person only by birth, a privilege which he lost by removal to another city. Elsewhere he was only a foreigner without legal rights—a man without a country.
GOVERNMENT OF THE CITY-STATE
The Homeric poems, which give us our first view of the Greek city-state, also contain the most ancient account of its government. Each city-state had a king, "the shepherd of the people" [19] as Homer calls him. The king did not possess absolute authority. He was surrounded by a council of nobles, chiefly the great landowners of the community. They helped him in judgment and sacrifice, followed him to war, and filled the principal offices. Both king and nobles were obliged to consult the common people on matters of great importance. For this purpose the ruler would summon the citizens to the market place to hear the deliberations of his council and to settle such questions as making war or declaring peace. All men of free birth could attend the assembly, where they shouted assent to the decision of their leaders or showed disapproval by silence. This public assembly had little importance in the Homeric Age, but later it became the center of Greek democracy.
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE CITY-STATE
After the middle of the eighth century B.C., when historic times began in Greece, some interesting changes took place in the government of the city- states. In some of them, for example, Thebes and Corinth, the nobles became strong enough to abolish the kingship altogether. Monarchy, the rule of one, thus gave away to aristocracy, [20] the rule of the nobles. In other states, for instance, Sparta and Argos, the kings were not driven out, but their power was much weakened. Some states came under the control of usurpers whom the Greeks called "tyrants." A tyrant was a man who gained supreme power by force and governed for his own benefit without regard to the laws. There were many tyrannies in the Greek world during the seventh and sixth centuries B.C. Still other states went through an entire cycle of changes from kingship to aristocracy, from aristocracy to tyranny, and from tyranny to democracy or popular rule.
SPARTA AND ATHENS AS TYPES OF THE CITY-STATE
The isolated and independent Greek communities thus developed at an early period many different kinds of government. To study them all would be a long task. It is better to fix our attention on the two city-states which held the principal place in Greek history and at the same time presented the most striking contrasts in government and social life. These were Sparta and Athens.
27. THE GROWTH OF SPARTA (TO 500 B.C.)
SPARTA AND THE PELOPONNESIAN LEAGUE
The Greek invaders who entered southern Greece, or the Peloponnesus, [21] were known as Dorians. They founded the city of Sparta, in the district of Laconia. By the close of the sixth century B.C. the Spartans were able to conquer their immediate neighbors and to organize some of the city-states of the Peloponnesus into a strong confederacy called the Peloponnesian League. The members of the league did not pay tribute, but they furnished troops to serve in war under Spartan leaders, and they looked to Sparta for guidance and protection. Thus this single city became the foremost power in southern Greece.
SPARTA A MILITARY CAMP
It is clear that the Spartans must have been an extremely vigorous and warlike people. Their city, in fact, formed a military camp, garrisoned by soldiers whose whole life was passed in war and in preparation for war. The Spartans were able to devote themselves to martial pursuits because they possessed a large number of serfs, called helots. The helots tilled the lands of the Spartans and gave up to their masters the entire product of their labor, except what was necessary for a bare subsistence.
GOVERNMENT OF SPARTA
Spartan government also had a military character. In form the state was a kingdom, but since there were always two kings reigning at once and enjoying equal authority, neither of them could become very powerful. The real management of public affairs lay in the hands of five men, known as ephors, who were elected every year by the popular assembly. The ephors accompanied the kings in war and directed their actions; guided the deliberations of the council of nobles and the assembly of freemen; superintended the education of children; and exercised a general oversight of the private life of citizens. The ephors had such absolute control over the lives and property of the Spartans that we may describe their rule as socialistic and select Sparta as an example of ancient state socialism. Nowhere else in the Greek world was the welfare of the individual man so thoroughly subordinated to the interests of the society of which he formed a unit.
THE SPARTAN BOY
Spartan education had a single purpose—to produce good soldiers and obedient citizens. A sound body formed the first essential. A father was required to submit his son, soon after birth, to an inspection by the elders of his tribe. If they found the child puny or ill-shaped, they ordered it to be left on the mountain side, to perish from exposure. At the age of seven a boy was taken from his parents' home and placed in a military school. Here he was trained in marching, sham fighting, and gymnastics. He learned to sing warlike songs and in conversation to express himself in the fewest possible words. Spartan brevity of speech became proverbial. Above all he learned to endure hardship without complaint. He went barefoot and wore only a single garment, winter and summer. He slept on a bed of rushes. Every year he and his comrades had to submit to a flogging before the altar of the goddess Artemis, and the hero was the lad who could bear the whipping longest without giving a sign of pain. It is said that boys sometimes died under the lash rather than utter a cry. Such ordeals are still a feature of savage life to-day.
THE ADULT SPARTAN
On reaching the age of twenty the youth was considered a warrior. He did not live at home, but passed his time in barracks, as a member of a military mess to which he contributed his proper share of food, wine, and money. At the age of thirty years the young Spartan became a full citizen and a member of the popular assembly. He was then compelled to marry in order to raise children for the state. But marriage did not free him from attendance at the public meals, the drill ground, and the gymnasium. A Spartan, in fact, enjoyed little home life until his sixtieth year, when he became an elder and retired from actual service.
EXCELLENCE OF THE SPARTAN SOLDIERY
This exclusive devotion to military pursuits accomplished its object. The Spartans became the finest soldiers of antiquity. "All the rest of the Greeks," says an ancient writer, "are amateurs; the Spartans are professionals in the conduct of war." [22] Though Sparta never produced great thinkers, poets or artists, her military strength made her the bulwark of Greece against foreign foes. The time was to come when Greece, to retain her liberties, would need this disciplined Spartan soldiery. [23]
28. THE GROWTH OF ATHENS (to 500 B.C.)
ATHENS AS A CITY-STATE
The district of Attica, though smaller than our smallest American commonwealth, was early filled with a number of independent city-states. It was a great step in advance when, long before the dawn of Greek history, these tiny communities were united with Athens. The inhabitants of the Attic towns and villages gave up their separate governments and became members of the one city-state of Athens. Henceforth a man was a Athenian citizen, no matter in what part of Attica he lived.
OPPRESSIVE RULE OF THE NOBLES
At an earlier period, perhaps, than elsewhere in Greece, monarchy at Athens disappeared before the rising power of the nobles. The rule of the nobility bore harshly on the common people. Popular discontent was especially excited at the administration of justice. There were at first no written laws, but only the long-established customs of the community. Since all the judges were nobles, they were tempted to decide legal cases in favor of their own class. The people, at length, began to clamor for a written code. They could then know just what the laws were.
DRACO'S CODE, 621 B.C.
After much agitation an Athenian named Draco was employed to write out a code for the state. The laws, as published, were very severe. The penalty for most offenses, even the smallest theft, was death. The Athenians used to declare that the Draconian code had been written, "not in ink, but in blood." Its publication, however, was a popular triumph and the first step toward the establishment of Athenian democracy.
LEGISLATION OF SOLON, 594-593 B.C.
The second step was the legislation of Solon. This celebrated Athenian was accounted among the wisest men of his age. The people held him in high honor and gave him power to make much-needed reforms. At this time the condition of the Attic peasants was deplorable. Many of them had failed to pay their rent to the wealthy landowners, and according to the old custom were being sold into slavery. Solon abolished the custom and restored to freedom all those who had been enslaved for debt. He also limited the amount of land which a noble might hold. By still another law he admitted even the poorest citizens to the popular assembly, where they could vote for magistrates and judge of their conduct after their year of office was over. By giving the common people a greater share in the government, Solon helped forward the democratic movement at Athens.
TYRANNY OF PISISTRATUS, 560-527 B.C.
Solon's reforms satisfied neither the nobility nor the commons. The two classes continued their rivalry until the disorder of the times enabled an ambitious politician to gain supreme power as a tyrant. [24] He was Solon's own nephew, a noble named Pisistratus. The tyrant ruled with moderation and did much to develop the Athenian city-state. He fostered agriculture by dividing the lands of banished nobles among the peasants. His alliances with neighboring cities encouraged the rising commerce of Athens. The city itself was adorned with handsome buildings by architects and sculptors whom Pisistratus invited to his court from all parts of Greece.
REFORMS OF CLISTHENES, 508-507 B.C.
Pisistratus was succeeded by his two sons, but the Athenians did not take kindly to their rule. Before long the tyranny came to an end. The Athenians now found a leader in a noble named Clisthenes, who proved to be an able statesman. He carried still further the democratic movement begun by Draco and Solon. One of his reforms extended Athenian citizenship to many foreigners and emancipated slaves ("freedmen") then living in Attica. This liberal measure swelled the number of citizens and helped to make the Athenians a more progressive people. Clisthenes, it is said, also established the curious arrangement known as ostracism. Every year, if necessary, the citizens were to meet in assembly and to vote against any persons whom they thought dangerous to the state. If as many as six thousand votes were cast, the man who received the highest number of votes had to go into honorable exile for ten years. [25] Though ostracism was intended as a precaution against tyrants, before long it came to be used to remove unpopular politicians.
ATHENS A DEMOCRATIC STATE
There were still some steps to be taken before the rule of the people was completely secured at Athens. But, in the main, the Athenians by 500 B.C. had established a truly democratic government, the first in the history of the world. The hour was now rapidly approaching when this young and vigorous democracy was to show forth its worth before the eyes of all Greece.
29. COLONIAL EXPANSION OF GREECE (ABOUT 750-500 B.C.)
THE GREAT AGE OF COLONIZATION
While Athens, Sparta, and their sister states were working out the problems of government, another significant movement was going on in the Greek world. The Greeks, about the middle of the eighth century B.C., began to plant numerous colonies along the shores of the Mediterranean and of the Black Sea. The great age of colonization covered more than two hundred years. [26]
REASONS FOR FOUNDING COLONIES
Several reasons led to the founding of colonies. Trade was an important motive. The Greeks, like the Phoenicians, [27] could realize large profits by exchanging their manufactured goods for the food and raw materials of other countries. Land hunger was another motive. The poor soil of Greece could not support many inhabitants and, when population increased, emigration afforded the only means of relieving the pressure of numbers. A third motive was political and social unrest. Greek cities at this period contained many men of adventurous disposition who were ready to seek in foreign countries a refuge from the oppression of nobles or tyrants. They hoped to find in their new settlements more freedom than they had at home.
CHARACTER OF THE GREEK COLONY
A Greek colony was not simply a trading post; it was a center of Greek life. The colonists continued to be Greeks in customs, language, and religion. Though quite independent of the parent state, they always regarded it with reverence and affection: they called themselves "men away from home." Mother city and daughter colony traded with each other and in time of danger helped each other. A symbol of this unity was the sacred fire carried from the public hearth of the old community to the new settlement.
COLONIZATION IN THE NORTH AND EAST
The Greeks planted many colonies on the coast of the northern Aegean and on both sides of the long passage between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Their most important colony was Byzantium, upon the site where Constantinople now stands. They also made settlements along the shores of the Black Sea. The cities founded here were centers from which the Greeks drew their supplies of fish, wood, wool, grain, metals, and slaves. The immense profits to be gained by trade made the Greeks willing to live in a cold country so unlike their own and among barbarous peoples.
COLONIZATION IN THE WEST
The western lands furnished far more attractive sites for colonization. The Greeks could feel at home in southern Italy, where the genial climate, pure air, and sparkling sea recalled their native land. At a very early date they founded Cumae, on the coast just north of the bay of Naples. Emigrants from Cumae, in turn, founded the city of Neapolis (Naples), which in Roman times formed a home of Greek culture and even to-day possesses a large Greek population. To secure the approaches from Greece to these remote colonies, two strongholds were established on the strait of Messina: Regium (modern Reggio) on the Italian shore and Messana (modern Messina) on that of Sicily. Another important colony in southern Italy was Tarentum (modern Taranto).
[Illustration: "TEMPLE OF NEPTUNE," PAESTUM Paestum, the Greek Poseidonia, was a colony of Sybaris The malarial atmosphere of the place led to its desertion in the ninth century of our era. Hence the buildings there were not used as quarries for later structures. The so called "Temple of Neptune" at Paestum is one of the best preserved monuments of antiquity.]
THE SICILIAN COLONIES
Greek settlements in Sicily were mainly along the coast. Expansion over the entire island was checked by the Carthaginians, who had numerous possessions at its western extremity. The most celebrated colony in Sicily was Syracuse, established by emigrants from Corinth. It became the largest of Greek cities.
OTHER MEDITERRANEAN COLONIES
In Corsica, Sardinia, and on the coast of Spain Carthage also proved too obstinate a rival for the Greeks to gain much of a foothold. The city of Massilia (Marseilles), at the mouth of the Rhone, was their chief settlement in ancient Gaul. Two colonies on the southern shore of the Mediterranean were Cyrene, west of Egypt, and Naucratis, in the Delta of the Nile. From this time many Greek travelers visited Egypt to see the wonders of that strange old country.
RESULTS OF COLONIZATION
Energetic Greeks, the greatest colonizers of antiquity, thus founded settlements from the Black Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. "All the Greek colonies" says an ancient writer, "are washed by the waves of the sea, and, so to speak, a fringe of Greek earth is woven on to foreign lands." [28] To distinguish themselves from the foreigners, or "barbarians," [29] about them, the Greeks began to call themselves by the common name of Hellenes. Hellas, their country, came to include all the territory possessed by Hellenic peoples. The life of the Greeks, henceforth, was confined no longer within the narrow limits of the Aegean. Wherever rose a Greek city, there was a scene of Greek history.
30. BONDS OF UNION AMONG THE GREEKS
LANGUAGE AS A UNIFYING FORCE
The Greek colonies, as we have seen, were free and independent. In Greece itself the little city-states were just as jealous of their liberties. Nevertheless ties existed, not of common government, but of common interests and ideals, which helped to unite the scattered sections of the Greek world. The strongest bond of union was, of course, the one Greek speech. Everywhere the people used the same beautiful and expressive language. It is not a "dead" language, for it still lives in modified form on the lips of nearly three million people in the Greek peninsula, throughout the Mediterranean, and even in remote America.
LITERATURE AS UNIFYING FORCE; HOMER
Greek literature, likewise, made for unity. The Iliad and the Odyssey were recited in every Greek village for centuries. They formed the principal textbook in the schools; an Athenian philosopher calls Homer the "educator of Hellas." It has been well said that these two epics were at once the Bible and the Shakespeare of the Greek people.
RELIGION AS A UNIFYING FORCE; AMPHICTYONIES
Religion formed another bond of union. Everywhere the Greeks worshiped the same gods and performed the same sacred rites. Religious influences were sometimes strong enough to bring about federations known as amphictyonies, or leagues of neighbors. The people living around a famous sanctuary would meet to observe their festivals in common and to guard the shrine of their divinity. The Delphic amphictyony was the most noteworthy of these local unions. It included twelve tribes and cities of central Greece and Thessaly. They established a council, which took the shrine of Apollo under its protection and superintended the athletic games at Delphi.
A NEW AGE
The seventh and sixth centuries before Christ form a noteworthy epoch in Greek history. Commerce and colonization were bringing their educating influence to bear upon the Greeks. Hellenic cities were rising everywhere along the Mediterranean shores. A common language, literature, and religion were making the people more and more conscious of their unity as opposed to the "barbarians" about them.
THE GREEK WORLD, 500 B.C.
Greek history has now been traced from its beginnings to about 500 B.C. It is the history of a people, not of one country or of a united nation. Yet the time was drawing near when all the Greek communities were to be brought together in closer bonds of union than they had ever before known.
STUDIES
1. On the map facing page 66 see what regions of Europe are less than 500 feet above sea level; less than 3000 feet; over 9000 feet.
2. Why was Europe better fitted than Asia to develop the highest civilization? Why not so well fitted as Asia to originate civilization?
3. "The tendency of mountains is to separate, of rivers to unite, adjacent peoples." How can you justify this statement by a study of European geography?
4. Why has the Mediterranean been called a "highway of nations"?
5. Locate on the map several of the natural entrances into the basin of the Mediterranean.
6. At what points is it probable that southern Europe and northern Africa were once united?
7. Compare the position of Crete in relation to Egypt with that of Sicily in relation to the north African coast.
8. Why was the island of Cyprus a natural meeting place of Egyptian, Syrian, and Greek peoples?
9. What modern countries are included within the limits of the Balkan peninsula?
10. Describe the island routes across the Aegean (map between pages 68- 69).
11. What American states lie in about the same latitude as Greece?
12. Compare the boundaries of ancient Greece with those of the modern kingdom.
13. What European countries in physical features closely resemble Greece? What state of our union?
14. Why is Greece in its physical aspects "the most European of European lands"?
15. What countries of Greece did not touch the sea?
16. Tell the story of the Iliad and of the Odyssey.
17. Explain the following terms: oracle; amphictyony; helot; Hellas; Olympiad; and ephors.
18. Give the meaning of our English words "ostracism" and "oracular."
19. Explain the present meaning and historical origin of the following expressions: "a Delphic response"; "Draconian severity"; "a laconic speech."
20. What is the date of the first recorded Olympiad? of the expulsion of the last tyrant of Athens?
21. Describe the Lions' Gate (illustration, page 70) and the François Vase (illustration, page 77).
22. Compare Greek ideas of the future life with those of the Babylonians.
23. Why has the Delphic oracle been called "the common hearth of Hellas"?
24. What resemblances do you discover between the Olympian festival and one of our great international expositions?
25. Define and illustrate these terms: monarchy; aristocracy; tyranny; democracy.
26. Why are the earliest laws always unwritten?
27. What differences existed between Phoenician and Greek colonization?
28. Why did the colonies, as a rule, advance more rapidly than the mother country in wealth and population?
29. What is the origin of the modern city of Constantinople? of Marseilles? of Naples? of Syracuse in Sicily?
FOOTNOTES
[1] Webster, Readings in Ancient History, chapter iii, "Early Greek
Society as Pictured in the Homeric Poems"; chapter iv, "Stories from Greek
Mythology"; chapter v, "Some Greek Tyrants"; chapter vi, "Spartan
Education and Life."
[2] See pages 16-17.
[3] For the island routes see the map between pages 68-69.
[4] See page 42.
[5] See the illustration, page 10.
[6] See the plate facing page 70.
[7] See pages 29, 48.
[8] See page 5.
[9] See the map, page 76.
[10] The Greek name of the Black Sea.
[11] Iliad, xviii, 607.
[12] Odyssey, xiv, 83-84.
[13] Odyssey, xi, 488-491.
[14] See page 227.
[15] See pages 88,90.
[16] Herodotus, i, 53.
[17] See page 37.
[18] The first recorded celebration occurred in 776 B.C. The four-year period between the games, called an Olympiad, became the Greek unit for determining dates. Events were reckoned as taking place in the first, second, third, or fourth year of a given Olympiad.
[19] Iliad, ii, 243.
[20] Aristocracy means, literally, the "government of the best." The Greeks also used the word oligarchy—"rule of the few"—to describe a government by citizens who belong to the wealthy class.
[21] "Pelops's island," a name derived from a legendary hero who settled in southern Greece.
[22] Xenophon, Polity of the Lacedaemonians, 13.
[23] The Spartans believed that their military organization was the work of a great reformer and law-giver named Lycurgus. He was supposed to have lived early in the ninth century B.C. We do not know anything about Lycurgus, but we do know that some existing primitive tribes, for instance, the Masai of East Africa, have customs almost the same as those of ancient Sparta. Hence we may say that the rude, even barbarous, Spartans only carried over into the historic age the habits of life which they had formed in prehistoric times.
[24] See page 82.
[25] The name of an individual voted against was written on a piece of pottery (Greek ostrakon), whence the term ostracism. See the illustration, page 97.
[26] See the map facing page 50.
[27] See page 49.
[28] Cicero, De republica, ii, 4.
[29] Greek barbaroi, "men of confused speech."
CHAPTER V
THE GREAT AGE OF THE GREEK REPUBLICS TO 362 B.C. [1]
31. THE PERILS OF HELLAS
ASIATIC GREEKS CONQUERED BY CROESUS
The history of the Greeks for many centuries had been uneventful—a history of their uninterrupted expansion over barbarian lands. But now the time was approaching when the independent and isolated Greek communities must meet the attack of the great despotic empires of Asia. The Greek cities of Asia Minor were the first part of the Hellenic world to be involved. Their conquest by the Lydian king, Croesus, about the middle of the sixth century B.C., showed how grave was the danger to Greek independence from the ambitious designs of Oriental monarchs.
CONQUESTS OF CYRUS AND CAMBYSES
As we have already learned, Croesus himself soon had to submit to a foreign overlord, in the person of Cyrus the Great. The subjugation of Lydia and the Greek seaboard by Cyrus extended the Persian Empire to the Mediterranean. The conquest of Phoenicia and Cyprus by Cambyses added the Phoenician navy to the resources of the mighty empire. Persia had now become a sea power, able to cope with the Greeks on their own element. The subjection of Egypt by the same king led naturally to the annexation of the Greek colonies on the north African shore. The entire coast of the eastern Mediterranean had now come under the control of a new, powerful, and hostile state.
[Illustration: CROESUS ON THE PYRE Painting on an Athenian vase of about 490 B.C. According to the legend Cyrus the Great, having made Croesus prisoner, intended to burn him on a pyre. But the god Apollo, to whose oracle at Delphi Croesus had sent rich gifts, put out the blaze by a sudden shower of rain. The vase painting represents the Lydian king sitting enthroned upon the pyre, with a laurel wreath on his head and a scepter in one hand. With the other hand he pours a libation. He seems to be performing a religious rite, not to be suffering an ignominious death.]
[Illustration: PERSIAN ARCHERS (Louvre, Paris) A frieze of enameled brick from the royal palace at Susa. It is a masterpiece of Persian art and shows the influence of both Assyrian and Greek design. Each archer carries a spear, in addition to the bow over the left shoulder and the quiver on the back. These soldiers probably served as palace guards, hence the fine robes worn by them.]
CONQUESTS OF DARIUS
The accession of Darius to the Persian throne only increased the dangers that overshadowed Hellas. He aimed to complete the work of Cyrus and Cambyses by extending the empire wherever a natural frontier had not been reached. Accordingly, about 512 B.C., Darius invaded Europe with a large army, annexed the Greek colonies on the Hellespont (the modern Dardanelles), and subdued the wild tribes of Thrace and Macedonia. The Persian dominions now touched those of the Greeks. [2]
[Illustration: Map, GREECE at opening of the PERSIAN WARS 400 B.C.]
THE IONIAN REVOLT, 499-493 B.C.
Not long after this European expedition of Darius, the Ionian cities of Asia Minor revolted against the Persians. Unable to face their foes single-handed, they sought aid from Sparta, then the chief military power of Greece. The Spartans refused to take part in the war, but the Athenians, who realized the menace to Greece in the Persian advance, sent ships and men to fight for the Ionians. Even with this help the Ionian cities could not hold out against the vast resources of the Persians. One by one they fell again into the hands of the Great King.
32. EXPEDITIONS OF DARIUS AGAINST GREECE
FIRST EXPEDITION, 492 B.C.
No sooner was quiet restored in Asia Minor than Darius began preparations to punish Athens for her part in the Ionian Revolt. The first expedition under the command of Mardonius, the son-in-law of the Persian monarch, was a failure. Mardonius never reached Greece, because the Persian fleet, on which his army depended for provisions, was wrecked off the promontory of Mount Athos.
SECOND EXPEDITION, 490 B.C.
Darius did not abandon his designs, in consequence of the disaster. Two years later a second fleet, bearing a force of perhaps sixty thousand men, set out from Ionia for Greece. Datis and Artaphernes, the Persian leaders, sailed straight across the Aegean and landed on the plain of Marathon, twenty-six miles from Athens.
[Illustration: GRAVESTONE OF ARISTON (National Museum, Athens)
Found near Marathon in 1838 A.D. Belongs to the late sixth century B.C.
Incorrectly called the "Warrior of Marathon"]
BATTLE OF MARATHON, 490 B.C.
The situation of the Athenians seemed desperate. They had scarcely ten thousand men with whom to face an army far larger and hitherto invincible. The Spartans promised support, but delayed sending troops at the critical moment. Better, perhaps, than a Spartan army was the genius of Miltiades, one of the Athenian generals. Relying on Greek discipline and Greek valor to win the day, he decided to take the offensive. His heavy armed soldiers made a smashing charge on the Persians and drove them in confusion to their ships. Datis and Artaphernes then sailed back to Asia with their errand of vengeance unfulfilled.
[Illustration: GREEK SOLDIERS IN ARMS
Painting on a Greek vase]
POLICIES OF ARISTIDES AND THEMISTOCLES
After the battle of Marathon the Athenians began to make preparations to resist another Persian invasion. One of their leaders, the eminent Aristides, thought that they should increase their army and meet the enemy on land. His rival, Themistocles, urged a different policy. He would sacrifice the army to the navy and make Athens the strongest sea power in Greece. The safety of Athens, he argued, lay in her ships. In order to settle the question the opposing statesmen were put to the test of ostracism. [3] The vote went against Aristides, who was obliged to withdraw into exile. Themistocles, now master of the situation, persuaded the citizens to use the revenues from some silver mines in Attica for the upbuilding of a fleet. When the Persians came, the Athenians were able to oppose them with nearly two hundred triremes [4]—the largest navy in Greece.
33. XERXES AND THE GREAT PERSIAN WAR
PREPARATIONS OF PERSIA
"Ten years after Marathon," says a Greek historian, "the 'barbarians' returned with the vast armament which was to enslave Hellas." [5] Darius was now dead, but his son Xerxes had determined to complete his task. Vast quantities of provisions were collected; the Hellespont was bridged with boats; and the rocky promontory of Mount Athos, where a previous fleet had suffered shipwreck, was pierced with a canal. An army of several hundred thousand men was brought together from all parts of the Great King's domain. He evidently intended to crush the Greeks by sheer weight of numbers.
[Illustration: A THEMISTOCLES OSTRAKON (British Museum, London) A fragment of a potsherd found in 1897 A.D., near the Acropolis of Athens. This ostrakon was used to vote for the ostracism of Themistocles, either in 483 B.C. when he was victorious against Aristides, or some ten years later, when Themistocles was himself defeated and forced into exile.]
GREEK PREPARATIONS
Xerxes did not have to attack a united Greece. His mighty preparations frightened many of the Greek states into yielding, when Persian heralds came to demand "earth and water," the customary symbols of submission. Some of the other states, such as Thebes, which was jealous of Athens, and Argos, equally jealous of Sparta, did nothing to help the loyal Greeks throughout the struggle. But Athens and Sparta with their allies remained joined for resistance to the end. Upon the suggestion of Themistocles a congress of representatives from the patriotic states assembled at the isthmus of Corinth in 481 B.C. Measures of defense were taken, and Sparta was put in command of the allied fleet and army.
BATTLE OF THERMOPYLAE, 480 B.C.
The campaigns of the Great Persian War have been described, once for all, in the glowing pages of the Greek historian, Herodotus. [6] Early in the year 480 B.C. the Persian host moved out of Sardis, crossed the Hellespont, and advanced to the pass of Thermopylae, commanding the entrance to central Greece. This position, one of great natural strength, was held by a few thousand Greeks under the Spartan king, Leonidas. For two days Xerxes hurled his best soldiers against the defenders of Thermopylae, only to find that numbers did not count in that narrow defile. There is no telling how long the handful of Greeks might have kept back the Persian hordes, had not treachery come to the aid of the enemy. A traitor Greek revealed to Xerxes the existence of an unfrequented path, leading over the mountain in the rear of the pass. A Persian detachment marched over the trail by night and took up a position behind the Greeks. The latter still had time to escape, but three hundred Spartans and perhaps two thousand allies refused to desert their post. While Persian officers provided with whips lashed their unwilling troops to battle, Leonidas and his men fought till spears and swords were broken, and hands and teeth alone remained as weapons. Xerxes at length gained the pass—but only over the bodies of its heroic defenders. Years later a monument to their memory was raised on the field of battle. It bore the simple inscription: "Stranger, go tell the Spartans that we lie here in obedience to their commands." [7]
AFTER THERMOPYLAE
After the disaster at Thermopylae nearly all the states of central Greece submitted to the Persians. They marched rapidly through Boeotia and Attica to Athens, but found a deserted city. Upon the advice of Themistocles the non-combatants had withdrawn to places of safety, and the entire fighting force of Athens had embarked on the ships. The Athenian fleet took up a position in the strait separating the island of Salamis from Attica and awaited the enemy. [8]
BATTLE OF SALAMIS, 480 B.C.
The battle of Salamis affords an interesting example of naval tactics in antiquity. The trireme was regarded as a missile to be hurled with sudden violence against the opposing ship, in order to disable or sink it. A sea fight became a series of maneuvers; and victory depended as much on the skill of the rowers and steersmen as on the bravery of the soldiers. The Persians at Salamis had many more ships than the Greeks, but Themistocles rightly believed that in the narrow strait their numbers would be a real disadvantage to them. Such proved to be the case. The Persians fought well, but their vessels, crowded together, could not navigate properly and even wrecked one another by collision. After an all-day contest what remained of their fleet withdrew from the strait.
[Illustration: AN ATHENIAN TRIREME (Reconstruction) A trireme is supposed to have had three tiers or banks of oars, placed one above the other. Each tier thus required an oar about a yard longer than the one immediately beneath it. There were about two hundred rowers on a trireme.]
AFTER SALAMIS
The victory at Salamis had important results. It so crippled the Persians that henceforth they lost command of the sea. Xerxes found it difficult to keep his men supplied with provisions and at once withdrew with the larger part of his force to Asia. The Great King himself had no heart for further fighting, but he left Mardonius, with a strong body of picked troops, to subjugate the Greeks on land. So the real crisis of the war was yet to come.
BATTLES OF PLATAEA AND MYCALE, 479 B.C.
Mardonius passed the winter quietly in Thessaly, preparing for the spring campaign. The Greeks in their turn made a final effort. A strong Spartan army, supported by the Athenians and their allies, met the Persians near the little town of Plataea in Boeotia. Here the heavy-armed Greek soldiers, with their long spears, huge shields, and powerful swords, easily overcame the enormous masses of the enemy. The success at Plataea showed how superior to the Persians were the Greeks in equipment, leadership, and fighting power. At the same time as this battle the remainder of the Persian fleet suffered a crushing defeat at Mycale, a promontory off the Ionian coast. These two battles really ended the war. Never again was Persia to make a serious effort to secure dominion over Continental Greece.
VICTORIUS HELLAS
The Great Persian War was much more than a conflict between two rival states. It was a struggle between East and West; between Oriental despotism and Occidental individualism. On the one side were all the populous, centralized countries of Asia; on the other side, the small, disunited states of Greece. In the East was the boundless wealth, in men and money, of a world-wide empire. In the West were the feeble resources of a few petty communities. Nevertheless Greece won. The story of her victory forms an imperishable record in the annals of human freedom.
34. ATHENS UNDER THEMISTOCLES, ARISTIDES, AND CIMON
THEMISTOCLES AND THE FORTIFICATIONS OF ATHENS
After the battle of Plataea the Athenians, with their wives and children, returned to Attica and began the restoration of their city, which the Persians had burned. Their first care was to raise a wall so high and strong Athens in future would be impregnable to attack. Upon the suggestion of Themistocles it was decided to include within the fortifications a wide area where all the country people, in case of another invasion, could find a refuge. Themistocles also persuaded the Athenians to build a massive wall on the land side of Piraeus, the port of Athens. That harbor town now became the center of Athenian industry and commerce.
ARISTIDES AND THE DELIAN LEAGUE, 477 B.C.
While the Athenians were rebuilding their city, important events were taking place in the Aegean. After the battle of Mycale the Greek states in Asia Minor and on the islands once more rose in revolt against the Persians. Aided by Sparta and Athens, they gained several successes and removed the immediate danger of another Persian attack. It was clearly necessary, however, for the Greek cities in Asia Minor and the Aegean to remain in close alliance with the Continental Greeks, if they were to preserve their independence. Under the guidance of Aristides, the old rival of Themistocles, [9] the allies formed a union known as the Delian League.
[Illustration: "THESEUM" An Athenian temple formerly supposed to have been constructed by Cimon to receive the bones of the hero Theseus. It is now believed to have been a temple of Hephaestus and Athena erected about 440 B.C. The 'Theseum' owes its almost perfect preservation to the fact that during the Middle Ages it was used as a church.]
CONSTITUTION OF THE LEAGUE
The larger cities in the league agreed to provide ships and crews for a fleet, while the smaller cities were to make their contributions in money. Athens assumed the presidency of the league, and Athenian officials collected the revenues, which were placed in a treasury on the island of Delos. As head of this new federation Athens now had a position of supremacy in the Aegean like that which Sparta enjoyed in the Peloponnesus. [10]
CIMON AND THE WAR AGAINST PERSIA
The man who succeeded Themistocles and Aristides in leadership of the Athenians was Cimon, son of Miltiades, the hero of Marathon. While yet a youth his gallantry at the battle of Salamis gained him a great reputation, and when Aristides introduced him to public life the citizens welcomed him gladly. He soon became the head of the aristocratic or conservative party in the Athenian city. To Cimon the Delian League entrusted the continuation of the war with Persia. The choice was fortunate, for Cimon had inherited his father's military genius. No man did more than he to humble the pride of Persia. As the outcome of Cimon's successful campaigns the southern coast of Asia Minor was added to the Delian League, and the Greek cities at the mouth of the Black Sea were freed from the Persian yoke. Thus, with Cimon as its leader, the confederacy completed the liberation of the Asiatic Greeks.
THE DELIAN LEAGUE BECOMES SUBJECT TO ATHENS, ABOUT 454 B.C.
While the Greeks were gaining these victories, the character of the Delian League was being transformed. Many of the cities, instead of furnishing ships, had taken the easier course of making all their contributions in money. The change really played into the hands of Athens, for the tribute enabled the Athenians to build the ships themselves and add them to their own navy. They soon had a fleet powerful enough to coerce any city that failed to pay its assessments or tried to withdraw from the league. Eventually the common treasure was transferred from Delos to Athens. The date of this event (454 B.C.) may be taken as marking the formal establishment of the Athenian naval empire.
DECLINE OF CIMON'S INFLUENCE
Sparta and her Peloponnesian allies viewed with growing jealousy the rapid rise of Athens. As long, however, as Cimon remained at the head of Athenian affairs, there was little danger of a break with Sparta. He desired his city to keep on good terms with her powerful neighbor: Athens should be mistress of the seas, and Sparta should be mistress on the mainland. A contest between them, Cimon foresaw, would work lasting injury to all Greece. Cimon's pro-Spartan attitude brought him, however, into disfavor at Athens, and he was ostracized. New men and new policies henceforth prevailed in the Athenian state.
35. ATHENS UNDER PERICLES
PERICLES
The ostracism of Cimon deprived the aristocrats of their most prominent representative. It was possible for the democratic or liberal party to assume complete control of public affairs. Pericles, their leader and champion, was a man of studious habits. He never appeared on the streets except when walking between his house and the popular assembly or the market place, kept rigidly away from dinners and drinking bouts, and ruled his household with strict economy that he might escape the suspicion of enriching himself at the public expense. He did not speak often before the people, but came forward only on special occasions; and the rarity of his utterances gave them added weight. Pericles was a thorough democrat, but he used none of the arts of the demagogue. He scorned to flatter the populace. His power over the people rested on his majestic eloquence, on his calm dignity of demeanor, and above all on his unselfish devotion to the welfare of Athens.
[Illustration: PERICLES (British Museum, London) The bust is probably a good copy of a portrait statue set up during the lifetime of Pericles on the Athenian Acropolis. The helmet possibly indicates the office of General held by Pericles.]
AGE OF PERICLES, 461-429 B.C.
The period, about thirty years in length, between the ostracism of Cimon and the death of Pericles, forms the most brilliant epoch in Greek history. Under the guidance of Pericles the Athenian naval empire reached its widest extent. Through his direction Athens became a complete democracy. Inspired by him the Athenians came to manifest that love of knowledge, poetry, art, and all beautiful things which, even more than their empire or their democracy, has made them famous in the annals of mankind. The Age of Pericles affords, therefore, a convenient opportunity to set forth the leading features of Athenian civilization in the days of its greatest glory.
ATHENIAN IMPERIALISM
Athens under Pericles ruled more than two hundred towns and cities in Asia Minor and the islands of the Aegean Sea. [11] The subjects of Athens, in return for the protection that she gave them against Persia, owed many obligations. They paid an annual tribute and furnished soldiers in time of war. In all legal cases of importance the citizens had to go to Athens for trial by Athenian courts. The Delian communities, in some instances, were forced to endure the presence of Athenian garrisons and officers. To the Greeks at large all this seemed nothing less than high-handed tyranny. Athens, men felt, had built up an empire on the ruins of Hellenic liberty.
NATURE OF THE ATHENIAN DEMOCRACY
If the Athenians possessed an empire, they themselves were citizens of a state more democratic than any other that has existed, before or since, in the history of the world. They had now learned how unjust was the rule of a tyrant or of a privileged class of nobles. They tried, instead, to afford every one an opportunity to make the laws, to hold office, and to administer justice. Hence the Athenian popular assembly and law courts were open to all respectable citizens. The offices, also, were made very numerous—fourteen hundred in all—so that they might be distributed as widely as possible. Most of them were annual, and some could not be held twice by the same person. Election to office was usually by lot. This arrangement did away with favoritism and helped to give the poor man a chance in politics, as well as the man of wealth or noble birth.
THE ASSEMBLY
The center of Athenian democracy was the Assembly. Its membership included every citizen who had reached twenty years of age. Rarely, however, did the attendance number more than five thousand, since most of the citizens lived outside the walls in the country districts of Attica. Forty regular meetings were held every year. These took place on the slopes of the hill called the Pnyx. A speaker before the Assembly faced a difficult audience. It was ready to yell its disapproval of his advice, to mock him if he mispronounced a word, or to drown his voice with shouts and whistles. Naturally, the debates became a training school for orators. No one could make his mark in the Assembly who was not a clear and interesting speaker. Voting was by show of hands, except in cases affecting individuals, such as ostracism, when the ballot was used. Whatever the decision of the Assembly, it was final. This great popular gathering settled questions of war and peace, sent out military and naval expeditions, voted public expenditures, and had general control over the affairs of Athens and the empire.
[Illustration: AN ATHENIAN INSCRIPTION
A decree of the Assembly, dating from about 450 B.C.]
THE TEN GENERALS
The Assembly was assisted in the conduct of public business by many officers and magistrates, among whom the Ten Generals held the leading place. It was their duty to guide the deliberations of the Assembly and to execute the orders of that body.
THE JURY COURTS
There was also a system of popular jury courts composed of citizens selected by lot from the candidates who presented themselves. The number of jurors varied; as many as a thousand might serve at an important trial. A court was both judge and jury, it decided by majority vote; and from its decision lay no appeal. Before these courts public officers accused of wrong-doing were tried; disputes between different cities of the empire and other important cases were settled; and all ordinary legal business affecting the Athenians themselves was transacted. Thus, even in matters of law, the Athenian government was completely democratic.
STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS OF THE ATHENIAN DEMOCRACY
Democracy then, reached its height in ancient Athens. The people ruled, and they ruled directly. Every citizen had some active part in politics. Such a system worked well in the management of a small city-state like Athens. But if the Athenians could govern themselves, they proved unable to govern an empire with justice and wisdom. There was no such thing as representation in their constitution. The subject cities had no one to speak for them in the Assembly or before the jury courts. We shall notice the same absence of a representative system in republican Rome. [12]
SYSTEM OF STATE PAY
A large number of Athenians were relieved from the necessity of working for themselves through the system of state pay introduced by Pericles. Jurors, soldiers, and sailors received money for their services. Later, in the fourth century, citizens accepted fees for attending the Assembly. These payments, though small, enabled poor citizens to devote much time to public duties.
INDUSTRIAL ATHENS
Athens contained many skilled workmen whose daily tasks gave them scant opportunity to engage in the exciting game of politics. The average rate of wages was very low. In spite of cheap food and modest requirements for clothing and shelter, it must have been difficult for the laborer to keep body and soul together. Outside of Athens, in the country districts of Attica, lived the peasants whose little farms produced the olives, grapes, and figs for which Attica was celebrated.
SLAVERY
There were many thousands of slaves in Athens and Attica at this period. Their number was so great and their labor so cheap that we may think of them as taking the place of modern machines. It was the slaves who did most of the work on the large estates owned by wealthy men, who toiled in the mines and quarries, and who served as oarsmen on the ships. The system of slavery enabled many an Athenian to live a life of leisure, but it lowered the dignity of labor and tended to prevent the rise of the poorer citizens to positions of responsibility. In Greece, as in the Orient, [13] slavery cast its blight over free industry.
COMMERCIAL ATHENS
The Athenian city was now the chief center of Greek commerce. [14] "The fruits of the whole earth," said Pericles, "flow in upon us; so that we enjoy the goods of other Commercial countries as freely as of our own." [15] Exports of Athens wine and olive oil, pottery, metal wares, and objects of art were sent out from Piraeus [16] to every region of the Mediterranean. The imports from the Black Sea region, Thrace, and the Aegean included such commodities as salt, dried fish, wool, timber, hides, and, above all, great quantities of wheat. Very much as modern England, Athens was able to feed all her people only by bringing in food from abroad. To make sure that in time of war there should be no interruption of food supplies, the Athenians built the celebrated Long Walls, between the city and its port of Piraeus. (See the map below) Henceforth they felt secure from attack, as long as their navy ruled the Aegean.
[Illustration: Map, THE VICINITY OF ATHENS]
ARTISTIC AND INTELLECTUAL ATHENS
In the days of her prosperity Athens began to make herself not only a strong, but also a beautiful, city. The temples and other structures which were raised on the Acropolis during the Age of Pericles still excite, even in their ruins, the envy and wonder of mankind. [17] Athens at this time was also the center of Greek intellectual life. In no other period of similar length have so many admirable books been produced. No other epoch has given birth to so many men of varied and delightful genius. The greatest poets, historians, and philosophers of Greece were Athenians, either by birth or training. As Pericles himself said in a noble speech, Athens was "the school of Hellas." [18]
36. THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR, 431-404 B.C.
INEVITABLENESS OF THE WAR
The brilliant Age of Pericles had not come to an end before the two chief powers in the Hellenic world became involved in a deadly war. It would seem that Athens and Sparta, the one supreme upon the sea, the other at the head of the Peloponnesus, might have avoided a struggle which was sure to be long and costly. But Greek cities were always ready to fight one another. When Athens and Sparta found themselves rivals for the leadership of Greece, it was easy for the smouldering fires of distrust and jealousy to flame forth into open conflict. "And at that time," says Thucydides, the Athenian historian who described the struggle, "the youth of Sparta and the youth of Athens were numerous; they had never seen war, and were therefore very willing to take up arms." [19]
[Illustration: Map, GREECE at Opening of the PELOPONNESIAN WAR 431 B.C.]
[Illustration: THE "MOURNING ATHENA" (Acropolis Museum, Athens) A tablet of Pentelic marble. Athena, leaning on her spear, is gazing with downcast head at a grave monument.]
ORIGIN OF THE WAR
The conflict was brought on by Corinth, one of the leading members of the Peloponnesian League and, next to Athens, the most important commercial power in Greece. She had already seen her once-profitable trade in the Aegean monopolized by Athens. That energetic city was now reaching out for Corinthian commerce in Italian and Sicilian waters. When the Athenians went so far as to interfere in a quarrel between Corinth and her colony of Corcyra, even allying themselves with the latter city, the Corinthians felt justly resentful and appealed to Sparta for aid. The Spartans listened to their appeal and, with the apparent approval of the Delphic oracle which assured them "that they would conquer if they fought with all their might," [20] declared war.
RESOURCES OF THE CONTESTANTS
The two antagonists were fairly matched. The one was strong where the other was weak. Sparta, mainly a continental power, commanded all the Peloponnesian states except Argos and Achaea, besides some of the smaller states of central Greece. Athens, mainly a maritime power, ruled all the subject cities of the Aegean. The Spartans possessed the most formidable army then in the world, but lacked money and ships. The Athenians had a magnificent navy, an overflowing treasury, and a city impregnable to direct attack. It seemed, in fact, as if neither side could seriously injure the other.
FIRST STAGE OF THE WAR, 431-421 B.C.
The war began in 431 B.C. Its first stage was indecisive. The Athenians avoided a conflict in the open field with the stronger Peloponnesian army, which ravaged Attica. They were crippled almost at the outset of the struggle by a terrible plague among the refugees from Attica, crowded behind the Long Walls. The pestilence slew at least one-fourth of the inhabitants of Athens, including Pericles himself. After ten years of fighting both sides grew weary of the war and made a treaty of peace to last for fifty years.
THE SICILIAN EXPEDITION, 4l5-4l3 B.C.
Not long after the conclusion of peace the Athenians were persuaded by a brilliant and ambitious politician, named Alcibiades, to undertake an expedition against Syracuse in Sicily. This city was a colony of Corinth, and hence was a natural ally of the Peloponnesian states. The Athenians, by conquering it, expected to establish their power in Sicily. But the siege of Syracuse ended in a complete failure. The Athenians failed to capture the city, and in a great naval battle they lost their fleet. Then they tried to retreat by land, but soon had to surrender. Many of the prisoners were sold as slaves; many were thrown by their inhuman captors into the stone quarries near Syracuse, where they perished from exposure and starvation. The Athenians, says Thucydides, "were absolutely annihilated—both army and fleet—and of the many thousands who went away only a handful ever saw their homes again." [21]
[Illustration: A SILVER COIN OF SYRACUSE The profile of the nymph Arethusa has been styled the most exquisite Greek head known to us.]
LAST STAGE OF THE WAR 413-404 B.C.
Athens never recovered from this terrible blow. The Spartans quickly renewed the contest, now with the highest hopes of success. The Athenians had to guard their city against the invader night and day; their slaves deserted to the enemy; and they themselves could do no farming except under the walls of the city. For supplies they had to depend entirely on their ships. For nearly ten years, however, the Athenians kept up the struggle. At length the Spartans captured an Athenian fleet near Aegospotami on the Hellespont. Soon afterwards they blockaded Piraeus and their army encamped before the walls of Athens. Bitter famine compelled the Athenians to sue for peace. The Spartans imposed harsh terms. The Athenians were obliged to destroy their Long Walls and the fortifications of Piraeus, to surrender all but twelve of their warships, and to acknowledge the supremacy of Sparta.
37. THE SPARTAN AND THEBAN SUPREMACIES, 404-362 B.C.
SPARTAN DESPOTISM
Sparta was now the undisputed leader of Continental Greece and of the Aegean. As the representative of the liberty-loving Greeks she had humbled the pride and power of "tyrant" Athens. A great opportunity lay before her to reorganize the Hellenic world and to end the struggles for supremacy between rival cities. But Sparta entered upon no such glorious career. She had always stood as the champion of aristocracy against democracy, and now in her hour of triumph she began to overturn every democratic government that still existed in Greece. The Greek cities soon found they had exchanged the mild sway of Athens for the brutal despotism of Sparta.
THE FREEING OF THEBES 379 B.C.
But Spartan despotism provoked resistance. It was the Boeotian city of Thebes which raised the standard of revolt. Some of the liberty-loving Thebans, headed by Pelopidas, a patriotic noble, formed a conspiracy to drive the Spartans out of the city. Disguised as huntsmen, Pelopidas and his followers entered Thebes at nightfall, killed the tyrants whom Sparta had set over the people, and forced the Spartan garrison to surrender.
BATTLE OF LEUCTRA, 371 B.C.
The Thebans had now recovered their independence. Eight years later they totally defeated a superior Peloponnesian force at the battle of Leuctra and brought the supremacy of Sparta to an end. This engagement from a military standpoint is one of the most interesting in ancient history. Epaminondas, the skilful Theban commander, massed his best troops in a solid column, fifty men deep, and hurled it with terrific force against the Spartan ranks. The enemy, drawn up twelve men deep in the customary formation, could not withstand the impact of the Theban column; their lines gave way, and the fight was soon won. The battle destroyed once for all the legend of Spartan invincibility.
PELOPIDAS AND EPAMINONDAS
The sudden rise of Thebes to the position of the first city in Greece was the work of two men whose names are always linked together in the annals of the time. In Pelopidas and Epaminondas, bosom friends and colleagues, Thebes found the heroes of her struggle for independence. Pelopidas was a fiery warrior whose bravery and daring won the hearts of his soldiers. Epaminondas was both an able general and an eminent statesman. No other Greek, save perhaps Pericles, can be compared with him. Even Pericles worked for Athens alone and showed no regard for the rest of Greece. Epaminondas had nobler ideals and sought the general good of the Hellenic race. He fought less to destroy Sparta than to curb that city's power of doing harm. He aimed not so much to make Thebes mistress of an empire as to give her a proper place among Greek cities. The Thebans, indeed, sometimes complained that Epaminondas loved Hellas more than his native city.
BATTLE OF MANTINEA, 362 B.C.
By crippling Sparta, Epaminondas raised Thebes to a position of supremacy. Had he been spared for a longer service, Epaminondas might have realized his dream of bringing unity and order into the troubled politics of his time. But circumstances were too strong for him. The Greek states, which had accepted the leadership of Athens and Sparta, were unwilling to admit the claims of Thebes to a position of equal power and importance. The period of Theban rule was filled, therefore, with perpetual conflict. Nine years after Leuctra Epaminondas himself fell in battle at Mantinea in the Peloponnesus, and with his death ended the brief glory of Thebes.
38. DECLINE OF THE CITY-STATE
WEAKNESS OF CITY-STATES
The battle of Mantinea proved that no single city—Athens, Sparta, or Thebes—was strong enough to rule Greece. By the middle of the fourth century B.C. it had become evident that a great Hellenic power could the not be created out of the little, independent city-states of Greece.
A RECORD OF ALMOST CEASELESS CONFLICT
The history of Continental Hellas for more than a century after the close of the Persian War had been a record of almost ceaseless conflict. We have seen how Greece came to be split up into two great alliances, the one a naval league ruled by Athens, the other a confederacy of Peloponnesian cities under the leadership of Sparta. How the Delian League became the Athenian Empire; how Sparta began a long war with Athens to secure the independence of the subject states and ended it by reducing them to her own supremacy; how the rough-handed sway of Sparta led to the revolt of her allies and dependencies and the sudden rise of Thebes to supremacy; how Thebes herself established an empire on the ruins of Spartan rule— this is a story of fruitless and exhausting struggles which sounded the knell of Greek liberty and the end of the city-state.
THE FUTURE
Far away in the north, remote from the noisy conflicts of Greek political life, a new power was slowly rising to imperial greatness—no insignificant city-state, but an extensive territorial state like those of modern times. Three years after the battle of Mantinea Philip II ascended the throne of Macedonia. He established Hellenic unity by bringing the Hellenic people within a widespread empire. Alexander the Great, the son of this king, carried Macedonian dominion and Greek culture to the ends of the known world. To this new period of ancient history we now turn.
STUDIES
1. On an outline map indicate the principal places mentioned in this chapter.
2. On an outline map indicate the Athenian allies and dependencies and those of Sparta at the opening of the Peloponnesian War.
3. What do you understand by a "decisive" battle? Why has Marathon been considered such a battle?
4. Why did Xerxes take the longer route through Thrace, instead of the shorter route followed by Datis and Artaphernes?
5. What was the importance of the Phoenician fleet in the Persian invasions?
6. What reasons can be given for the Greek victory in the struggle against Persia?
7. Distinguish between a confederacy and an empire.
8. Compare the relations of the Delian subject cities to Athens with those of British colonies, such as Canada and Australia, to England.
9. What do you understand by representative government?
10. If the Athenian Empire could have rested on a representative basis, why would it have been more likely to endure?
11. How far can the phrase "government of the people, by the people, for the people" be applied to the Athenian democracy?
12. Did the popular assembly of Athens have any resemblance to a New England town meeting?
13. Compare the Athenian jury system with that of England and the United States.
14. The Athenian democracy of the time of Pericles has been described as a pure democracy and not, like the American, as a representative democracy. In what lies the difference?
15. Can you suggest any objections to the system of state pay introduced by Pericles? To what extent do we employ the same system under our government?
16. What conditions of the time help to explain the contempt of the Greeks for money-making?
17. Trace on the map, page 107, the Long Walls of Athens.
18. Why has the Peloponnesian War been called an "irrepressible conflict"? Why has it been called the "suicide of Greece"?
19. What states of the Greek mainland were neutral in the Peloponnesian War (map facing page 108)?
20. Contrast the resources of the contending parties. Where was each side weak and where strong?
21. Why was the tyranny of Sparta more oppressive than that of Athens?
22. What were the reasons for the failure of the Athenian, Spartan, and Theban attempts at empire?
FOOTNOTES
[1] Webster, Readings in Ancient History, chapter vii, "Xerxes and the
Persian Invasion of Greece"; chapter viii, "Episodes from the
Peloponnesian War"; chapter ix, "Alcibiades the Athenian"; chapter x, "The
Expedition of the Ten Thousand"; chapter xi, "The Trial and Death of
Socrates."
[2] See the map facing page 38.
[3] See page 87.
[4] See the illustration, page 99.
[5] Thucydides, i, 18.
[6] See page 272.
[7] Herodotus, vii, 228.
[8] See the map on page 107.
[9] See page 96.
[10] See page 83.
[11] See the map facing page 108.
[12] See page 155.
[13] See page 44.
[14] The commercial importance of Athens is indicated by the general adoption of her monetary standard by the other Greek states. (For illustrations of Greek coins see the plate facing page 134.)
[15] Thucydides, ii, 38.
[16] See the map, page 107.
[17] For a description of ancient Athens, see pages 288-292.
[18] Thucydides, ii, 41.
[19] Thucydides, ii, 8.
[20] Thucydides, i, 118.
[21] Thucydides, vii, 87.
CHAPTER VI
MINGLING OF EAST AND WEST AFTER 359 B.C. [1]
39. PHILIP AND THE RISE OF MACEDONIA
MACEDONIA AND THE MACEDONIANS
The land of Macedonia, lying to the north of Greece, for a long time had been an inconspicuous part of the ancient world. Its people, though only partially civilized, were Greeks in blood and language. No doubt they formed an offshoot of those northern invaders who had entered the Balkan peninsula before the dawn of history. The Macedonian kings, from the era of the Persian wars, seized every opportunity of spreading Greek culture throughout their realm. By the middle of the fourth century B.C., when Philip II ascended the throne, the Macedonians were ready to take a leading place in the Greek world.
[Illustration: PHILIP II
From a gold medallion struck by Alexander]
PHILIP'S AIMS
Philip of Macedonia, one of the most remarkable men of antiquity, was endowed with a vigorous body, a keen mind, and a resolute will. He was no stranger to Greece and its ways. Part of his boyhood had been passed as a hostage at Thebes in the days of Theban glory. His residence there gave him an insight into Greek politics and taught him the art of war as it had been perfected by Epaminondas. In the distracted condition of Greece, worn out by the rivalries of contending cities, Philip saw the opportunity of his own country. He aimed to secure for Macedonia the position of supremacy which neither Athens, Sparta, nor Thebes had been able to maintain.
THE MACEDONIAN ARMY
Philip's most important achievement was the creation of the Macedonian army, which he led to the conquest of Greece and which his son was to lead to the conquest of the World. Taking a hint from the tactics of Epaminondas, Philip trained his infantry to fight by columns, but with sufficient intervals between the files to permit quick and easy movements. Each man bore an enormous lance, eighteen feet in length. When this heavy phalanx was set in array, the weapons carried by the soldiers in the first five ranks presented a bristling thicket of lance-points, which no onset, however determined, could penetrate. The business of the phalanx was to keep the front of the foe engaged, while horsemen rode into the enemy's flanks. This reliance on masses of cavalry to win a victory was something new in warfare. Another novel feature consisted in the use of engines called catapults, able to throw darts and huge stones three hundred yards, and of battering rams with force enough to hurl down the walls of cities. All these different arms working together made a war machine of tremendous power—the most formidable in the ancient world until the days of the Roman legion.
CONQUESTS OF PHILIP
Philip commanded a fine army; he ruled with absolute sway a territory larger than any other Hellenic state; and he himself possessed a genius for both war and diplomacy, With such advantages the Macedonian king entered on the subjugation of disunited Greece. His first great success was won in western Thrace. Here he founded the city of Philippi [2] and seized some rich gold mines, the income from which enabled him to keep his soldiers always under arms, to fit out a fleet, and, by means of liberal bribes, to hire a crowd of agents in nearly every Greek city. Philip next made Macedonia a maritime state by subduing the Greek cities on the peninsula of Chalcidice. [3] He also appeared in Thessaly, occupied its principal fortresses, and brought the frontier of Macedonia as far south as the pass of Thermopylae.
40. DEMOSTHENES AND THE END OF GREEK FREEDOM
DEMOSTHENES, 384-322 B.C.
Philip for many years had been steadily extending his sway over Greece. In the face of his encroachments would Athens, Sparta, and Thebes, so long the leading cities, submit tamely to this Macedonian conqueror? There was one man, at least, who realized the menace to Greek freedom from Philip's onward march. In Demosthenes Greece found a champion of her threatened liberties.
[Illustration: DEMOSTHENES (Vatican Museum, Rome) A marble statue, probably a copy of the bronze original by the sculptor Polyeuctus. The work, when found, was considerably mutilated and has been restored in numerous parts. Both forearms and the hands holding the scroll are modern additions. It seems likely that the original Athenian statue showed Demosthenes with tightly clasped hands, which, with his furrowed visage and contracted brows, were expressive of the orator's earnestness and concentration of thought.]
DEMOSTHENES AS AN ORATOR AND A PATRIOT
Demosthenes was the last, as well as the most famous, of the great Athenian orators. When he first began to speak, the citizens laughed at his long, involved sentences, over-rapid delivery, and awkward bearing. Friends encouraged him to persist, assuring him that, if the manner of his speeches was bad, their matter was worthy of Pericles. Numerous stories are told of the efforts made by Demosthenes to overcome his natural defects. He practiced gesturing before a mirror and, to correct a stammering pronunciation, recited verses with pebbles in his mouth. He would go down to the seashore during storms and strive to make his voice heard above the roar of wind and waves, in order the better to face the boisterous Assembly. Before long he came to be regarded as the prince of speakers even in the city of orators. Demosthenes was a man cast in the old heroic mold. His patriotic imagination had been fired by the great deeds once accomplished by free Greeks. Athens he loved with passionate devotion. Let her remember her ancient glories, he urged, and, by withstanding Philip, become the leader of Hellas in a second war for liberty.
LAST STRUGGLE OF THE GREEKS
The stirring appeals of the great orator at first had little effect. There were many friends of Philip in the Greek states, even in Athens itself. When, however, Philip entered central Greece and threatened the independence of its cities, the eloquence of Demosthenes met a readier response. In the presence of the common danger Thebes and Athens gave up their ancient rivalry and formed a defensive alliance against Philip. Had it been joined by Sparta and the other Peloponnesian states, it is possible that their united power might have hurled back the invader. But they held aloof.
BATTLE OF CHAERONEA, 338 B.C.
The decisive battle was fought at Chaeronea in Boeotia. On that fatal field the well-drilled and seasoned troops of Macedonia, headed by a master of the art of war, overcame the citizen levies of Greece. The Greeks fought bravely, as of old, and their defeat was not inglorious. Near the modern town of Chaeronea the traveler can still see the tomb where the fallen heroes were laid, and the marble lion set up as a memorial to their dauntless struggle.
PHILIP'S POLICY AS A CONQUEROR
Chaeronea gave Philip the undisputed control of Greece. But now that victory was assured, he had no intention of playing the tyrant. He compelled Thebes to admit a Macedonian garrison to her citadel, but treated Athens so mildly that the citizens were glad to conclude with him a peace which left their possessions untouched. Philip entered the Peloponnesus as a liberator. Its towns and cities welcomed an alliance with so powerful a protector against Sparta.
CONGRESS AT CORINTH, 337 B.C.
Having completely realized his design of establishing Macedonian rule over Greece, Philip's restless energy drove him forward to the next step in his ambitious program. He determined to carry out the plans, so long cherished by the Greeks, for an invasion of Asia Minor and, perhaps, of Persia itself. In the year 337 B.C. a congress of all the Hellenic states met at Corinth under Philip's presidency. The delegates voted to supply ships and men for the great undertaking and placed Philip in command of the allied forces. A Macedonian king was to be the captain-general of Hellas.
DEATH OF PHILIP, 336 B.C.
But Philip was destined never to lead an army across the Hellespont. Less than two years after Chaeronea he was killed by an assassin, and the scepter passed to his young son, Alexander.
[Illustration: ALEXANDER (Glyptothek, Munich)
Probably an authentic portrait of the youthful Alexander about 338 B.C.]
41. ALEXANDER THE GREAT
THE YOUTHFUL ALEXANDER
Alexander was only twenty years of age when he became ruler of Macedonia. From his father he inherited the powerful Frame, the kingly figure, the masterful will, which made so deep an impression on all his contemporaries. His mother, a proud and ambitious woman, told him that the blood of Achilles ran in his veins, and bade him emulate the deeds of that national hero. We know that he learned the Iliad by heart and always carried a copy of it on his campaigns. As he came to manhood, Alexander developed into a splendid athlete, skillful in all the sports of his rough-riding companions, and trained in every warlike exercise.
EDUCATION OF ALEXANDER BY ARISTOTLE
Philip believed that in Alexander he had a worthy son, for he persuaded Aristotle, [4] the most learned man in Greece, to become the tutor of the young prince. The influence of that philosopher remained with Alexander throughout life. Aristotle taught him to love Greek art and science, and instilled into his receptive mind an admiration for all things Grecian. Alexander used to say that, while he owed his life to his father, he owed to Aristotle the knowledge of how to live worthily.
ALEXANDER CRUSHES REBELLION
The situation which Alexander faced on his accession might well have dismayed a less dauntless spirit. Philip had not lived long enough to unite firmly his wide dominions. His unexpected death proved the signal for uprisings and disorder. The barbarous Thracians broke out in widespread rebellion, and the Greeks made ready to answer the call of Demosthenes to arms. But Alexander soon set his kingdom in order. After crushing the tribes of Thrace, he descended on Greece and besieged Thebes, which had risen against its Macedonian garrison. The city was soon captured; its inhabitants were slaughtered or sold into slavery; and the place itself was destroyed. The terrible fate of Thebes induced the other states to submit without further resistance.
SEEMING STRENGTH OF THE PERSIAN EMPIRE
With Greece pacified, Alexander could proceed to the invasion of Persia. Since the days of Darius the Great the empire had remained almost intact— a huge, loosely-knit collection of many different peoples, whose sole bond of union was their common allegiance to the Great King. [5] Its resources were enormous. There were millions of men for the armies and untold wealth in the royal treasuries. Yet the empire was a hollow shell.
EXPEDITION OF THE "TEN THOUSAND," 401-400 B.C.
Some seventy years before Alexander set forth on his expedition the Greeks had witnessed a remarkable disclosure of the military weakness of Persia. One of those rare revolts which troubled the security of the Persian Empire broke out in Asia Minor. It was headed by Cyrus the Younger, a brother of the Persian monarch. Cyrus gathered a large body of native troops and also hired about ten thousand Greek soldiers. He led this mixed force into the heart of the Persian dominions, only to fall in battle at Cunaxa, near Babylon. The Greeks easily routed the enemy arrayed against them, but the death of Cyrus made their victory fruitless. In spite of their desperate situation the Greeks refused to surrender and started to return homewards. The Persians dogged their footsteps, yet never ventured on a pitched battle. After months of wandering in Assyria and Armenia the little band of intrepid soldiers finally reached Trapezus, (Modern Trebizond) a Greek city on the Black Sea.
[Illustration: Map, ROUTE OF THE TEN THOUSAND]
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE EXPEDITION
The story of this invasion of Persia and the subsequent retreat was written by the Athenian Xenophon [6] in his Anabasis. It is one of the most interesting books that have come down to us from antiquity. We can judge from it how vivid was the impression which the adventures of the "Ten Thousand" made on the Greeks of Xenophon's time. A small army had marched to the center of the Persian dominions, had overcome a host many times its size, and had returned to Greece in safety. It was clear proof that the Persian power, however imposing on the outside, could offer no effective resistance to an attack by a strong force of disciplined Greek soldiers. Henceforth the Greeks never abandoned the idea of an invasion of Persia.
ALEXANDER'S INVASION
The gigantic task fell, however, to Alexander, as the champion of Hellas against the "barbarians." With an army of less than forty thousand men Alexander destroyed an empire before which, for two centuries, all Asia had been wont to tremble. History, ancient or modern, contains no other record of conquests so widespread, so thorough, so amazingly rapid.
42. CONQUEST OF PERSIA AND THE FAR EAST, 334-323 B.C.
BATTLE OF THE GRANICUS, 334 B.C.
Alexander crossed the Hellespont in the spring of the year 334 B.C. He landed not far from the historic plain of Troy and at once began his march along the coast. Near the little river Granicus the satraps of Asia Minor had gathered an army to dispute his passage. Alexander at once led his cavalry across the river in an impetuous charge, which soon sent the Persian troops in headlong flight. The victory cost the Macedonians scarcely a hundred men; but it was complete. As Alexander passed southward, town after town opened its gates—first Sardis, next Ephesus, then all the other cities of Ionia. They were glad enough to be free of Persian control. Within a year Asia Minor was a Macedonian possession.
BATTLE OF ISSUS, 333 B.C.
In the meantime Darius III, the Persian king, had been making extensive preparations to meet the invader. He commanded half a million men, but he followed Alexander too hastily and had to fight in a narrow defile on the Syrian coast between the mountains and the sea. In such cramped quarters numbers did not count. The battle became a massacre, and only the approach of night stayed the swords of the victorious Macedonians. A great quantity of booty, including the mother, wife, and children of Darius, fell into Alexander's hands. He treated his royal captives kindly, but refused to make peace with the Persian king.
[Illustration: THE ALEXANDER MOSAIC (Naples Museum) This splendid mosaic composed of pieces of colored glass formed the pavement of a Roman house at Pompeii in Italy. It represents the charge of Alexander (on horseback at the left) against the Persian king in his chariot, at the battle of Issus.]
CAPTURE OF TYRE, 332 B.C.
The next step was to subdue the Phoenician city of Tyre, the headquarters of Persia's naval power. The city lay on a rocky island, half a mile from the shore. Its fortifications rose one hundred feet above the waves. Although the place seemed impregnable, Alexander was able to capture it after he had built a mole, or causeway, between the shore and the island. Powerful siege engines then breached the walls, the Macedonians poured in, and Tyre fell by storm. Thousands of its inhabitants perished and thousands more were sold into slavery. The great emporium of the East became a heap of ruins.
ALEXANDER IN EGYPT
From Tyre Alexander led his ever-victorious army through Syria into Egypt. The Persian forces here offered little resistance, and the Egyptians themselves welcomed Alexander as a deliverer. The conqueror entered Memphis in triumph and then sailed down the Nile to its western mouth, where he laid the foundations of Alexandria, a city which later became the metropolis of the Orient.
ALEXANDER IN LIBYA
Another march brought Alexander to the borders of Libya, Here he received the submission of Cyrene, the most important Greek colony in Africa. [7] Alexander's dominions were thus extended to the border of the Carthaginian possessions. It was at this time that Alexander visited a celebrated temple of the god Amon, located in an oasis of the Libyan desert. The priests were ready enough to hail him as a son of Amon, as one before whom his Egyptian subjects might bow down and adore. But after Alexander's death his worship spread widely over the world, and even the Roman Senate gave him a place among the gods of Olympus.
BATTLE OF ARBELA, 331 B.C.
The time had now come to strike directly at the Persian king. Following the ancient trade routes through northern Mesopotamia, Alexander crossed the Euphrates and the Tigris and, on a broad plain not far from the ruins of ancient Nineveh, [8] found himself confronted by the Persian host. Darius held an excellent position and hoped to crush his foe by sheer weight of numbers. But nothing could stop the Macedonian onset; once more Darius fled away, and once more the Persians, deserted by their king, broke up in hopeless rout.
END OF THE PERSIAN EMPIRE
The battle of Arbela decided the fate of the Persian Empire. It remained only to gather the fruits of victory. The city of Babylon surrendered without a struggle. Susa, with its enormous treasure, fell into the conqueror's hands. Persepolis, the old Persian capital, was given up to fire and sword. [9] Darius himself, as he retreated eastward, was murdered by his own men. With the death of Darius the national war of Greece against Persia came to an end.
CONQUEST OF IRAN
The Macedonians had now overrun all the Persian provinces except distant Iran and India. These countries were peopled of by warlike tribes of a very different stamp from the effeminate Persians. Alexander might well have been content to leave them undisturbed, but the man could never rest while there were still conquests to be made. Long marches and much hard fighting were necessary to subdue the tribes about the Caspian and the inhabitants of the countries now known as Afghanistan and Turkestan.
[Illustration: Map, EMPIRE OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT About 323 B.C.]
CONQUEST OF INDIA
Crossing the lofty barrier of the Hindu-Kush, Alexander led his weary soldiers into northwestern India, where a single battle added the Persian province of the Punjab [10] to the Macedonian possessions. Alexander then pressed forward to the conquest of the Ganges valley, but in the full tide of victory his troops refused to go any farther. They had had their fill of war and martial glory; they would conquer no more lands for their ambitious king. Alexander gave with reluctance the order for the homeward march.
ALEXANDER'S RETURN TO BABYLON
Alexander was of too adventurous a disposition to return by the way he had come. He resolved to reach Babylon by a new route. He built a navy on the Indus and had it accompany the army down the river. At the mouth of the Indus Alexander dispatched the fleet under his admiral, Nearchus, to explore the Indian Ocean and to discover, if possible, a sea route between India and the West. He himself led the army, by a long and toilsome march through the deserts of southern Iran, to Babylon. That city now became the capital of the Macedonian Empire.
DEATH OF ALEXANDER, 323 B.C.
Scarcely two years after his return, while he was planning yet more extensive conquests in Arabia, Africa, and western Europe, he was smitten by the deadly Babylonian fever. In 323 B.C., after several days of illness, the conqueror of the world passed away, being not quite thirty- three years of age.
43. THE WORK OF ALEXANDER
ALEXANDER AS WARRIOR AND STATESMAN
Alexander the Great was one of the foremost, perhaps the first, of the great captains of antiquity. But he was more than a world-conqueror; he was a statesman of the highest order. Had he been spared for an ordinary lifetime, there is no telling how much he might have accomplished. In eleven years he had been able to subdue the East and to leave an impress upon it which was to endure for centuries. And yet his work had only begun. There were still lands to conquer, cities to build, untrodden regions to explore. Above all, it was still his task to shape his possessions into a well-knit, unified empire, which would not fall to pieces in the hands of his successors. His early death was a calamity, for it prevented the complete realization of his splendid ambitions.
HELLENIZING OF THE ORIENT
The immediate result of Alexander's conquests was the disappearance of the barriers which had so long shut in the Orient. The East, until his day, was an almost unknown land. Now it lay open to the spread of Greek civilization. In the wake of the Macedonian armies followed Greek philosophers and scientists, Greek architects and artists, Greek colonists, merchants, and artisans. Everywhere into that huge, inert, unprogressive Oriental world came the active and enterprising men of Hellas. They brought their arts and culture and became the teachers of those whom they had called "barbarians."
FUSION OF EAST AND WEST
The ultimate result of Alexander's conquests was the fusion of East and West. He realized that his new empire must contain a place for Oriental, as well as for Greek and East and Macedonian, subjects. It was Alexander's aim, therefore, to build up a new state in which the distinction between the European and the Asiatic should gradually pass away. He welcomed Persian nobles to his court and placed them in positions of trust. He organized the government of his provinces on a system resembling that of Darius the Great. [11] He trained thousands of Persian soldiers to replace the worn-out veterans in his armies. He encouraged by liberal dowries mixed marriages between Macedonians and Orientals, and himself wedded the daughter of the last Persian king. To hold his dominions together and provide a meeting place for both classes of his subjects, he founded no less than seventy cities in different parts of the empire. Such measures as these show that Alexander had a mind of wide, even cosmopolitan, sympathies. They indicate the loss which ancient civilization suffered by his untimely end.
[Illustration: SARCOPHAGUS FROM SIDON (Imperial Ottoman Museum,
Constantinople.)
One of eighteen splendid sarcophagi discovered in 1887 A.D. in an ancient cemetery at Sidon. The sculptures on the longer sides represent two scenes from the life of Alexander—the one a battle, the other a lion hunt. The figures, in almost full relief, are delicately painted. ]
44. HELLENISTIC KINGDOMS AND CITIES
THE THREE GREAT KINGDOMS
The half century following Alexander's death is a confused and troubled period in ancient history. The king had left no legitimate son—no one with an undisputed title to the succession. On his deathbed Alexander had himself declared that the realm should go "to the strongest." [12] It was certain, under these circumstances, that his possessions would become the prey of the leading Macedonian generals. The unwieldy empire at length broke in pieces. Out of the fragments arose three great states, namely, Macedonia, Egypt, and Syria. The kingdom of Egypt was ruled by Ptolemy, one of Alexander's generals. Seleucus, another of his generals, established the kingdom of Syria. It comprised nearly all western Asia. These kingdoms remained independent until the era of Roman conquest in the East.
[Illustration: A GREEK CAMEO (Museum, Vienna) Cut in sardonyx. Represents Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt, and his wife Arsinoë.]
MINOR INDEPENDENT STATES
Several small states also arose from the break-up of Alexander's empire. [13] Each had its royal dynasty, its capital city, and its own national life. Thus the conquests of Alexander, instead of establishing a world- power under one ruler, led to the destruction of the unity of government which Persia had given to the East.
CITY LIFE IN THE ORIENT
More significant for the history of civilization than these kingdoms were the Hellenistic [14] cities, which from the time of Alexander arose in every part of the eastern world. Some were only garrison towns in the heart of remote provinces or outposts along the frontiers. Many more, however, formed busy centers of trade and industry, and became seats of Greek influence in the Orient. Such cities were quite unlike the old Greek city-states. [15] They were not free and independent, but made a part of the kingdom in which they were situated. The inhabitants consisted of Greeks and Macedonians, comprising the governing class, together with native artisans and merchants who had abandoned their village homes for life in a metropolis. In appearance, also, these cities contrasted with those of old Greece. They had broad streets, well paved and sometimes lighted at night, enjoyed a good water supply, and possessed baths, theaters, and parks.
ALEXANDRIA
In the third century B.C. the foremost Hellenistic city was Alexandria. It lay on a strip of flat, sandy land separating Lake Mareotis from the Mediterranean. On the one side was the lake-harbor, connected with the Nile; on the other side were two sea-harbors, sheltered from the open sea by the long and narrow island of Pharos. [16] The city possessed a magnificent site for commerce. It occupied the most central position that could be found in the ancient world with respect to the three continents, Africa, Asia, and Europe. The prosperity which this port has enjoyed for more than two thousand years is ample evidence of the wisdom which led to its foundation.
ANTIOCH
The chief city in the kingdom of Syria was splendid and luxurious Antioch. It lay in the narrow valley of the Orontes River, so close to both the Euphrates and the Mediterranean that it soon became an important commercial center. The city must have been a most delightful residence, with its fine climate, its location on a clear and rapid stream, and the near presence of the Syrian hills. In the sixth century A.D. repeated earthquakes laid Antioch in ruins. The city never recovered its prosperity, though a modern town, Antakia, still marks the site of the once famous capital.
[Illustration: Map, THE KINGDOMS OF ALEXANDER'S SUCCESSORS (About 200
B.C.), Before the Roman Macedonian Wars]
[Illustration: THE DYING GAUL (Capitoline Museum, Rome) The statue represents a Gaul who in battle has fallen on his sword to avoid a shameful captivity. Overcome by the faintness of death he sinks upon his shield, his head dropping heavily forward. Though realistic the statue shows nothing violent or revolting. It is a tragedy in stone.]
PERGAMUM
Asia Minor, during this period, contained many Hellenistic cities. One of the most important was Pergamum, the capital of a small but independent kingdom of the same name. Its rulers earned the gratitude of all the Greeks by their resistance to the terrible Gauls. About fifty years after Alexander's death this barbarous people, pouring down from central Europe, had ravaged Greece and invaded Asia Minor. The kings of Pergamum celebrated their victories over the Gauls with so many works of architecture and sculpture that their city became the artistic rival of Athens.
RHODES
One other great Hellenistic center existed in the island city of Rhodes. Founded during the closing years of the Peloponnesian War, Rhodes soon distanced Athens in the race for commercial supremacy. The merchants of Rhodes framed admirable laws, especially for business affairs, and many of these were incorporated in the Roman code. Rhodes was celebrated for art. No less than three thousand statues adorned the streets and public buildings. It was also a favorite place of education for promising orators and writers. During Roman days many eminent men, Cicero and Julius Caesar among them, studied oratory at Rhodes.
45. THE HELLENISTIC AGE
HELLENISTIC LITERATURE
These splendid cities in the Orient were the centers of much literary activity. Their inhabitants, whether Hellenic or "barbarian," used Greek as a common language. During this period Greek literature took on a cosmopolitan character. It no longer centered in Athens. Writers found their audiences in all lands where Greeks had settled. At the same time literature became more and more an affair of the study. The authors were usually professional bookmen writing for a bookish public. They produced many works of literary criticism, prepared excellent grammars and dictionaries, but wrote very little poetry or prose of enduring value.
THE MUSEUM AT ALEXANDRIA
The Hellenistic Age was distinguished as an age of learning. Particularly was this true at Alexandria, where the Museum, founded by the first Macedonian king of Egypt, became a real university. It contained galleries of art, an astronomical observatory, and even zoological and botanical gardens. The Museum formed a resort for men of learning, who had the leisure necessary for scholarly research. The beautiful gardens, with their shady walks, statues, and fountains, were the haunt of thousands of students whom the fame of Alexandria attracted from all parts of the civilized world.
THE ALEXANDRIAN LIBRARY
In addition to the Museum there was a splendid library, which at one time contained over five hundred thousand manuscripts—almost everything that had been written in antiquity. The chief librarian ransacked private collections and purchased all the books he could find. Every book that entered Egypt was brought to the Library, where slaves transcribed the manuscript and gave a copy to the owner in place of the original. Before this time the manuscripts of celebrated works were often scarce and always in danger of being lost. Henceforth it was known where to look for them.
[Illustration: LAOCOON AND HIS CHILDREN (Vatican Museum Rome) A product of the art school of Rhodes (about 150 B.C.). The statue represents the punishment inflicted on Laocoon a Trojan priest together with his two sons. A pair of large serpents sent by the offended gods have seized the unhappy victims.]
[Illustration: VICTORY OF SAMOTHRACE (Louvre, Paris) Commemorates a naval battle fought in 306 B.C. The statue, which is considerably above life-size, stood on a pedestal having the form of a ship's prow. The goddess of Victory was probably represented holding a trumpet to her lips with her right hand. The fresh ocean breeze has blown her garments back into tumultuous folds.]
SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES
The Hellenistic Age was remarkable for the rapid advance of scientific knowledge. Most of the mathematical works of the Greeks date from this epoch. Euclid wrote a treatise on geometry which still holds its place in the schools. Archimedes of Syracuse, who had once studied at Alexandria, made many discoveries in engineering. A water screw of his device is still in use. He has the credit for finding out the laws of the lever. "Give me a fulcrum on which to rest," he said, "and I will move the earth." The Hellenistic scholars also made remarkable progress in medicine. The medical school of Alexandria was well equipped with charts, models, and dissecting rooms for the study of the human body. During the second century of our era all the medical knowledge of antiquity was gathered up in the writings of Galen (born about 130 A.D.). For more than a thousand years Galen of Pergamum remained the supreme authority in medicine.
ANCIENT AND MODERN SCIENCE COMPARED
In scientific work it seems as if the Greeks had done almost all that could be accomplished by sheer brain power aided only by rude instruments. They had no real telescopes or microscopes, no mariner's compass or chronometer, and no very delicate balances. Without such inventions the Greeks could hardly proceed much farther with their researches. Modern scientists are perhaps no better thinkers than were those of antiquity, but they have infinitely better apparatus and can make careful experiments where the Greeks had to rely on shrewd guesses.
EXTENSION OF GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE
During the Hellenistic Age men began to gain more accurate ideas regarding the shape and size of the habitable globe. Such events as the expedition of the "Ten Thousand" [17] and Alexander's conquests in central Asia and India brought new information about the countries and peoples of the Orient. During Alexander's lifetime a Greek named Pytheas, starting from Massilia, [18] made an adventurous voyage along the shores of Spain and Gaul and spent some time in Britain. He was probably the first Greek to visit that island.
ERATOSTHENES, ABOUT 276-194 B.C.
All this new knowledge of East and West was soon gathered together by Eratosthenes, the learned librarian of Alexandria. He was the founder of scientific geography. Before his time some students had already concluded that the earth is spherical and not flat, as had been taught in the Homeric poems. [19] Guesses had even been made of the size of the earth. Eratosthenes by careful measurements came within a few thousand miles of its actual circumference. Having estimated the size of the earth, Eratosthenes went on to determine how large was its habitable area. He reached the conclusion that the distance from the strait of Gibraltar to the east of India was about one-third of the earth's circumference. The remaining two-thirds, he thought, was covered by the sea. And with what seems a prophecy he remarked that, if it was not for the vast extent of the Atlantic Ocean, one might almost sail from Spain to India along the same parallel of latitude.
[Illustration: PROGRESS OF GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE IN ANTIQUITY
Map, The World according to Eratosthenes, 200 B.C.
Map, The World according to Ptolemy, 150 A.D.]
PTOLEMY
The next two centuries after Eratosthenes saw the spread of Roman rule over Greeks and Carthaginians in the Mediterranean and over the barbarous inhabitants of Gaul, Britain, and Germany. The new knowledge thus gained was summed up in the Greek Geography by Ptolemy [20] of Alexandria. His famous map shows how near he came to the real outlines both of Europe and Asia.
THE PTOLEMAIC SYSTEM
Ptolemy was likewise an eminent astronomer. He believed that the earth was the center of the universe and that the sun, planets, and fixed stars all revolved around it. This Ptolemaic system was not overthrown until the grand discovery of Copernicus in the sixteenth century of our era.
46. THE GRAECO-ORIENTAL WORLD
THE NEW LUXURY
The Hellenistic Age was characterized by a general increase in wealth. The old Greeks and Macedonians, as a rule, had been content to live plainly. Now kings, nobles, and rich men began to build splendid palaces and to fill them with the products of ancient art—marbles from Asia Minor, vases from Athens, Italian bronzes, and Babylonian tapestries. They kept up great households with endless lords in waiting, ladies of honor, pages, guards, and servants. Soft couches and clothes of delicate fabric replaced the simple coverlets and coarse cloaks of an earlier time. They possessed rich carpets and hangings, splendid armor and jewelry, and gold and silver vessels for the table. The Greeks thus began to imitate the luxurious lives of Persian nobles.
THE SEA ROUTE TO INDIA
These new luxuries flowed in from all parts of the ancient world. Many came from the Far East in consequence of the rediscovery of the sea route to India, by Alexander's admiral, Nearchus. [21] The voyage of Nearchus was one of the most important results of Alexander's eastern conquests. It established the fact, which had long been forgotten, that one could reach India by a water route much shorter and safer than the caravan roads through central Asia. [22] Somewhat later a Greek sailor, named Harpalus, found that by using the monsoons, the periodic winds which blow over the Indian Ocean, he could sail direct from Arabia to India without laboriously following the coast. The Greeks, in consequence, gave his name to the monsoons.
ORIENTAL INFLUENCE ON THE GREEKS
All this sudden increase of wealth, all the thousand new enjoyments with which life was now adorned and enriched, did not work wholly for good. With luxury there went, as always, laxity in morals. Contact with the vice and effeminacy of the East tended to lessen the manly vigor of the Greeks, both in Asia and in Europe. Hellas became corrupt, and she in turn corrupted Rome.
GREEK INFLUENCE ON THE ORIENT
Yet the most interesting, as well as the most important, feature of the age is the diffusion of Hellenic culture—the "Hellenizing" of the Orient. It was, indeed, a changed world in which men were now living. Greek cities, founded by Alexander and his successors, stretched from the Nile to the Indus, dotted the shores of the Black Sea and Caspian, and arose amid the wilds of central Asia. The Greek language, once the tongue of a petty people, grew to be a universal language of culture, spoken even by "barbarian" lips. And the art, the science, the literature, the principles of politics and philosophy, developed in isolation by the Greek mind, henceforth became the heritage of many nations.
THE NEW COSMOPOLITANISM
Thus, in the period after Alexander the long struggle between East and West reached a peaceful conclusion. The distinction between Greek and Barbarian gradually faded away, and the ancient world became ever more unified in sympathies and aspirations. It was this mingled civilization of Orient and Occident with which the Romans were now to come in contact, as they pushed their conquering arms beyond Italy into the eastern Mediterranean.
[Illustration: ORIENTAL, GREEK, AND ROMAN COINS
1. Lydian coin of about 700 B.C.; the material is electrum, a
compound of gold and silver.
2. Gold daric; a Persian coin worth about $5.
3. Hebrew silver shekel.
4. Athenian silver tetradrachm showing Athena, her olive
branch and sacred owl.
5. Roman bronze as (2 cents) of about 217 B.C.; the
symbols are the head of Janus and the prow of a ship.
6. Bronze sestertius (5 cents) struck in Nero's reign; the
emperor, who carries a spear, is followed by a second horseman
bearing a banner.
7. Silver denarius (20 cents) of about 99 B.C.; it shows a
bust of Roma and three citizens voting.
8. Gold solidus ($5) of Honorius about 400 A.D.; the emperor
wears a diadem and carries a scepter.]
STUDIES
1. On an outline map indicate the routes of Alexander, marking the principal battle fields and the most important cities founded by him. Note, also, the voyage of Nearchus.
2. On an outline map indicate the principal Hellenistic kingdoms about 200 B.C.
3. Give the proper dates for (a) accession of Alexander; (b) battle of Issus; (c) battle of Arbela; and (d) death of Alexander.
4. In what sense was Chaeronea a decisive battle?
5. How is it true that the expedition of the Ten Thousand forms "an epilogue to the invasion of Xerxes and a prologue to the conquests of Alexander"?
6. How much can you see and describe in the Alexander Mosaic (illustration, page 123)?
7. Compare Alexander's invasion of Persia with the invasion of Greece by Xerxes.
8. Distinguish between the immediate and the ultimate results of Alexander's conquests.
9. Comment on the following statement: "No single personality, excepting the carpenter's son of Nazareth, has done so much to make the world we live in what it is as Alexander of Macedon."
10. How did the Macedonian Empire compare in size with that of Persia? With that of Assyria?
11. What modern countries are included within the Macedonian Empire under Alexander?
12. How did the founding of the Hellenistic cities continue the earlier colonial expansion of Greece?
13. Why were the Hellenistic cities the real "backbone" of Hellenism?
14. Why do great cities rarely develop without the aid of commerce? Were all the great cities in Alexander's empire of commercial importance?
15. Show how Alexandria has always been one of the meeting points between Orient and Occident.
16. How did the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 A.D. affect the commercial importance of Alexandria?
17. Name some of the great scientists of the Alexandrian age.
18. What were their contributions to knowledge?
19. Using the maps on pages 76 and 132, trace the growth of geographical knowledge from Homer's time to that of Ptolemy.
20. What parts of the world are most correctly outlined on Ptolemy's map?
21. "The seed-ground of European civilization is neither Greece nor the Orient, but a world joined of the two." Comment on this statement.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Webster, Readings in Ancient History, chapter xii, "Demosthenes and the Struggle against Philip"; chapter xiii, "Exploits of Alexander the Great."
[2] Philippi became noted afterwards as the first city in Europe where Christianity was preached. See Acts, xvi, 9.
[3] See the map between pages 68-69.
[4] See page 275.
[5] See page 39.
[6] See page 272.
[7] See page 90.
[8] See page 36.
[9] See John Dryden's splendid ode, Alexander's Feast.
[10] See pages 20 and 39.
[11] See pages 39-40.
[12] Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander, vii, 26.
[13] See the map facing page 128.
[14] The term "Hellenic" refers to purely Greek culture; the term "Hellenistic," to Greek culture as modified by contact with Oriental life and customs.
[15] See page 81.
[16] The lighthouse on the island of Pharos was considered one of the "seven wonders" of the ancient world. The others were the hanging gardens and walls of Babylon, the pyramids, the Colossus of Rhodes, the temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the mausoleum at Halicarnassus, and the statue of Zeus at Olympia.
[17] See page 120.
[18] See page 89.
[19] See page 74.
[20] Not to be confused with King Ptolemy (page 127).
[21] See page 125.
[22] See page 48.
CHAPTER VII
THE RISE OF ROME TO 264 B.C. [1]
47. ITALY AND SICILY
THE APENNINES
The shape of Italy is determined by the course of the Apennines. Branching off from the Alps at the gulf of Genoa, these mountains cross the peninsula in an easterly direction, almost to the Adriatic. Here they turn sharply to the southeast and follow the coast for a considerable distance. The plains of central Italy, in consequence, are all on the western slope of the Apennines. In the lower part of the peninsula the range swerves suddenly to the southwest, so that the level land is there on the eastern side of the mountains. Near the southern extremity of Italy the Apennines separate into two branches, which penetrate the "heel and toe" of the peninsula.
DIVISIONS OF ITALY
Italy may be conveniently divided into a northern, a central, and a southern section. These divisions, however, are determined by the direction of the mountains and not, as in Greece, chiefly by inlets of the sea. Northern Italy contains the important region known in ancient times as Cisalpine Gaul. This is a perfectly level plain two hundred miles in length, watered by the Po (Padus), which the Romans called the "king of rivers," because of its length and many tributary streams. Central Italy, lying south of the Apennines, includes seven districts, of which the three on the western coast—Etruria, Latium, and Campania—were most conspicuous in ancient history. Southern Italy, because of its warm climate and deeply indented coast, early attracted many Greek colonists. Their colonies here came to be known as Magna Graecia, or Great Greece.
[Illustration: Map, ANCIENT ITALY AND SICILY.]
SICILY
The triangular-shaped island of Sicily is separated from Italy by the strait of Messina, a channel which, at the narrowest part, is only two miles wide. At one time Sicily must have been joined to the mainland. Its mountains, which rise at their highest point in the majestic volcano of Aetna, nearly eleven thousand feet above sea level, are a continuation of those of Italy. The greater part of Sicily is remarkably productive, containing rich grainfields and hillsides green with the olive and the vine. Lying in the center of the Mediterranean and in the direct route of merchants and colonists from every direction, Sicily has always been a meeting place of nations. In antiquity Greeks, Carthaginians, and Romans contended for the possession of this beautiful island.
INFLUENCE OF GEOGRAPHICAL CONDITIONS
On Italian history, as on that of Greece, [2] we are able to trace the profound influence of geographical conditions. In the first place, the peninsula of Italy is not cut up by a tangle of mountains into many small districts. Hence it was easier for the Italians, than for the Greeks, to establish one large and united state. In the second place, Italy, which has few good harbors but possesses fine mountain pastures and rich lowland plains, was better adapted to cattle raising and agriculture than was Greece. The Italian peoples, in consequence, instead of putting to sea, remained a conservative, home-staying folk, who were slow to adopt the customs of other nations. Finally, the location of Italy, with its best harbors and most numerous islands on the western coast, brought that country into closer touch with Gaul, Spain, and northwestern Africa than with Greece and the Orient. Italy fronted the barbarous West.
48. THE PEOPLES OF ITALY
NEIGHBORS OF THE ROMANS
Long before the Romans built their city by the Tiber every part of Italy had become the home of wandering peoples, attracted by the mild climate and rich soil of this favored land. Two of these peoples were neighbors of the Romans—Etruscans on the north and Greeks on the south.
THE ETRUSCANS
The ancestors of the historic Etruscans were probably Aegean sea-rovers who settled in the Italian peninsula before the beginning of the eighth century B.C. The immigrants mingled with the natives and by conquest and colonization founded a strong power in the country to which they gave their name—Etruria. At one time the Etruscans appear to have ruled over Campania and also in the Po Valley as far as the Alps. Their colonies occupied the shores of Sardinia and Corsica. Their fleets swept the Tyrrhenian Sea. The Etruscans for several centuries were the leading nation in Italy.
[Illustration: A GRAECO-ETRUSCAN CHARIOT (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
York)
The chariot was discovered in 1903 A.D. in an Etruscan cemetery near Rome. It dates from perhaps 600 B.C. Almost every part of the vehicle is covered with thin plates of bronze, elaborately decorated. The wheels are only two feet in diameter. Since the chariot is too small and delicate for use in warfare, we may believe it to have been intended for ceremonial purposes only.]
ETRUSCAN CIVILIZATION
These Etruscans, like the Hittites of Asia Minor, [3] are a mysterious race. No one as yet has been able to read their language, which is quite unlike any Indo-European tongue. The words, however, are written in an alphabet borrowed from Greek settlers in Italy. Many other civilizing arts besides the alphabet came to the Etruscans from abroad. Babylonia gave to them the principle of the round arch and the practice of divination. [4] Etruscan graves contain Egyptian seals adorned with hieroglyphics and beautiful vases bearing designs from Greek mythology. The Etruscans were skillful workers in iron, bronze, and gold. They built their cities with massive walls, arched gates, paved streets, and underground drains. In the course of time a great part of this Etruscan civilization was absorbed in that of Rome.
[Illustration: AN ETRUSCAN ARCH The Italian city of Volterra still preserves in the Porta dell' Arco an interesting relic of Etruscan times. The archway, one of the original gates of the ancient town, is about twenty feet in height and twelve feet in width. On the keystone and imposts are three curious heads, probably representing the guardian deities of the place.]
[Illustration: CHARACTERS OF THE ETRUSCAN ALPHABET About eight thousand Etruscan inscriptions are known, almost all being short epitaphs on gravestones. In 1892 A.D. an Etruscan manuscript which had been used to pack an Egyptian mummy, was published, but the language could not be deciphered.]
THE GREEKS
As teachers of the Romans the Etruscans were followed by the Greeks. About the middle of the eighth century B.C. Hellenic colonies began to occupy the coasts of Sicily and southern Italy. The earliest Greek settlement was Cumae, near the bay of Naples. [5] It was a city as old as Rome itself, and a center from which Greek culture, including the Greek alphabet, spread to Latium. A glance at the map [6] shows that the chief Greek Colonies were all on or near the Sea, from Campania to the gulf of Tarentum. North of the "heel" of Italy extends an almost harborless coast, where nothing tempted the Greeks to settle. North of Campania, again, they found the good harbors already occupied by the Etruscans. The Greeks, in consequence, were never able to make Italy a completely Hellenic land. Room was left for the native Italian peoples, under the leadership of Rome, to build up their own power in the peninsula.
THE ITALIAN HIGHLANDERS
The Italians were an Indo-European people who spoke a language closely related, on the one side, to Greek and, on the other side, to the Celtic tongues of western Europe. They entered Italy through the Alpine passes, long before the dawn of history, and gradually pushed southward until they occupied the interior of the peninsula. At the beginning of historic times they had separated into two main branches. The eastern and central parts of Italy formed the home of the highlanders, grouped in various tribes. Among them were the Umbrians in the northeast, the Sabines in the upper valley of the Tiber, and the Samnites in the south. Still other Italian peoples occupied the peninsula as far as Magna Graecia.
THE LATINS
The western Italians were known as Latins. They dwelt in Latium, the "flat land" extending south of the Tiber between the Apennines and the Tyrrhenian Sea. Residence in the lowlands, where they bordered on the Etruscans, helped to make the Latins a civilized people. Their village communities grew into larger settlements, until the whole of Latium became filled with a number of independent city-states. The ties of kinship and the necessity of defense against Etruscan and Sabine foes bound them together. At a very early period they had united in the Latin League, under the headship of Alba Longa. Another city in this league was Rome.
49. THE ROMANS
FOUNDING OF ROME
Rome sprang from a settlement of Latin shepherds, farmers, and traders on the Palatine Mount. [7] This was the central eminence in a group of low hills south of the Tiber, about fifteen miles by water from the river's mouth. Opposite the Palatine community there arose on the Quirinal Hill another settlement, which seems to have been an outpost of the Sabines. After much hard fighting the rival hill towns united on equal terms into one state. The low marshy land between the Palatine and Quirinal became the Forum, or common market place, and the steep rock, known as the Capitoline, formed the common citadel. [8]
[Illustration: Map, VICINITY OF ROME.]
UNION OF THE SEVEN HILLS
The union of the Palatine and Quirinal settlements greatly increased the area and population of the Roman city. In course of time settlements were made on the neighboring hills and these, too, cast in their lot with Rome. Then a fortification, the so-called "Wall of Servius," was built to bring them all within the boundaries of the enlarged community. Rome came into existence as the City of the Seven Hills.
MYTHS OF EARLY ROME
Long after the foundation of Rome, when that city had grown rich and powerful, her poets and historians delighted to relate the many myths which clustered about the earlier stages of her career. According to these myths Rome began as a colony of Alba Longa, the capital of Latium. The founder of this city was Ascanius, son of the Trojan prince Aeneas, who had escaped from Troy on its capture by the Greeks and after long wanderings had reached the coast of Italy. Many generations afterwards, when Numitor sat on the throne of Alba Longa, his younger brother, Amulius, plotted against him and drove him into exile. He had Numitor's son put to death, and forced the daughter, Rhea Silvia, to take the vows of a Vestal Virgin. [9]
[Illustration: AN EARLY ROMAN COIN
Shows the twins, Romulus and Remus as infants suckled by a wolf.]
ROMULUS AND REMUS
But Rhea Silvia, beloved by Mars, the god of war, gave birth to twin boys of more than human size and beauty. The wicked Amulius ordered the children to be set adrift in a basket on the Tiber. Heaven, however, guarded these offspring of a god; the river cast them ashore near Mount Palatine, and a she-wolf came and nursed them. There they were discovered by a shepherd, who reared them in his own household. When the twins, Romulus and Remus, reached manhood, they killed Amulius and restored their grandfather to his kingdom. With other young men from Alba Longa, they then set forth to build a new city on the Palatine, where they had been rescued. As they scanned the sky to learn the will of the gods, six vultures, birds of Jupiter, appeared to Remus; but twelve were seen by Romulus. So Romulus marked out the boundary of the city on the Palatine, and Remus, who in derision leaped over the half-finished wall, he slew in anger. Romulus thus became the sole founder of Rome and its first king.
SUCCESSORS OF ROMULUS
Romulus was followed by a Sabine, Numa Pompilius, who taught the Romans the arts of peace and the worship of the gods. Another king destroyed Alba Longa and brought the inhabitants to Rome. The last of Rome's seven kings was an Etruscan named Tarquin the Proud. His tyranny finally provoked an uprising, and Rome became a republic.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE MYTHS
These famous tales have become a part of the world's literature and still possess value to the student. They show us what the Romans themselves believed about the foundation and early fortunes of their city. Sometimes they refer to what seem to be facts, such as the first settlement on the Palatine, the union with the Sabines on the Quirinal, the conquest of Alba Longa, and Etruscan rule at Rome. The myths also contain so many references to customs and beliefs that they are a great help in understanding the social life and religion of the early Romans.
50. EARLY ROMAN SOCIETY
THE ROMANS AN AGRICULTURAL PEOPLE
Agriculture was the chief occupation of the Roman people. "When our forefathers," said an ancient writer, "would praise a worthy man, they praised him as a good farmer and a good landlord; and they believed that an praise could go no further." [10] Roman farmers raised large crops of grain—the staple product of ancient Italy. Cattle-breeding, also, must have been an important pursuit, since in early times prices were estimated in oxen and sheep. [11]
[Illustration: A ROMAN FARMER'S CALENDAR
A marble cube, two feet high, of about 31-29 B.C.
The month of May,
XXXI days,
The nones fall on the 7th day.
The day has 19-1/2 hours.
The night has 9-1/2 hours
The sun is in the sign of Taurus
The month is under the protection of Apollo.
The corn is weeded
The sheep are shorn
The wool is washed
Young steers are put under the yoke.
The vetch of the meadows is cut.
The lustration of the crops is made.
Sacrifices to Mercury and Flora.]
ECONOMIC CONDITIONS
In such a community of peasants no great inequalities of wealth existed. Few citizens were very rich; few were very poor. The members of each household made their own clothing from flax or wool, and fashioned out of wood and clay what utensils were needed for their simple life. For a long time the Romans had no coined money whatever. When copper came into use as currency, it passed from hand to hand in shapeless lumps that required frequent weighing. It was not until the fourth century that a regular coinage began. [12] This use of copper as money indicates that gold and silver were rare among the Romans, and luxury almost unknown.
MORAL CHARACTER OF THE EARLY ROMANS
Hard-working, god-fearing peasants are likely to lead clean and sober lives. This was certainly true of the early Romans. They were a manly breed, abstemious in food and drink, iron-willed, vigorous, and strong. Deep down in the Roman's heart was the proud conviction that Rome should rule over all her neighbors. For this he freely shed his blood; for this he bore hardship, however severe, without complaint. Before everything else, he was a dutiful citizen and a true patriot. Such were the sturdy men who on their farms in Latium formed the backbone of the Roman state. Their character has set its mark on history for all time.
THE ROMAN FAMILY
The family formed the unit of Roman society. Its most marked feature was the unlimited authority of the father. In his house he reigned an absolute king. His wife had no legal rights: he could sell her into slavery or divorce her at will. Nevertheless, no ancient people honored women more highly than the Romans. A Roman wife was the mistress of the home, as her husband was its master. Though her education was not carried far, we often find the Roman matron taking a lively interest in affairs of state, and aiding her husband both in politics and business. It was the women, as well as the men, who helped to make Rome great among the nations. Over his unmarried daughters and his sons, the Roman father ruled as supreme as over his wife. He brought up his children to be sober, silent, modest in their bearing, and, above all, obedient. Their misdeeds he might punish with penalties as severe as banishment, slavery, or death. As head of the family he could claim all their earnings; everything they had was his. The father's great authority ceased only with his death. Then his sons, in turn, became lords over their families.
[Illustration: CINERARY URNS IN TERRA COTTA (Vatican Museum, Rome) These receptacles for the ashes of the dead were found in an old cemetery at Alba Longa They show two forms of the primitive Roman hut.]
51. ROMAN RELIGION
WORSHIP OF ANCESTORS
The Romans, like the ancient Greeks and the modern Chinese, paid special veneration to the souls of the dead. These were known by the flattering name of manes, the "pure" or "good ones." The Romans always regarded the manes as members of the household to which they had belonged on earth. The living and the dead were thus bound together by the closest ties. The idea of the family triumphed even over the grave.
THE HOUSEHOLD DEITIES
The ancient Roman house had only one large room, the atrium, where all members of the family lived together. It was entered by a single door, which was sacred to the god Janus. On the hearth, opposite the doorway, the housewife prepared the meals. The fire that ever blazed upon it gave warmth and nourishment to the inmates. Here dwelt Vesta, the spirit of the kindling flame. The cupboard where the food was kept came under the charge of the Penates, who blessed the family store. The house as a whole had its protecting spirits, called Lares.
WORSHIP OF THE HOUSEHOLD DEITIES
The daily worship of these deities took place at the family meal. The table would be placed at the side of the hearth, and when the father and his family sat down to it, a little food would be thrown into the flames and a portion of wine poured out, as an offering to the gods. The images of the Lares and Penates would also be fetched from the shrine and placed on the table in token of their presence at the meal. This religion of the family lasted with little change throughout the entire period of Roman history.
[Illustration: A VESTAL VIRGIN Portrait from a statue discovered in the ruins of the temple of Vesta in the Roman Forum.]
JANUS AND VESTA
The early Roman state was only an enlarged family, and hence the religion of the state was modeled after that of the family. Some of the divinities, such as Janus and Vesta, were taken over with little change from the domestic worship. The entrance to the Forum formed a shrine of Janus, [13] which Numa himself was said to have built. The door, or gateway, stood open in time of war, but shut when Rome was at peace. At the south end of the Forum stood the round temple of Vesta, containing the sacred hearth of the city. Here Vesta was served by six virgins of free birth, whose duty it was to keep the fire always blazing on the altar. If by accident the fire went out, it must be relighted from a "pure flame," either by striking a spark with flint or by rubbing together two dry sticks. Such methods of kindling fire were those familiar to the prehistoric Romans.
[Illustration: SUOVETAURILIA (Louvre, Paris) The relief pictures an ancient Italian sacrifice of a bull, a ram and a boar offered to Mars to secure purification from sin. Note the sacred laurel trees, the two altars, and the officiating magistrate whose head is covered with the toga. He is sprinkling incense from a box held by an attendant. Another attendant carries a ewer with the libation. In the rear is the sacrificer with his ax.]
JUPITER AND MARS
The Romans worshiped various gods connected with their lives as shepherds, farmers, and warriors. The chief divinity was Jupiter, who ruled the heavens and sent rain and sunshine to nourish the crops. The war god Mars reflected the military character of the Romans. His sacred animal was the fierce, cruel wolf, his symbols were spears and shields; his altar was the Campus Martius (Field of Mars) outside the city walls, where the army assembled in battle array. March, the first month of the old Roman year, was named in his honor. Some other gods were borrowed from the Greeks, together with many of the beautiful Greek myths.
DIVINATION
The Romans took many precautions, before beginning any enterprise, to find out what was the will of the gods and how their favor might first be gained. They did not have oracles, but they paid much attention to omens of all sorts. A sudden flash of lightning, an eclipse of the sun, a blazing comet, or an earthquake shock was an omen which awakened superstitious fear. It indicated the disapproval of the gods. From the Etruscans the Romans learned to divine the future by examining the entrails of animal victims. They also borrowed from their northern neighbors the practice of looking for signs in the number, flight, and action of birds. To consult such signs was called "taking the auspices." [14]
[Illustration: AN ETRUSCAN AUGUR
Wall painting from a tomb at Tarquinii in Etruria.]
[Illustration: COOP WITH SACRED CHICKENS The relief represents the chickens in the act of feeding. The most favorable omen was secured when the fowls greedily picked up more of the corn than they could swallow at one time. Their refusal to eat at all was an omen of disaster.]
PRIESTHOODS
Roman priests, who conducted the state religion, did not form a separate class, as in some Oriental countries. They were chosen, like other magistrates, from the general body of citizens. A board, or "college," of six priests had charge of the public auspices. Another board, that of the pontiffs, regulated the calendar, kept the public annals, and regulated weights and measures. They were experts in all matters of religious ceremonial and hence were very important officials. [15]
IMPORTANCE OF THE STATE RELIGION
This old Roman faith was something very different from what we understand by religion. It had little direct influence on morality. It did not promise rewards or threaten punishments in a future world. Roman religion busied itself with the everyday life of man. Just as the household was bound together by the tie of common worship, so all the citizens were united in a common reverence for the deities which guarded the state. The religion of Rome made and held together a nation.
52. THE ROMAN CITY-STATE
EARLY ROMAN GOVERNMENT
We find in early Rome, as in Homeric Greece, [16] a city-state with its king, council, and assembly. The king was the father of his people, having over them the same absolute authority that the house-father held within the family. The king was assisted by a council of elders, or Senate (Latin senes, "old men"). Its members were chosen by the king and held office for life. The most influential heads of families belonged to the Senate. The common people at first took little part in the government, for it was only on rare occasions that the king summoned them to deliberate with him in an assembly.
THE REPUBLICAN CONSULS
Toward the close of the sixth century, as we have already learned, [17] the ancient monarchy disappeared from Rome. In place of the lifelong king two magistrates, named consuls, were elected every year. Each consul had to share his honor and authority with a colleague who enjoyed the same power as himself. Unless both agreed, there could be no action. Like the Spartan kings, [18] the consuls served as checks, the one on the other. Neither could safely use his position to aim at unlawful rule.
THE DICTATOR
This divided power of the consuls might work very well in times of peace. During dangerous wars or insurrections it was likely to prove disastrous. A remedy was found in the temporary revival of the old kingship under a new name. When occasion required, one of the consuls, on the advice of the Senate, appointed a dictator. The consuls then gave up their authority and the people put their property and lives entirely at the dictator's disposal. During his term of office, which could not exceed six months, the state was under martial law. Throughout Roman history there were many occasions when a dictatorship was created to meet a sudden emergency.
PATRICIANS AND PLEBEIANS
The Roman state, during the regal age, seems to have been divided between an aristocracy and a commons. The nobles were called patricians, [19] and the common people were known as plebeians. [20] The patricians occupied a privileged position, since they alone sat in the Senate and served as priests, judges, and magistrates. In fact, they controlled society, and the common people found themselves excluded from much of the religious, legal, and political life of the Roman city. Under these circumstances it was natural for the plebeians to agitate against the patrician monopoly of government. The struggle between the two orders of society lasted about two centuries.
THE TRIBUNES
A few years after the establishment of the republic the plebeians compelled the patricians to allow them to have officers of their own, called tribunes, as a means of protection. There were ten tribunes, elected annually by the plebeians. Any tribune could veto, that is, forbid, the act of a magistrate which seemed to bear harshly on a citizen. To make sure that a tribune's orders would be respected, his person was made sacred and a solemn curse was pronounced upon the man who injured him or interrupted him in the performance of his duties. The tribune's authority, however, extended only within the city and a mile beyond its walls. He was quite powerless against the consul in the field.
THE TWELVE TABLES, 449 B.C.
We next find the plebeians struggling for equality before the law. Just as in ancient Athens, [21] the early Roman laws had never been written down or published. About half a century after the plebeians had obtained the tribunes, they forced the patricians to give them written laws. A board of ten men, known as decemvirs, was appointed to frame a legal code, binding equally on both patricians and plebeians. The story goes that this commission studied the legislation of the Greek states of southern Italy, and even went to Athens to examine some of Solon's laws which were still in force. The laws framed by the decemvirs were engraved on twelve bronze tablets and set up in the Forum. A few sentences from this famous code have come down to us in rude, unpolished Latin. They mark the beginning of what was to be Rome's greatest gift to civilization—her legal system.
[Illustration: CURULE CHAIR AND FASCES A consul sat on the curule chair. The fasces (axes in a bundle of rods) symbolized his power to flog and behead offenders.]
FINAL TRIUMPH OF THE PLEBEIANS
The hardest task of the plebeians was to secure the right of holding the great offices of state. Eventually, however, they gained entrance to Senate and became eligible to the consulship and other magistracies and to the priesthoods. By the middle of the third century the plebeians and patricians, equal before the law and with equal privileges, formed one compact body of citizens in the Roman state.
ROME AS A REPUBLIC
The Roman state called itself a republic—respublica—"a thing of the people." Roman citizens made the laws and elected public officers. Though the people in their gatherings had now become supreme, their power was really much limited by the fact that very little discussion of a proposed measure was allowed. This formed a striking contrast to the vigorous debating which went on in the Athenian Assembly. [22] Roman citizens could not frame, criticize, or amend public measures; they could only vote "yes" or "no" to proposals made to them by a magistrate.
MAGISTRATES
Rome had many magistrates. Besides the two consuls and an occasional dictator there were the ten tribunes, the praetors, who served as judges, and the quaestors, or keepers of the treasury. The two censors were also very important officers. It was their business to make an enumeration or census of the citizens and to assess property for taxation. The censors almost always were reverend seniors who had held the consulship and enjoyed a reputation for justice and wisdom. Their office grew steadily in importance, especially after the censors began to exercise an oversight of the private life of the Romans. They could expel a senator from his seat for immorality and could deprive any citizen of his vote. The word "censorious," meaning faultfinding, is derived from the name of these ancient officials.
MEMBERSHIP OF THE SENATE
The authority of the magistrates was much limited by the Senate. This body contained about three hundred members, who held their seats generally for life. When vacancies occurred, they were filled, as a rule, by those who had previously held one or more of the higher magistracies. There sat in the Senate every man who, as statesman, general, or diplomatist, had served his country well.
POWERS EXERCISED BY THE SENATE
The Senate furnished an admirable school for debate. Any senator could speak as long and as often as he chose. The opportunities for discussion were numerous, for all weighty matters came before this august assemblage. It managed finances and public works. It looked after the state religion. It declared and conducted war, received ambassadors from foreign countries, made alliances, and administered conquered territories. The Senate formed the real governing body of the republic.
"AN ASSEMBLY OF KINGS"
The Senate proved not unworthy of its high position. For two centuries, while Rome was winning dominion over Italy and the Mediterranean, that body held the wisest and noblest Romans of the time. To these men office meant a public trust—an opportunity to serve their country with distinction and honor. The Senate, in its best days, was a splendid example of the foresight, energy, and wisdom of republican Rome. An admiring foreigner called it "an assembly of kings." [23]
[Illustration: A SCENE IN SICILY
Taormina, on the Sicilian coast, thirty one miles southwest of Messina.
The ruins are those of a theater, founded by the Greeks, but much altered
in Roman times. The view of Aetna from this site is especially fine.]
[Illustration: BAY OF NAPLES AND VESUVIUS]
53. EXPANSION OF ROME OVER ITALY, 509(?)-264 B.C.
ROME SUPREME IN LATIUM, 338 B.C.
The first centuries of the republic were filled with constant warfare. The Romans needed all their skill, bravery, and patriotism to keep back the Etruscans on the north, and the wild tribes of the Apennines. About 390 B.C. the state was brought near to destruction by an invasion of the Gauls. [24] These barbarians, whose huge bulk and enormous weapons struck terror to the hearts of their adversaries, poured through the Alpine passes and ravaged far and wide. At the river Allia, only a few miles from Rome, they annihilated a Roman army and then captured and burned the city itself. But the Gallic tide receded as swiftly as it had come, and Rome rose from her ashes mightier than ever. Half a century after the Gallic invasion she was able to subdue her former allies, the Latins, and to destroy their league. The Latin War, as it is called, ended in 338 B.C., the year of the fateful battle of Chaeronea in Greece. [25] By this time Rome ruled in Latium and southern Etruria and had begun to extend her sway over Campania. There remained only one Italian people to contest with her the supremacy of the peninsula—the Samnites.
ROME SUPREME IN CENTRAL ITLAY, 290 B.C.
The Samnites were the most vigorous and warlike race of central Italy. While the Romans were winning their way in Latium, the Samnites were also entering on a career of conquest. They coveted the fertile Campanian plain with its luxurious cities, Cumae and Neapolis, which the Greeks had founded. The Romans had also fixed their eyes on the same region, and so a contest between the two peoples became inevitable. In numbers, courage, and military skill Romans and Samnites were well matched. Nearly half a century of hard fighting was required before Rome gained the upper hand. The close of the Samnite wars found Rome supreme in central Italy. Her authority was now recognized from the upper Apennines to the foot of the peninsula.
ROME SUPREME IN SOUTHERN ITALY, 264 B.C.
The wealthy cities of southern Italy offered a tempting prize to Roman greed. Before long many of them received Roman garrisons and accepted the rule of the great Latin republic. Tarentum, [26] however, the most important of the Greek colonies, held jealously to her independence. Unable single-handed to face the Romans, Tarentum turned to Greece for aid. She called on Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, the finest soldier of his age. Pyrrhus led twenty-five thousand mercenary soldiers into Italy, an army almost as large as Alexander's. The Romans could not break the bristling ranks of the Greek phalanx, and they shrank back in terror before the huge war elephants which Pyrrhus had brought with him. The invader won the first battle, but lost many of his best troops. He then offered peace on condition that the Romans should give up their possessions in southern Italy. The Senate returned the proud reply that Rome would not treat with the enemy while he stood on Italian soil. A second battle was so bitterly contested that Pyrrhus declared, "Another such victory, and I am lost." [27] Weary of the struggle, Pyrrhus now crossed over to Sicily to aid his countrymen against the Carthaginians. The rapid progress of the Roman arms called him back, only to meet a severe defeat. Pyrrhus then withdrew in disgust to Greece; Tarentum fell; and Rome established her rule over southern Italy.
POLITICAL SITUATION IN 264 B.C.
The triumph over Pyrrhus and the conquest of Magna Graecia mark a decisive moment in the history of Rome. Had Pyrrhus won Italy, as well as Asia and Egypt, might have become a Greek land, ruled by Hellenistic kings. Now it was clear that Rome, having met the invader so bravely, was to remain supreme in the Italian peninsula. She was the undisputed mistress of Italy from the strait of Messina northward to the Arnus and the Rubicon. Etruscans, Latins, Samnites, and Greeks acknowledged her sway. The central city of the peninsula had become the center of a united Italy. [28]
[Illustration: Map, THE EXPANSION of ROMAN DOMINIONS in ITALY, 500-264
B.C.]
54. ITALY UNDER ROMAN RULE
THE ROMAN CITIZENS
Italy did not form a single state under Roman rule. About one-third of Italy composed the strictly Roman territory occupied by Roman citizens. Since ancient Rome knew nothing of the great principle of representative government, [29] it was necessary that citizens who wished to vote or to stand for office should visit in person the capital city. Few men, of course, would journey many miles to Rome in order to exercise their political rights. The elections, moreover, were not all held on one day, as with us, but consuls, praetors, and other magistrates were chosen on different days, while meetings of the assemblies might be held at any time of the year. A country peasant who really tried to fulfill his duties as a citizen would have had little time for anything else. In practice, therefore, the city populace at Rome had the controlling voice in ordinary legislation. The Romans were never able to remedy this grave defect in their political system. We shall see later what evils government without representation brought in its train.
THE ITALIANS
Over against this body of Roman citizens were the Italian peoples. Rome was not yet ready to grant them citizenship, but she did not treat them as complete subjects. The Italians were called the "allies and friends" of the Roman people. They lost the right of declaring war on one another, of making treaties, and of coining money. Rome otherwise allowed them to govern themselves, never calling on them for tribute and only requiring that they should furnish soldiers for the Roman army in time of war. These allies occupied a large part of the Italian peninsula.
THE LATIN COLONIES
The Romans very early began to establish what were called Latin colonies [30] in various parts of Italy. The colonists were usually veteran soldiers or poor plebeians colonies who wanted farms of their own. When the list of colonists was made up, they all marched forth in military array to lake possession of their new homes and build their city. The Latin colonies were really offshoots of Rome and hence were always faithful to her interests. Scattered everywhere in Italy they formed so many permanent camps or garrisons to keep the conquered peoples in subjection. At the same time they helped mightily in spreading the Latin language, law, and civilization throughout the peninsula.
ROMAN ROADS
All the colonies were united with one another and with Rome by an extensive system of roads. The first great road, called the Appian Way, was made during the period of the Samnite wars. It united the city of Rome with Capua and secured the hold of Rome on Campania. The Appian Way was afterwards carried across the Apennines to Brundisium on the Adriatic, whence travelers embarked for the coast of Greece. Other trunk lines were soon built in Italy, and from them a network of smaller highways was extended to every part of the peninsula.
[Illustration: Map, COLONIES AND MILITARY ROADS IN ITALY]
[Illustration: THE APPIAN WAY A view in the neighborhood of Rome. The ancient construction of the road and its massive paving blocks of lava have been laid bare by modern excavations. The width of the roadway proper was only fifteen feet. The arches, seen in the background, belong to the aqueduct built by the emperor Claudius in 52 A.D.]
USES OF ROMAN ROADS
Roman roads had a military origin. Like the old Persian roads [31] they were intended to facilitate the rapid dispatch of troops, supplies, and official messages into every corner of Italy. Hence the roads ran, as much as possible, in straight lines and on easy grades. Nothing was allowed to obstruct their course. Engineers cut through or tunneled the hills, bridged rivers and gorges, and spanned low, swampy lands with viaducts of stone. So carefully were these roads constructed that some stretches of them are still in good condition. These magnificent highways were free to the public. They naturally became avenues of trade and travel and so served to bring the Italian peoples into close touch with Rome.
ROMANIZATION OF ITALY
Rome thus began in Italy that wonderful process of Romanization which she was to extend later to Spain, Gaul, and Britain. She began to make, the Italian peoples like herself in blood, speech, customs, and manners. More and more the Italians, under Rome's leadership, came to look upon themselves as one people—the people who wore the gown, or toga, as contrasted with the barbarous and trousers-wearing Gauls.
[Illustration: A ROMAN LEGIONARY From a monument of the imperial age. The soldier wears a metal helmet, a leather doublet with shoulder-pieces, a metal-plated belt, and a sword hanging from a strap thrown over the left shoulder. His left hand holds a large shield, his right, a heavy javelin.]
55. THE ROMAN ARMY
THE LEGION
While the Romans were conquering Italy, they were making many improvements in their army. All citizens between the ages of seventeen and forty-six were liable to active service. These men were mainly landowners—hardy, intelligent peasants—who knew how to fight and how to obey orders. An army in the field consisted of one or more legions. A legion included about three thousand heavy-armed footmen, twelve hundred light infantry, and three hundred horsemen. After the conquest of Italy the states allied with Rome had to furnish soldiers, chiefly archers and cavalry. These auxiliaries, as they were called, were at least as numerous as legionaries. The Romans, in carrying on war, employed not only their citizens but also their subjects.
METHOD OF FIGHTING
The legion offered a sharp contrast to the unwieldy phalanx. [32] Roman soldiers usually fought in an open order, with the heavy-armed infantry arranged in three lines: first, the younger men; next, the more experienced warriors; and lastly the veterans. A battle began with skirmishing by the light troops, which moved to the front and discharged their darts to harass the enemy. The companies of the first line next flung their javelins at a distance of from ten to twenty paces and then, wielding their terrible short swords, came at once to close quarters with the foe. It was like a volley of musketry followed by a fierce bayonet charge. If the attack proved unsuccessful, the wearied soldiers withdrew to the rear through the gaps in the line behind. The second line now marched forward to the attack; if it was repulsed, there was still the third line of steady veterans for the last and decisive blow.
[Illustration: A ROMAN STANDARD BEARER (Bonn Museum) From a gravestone of the first century A.D. The standard consists of a spear crowned with a wreath, below which is a crossbar bearing pendant acorns Then follow, in order, a metal disk, Jupiter's eagle standing on a thunderbolt, a crescent moon, an amulet, and a large tassel.]
FORTIFIED CAMPS
A very remarkable part of the Roman military system consisted in the use of fortified camps. Every time the army halted, if only for a single night, the legionaries intrenched themselves within a square inclosure. It was protected by a ditch, an earthen mound, and a palisade of stakes. This camp formed a little city with its streets, its four gates, a forum, and the headquarters of the general. Behind the walls of such a fortress an army was always at liberty to accept or decline a battle. As a proverb said, the Romans often conquered by "sitting still."
DISCIPLINE: REWARDS AND HONORS
Roman soldiers lived under the strictest discipline. To their general they owed absolute, unquestioning obedience. He could condemn them to death without trial. The sentinel who slept on his watch, the legionary who disobeyed an order or threw away his arms on the field of battle, might be scourged with rods and then beheaded. The men were encouraged to deeds of valor by various marks of distinction, which the general presented to them in the presence of the entire army. The highest reward was the civic crown of oak leaves, granted to one who had saved the life of a fellow-soldier on the battle field.
THE TRIUMPH
The state sometimes bestowed on a victorious general the honor of a triumph. This was a grand parade and procession in the city of Rome. First came the magistrates and senators, wagons laden with booty, and captives in chains. Then followed the conqueror himself, clad in a gorgeous robe and riding in a four-horse chariot. Behind him marched the soldiers, who sang a triumphal hymn. The long procession passed through the streets to the Forum and mounted the Capitoline Hill. There the general laid his laurel crown upon the knees of the statue of Jupiter, as a thank offering for victory. Meanwhile, the captives who had just appeared in the procession were strangled in the underground prison of the Capitol. It was a day of mingled joy and tragedy.
MILITARY GENIUS OF THE ROMANS
The Romans, it has been said, were sometimes vanquished in battle, but they were always victorious in war. With the short swords of her disciplined soldiers, her flexible legion, and her fortified camps, Rome won dominion in Italy and began the conquest of the world.
STUDIES
1. On an outline map indicate the Roman dominions in 509 B.C.; in 338 B.C.; in 264 B.C.
2. Make a list of the Roman magistrates mentioned in this chapter, and of the powers exercised by each.
3. Give the meaning of our English words "patrician," "plebeian," "censor," "dictator," "tribune," "augury," "auspices," and "veto."
4. Connect the proper events with the following dates: 753 B.C.; 509 B.C.; and 338 B.C.
5. Why have Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica been called the "suburbs of Italy"?
6. "Italy and Greece may be described as standing back to back to each other." Explain this statement.
7. What is the origin of our names of the two months, January and March?
8. Compare the early Roman with the early Greek religion as to (a) likenesses; (b) differences.
9. Why have the consuls been called "joint kings for one year"?
10. What do you understand by "martial law"? Under what circumstances is it sometimes declared in the United States?
11. Compare the position of the Roman patricians with that of the Athenian nobles before the legislation of Draco and Solon.
12. What officers in American cities perform some of the duties of the censors, praetors, and aediles?
13. In the Roman and Spartan constitutions contrast: (a) consuls and kings; (b) censors and ephors; and (c) the two senates.
14. Compare the Roman Senate and the Senate of the United States as to size, term of office of members, conditions of membership, procedure, functions, and importance.
15. How far can the phrase, "government of the people, by the people, for the people," be applied to the Roman Republic at this period?
16. What conditions made it easy for the Romans to conquer Magna Graecia and difficult for them to subdue the Samnites?
17. What is a "Pyrrhic victory"?
18. Compare the nature of Roman rule over Italy with that of Athens over the Delian League.
19. Trace on the map, page 156, the Appian and Flaminian ways, noting some of the cities along the routes and the terminal points of each road.
20. Explain: "all roads lead to Rome."
21. Contrast the legion and the phalanx as to arrangement, armament, and method of fighting.
22. "Rome seems greater than her greatest men." Comment on this statement.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Webster, Readings in Ancient History, chapter xiv, "Legends of Early Rome."
[2] See page 67.
[3] See page 28.
[4] See pages 53, 61.
[5] Naples, the ancient Neapolis, was a colony of Cumae. See page 89.
[6] See the map facing page 50.
[7] The Romans believed that their city was founded in 753 B.C., from which year all Roman dates were reckoned.
[8] See the map, page 293.
[9] See page 146.
[10] Cato, De agricultura, I.
[11] See page 6.
[12] See the illustration, page 7.
[13] Since a door (janua) had two sides, Janus, the door god, was represented with the curious double face which appears on Roman coins (See the plate facing page 134) The month of January in the Julian calendar was named for him.
[14] Latin auspicium, from auspex, a bird seer.
[15] The title of the president of the pontiffs, Pontifex Maximus (Supreme Pontiff), is still that of the pope. See page 364.
[16] See page 81.
[17] See page 143.
[18] See page 83.
[19] From the Latin patres, "fathers."
[20] Latin plebs, "the crowd."
[21] See page 85.
[22] See page 105.
[23] The four letters inscribed on Roman military standards indicate the important place held by the Senate. They are S. P. Q. R., standing for Senatus Populusque Romanus, "The Senate and the People of Rome."
[24] See page 129.
[25] See page 118.
[26] See page 89.
[27] Plutarch, Pyrrhus, 21.
[28] It should be noticed, however, that as yet Rome controlled only the central and southern parts of what is the modern kingdom of Italy. Two large divisions of that kingdom, which every Italian now regards as essential to its unity, were in other hands—the Po valley and the island of Sicily.
[29] See page 106.
[30] Latin colonists did not have the right of voting in the assemblies at Rome. This privilege was enjoyed, however, by members of the "Roman" colonies, which were planted mainly along the coast. See the map, page 156.
[31] See page 40.
[32] See page 116.
CHAPTER VIII
THE GREAT AGE OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC, 264-31 B.C. [1]
56. THE RIVALS: ROME AND CARTHAGE, 264-218 B.C.
THE PUNIC WARS
The conquest of Italy made Rome one of the five leading states of the Mediterranean world. In the East there were the kingdoms of Macedonia, Syria, and Egypt, which had inherited the dominions of Alexander the Great. In the West there were Carthage and Rome, once in friendly alliance, but now to become the bitterest foes. Rome had scarcely reached the headship of united Italy before she was involved in a life-and-death struggle with this rival power. The three wars between them are known as the Punic wars; they are the most famous contests that ancient history records; and they ended in the complete destruction of Carthage.
FOUNDATION OF CARTHAGE
More than a century before the traditional date at which Rome rose upon her seven hills, Phoenician colonists laid the foundations of a second Tyre. The new city occupied an admirable site, for it bordered on rich farming land and had the largest harbor of the north African coast. A position at the junction of the eastern and western basins of the Mediterranean gave it unsurpassed opportunities for trade. At the same time Carthage was far enough away to be out of the reach of Persian or Macedonian conquerors.
COMMERCIAL EMPIRE OF CARTHAGE
By the middle of the third century B.C. the Carthaginians had formed an imposing commercial empire. Their African dominions included the strip of coast from Cyrene westward to the strait of Gibraltar. Their colonies covered the shores of Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, and southern Spain. The western half of the Mediterranean had become a Carthaginian lake.
CARTHAGINIAN CIVILIZATION
Before the opening of the Punic wars Carthage had been much enlarged by emigrants from Tyre, after the capture of that city by Alexander. [2] The Phoenician colonists kept their own language, customs, and beliefs and did not mingle with the native African peoples. Carthage in form was a republic, but the real power lay in the hands of one hundred men, selected from the great merchant families. It was a government by capitalists who cared very little for the welfare of the poor freemen and slaves over whom they ruled. The wealth of Carthage enabled her to raise huge armies of mercenary soldiers and to build warships which in size, number, and equipment surpassed those of any other Mediterranean state. Mistress of a wide realm, strong both by land and sea, Carthage was now to prove herself Rome's most dangerous foe.
[Illustration: COLUMN OF DUILIUS (RESTORED) The Roman admiral, Duilius, who won a great victory in 260 B.C., was honored by a triumphal column set up in the Forum. The monument was adorned with the brazen beaks of the captured Carthaginian vessels. Part of the inscription, reciting the achievements of the Roman fleet, has been preserved.]
ORIGIN OF THE FIRST PUNIC WAR
The First Punic War was a contest for Sicily. The Carthaginians aimed to establish their rule over that island, which from its situation seems to belong almost as much to Africa as to Italy. But Rome, having become supreme in Italy, also cast envious eyes on Sicily. She believed, too, that the Carthaginians, if they should conquer Sicily, would sooner or later invade southern Italy. The fear for her possessions, as well as the desire to gain new ones, led Rome to fling down the gage of battle.
COURSE AND RESULTS OF THE WAR, 264-241 B.C.
The contest between the two rival states began in 264 B.C. and lasted nearly twenty-four years. The Romans overran Sicily and even made an unsuccessful invasion of Africa, but the main struggle was on the sea. Here at first the Romans were at a disadvantage, for they had no ships as large and powerful as those of the Carthaginians. With characteristic energy, however, they built several great war fleets and finally won a complete victory over the enemy. The treaty of peace provided that Carthage should abandon Sicily, return all prisoners without ransom, and pay a heavy indemnity.
THE INTERVAL OF PREPARATION, 241-218 B.C.
Carthage, though beaten, had not been humbled. She had lost Sicily and the commercial monopoly of the Mediterranean. But she was not ready to abandon all hope of recovering her former supremacy. The peace amounted to no more than an armed truce. Both parties were well aware that the real conflict was yet to come. The war, however, was delayed for nearly a quarter of a century. During this interval Rome strengthened her military position by seizing the islands of Sardinia and Corsica from Carthage and by conquering the Gauls in the Po valley. The Carthaginians, meanwhile, began to create a new empire in Spain, whose silver mines would supply fresh means for another contest and whose hardy tribes would furnish soldiers as good as the Roman legionaries.
57. HANNIBAL AND THE GREAT PUNIC WAR, 218-201 B.C.
BEGINNING OF THE SECOND PUNIC WAR, 218 B.C.
The steady advance of the Carthaginian arms in Spain caused much uneasiness in Rome and at length led that city to declare war. Carthage herself was not unwilling for a second trial of strength. Her leading general, Hannibal, who had been winning renown in Spain, believed that the Carthaginians were now in a position to wage an aggressive war against their mighty rival. And so the two great Mediterranean powers, each confident of success, renewed the struggle for supremacy.
HANNIBAL
At the opening of the conflict Hannibal was not quite twenty-seven years of age. While yet a mere child, so the story went, his father had led him to the altar, and bade him swear by the Carthaginian gods eternal enmity to Rome. He followed his father to Spain and there learned all the duties of a soldier. As a master of the art of war, he ranks with Alexander the Great. The Macedonian king conquered the world for the glory of conquest; Hannibal, burning with patriotism, fought to destroy the power which had humbled his native land. He failed; and his failure left Carthage weaker than he found her. Few men have possessed a more dazzling genius than Hannibal, but his genius was not employed for the lasting good of humanity.
HANNIBAL'S INVASION OF ITALY
The Romans planned to conduct the war in Spain and Africa, at a distance from their own shores. Hannibal's bold movements totally upset these calculations. The Carthaginian general had determined that the conflict should take place in the Italian peninsula itself. Since Roman fleets now controlled the Mediterranean, it was necessary for Hannibal to lead his army, with its supplies, equipment, and beasts of burden, by the long and dangerous land route from Spain to Italy. In the summer of 218 B.C. Hannibal set out from Spain with a large force of infantry and cavalry, besides a number of elephants. Beyond the river Ebro he found himself in hostile territory, through which the soldiers had to fight their way. To force the passage of the Pyrenees and the Alps cost him more than half his original army. When, after a five months' march he stood on the soil of Italy, Hannibal had scarcely twenty-five thousand troops with which to meet the immense power of Rome—a power that, given time, could muster to her defense more than half a million disciplined soldiers.
FIRST VICTORIES OF HANNIBAL
The Romans were surprised by the boldness and rapidity of Hannibal's movements. They had expected to conduct the war far away in foreign lands; they now knew that they must fight for their own homes and firesides. The first battles were complete victories for the Carthaginians and opened the road to Rome. Hannibal's plans, however, did not include a siege of the capital. He would not shatter his victorious army in an assault on a fortified town. Hannibal's real object was to bring the Italians over to his side, to ruin Rome through the revolts of her allies. But now he learned, apparently for the first time, that Italy was studded with Latin colonies, [3] each a miniature Rome, each prepared to resist to the bitter end. Not a single city opened its gates to the invader. On such solid foundations rested Roman rule in Italy.
A DICTATORSHIP
The Senate faced the crisis with characteristic energy. New forces were raised and intrusted to a dictator, [4] Quintus Fabius Maximus. He refused to meet Hannibal in a pitched battle, but followed doggedly his enemy's footsteps, meanwhile drilling his soldiers to become a match for the Carthaginian veterans. This strategy was little to the taste of the Roman populace, who nicknamed Fabius Cunctator, "the Laggard." However, it gave Rome a brief breathing space, until her preparations to crush the invader should be completed.
[Illustration: A CARTHAGINAN OR ROMAN HELMET (British Museum, London)
Found on the battle field of Cannae.]
BATTLE OF CANNAE, 316 B.C.
After the term of Fabius as dictator had expired, new consuls were chosen. They commanded the largest army Rome had ever put in the field. The opposing forces met at Cannae in Apulia. The Carthaginians numbered less than fifty thousand men; the Romans had more than eighty thousand troops. Hannibal's sole superiority lay in his cavalry, which was posted on the wings with the infantry occupying the space between. Hannibal's center was weak and gave way before the Romans, who fought this time massed in solid columns. The arrangement was a poor one, for it destroyed the mobility of the legions. The Roman soldiers, having pierced the enemy's lines, now found themselves exposed on both flanks to the African infantry and taken in the rear by Hannibal's splendid cavalry. The battle ended in a hideous butchery. One of the consuls died fighting bravely to the last; the other escaped from the field and with the wreck of his army fled to Rome. A Punic commander who survived such a disaster would have perished on the cross; the Roman commander received the thanks of the Senate "for not despairing of the republic." [5]
AFTER CANNAE
The battle of Cannae marks the summit of Hannibal's career. He maintained himself in Italy for thirteen years thereafter, but the Romans, taught by bitter experience, refused another engagement with their foe. Hannibal's army was too small and too poorly equipped with siege engines for a successful attack on Rome. His brother, Hasdrubal, led strong reinforcements from Spain to Italy, but these were caught and destroyed before they could effect a junction with Hannibal's troops. Meanwhile the brilliant Roman commander, Publius Scipio, drove the Carthaginians from Spain and invaded Africa. Hannibal was summoned from Italy to face this new adversary. He came, and on the field of Zama (202 B.C.) met his first and only defeat. Scipio, the victor, received the proud surname, Africanus.
PEACE IN 201 B.C.
Exhausted Carthage could now do no more than sue for peace on any terms that Rome was willing to grant. In the hour of defeat she still trusted her mighty soldier, and it was Hannibal who conducted the final negotiations. The conditions of peace were severe enough. The Carthaginians gave up Spain and all their ships except ten triremes. They were saddled with a huge indemnity and bound to engage in no war without the consent of Rome. Carthage thus became a dependent ally of the Roman city.
VICTORIOUS ROME
In describing the course and outcome of the Second Punic War our sympathies naturally go out to the heroic figure of Hannibal, who fought so long and so bravely for his native land. It is clear, however, that Rome's victory in the gigantic struggle was essential to the continued progress of classical civilization. The triumph of Carthage in the third century, like that of Persia in the fifth century, [6] must have resulted in the spread of Oriental ideas and customs throughout the Mediterranean. From this fate Rome saved Europe.
58. ROMAN SUPREMACY IN THE WEST AND IN THE EAST, 201-133 B.C.
THIRD PUNIC WAR BEGUN, 148 B.C.
Carthage had been humbled, but not destroyed. She still enjoyed the advantages of her magnificent situation and continued to be a competitor of Rome for the trade of the Mediterranean. The Romans watched with jealousy the reviving strength of the Punic city and at last determined to blot it out of existence. In 149 B.C. a large army was landed in Africa, and the inhabitants of Carthage were ordered to remove ten miles from the sea. They resolved to perish in the ruins of their capital, rather than obey such a cruel command.
[Illustration: A TESTUDO A relief from the Column of Trajan, Rome. The name testudo a tortoise (shell) was applied to the covering made by a body of soldiers who placed their shields over their heads The shields fitted so closely together that men could walk on them and even horses and chariots could be driven over them.]
[Illustration: Map, THE EXPANSION OF ROMAN DOMINIONS 264-133 B. C.]
DESTRUCTION OF CARTHAGE, 146 B.C.
Carthage held out for three years. The doubtful honor of its capture belonged to Scipio Aemilianus, grandson, by adoption, of the victor of Zama. For seven days the legionaries fought their way, street by street, house by house, until only fifty thousand inhabitants were left to surrender to the tender mercies of the Romans. The Senate ordered that the city should be burned and that its site should be plowed up and dedicated to the infernal gods. Such was the end of the most formidable rival Rome ever met in her career of conquest. [7]
SICILY
The two European countries, Sicily and Spain, which Rome had taken from Carthage, presented to the conqueror very different problems. Sicily had been long accustomed to foreign masters. Its civilized and peace-loving inhabitants were as ready to accept Roman rule as, in the past, they had accepted the rule of Greeks and Carthaginians. Every year the island became more and more a part of Italy and of Rome.
SPAIN
Spain, on the contrary, gave the Romans some hard fighting. The wild Spanish tribes loved their liberty, and in their mountain fastnesses long kept up a desperate struggle for independence. It was not until the Romans sent Scipio Aemilianus to Spain that the Spanish resistance was finally overcome (133 B.C.).
ROMANIZATION OF SPAIN
All Spain, except the inaccessible mountain district in the northwest, now became Roman territory. Many colonists settled there; traders and speculators flocked to seaports; even the legionaries, quartered in Spain for long periods, married Spanish wives and, on retiring from active service, made their homes in the peninsula. Rome thus continued in Spain the process of Romanization which she had begun in Italy. [8] She was to repeat this process in Gaul and Britain. [9] Her way was prepared by the sword; but after the sword came civilization.
ROME AND MACEDONIA
While Rome was subduing the West, she was also extending her influence over the highly civilized peoples of the East. Roman interference in the affairs of Macedonia found an excuse in the attempt of that country, during the Second Punic War, to give aid to Hannibal. It was a fateful moment when, for the second time, the legion faced the phalanx. The easy victory over Macedonia showed that this Hellenistic kingdom was no match for the Italian republic. Macedonia was finally made into a subject state or province of Rome. Thus disappeared a great power, which Philip had founded and which Alexander had led to the conquest of the world.
[Illustration: STORMING A CITY (RECONSTRUCTION)]
ROME AND GREECE
Having subdued Macedonia, Rome proclaimed Greece a free state. But this "freedom" really meant subjection, as was amply proved when some of the Greek cities rose in revolt against Roman domination. The heavy hand of Roman vengeance especially descended on Corinth, at this time one of the most beautiful cities of the world. In 146 B.C., the same year in which the destruction of Carthage occurred, Corinth was sacked and burned to the ground. [10] The fall of Corinth may be said to mark the final extinction of Greek liberty. Though the Hellenic cities and states were allowed to rule themselves, they paid tribute and thus acknowledged the supremacy of Rome. A century later, Greece became in name, as well as in fact, a province of the Roman Empire. [11]
ROME AND SYRIA
Rome, in the meantime, was drawn into a conflict with the kingdom of Syria. That Asiatic power proved to be no more capable than Macedonia of checking the Roman advance. The Syrian king had to give up the greater part of his possessions in Asia Minor. The western part of the peninsula, together with the Greek cities on the coast, was formed in 133 B.C. into the province of Asia. Thus the same year that witnessed the complete establishment of Roman rule in Spain saw Rome gain her first possessions at the opposite end of the Mediterranean.
POLITICAL SITUATION IN 133 B.C.
Roman supremacy over the Mediterranean world was now all but complete. In 264 B.C. Rome had been only one of the five great Mediterranean states. In 133 B.C. no other power existed to match its strength with that of Rome. To her had fallen in the West the heritage of Carthage, in the East the heritage of Alexander. Rome had built up this mighty empire at a terrible cost in blood and treasure. Let us see what use she was to make of it.
59. THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD UNDER ROMAN RULE
CREATION OF THE PROVINCIAL SYSTEM
Rome's dealings with the new dependencies across the sea did not follow the methods that had proved so successful in Italy. The Italian peoples had been treated with great liberality. Rome regarded them as allies, exempted them from certain taxes, and in many instances gave them Roman citizenship. It did not seem possible to extend this wise policy to remote and often barbarous lands beyond the borders of Italy. Rome adopted, instead, much the same system of imperial rule that had been previously followed by Persia and by Athens. [12] She treated the foreign peoples from Spain to Asia as subjects and made her conquered territories into provinces. [13] Their inhabitants were compelled to pay tribute and to accept the oversight of Roman officials.
EVILS OF THE PROVINCIAL SYSTEM
As the Romans came more and more to relish the opportunities for plunder afforded by a wealthy province, its inhabitants were often wretchedly misgoverned. Many governors of the conquered lands were corrupt and grasping men. They tried to wring all the money they could from their helpless subjects. To the extortions of the governors must be added those of the tax collectors, whose very name of "publican" [14] became a byword for all that was rapacious and greedy. In this first effort to manage the world she had won, Rome had certainly made a failure. A city-state could not rule, with justice and efficiency, an empire.
THE PROFITS OF CONQUEST
In the old days, before Rome entered on a career of foreign conquest, her citizens were famous among men for their love of country, their simple lives, and their conservative, old-fashioned ways. They worked hard on their little farms, fought bravely in the legions, and kept up with careful piety all the ceremonies of their religion. But now the Roman republic was an imperial power with all the privileges of universal rule. Her foreign wars proved to be immensely profitable. At the end of a successful campaign the soldiers received large gifts from their general, besides the booty taken from the enemy. The Roman state itself profited from the sale of enslaved prisoners and their property. Large sums of money were sometimes seized and taken to Rome. When once peace had been made, the Roman governors and tax collectors followed in the wake of the armies and squeezed the provincials at every turn. The Romans, indeed, seem to have conquered the world less for glory than for profit.
GROWTH OF LUXURY
So much wealth poured into Rome from every side that there could scarcely fail to be a sudden growth of luxurious tastes. Rich nobles quickly developed a relish for all sorts of reckless display. They built fine houses adorned with statues, costly paintings, and furnishings. They surrounded themselves with troops of slaves. Instead of plain linen clothes they and their wives wore garments of silk and gold. At their banquets they spread embroidered carpets, purple coverings, and dishes of gilt plate. Pomp and splendor replaced the rude simplicity of an earlier age.
DISAPPEARANCE OF THE PEASANTRY
But if the rich were becoming richer, it seems that the poor were also becoming poorer. After Rome became mistress of the Mediterranean, her markets were flooded with the cheap wheat raised in the provinces, especially in those granaries, Sicily and Africa. The price of wheat fell so low that Roman peasants could not raise enough to support their families and pay their taxes. When agriculture became unprofitable, the farmer was no longer able to remain on the soil. He had to sell out, often at a ruinous sacrifice. His land was bought by capitalists, who turned many small fields into vast sheep pastures and cattle ranches. Gangs of slaves, laboring under the lash, gradually took the place of the old Roman peasantry, the very strength of the state. Not unjust was the famous remark, "Great domains ruined Italy." [15]
THE EXODUS OF THE CITIES
The decline of agriculture and the disappearance of the small farmer under the stress of foreign competition may be studied in modern England as well as in ancient Italy. Nowadays an English farmer, under the same circumstances, will often emigrate to America or to Australia, where land is cheap and it is easy to make a living. But these Roman peasants did not care to go abroad and settle on better soil in Spain or in Africa. They thronged, instead, to the cities, to Rome especially, where they labored for a small wage, fared plainly on wheat bread, and dwelt in huge lodging houses, three or four stories high.
THE CITY MOB
We know very little about this poorer population of Rome. They must have lived from hand to mouth. Since their votes controlled elections, [16] they were courted by candidates for office and kept from grumbling by being fed and amused. Such poor citizens, too lazy for steady work, too intelligent to starve, formed, with the other riffraff of a great city, the elements of a dangerous mob. And the mob, henceforth, plays an ever- larger part in the history of the times.
HELLENIC INFLUENCE AT ROME
We must not imagine, however, that all the changes in Roman life worked for evil. If the Romans were becoming more luxurious, they were likewise gaining in culture. The conquests which brought Rome in touch, first with Magna Graecia and Sicily, then with Greece itself and the Hellenic East, prepared the way for the entrance of Hellenism. Roman soldiers and traders carried back to Italy an acquaintance with Greek customs and ideas. Thousands of cultivated Greeks, some as slaves, others as freemen, settled in the capital as actors, physicians, artists, and writers. There they introduced the Greek language, as well as the religion, literature, and art of their native land. Roman nobles of the better type began to take an interest in other things than simply farming, commerce, or war. They imitated Greek fashions in dress and manners, collected Greek books, and filled their homes with the productions of Greek artists. Henceforth every aspect of Roman society felt the quickening influence of the older, richer culture of the Hellenic world. It was a Roman poet who wrote, "Captive Greece captured her conqueror rude." [17]
60. THE GRACCHI
TIBERIUS AND GAIUS GRACCHUS
In 133 B.C., a year otherwise made memorable by the final subjugation of Spain and the acquisition of Asia, efforts began Rome to remedy some of the disorders which were now seen to be sapping the strength of Roman society. The first persons to undertake the work of reform were the two brothers, Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus. The Gracchi belonged to the highest nobility of Rome. Their father had filled a consulship and a censorship and had celebrated triumphs. Cornelia, their mother, was a daughter of Scipio Africanus, the conqueror of Hannibal. A fine type of the Roman matron, she called her boys her "jewels," more precious than gold, and brought them up to love their country better than their own lives. Tiberius, the elder brother, was only thirty years of age when he became a tribune and began his career in Roman politics.
AGRARIAN LAW OF TIBERIUS GRACCHUS
Tiberius signalized his election to the tribunate by bringing forward his celebrated agrarian law. He proposed that the public lands of Rome, then largely occupied by wealthy men who alone had the money necessary to work them with cattle and slaves, should be reclaimed by the state, divided into small tracts, and given to the poorer citizens. By getting the people back again on the soil, Tiberius hoped to revive the declining agriculture of Italy.
DEFECTS OF THE AGRARIAN LAW
This agrarian law, though well intentioned, did not go to the root of the real difficulty—foreign competition. No legislation could have helped the farming class, except import duties to keep out the cheap grain from abroad. But the idle mob at Rome, controlling the assemblies, would never have voted in favor of taxing their food, thus making it more expensive. At the same time the proposal to take away part of the public domains from its possessors roused a hornet's nest about the reformer's ears. Rich people had occupied the public land for so long that they had come to look upon it as really their own. They would be very sure to oppose such a measure. Poor people, of course, welcomed a scheme which promised to give them farms for nothing. Tiberius even wished to use the public funds to stock the farms of his new peasantry. This would have been a mischievous act of state philanthropy.
FAILURE AND DEATH OF TIBERIUS, 133 B.C.
In spite of these defects in his measure, Tiberius urged its passage with fiery eloquence. But the great landowners in the Senate got another tribune, devoted to their interests, to place his veto [18] on the proposed legislation. The impatient Tiberius at once took a revolutionary step. Though a magistrate could not legally be removed from office, Tiberius had the offending tribune deposed and dragged from his seat. The law was then passed without further opposition. This action of Tiberius placed him clearly in the wrong. The aristocrats threatened to punish him as soon as his term of office was over. To avoid impeachment Tiberius sought reelection to the tribunate for the following year. This, again, was contrary to custom, since no one might hold office for two successive terms. On the day appointed for the election, while voting was in progress, a crowd of angry senators burst into the Forum and killed Tiberius, together with three hundred of his followers. Both sides had now begun to display an utter disregard for law. Force and bloodshed, henceforth, were to help decide political disputes.
GAIUS GRACCHUS BECOMES TRIBUNE, 123 B.C.
Tiberius Gracchus, in his efforts to secure economic reform, had unwittingly provoked a conflict between the Senate and the assemblies. Ten years after his death, his brother, Gaius Gracchus, came to the front. Gaius quickly made himself a popular leader with the set purpose of remodeling the government of Rome. He found in the tribunate an office from which to work against the Senate. After the death of Tiberius a law had been passed permitting a man to hold the position of tribune year after year. Gaius intended to be a sort of perpetual tribune, and to rule the Roman assemblies very much as Pericles had ruled the people at Athens. [19] One of his first measures was a law permitting the sale of grain from the public storehouses to Roman citizens at about half the market price. This measure, of course, won over the city mob, but it must be regarded as very unwise. It saddled the treasury with a heavy burden, and later the government had to furnish the grain for nothing. Indiscriminate charity of this sort increased, rather than lessened, the number of paupers.
MEASURES OF GAIUS TO RELIEVE THE POOR
Having won popular support, Gaius was able to secure the additional legislation which he deemed necessary to carry out his brother's work. He reenacted the land laws for the benefit of the peasantry and furnished work for the unemployed by building roads throughout Italy. He also began to establish colonies of poor citizens, both in Italy and in the provinces. This was a wise policy. Had it been allowed to continue, such state-assisted emigration, by providing the landless poor of Italy with farms abroad, would have relieved the economic distress of the peninsula.
AN EFFORT TO EXTEND ROMAN CITIZENSHIP
Gaius now came forward with another measure which marked him as an able and prudent statesman. He proposed to bestow the right of voting in the Roman assemblies upon the inhabitants of the Latin colonies. [20] He thought, also, that the Italian allies should be allowed to intermarry with Romans and hold property under the protection of the Roman law. No doubt Gaius believed that the time might come when all the Italian peoples would be citizens of Rome. This time did come, thirty years later, but only after a terrible war that nearly ruined Rome.
FAILURE AND DEATH OF GAIUS, 121 B.C.
The effort by Gaius to extend Roman citizenship cost the reformer all his hard-won popularity. It aroused the jealousy of the selfish city mob, which believed that the entrance of so many new citizens would mean the loss of its privileges. There would not be so many free shows and so much cheap grain. So the people rejected the measure and, turning from their former favorite, failed to reëlect him to the tribunate. When Gaius was no longer protected by the sanctity of the tribune's office, [21] he fell an easy victim to senatorial hatred. Another bloody tumult broke out, in which Gaius and three thousand of his followers perished. The consul who quelled the disturbance erected at the head of the Forum a temple to Harmony (Concordia).
THE GRACCHI BEGIN THE REVOLUTION
The pathetic career of the Gracchi had much significance in Roman history. They were the unconscious sponsors of a revolutionary movement which did not end until the republic had come under the rule of one man. They failed because they put their trust in the support of the Roman mob. Future agitators were to appear with the legionaries at their heels.
61. MARIUS AND SULLA
MARIUS AND THE JUGURTHINE WAR, 112-106 B.C.
Although Rome now ruled throughout the Mediterranean, she was constantly engaged in border wars in one corner or another of her wide dominions. These wars brought to the front new military leaders, of whom the first was Gaius Marius. He was a peasant's son, a coarse, rude soldier, but an honest, courageous, and able man. Marius rose to prominence in the so- called Jugurthine War, which the Romans were waging against Jugurtha, king of Numidia. That wily African had discovered that it was easier to bribe the Roman commanders than to fight them; and the contest dragged on in disgraceful fashion year after year. Marius at last persuaded the people to elect him consul and intrust him with the conduct of the war. By generalship and good fortune he speedily concluded the struggle and brought Jugurtha in chains to Rome.
MARIUS AND THE WAR WITH THE GERMANS, 102-101 B.C.
A few years later Marius had another opportunity to win distinction. He became the defender of Rome and Italy against a dangerous invasion of Germanic barbarians, who were ravaging Transalpine Gaul and the Po Valley. The decisive victories which Marius gained over them removed a grave danger which threatened the Roman world. The time had not yet come for ancient civilization to be submerged under a wave of barbarism.
SULLA AND THE SOCIAL WAR, 90-88 B.C.
The second military leader whom this troubled period brought forth was Lucius Cornelius Sulla. He was a man of noble birth, and with his social gifts, his appreciation of art and letters, his knowledge of men and the world, presented a sharp contrast to Marius. Sulla's great abilities quickly brought him into public notice; he rose rapidly from one office to another; and in the Social War showed his skill as a commander. This struggle was the consequence of Rome's refusal to grant the rights of citizenship to her Italian allies. The strength of the rebellion lay among the Samnites and other peoples of central and southern Italy. The war came to an end only when Rome promised the franchise to all Italians who returned to their allegiance. Before many years had passed, the inhabitants of nearly all the Italian towns south of the Rubicon River received Roman citizenship. It was this same wise policy of making conquered peoples equal with herself that afterwards led Rome to grant citizenship to the inhabitants of the provinces. [22]
SULLA AND THE MITHRADATIC WAR, 88-84 B.C.
What military honors were gained in the struggle belonged to Sulla. His reward was the consulship and an appointment as general in still another conflict which distracted Rome had to face. While that city had been busy with civil enemies and barbarian foes, a powerful state, known as Pontus, had been growing up in Asia Minor. Its king, Mithradates, overran the Roman provinces in the Orient and threatened to annex them to his own kingdom. But Sulla, with greatly inferior forces, compelled Mithradates to abandon his conquests, surrender his fleet, and pay a large indemnity. If Marius had the honor of repelling the barbarian invasion of the West, Sulla had the honor of preserving Rome's possessions in the East.
RIVALRY OF MARIUS AND SULLA
Marius and Sulla were rivals not only in war but also in politics. Sulla naturally espoused the aristocratic cause and stood as the champion of the Senate. Marius just as naturally became the head of the democratic party. The rivalry between the two leaders finally led to civil war. During Sulla's absence in the East the democrats got the upper hand at Rome and revenged themselves by murdering their political foes among the aristocrats. The reign of terror ended only with the sudden death of Marius, just after he had been elected to his seventh consulship. A few years later Sulla returned to Italy with his army and defeated the democrats in a great battle outside the Colline Gate of Rome. Sulla signalized his victory by ordering the assassination of every prominent man in the democratic party.
SULLA AS "PERPETUAL DICTATOR"
Sulla regarded this legalized butchery as a necessary step in his self- appointed task of putting the Roman government once more to rights. He now received the title of "Perpetual Dictator," with complete authority to govern the state until the new order of things should be established. Rome thus came under the rule of one man for the first time since the expulsion of the kings.
SULLA'S DEATH, 78 B.C.
The various measures by which Sulla intrenched the Senate in power did not long survive his death and hence had no lasting influence on Roman politics. After a rule of three years Sulla voluntarily gave up the dictatorship and retired to his villa on the bay of Naples. He died a few months later. The Senate honored him with a public funeral, the most splendid that Rome had ever seen. His monument bore an inscription which the dictator himself is said to have composed: "No friend ever did him a kindness and no enemy, a wrong, without being fully repaid." [23] That was one epitaph which told the truth.
62. POMPEY AND CAESAR
RISE OF POMPEY
The struggle between Marius and Sulla, decided as it was by the sword, marks a stage in the decline of the Roman Republic. The careers of these two men showed how easily the state could be ruled by a successful commander who had his soldiers behind him. After Sulla's death his friend Pompey became the leading figure in Roman politics. Pompey's first service was in Spain, where the adherents of Marius sought to humble the Senate and the aristocratic party by encouraging the Spaniards to rise against Roman rule. Having crushed this rebellion, Pompey returned to Italy in time to take part in putting down a formidable insurrection of slaves, outlaws, and ruined peasants. He was next intrusted with the war against the pirates, who swarmed in the Mediterranean, preyed on commerce, and plundered wealthy cities near the coast. Brilliant success in clearing the seas of these marauders led to his being sent to the East to end the war with Mithradates, who was once more in arms against Rome. Pompey drove the Pontic monarch from his kingdom and then annexed Syria to the Roman dominions. When Pompey returned to Rome in 62 B.C., he brought with him a reputation as the most successful general of his time.
[Illustration: GNAEUS POMPEIUS MAGNUS (Spada Palace, Rome)]
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO
We have seen how steadily since the days of the Gracchi the Roman state had been moving toward the rule of one man. Marius, Sulla, and Pompey each represent a step in the direction of monarchy. Yet there were still able and patriotic leaders at Rome who believed in the old order of things and tried their best to uphold the fast-perishing republic. No republican statesman was more devoted to the constitution than Cicero. A native of Arpinum, the same Italian town which had already given birth to Marius, Cicero came to Rome a youth without wealth or family influence. He made his way into Roman society by his social and conversational powers and by his capacity for friendship. His mind had been carefully trained under the influence of Hellenic culture; he had traveled and studied in Greece; and throughout life he loved to steal away from the tumult of the Forum and the law courts and enjoy the companionship of his books. Though the proud nobles were inclined to look down on him as a "new man," Cicero's splendid eloquence soon gave him prominence in politics. He ranks in fame as the second orator of antiquity, inferior only to Demosthenes.
[Illustration: MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO (Vatican Museum, Rome)]
IMPEACHMENT OF VERRES, 70 B.C.
Cicero rose to prominence through his prosecution of Verres, a thieving governor of Sicily. Verres had powerful friends among the nobles at Rome and counted on his influence and wealth to escape punishment. He openly boasted that he had plunder enough to live in luxury, even though he had to surrender two-thirds of it as fees to his lawyers and bribes to the jury. But Verres had not reckoned with the brilliant young advocate who took up the cause of the oppressed provincials. Cicero hurried to Sicily and there collected such an overwhelming mass of evidence that the bare statement of the facts was enough to condemn the criminal. Verres went into exile. Cicero became the head of the Roman bar. Seven years later he was elected consul.
CONSPIRACY OF CATILINE, 63 B.C.
The year of Cicero's consulship was marked by an event which throws a lurid light on the conditions of the time. Lucius Catiline, a young noble of ability, but bankrupt in character and purse, organized a conspiracy to seize Rome, murder the magistrates, and plunder the rich. He gathered about himself outlaws of every description, slaves, and starving peasants —all the discontented and needy classes throughout Italy. He and his associates were desperate anarchists who sought to restore their own broken fortunes by overturning the government. The spread of the insurrection was checked by Cicero's vigorous measures. In a series of famous speeches he exposed Catiline's plans to the astounded Senate. Catiline then fled to his camp in Etruria and shortly afterwards perished in battle, together with three thousand of his followers. Cicero now gained fresh popularity and honor. The grateful citizens called him "Father of his Country" (Pater Patriae).
RISE OF CAESAR
Rome at this time held another prominent leader in politics, namely, Gaius Julius Caesar. He belonged to a noble family, but his father had favored the democratic cause and his aunt had married Marius. After Sulla's death Caesar threw himself with energy into the game of politics at the capital city. In these early years the future statesman seems to have been a demagogue of the usual type, who sought through the favor of the people a rapid rise to power. He won the ear of the multitude by his fiery harangues, his bribes of money, and his gifts of food and public shows. Caesar's expenditures for such purposes were enormous. Before he was twenty-four he had spent all his private fortune. Henceforth he was "financed" by the millionaire Crassus, who lent him the money so necessary for a successful career as a politician.
THE FIRST TRIUMVIRATE, 60 B.C.
Caesar and Crassus, the two leaders of the democratic party at Rome, now joined with Pompey in what is called the First Triumvirate. To this "ring" Pompey contributed his military reputation, Crassus, his wealth, and Caesar, his influence over the Roman mob. Supported both by the people and by the army, these three men were really masters of Rome. An immediate result of the First Triumvirate was the appointment of Caesar as governor of Cisalpine and Transalpine Gaul.
[Illustration: GAIUS JULIUS CAESAR (British Museum, London)]
CAESAR'S CAMPAIGNS IN GAUL, 58-50 B.C.
The story of his career in Gaul has been related by Caesar himself in the famous Commentaries. This book describes a series of military successes which have given the author a place among the world's generals. Caesar overran Transalpine Gaul, twice bridged the Rhine and invaded Germany, made two expeditions to Britain, and brought within the Roman dominions all the territory bounded by the Pyrenees, the Alps, the Rhine, and the Atlantic Ocean.
ROMANIZATION OF GAUL
Caesar's conquests in Gaul are more than a chapter in the history of the art of war. They belong to the history of civilization. Henceforth the frontier of prehistoric Europe retreated rapidly to the north. The map of the ancient civilized world widened from the Mediterranean basin to the shores of the Atlantic. Into the conquered lands came the Latin language, the Roman law, and the customs and institutions of Rome. Gaul speedily became one of the most flourishing parts of the Roman world. "Let the Alps sink," exclaimed Cicero, "the gods raised them to shelter Italy from the barbarians, but now they are no longer needed."
DEFEAT AND DEATH OF CRASSUS, 53 B.C.
During Caesar's long absence in Gaul the First Triumvirate was suddenly ended by the death of one of its members. It had been a part of their bargain in dividing the Roman world that Crassus should have the government of Syria. But this unlucky general, while aspiring to rival Caesar's exploits by new conquests beyond the Euphrates, lost his army and his life in battle with the Parthians. Besides checking the extension of the Roman arms in the remote East, the disaster had its effect on Roman politics. It dissolved the triumvirate and prepared the way for that rivalry between Caesar and Pompey which formed the next step in the downward course of the republic.
GROWING OPPOSITION BETWEEN POMPEY AND CAESAR
The two men were now rapidly drawing apart. Pompey grew more and more jealous of Caesar and more and more fearful that the latter was aiming at despotic power. He himself had no desire to be king or dictator. He was equally determined that Caesar should not gain such a position. In this attitude he had the full support of Cicero and the other members of the Senate. They saw clearly that the real danger to the state was Caesar, not Pompey.
CAESAR DECLARES WAR IN THE REPUBLIC, 49 B.C.
Caesar's command in Gaul was to expire in 49 B.C. The senatorial party desired that he should return to Rome without an army. His opponents intended to prosecute him when he became a private citizen. Caesar had no inclination to trust himself to their tender mercies and refused to disband his legions unless his rival did the same. Finally the Senate, conscious of Pompey's support, ordered him to lay down his arms on pain of outlawry. Caesar replied to this challenge of the Senate by leading his troops across the Rubicon, the little stream that separated Cisalpine Gaul from Italy. As he plunged into the river, he exclaimed, "The die is cast." [24] He had now declared war on the republic.
CAESAR MASTER OF THE WEST
Caesar's bold movement caught the senatorial party unawares. Pompey could not gather his legions before his audacious foe reached Rome. Finding it impossible to make a stand in Italy, Pompey, with the consuls and many senators, withdrew to Greece. Caesar did not follow him at once. He hurried to Spain and, after a brilliant campaign only six weeks in length, broke down the republican resistance in that peninsula. Having now secured Italy and Spain, Caesar was free to turn his forces against Pompey in the East.
[Illustration: Map, THE EXPANSION OF ROMAN DOMINIONS 133-31 B.C.]
BATTLE OF PHARSALUS, 48 B.C.
The final battle took place on the plain of Pharsalus in Thessaly. Pompey's troops, though nearly twice as numerous as Caesar's, were defeated after a severe struggle. Their great leader then fled to Egypt, only to be foully murdered. Pompey's head was sent to Caesar, but he turned from it with horror. Such was the end of an able general and an honest man, one who should have lived two hundred years earlier, when Rome was still a free state.
CAESAR IN EGYPT, ASIA MINOR, AND AFRICA, 48-46 B.C.
After Pharsalus there still remained several years of fighting before Caesar's victory was complete. He made Cleopatra, the beautiful queen of Egypt, secure in the possession of the throne and brought that country into dependence on Rome. He passed through Asia Minor and in one swift campaign crushed a revolt headed by the son of Mithridates. The conqueror sent tidings of his victory in a laconic dispatch: "I came, I saw, I conquered." [25] After subduing the remnants of the senatorial party in Africa, Caesar returned home to crown his exploits by a series of splendid triumphs and to enjoy less than two years of untrammeled power.
63. THE WORK OF CAESAR
AUTHORITY AND POSITION OF CAESAR
The new government which Caesar brought into being was a monarchy in all except name. He became dictator for life and held other republican offices, such as the consulship and censorship. He refused the title of king, but accepted as a civil magistrate the name of imperator, [26] with which the soldiers had been wont to salute a victorious general. Though he abolished none of the old republican forms, the Senate became simply his advisory council, the assemblies, his submissive agents the consuls, praetors and tribunes, his pliant tools. The laurel wreath, the triumphal dress, the conqueror's scepter—all proclaimed the autocrat.
[Illustration: A ROMAN COIN WITH THE HEAD OF JULIUS CAESAR]
CHARACTER OF CAESAR'S RULE
Caesar used his power wisely and well. No massacres or confiscations sullied his victory. He treated his former foes with clemency and even with kindness. No sooner was domestic tranquillity assured than, with restless energy, he entered on a series of far-reaching reforms.
REFORMS AT ROME AND IN ITALY
Caesar's measures sought to remove the economic evils which a century of discord had made so manifest. By restricting the monthly distribution of grain to those actually in need, he tried to discourage the public charity which was making the capital city a paradise for the idle and the shiftless. By planning great colonies beyond the sea, notably at Corinth and Carthage, he sought to provide farms for the landless citizens of Italy. His active mind even found time for such matters as the codification of Roman law, the construction of great public works, and the improvement of the coinage and the calendar. [27]
REFORMATION OF THE PROVINCIAL SYSTEM
Caesar's reforms in the provinces had an epoch-making character. He reduced taxes, lessened the burden of their collection, and took into his own hands the appointment of provincial magistrates. Henceforth oppressive governors and swindling publicans had to expect swift, stern punishment from one whose interests included the welfare of both citizens and subjects. By granting Roman citizenship to communities in Gaul and Sicily, he indicated his purpose, as rapidly as possible, to convert the provincials into Romans. It was Caesar's aim to break down the barriers between Rome and her provinces, to wipe out the distinction between the conquerors and the conquered.
ASSASSINATION OF CAESAR, 44 B.C.
Caesar did not live to complete his task. Like that other colossal figure, Alexander the Great, he perished before his work as a statesman had hardly more than begun. On the Ides of March, 44 B.C., he was struck down in the Senate-house by the daggers of a group of envious and irreconcilable nobles, headed by Cassius and Brutus. He fell at the foot of Pompey's statue, pierced with no less than twenty-three wounds. His body was burnt on a pyre in the Forum, and his friend, Antony, pronounced the funeral eulogy.
CONSEQUENCES OF CAESAR'S DEATH
In the light of all the possibilities of beneficent government which Caesar was revealing, his cowardly murder becomes one of the most stupendous follies recorded in history. Caesar's death could not restore the republic. It served only to prolong disorder and strife within the Roman state. As Cicero himself said, hearing the news, "The tyrant is dead; the tyranny still lives."
64. ANTONY AND OCTAVIAN
ANTONY BECOMES CAESAR'S SUCCESSOR
The murderers of Caesar called themselves the "liberators" of the republic. They thought that all Rome would applaud their deed, but the contrary was true. The senatorial order remained lukewarm. The people, instead of flocking to their support, mourned the loss of a friend and benefactor. Soon the conspirators found themselves in great peril. Caesar's friend and lieutenant, Antony, who became sole consul after Caesar's death, quickly made himself master of the situation. Brutus and Cassius were forced to withdraw to the provinces which had been previously assigned to them by Caesar, leaving Antony to rule Rome as his successor.
A RIVAL IN THE YOUNG OCTAVIAN
Antony's hope of reigning supreme was soon disturbed by the appearance of a new rival. Caesar, in his will, had made his grandnephew, Octavian, [28] his heir. He now came to Rome to claim the inheritance. In that sickly, studious youth people did not at first recognize the masterful personality he was soon to exhibit. They rather reëchoed Cicero's sentiment that "the young man was to be praised, complimented, and got rid of." [29] But Octavian easily made himself a power, winning the populace by paying Caesar's legacies to them and conciliating the senatorial party by siding with it against Antony. Men now began to talk of Octavian as the destined restorer of the republic.
THE SECOND TRIUMVIRATE, 43 B.C.
Octavian, however, entertained other designs. He had never been sincere in his support of the Senate, and the distrustful policy of that body soon converted him into an active foe. From fighting Antony, Octavian turned to alliance with him. The two antagonists made up their differences, and with Lepidus, one of Caesar's lieutenants, as a third ally, marched on Rome at the head of their legions. The city fell again under military rule. The three men then united in the Second Triumvirate with full authority to govern and reorganize the state. The advent of this new tyranny was signalized by a butchery almost as bloody as Sulla's. Cicero, who had incurred the hatred of Antony by his fiery speeches against him, was the most illustrious victim. More than two thousand persons, mainly men of high rank, were slain. The triumvirs by this massacre firmly established their rule at Rome and in the West.
BATTLES OF PHILIPPI, 42 B.C.
In the East, where Brutus and Cassius had gathered a formidable force, the triumvirs were not to win without a struggle. It took place on the plain of Philippi in Macedonia. The two battles fought there ended in the suicide of the republican leaders and the dispersal of their troops. This was the last attempt to restore the republic by force of arms.
DIVISION OF THE ROMAN WORLD
Though the republic had been overthrown, it remained to be seen who would be master of the new empire, Antony or Octavian. The triumvirate lasted for more than ten years, but during this period the incompetent Lepidus was set aside by his stronger colleagues. The two remaining members then divided between them the Roman world. Octavian took Italy and the West; Antony took the East, with Alexandria as his capital.
OCTAVIAN IN THE WEST
In the western half of the empire Octavian ruled quietly and with success. Men were already congratulating themselves on the return of peace under a second Caesar. In a few years Octavian, from an obscure boy of eighteen, had grown to be one of the most powerful personalities of his age.
ANTONY IN THE EAST
In the eastern half of the empire things did not go so well. Antony was clever, but fond of luxury and vice. He had married a sister of Octavian, but he soon grew tired of her and put her away for the fascinating Cleopatra. [30] The Roman world was startled by tidings that she had been proclaimed "queen of kings," and that to her and her sons had been given the richest provinces in the East. It was even rumored that Cleopatra, having enslaved Antony with her charms, planned to be enthroned as queen at Rome.
BATTLE OF ACTIUM, 31 B.C.
Antony's disgraceful conduct aroused the Roman people. They willingly followed Octavian to a war against one who seemed a national enemy. A naval battle in the bay of Actium, on the coast of Epirus, decided the issue. The fight had hardly begun before Cleopatra and Antony sailed away, leaving their fleet to take care of itself. Octavian pursued the infatuated pair into Egypt. Antony committed suicide, and Cleopatra, rather than be led a captive in a Roman triumph, followed his example. With the death of Cleopatra the dynasty of the Ptolemies [31] came to an end. Egypt henceforth formed a province of the Roman Empire.
THE TRIUMPH OF OCTAVIAN
Octavian, on his return to Rome, enjoyed the honors of a three days' triumph. [32] As the grand parade moved along the Sacred Way through the Forum, and thence to the temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline, men noted that the magistrates, instead of heading the procession as was the custom, followed in the conqueror's train. It was a significant change. Octavian, not the magistrates of Rome, now ruled the Roman world.
65. THE END OF AN EPOCH
DOOM OF THE REPUBLIC
The republic, indeed, was doomed. A hundred years of dissension and civil warfare proclaimed clearly enough the failure of the old order. Rome was a city-state suddenly called to the responsibilities of universal rule. Both the machinery of her government and the morals of her people were inadequate for so huge a task. The gradual revolution which changed this Roman city-state into imperial Rome, judged by its results, is perhaps the most momentous movement in the annals of mankind. Let us summarize its course.
A CENTURY OF REVOLUTION
In 133 B.C. Roman society had been corrupted and enfeebled as the result of foreign conquests. The supreme power in the state more and more tended to fall into the hands of a narrow oligarchy—the senatorial nobility. Its dishonesty and weakness soon led to efforts at reform. The attempts of the Gracchi to overthrow the Senate's position and restore popular sovereignty ended in disaster. Then, in quick succession, arose a series of military leaders who aimed to secure by the sword what was no longer to be obtained through constitutional and legal means. Marius, a great general but no politician, could only break down and destroy. Sulla, a sincere but narrow-minded statesman, could do no more than prop up the structure— already tottering—of senatorial rule. Pompey soon undid that work and left the constitution to become again the sport of rival soldiers. Caesar, triumphing over Pompey, gained a position of unchallenged supremacy. After Caesar's death, imperial power was permanently restored in the person of Octavian. The battle of Actium in 31 B.C. made Octavian master of the Roman world.
THE FUTURE
But the Romans were not yet an old and worn-out people. On the ruins of the old republican order it was still possible to build up a new imperial system in which good government, peace, and prosperity should prevail for more than two centuries. During this period Rome performed her real, her enduring, work for civilization.
STUDIES
1. Write a summary account (500 words) of Roman expansion 264-133 B.C.
2. On outline maps indicate the possessions of Carthage and Rome at the beginning of the First Punic War; at the beginning of the Second Punic War; at the end of the Second Punic War.
3. On outline maps indicate the boundaries of the Roman world in 133 B.C. and in 31 B.C. and the division into provinces at these dates.
4. What events are connected with the following places: Zama; Cannae; Actium; Pharsalus, and Philippi?
5. Who were Quintus Fabius Maximus, Mithradates, Catiline, and Cleopatra?
6. Identify the following dates: 146 B.C.; 264 B.C.; 133 B.C.; 201 B.C.; 44 B.C.; and 63 B.C.
7. Why has Carthage been called the "London" of the ancient world?
8. What is meant by the statement that Carthage is a "dumb actor on the stage of history"?
9. Was Rome wise in adopting her new policy of expansion beyond the limits of Italy?
10. Give some examples in modern times of war indemnities paid by defeated nations.
11. Why did the Romans call the Second Punic War the "War of Hannibal"?
12. What is a "Fabian policy"? Do you know why Washington was called the "American Fabius"?
13. What reasons can you give for Hannibal's early successes and final failure?
14. Show the signal importance to Rome of her control of the sea during the Second Punic War.
15. Comment on this statement: "As the rise of Rome was central in history, the Second Punic War was central in the rise of Rome."
16. What provinces had been formed by 133 B.C. (map facing page 184)?
17. What parts of the world belonged to Rome in 133 B.C. but were not yet provinces?
18. Might Rome have extended her federal policy to her territories outside of Italy? Was a provincial system really necessary?
19. Compare a Persian satrapy with a Roman province.
20. Would import duties on foreign grain have revived Italian agriculture?
21. Why did the cattle breeder in Italy have no reason to fear foreign competition?
22. Compare the Athenian practice of state pay with the Roman "bread and the games of the circus."
23. Had the Italians triumphed in the Social War, is it likely they would have established a better government than that of Rome?
24. Was Marius or was Sulla more to blame for the Civil War?
25. Explain the real meaning of Sulla's "perpetual dictatorship."
26. Why was the rule of the Senate, unsatisfactory though it was, to be preferred to that of the Roman populace?
27. Why is the First Triumvirate described as a "ring"? Did it have an official character?
28. Why does the First Triumvirate mark a distinct step toward the establishment of the empire?
29. Why can wars with barbarous and savage peoples be justified as "the most ultimately righteous of all wars"?
30. Can you suggest why Caesar's conquest of Gaul had even greater importance than Pompey's conquests in the East?
31. Was Caesar justified in leading his army against Rome?
32. Had Pompey triumphed over Caesar, is it probable that the republic would have been restored?
33. What contrasts can you draw between Caesar and Alexander?
34. Justify the aphorism, "In the midst of arms the laws are silent," by the statements in this chapter.
35. How do you account for the failure of the republican institutions of Rome?
FOOTNOTES
[1] Webster, Readings in Ancient History, chapter xv, "Hannibal and the Great Punic War"; chapter xvi, "Cato the Censor: a Roman of the Old School"; chapter xvii, "Cicero the Orator"; chapter xviii, "The Conquest of Gaul, Related by Caesar"; chapter xix, "The Makers of Imperial Rome: Character Sketches by Suetonius."
[2] See page 123.
[3] See page 155.
[4] See page 149.
[5] Livy, xxii, 61.
[6] See page 100.
[7] In 29 B.C., one hundred and seventeen years after the destruction of Carthage at the end of the Punic wars, a new town was founded near the old site by the emperor Augustus. It became in time the third city of the Roman Empire. It was destroyed by the Arabs in 698 A.D.
[8] See page 158.
[9] See pages 184 and 197.
[10] Corinth offered too good a site to remain long in ruins. Resettled in 46 B.C. as a Roman colony, it soon became one of the great cities in the empire. It was to the Corinthians that St Paul wrote two of his Epistles.
[11] The Greeks were not again a free people until the nineteenth century of our era. In 1821 A.D. they rose against their Turkish masters in a glorious struggle for liberty. Eight years later the powers of Europe forced the Sultan to recognize the freedom of Greece. That country then became an independent kingdom, with its capital at Athens.
[12] See pages 39-40 and 104.
[13] In 133 B.C. there were eight provinces—Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica, Hither Spain, Farther Spain, Illyricum, Africa, Macedonia, and Asia. See the map facing page 184.
[14] In the New Testament "publicans and sinners" are mentioned side by side. See Matthew, ix, 10.
[15] Latifundia perdidere Italiam (Pliny, Natural History, xviii, 7).
[16] See page 155.
[17] Horace, Epistles, ii, 1, 156.
[18] See page 103.
[19] See page 150.
[20] See page 155, note 2.
[21] See page 150.
[22] See page 204.
[23] Plutarch, Sulla, 38.
[24] Suetonius, Julius Caesar, 32.
[25] Veni, vidi, vici (Suetonius, Julius Caesar, 37).
[26] Hence our word "emperor."
[27] Before Caesar's reform (46 B.C.) the Roman year consisted of 12 months and 355 days. As this lunar year, like that of the Greeks, was shorter than the solar year, it had been necessary to intercalate an additional month, of varying length, in every alternate year. Caesar adopted the more accurate Egyptian calendar of 365 days and instituted the system of leap years. His rearrangement made the year 11 minutes, 14 seconds too long. By 1582 A.D. this difference had amounted to nearly 10 days. Pope Gregory XIII modified the "Julian Calendar" by calling Oct. 5, 1582, Oct. 15, and continuing the count 10 days in advance. This "Gregorian Calendar" was adopted by Great Britain in 1752 A.D. and subsequently by other Protestant countries. It has not won acceptance in Russia and Greece. The difference between the two systems—the Old Style and the New Style—is now about 13 days.
[28] His name was Octavius, but after his adoption by Caesar he called himself Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus.
[29] Cicero, Letters, xix, 20.
[30] See page 185.
[31] See page 127.
[32] See page 160.
CHAPTER IX
THE EARLY EMPIRE: THE WORLD UNDER ROMAN RULE, 31 B.C.-l80 A.D. [1]
66. AUGUSTUS, 31 B.C.-l4 A.D.
[Illustration: AUGUSTUS (Vatican Museum, Rome)]
THE EARLY EMPIRE, 31 B.C.-180 A.D.
The period of two hundred and eleven years, between the accession of Augustus and the death of Marcus Aurelius, is known as the Early Empire. As we shall now learn, it was a time of settled government and of internal tranquillity. Except for a brief period of anarchy at the close of the reign of Nero, it was also a time of regular succession to the throne. Nearly all the emperors were vigorous and capable rulers. The peace and prosperity which they gave to the Roman world amply justify—if justification be needed—the change from republic to empire.
THE NEW RULER
Few persons have set their stamp more indelibly on the pages of history than Octavian, whom we may now call by his more familiar name Augustus ("Majestic"). Augustus was no military genius to dazzle the world with his achievements. He was a cool and passionless statesman who took advantage of a memorable opportunity to remake the Roman state, and who succeeded in the attempt. Absolute power, which destroys weaker men, with Augustus brought out the nobler elements of character. From the successful leader of a party he became the wise and impartial ruler of an empire.
THE NEW GOVERNMENT
Augustus had almost unlimited power. His position was that of a king, as supreme as Julius Caesar had ever been. Better, however, than Julius Caesar, Augustus realized that an undisguised autocracy would only alienate public opinion and invite fresh plots and rebellions, Augustus intended to be the real master, but he would also be careful to conceal his authority under republican forms. The emperor was neither king, dictator, nor triumvir. He called himself a republican magistrate— Princeps [2]—the "First Citizen" of the state.
POWERS ENJOYED BY AUGUSTUS
Augustus gave up the externals, only to keep the essentials, of royalty. He held the proconsular authority, which extended over the frontier provinces and their legions. He held the tribunician authority, which made his person sacred. As perpetual tribune he could preside over the popular assemblies, manage the Senate and change its membership at pleasure, and veto the acts of almost any magistrate. In the provinces and at home in the capital city the emperor was supreme.
THE EMPIRE UNDER AUGUSTUS
Augustus ruled a vast realm. In it all the dreams of world dominion which Alexander had cherished were more than realized. The empire included nearly the entire circle of the Mediterranean lands. On the west and south it found natural barriers in the Atlantic Ocean and the African desert. On the east the Euphrates River had formed, since the defeat of Crassus, [3] the dividing line between Rome and Parthia. The northern frontier, beyond which lay the Germanic barbarians, required, however, additional conquests for its protection.
[Illustration: Map, THE EXPANSION OF ROMAN DOMINIONS 31 B.C.-180 A.D.]
THE DANUBE BOUNDARY
The Danube River made an admirable boundary for much of the Roman territory between the Black Sea and the Rhine. Augustus annexed the district south of the lower course of this river and formed it into the province of Moesia (modern Serbia and Bulgaria). The line of the upper Danube was later secured by the creation of three new provinces on the northern slopes of the Alps. [4] Henceforth the Balkan peninsula and Italy on the northeast, where the Alpine passes are low and comparatively easy, were shielded from attack.
THE RHINE BOUNDARY
After the conquests of Julius Caesar in Gaul the Rhine had become the frontier between that country and Germany. Augustus repeatedly sent the legions into western Germany on punitive expeditions to strike terror into its warlike tribes and to inspire respect for Roman power. It is doubtful, however, whether he ever intended to conquer Germany and to convert it into another province. His failure to do so meant that the Germans were not to be Romanized as were their neighbors, the Celts of Gaul. The Rhine continued to be the dividing-line between Roman civilization and Germanic barbarism.
THE AUGUSTAN AGE
The clash of arms on the distant frontiers scarcely disturbed the serenity of the Roman world. Within the boundaries of the empire the Augustan Age was an age of peace and prosperity. The emperor, with unwearied devotion, turned to the task of ruling wisely and well his vast dominions. He followed the example of Julius Caesar in his insistence on just government of the provincials. [5] In Italy he put down brigandage, repaired the public highways, and planted many colonies in unsettled districts. In Rome he established a regular police service, organized the supply of grain and water, and continued, on a larger scale than ever, the public games. So many were his buildings in the capital city that he could boast he had "found Rome of brick and left it of marble." [6] Augustus was also very successful as a religious reformer. He restored numerous temples that had fallen into decay, revived the ancient sacrifices, and celebrated with pomp and majesty the festivals that had been neglected. These reforms gave new vigor to the Roman state religion.
[Illustration: MONUMENTUM ANCYRANUM An inscription on the walls of a ruined temple at Ancyra (modern Angora) in Asia Minor. It is a copy of the record descriptive of the reign of Augustus which that emperor in his will decreed to be inscribed on bronze tablets and placed before his mausoleum at Rome.]
DEIFICATION OF AUGUSTUS
Even during the lifetime of Augustus worship had been offered to him by the provincials. After his death the Senate gave him divine honors and enrolled his name among the gods. Temples rose in every province to the deified Augustus, and altars smoked with sacrifices to him. Emperor worship spread rapidly over the ancient world and helped to unite all classes in allegiance to the new government. It provided a universal religion for a universal empire. Yet just at the time when this new cult was taking root, and in the midst of the happy reign of Augustus, there was born in Bethlehem of Judea the Christ whose religion was to overcome the worship of the emperors and with it all other faiths of pagan antiquity. [7]
67. THE SUCCESSORS OF AUGUSTUS, 14-96 A.D.
JULIAN AND CLAUDIAN CAESARS, 14-68 A.D.
For more than half a century following the death of Augustus his place was filled by emperors who, either by descent or adoption, claimed kinship with himself and the mighty Julius. They are known as the Julian and Claudian Caesars. [8] Though none of these four princes had the political ability of Augustus, two of them (Tiberius and Claudius) were excellent rulers, who ably maintained the standards set by that great emperor. The other two (Caligula and Nero) were vicious tyrants, the recital of whose follies and crimes occupies much space in the works of ancient historians. Their doings and misdoings fortunately exerted little influence outside the circle of the imperial court and the capital city. Rome itself might be disturbed by conspiracy and bloodshed, but Italy and the provinces kept their prosperity.
CONQUEST OF BRITAIN BEGUN, 43 A.D.
The reign of Claudius was marked by the beginning of the extension of the empire over Britain. For nearly a hundred years after Caesar's expeditions no further attempt had been made to annex that island. But its nearness to Gaul, already thoroughly Romanized, brought the country within the sphere of Roman influence. The thorough conquest of Britain proved to be no easy task. It was not until the close of the first century that the island, as far north as the Scottish Highlands, was brought under Roman sway. The province of Britannia remained a part of the empire for more than three hundred years.
BURNING OF ROME, 64 A.D.
During Nero's reign half of Rome was laid in ashes by a great fire, which raged for a week. But a new Rome speedily arose. It was a much finer city than the old, with wide, straight streets instead of narrow alleys, and with houses of good stone in place of wooden hovels. Except for the loss of the temples and public buildings, the fire was a blessing in disguise.
FLAVIAN CAESARS, 69-96 A.D.
After the death of Nero the dynasty that traced its descent from Julius and Augustus became extinct. There was no one who could legally claim the vacant throne. The Senate, which in theory had the appointment of a successor, was too weak to exercise its powers. The imperial guard and the legions on the frontiers placed their own candidates in the field. The Roman world fell into anarchy, and Italy became once more the seat of civil war. The throne was finally seized by the able general, Flavius Vespasianus, supported by the armies of the East. He and his two sons, Titus and Domitian, are called the Flavian Caesars.
[Illustration: POMPEII]
CAPTURE OF JERUSALEM, 70 A.D.
During the reign of Vespasian a revolt of the Jews was crushed, and Jerusalem was captured by Titus, Vespasian's son. It is said, doubtless with exaggeration, that one million Jews perished in the siege, the most awful that history records. The Holy City, together with the Temple, was destroyed, and a Roman camp was pitched upon the spot. We may still see in Rome the splendid arch that commemorates this tragic event. [9]
[Illustration: PLAN OF JERUSALEM AND ITS ENVIRONS.]
[Illustration: A RELIEF ON THE ARCH OF TITUS
The relief shows Roman soldiers bearing the spoils of the Temple at
Jerusalem. Among these are two trumpets, the table of the shewbread, and
the seven-branched golden candlestick.]
ERUPTION OF VESUVIUS, 79 A.D.
The reign of Titus is chiefly memorable for the destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum, two cites on the bay of Naples. After long inactivity the volcano of Vesuvius suddenly belched forth torrents of liquid lava and mud, followed by a rain of ashes. Pompeii was covered to a depth of about fifteen feet by the falling cinders. Herculaneum was overwhelmed in a sea of sulphurous mud and lava to a depth of eighty feet in many places. The cities were completely entombed, and in time even their location was forgotten. Modern excavations have disclosed a large part of Pompeii, with its streets, shops, baths, temples, and theaters. The visitor there gains a vivid impression of Roman life during the first century of our era. [10]
68. THE "GOOD EMPERORS," 96-180 A.D.
THE ANTONINE CAESARS
The five rulers—Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius—whose reigns cover the greater part of the second century, are sometimes called the Antonine Caesars, because two of them bore the name Antoninus. They are better known as the "Good Emperors," a title which well describes them. Under their just and beneficent government the empire reached its greatest prosperity.
[Illustration: NERVA (Vatican Museum, Rome)
A remarkably fine example of Roman portrait statuary.]
TRAJAN THE CONQUEROR
The emperor Trajan rivaled Julius Caesar in military ability and enlarged the Roman world to the widest limits it was ever to attain. His first conquests were in Europe and resulted in the annexation of Dacia, an extensive territory north of the Danube. Thousands of colonists settled in Dacia and spread everywhere the language and arts of Rome. Its modern name (Rumania) bears witness to Rome's abiding influence there. Trajan's campaigns in Asia had less importance, though in appearance they were more splendid. He drove the Parthians from Armenia and conquered the Tigris- Euphrates valley. To hold in subjection such distant regions only increased the difficulty of guarding the frontiers. Trajan's successor, Hadrian, at once abandoned them.
[Illustration: COLUMN OF TRAJAN A bronze statue of Trajan formerly occupying the top of the monument has been replaced by a figure of St Peter. The column is decorated with a continuous spiral relief representing scenes from the Dacian War. About twenty five hundred separate designs are included in this remarkable collection.]
HADRIAN THE ADMINISTRATOR
Hadrian distinguished himself as an administrator. He may be compared with Augustus in his love of peace and in his care for the interests of the provincials. Hadrian made two long journeys throughout the Roman world. On the frontiers he built fortresses and walls, in the provinces he raised baths, aqueducts, theaters, and temples. Scarcely a city throughout the empire lacked some monument to his generosity. Hadrian left behind him the memory of a prince whose life was devoted to the public welfare—the first servant of the state.
[Illustration: WALL OF HADRIAN IN BRITAIN The wall extended between the Tyne and the Solway a distance of seventy miles. It was built of concrete faced with square blocks. The height is nearly twenty feet, the thickness about eight feet. Along the wall were numerous towers and gates and a little to the north of it stretched an earthen rampart protected by a deep ditch. A broad road, lined with seventeen military camps, ran between the two fortifications.]
MARCUS AURELIUS, THE PHILOSOPHER ON THE THRONE
The last of the "Good Emperors," Marcus Aurelius, was a thinker and a student, but he enjoyed little opportunity for meditation. His reign was filled with an almost uninterrupted series of campaigns against the Parthians on the Euphrates and the Germans on the Danube and the Rhine. These wars revealed the weakness of the frontiers and rapidly growing strength of the barbarians. After the death of Marcus Aurelius the empire entered on its downward course. But before passing to this period of our study, we may take a survey of the world under Roman rule, during the two centuries between Augustus and Marcus Aurelius.
[Illustration: MARCUS AURELIUS IN HIS TRIUMPHAL CAR (Palace of the
Conservatori, Rome)
A panel from an arch erected by the emperor.]
69. THE PROVINCES OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE
THE STANDING ARMY
The Roman Empire, at its widest extent in the second century, included forty-three provinces. They were protected against Germans, Parthians and other foes by twenty-five legions, numbering with the auxiliary forces, about three hundred thousand men. This standing army was one of Rome's most important agencies for the spread of her civilization over barbarian lands. Its membership was drawn largely from the border provinces, often from the very countries where the soldiers' camps were fixed. Though the army became less and less Roman in blood, it always kept in character and spirit the best traditions of Rome. The long intervals of peace were not passed by the soldiers in idleness. They built the great highways that penetrated every region of the empire, spanned the streams with bridges, raised dikes and aqueducts, and taught the border races the arts of civilization. It was due, finally, to the labors of the legionaries, that the most exposed parts of the frontiers were provided with an extensive system of walls and ramparts.
[Illustration: THE PANTHEON The original building was the work of Agrippa, a minister of Augustus. The temple was reconstructed by Hadrian who left the Greek portico unchanged but added the rotunda and the dome. This great dome, the largest in the world, is made of solid concrete. During the Middle Ages, the Pantheon was converted into a church. It is now the burial place of the kings of Italy.]
THE ROMAN ROADS
The Roman system of roads received its great extension during the imperial age. The principal trunk lines began at the gates of Rome and radiated thence to every province. Along these highways sped the couriers of the Caesars, carrying dispatches and making, by means of relays of horses, as much as one hundred and fifty miles a day. The roads resounded to the tramp of the legionaries passing to their stations on the distant frontier. Travelers by foot, horseback, or litter journeyed on them from land to land, employing maps which described routes and distances. Traders used them for the transport of merchandise. Roman roads, in short, were the railways of antiquity. [11]
[Illustration: THE TOMB OF HADRIAN The building was formerly topped by another of smaller size which bore a statue of the emperor. In medieval times this stately tomb was converted into a castle. It is now used as a museum. The bridge across the Tiber was built by Hadrian.]
[Illustration: Map, ROMAN BRITAIN SHOWING CHIEF ROMAN ROADS]
THE PAX ROMANA
In her roads and fortifications, in the living rampart of her legions, Rome long found security. Except for the districts conquered by Trajan but abandoned by Hadrian, [12] the empire during this period did not lose a province. For more than two hundred years, throughout an area as large as the United States, the civilized world rested under what an ancient writer calls "the immense majesty of the Roman peace." [13]
EXTENSION OF ROMAN CITIZENSHIP
The grant of Roman citizenship to all Italians after the Social War [14] only increased for a time the contrast between Italy and the provinces. But even before the fall of the republic Caesar's legislation had begun the work of uniting the Roman and the provincial. [15] More and more the emperors followed in his footsteps. The extension of Roman citizenship was a gradual process covering two centuries. It was left for the emperor Caracalla, early in the third century, to take the final step. In 212 A.D. he issued an edict which bestowed citizenship on all freeborn inhabitants of the empire. This famous edict completed the work, begun so many centuries before, of Romanizing the ancient world.
PRIVILEGES OF ROMAN CITIZENS
The grant of citizenship, though it increased the burden of taxation, brought no slight advantage to those who possessed it. A Roman citizen could not be maltreated with impunity or punished without a legal trial before Roman courts. If accused in a capital case, he could always protect himself against an unjust decision by an "appeal to Caesar", that is, to the emperor at Rome. St. Paul did this on one occasion when on trial for his life. [16] Wherever he lived, a Roman citizen enjoyed, both for his person and his property, the protection of Roman law.
70. THE ROMAN LAW AND THE LATIN LANGUAGE
IMPROVEMENT OF ROMAN LAW
The Romans were the most legal-minded people of antiquity. It was their mission to give laws to the world. Almost at the beginning of the republic they framed the code of the Twelve Tables, [17] which long remained the basis of their jurisprudence. This code, however, was so harsh, technical, and brief that it could not meet the needs of a progressive state. The Romans gradually improved their legal system, especially after they began to rule over conquered nations. The disputes which arose between citizens and subjects were decided by the praetors or provincial governors in accordance with what seemed to them to be principles of justice and equity. These principles gradually found a place in Roman law, together with many rules and observances of foreign peoples. Roman law in this way tended to take over and absorb all that was best in ancient jurisprudence.
CHARACTER OF ROMAN LAW
Thus, as the extension of the citizenship carried the principles and practice of Roman law to every quarter of the empire, the spirit of that law underwent an entire change. It became exact, impartial, liberal, humane. It limited the use of torture to force confession from persons accused of crime. It protected the child against a father's tyranny. It provided that a master who killed a slave should be punished as a murderer, and even taught that all men are originally free by the law of nature and therefore that slavery is contrary to natural right. Justice it defined as "the steady and abiding purpose to give every man that which is his own." [18] Roman law, which began as the rude code of a primitive people, ended as the most refined and admirable system of jurisprudence ever framed by man. This law, as we shall see later, has passed from ancient Rome to modern Europe. [19]
LATIN IN ITALY
The conquest by Latin of the languages of the world is almost as interesting and important a story as the conquest by Rome of the nations of the world. At the beginning of Latin in Roman history Latin was the speech of only the Italy people of Latium. Beyond the limits of Latium Latin came into contact with the many different languages spoken in early Italy. Some of them, such as Greek and Etruscan, soon disappeared from Italy after Roman expansion, but those used by native Italian peoples showed more power of resistance. It was not until the last century B.C. that Latin was thoroughly established in the central and southern parts of the peninsula. After the Social War the Italian peoples became citizens of Rome, and with Roman citizenship went the use of the Latin tongue.
LATIN IN THE WESTERN PROVINCES
The Romans carried their language to the barbarian peoples of the West, as they had carried it to Italy. Their missionaries were colonists, merchants, soldiers, and public officials. The Latin spoken by them was eagerly taken up by the rude, unlettered natives, who tried to make themselves as Roman as possible in dress, customs, and speech. This provincial Latin was not simply the language of the upper classes; the common people themselves used it freely, as we know from thousands of inscriptions found in western and central Europe. In the countries which now make up Spain, France, Switzerland, southern Austria, England, and North Africa, the old national tongues were abandoned for the Latin of Rome.
ROMANCE LANGUAGES
The decline of the Roman Empire did not bring about the downfall of the Latin language in the West. It became the basis of the so-called Romance languages—French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Rumanian—which arose in the Middle Ages out of the spoken Latin of the common people. Even our English language, which comes to us from the speech of the Germanic invaders of Britain, contains so many words of Latin origin that we can scarcely utter a sentence without using some of them. The rule of Rome has passed away; the language of Rome still remains to enrich the intellectual life of mankind.
71. THE MUNICIPALITIES OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE
PREVALENCE OF CITY LIFE
The world under Roman rule was a world of cities. Some had earlier been native settlements, such as those in Gaul before the Roman conquest. Others were the splendid Hellenistic cities in the East. [20] Many more were of Roman origin, arising from the colonies and fortified camps in which citizens and soldiers had settled. [21] Where Rome did not find cities, she created them.
SOME IMPORTANT CITIES
Not only were the cities numerous, but many of them, even when judged by modern standards, reached great size. Rome was the largest, her population being estimated at from one to two millions. Alexandria came next with more than half a million people. Syracuse was the third metropolis of the empire. Italy contained such important towns as Verona, Milan, and Ravenna. In Gaul were Marseilles, Nîmes, Bordeaux, Lyons—all cities with a continuous existence to the present day. In Britain York and London were seats of commerce, Chester and Lincoln were military colonies, and Bath was celebrated then, as now, for its medicinal waters. Carthage and Corinth had risen in new splendor from their ashes. Athens was still the home of Greek art and Greek culture. Asia included such ancient and important centers as Pergamum, Smyrna, Ephesus, Rhodes, and Antioch. The student who reads in his New Testament the Acts of the Apostles will get a vivid impression of some of these great capitals.
[Illustration: ROMAN BATHS, AT BATH, ENGLAND Bath, the ancient Aquae Sulis, was famous in Roman times for its hot springs. Here are very interesting remains, including a large pool, eighty-three by forty feet in size, and lined at the bottom with the Roman lead, besides smaller bathing chambers and portions of the ancient pipes and conduits. The building and statues are modern restorations.]
APPEARANCE OF THE CITIES
Every municipality was a Rome in miniature. It had its forum and senate- house, its temples, theaters, and baths, its circus for racing, and its amphitheater for gladiatorial combats. Most of the municipalities enjoyed an abundant supply of water, and some had good sewer systems. The larger towns had well-paved, though narrow, streets. Pompeii, a small place of scarcely thirty thousand inhabitants, still exists to give us an idea of the appearance of one of these ancient cities. And what we find at Pompeii was repeated on a more splendid scale in hundreds of places from the Danube to the Nile, from Britain to Arabia.
CITY GOVERNMENT
The municipalities of Roman origin copied the government of Rome itself. [22] Each city had a council, or senate, and a popular assembly which chose the magistrates. These officials were generally rich men; they received no salary, and in fact had to pay a large sum on entering office. Local politics excited the keenest interest. Many of the inscriptions found on the walls of Pompeii are election placards recommending particular candidates for office. Women sometimes took part in political contests. Distributions of grain, oil, and money were made to needy citizens, in imitation of the bad Roman practice. There were public banquets, imposing festivals, wild-beast hunts, and bloody contests of gladiators, like those at Rome.
SURVIVAL OF THE ROMAN MUNICIPAL SYSTEM
The busy, throbbing life in these countless centers of the Roman world has long since been stilled. The cities themselves, in many instances, have utterly disappeared. Yet the forms of municipal government, together with the Roman idea of a free, self-governing city, never wholly died out. Some of the most important cities which flourished in southern and western Europe during the later Middle Ages preserved clear traces of their ancient Roman origin.
72. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS IN THE FIRST AND SECOND CENTURIES
PROMOTION OF COMMERCE
The first two centuries of our era formed the golden age of Roman commerce. The emperors fostered it in many ways. Augustus and his successors kept the Mediterranean free from pirates, built lighthouses and improved harbors, policed the highways, and made travel by land both speedy and safe. An imperial currency [23] replaced the various national coinages with their limited circulation. The vexatious import and export duties, levied by different countries and cities on foreign produce, were swept away. Free trade flourished between the cities and provinces of the Roman world.
PRINCIPAL TRADE ROUTES
Roman commerce followed, in general, the routes which Phoenicians had discovered centuries before. After the annexation of Gaul the rivers of that country became channels of trade between western Europe and Italy. The conquest of the districts north and south of the Danube opened up an important route between central Europe and the Mediterranean. Imports from the far eastern countries came by caravan through Asia to ports on the Black Sea. The water routes led by way of the Persian Gulf to the great Syrian cities of Antioch and Palmyra and, by way of the Red Sea, to Alexandria on the Nile. From these thriving commercial centers products were shipped to every region of the empire. [24]
[Illustration: A ROMAN FREIGHT SHIP The ship lies beside the wharf at Ostia. In the after-part of the vessel is a cabin with two windows. Notice the figure of Victory on the top of the single mast and the decoration of the mainsail with the wolf and twins. The ship is steered by a pair of huge paddles.]
LOCAL TRADING AT ROME
The importation and disposal of foreign goods at Rome furnished employment for many thousands of traders. There were great wholesale merchants whose warehouses stored grain and all kinds of merchandise. There were also many retail shopkeepers. They might be sometimes the slaves or freedmen of a wealthy noble who preferred to keep in the background. Sometimes they were men of free birth. The feeling that petty trade was unworthy of a citizen, though strong in republican days, tended to disappear under the empire.
FREE LABORERS AT ROME
The slaves at Rome, like those at Athens, [25] carried on many industrial tasks. We must not imagine, however, that all the manual labor of the city was performed by bondmen. The number of slaves even tended to decline, when there were no more border wars to yield captives for the slave markets. The growing custom of emancipation worked in the same direction. We find in this period a large body of free laborers, not only in the capital city, but in all parts of the empire.
THE GUILDS
The workmen engaged in a particular calling frequently formed clubs, or guilds. [26] There were guilds of weavers, shoe-makers, jewelers, painters, musicians, and even of gladiators. These associations were not organized for the purpose of securing higher wages and shorter hours by strikes or threat of strikes. They seem to have existed chiefly for social and religious purposes. Each guild had its clubhouse for official meetings and banquets. Each guild had its special deity, such as Vesta, the fire goddess, for bakers, and Bacchus, the wine god, for innkeepers. Every year the guildsmen held a festival, in honor of their patron, and marched through the streets with banners and the emblems of their trade. Nearly all the guilds had as one main object the provision of a proper funeral and tomb for deceased members. The humble laborer found some consolation in the thought that he belonged to a club of friends and fellow workers, who after death would give him decent burial and keep his memory green.
LIFE OF THE WORKING CLASSES
Free workingmen throughout the Roman world appear to have led reasonably happy lives. They were not driven or enslaved by their employers or forced to labor for long hours in grimy, unwholesome factories. Slums existed, but no sweatshops. If wages were low, so also was the cost of living. Wine, oil, and wheat flour were cheap. The mild climate made heavy clothing unnecessary and permitted an outdoor life. The public baths— great clubhouses—stood open to every one who could pay a trifling fee. [27] Numerous holidays, celebrated with games and shows, brightened existence. On the whole we may conclude that working people at Rome and in the provinces enjoyed greater comfort during this period than had ever been their lot in previous ages.
[Illustration: A ROMAN VILLA
Wall painting, Pompeii.]
GREAT FORTUNES
It was an age of millionaires. There had been rich men, such as Crassus, [28] during the last century of the republic; their numbers increased and their fortunes rose during the first century of the empire. The philosopher Seneca, a tutor of Nero, is said to have made twelve million dollars within four years by the emperor's favor. Narcissus, the secretary of Claudius, made sixteen million dollars—the largest Roman fortune on record. This sum must be multiplied four or five times to find its modern equivalent, since in antiquity interest rates were higher and the purchasing power of money was greater than to-day. Such private fortunes are surpassed only by those of the present age.
LUXURY AND EXTRAVAGANCE
The heaping-up of riches in the hands of a few brought its natural consequence in luxury and extravagance. The palaces of the wealthy, with their gardens, baths, picture galleries, and other features, were costly to build and costly to keep up. The money not lavished by a noble on his town house could be easily sunk on his villas in the country. All Italy, from the bay of Naples, to the foot of the Alps, was dotted with elegant residences, having flower gardens, game preserves, fishponds, and artificial lakes. Much senseless waste occurred at banquets and entertainments. Vast sums were spent on vessels of gold and silver, jewelry, clothing, and house furnishings. Even funerals and tombs required heavy outlays. A capitalist of imperial Rome could get rid of a fortune in selfish indulgences almost as readily as any modern millionaire not blessed with a refined taste or with public spirit.
SOME SOCIAL EVILS
Some of the customs of the time appear especially shocking. The brutal gladiatorial games [29] were a passion with every one, from the emperor to his lowest subject. Infanticide was a general practice. Marriage grew to be a mere civil contract, easily made and easily broken. Common as divorce had become, the married state was regarded as undesirable. Augustus vainly made laws to encourage matrimony and discourage celibacy. Suicide, especially among the upper classes, was astonishingly frequent. No one questioned another's right to leave this life at pleasure. The decline of the earlier paganism left many men without a deep religious faith to combat the growing doubt and worldliness of the age.
BRIGHTER ASPECTS OF ROMAN SOCIETY
Yet this dark picture needs correction at many points. It may be questioned whether the vice, luxury, and wickedness of ancient Rome, Antioch, or Alexandria much exceeded what our great modern capitals can show, During this period, moreover, many remarkable improvements took place in social life and manners. There was an increasing kindliness and charity. The weak and the infirm were better treated. The education of the poor was encouraged by the founding of free schools. Wealthy citizens of the various towns lavished their fortunes on such public works as baths, aqueducts, and temples, for the benefit of all classes. Even the slaves were much better treated. Imperial laws aimed to check the abuses of cruelty, overwork, and neglect, and philosophers recommended to masters the exercise of gentleness and mercy toward slaves. In fact, the first and second centuries of our era were marked by a great growth of the humanitarian spirit.
73. THE GRAECO-ROMAN WORLD
THE NEW COSMOPOLITANISM
Just as the conquests of Alexander, by uniting the Orient to Greece, produced a Graeco-Oriental civilization, so now the expansion of Rome over the Mediterranean formed another world-wide culture, in which both Greek and Roman elements met and mingled. A new sense of cosmopolitanism arose in place of the old civic or national patriotism. Roman elements met and mingled. A new sense of cosmopolitanism arose in place of the old civic or national patriotism.
[Illustration: A ROMAN TEMPLE The best preserved of Roman temples. Located at Nîmes in southern France, where it is known as La Maison Carrée ("the square house"). The structure is now used as a museum of antiquities.]
UNIFYING AND CIVILIZING FORCES This cosmopolitan feeling was the outcome of those unifying and civilizing forces which the imperial system set at work. The extension of Roman citizenship broke down the old distinction between the citizens and the subjects of Rome. The development of Roman law carried its principles of justice and equity to the remotest regions. The spread of the Latin language provided the western half of the empire with a speech as universal there as Greek was in the East. Trade and travel united the provinces with one another and with Rome. The worship of the Caesars dimmed the luster of all local worships and kept constantly before men's minds the idea of Rome and of her mighty emperors. Last, but not least important, was the fusion of alien peoples through intermarriage with Roman soldiers and colonists. "How many settlements," exclaims the philosopher Seneca, "have been planted in every province! Wherever the Roman conquers, there he dwells." [30]
[Illustration: THE AMPHITHEATER AT ARLES The amphitheater at Arles in southern France was used during the Middle Ages as a fortress then as a prison and finally became the resort of criminals and paupers. The illustration shows it before the removal of the buildings about 1830 A.D. Bullfights still continue in the arena, where, in Roman times, animal baitings and gladiatorial games took place.]
MONUMENTS OF ROMAN RULE
The best evidence of Rome's imperial rule is found in the monuments she raised in every quarter of the ancient world. Some of the grandest ruins of antiquity are not in the capital city itself, or even in Italy, but in Spain, France, England, Greece, Switzerland, Asia Minor, Syria, and North Africa. Among these are Hadrian's Wall in Britain, the splendid aqueduct known as the Pont du Gard near Nîmes in southern France, the beautiful temple called La Maison Carrée in the same city, the Olympieum at Athens, and the temple of the Sun at Baalbec in Syria Thus the lonely hilltops, the desolate desert sands, the mountain fastnesses of three continents bear witness even now to the widespreading sway of Rome.
[Illustration: A MEGALITH AT BAALBEC A block of stone 68 feet long 10 feet high and weighing about 1500 tons. It is still attached to its bed in the quarry not far from the ruins of Baalbec in Syria. The temples of Baalbec seen in the distance were built by the Romans in the third century A.D. The majestic temple of the Sun contains three megaliths almost as huge as the one represented in the illustration. They are the largest blocks known to have been used in any structure. For a long time they were supposed to be relics of giant builders.]
ROMANIZATION OF EAST AND WEST
The civilized world took on the stamp and impress of Rome. The East, indeed, remained Greek in language and feeling, but even there Roman law and government prevailed, Roman roads traced their unerring course, and Roman architects erected majestic monuments. The West became completely Roman. North Africa, Spain, Gaul, distant Dacia, and Britain were the seats of populous cities, where the Latin language was spoken and Roman customs were followed. From them came the emperors. They furnished some of the most eminent men of letters. Their schools of grammar and rhetoric attracted students from Rome itself. Thus unconsciously, but none the less surely, local habits and manners, national religions and tongues, provincial institutions and ways of thinking disappeared from the ancient world.
STUDIES
1. On an outline map indicate the additions to Roman territory: during the reign of Augustus, 31 B.C.-14 A.D.; during the period 14-180 A.D.
2. On an outline map indicate ten important cities of the Roman Empire.
3. Connect the proper events with the following dates: 79 A.D.; 180 A.D.; and 14 A.D.
4. Whom do you consider the greater man, Julius Caesar or Augustus? Give reasons for your answer.
5. Compare the Augustan Age at Rome with the Age of Pericles at Athens.
6. What is the Monumentum Ancyranum and its historic importance (illustration Monumentum Ancyranum, section 66. Augustus, 31 B.C.-l4 A.D., topic The Augustan Age)?
7. How did the worship of the Caesars connect itself with ancestor worship?
8. In the reign of what Roman emperor was Jesus born? In whose reign was he crucified?
9. How did the "year of anarchy" after Nero's death exhibit a weakness in the imperial system?
10. How many provinces existed under Trajan?
11. What modern countries are included within the limits of the Roman Empire in the age of Trajan?
12. Compare the extent of the Roman Empire under Trajan with (a) the empire of Alexander; and (b) the empire of Darius.
13. Give the Roman names of Spain, Italy, Gaul, Germany, Britain, Scotland, and Ireland.
14. Contrast the Roman armies under the empire with the standing armies of modern Europe.
15. Trace on the map, page 205, the Roman roads in Britain.
16. "To the Roman city the empire was political death; to the provinces it was the beginning of new life." Comment on this statement.
17. Why should Rome have made a greater success of her imperial policy than either Athens or Sparta?
18. Compare Roman liberality in extending the franchise with the similar policy displayed by the United States.
19. Compare the freedom of trade between the provinces of the Roman Empire with that between the states of the American Union.
20. On the map, page 48, trace the trade routes during imperial times.
21. Compare as civilizing forces the Roman and the Persian empires.
22. What was the Pax Romana? What is the Pax Britannica?
23. Compare the Romanization of the ancient world with that process of Americanization which is going on in the United States to-day.
24. Explain this statement: "The Roman Empire is the lake in which all the streams of ancient history lose themselves and which all the streams of modern history flow out of."
25. "Republican Rome had little to do, either by precept or example, with the modern life of Europe, Imperial Rome everything." Can you justify this statement?
FOOTNOTES
[1] Webster, Readings in Ancient History, chapter xix, "The Makers of Imperial Rome: Character Sketches by Suetonius"; chapter xx, "Nero, a Roman Emperor."
[2] Hence our word "prince".
[3] See page 184.
[4] The provinces of Pannonia, Noricum, and Raetia. See the map facing page 184.
[5] See page 187.
[6] For a description of ancient Rome see pages 292-296.
[7] Jesus was born probably in 4 B.C., the last year of the reign of Herod, whom the triumvirs, Antony and Octavian, had placed on the throne of Judea in 37 B.C.
[8] A Roman emperor was generally called "Caesar" by the provincials. See, for example, Matthew, xxii, 17-21, or Acts, xxv, 10-12. This title survives in the German Kaiser and perhaps in the Russian Tsar or Czar.
[9] In 131 A.D., during the reign of the emperor Hadrian, the Jews once more broke out in revolt. Jerusalem, which had risen from its ruins, was again destroyed by the Romans, and the plow was passed over the foundations of the Temple. From Roman times to the present the Jews have been a people without a country.
[10] See Bulwer-Lytton's novel, The Last Days of Pompeii.
[11] See the map on page 205 for the system of Roman roads in Britain.
[12] See page 200.
[13] Pliny, Natural History, xxvii, 1.
[14] See page 179.
[15] See page 187.
[16] See Acts, XXV, 9-12.
[17] See page 151.
[18] Institutes, bk. i, tit. i.
[19] See page 331.
[20] See page 127.
[21] Several English cities, such as Lancaster, Leicester, Manchester, and Chester, betray in their names their origin in the Roman castra, or camp.
[22] See page 149.
[23] For illustrations of Roman coins see the plate facing page 134.
[24] See the map on page 48.
[25] See page 107.
[26] Latin collegia, whence our "college."
[27] See pages 263 and 285.
[28] See page 183.
[29] See page 267.
[30] Seneca, Minor Dialogues, XI, 7.
CHAPTER X
THE LATER EMPIRE: CHRISTIANITY IN THE ROMAN WORLD, 180-395 A.D.
74. THE "SOLDIER EMPERORS," 180-284 A.D.
THE LATER EMPIRE, 180-395 A.D.
The period called the Later Empire covers the two hundred and fifteen years from the accession of Commodus to the final division of the Roman world at the death of Theodosius. It formed, in general, a period of decline. The very existence of the empire was threatened, both from within and from without. The armies on the frontiers often set up their favorite leaders as contestants for the throne, thus provoking civil war. Ambitious governors of distant provinces sometimes revolted against a weak or unpopular emperor and tried to establish independent states. The Germans took advantage of the unsettled condition of affairs to make constant inroads. About the middle of the third century it became necessary to surrender to them the great province of Dacia, which Trajan had won. [1] A serious danger also appeared in the distant East. Here the Persians, having overcome the Parthians, [2] endeavored to recover from Roman hands the Asiatic provinces which had once belonged to the old Persian realm. Though the Persians failed to make any permanent conquest of Roman territory, their constant attacks weakened the empire at the very time when the northern barbarians had again become a menace.
"IMPERIAL PHANTOMS"
The rulers who occupied the throne during the first half of this troubled period are commonly known as the "Soldier Emperors," because so many of them owed their position to the swords of the legionaries. Emperor after emperor followed in quick succession, to enjoy a brief reign and then to perish in some sudden insurrection. Within a single year (237-238 A.D.) six rulers were chosen, worshiped, and then murdered by their troops "You little know," said one of these imperial phantoms, "what a poor thing it is to be an emperor." [3]
POLITICAL SITUATION IN 284 A.D.
The close of the third century thus found the empire engaged in a struggle for existence. No part of the Roman world had escaped the ravages of war. The fortification of the capital city by the emperor Aurelian was itself a testimony to the altered condition of affairs. The situation was desperate, yet not hopeless. Under an able ruler, such as Aurelian, Rome proved to be still strong enough to repel her foes. It was the work of the even more capable Diocletian to establish the empire on so solid a foundation that it endured with almost undiminished strength for another hundred years.
[Illustration: THE WALL OF ROME Constructed by Aurelian and rebuilt by Honorius. The material is concrete faced with brick, thickness 13 feet, greatest height 58 feet. This is still the wall of the modern city, although at present no effort is made to keep it in repair.]
75. THE "ABSOLUTE EMPERORS," 284-395 A.D.
REIGN OF DIOCLETIAN, 284-305 A.D.
Diocletian, whose reign is one of the most illustrious in Roman history, entered the army as a common soldier, rose to high command, and fought his way to the throne. A strong, ambitious man, Diocletian resolutely set himself to the task of remaking the Roman government. His success in this undertaking entitles him to rank, as a statesman and administrator, with Augustus.
WEAKNESSES IN THE IMPERIAL SYSTEM
The reforms of Diocletian were meant to remedy those weaknesses in the imperial system disclosed by the disasters of the preceding century. In the first place, experience showed that the empire was unwieldy. There were the distant frontiers on the Rhine, Danube, and Euphrates to be guarded; there were all the provinces to be governed. A single ruler, however able and energetic, had more than he could do. In the second place, the succession to the imperial throne was uncertain. Now an emperor named his successor, now the Senate elected him, and now the swords of the legionaries raised him to the purple. Such an unsettled state of affairs constantly invited those struggles between rival pretenders which had so nearly brought the empire to destruction.
DIOCLETIAN'S REFORMS
Diocletian began his reforms by adopting a scheme for "partnership emperors." He shared the Roman world with a trusted lieutenant named Maximian. Each was to be an Augustus, with all the honors of an emperor. Diocletian ruled the East; Maximian ruled the West. Further partnership soon seemed advisable, and so each Augustus chose a younger associate, or Caesar, to aid him in the government and at his death or abdication to become his heir. Diocletian also remodeled the provincial system. The entire empire, including Italy, was divided into more than one hundred provinces. They were grouped into thirteen dioceses and these, in turn, into four prefectures. [4] This reform much lessened the authority of the provincial governor, who now ruled over a small district and had to obey the vicar of his diocese.
THE NEW ABSOLUTISM
The emperors, from Diocletian onward, were autocrats. They bore the proud title of Dominus ("Lord"). They were treated as gods. Everything that touched their persons was sacred. They wore a diadem of pearls and gorgeous robes of silk and gold, like those of Asiatic monarchs. They filled their palaces with a crowd of fawning, flattering nobles, and busied themselves with an endless round of stately and impressive ceremonials. Hitherto a Roman emperor had been an imperator, [5] the head of an army. Now he became a king, to be greeted, not with the old military salute, but with the bent knee and the prostrate form of adoration. Such pomps and vanities, which former Romans would have thought degrading, helped to inspire reverence among the servile subjects of a later age. If it was the aim of Augustus to disguise, it was the aim of Diocletian to display, the unbounded power of a Roman emperor.
CONSTANTINE, SOLE EMPEROR, 324-337 A.D.
There can be little doubt that Diocletian's reforms helped to prolong the existence of the empire. In one respect, however, they must be pronounced a failure. They did not end the disputes about the succession. Only two years after the abdication of Diocletian there were six rival pretenders for the title of Augustus. Their dreary struggles continued, until at length two emperors were left—Constantine in the West, Licinius in the East. After a few years of joint rule another civil war made Constantine supreme. The Roman world again had a single master.
REIGN OF CONSTANTINE
Constantine was an able general and a wise statesman. Two events of lasting importance have made his reign memorable. It was Constantine who recognized Christianity as one of the religions of the empire and thus paved the way for the triumph of that faith over the ancient paganism. His work in this connection will be discussed presently. It was Constantine, also, who established a new capital for the Roman world at Byzantium [6] on the Bosporus. He christened it "New Rome," but it soon took the emperor's name as Constantinople, the "City of Constantine." [7]
FOUNDATION OF CONSTANTINOPLE
Several good reasons could be urged for the removal of the world's metropolis from the Tiber to the Bosporus. The Roman Empire was ceasing to be one empire. Constantine wanted a great city for the eastern half to balance Rome in the western half. Again, Constantinople, far more than Rome, was the military center of the empire. Rome lay too far from the vulnerable frontiers; Constantinople occupied a position about equidistant from the Germans on the lower Danube and the Persians on the Euphrates. Finally, Constantine believed that Christianity, which he wished to become the prevailing religion, would encounter less opposition and criticism in his new city than at Rome, with its pagan atmosphere and traditions. Constantinople was to be not simply a new seat of government but also distinctively a Christian capital. Such it remained for more than eleven centuries. [8]
AFTER CONSTANTINE, 337-395 A.D.
After the death of Constantine the Roman world again entered on a period of disorder. The inroads of the Germans across the Danube and the Rhine threatened the European provinces of the empire with dissolution. The outlook in the Asiatic provinces, overrun by the Persians, was no less gloomy. Meanwhile the eastern and western halves of the empire tended more and more to grow apart. The separation between the two had become well marked by the close of the fourth century. After the death of the emperor Theodosius (395 A.D.) there came to be in fact, if not in name, a Roman Empire in the East and a Roman Empire in the West.
POLITICAL SITUATION IN 395 A.D.
More than four hundred years had now elapsed since the battle of Actium made Octavian supreme in the Roman world. If we except the abandonment of Trajan's conquests beyond the Danube and the Euphrates, [9] no part of the huge empire had as yet succumbed to its enemies. The subject peoples, during these four centuries, had not tried to overthrow the empire or to withdraw from its protection. The Roman state, men believed, would endure forever. Yet the times were drawing nigh when the old order of things was to be broken up; when barbarian invaders were to seize the fairest provinces as their own; and when new kingdoms, ruled by men of Germanic speech, were to arise in lands that once obeyed Rome.
76. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS IN THE THIRD AND FOURTH CENTURIES
THE "FALL" OF ROME
Rome, it has been said, was not built in a day; the rule of Rome was not destroyed in a day. When we speak of the "fall" of Rome, we have in mind, not a violent catastrophe which suddenly plunged the civilized world into ruin, but rather the slow and gradual decay of ancient society throughout the basin of the Mediterranean. This decay set in long before the Germans and the Persians became a serious danger to the empire. It would have continued, doubtless, had there been no Germans and Persians to break through the frontiers and destroy. The truth seems to be that, during the third and fourth centuries of our era, classical civilization, like an overtrained athlete, had grown "stale."
DEPOPULATION DUE TO THE SLAVE SYSTEM
It is not possible to set forth all the forces which century after century had been sapping the strength of the state. The most obvious element of weakness was the want of men to fill the armies and to cultivate the fields. The slave system seems to have been partly responsible for this depopulation. The peasant on his little homestead could not compete with the wealthy noble whose vast estates were worked by gangs of slaves. The artisan could not support himself and his family on the pittance that kept his slave competitor alive. Peasants and artisans gradually drifted into the cities, where the public distributions of grain, wine, and oil assured them of a living with little expense and almost without exertion. In both Italy and the provinces there was a serious decline in the number of free farmers and free workingmen.
"RACE SUICIDE"
But slavery was not the only cause of depopulation. There was a great deal of what has been called "race suicide" in the old Roman world. Well-to-do people, who could easily support large families, often refused to be burdened with them. Childlessness, however, was not confined to the wealthy, since the poorer classes, crowded in the huge lodging houses of the cities, had no real family life. Roman emperors, who saw how difficult it was to get a sufficient number of recruits for the army, and how whole districts were going to waste for lack of people to cultivate them, tried to repopulate the empire by force of law. They imposed penalties for the childlessness and celibacy of the rich, and founded institutions for the rearing of children, that the poor might not fear to raise large families. Such measures were scarcely successful. "Race suicide" continued during pagan times and even during the Christian age.
LOSS OF REVENUES
The next most obvious element of weakness was the shrinkage of the revenues. The empire suffered from want of money, as well as from want of men. To meet the heavy cost of the luxurious court, to pay the salaries of the swarms of public officials, to support the idle populace in the great cities required a vast annual income. But just when public expenditures were rising by leaps and bounds, it became harder and harder to secure sufficient revenue. Smaller numbers meant fewer taxpayers. Fewer taxpayers meant a heavier burden on those who survived to pay.
ECONOMIC RUIN
These two forces—the decline in population and the decline in wealth— worked together to produce economic ruin. It is no wonder, therefore, that in province after province large tracts of land went out of cultivation, that the towns decayed, and that commerce and manufactures suffered an appalling decline. "Hard times" settled on the Roman world.
INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY
Doubtless still other forces were at work to weaken the state and make it incapable of further resistance to the barbarians. Among such forces we must reckon Christianity itself. By the close of the fourth century Christianity had become the religion of the empire. The new faith, as we shall soon see, helped, not to support, but rather to undermine, pagan society.
77. THE PREPARATION FOR CHRISTIANITY
DECLINE OF PAGANISM
Several centuries before the rise of Christianity many Greek thinkers began to feel a growing dissatisfaction with the crude faith that had come down to them from prehistoric times. They found it more and more difficult to believe in the Olympian deities, who were fashioned like themselves and had all the faults of mortal men. [10] An adulterous Zeus, a bloodthirsty Ares, and a scolding Hera, as Homer represents them, were hardly divinities that a cultured Greek could love and worship. For educated Romans, also, the rites and ceremonies of the ancient religion came gradually to lose their meaning. The worship of the Roman gods had never appealed to the emotions. Now it tended to pass into the mere mechanical repetition of prayers and sacrifices. Even the worship of the Caesars, [11] which did much to hold the empire together, failed to satisfy the spiritual wants of mankind. It made no appeal to the moral nature; it brought no message, either of fear or hope, about a future world and a life beyond the grave.
STOICISM
During these centuries a system of Greek philosophy, called Stoicism, gained many adherents among the Romans. Any one who will read the Stoic writings, such as those of the noble emperor, Marcus Aurelius, [12] will see how nearly Christian was the Stoic faith. It urged men to forgive injuries—to "bear and forbear." It preached the brotherhood of man. It expressed a humble and unfaltering reliance on a divine Providence. To many persons of refinement Stoicism became a real religion. But since Stoic philosophy could reach and influence only the educated classes, it could not become a religion for all sorts and conditions of men.
THE ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES
Many Greeks found a partial satisfaction of their religious longings in secret rites called mysteries. Of these the most important grew up at Eleusis, [13] a little Attic town thirteen miles from Athens. They were connected with the worship of Demeter, goddess of vegetation and of the life of nature. The celebration of the Eleusinian mysteries came in September and lasted nine days. When the candidates for admission to the secret rites were worked up to a state of religious excitement, they entered a brilliantly lighted hall and witnessed a passion play dealing with the legend of Demeter. They seem to have had no direct moral instruction but saw, instead, living pictures and pantomimes which represented the life beyond the grave and held out to them the promise of a blessed lot in another world. As an Athenian orator said, "Those who have shared this initiation possess sweeter hopes about death and about the whole of life." [14]
INFLUENCE OF THE MYSTERIES
The Eleusinian mysteries, though unknown in the Homeric Age, were already popular before the epoch of the Persian wars. They became a Panhellenic festival open to all Greeks, women as well as men, slaves as well as freemen. The privilege of membership was later extended to Romans. During the first centuries of our era the influence of the mysteries increased, as faith in the Olympian religion declined. They formed one of the last strongholds of paganism and endured till the triumph of Christianity in the Roman world.
ORIENTAL RELIGIONS IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE
The Asiatic conquests of Alexander, followed in later centuries by the extension of Roman rule over the eastern coasts of the Mediterranean, brought the classical peoples into contact with new religions which had arisen in the Orient. Slaves, soldiers, traders, and travelers carried the eastern faiths to the West, where they speedily won many followers. Even before the downfall of the republic the deities of Asia Minor, Egypt, and Persia had found a home at Rome. Under the empire many men and women were attracted to their worship.
MITHRA
Perhaps the most remarkable of the Asiatic religions was Mithraism. Mithra first appears as a Persian sun god, the leader of Ahuramazda's hosts in the ceaseless struggle against the forces of darkness and evil. [15] As a god of light Mithra was also a god of truth and purity. His worship, spreading over the length and breadth of the Roman Empire, became the noblest of all pagan faiths. Men saw in Mithra a Lord and Giver of Life, who protected the weak and miserable, cleansed the sinner, conquered death, and procured for his faithful followers the crown of immortality.
[Illustration: A MITHRAIC MONUMENT A bas relief discovered in 1838 A.D. in a cave near Heidelberg, Germany. The central group represents Mithra slaying the bull. The smaller reliefs show scenes from the life of Mithra, including his birth from the rock and his ascent to Ahuramazda.]
THE WORSHIP OF MITHRA
The Mithraic worship took the form of a mystery with seven grades, or degrees, through which candidates passed by ordeals of initiation. The rites included a kind of baptism with holy water, a sacrificial meal of bread and wine, and daily litanies to the sun. Mithra was represented as a youthful hero miraculously born from a rock at the dawn of day; for this reason his worship was always conducted underground in natural or artificial caves, or in cellars. At the back of one of these subterranean temples would be often a picture of Mithra slaying a bull, and an inscription: "To the Unconquerable Sun, to Mithra." [16]
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE ORIENTAL RELIGIONS
The new Oriental religions all appealed to the emotions. They helped to satisfy the spiritual wants of men and women, by dwelling on the need of purification from sin and by holding forth the prospect of a happier life beyond the tomb. It is not strange, therefore, that they penetrated every province of the Roman Empire and flourished as late as the fourth century of our era. Christianity had no more dangerous antagonists than the followers of Mithra and other eastern divinities.
78. RISE AND SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY
CHRISTIANITY AMONG THE JEWS
Christianity rose among the Jews, for Jesus was a Jew and his disciples were Jews. At the time of the death of Jesus [17] his immediate followers numbered scarcely a Christianity hundred persons. The catastrophe of the crucifixion struck them with sorrow and dismay. When, however, the disciples came to believe in the resurrection of their master, a wonderful impetus was given to the growth of the new religion. They now asserted that Jesus was the true Messiah, or Christ, who by rising from the dead had sealed the truth of his teachings. For several years after the crucifixion, the disciples remained at Jerusalem, preaching and making converts. The new doctrines met so much opposition on the part of Jewish leaders in the capital city that the followers of Jesus withdrew to Samaria, Damascus, and Antioch. In all these places there were large Jewish communities, among whom Peter and his fellow apostles labored zealously.
[Illustration: Map, PALESTINE IN THE TIME OF CHRIST]
[Illustration: MODERN JERUSALEM AND THE MOUNT OF OLIVES]
MISSIONARY LABORS OF PAUL
Up to this time the new faith had been spread only among the Jews. The first Christians did not neglect to keep up all the customs of the Jewish religion. It was even doubted for a while whether any but Jews could properly be allowed within the Christian fold. A new convert, Saul of Tarsus, afterwards the Apostle Paul, did most to admit the Gentiles, or pagans, to the privileges of the new religion. Though born a Jew, Paul had been trained in the schools of Tarsus, a city of Asia Minor which was a great center of Greek learning. He possessed a knowledge of Greek philosophy, and particularly of Stoicism. This broad education helped to make him an acceptable missionary to Greek-speaking peoples. During more than thirty years of unceasing activity Paul established churches in Asia Minor, Greece, Macedonia, and Italy. To many of these churches he wrote the letters (epistles), which have found a place in the New Testament. So large a part of the doctrines of Christianity has been derived from Paul's writings that we may well speak of him as the second founder of the Christian faith.
[Illustration: MADONNA AND CHILD The earliest known representation of Mary and the infant Jesus. The prophet Isaiah is shown pointing to the new star. The picture dates from about 200 A.D. and comes from the catacombs of St. Priscilla.]
CHRISTIANITY AMONG THE GENTILES
Christianity advanced with marvelous rapidity over the Roman world. At the close of the first century there were Christians everywhere in Asia Minor. The second century saw the establishment of flourishing churches in almost every province of the empire. A hundred years later there were missionaries along the Rhine, on the Danube frontier, and in distant Britain. "We are but of yesterday," says a Christian writer, with pardonable exaggeration, "yet we have filled all your places of resort— cities, islands, fortresses, towns, markets, the camp itself, the tribes, town councils, the palace, the senate, and the forum, We have left to you only the temples of your gods." [18]
CONDITIONS FAVORING THE SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY
Certain circumstances contributed to the success of this gigantic missionary enterprise. Alexander's conquests in the East and those of Rome in the West had done much to remove the barriers to intercourse between nations. The spread of Greek and Latin as the common languages of the Mediterranean world furnished a medium in which Christian speakers and writers could be easily understood. The scattering of the Jews after the destruction of Jerusalem [19] provided the Christians with an audience in many cities of the empire. The early missionaries, such as Paul himself, were often Roman citizens who enjoyed the protection of the Roman law and profited by the ease of travel which the imperial rule had made possible. At no other period in ancient history were conditions so favorable for the rapid spread of a new religion.
ORGANIZATION OF EARLY CHRISTIANITY
While Christianity was conquering the world, the believers in its doctrines were grouping themselves into communities or churches. Every city had a congregation of Christian worshipers. [20] They met, not in synagogues as did the Jews, but in private houses, where they sang hymns, listened to readings from the Holy Scriptures, and partook of a sacrificial meal in memory of the last supper of Jesus with his disciples. Certain officers called presbyters, [21] or elders, were chosen to conduct the services and instruct the converts. The chief presbyter received the name of "overseer," or bishop. [22] Each church had also one or more deacons, who visited the sick and relieved the wants of the poor. Every Christian community thus formed a little brotherhood of earnest men and women, united by common beliefs and common hopes.
[Illustration: CHRIST, THE GOOD SHEPHERD (Imperial Museum, Constantinople) This quaint, rude figure, found in an early Christian tomb in Asia Minor, dates probably from the beginning of the third century. It is the oldest known statue of Christ. He wears the coarse garb of an Oriental peasant; his countenance is gentle and thoughtful; on his broad shoulders rests a lamb.]
79. THE PERSECUTIONS
HOSTILITY TOWARD THE CHRISTIANS
The new religion from the start met popular disapproval. The early Christians, who tried to keep themselves free from idolatry, were regarded as very unsociable persons. They never appeared at public feasts and entertainments. They would not join in the amusements of the circus or the amphitheater. They refused to send their children to the schools. The ordinary citizen could not understand such people. It is not surprising, therefore, that they gained the evil name of "haters of mankind."
SUPERSTITIOUS FEAR OF THE CHRISTIANS
If the multitude despised the Christians, they sometimes feared them as well. Strange stories circulated about the secret meetings of the Christians, who at their sacrificial meal were declared to feast on children. The Christians, too, were often looked upon as magicians who caused all sorts of disasters. It was not difficult to excite the vicious crowds of the larger cities to riots and disorders, in which many followers of the new religion lost their lives.
ANTAGONISM OF THE ROMAN GOVERNMENT
Such outbursts of mob hatred were only occasional. There would have been no organized, persistent attack, if the imperial government had not taken a hand. Rome, which had treated so many other foreign faiths with careless indifference or even with favor, which had tolerated the Jews and granted to them special privileges of worship, made a deliberate effort to crush Christianity.
ATTITUDE OF THE CHRISTIANS TOWARD PAGANISM
Rome entered on the persecutions because it saw in Christianity that which threatened its own existence. The Christians declined to support the state religion; they even condemned it unsparingly as sinful and idolatrous. The Christians, moreover, would not worship the genius, or guardian spirit of the emperor, and would not burn incense before his statue, which stood in every town. Such a refusal to take what was really an oath of allegiance was regarded as an act of rebellion. These feelings of hostility to the Christians were strengthened by their unwillingness to serve in the army and to swear by the pagan gods in courts of law. In short, the members of this new sect must have appeared very unruly subjects who, if allowed to become numerous enough, would endanger the security of the government.
DIOCLETIAN'S PERSECUTION, 303-311 A.D.
As early as the beginning of the second century Roman officials began to search out and punish Christians, wherever they were found. During the third century the entire power of the imperial government was directed against this outlawed sect. The persecution which began under Diocletian was the last and most severe. With some interruptions it continued for eight years. Only Gaul and Britain seem to have escaped its ravages. The government began by burning the holy books of the Christians, by destroying their churches, and by taking away their property. Members of the hated faith lost their privileges as full Roman citizens. Then sterner measures followed. The prisons were crowded with Christians. Those who refused to recant and sacrifice to the emperor were thrown to wild animals in the arena, stretched on the rack, or burned over a slow fire. Every refinement of torture was practiced. Paganism, fighting for its existence, left no means untried to root out a sect both despised and feared.
THE MARTYRS
The Christians joyfully suffered for their religion. They welcomed the torture and death which would gain for them a heavenly crown. Those who perished were called martyrs, that is, "witnesses." Even now the festal day of a martyr is the day of his death.
[Illustration: INTERIOR OF THE CATACOMBS The catacombs of Rome are underground cemeteries in which the Christians buried their dead. The bodies were laid in recesses in the walls of the galleries or underneath the pavement. Several tiers of galleries (in one instance as many as seven) lie one below the other. Their total length has been estimated at no less than six hundred miles. The illustration shows a small chamber, or cubiculum. The graves have been opened and the bodies taken away.]
80. TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIANITY
CHRISTIANITY BECOMES A TOLERATED RELIGION
Diocletian's persecution, which continued for several years after his abdication, came to an end in 311 A.D. In that year Galerius, the ruler in the East, published an edict which permitted the Christians to rebuild their churches and worship undisturbed. It remained for the emperor Constantine to take the next significant step. In 313 A.D. Constantine and his colleague, Licinius, issued the Edict of Milan, which proclaimed for the first time in history the noble principle of religious toleration. It gave absolute freedom to every man to choose and follow the religion which he deemed best suited to his needs. This edict placed the Christian faith on an equality with paganism.
CONSTANTINE'S CONVERSION
The conversion of Constantine is one of the most important events in ancient history. A Roman emperor, himself a god to the subjects of Rome, became the worshiper of a crucified provincial of his empire. Constantine favored the Christians throughput his reign. He surrounded himself with Christian bishops, freed the clergy from taxation, and spent large sums in building churches. One of his laws abolished the use of the cross as an instrument of punishment. Another enactment required that magistrates, city people, and artisans were to rest on Sunday. This was the first "Sunday law." [23]
[Illustration: THE LABARUM The sacred military standard of the early Christian Roman emperors. First adopted by Constantine. It consisted of a staff or lance with a purple banner on a cross-bar. The two Greek letters XP (CHR) make a monogram of the word Christ (Greek Christos).]
CHURCH COUNCIL AT NICAEA, 325 A.D.
Significant of the emperor's attitude toward Christianity was his action in summoning all the bishops in the different provinces to a gathering at Nicaea in Asia Minor. It was the first general council of the Church. The principal work of the Council of Nicaea was the settlement of a great dispute which had arisen over the nature of Christ. Some theologians headed by Arius, a priest of Alexandria, maintained that Christ the Son, having been created by God the Father, was necessarily inferior to him Athanasius, another Alexandrian priest, opposed this view and held that Christ was not a created being, but was in all ways equal to God. The Council accepted the arguments of Athanasius, condemned Arius as a heretic, and framed the Nicene Creed, which is still the accepted summary of Christian doctrine. Though thrust out of the Church, Arianism lived to flourish anew among the Germanic tribes, of which the majority were converted to Christianity by Arian missionaries.
[Illustration: ARCH OF CONSTANTINE Erected at Rome in 315 A.D. to commemorate the victory of Constantine over Maxentius. The monument consists of a central gateway and two smaller arches flanked by detached columns in the Corinthian style. The arch is decorated with four large statues in front of the upper story and also with numerous sculptures in relief.]
CHRISTIANITY BECOMES THE STATE RELIGION UNDER THEODOSIUS, 379-395 A.D.
The recognition given to Christianity by Constantine helped immensely to spread the new faith. The emperor Theodosius, whose services to the church won him the title of "the Great," made Christianity the state religion. Sacrifices to the pagan gods were forbidden, the temples were closed, and their property was taken away. Those strongholds of the old paganism, the Delphic oracle, the Olympian games, and the Eleusinian mysteries, were abolished. Even the private worship of the household Lares and Penates [24] was prohibited. Though paganism lingered for a century or more in the country districts, it became extinct as a state religion by the end of the fourth century.
[Illustration: Map, THE GROWTH OF CHRISTIANITY TO THE END OF THE FOURTH
CENTURY.]
81. CHRISTIAN INFLUENCE ON SOCIETY
MORAL TEACHINGS OF CHRISTIANITY
The new religion certainly helped to soften and refine manners by the stress which it laid upon such "Christian" virtues as humility, tenderness, and gentleness. By dwelling on the sanctity of human life, Christianity did its best to repress the very common practice of suicide as well as the frightful evil of infanticide. [25] It set its face sternly against the obscenities of the theater and the cruelties of the gladiatorial shows. [26] In these and other respects Christianity had much to do with the improvement of ancient morals.
SOCIAL TEACHINGS OF CHRISTIANITY
Perhaps even more original contributions of Christianity to civilization lay in its social teachings. The belief in the fatherhood of God implied a corresponding belief in the brotherhood of man. This doctrine of the equality of men had been expressed before by ancient philosophers, but Christianity translated the precept into practice. In this way it helped to improve the condition of slaves and, by favoring emancipation, even tended to decrease slavery. [27] Christianity also laid much emphasis on the virtue of charity and the duty of supporting all institutions which aimed to relieve the lot of the poor, the sick, and the downtrodden.
CHRISTIANITY AND THE GERMANS
At the close of the fourth century the Germanic tribes living nearest the frontiers had been visited by missionaries and had become converts to Christianity. The fact that both Romans and Germans were Christians tended to lessen the terrors of the invasions and to bring about a peaceful fusion of the conquerors and the conquered.
STUDIES
1. On an outline map indicate the territories of the Roman Empire and their division, 395 A D.
2. What is the date of the accession of the emperor Commodus? of the accession of Diocletian? of the death of Theodosius? of the Edict of Milan? of the Council of Nicaea?
3. What elements of weakness in the imperial system had been disclosed during the century 180-284 A.D.?
4. Explain Diocletian's plan of "partnership emperors."
5. Define the terms absolutism and centralization. Give an example of a European country under a centralized administration; of a European country under an absolute government.
6. What are the advantages of local self-government over a centralized government?
7. "The emperor of the first century was a Prince, that is, 'first citizen'; the emperor of the fourth century was a Sultan." Comment on this statement.
8. What arguments might have been made for and against the removal of the capital to Constantinople?
9. Enumerate the causes of the decline of population in imperial times.
10. Show how an unwise system of taxation may work great economic injury.
11. Give reasons for the decline of Greek and Roman paganism.
12. Why should Mithraism have proved "the most formidable foe which Christianity had to overcome"?
13. Were any of the ancient religions missionary faiths?
14. When and where was Jesus born? Who was king of Judea at the time? Were the Jews independent of Rome during the lifetime of Jesus?
15. Locate on the map, facing page 230, the three divisions of Palestine at the time of Christ.
16. To what cities of Asia Minor did Paul write his epistles, or letters? To what other cities in the Roman Empire?
17. What was the original meaning of the words "presbyter," "bishop," and "deacon"?
18. What is meant by calling the Church an episcopal organization?
19. How can you explain the persecution of the Christians by an emperor so great and good as Marcus Aurelius?
20. What is the meaning of the word "martyr"?
21. "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church." Explain.
22. Describe the Labarum (illustration, page 235).
23. What reasons suggest themselves as helping to explain the conversion of the civilized world to Christianity?
FOOTNOTES
[1] See page 200.
[2] See pages 184, 194.
[3] Vopiscus, Saturninus, 10.
[4] The number and arrangement of these divisions varied somewhat during the fourth century. See the map, between pages 222-223, for the system as it existed about 395 A.D.
[5] See page 186.
[6] See page 88.
[7] See the map, page 340.
[8] Until the capture of the city by the Ottoman Turks in 1453 A.D.
[9] See pages 200, 219.
[10] See page 77.
[11] See page 196.
[12] See page 201.
[13] See the map, page 107.
[14] Isocrates, Panegyricus, 29.
[15] See page 54.
[16] Soli Invicto Mithrae. An interesting survival of Mithra worship is the date of our festival of Christmas. The 25th of December was the day of the great annual celebration in memory of the Persian deity. In 274 A.D. the emperor Aurelian raised a gorgeous temple to the sun god in the Campus Martius, dedicating it on the 25th of December, "the birthday of the Unconquerable Sun." After the triumph of Christianity the day was still honored, but henceforth as the anniversary of the birth of Christ.
[17] The exact date of the crucifixion is unknown. It took place during the reign of Tiberius, when Pontius Pilatus was procurator of Judea.
[18] Tertullian, Apology, 37.
[19] See page 199, note 1.
[20] The meeting was called ecclesia from the Greek word for "popular assembly." Hence comes our word "ecclesiastical."
[21] Whence the word "priest."
[22] The word "bishop" comes from the Greek episkopos and means, literally, an "overseer."
[23] It is highly doubtful, however, whether this legislation had any reference to Christianity. More probably, Constantine was only adding the day of the Sun, the worship of which was then firmly established in the empire (see page 229, note 1) to the other holy days of the Roman calendar.
[24] See page 146.
[25] See page 253.
[26] See page 267.
[27] See page 270.
CHAPTER XI
THE GERMANS TO 476 A.D. [1]
82. GERMANY AND THE GERMANS
PHYSICAL FEATURES OF GERMANY
The Germans were an Indo-European people, as were their neighbors, the Celts of Gaul and Britain. They had lived for many centuries in the wild districts of central Europe north of the Alps and beyond the Danube and the Rhine. This home land of the Germans in ancient times was cheerless and unhealthy. Dense forests or extensive marshes covered the ground. The atmosphere was heavy and humid; in summer clouds and mists brooded over the country; and in winter it was covered with snow and ice. In such a region everything was opposed to civilization. Hence the Germans, though a gifted race, had not advanced as rapidly as the Greek and Italian peoples.
THE GERMANS DESCRIBED BY THE ROMANS
Our earliest notice of the Germans is found in the Commentaries by Julius Caesar, who twice invaded their country. About a century and a half later the Roman historian, Tacitus, wrote a little book called Germany, which gives an account of the people as they were before coming under the influence of Rome and Christianity. Tacitus describes the Germans as barbarians with many of the usual marks of barbarism. He speaks of their giant size, their fierce, blue eyes, and their blonde or ruddy hair. These physical traits made them seem especially terrible to the smaller and darker Romans. He mentions their love of warfare, the fury of their onset in battle, and the contempt which they had for wounds and even death itself. When not fighting, they passed much of their time in the chase, and still more time in sleep and gluttonous feasts. They were hard drinkers, too, and so passionately fond of gambling that, when a man's wealth was gone, he would even stake his liberty on a single game. In some of these respects the Germans resembled our own Indian tribes.
GERMAN MORALS
On the other hand, the Germans had certain attractive qualities not always found even among civilized peoples. They were hospitable to the stranger, they respected their sworn word, they loved liberty and hated restraint. Their chiefs, we are told, ruled rather by persuasion than by authority. Above all, the Germans had a pure family life. "Almost alone among barbarians," writes Tacitus, "they are content with one wife. No one in Germany laughs at vice, nor is it the fashion to corrupt and be corrupted. Good habits are here more effectual than good laws elsewhere." [2] The Germans, then, were strong and brave, hardy, chaste, and free.
PROGRESS OF THE GERMANS
The Germans, during the three centuries between the time of Tacitus and the beginning of the invasions, had advanced somewhat in civilization. They were learning to live in towns instead of in rude villages, to read and write, to make better weapons and clothes, to use money, and to enjoy many Roman luxuries, such as wine, spices, and ornaments. They were likewise uniting in great confederations of tribes, ruled by kings who were able to lead them in migrations to other lands.
[Illustration: RUNIC ALPHABET The word "rune" comes from a Gothic word meaning a secret thing, a mystery. To the primitive Germans it seemed a mysterious thing that letters could be used to express thought. The art of writing with an alphabet appears to have been introduced into Germanic Europe during the first centuries of our era. Most Runic inscriptions have been found in Denmark and the Scandinavian peninsula.]
REASONS FOR THE GERMANIC MIGRATIONS
During this same period, also, the Germans increased rapidly in numbers. Consequently it was a difficult matter for them to live by hunting and fishing, or by such rude agriculture as their country allowed. They could find additional land only in the fertile and well cultivated territories of the Romans. It was this hunger for land, together with the love of fighting and the desire for booty and adventure, which led to their migrations.
GROWING WEAKNESS OF ROME
The German inroads were neither sudden, nor unexpected, nor new. Since the days of Marius and of Julius Caesar not a century had passed without witnessing some dangerous movement of the northern barbarians. Until the close of the fourth century Rome had always held their swarming hordes at bay. Nor were the invasions which at length destroyed the empire much more formidable than those which had been repulsed many times before. Rome fell because she could no longer resist with her earlier power. If the barbarians were not growing stronger, the Romans themselves were steadily growing weaker. The form of the empire was still the same, but it had lost its vigor and its vitality. [3]
83. BREAKING OF THE DANUBE BARRIER
THE GOTHS
North of the Danube lived, near the close of the fourth century, a German people called Visigoths, or West Goths. Their kinsmen, the Ostrogoths, or East Goths, held the land north of the Black Sea between the Danube and the Don. These two nations had been among the most dangerous enemies of Rome. In the third century they made so many expeditions against the eastern territories of the empire that Aurelian at last surrendered to the Visigoths the great province of Dacia. [4] The barbarians now came in contact with Roman civilization and began to lead more settled lives. Some of them even accepted Christianity from Bishop Ulfilas, who translated the Bible into the Gothic tongue.
THE VISIGOTHS CROSS THE DANUBE, 376 A.D.
The peaceful fusion of Goth and Roman might have gone on indefinitely but for the sudden appearance in Europe of the Huns. They were a nomadic people from central Asia. Entering Europe north of the Caspian Sea, the Huns quickly subdued the Ostrogoths and compelled them to unite in an attack upon their German kinsmen. Then the entire nation of Visigoths crowded the banks of the Danube and begged the Roman authorities to allow them to cross that river and place its broad waters between them and their terrible foes. In an evil hour for Rome their prayer was granted. At length two hundred thousand Gothic warriors, with their wives and children, found a home on Roman soil.
BATTLE OF ADRIANOPLE, 378 A.D.
The settlement of such a host of barbarians within the frontier of the empire was in itself a dangerous thing. The danger was increased by the ill treatment which the immigrants received. The Roman officials robbed them of their possessions, withheld the promised supplies of food, and even tried to murder their leaders at a banquet. Finally, the Germans broke out in open revolt. The emperor Valens misjudged their strength and rashly gave them battle near Adrianople in Thrace. The once invincible legions fell an easy prey to their foes, and the emperor himself perished.
[Illustration: A PAGE OF THE GOTHIC GOSPELS (REDUCED) A manuscript of Ulfilas's translation of the Bible forms one of the treasures of the library of the university of Upsala, Sweden. It is beautifully written in letters of gold and silver on parchment of a rich purple dye. In making his version Ulfilas, who was himself a converted Visigoth, generally indicated the Gothic sounds by means of the Greek alphabet. He added, however, a few signs from the Runic alphabet, with which the Germans were familiar.]
RESULTS OF THE BATTLE
The defeat at Adrianople is considered one of the few really decisive battles in the world's history. It showed the barbarians that they could face the Romans in open fight and beat them. And it broke, once for all, the Danube barrier. Swarms of fighting men, Ostrogoths as well as Visigoths, overran the provinces south of the Danube. The great ruler, Theodosius, [5] saved the empire for a time by granting lands to the Germans and by enrolling them in the army under the high-sounding title of "allies." Until his death the Goths remained quiet—but it was only the lull before the storm.
ALARIC THE VISIGOTH
Theodosius, "the friend of the Goths," died in 395 A.D., leaving the defense of the Roman world to his weakling sons, Arcadius and Honorius. In the same year the Visigoths raised one of their young nobles, named Alaric, upon a shield and with joyful shouts acclaimed him as their king. The Visigothic leader despised the service of Rome. His people, he thought, should be masters, not servants. Alaric determined to lead them into the very heart of the empire, where they might find fertile lands and settle once for all.
ALARIC IN GREECE AND ITALY
Alaric at first fixed his attention on Constantinople. Realizing, at length, how hopeless would be the siege of that great city, he turned toward the west and descended upon Greece. The Germans marched unopposed through the pass of Thermopylae and devastated central Greece, as the Persians had done nearly nine centuries before. [6] Then the barbarians entered the Peloponnesus, but were soon driven out by Stilicho, a German chieftain who had risen to the command of the army of Honorius. Alaric gave up Greece only to invade Italy. Before long the Goths crossed the Julian Alps and entered the rich and defenseless valley of the Po. To meet the crisis the legions were hastily called in, even from the distant frontiers. Stilicho formed them into a powerful army, beat back the enemy, and captured the Visigothic camp, filled with the spoil of Greek cities. In the eyes of the Romans Stilicho seemed a second Marius, who had arisen in an hour of peril to save Italy from its barbarian foes. [7]
THE VISIGOTHS BEFORE ROME
Alaric and his Goths had been repulsed; they had not been destroyed. Beyond the Alps they were regaining their shattered strength and biding their time. Their opportunity came soon enough, when Honorius caused Stilicho to be put to death on a charge of plotting to seize the throne. The accusation may have been true, but in killing Stilicho the emperor had cut off his right hand with his left. Now that Stilicho was out of the way, Alaric no longer feared to descend again on Italy. The Goths advanced rapidly southward past Ravenna, where Honorius had shut himself up in terror, and made straight for Rome. In 410 A.D., just eight hundred years after the sack of the city by the Gauls, [8] Rome found the Germans within her gates.
SACK OF ROME BY THE VISIGOTHS, 410 A.D.
The city for three days and nights was given up to pillage. Alaric, who was a Christian, ordered his followers to respect the churches and their property and to refrain from bloodshed. Though the city did not greatly suffer, the moral effect of the disaster was immense. Rome the eternal, the unconquerable, she who had taken captive all the world, was now herself a captive. The pagans saw in this calamity the vengeance of the ancient deities, who had been dishonored and driven from their shrines. The Christians believed that God had sent a judgment on the Romans to punish them for their sins. In either case the spell of Rome was forever broken.
KINGDOM OF THE VISIGOTHS, 415-711 A.D.
From Rome Alaric led his hosts, laden with plunder, into southern Italy. He may have intended to cross the Mediterranean and bring Africa under his rule. The plan was never carried out, for the youthful chieftain died suddenly, a victim to the Italian fever. After Alaric's death, the barbarians made their way northward through Italy and settled in southern Gaul and Spain. In these lands they founded an independent Visigothic kingdom, the first to be created on Roman soil.
[Illustration: Map, THE GERMANIC MIGRATIONS to 476 A.D.]
ROMANIZATION OF THE VISIGOTHS
The possessions of the Visigoths in Gaul were seized by their neighbors, the Franks, in less than a century; [9] but the Gothic kingdom in Spain had three hundred years of prosperous life. [10] The barbarian rulers sought to preserve the institutions of Rome and to respect the rights of their Roman subjects. Conquerors and conquered gradually blended into one people, out of whom have grown the Spaniards of modern times.
84. BREAKING OF THE RHINE BARRIER
THE GERMANS CROSS THE RHINE, 406 A.D.
After the departure of the Visigoths Rome and Italy remained undisturbed for nearly forty years. The western provinces were not so fortunate. At the time of Alaric's first attack on Italy the legions along the Rhine had been withdrawn to meet him, leaving the frontier unguarded. In 406 A.D., four years before Alaric's sack of Rome, a vast company of Germans crossed the Rhine and swept almost unopposed through Gaul. Some of these peoples succeeded in establishing kingdoms for themselves on the ruins of the empire.
KINGDOM OF THE BURGUNDIANS, 443-534 A.D.
The Burgundians settled on the upper Rhine and in the fertile valley of the Rhone, in southeastern Gaul. Alter less than a century of independence they were conquered by the Franks. [11] Their name, however, survives in modern Burgundy.
VANDAL KINGDOM IN NORTH AFRICA, 429-534 A.D.
The Vandals settled first in Spain. The territory now called Andalusia still preserves the memory of these barbarians. After the Visigothic invasion of Spain the Vandals passed over to North Africa. They made themselves masters of Carthage and soon conquered all the Roman province of Africa. Their kingdom here lasted about one hundred years. [12]
THE FRANKS IN NORTHERN GAUL
While the Visigoths were finding a home in the districts north and south of the Pyrenees, the Burgundians in the Rhone valley, and the Vandals in Africa, still another Germanic people began to spread over northern Gaul. They were the Franks, who had long held lands on both sides of the lower Rhine. The Franks, unlike the other Germans, were not of a roving disposition. They contented themselves with a gradual advance into Roman territory. It was not until near the close of the fifth century that they overthrew the Roman power in northern Gaul and began to form the Frankish kingdom, out of which modern France has grown.
THE ANGLES AND SAXONS IN BRITAIN, FROM 449 A.D.
The troubled years of the fifth century saw also the beginning of the Germanic conquest of Britain. The withdrawal of the legions from that island left it defenseless, for the Celtic inhabitants were too weak to defend themselves. Bands of savage Picts from Scotland swarmed over Hadrian's Wall, attacking the Britons in the rear. Ireland sent forth the no less savage Scots. The eastern coasts, at the same time, were constantly exposed to raids by German pirates. The Britons, in their extremity, adopted the old Roman practice of getting the barbarians to fight for them. Bands of Jutes were invited over from Denmark in 449 A.D. The Jutes forced back the Picts and then settled in Britain as conquerors. Fresh swarms of invaders followed them, chiefly Angles from what is now Schleswig-Holstein and Saxons from the neighborhood of the rivers Elbe and Weser in northern Germany. The invaders subdued nearly all that part of Britain that Rome had previously conquered. In this way the Angles and Saxons became ancestors of the English people, and Engleland became England. [13]
POLITICAL SITUATION IN 451 A.D.
By the middle of the fifth century the larger part of the Roman Empire in the West had come under barbarian control. The Germans ruled in Africa, Spain, Britain, and parts of Gaul. But now the new Germanic kingdoms, together with what remained of the old empire, were threatened by a common foe—the terrible Huns.
85. INROADS OF THE HUNS
THE HUNS
We know very little about the Huns, except that they were not related to the Germans or to any other European people. Some scholars believe them to have belonged to the Mongolian race. But the Huns, to the excited imagination of Roman writers, were demons rather than men. Their olive skins, little, turned-up noses, and black, beady eyes must have given them a very frightful appearance. They spent most of their time on horseback, sweeping over the country like a whirlwind and leaving destruction and death in their wake.
ATTILA THE HUN
The Huns did not become dangerous to Rome for more than half a century after their first appearance in Europe. [14] During this time they moved into the Danube region and settled in the lands now known as Austria and Hungary. At last the Huns found a national leader in Attila, "a man born into the world to agitate the nations, the fear of all lands," [15] one whose boast it was that the grass never grew again where his horse's hoofs had trod. He quickly built up a great military power obeyed by many barbarous nations from the Caspian to the Rhine.
INVASION OF GAUL BY ATTILA
Attila, from his capital on the Danube, could threaten both the East and the West. The emperors at Constantinople bought him off with lavish gifts, and so the robber-ruler turned to the western provinces for his prey. In 451 A.D. he led his motley host, said to number half a million men, across the Rhine. Many a noble municipality with its still active Roman life was visited by the Huns with fire and sword. Paris, it is worthy of note, escaped destruction. That now famous city was then only a little village on an island in the Seine.
BATTLE OF CHÂLONS, 451 A.D.
In this hour of danger Romans and Germans gave up quarreling and united against the common foe. Visigoths under their native king hastened from Spain; Burgundians and Franks joined their ranks; to these forces a German general, named Aëtius, added the last Roman army in the West. Opposed to them Attila had his Huns, the conquered Ostrogoths, and many other barbarian peoples. The battle of Châlons has well been called a struggle of the nations. It was one of the fiercest conflicts recorded in history. On both sides thousands perished, but so many more of Attila's men fell that he dared not risk a fresh encounter on the following day. He drew his shattered forces together and retreated beyond the Rhine.
ATTILA INVADES ITALY, 452 A.D.
In spite of this setback Attila did not abandon the hope of conquest. The next year he led his still formidable army over the Julian Alps and burned or plundered many towns of northern Italy. A few trembling fugitives sought shelter on the islands at the head of the Adriatic. Out of their rude huts grew up in the Middle Ages splendid and famous Venice, a city that in later centuries was to help defend Europe against those kinsmen of the Huns, the Turks.
DEATH OF ATTILA, 453 A.D.
The fiery Hun did not long survive this Italian expedition. Within a year he was dead, dying suddenly, it was said, in a drunken sleep. The great confederacy which he had formed broke up after his death. The German subjects gained their freedom, and the Huns themselves either withdrew to their Asiatic wilds or mingled with the peoples they had conquered. Europe breathed again; the nightmare was over.
86. END OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE IN THE WEST, 476 A.D.
VANDAL PIRATES
Rome escaped a visitation by the Huns only to fall a victim, three years later, to the Vandals. After the capture of Carthage,[16] these barbarians made that city the seat of a pirate empire. Putting out in their long, light vessels, they swept the seas and raided many a populous city on the Mediterranean coast. So terrible were their inroads that the word "vandalism" has come to mean the wanton destruction of property.
SACK OF ROME BY THE VANDALS, 455 A.D.
In 455 A.D. the ships of the Vandals, led by their king, Gaiseric, appeared at the mouth of the Tiber. The Romans could offer no resistance. Only the noble bishop Leo went out with his clergy to meet the invader and intercede for the city. Gaiseric promised to spare the lives of the inhabitants and not to destroy the public buildings. These were the best terms he would grant. The Vandals spent fourteen days stripping Rome of her wealth. Besides shiploads of booty the Vandals took away thousands of Romans as slaves, including the widow and two daughters of an emperor.
THE ROMAN EMPIRE IN THE WEST, 455-476 A.D.
After the Vandal sack of Rome the imperial throne became the mere plaything of the army and its leaders. A German commander, named Ricimer, set up and deposed four puppet emperors within five years. He was, in fact, the real ruler of Italy at this time. After his death Orestes, another German general, went a step beyond Ricimer's policy and placed his own son on the throne of the Caesars. By a curious coincidence, this lad bore the name of Romulus, legendary founder of Rome, and the nickname of Augustulus ("the little Augustus"). The boy emperor reigned less than a year. The German troops clamored for a third of the lands of Italy and, when their demand was refused, proclaimed Odoacer king. The poor little emperor, Romulus Augustulus, was sent to a villa near Naples, where he disappears from history.
[Illustration: Map, EUROPE at the Deposition of Romulus Augustulus 476
A.D.]
POLITICAL SITUATION IN 476 A.D.
There was now no emperor in the West. To the men of that time it seemed that East and West had been once more joined under a single ruler, as in the days of Constantine. The emperors who reigned at Constantinople did not relinquish their claims to be regarded as the rightful sovereigns in Italy and Rome. Nevertheless, as an actual fact, Roman rule in the West was now all but extinct. Odoacer, the head of the barbarians in Italy, ruled a kingdom as independent as that of the Vandals in Africa or that of the Visigoths in Spain and Gaul. The date 476 A.D. may therefore be chosen as marking, better than any other, the overthrow of the Roman Empire in the West by the Germans.
87. GERMANIC INFLUENCE ON SOCIETY
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE GERMANIC INVASIONS
Classical civilization suffered a great shock when the Germans descended on the empire and from its provinces carved out their kingdoms. These barbarians were rude in manners, were very ignorant, and had little taste for anything except fighting and bodily enjoyments. They were unlike the Romans in dress and habits of life. They lived under different laws, spoke different languages, obeyed different rulers. Their invasions naturally ushered in a long period of confusion and disorder, during which the new race slowly raised itself to a level of culture somewhat approaching that which the Greeks and the Romans had attained.
RETROGRESSIVE FORCES
The Germans in many ways did injury to classical civilization. They sometimes destroyed Roman cities and killed or enslaved the inhabitants. Even when the invaders settled peaceably in the empire, they took possession of the land and set up their own tribal governments in place of the Roman. They allowed aqueducts, bridges, and roads to go without repairs, and theaters, baths, and other public buildings to sink into ruins. Having no appreciation of education, the Germans failed to keep up the schools, universities, and libraries. Being devoted chiefly to agriculture, they had no need for foreign wares or costly articles of luxury, and hence they permitted industry and commerce to languish. In short, large parts of western Europe, particularly Gaul, Spain, and Britain, fell backward into a condition of ignorance, superstition, and even barbarism.
PROGRESSIVE FORCES
But in closing our survey of the Germanic invasions we need to dwell on the forces that made for progress, rather than on those that made for decline. Classical civilization, we have already found reason to believe, [17] had begun to decay long before the Germans broke up the empire. The Germans came, as Christianity had come, only to hasten the process of decay. Each of these influences, in turn, worked to build up the fabric of a new society on the ruins of the old. First Christianity infused the pagan world with its quickening spirit and gave a new religion to mankind. Later followed the Germans, who accepted Christianity, who adopted much of Graeco-Roman culture, and then contributed their fresh blood and youthful minds and their own vigorous life.
STUDIES
1. On an outline map indicate the extent of Germany in the time of Tacitus.
2. Make a list of all the Germanic nations mentioned in this chapter, and give a short account of each.
3 Give dates for the following: battle of Châlons; sack of Rome by Alaric; battle of Adrianople; and end of the Roman Empire in the West.
4. What resemblances existed between the culture of the Germans and that of the early Greeks?
5. Why did the Germans progress more slowly in civilization than the Greeks and the Romans?
6. Comment on this statement: "The Germans had stolen their way into the very citadel of the empire long before its distant outworks were stormed."
7. Why is modern civilization, unlike that of antiquity, in little danger from barbarians?
8. Why has the battle of Adrianople been called "the Cannae of the fourth century"?
9. Why has Alaric been styled "the Moses of the Visigoths"?
10. What is the origin of the geographical names Andalusia, Burgundy, England, and France?
11. Why was Attila called the "scourge of God"?
12. Can you suggest a reason why some historians do not regard Châlons as one of the world's decisive battles?
13. In what sense does the date, 476 A.D., mark the "fall" of the Roman Empire?
FOOTNOTES
[1] Webster, Readings in Ancient History, chapter xxiii, "The Germans as Described by Tacitus."
[2] Tacitus, Germania, 19.
[3] See pages 224-226.
[4] See page 219.
[5] See page 223.
[6] See page 98.
[7] See page 178.
[8] See page 153.
[9] See page 303.
[10] See page 378.
[11] See page 303.
[12] See page 330.
[13] The invasion of Britain by the Anglo-Saxons was followed by the migration across the Channel of large numbers of the defeated islanders. The district in France where they settled is called after them, Brittany.
[14] See page 241.
[15] Jordanes, De rebus Geticis, 35.
[16] See page 225.
[17] See page 224.
CHAPTER XII
CLASSICAL CIVILIZATION [1]
88. THE CLASSICAL CITY
THE CENTER OF CLASSICAL LIFE
The history of the Greeks and Romans ought not to be studied only in their political development and the biographies of their great statesmen and warriors. We must also know something of ancient literature, philosophy, and art. Especially do we need to learn about the private life of the classical peoples—their manners, customs, occupations, and amusements. This life centered in the city.
ORIGIN OF THE CITY
A Greek or a Roman city usually grew up about a hill of refuge (acropolis, capitolium), to which the people of the surrounding district could flee in time of danger. The hill would be crowned with a fortress and the temples of the gods. Not far away was the market place (agora, forum), where the people gathered to conduct their business and to enjoy social intercourse. About the citadel and market place were grouped the narrow streets and low houses of the town.
GENERAL APPEARANCE OF AN ANCIENT CITY
The largest and most beautiful buildings in an ancient city were always the temples, colonnades, and other public structures. The houses of private individuals, for the most part, had few pretensions to beauty. They were insignificant in appearance and were often built with only one story. From a distance, however, their whitewashed walls and red-tiled roofs, shining brightly under the warm sun, must have made an attractive picture.
LIFE IN THE CITY
To the free-born inhabitant of Athens or of Rome his city was at once his country and his church, his club and his home. He shared in its government; he took part in the stately ceremonies that honored its patron god; in the city he could indulge his taste for talking and for politics; here he found both safety and society. No wonder that an Athenian or a Roman learned, from early childhood, to love his city with passionate devotion.
89. EDUCATION AND THE CONDITION OF CHILDREN
IMPORTANCE OF MALE CHILDREN
The coming of a child, to parents in antiquity as to parents now, was usually a very happy event. Especially welcome was the birth of a son. The father felt assured that through the boy his old age would be cared for and that the family name and the worship of the family ancestors would be kept up after his own death. "Male children," said an ancient poet, "are the pillars of the house." [2] The city, as well, had an interest in the matter, for a male child meant another citizen able to take the father's place in the army and the public assembly. To have no children was regarded as one of the greatest calamities that could befall a Greek or a Roman.
INFANTICIDE
The ancient attitude toward children was in one respect very unlike our own. The law allowed a father to do whatever he pleased with a newly born child. If he was very poor, or if his child was deformed, he could expose it in some desert spot, where it soon died. An infant was sometimes placed secretly in a temple, where possibly some kind-hearted person might rescue it. The child, in this case, became the slave of its adopter. This custom of exposure, an inheritance from prehistoric savagery, tended to grow less common with advancing culture. The complete abolition of infanticide was due to the spread of Christian teachings about the sacredness of human life. [3]
NAMES
A Greek boy generally had but one name. The favorite name for the eldest son was that of his paternal grandfather. A father, however, might give him his own name or that of an intimate friend. The Romans at first seem to have used only the one name, then two were given; and later we have the familiar three-fold name, representing the individual, the clan, and the family. [4]
GREEK EDUCATION
Greek education consisted of three main branches, known as gymnastics, music, and grammar. By gymnastics the Greeks meant the physical training in the palestra, an open stretch of ground on the outskirts of the city. Here a private teacher gave instruction in the various athletic sports which were so popular at the national games. The training in music was intended to improve the moral nature of young men and to fit them for pleasant social intercourse. They were taught to play a stringed instrument, called the lyre, and at the same time to sing to their own accompaniment. Grammar, the third branch of education, included instruction in writing and the reading of the national literature. After a boy had learned to write and to read, the schoolmaster took up with him the works of the epic poets, especially Homer, besides Aesop's Fables and other popular compositions. The student learned by heart much of the poetry and at so early an age that he always remembered it. Not a few Athenians, it is said, could recite the entire Iliad and Odyssey.
[Illustration: AN ATHENIAN SCHOOL (Royal Museum, Berlin) A painting by Duris on a drinking-cup, or cylix. The picture is divided by the two handles. In the upper half, beginning at the left: a youth playing the double flute as a lesson to the boy before him; a teacher holding a tablet and stylus and correcting a composition; a slave (paedagogus), who accompanied the children to and from school. In the lower half: a master teaching his pupil to play the lyre; a teacher holding a half- opened roll, listening to a recitation by the student before him; a bearded paedagogus. The inner picture, badly damaged, represents a youth in a bath.]
ROMAN EDUCATION
A Roman boy began his school days at about the age of seven. He learned to read, to write with a stylus on wax tablets, and to cipher by means of the reckoning board, or abacus. He received a little instruction in singing and memorized all sorts of proverbs and maxims, besides the laws of the Twelve Tables. [5] His studying went on under the watchful eyes of a harsh schoolmaster, who did not hesitate to use the rod. After Rome began to come into close contact with Greece, the curriculum was enlarged by the study of literature. The Romans were the first people who made the learning of a foreign tongue an essential part of education. Schools now arose in which the Greek language and literature formed the chief subject of instruction. As Latin literature came into being, its productions, especially the orations of Cicero and the poems of Vergil and Horace, were also used as texts for study.
[Illustration: A ROMAN SCHOOL SCENE
Wall painting, Herculaneum.]
[Illustration: YOUTH READING A PAPYRUS ROLL Relief on a sarcophagus. The papyrus roll was sometimes very long. The entire Iliad or Odyssey might be contained in a single manuscript measuring one hundred and fifty feet in length. In the third century A.D. the unwieldy roll began to give way to the tablet, composed of a number of leaves held together by a ring. About this time, also, the use of vellum, or parchment made of sheepskin, became common.]
TRAVEL AND STUDY ABROAD
Persons of wealth or noble birth might follow their school training by a university course at a Greek city, such as Athens, Alexandria, or Rhodes. Here the Roman youth would listen to lectures on philosophy, delivered by the deep thinkers whom Greece still produced, and would profit by the treasures of art and science preserved in these ancient capitals. Many famous Romans thus passed several years abroad in graduate study. During the imperial age, as we have already seen, [6] schools of grammar and rhetoric arose in the West, particularly in Gaul and Spain, and attracted students from all parts of the empire.
90. MARRIAGE AND THE POSITION OF WOMEN
ENGAGEMENTS
A young man in Athens or in Rome did not, as a rule, marry immediately on coming of age. He might remain a bachelor for several years, sometimes till he was thirty or over. The young man's father had most to do with the selection of a wife. He tried to secure for his son some daughter of a friend who possessed rank and property equal to his own. The parents of the two parties would then enter into a contract which, among other things, usually stated how large a dowry the bride's father was to settle on his daughter. An engagement was usually very little a matter of romance and very much a matter of business.
WEDDING CUSTOMS
The wedding customs of the Greeks and Romans presented many likenesses. Marriage, among both peoples, was a religious ceremony. On the appointed day the principals and their guests, dressed in holiday attire, met at the house of the bride. In the case of a Roman wedding the auspices [7] were then taken, and the words of the nuptial contract were pronounced in the presence of witnesses. After a solemn sacrifice to the gods of marriage, the guests partook of the wedding banquet. When night came on, the husband brought his wife to her new abode, escorted by a procession of torchbearers, musicians, and friends, who sang the happy wedding song.
POSITION OF WOMEN
An Athenian wife, during her younger years, always remained more or less a prisoner. She could not go out except by permission. She took no part in the banquets and entertainments which her husband gave. She lived a life of confinement in that quarter of the house assigned to the women for their special abode. Married women at Rome enjoyed a far more honorable position. Although early custom placed the wife, together with her children, in the power of the husband, [8] still she possessed many privileges. She did not remain all the time at home, but mingled freely in society. She was the friend and confidante of her husband, as well as his housekeeper. During the great days of Roman history the women showed themselves virtuous and dignified, loving wives and excellent companions.
91. THE HOME AND PRIVATE LIFE
CLOTHING
There were no great differences between the dress of the two classical peoples. Both wore the long, loosely flowing robes that contrast so sharply with our tight-fitting garments. [9] Athenian male attire consisted of but two articles, the tunic and the mantle. The tunic was an undergarment of wool or linen, without sleeves. Over this was thrown a large woolen mantle, so wrapped about the figure as to leave free only the right shoulder and head. In the house a man wore only his tunic; out of doors and on the street he usually wore the mantle over it. Very similar to the two main articles of Greek clothing were the Roman tunica and toga. [10]
COVERING FOR THE HEAD AND FEET
On a journey or out in the country broad-brimmed hats were used to shield the head from the sun. In rainy weather the mantle, pulled up over the head, furnished protection. Sandals, merely flat soles of wood or leather fastened by thongs, were worn indoors, but even these were laid aside at a dinner party. Outside the house leather shoes of various shapes and colors were used. They cannot have been very comfortable, since stockings were not known in antiquity.
EXTERIOR OF THE HOUSE
The ancient house lay close to the street line. The exterior was plain and simple to an extreme. The owner was satisfied if his mansion shut out the noise and dust of the highway. He built it, therefore, round one or more open courts, which took the place of windows supplying light and air. Except for the doorway the front of the house presented a bare, blank surface, only relieved by narrow slits or lattices in the wall of the upper story. The street side of the house wall received a coating of whitewash or of fine marble stucco. The roof of the house was covered with clay tiles. This style of domestic architecture is still common in eastern lands.
[Illustration: HOUSE OF THE VETTII AT POMPEII (RESTORED) Notice the large area of blank wall both on the front and on the side. The front windows are very small and evidently of less importance for admitting light than the openings of the two atria. At the back is seen the large, well-lighted peristyle.]
[Illustration: ATRIUM OF POMPEIAN HOUSE The view shows the atrium with the basin for rainwater, in the center the tabinum with its wall paintings, and the peristyle at the rear.]
INTERIOR OF THE HOUSE
In contrast with its unpretentious exterior a classical dwelling indoors had a most attractive appearance. We cannot exactly determine just what were the arrangements of a Greek interior. But the better class of Roman houses, such as some of those excavated at Pompeii, [11] followed Greek designs in many respects. The Pompeian remains, therefore, will give some idea of the sort of residence occupied by a well-to-do citizen of Athens or Rome.
[Illustration: POMPEIAN FLOOR MOSAIC]
THE ATRIUM
The visitor at one of these ancient houses first entered a small vestibule, from which a narrow passage led to the heavy oaken door. A dog was sometimes kept chained in this hallway; in Pompeii there is a picture of one worked in mosaic on the floor with the warning beneath it, "Beware of the dog." Having made known his presence by using the knocker, the guest was ushered into the reception room, or atrium. This was a large apartment covered with a roof, except for a hole in the center admitting light and air. A marble basin directly underneath caught the rain water which came through the opening. The atrium represents the single room of the primitive Roman house without windows or chimney. [12]
THE PERISTYLE
A corridor from the atrium led into the peristyle, the second of the two main sections of a Roman house. It was a spacious court, open to the sky and inclosed by a colonnade or portico. This delightful spot, rather than the formal atrium, served as the center of family life. About it were grouped the bedchambers, bathrooms, dining rooms, kitchen, and other apartments of a comfortable mansion. Still other rooms occupied the upper stories of the dwelling.
BUSINESS OF THE FORENOON
The ancient Athenian was no sluggard. At sunrise, or even before, he rose from his couch, washed his face and hands, put on his scanty garments, and was soon ready for the street. Before leaving the house, he broke his fast with a meal as simple as the European "rolls and coffee"—in this case merely a few mouthfuls of bread dipped in wine. After breakfast he might call on his friends or perhaps ride into the country and visit his estates. About ten o'clock (which the Athenians called "full market"), he would be pretty sure to find his way to the Agora. The shops at this time were crowded with purchasers, and every sociable citizen of Athens was to be found in them or in the neighboring colonnades which lined the market place.
[Illustration: PERISTYLE OF A POMPEIAN HOUSE House of the Vettii Pompeii. The peristyle, excavated in 1894-1895 A.D. has been carefully restored. The garden, fountains, tables, and marble colonnades are all modern]
OCCUPATIONS IN THE AFTERNOON
The public resorts were deserted at noon, when the Athenian returned home to enjoy a light meal and a rest during the heat. As the day grew cooler, men again went out and visited a gymnasium, such as the Lyceum or the Academy, in the city suburbs. [13] Here were grounds for running, wrestling, discus-throwing, and other sports, as well as rooms for bathing and anointing. While the younger men busied themselves in such active exercises, those of maturer years might be content with less vigorous games or with conversation on political or philosophical themes.
THE EVENING MEAL
The principal meal of the day came about sunset. The master of the house, if he had no guests, shared the repast with his wife and children. For a man of moderate means the ordinary fare was very much what it is now in Greece—bread, olives, figs, cheese, and a little meat as an occasional luxury. At the end of the meal the diners refreshed themselves with wine mixed with water. The Greeks appear to have been usually as temperate in their drink as they were frugal in their food. The remainder of the evening would be devoted to conversation and music and possibly a little reading. As a rule the Athenian went early to bed.
[Illustration: A GREEK BANQUET
From a vase painting by Duns.]
MORNING ROUND OF A ROMAN NOBLE
A Roman of the higher class, who lived in late republican or early imperial times, passed through much the same daily routine as an Athenian citizen in the days of Pericles. He rose at an early hour and after a light breakfast dispatched his private business with the help of his steward and manager. He then took his place in the atrium to meet the crowd of poor dependents who came to pay their respects to their patron and to receive their usual morning alms—either food or sufficient money to buy a modest dinner. Having greeted his visitors and perhaps helped them in legal or business matters, the noble entered his litter and was carried down to the Forum. Here he might attend the law courts to plead a case for himself or for his clients. If he were a member of the Senate, he would take part in the deliberations of that body. At eleven o'clock, when the ordinary duties of the morning were over, he would return home to eat his luncheon and enjoy the midday rest, or siesta. The practice of having a nap in the heat of the day became so general that at noon the streets of a Roman city had the same deserted appearance as at midnight.
[Illustration: A ROMAN LITTER The litter consists of an ordinary couch with four posts and a pair of poles. Curtains fastened to the rod above the canopy shielded the occupant from observation.]
THE AFTERNOON EXERCISE AND BATH
After an hour of refreshing sleep it was time for the regular exercise out of doors in the Campus Martius or indoors at one of the large city baths. Then came one of the chief pleasures of a Roman's existence—the daily bath. It was taken ordinarily in one of the public bathing establishments, or thermae, to be found in every Roman town. [14] A Roman bath was a luxurious affair. After undressing, the bathers entered a warm anteroom and sat for a time on benches, in order to perspire freely. This was a precaution against the danger of passing too suddenly into the hot bath, which was taken in a large tank of water sunk in the middle of the floor. Then came an exhilarating cold plunge and anointing with perfumed oil. Afterwards the bathers rested on the couches with which the resort was supplied and passed the time in reading or conversation until the hour for dinner.
THE LATE DINNER
The late dinner, with the Romans as with the Greeks, formed the principal meal of the day. It was usually a social function. The host and his guests reclined on couches arranged about a table. The Romans borrowed from the Greeks the custom of ending a banquet with a symposium, or drinking-bout. The tables were cleared of dishes, and the guests were anointed with perfumes and crowned with garlands. During the banquet and the symposium it was customary for professional performers to entertain the guests with music, dancing, pantomimes, and feats of jugglery.
92. AMUSEMENTS
ATHENIAN RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS
The Athenians celebrated many religious festivals. One of the most important was the Great Panathenaea, [15] held every fourth year in the month of July. Athletic contests and poetical recitations, sacrifices, feasts, and processions honored the goddess Athena, who presided over the Athenian city. Even more interesting, perhaps, were the dramatic performances held in midwinter and in spring, at the festivals of Dionysus. The tragedies and comedies composed for these entertainments took their place among the masterpieces of Greek literature.
[Illustration: THEATER OF DIONYSUS, ATHENS The theater of Dionysus where dramatic exhibitions were held lay close to the south eastern angle of the Acropolis. The audience at first sat upon wooden benches rising tier after tier on the adjacent hillside. About the middle of the fourth century B.C. these were replaced by the stone seats which are still to be seen. Sixteen thousand people could be accommodated in this open air theater.]
FEATURES OF A GREEK PLAY
There is very little likeness between the ancient and the modern drama. Greek plays were performed out of doors in the bright sunlight. Until late Roman times it is unlikely that a raised stage existed. The three actors and the members of the chorus appeared together in the dancing ring, or orchestra. The performers were all men. Each actor might play several parts. There was no elaborate scenery; the spectator had to rely chiefly on his own imagination for the setting of the piece. The actors indulged in few lively movements or gestures. They must have looked from a distance like a group of majestic statues. All wore elaborate costumes, and tragic actors, in addition, were made to appear larger than human with masks, padding, and thick-soled boots, or buskins. The performances occupied the three days of the Dionysiac festivals, beginning early in the morning and lasting till night. All this time was necessary because they formed contests for a prize which the people awarded to the poet and chorus whose presentation was judged of highest excellence.
[Illustration: A DANCING GIRL A Greek bronze statuette found in a sunken galley off the coast of Tunis. The galley had been wrecked while on its way to Rome carrying a load of art objects to decorate the villas of wealthy nobles. This statuette was doubtless a life-like copy of some well-known entertainer. The dancer's pose suggests the American "cakewalk" and her costume, the modern "hobble skirt."]
PANTOMIME AND VAUDEVILLE AT ROME
Pantomimes formed the staple amusement of the Roman theater. In these performances a single dancer, by movements and gestures, represented mythological scenes and love stories. The actor took several characters in succession and a chorus accompanied him with songs. There were also "vaudeville" entertainments, with all manner of jugglers, ropedancers, acrobats, and clowns, to amuse a people who found no pleasure in the refined productions of the Greek stage.
CHARIOT RACES
Far more popular than even pantomime and vaudeville were the "games of the circus." At Rome these were held chiefly in the Circus Maximus. Chariot races formed the principal attraction of the circus. There were usually four horses to a chariot, though sometimes the drivers showed their skill by handling as many as six or seven horses. The contestants whirled seven times around the low wall, or spina, which divided the race course. The shortness of the stretches and the sharp turns about the spina must have prevented the attainment of great speed. A race, nevertheless, was a most exciting sport. What we should call "fouling" was permitted and even encouraged. The driver might turn his team against another or might endeavor to upset a rival's car. It was a very tame contest that did not have its accompaniment of broken chariots, fallen horses, and killed or injured drivers.
[Illustration: THE CIRCUS MAXIMUS (RESTORATION)]
ANIMAL BAITINGS
The Circus Maximus was often used for a variety of animal shows. Fierce wild beasts, brought from every quarter of the empire, were turned loose to slaughter one another, or to tear to pieces condemned criminals. [16] More popular still were the contests between savage animals and men. Such amusements did something to satisfy the lust for blood in the Roman populace—a lust which was more completely satisfied by the gladiatorial combats.
[Illustration: GLADIATORS From a stucco relief on the tomb of Scaurus, Pompeii. Beginning at the left are two fully armed horsemen fighting with lances. Behind them are two gladiators, one of whom is appealing to the people. Then follows a combat in which the defeated party raises his hand in supplication for mercy. The lower part of the relief represents fights with various wild beasts.]
GLADIATORIAL SHOWS
Exhibitions of gladiators were known in Italy long before they became popular at Rome. The combats probably started from the savage practice of sacrificing prisoners or slaves at the funeral of their master. Then the custom arose of allowing the victims a chance for their lives by having them fight one another, the conquerors being spared for future battles. From this it was but a step to keeping trained slaves as gladiators. During the imperial epoch the number of such exhibitions increased greatly. The emperor Trajan, for example, to celebrate his victories over the Dacians, [17] exhibited no less than ten thousand men within the space of four months. The gladiators belonged to various classes, according to the defensive armor they wore and the style of fighting they employed. When a man was wounded and unable to continue the struggle, he might appeal to the spectators. He lifted his finger to plead for release; if he had fought well, the people indicated their willingness to spare him by waving their handkerchiefs. If the spectators were in a cruel mood, they turned down their thumbs as the signal for his deathblow. These hideous exhibitions continued in different parts of the Roman Empire until the fifth century of our era.
"BREAD AND THE GAMES OF THE CIRCUS."
Gladiatorial combats, chariot races, and dramatic shows were free performances. For the lower classes in the Roman city they became the chief pleasure of life. The days of their celebration were public holidays, which in the fourth century numbered no less than one hundred and seventy-five. The once-sovereign people of Rome became a lazy, worthless rabble, fed by the state and amused with the games. It was well said by an ancient satirist that the Romans wanted only two things to make them happy—"bread and the games of the circus." [18]
93. SLAVERY
PLACE OF SLAVERY IN CLASSICAL LIFE
The private life of the Greeks and Romans, as described in the preceding pages, would have been impossible without the existence of a large servile class. Slaves did much of the heavy and disagreeable work in the ancient world, thus allowing the free citizen to engage in more honorable employment or to pass his days in dignified leisure.
SOURCES OF SLAVES
The Greeks seem sometimes to have thought that only barbarians should be degraded to the condition of servitude. Most Greek slaves, as a matter of fact, were purchased from foreign countries. But after the Romans had subdued the Mediterranean world, their captives included not only members of inferior races, but also the cultivated inhabitants of Greece, Egypt, and Asia Minor. We hear of slaves at Rome who served as clerks, secretaries, librarians, actors, and musicians. Their education was often superior to that of the coarse and brutal masters who owned them.
NUMBER AND CHEAPNESS OF SLAVES
The number of slaves, though great enough in Athens and other Greek cities, reached almost incredible figures during the later period of Roman history. Every victorious battle swelled the troops of captives sent to the slave markets at Rome. Ordinary slaves became as cheap as beasts of burden are now. The Roman poet Horace tells us that at least ten slaves were necessary for a gentleman in even moderate circumstances. Wealthy individuals, given to excessive luxury, might number their city slaves by the hundreds, besides many more on their country estates.
SLAVES' TASKS
Slaves engaged in a great variety of occupations. They were domestic servants, farm laborers, miners, artisans, factory hands, and even shopkeepers. Household slaves at Rome were employed in every conceivable way. Each part of a rich man's residence had its special staff of servants. The possession of a fine troop of slaves, dressed in handsome liveries, was a favorite method of showing one's wealth and luxury.
TREATMENT OF SLAVES
It is difficult for us to realize the attitude of ancient peoples toward their slaves. They were regarded as part of the chattels of the house—as on a level with domestic animals rather than human beings. Though Athenian law forbade owners to kill their slaves or to treat them cruelly, it permitted the corporal punishment of slaves for slight offenses. At Rome, until the imperial epoch, [19] no restraints whatever existed upon the master's power. A slave was part of his property with which he could do exactly as he pleased. The terrible punishments, the beating with scourges which followed the slightest misconduct or neglect of duty, the branding with a hot iron which a runaway slave received, the fearful penalty of crucifixion which followed an attempt upon the owner's life—all these tortures show how hard was the lot of the bondman in pagan Rome.
POSSIBILITIES OF FREEDOM
A slave, under some circumstances, could gain his freedom. In Greece, where many little states constantly at war bordered one another, a slave could often run away to liberty. In a great empire like Rome, where no boundary lines existed, this was usually impossible. Freedom, however, was sometimes voluntarily granted. A master in his will might liberate his favorite slave, as a reward for the faithful service of a lifetime. A more common practice permitted the slave to keep a part of his earnings until he had saved enough to purchase his freedom.
[Illustration: A SLAVE'S COLLAR A runaway slave, if recaptured, was sometimes compelled to wear a metal collar riveted about his neck. One of these collars, still preserved at Rome, bears the inscription: Servus sum dom(i)ni mei Scholastici v(iri) sp(ectabüis). Tene me ne fugiam de domo.—"I am the slave of my master Scholasticus, a gentleman of importance. Hold me, lest I flee from home."]
PERMANENCE OF SLAVERY
Slavery in Greece and Italy had existed from the earliest times. It never was more flourishing than in the great age of classical history. Nor did it pass away when the Roman world became Christian. The spread of Christianity certainly helped to improve the lot of the slave and to encourage his liberation. The Church, nevertheless, recognized slavery from the beginning. Not until long after ancient civilization had perished did the curse of slavery finally disappear from European lands. [20]
94. GREEK LITERATURE
EPIC POETRY
The literature of Greece begins with epic poetry. An epic may be defined as a long narrative in verse, dealing with some large and noble theme. The earliest epic poetry of the Greeks was inseparable from music. Wandering minstrels sang at feasts in the palaces of kings and accompanied their lays with the music of the clear-toned lyre. In time, as his verse reached a more artistic character, the singer was able to give up the lyre and to depend for effect solely on the poetic power of his narrative. Finally, the scattered lays were combined into long poems. The most famous are the Iliad and the Odyssey, works which the Greeks attributed to Homer. [21]
LYRIC POETRY
Several centuries after Homer the Greeks began to create a new form of poetic expression—lyric poetry. In short poems, accompanied by the flute or the lyre, they found a medium for the expression of personal feelings which was not furnished by the long and cumbrous epic. The greatest lyric poet was Pindar. We still possess forty-four of his odes, which were written in honor of victorious athletes at the Olympian and other national games. [22] Pindar's verses were so popular that he became, as it were, the "poet laureate" of Greece. When Alexander the Great destroyed Thebes, [23] the native town of Pindar, he spared that poet's birthplace from the general ruin.
[Illustration: SOPHOCLES (Lateran Museum, Rome)
This marble statue is possibly a copy of the bronze original which the
Athenians set up in the theater of Dionysus. The feet and the box of
manuscript rolls are modern restorations.]
ATHENIAN TRAGEDY
The three great masters of the tragic drama [24] lived and wrote in Athens during the splendid half century between the Persian and the Peloponnesian wars. Such was the fertility of their genius that they are said to have written altogether nearly three hundred plays. Only thirty-two have come down to us. Aeschylus, the first of the tragic poets, had fought at Marathon and Salamis. One of his works, the Persians, is a magnificent song of triumph for the victory of Hellas. Sophocles, while yet a young man, gained the prize in a dramatic contest with Aeschylus. His plays mark the perfection of Greek tragedy. After the death of Sophocles the Athenians revered him as a hero and honored his memory with yearly sacrifices. Euripides was the third of the Athenian dramatists and the most generally popular. His fame reached far beyond his native city. We are told that the Sicilians were so fond of his verses that they granted freedom to every one of the Athenian prisoners captured at Syracuse who could recite the poet's lines.
ATHENIAN COMEDY
Athenian comedy during the fifth century B.C. is represented by the plays of Aristophanes. He was both a great poet and a great satirist. In one comedy Aristophanes attacks the demagogue Cleon, who was prominent in Athenian politics after the death of Pericles. In other comedies he ridicules the philosophers, makes fun of the ordinary citizen's delight in sitting on jury courts and trying cases, and criticizes those responsible for the unfortunate expedition to Sicily. The plays of Aristophanes were performed before admiring audiences of thousands of citizens and hence must have had much influence on public opinion.
HISTORY
The "father of history," Herodotus, flourished about the middle of the fifth century B.C. Though a native of Asia Minor, Herodotus spent some of the best years of his life at Athens, mingling in its brilliant society and coming under the influences, literary and artistic, of that city. He traveled widely in the Greek world and in the East, as a preparation for his great task of writing an account of the rise of the Oriental nations and the struggle between Greece and Persia. Herodotus was not a critical historian, diligently sifting truth from fable. Where he can he gives us facts. Where facts are lacking, he tells interesting stories in a most winning style. A much more scientific writer was Thucydides, an Athenian who lived during the epoch of the Peloponnesian War and became the historian of that contest. An Athenian contemporary of Thucydides, Xenophon, is best known from his Anabasis, which describes the famous expedition of the "Ten Thousand" Greeks against Persia. [25]
BIOGRAPHY
Of the later prose writers of Greece it is sufficient to name only one— the immortal Plutarch. He was a native of Chaeronea in Boeotia and lived during the first century of our era. Greece at that time was only a province of the Roman Empire; the days of her greatness had long since passed away. Plutarch thus had rather a melancholy task in writing his Parallel Lives. In this work he relates, first the life of an eminent Greek, then of a famous Roman who in some way resembled him; and ends the account with a short comparison of the two men. Plutarch had a wonderful gift of sympathy for his heroes and a keen eye for what was dramatic in their careers. It is not surprising, therefore, that Plutarch has always been a favorite author. No other ancient writer gives us so vivid and intimate a picture of the classical world.
ORIGINALITY OF GREEK LITERATURE
From the foregoing survey it is clear that the Greeks were pioneers in many forms of literature. They first composed artistic epic poems. They invented lyric and dramatic poetry. They were the first to write histories and biographies. In oratory, as has been seen, they also rose to eminence. [26] We shall now find that the Greek intellect was no less fertile and original in the study of philosophy.
95. GREEK PHILOSOPHY
THE SOPHISTS
The Greek philosophy took its rise in the seventh century B.C., when a few bold students began to search out the mysteries of the universe. Their theories were so many and so contradictory, however, that after a time philosophers gave up the study of nature and proposed in turn to study man himself. These later thinkers were called sophists. They traveled throughout Greece, gathering the young men about them and lecturing for pay on subjects of practical interest. Among other things they taught the rhetoric and oratory which were needed for success in a public career.
SOCRATES
One of the founders of Greek philosophy and the greatest teacher of his age was Socrates the Athenian. He lived and taught during the period of the Peloponnesian War. Socrates resembled the sophists in his possession of an inquiring, skeptical mind which questioned every common belief and superstition. But he went beyond the sophists in his emphasis on problems of every-day morality.
Though Socrates wrote nothing, his teaching and personality made a deep impression on his contemporaries. The Delphic oracle declared that no one in the world was wiser than Socrates. Yet he lived through a long life at Athens, a poor man who would neither work at his trade of sculptor, nor (as did the sophists) accept money for his instruction. He walked the streets, barefoot and half-clad, and engaged in animated conversation with anyone who was willing to discuss intellectual subjects with him. Socrates must have been a familiar figure to the Athenians. His short body, large, bald head, and homely features hardly presented the ideal of a philosopher. Even Aristophanes in a comedy laughs at him.
[Illustration: SOCRATES (Vatican Gallery, Rome)]
CONDEMNATION AND DEATH OF SOCRATES
Late in life Socrates was accused of impiety and of corrupting the youth of Athens with his doctrines. As a matter of fact he was a deeply religious man. If he objected to the crude mythology of Homer, he often spoke of one God, who ruled the world, and of a divine spirit or conscience within his own breast. A jury court found him guilty, however, and condemned him to death. He refused to escape from prison when opportunity offered and passed his last days in eager conversation on the immortality of the soul. When the hour of departure arrived, he bade his disciples farewell and calmly drained the cup of hemlock, a poison that caused a painless death. Although Socrates gave his life for his philosophy, this did not perish with him.
PLATO
One of the members of the Socratic circle was Plato, a wealthy noble who abandoned a public career for the attractions of philosophy. After the death of Socrates, Plato traveled widely in the Greek world and even visited Egypt, where he interviewed the learned priests. On his return to Athens Plato began teaching in the garden and gymnasium called the Academy. [27] His writings, known as Dialogues, are cast in the form of question and answer that Socrates had used. In most of them Plato makes Socrates the chief speaker. Plato's works are both profound in thought and admirable in style. The Athenians used to say that if Zeus had spoken Greek he would have spoken it as did Plato.
ARISTOTLE
As great a philosopher as Plato, but a far less attractive writer, was Aristotle. He was not an Athenian by birth, but he passed many years in Athens, first as a pupil of Plato, who called him the "mind" of the school, and then as a teacher in the Athenian city. Aristotle seems to have taken all knowledge for his province. He investigated the ideas underlying the arts of rhetoric and poetry; he gathered the constitutions of many Greek states and drew from them some general principles of politics; he studied collections of strange plants and animals to learn their structure and habits; he examined the acts and beliefs of men in order to write books on ethics. In all this investigation Aristotle was not content to accept what previous men had written or to spin a pleasing theory out of his own brain. Everywhere he sought for facts; everything he tried to bring to the test of personal observation. Aristotle, then, was as much a scientist as a philosopher. His books were reverently studied for centuries after his death and are still used in our universities.
EPICUREANISM
The system of philosophy called Epicureanism was founded by a Greek named Epicurus. He taught in Athens during the earlier part of the third century B.C. Epicurus believed that pleasure is the sole good, pain, the sole evil. He meant by pleasure not so much the passing enjoyments of the hour as the permanent happiness of a lifetime. In order to be happy men should not trouble themselves with useless luxuries, but should lead the "simple life." They must be virtuous, for virtue will bring more real satisfaction than vice. Above all, men ought to free themselves from idle hopes and fears about a future existence. The belief in the immortality of the soul, said Epicurus, is only a delusion, for both soul and body are material things which death dissolves into the atoms making up the universe. And if there are any gods, he declared, they do not concern themselves with human affairs. Some of the followers of Epicurus seemed to find in his philosophic system justification for free indulgence in every appetite and passion. Even to-day, when we call a person an "Epicurean," we think of him as a selfish pleasure seeker.
STOICISM
The noblest of all pagan philosophies was Stoicism, founded by Zeno, a contemporary of Epicurus. Virtue, said the Stoic, consists in living "according to nature," that is, according to the Universal Reason or Divine Providence that rules the world. The followers of this philosophy tried, therefore, to ignore the feelings and exalt the reason as a guide to conduct. They practiced self-denial, despised the pomps and vanities of the world, and sought to rise above such emotions as grief, fear, hope, and joy. The doctrines of Stoicism gained many adherents among the Romans [28] and through them became a real moral force in the ancient world. Stoicism is even now no outworn creed. Our very word "stoical" is a synonym for calm indifference to pleasure or to pain.
96. ROMAN LITERATURE
RISE OF ROMAN LITERATURE
The beginnings of Roman literature go back to the third century B.C., when some knowledge of the Greek language became increasingly common in Rome. The earlier writers—chiefly poets and dramatists—did little original work, and usually were content to translate and adapt the productions of Greek authors for Roman audiences. During this period the Romans gradually discovered the capabilities of their language for prose composition. The republican institutions of Rome, like those of Athens, were highly favorable to the art of public speaking. It was the development of oratory which did most to mold the Latin language into fitness for the varied forms of prose.
CICERO
Cicero, the greatest of Roman orators, created a style for Latin prose composition which has been admired and imitated by men of letters even to our own day. Latin, in his hands, became a magnificent instrument for the expression of human thought. Cicero's qualities as an author are shown, not only by his Orations, but also by the numerous Epistles which he wrote to friends and correspondents in all parts of the Roman world. Besides their historical interest Cicero's letters are models of what good letters ought to be—the expression of the writer's real thoughts and feelings in simple, unstilted language. Cicero also composed a number of Dialogues, chiefly on philosophical themes. If not very profound, they are delightfully written, and long served as textbooks in the schools.
CAESAR
Another eminent statesman—Julius Caesar—won success in literature. As an orator he was admitted by his contemporaries to stand second to Cicero. None of his speeches have survived. We possess, however, his invaluable Commentaries on the Gallic and Civil wars. These works, though brief and in most parts rather dull, are highly praised for their simple, concise style and their mastery of the art of rapid narration.
VERGIL AND HORACE
The half century included within the Augustan Age marks a real epoch in the history of Latin literature. The most famous poet of this period was Vergil. The Aeneid, which he undertook at the suggestion of Augustus, is his best-known work. In form the poem is a narrative of the adventures of the Trojan hero, Aeneas, [29] but its real theme is the growth of Rome under the fostering care of the gods. The Aeneid, though unfinished at the author's death, became at once what it has always remained—the only ancient epic worthy of comparison with the Iliad or with the Odyssey. Another member of the Augustan circle was Vergil's friend and fellow- worker, Horace. An imitative poet, Horace reproduced in Latin verse the forms, and sometimes even the substance, of his Greek models. But, like Vergil, what Horace borrowed he made his own by the added beauty which he gave to it. His Odes are perhaps the most admirable examples of literary art to be found in any language.
LIVY
The most famous prose writer of the Augustan Age was Livy. His History of Rome, beginning with Romulus and extending to Augustus, traced the rise and growth of the Roman state during eight centuries of triumphal progress. It did in prose what Vergil's Aeneid had done in verse.
TACITUS
The period of the "Good Emperors" saw the rise of several important authors, of whom one, the historian Tacitus, was a man of genius. The crowning labor of his life was a history of Rome from Tiberius to Domitian. Of this work, issued under the two titles of Histories and Annals, only about one-half is extant.
SURVIVAL OF ROMAN LITERATURE
Less than two hundred years separate Cicero and Tacitus. During this period Latin authors, writing under the influence of old Greece, accomplished much valuable work. Some of their productions are scarcely inferior to the Greek masterpieces. In later centuries, when Greek literature was either neglected or forgotten in the West, the literature of Rome was still read and enjoyed. Even to-day a knowledge of it forms an essential part of a "classical" education.
97. GREEK ARCHITECTURE
CHARACTERISTICS OF GREEK ARCHITECTURE
The existing monuments of Greek architecture—chiefly ruined temples— afford some idea of its leading characteristics. The building materials were limestone and white marble. The blocks of stone were not bound together by cement, but by metal clamps which held them in a firm grip. It was usual to color the ornamental parts of a temple and the open spaces that served as a background for sculpture. The Greeks did not employ the principle of the arch, in order to cover large spaces with a vaulted ceiling. Their temples and other public buildings had only flat ceilings, resting on long rows of columns. The column probably developed from the wooden post or tree trunk used in timber construction. The capital at the top of the column originated in the square wooden slab which supported the heavy beam of the roof.
[Illustration: CORNER OF A DORIC FAÇADE]
[Illustration: CORNER OF AN IONIC FAÇADE]
THE DORIC COLUMN
The two Greek orders of architecture, Doric and Ionic, [30] are distinguished mainly by differences in the treatment of the column. The Doric column has no base of its own. The sturdy shaft is grooved lengthwise with some twenty flutings. The capital is a circular band of stone capped by a square block, all without decoration. The mainland of Greece was the especial home of the Doric order. This was also the characteristic style of southern Italy and Sicily.
THE IONIC COLUMN.
The Ionic column rests upon a base. Its shaft is tall and slender. The beautifully carved capital swells outward into two spiral rolls, the ends of which are curled under to form the "volutes." The Ionic order flourished particularly in Asia Minor. It was well known, too, at Athens.
[Illustration: CAPITALS The highly decorative Corinthian capital, modeled on acanthus leaves, came into fashion in Alexandrian and Roman times. The Composite capital, as its name indicates, combined details from the Ionic and Corinthian into one ornate whole. This and the plain Tuscan capital were quite generally employed by the Romans.]
NATURE OF THE GREEK TEMPLE
The temple formed the chief structure in a Greek city. It was very simple in outline—merely a rectangular building provided with doors, but without windows. Around it was a single or a double row of columns. Above them rose the architrave, a plain band of massive stones which reached from one column to another. Then came the frieze, adorned with sculptured reliefs, then the horizontal cornice, and at the ends of the building the triangular pediments formed by the sloping roof. The pediments were sometimes decorated with statues. Since the temple was not intended to hold a congregation of worshipers, but only to contain the image of the god, the interior usually had little ornamentation.
[Illustration: THE PARTHENON RESTORATION PRESENT CONDITION After serving as a temple for about nine centuries the Parthenon was turned into a Christian church and later into a Mohammedan mosque. In 1687 A.D. the Venetians bombarded Athens and sent a shell into the center of the building which the Turks had used as a powder magazine. The result was an explosion that threw down the side walls and many of the columns.]
[Illustration: FIGURES FROM THE PEDIMENT OF THE PARTHENON]
[Illustration: FROM THE PARTHENON FRIEZE]
[Illustration: CORNER OF THE PARTHENON (RESTORED)]
[Illustration: CARYATID PORCH OF THE ERECHTHEUM]
UNIQUENESS OF THE GREEK TEMPLE
Greek temples were not very large, for hugeness was no object to the builders. They were not even lavishly decorated. Their beauty lies, most of all, in their harmonious proportions and perfect symmetry. In the best examples of the Greek temple there are, for instance, no straight lines. The columns are not set at equal intervals, but closer together near the corners of the building. The shafts of the columns, instead of tapering upward at a uniform rate, swell slightly toward the center. The artistic eyes of the Greeks delighted in such subtle curves. These characteristics make a classical temple unique of its kind. [31]
98. GREEK SCULPTURE
THE GREEK GENIUS IN SCULPTURE
The greatest achievement of the Greeks in art was their sculpture. Roman artists surpassed them in the creation of massive architectural works; modern artists have surpassed them in painting. In sculpture the Greeks still remain unexcelled.
LOSS OF THE MASTERPIECES
The existing remains of Greek sculpture are very scanty. The statues of gold and ivory vanished long ago. The bronze statues, formerly numbered by thousands, have nearly all gone into the melting pot. Sculptures in marble were turned into mortar or used as building materials. Those which escaped such a fate were often ruined by wanton mutilation and centuries of neglect. The statues which we still possess are mainly marble copies, made in Roman times from Greek originals. It is as if the paintings by the old masters of Europe, four centuries ago, were now known only in the reproductions by modern artists of inferior powers.
MATERIALS
The Greek sculptor worked with a variety of materials. Wood was in common use during primitive times. Terra cotta was employed at all periods for statuettes a few inches in height. Productions in gold and ivory, from the costliness of these objects, were extremely rare. Bronze was the favorite material of some of the most eminent artists. The Greek sculptor especially relied on the beautiful marbles in which his country abounded.
TECHNICAL PROCESSES
The methods employed by the ancient sculptor differed in some respects from those followed by his modern successors. A Greek marble statue was usually built up out of several parts. The joining was accomplished with such skill as to escape ordinary observation. The preliminary work of hewing out from the rough was done by means of chisels. The surface of the marble afterwards received a careful polishing with the file, and also with sand. Marble statues were always more or less painted. The coloring seems to have been done sparingly, being applied, as a rule, only to the features and draperies. Still, it is worth while to remember that the pure white statues of modern sculptors would not have satisfied Greek artists of the classical age.
VARIETIES OF GREEK SCUPLTURE
Greek sculpture existed in the two forms of bas-reliefs and statuary in the round. Reliefs were chiefly used for temple pediments and friezes, and also for the many grave monuments. Statues consisted of the images of the gods set up in their shrines, the sculptures dedicated as offerings to divinities, and the figures of statesmen, generals, and victorious athletes raised in public places and sanctuaries.
IMPORTANCE OF THE SCULPTOR'S ART
This list will show how many were the opportunities which the ancient sculptor enjoyed. The service of religion created a constant demand for his genius. The numerous athletic contests and the daily sports of the gymnasium gave him a chance to study living models in the handsome, finely-shaped bodies of the contestants. With such inspiration it is not remarkable that sculpture reached so high a development in ancient Greece. [32]
99. ROMAN ARCHITECTURE AND SCULPTURE
THE ARCH AND DOME IN ROMAN BUILDINGS
In architecture the Romans achieved preëminence. The temples and other public works of Greece seem almost insignificant beside the stupendous edifices raised by Roman genius in every province of the empire. The ability of the Romans to build on so large a scale arose from their use of vaulted constructions. Knowledge of the round arch passed over from the Orient to the Etruscans and from them to the Romans. [33] At first the arch was employed mainly for gates, drainage sewers, aqueducts, and bridges. In imperial times this device was adopted to permit the construction of vast buildings with overarching domes. The principle of the dome has inspired some of the finest creations of ancient and modern architecture.
ROMAN USE OF CONCRETE AND RUBBLE
The Romans for many of their buildings made much use of concrete. Its chief ingredient was pozzolana, a sand found in great abundance near Rome and other sites. When mixed with lime, it formed a very strong cement. This material was poured in a fluid state into timber casings, where it quickly set and hardened. Small pieces of stone, called rubble, were also forced down into the cement to give it additional stability. Buildings of this sort were usually faced with brick, which in turn might be covered with thin slabs of marble, thus producing an attractive appearance.
TEMPLES
The triumphs of Roman architecture were not confined chiefly to sacred edifices. Roman temples, indeed, are mostly copies from the Greek. In comparison with their originals, they lack grace and refinement. There is less accuracy in the masonry fitting and far less careful attention to details of construction. A frequent departure from Greek models is found in the restriction of the rows of pillars to the front of the building, while the sides and rear are lined with "engaged" columns to give the idea of a colonnade. [34] More characteristically Roman are vaulted temples, such as the Pantheon, [35] where the circular dome is faced with a Greek portico.
BASILICAS
Roman basilicas, of which only the ruins are now in existence, were once found in every city. These were large, lofty buildings for the use of judges and merchants. The chief feature of a basilica was the spacious central hall flanked by a single or double row of columns, forming aisles and supporting the flat roof. At one end of the hall was a semicircular recess—the apse—where the judges held court. This arrangement of the interior bears a close resemblance to the plan of the early Christian church with its nave, choir (or chancel) and columned aisles. The Christians, in fact, seem to have taken the familiar basilicas as the models for their places of worship.
[Illustration: PLAN OF THE ULPIAN BASILICA
The hall measured 360 feet in length and 180 feet in width.]
[Illustration: INTERIOR VIEW OF THE ULPIAN BASILICA (RESTORATION)
Built by the Emperor Trajan in connection with his Forum at Rome.]
AQUEDUCTS
Perhaps the most imposing, and certainly among the most useful, of Roman structures were aqueducts. [36] There were sixty-eight in Italy and the provinces. No less than fourteen supplied the capital city with water. The aqueducts usually ran under the surface of the ground, as do our water pipes. They were carried on arches only across depressions and valleys. The Claudian aqueduct ran for thirty-six miles underground and for nine and a half miles on arches. Though these monuments were intended simply as engineering works, their heavy masses of rough masonry produce an inspiring sense of power.
[Illustration: A ROMAN AQUEDUCT The Pont du Gard near Nîmes (ancient Nemausus) in southern France. Built by the emperor Antoninus Pius. The bridge spans two hilltops nearly a thousand feet apart. It carries an aqueduct with three tiers of massive stone arches at a height of 160 feet above the stream. This is the finest and best preserved aqueduct in existence.]
THERMAE
The abundant water supply furnished by the aqueducts was connected with a system of great public baths, or thermae. [37] Scarcely a town or village throughout the empire lacked one or more such buildings. Those at Rome were constructed on a scale of magnificence of which we can form but a slight conception from the ruins now in existence. In addition to many elaborate arrangements for the bathers, the thermae included lounging and reading rooms, libraries, gymnasia, and even museums and galleries of art. The baths, indeed, were splendid clubhouses, open at little or no expense to every citizen of the metropolis.
[Illustration: THE COLOSSEUM]
TRIUMPHAL ARCHES AND COLUMNS
A very characteristic example of Roman building is found in the triumphal arches. [38] Their sides were adorned with bas-reliefs, which pictured the principal scenes of a successful campaign. Memorial structures, called columns of victory, [39] were also set up in Rome and other cities. Both arch and column have been frequently imitated by modern architects.
[Illustration: A ROMAN CAMEO
Portrait of a youth cut in sardonyx. Probably of the first century A.D.]
CIRCUSES, THEATERS, AND AMPHITHEATERS
The palaces of Roman emperors and nobles, together with their luxurious country houses, or villas, have all disappeared. A like fate has befallen the enormous circuses, such as the Circus Maximus [40] at Rome and the Hippodrome [41] at Constantinople. The Roman theaters that still survive reproduce, in most respects, the familiar outlines of the Greek structures. In the amphitheaters, where animal shows and gladiatorial combats were exhibited, we have a genuinely Roman invention. The gigantic edifice, called the Colosseum, in its way as truly typifies Roman architectural genius as the Parthenon represents at its best that of the Greeks.
ROMAN SCULPTURE
Roman sculpture owed much to Greek models. However, the portrait statues and bas-reliefs show originality and illustrate the tendency of the Romans toward realism in art. The sculptor tried to represent an historic person as he really looked or an historic event, for example, a battle or a triumphal procession, as it actually happened. The portrait statues of Roman emperors and the bas-reliefs from the arch of Titus impress us at once with a sense of their reality.
WALL PAINTINGS
Our knowledge of Roman painting is almost wholly confined to the wall paintings found at Rome, Herculaneum, and Pompeii. What has survived is apparently the work of ordinary craftsmen, who, if not Greeks, were deeply affected by the Greek spirit. Most of the scenes they depict are taken from classical mythology. The coloring is very rich; and the peculiar shade of red used is known to-day by the name of "Pompeian red." The practice of mural painting passed over from the Romans to European artists, who have employed it in the frescoes of medieval and modern churches.
100. ARTISTIC ATHENS
ART CENTERS OF ANTIQUITY
Athens and Rome were the artistic centers of the classical world. Architects, sculptors, and painters lavished their finest efforts on the adornment of these two capitals. Here there are still to be seen some of the most beautiful and impressive monuments of antiquity.
ROADS AND SUBURBS OF ATHENS
Athens lies in the center of the Attic plain, about four miles from the sea. [42] The city commands a magnificent view of purple-hued mountains and the shining waters of the Aegean. Roads approached the ancient city from all parts of Attica. Among these were the highway from Piraeus, running between the Long Walls, [43] and the Sacred Way from Eleusis, where the famous mysteries were yearly celebrated. [44] The suburbs of Athens included the Outer Ceramicus, part of which was used as a national cemetery, and a pleasure ground and gymnasium on the banks of the Cephissus, called the Academy. Another resort, known as the Lyceum, bordered the little stream of the Ilissus.
WALLS OF ATHENS
The traveler who passed through these suburbs came at length to the great wall, nearly five miles in circumference, raised by Themistocles to surround the settlement at the foot of the Acropolis. [45] The area included within this wall made up Old Athens. About six centuries after Themistocles the Roman emperor Hadrian, by building additional fortifications on the east, brought an extensive quarter, called New Athens, inside the city limits.
HILLS OF ATHENS
The region within the walls was broken up by a number of rocky eminences which have a prominent place in the topography of Athens. Near the center the Acropolis rises more than two hundred feet above the plain, its summit crowned with monuments of the Periclean Age. Not far away is the hill called the Areopagus. Here the Council of the Areopagus, a court of justice in trials for murder, held its deliberations in the open air. Beyond this height is the hill of the Pnyx. This was the meeting place of the Athenian Assembly until the fourth century B.C., when the sessions were transferred to the theater of Dionysus.
[Illustration: Map, ATHENS]
THE AGORA
The business and social center of an ancient city was the agora or market place. The Athenian Agora lay in the hollow north of the Areopagus and Acropolis. The square was shaded by rows of plane trees and lined with covered colonnades. In the great days of the city, when the Agora was filled with countless altars and shrines, it presented a most varied and attractive scene.
PUBLIC BUILDINGS
Not all the splendid structures in Athens were confined to the Agora and the Acropolis. On a slight eminence not far from the Agora, rose the so- called "Theseum," [46] a marble temple in the Doric order. Another famous temple, the colossal edifice known as the Olympieum, lay at some distance from the Acropolis on the southeast. Fifteen of the lofty columns with their Corinthian capitals are still standing. The theater of Dionysus [47] is in a fair state of preservation. Beyond this are the remains of the Odeum, or "Hall of Song," used for musical contests and declamations. The original building was raised by Pericles, in imitation, it is said, of the tent of Xerxes. The present ruins are those of the structure erected in the second century A.D. by a public-spirited benefactor of Athens.
THE ACROPOLIS
The adornment of the Acropolis formed perhaps the most memorable achievement of Pericles. [48] This rocky mount was approached on the western side by a flight of sixty marble steps. To the right of the stairway rose a small but very beautiful Ionic temple dedicated to Athena. Having mounted the steps, the visitor passed through the superb entrance gate, or Propylaea, which was constructed to resemble the front of a temple with columns and pediment. Just beyond the Propylaea stood a great bronze statue of the Guardian Athena, a masterpiece of the sculptor Phidias.
[Illustration: THE ACROPOLIS OF ATHENS (RESTORATION)]
[Illustration: ACROPOLIS OF ATHENS FROM THE SOUTHWEST]
THE ERECHTHEUM
The Erechtheum, a temple which occupies part of the Acropolis, is in the Ionic style. It may be regarded as the best existing example of this light and graceful order. Perhaps the most interesting feature is the porch of the Caryatides, with a marble roof supported by six pillars carved in the semblance of maidens. [49] This curious but striking device has been often copied by modern architects.
ARCHITECTURE OF THE PARTHENON
The other temple on the Acropolis is the world-famed edifice known as the Parthenon, the shrine of the Virgin of the Athena. [50] The Parthenon illustrates the extreme simplicity of a Greek temple. It had no great size or height and included only two chambers. The rear room stored sacred vessels and furniture used in worship, state treasure, and the more valuable offerings intrusted to the goddess for safekeeping. The second and larger room contained a colossal gold and ivory statue of Athena, the work of Phidias. It faced the eastern entrance so that it might be bathed in the rays of the rising sun. Apart from the large doors a certain amount of light reached the interior through the semi-transparent marble tiles of the roof. The Doric columns surrounding the building are marvels of fine workmanship. The Parthenon, because of its perfection of construction and admirable proportions, is justly regarded as a masterpiece of architecture.
[Illustration: PLAN OF THE PARTHENON
The larger room (cella) measured exactly one hundred feet in length.]
SCULPTURES OF THE PARTHENON
The Parthenon was also remarkable for its sculptures [51] executed under the superintendence of Phidias. The subjects of the pediment sculptures are taken from the mythic history of Athena. The frieze of the Parthenon consists of a series of sculptured slabs, over five hundred feet in length. The subject was the procession of the Great Panathenaea, [52] the principal festival in honor of Athena. At this time the sacred robe of the goddess, woven anew for each occasion, was brought to adorn her statue. The procession is thought of as starting from the western front, where Athenian youths dash forward on their spirited steeds. Then comes a brilliant array of maidens, matrons, soldiers, and luteplayers. Near the center of the eastern front they meet a group of divinities, who are represented as spectators of the imposing scene. This part of the frieze is still in excellent condition.
THE GLORY OF ATHENS
It was, indeed, a splendid group of buildings that rose on the Acropolis height. If to-day they have lost much of their glory, we can still understand how they were the precious possession of the Athenians and the wonder of all the ancient world. "O shining, violet-crowned city of song, great Athens, bulwark of Hellas, walls divine!" The words are those of an old Greek poet, [53] but they are reëchoed by all who have come under the magic spell of the literature and art of the Athenian city.
101. ARTISTIC ROME
DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT ROME
The monuments of Rome, unlike those of Athens, cannot lay claim to great antiquity. The destruction wrought by the Gauls in 390 B.C. and the great fire under Nero in 64 A.D. removed nearly all traces of the regal and republican city. Many buildings erected in the imperial age have also disappeared, because in medieval and modern times the inhabitants of Rome used the ancient edifices as quarries. The existing monuments give only a faint idea of the former magnificence of the capital city.
HILLS OF ROME
The city of Rome lies on the Tiber. Where the river approaches Rome it makes two sharp turns, first to the west and then to the east. On the western, or Etruscan, bank stood the two hills called Vatican and Janiculum. They were higher than the famous seven which rose on the eastern side, where the ancient city was built. Two of these seven hills possess particular interest. The earliest settlement, as we have seen, [54] probably occupied the Palatine. It became in later days the favorite site for the town houses of Roman nobles. In the imperial age the splendid palaces of the Caesars were located here. The Capitoline, steepest of the seven hills, was divided into two peaks. On one of these rose the most famous of all Roman temples, dedicated to Jupiter and his companion deities, Juno and Minerva. The other peak was occupied by a large temple of Juno Moneta ("the Adviser"), which served as the mint. The altars, shrines, and statues which once covered this height were so numerous that the Capitoline, like the Athenian Acropolis, became a museum of art.
[Illustration: Map, ROME]
WALLS AND OPEN SPACES
Rome in early times was surrounded by a wall which bore the name of its legendary builder, Servius Tullius. The present fortifications were not constructed until the reign of the emperor Aurelian. [55] The ancient city was closely built up, with only two great open spaces, in addition to the Forum. These were the Circus Maximus, in the hollow between the Palatine Mount and the Aventine, and the Campus Martius, stretching along the Tiber to the northwest of the Capitoline Hill.
PUBLIC BUILDINGS
Following the map of ancient Rome under the empire we may note the more important monuments which still exist in something like their original condition. Across the Tiber and beyond the Campus Martius stands the mausoleum of Hadrian. [56] The most notable structure in the Campus Martius is the Pantheon. [57] It is the one ancient building in the entire Roman world which still survives, inside and out, in a fair state of preservation. The depression between the Caelian and Esquiline hills contains the Flavian Amphitheater, better known as the Colosseum. [58] It was begun by Vespasian and probably completed by Titus. No less than eighty entrances admitted the forty-five thousand spectators who could be accommodated in this huge structure. Despite the enormous mass of the present ruins probably two-thirds of the original materials have been carried away to be used in other buildings. Close to the Colosseum stands the arch [59] erected by the Senate in honor of the victory of Constantine over his rival Maxentius. From this event is dated the triumph of Christianity in the Roman state. The ruins of the huge baths of Caracalla lie about half a mile from the Colosseum. Near the center of the city are the remains of the Forum added by Trajan to the accommodations of the original Forum. It contains the column of Trajan [60] under which that emperor was buried.
THE FORUM
The Forum lies in the valley north of the Palatine Hill. It was the business and social center of the Roman city. During the Middle Ages the site was buried in ruins and rubbish, in some places to a depth of forty feet or more. Recent excavations have restored the ancient level and uncovered the remains of the ancient structures.
[Illustration: THE ROMAN FORUM AND THE SURROUNDING BUILDINGS (RESTORED)]
[Illustration: THE ROMAN FORUM AT THE PRESENT TIME]
APPROACH TO THE FORUM
The Forum could be approached from the east by one of the most famous streets in the world, the Roman Sacred Way. The illustration of the Forum at the present time gives a view, looking eastward from the Capitoline Mount, and shows several of the buildings on or near the Sacred Way. At the left are seen the ruins of the basilica of Constantine. Farther in the distance the Colosseum looms up. Directly ahead is the arch of Titus, which commemorates the capture of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. [61] The ruins of the palaces of the Caesars occupy the slopes of the Palatine.
THE FORUM TO-DAY
The only well-preserved monument in the Forum is the beautiful arch erected by the emperor Septimius Severus. Beyond it are three columns which once formed part of the temple of Castor. They date from the time of Tiberius. In front are the foundations of the Basilica Julia, built by Augustus. Next come eight Ionic columns, all that remain of the temple of Saturn. Near it and in the foreground are several columns in the Corinthian style, belonging to a temple built by Vespasian.
THE FORUM IN ANTIQUITY
These ruined monuments, these empty foundations and lonely pillars, afford little idea of all the wealth of architecture that once adorned this spot. Here stood the circular shrine of Vesta, [62] guarding the altar and its ever-blazing fire. Here was the temple of Concord, famous in Roman history. [63] The Senate-house was here, and just before it, the Rostra, a platform adorned with the beaks (rostra) of captured ships. From this place Roman orators addressed their assembled fellow-citizens.
THE GRANDEUR OF ROME
How splendid a scene must have greeted an observer in ancient times who, from the height of the Capitol, gazed at the city before him. The Forum was then one radiant avenue of temples, triumphal arches, columns, and shrines. And beyond the Forum stretched a magnificent array of theaters and amphitheaters, enormous baths, colossal sepulchers, and statues in stone and bronze. So prodigious an accumulation of objects beautiful, costly, and rare has never before or since been found on earth.
STUDIES
1. What is the origin of our words pedagogue, symposium, circus, and academy?
2. Make a list of such Roman names as you have met in your reading.
3. Write a letter describing an imaginary visit to the theater of Dionysus during the performance of a tragedy.
4. What did civic patriotism mean to the Greek and to the Roman?
5. Have we anything to learn from the Greeks about the importance of training in music?
6. What were the schoolbooks of Greek boys?
7. What features of Athenian education are noted in the illustration, page 254?
8. How did the position of women at Athens differ from their position in Homeric Greece?
9. Why does classical literature contain almost no "love stories," or novels?
10. What contrasts exist between the ancient and the modern house?
11. Describe a Roman litter (illustration, page 263).
12. What differences exist between an ancient and a modern theatre?
13. What features of our "circus" recall the proceedings at the Roman games?
14. How many holidays (including Sundays) are there in your state? How do they compare in number with those at Rome in the reign of Marcus Aurelius?
15. Describe the theater of Dionysus (illustration, page 264).
16. What is the "Socratic method" of teaching?
17. How did the Greeks manage to build solidly without the use of mortar?
18. Discuss the appropriateness of the terms: severe Doric; graceful Ionic; ornate Corinthian.
19. Can you find examples of any of the Greek orders in public buildings familiar to you?
20. How do you explain the almost total loss of original Greek sculptures?
21. By reference to the illustrations, page 279, explain the following terms: shaft; capital; architrave; frieze; and cornice.
22. Explain the "Greek profile" seen in the Aphrodite of Cnidus and the Apollo of the Belvedere (plate facing page 76).
23. Name five famous works of Greek sculpture which exist to-day only in Roman copies.
24. What is your favorite Greek statue? Why do you like it?
25. "The dome, with the round arch out of which it sprang, is the most fertile conception in the whole history of building." Justify this statement.
26. What famous examples of domed churches and public buildings are familiar to you?
27. What artistic objections to the use of "engaged columns" can you mention?
28. Discuss the revival of cement construction in modern times. What are its special advantages?
29. What examples of triumphal arches in the United States and France are known to you?
30. Do you know of any modern columns of victory?
31. Why is it likely that the bust of Nerva (illustration, page 200) is a more faithful likeness than that of Pericles (illustration, page 103)?
32. Write a brief essay describing an imaginary walk on the Athenian Acropolis in the Age of Pericles.
33. Enumerate the most important contributions to civilization made in classical antiquity.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Webster, Readings in Ancient History, chapter xxi, "Roman Life as Seen in Pliny's Letters"; chapter xxii, "A Satirist of Roman Society."
[2] Euripides, Iphigenia in Tauris, 57.
[3] See page 237.
[4] In "Marcus Tullius Cicero," "Marcus," the praenomen, corresponds to our "given" name; "Tullius," the nomen, marks the clan, or gens; "Cicero," the cognomen, indicates the family.
[5] See pages 151, 206.
[6] See page 218.
[7] See page 148.
[8] See page 144.
[9] See the illustrations, pages 117, 271.
[10] The corresponding names of women's garments were stola and pallet.
[11] See page 199.
[12] See the illustration, page 145.
[13] See page 288.
[14] See page 285.
[15] Panathenaic means 'belonging to all the Athenians.' See page 292.
[16] See page 234.
[17] See page 200.
[18] Panem et circenses (Juvenal x, 80-81).
[19] See page 215.
[20] See pages 436, 463.
[21] See page 73.
[22] See page 80.
[23] See page 120.
[24] See page 265.
[25] See page 121.
[26] See page 117.
[27] See page 261.
[28] See page 226.
[29] See page 142.
[30] The so-called Corinthian order differs from the Ionic only in its capital.
[31] For illustrations of Greek temples, see pages 89, 101.
[32] For illustrations of Greek statues see pages 80, 81, 103, 117, 119, 129, 271 and the plates facing pages 76, 77, 80, 130, 131.
[33] See pages 61, 138.
[34] See the illustration, page 215.
[35] See the illustration, page 202.
[36] See the illustrations, pages 157, 285.
[37] See page 263.
[38] See the illustration, page 236.
[39] See the illustrations, pages 163, 201.
[40] See the illustration, page 266.
[41] See the illustration, page 339.
[42] See the map, page 107.
[43] See page 108.
[44] See page 227.
[45] See page 100.
[46] See the illustration, page 101.
[47] See the illustration, page 264.
[48] See page 108.
[49] See the plate facing page 281.
[50] See the plate facing page 280.
[51] See the plate facing page 281.
[52] See page 264.
[53] Pindar, Fragments, 76.
[54] See page 140.
[55] See the illustration, page 220.
[56] See the illustration, page 203.
[57] See the illustration, page 202.
[58] See the illustration, page 286.
[59] See the illustration, page 236.
[60] See the illustration, page 201.
[61] See the plate facing page 198.
[62] See page 146.
[63] See page 177.
CHAPTER XIII
WESTERN EUROPE DURING THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES, 476-962 A.D. [1]
102. THE OSTROGOTHS IN ITALY, 488-553 A.D.
TRANSITION TO THE MIDDLE AGES
We are not to suppose that the settlement of Germans within the Roman Empire ended with the deposition of Romulus Augustulus, near the close of the fifth century. The following centuries witnessed fresh invasions and the establishment of new Germanic states. The study of these troubled times leads us from the classical world to the world of medieval Europe, from the history of antiquity to the history of the Middle Ages.
THE OSTROGOTHS UNDER THEODORIC
The kingdom which Odoacer established on Italian soil did not long endure. It was soon overthrown by the Ostrogoths. At the time of the "fall" of Rome in 476 A.D. they occupied a district south of the middle Danube, which the government at Constantinople had hired them to defend. The Ostrogoths proved to be expensive and dangerous allies. When, therefore, their chieftain, Theodoric, offered to lead his people into Italy and against Odoacer, the Roman emperor gladly sanctioned the undertaking.
OSTROGOTHIC INVASION OF ITALY, 488-493 A.D.
Theodoric led the Ostrogoths—women and children as well as warriors— across the Alps and came down to meet Odoacer and his soldiers in battle. After suffering several defeats, Odoacer shut himself up in the strong fortress of Ravenna. Theodoric could not capture the place and at last agreed to share with Odoacer the government of Italy, if the latter would surrender. The agreement was never carried into effect. When Theodoric entered Ravenna, he invited Odoacer to a great feast and at its conclusion slew him in cold blood. Theodoric had now no rival in Italy.
THEODORIC KING OF ITALY, 493-526 A.D.
Though Theodoric gained the throne by violence and treachery, he soon showed himself to be, as a ruler, wise, broad-minded, and humane. He had lived as a youth in the imperial court at Constantinople and there had become well acquainted with Roman ideas of law and order. Roman civilization impressed him; and he wished not to destroy but to preserve it. Theodoric reigned in Italy for thirty-three years, and during this time the country enjoyed unbroken peace and prosperity.
[Illustration: TOMB OF THEODORIC AT RAVENNA A two storied marble building erected by Theodoric in imitation of a Roman tomb. The roof is a single block of marble 33 feet in diameter and weighing more than 300 tons. Theodoric's body was subsequently removed from its resting place, and the mausoleum was converted into a church.]
THEODORIC'S RULE IN ITALY.
The enlightened policy of Theodoric was exhibited in many ways. He governed Ostrogoths and Romans with equal consideration. He kept all the old offices, such as the senatorship and the consulate, and by preference filled them with men of Roman birth. His chief counselors were Romans. A legal code, which he drew up for the use of Ostrogoths and Romans alike, contained only selections from Roman law. He was remarkably tolerant and, in spite of the fact that the Ostrogoths were Arians, [2] was always ready to extend protection to Catholic Christians. Theodoric patronized literature and gave high positions to Roman writers. He restored the cities of Italy, had the roads and aqueducts repaired, and so improved the condition of agriculture that Italy, from a wheat-importing, became a wheat-exporting, country. At Ravenna, the Ostrogothic capital, Theodoric erected many notable buildings, including a palace, a mausoleum, and several churches. The remains of these structures are still to be seen.
THEODORIC'S FOREIGN POLICY
The influence of Theodoric reached far beyond Italy. He allied himself by marriage with most of the Germanic rulers of the West. His second wife was a Frankish foreign princess, his sister was the wife of a Vandal chieftain, one of his daughters married a king of the Visigoths, and another daughter wedded a Burgundian king. Theodoric by these alliances brought about friendly relations between the various barbarian peoples. It seemed, in fact, as if the Roman dominions in the West might again be united under a single ruler; as if the Ostrogoths might be the Germanic people to carry on the civilizing work of Rome. But no such good fortune was in store for Europe.
END OF THE OSTROGOTHIC KINGDOM, 553 A.D.
Theodoric died in 526 A.D. The year after his death, a great emperor, Justinian, came to the throne at Constantinople. Justinian had no intention of abandoning to the Ostrogothic Germans the rich provinces of Sicily and Italy. Although the Ostrogoths made a stubborn resistance to his armies, in the end they were so completely overcome that they agreed to withdraw from the Italian peninsula. The feeble remnant of their nation filed sadly through the passes of the Alps and, mingling with other barbarian tribes, disappeared from history.
103. THE LOMBARDS IN ITALY, 568-774 A.D.
INVASION OF ITALY BY THE LOMBARDS
The destruction of the Ostrogothic kingdom did not free Italy of the Germans. Soon after Justinian's death the country was again overrun, this time by the Lombards. The name of these invaders (in Latin, Langobardi) may have been derived from the long beards that gave them such a ferocious aspect. The Lombards were the last of the Germanic peoples to quit their northern wilderness and seek new homes in sunny Italy. They seized the territory north of the river Po—a region ever since known as Lombardy— and established their capital at Pavia. The Lombards afterwards made many settlements in central and southern Italy, but never succeeded in subduing the entire peninsula.
[Illustration: Map, EUROPE IN THE SIXTH CENTURY]
LOMBARD RULE IN ITALY
The rule of the Lombards at first bore hardly on Italy, which they treated as a conquered land. In character they seem to been far less attractive than their predecessors the Visigoths and Ostrogoths. Many of them were still heathen when they entered Italy and others were converts to the Arian [3] form of Christianity. In course of time, however, the Lombards accepted Roman Catholicism and adopted the customs of their subjects. They even forgot their Germanic language and learned to speak Latin. The Lombard kingdom lasted over two centuries, until it was overthrown by the Franks. [4]
RESULTS OF THE LOMBARD INVASION
The failure of the Lombards to conquer all Italy had important results in later history. Sicily and the extreme southern part of the Italian peninsula, besides large districts containing the cities of Naples, Rome, Genoa, Venice, and Ravenna, continued to belong to the Roman Empire in the East. The rulers at Constantinople could not exercise effective control over their Italian possessions, now that these were separated from one another by the Lombard territories. The consequence was that Italy broke up into a number of small and practically independent states, which never combined into one kingdom until our own time. The ideal of a united Italy waited thirteen hundred years for its realization. [5]
104. THE FRANKS UNDER CLOVIS AND HIS SUCCESSORS
CLOVIS, KING OF THE FRANKS, 481-511 A.D.
We have already met the Franks in their home on the lower Rhine, from which they pushed gradually into Roman territory. [6] In 486 A.D., just ten years after the deposition of Romulus Augustulus, the Franks went forth to conquer under Clovis, [7] one of their chieftains. By overcoming the governor of Roman Gaul, in a battle near Soissons, Clovis destroyed the last vestige of imperial rule in the West and extended the Frankish dominions to the river Loire. Clovis then turned against his German neighbors. East of the Franks, in the region now known as Alsace, lived the Alamanni, a people whose name still survives in the French name of Germany. [8] The Alamanni were defeated in a great battle near Strassburg (496 A.D.), and much of their territory was added to that of the Franks. Clovis subsequently conquered the Visigothic possessions between the Loire and the Pyrenees, and compelled the Burgundians to pay tribute. Thus Clovis made himself supreme over nearly the whole of Gaul and even extended his authority to the other side of the Rhine. This great work entitles him to be called the founder of the French nation.
THE FRANKS AND THE GALLO-ROMANS
Clovis reigned in western Europe as an independent king, but he acknowledged a sort of allegiance to the Roman emperor by accepting the title of honorary consul. Henceforth to the Gallo-Romans he represented the distant ruler at Constantinople. The Roman inhabitants of Gaul were not oppressed; their cities were preserved; and their language and laws were undisturbed. Clovis, as a statesman, may be compared with his eminent contemporary, Theodoric the Ostrogoth.
CHRISTIANIZATION OF THE FRANKS, 496 A.D.
The Franks were still a heathen people, when they began their career of conquest. Clovis, however, had married a Burgundian princess, Clotilda, who was a devout Catholic and an ardent advocate of Christianity. The story is told how, when Clovis was hard-pressed by the Alamanni at the battle of Strassburg, he vowed that if Clotilda's God gave him victory he would become a Christian. The Franks won, and Clovis, faithful to his vow, had himself baptized by St. Remi, bishop of Reims. "Bow down thy head," spoke the bishop, as the Frankish king approached the font, "adore what thou hast burned, burn what thou has adored." [9] With Clovis were baptized on that same day three thousand of his warriors.
[Illustration: Map, GROWTH OF THE FRANKISH DOMINIONS, 481-768 A.D.]
SIGNIFICANCE OF CLOVIS'S CONVERSION
The conversion of Clovis was an event of the first importance. He and his Franks naturally embraced the orthodox Catholic faith, which was that of his wife, instead of the Arian form of Christianity, which had been accepted by almost all the other Germanic invaders. Thus, by what seems the merest accident, Catholicism, instead of Arianism, became the religion of a large part of western Europe. More than this, the conversion of Clovis gained for the Frankish king and his successors the support of conversion the Roman Church. The friendship between the popes and the Franks afterwards ripened into a close alliance which greatly influenced European history.
THE EARLIER MEROVINGIAN KINGS
The descendants of Clovis are called Merovingians. [10] They occupied the throne of the Franks for nearly two hundred and fifty years. The annals of their reigns form an unpleasant catalogue of bloody wars, horrible murders, and deeds of treachery without number. Nevertheless, the earlier Merovingians were strong men, under whose direction the Frankish territory continued to expand, until it included nearly all of what is now France, Belgium, and Holland, besides a considerable part of Germany.
CHARACTER OF THE FRANKISH CONQUESTS
The Frankish conquests differed in two important respects from those of the other Germanic peoples. In the first place, the Franks did not cut themselves off completely from their original homes. They kept permanently their territory in Germany, drawing from it continual reinforcements of fresh German blood. In the second place, the Franks steadily added new German lands to their possessions. They built up in this way what was the largest and the most permanent of all the barbarian states founded on the ruins of the Roman Empire.
105. THE FRANKS UNDER CHARLES MARTEL AND PEPIN THE SHORT
THE LATER MEROVINGIAN KINGS
After the middle of the seventh century the Frankish rulers, worn out by violence and excesses, degenerated into weaklings, who reigned but did not rule. The actual management of the state passed into the hands of officers, called "mayors of the palace." They left to the kings little more than their title, their long hair,—the badge of royalty among the Franks,—and a scanty allowance for their support. The later Merovingians, accordingly, are often known as the "do-nothing kings."
CHARLES MARTEL
The most illustrious of these mayors was Charles, surnamed Martel, "the Hammer," from the terrible defeat which he administered to the Mohammedans near Tours, in central France. [11] Charles Martel was virtually a king, but he never ventured to set aside the Merovingian ruler and himself ascend the throne. This step was taken, however, by Charles's son, Pepin the Short.
PEPIN THE SHORT BECOMES KING OF THE FRANKS, 751 A.D.
Before dethroning the last feeble "do-nothing," Pepin sought the approval of the bishop of Rome. The pope, without hesitation, declared that it was only right that the man who had the real authority in the state should have the royal title also. Pepin, accordingly, caused himself to be crowned king of the Franks, thus founding the Carolingian [12] dynasty. (751 A.D.). Three years later Pope Stephen II came to Pepin's court and solemnly anointed the new ruler with holy oil, in accordance with ancient Jewish custom. The rite of anointing, something unknown to the Germans, gave to Pepin's coronation the sanction of the Roman Church. Henceforth the Frankish sovereigns called themselves "kings by the grade of God."
"DONATION OF PEPIN," 756 A.D.
Pepin was soon able to repay his great obligation to the Roman Church by becoming its protector against the Lombards. These barbarians, who were trying to extend their rule in Italy, threatened to capture Rome and the territory in the vicinity of that city, then under the control of the pope. Pepin twice entered Italy with his army, defeated the Lombards, and forced them to cede to Pope Stephen an extensive district lying between Rome and Ravenna. Pepin might have returned this district to the emperor at Constantinople, to whom it belonged, but the Frankish king declared that he had not fought for the advantage of any man but for the welfare of his own soul. He decided, therefore, to bestow his conquests on St. Peter's representative, the pope. Before this time the bishops of Rome had owned much land in Italy and had acted as virtual sovereigns in Rome and its neighborhood. Pepin's gift, known as the "Donation of Pepin," greatly increased their possessions, which came to be called the States of the Church. They remained in the hands of the popes until late in the nineteenth century. [13]
106. THE REIGN OF CHARLEMAGNE, 768-814 A.D.
CHARLEMAGNE THE MAN
Pepin was succeeded in 768 A.D. by his two sons, one of whom, Charlemagne, three years later became sole king of the Franks. Charlemagne reigned for nearly half a century, and during this time he set his stamp on all later European history. His character and personality are familiar to us from a brief biography, written by his secretary, Einhard. Charlemagne, we learn, was a tall, square-shouldered, strongly built man, with bright, keen eyes, and an expression at once cheerful and dignified. Riding, hunting, and swimming were his favorite sports. He was simple in his tastes and very temperate in both food and drink. Except when in Rome, he wore the old Frankish costume, with high-laced boots, linen tunic, blue cloak, and sword girt at his side. He was a clear, fluent speaker, used Latin as readily as his native tongue, and understood Greek when it was spoken. "He also tried to learn to write and often kept his tablets and writing book under the pillow of his couch, that, when he had leisure, he might practice his hand in forming letters; but he made little progress in this task, too long deferred and begun too late in life." [14] For the times, however, Charlemagne was a well-educated man—by no means a barbarian.
[Illustration: CHARLEMAGNE (Lateran Museum, Rome) A mosaic picture, made during the lifetime of Charlemagne and probably a fair likeness of him.]
CONQUEST AND CONVERSION OF THE SAXONS, 772-804 A.D.
Much of Charlemagne's long life, almost to its close, was filled with warfare. He fought chiefly against the still-heathen peoples on the frontiers of the Frankish realm. The subjugation of the Saxons, who lived in the forests and marshes of northwestern Germany, took many years. Charlemagne at the head of a great army would invade their territory, beat them in battle, and receive their submission, only to find his work undone by a sudden rising of the liberty-loving natives, after the withdrawal of the Franks. Once when Charlemagne was exasperated by a fresh revolt, he ordered forty-five hundred prisoners to be executed. This savage massacre was followed by equally severe laws, which threatened with death all Saxons who refused baptism or observed the old heathen rites. By such harsh means Charlemagne at length broke down the spirit of resistance among the people. All Saxony, from the Rhine to the Elbe, became a Christian land and a permanent part of the Frankish realm.
[Illustration: THE IRON CROWN OF LOMBARDY
A fillet of iron, which, according to pious legend, had been beaten out of
one of the nails of the True Cross. It came to the Lombards as a gift from
Pope Gregory I. as a reward for their conversion to Roman Catholicism.
During the Middle Ages it was used to crown the German emperors kings of
Italy. This precious relic is now kept in a church at Monza in northern
Italy.]
CONQUEST OF THE LOMBARDS, 774 A.D.
Shortly after the beginning of the Saxon wars the king of the Franks received an urgent summons from the pope, who was again being threatened by his old enemies, the Lombards. Charlemagne led a mighty host across the Alps, captured Pavia, where the Lombard ruler had taken refuge, and added his possessions to those of the Franks. Thus passed away one more of the Germanic states which had arisen on the ruins of the Roman Empire. Charlemagne now placed on his own head the famous "Iron Crown," and assumed the title of "King of the Franks and Lombards, and Patrician of the Romans."
CHARLEMAGNE'S OTHER CONQUESTS
Charlemagne's conquests were not confined to Germanic peoples. He forced the wild Avars, who had advanced from the Caspian into the Danube valley, to acknowledge his supremacy. He compelled various Slavic tribes, including the Bohemians, to pay tribute. He also invaded Spain and wrested from the Moslems the district between the Ebro River and the Pyrenees. By this last conquest Charlemagne may be said to have begun the recovery of the Spanish peninsula from Mohammedan rule. [15]
[Illustration: Map, EUROPE In the Age of Charlemagne, 800 A.D.]
CHARLEMAGNE'S GOVERNMENT
Charlemagne was a statesman, as well as a warrior. He divided his wide dominions into counties, each one ruled by a count, who was expected to keep order and administer justice. The border districts, which lay exposed to invasion, were organized into "marks," under the military supervision of counts of the mark, or margraves (marquises). These officials had so much power and lived so far from the royal court that it was necessary for Charlemagne to appoint special agents, called missi dominici ("the lord's messengers"), to maintain control over them. The missi were usually sent out in pairs, a layman and a bishop or abbot, in order that the one might serve as a check upon the other. They traveled from county to county, bearing the orders of their royal master and making sure that these orders were promptly obeyed. In this way Charlemagne kept well informed as to the condition of affairs throughout his kingdom.
REVIVAL OF LEARNING UNDER CHARLEMAGNE
Charlemagne made a serious effort to revive classical culture in the West from the low state into which it had fallen during the period of the invasions. We still possess a number of laws issued by this Frankish king for the promotion of education. He founded schools in the monasteries and cathedrals, where not only the clergy but also the common people might receive some training. He formed his whole court into a palace school, in which learned men from Italy, Spain, and England gave instruction to his own children and those of his nobles. The king himself often studied with them, under the direction of his good friend, Alcuin, an Englishman and the foremost scholar in western Europe. He had the manuscripts of Latin authors collected and copied, so that the knowledge preserved in books should not be forgotten. All this civilizing work, together with the peace and order which he maintained throughout a wide territory, made his reign the most brilliant period of the early Middle Ages.
[Illustration: CATHEDRAL AT AIX-LA-CHAPELLE Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen) was the capital city and favorite residence of Charlemagne. The church which he built here was almost entirely destroyed by the Northmen in the tenth century. The octagonal building surmounted by a dome which forms the central part of the present cathedral is a restoration of the original structure. The marble columns pavements and mosaics of Charlemagne's church were brought by him from Ravenna.]
107. CHARLEMAGNE AND THE REVIVAL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, 800 A.D.
CORONATION OF CHARLEMAGNE, 800 A.D.
Charlemagne, the champion of Christendom and the foremost ruler in Europe, seemed to the men of his day the rightful successor of the Roman emperors. He had their power, and now he was to have their name. In the year 800 A.D. the Frankish king visited Rome to investigate certain accusations made against the pope, Leo III, by his enemies in the city. Charlemagne absolved Leo of all wrong-doing and restored him to his office. Afterwards, on Christmas Day Charlemagne went to old St. Peter's Church, where the pope was saying Mass. As the king, dressed in the rich robes of a Roman patrician, knelt in prayer before the high altar, the pope suddenly placed on his head a golden crown, while all the people cried out with one voice, "Long life and victory to Charles Augustus, the great and pacific emperor of the Romans, crowned by God!"
REASONS FOR THE CORONATION
Although Charlemagne appears to have been surprised by the pope's act, we know that he wished to become emperor. The imperial title would confer upon him greater dignity and honor, though not greater power, than he possessed as king of the Franks and of the Lombards. The pope, in turn, was glad to reward the man who had protected the Church and had done so much to spread the Catholic faith among the heathen. The Roman people also welcomed the coronation, because they felt that the time had come for Rome to assume her old place as the capital of the world. To reject the eastern ruler, in favor of the great Frankish king, was an emphatic method of asserting Rome's independence of Constantinople.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CORONATION
The coronation of Charlemagne was one of the most important events in medieval history. It might be thought a small matter that he should take the imperial title, when he already exercised imperial sway throughout western Europe. But Charlemagne's contemporaries believed that the old Roman Empire had now been revived, and a German king now sat on the throne once occupied by Augustus and Constantine. Henceforth there was established in the West a line of Roman emperors which lasted until the opening of the nineteenth century. [16]
CHARLEMAGNE'S EMPIRE
Charlemagne's empire was not in any true sense a continuation of the Roman Empire. It did not include the dominions over which the emperors at Constantinople were to reign for centuries. Moreover, Charlemagne and his successors on the throne had little in common with the old rulers of Rome, who spoke Latin, administered Roman law, and regarded the Germans as among their most dangerous enemies. Charlemagne's empire was, in fact, largely a new creation.
108. DISRUPTION OF CHARLEMAGNE'S EMPIRE, 814-870 A.D.
AFTER CHARLEMAGNE
The empire of Charlemagne did not long remain intact. So vast was its extent and so unlike were its inhabitants in race, language, and customs that it could be managed only by a ruler of the greatest energy and strength of will. Unfortunately, the successors of Charlemagne proved to be too weak for the task of maintaining peace and order. Western Europe now entered on a long period of confusion and violence, during which Charlemagne's possessions broke up into separate and warring kingdoms.
TREATY OF VERDUN, 843 A.D.
Charlemagne's son, Louis the Pious, who became emperor in 814 A.D., was a well-meaning but feeble ruler, better fitted for the quiet life of a monastery than for the throne. He could not control his rebellious sons, who, even during his lifetime, fought bitterly over their inheritance. The unnatural strife, which continued after his death, was temporarily settled by a treaty concluded at the city of Verdun. According to its terms Lothair, the eldest brother, received Italy and the imperial title, together with a narrow stretch of land along the valleys of the Rhine and the Rhone, between the North Sea and the Mediterranean. Louis and Charles, the other brothers, received kingdoms lying to the east and west, respectively, of Lothair's territory. The Treaty of Verdun may be said to mark the first stage in the dissolution of the Carolingian Empire.
TREATY OF MERSEN, 870 A.D.
A second treaty, made at Mersen in Holland, was entered into by Louis and Charles, after the death of their brother Lothair. They divided between themselves Lothair's kingdom north of the Alps, leaving to his young son the possession of Italy and the empty title of "emperor." The Treaty of Mersen may be said to mark the second stage in the dissolution of the Carolingian Empire. That empire, as such, had now ceased to exist.
[Illustration: Map, THE FRANKISH DOMINIONS AS DIVIDED BY THE TREATIES OF
VERDUN (843 A.D.) AND MERSEN (870 A.D.)]
IMPORTANCE OF THE TWO TREATIES
The territorial arrangements made by the treaties of Verdun and Mersen foreshadowed the future map of western Europe. The East Frankish kingdom of Louis, inhabited almost entirely by Germanic peoples, was to develop into modern Germany. The West Frankish kingdom of Charles, inhabited mainly by descendants of Romanized Gauls, was to become modern France. Lothair's kingdom, separated into two parts by the Alps, never became a national state. Italy, indeed, might be united under one government, but the long, narrow strip north of the Alps had no unity of race, no common language, and no national boundaries. It was fated to be broken into fragments and to be fought over for centuries by its stronger neighbors. Part of this territory now forms the small countries of Belgium, Holland, and Switzerland, and another part, known as Alsace and Lorraine, [17] still remains a bone of contention between France and Germany.
