FHE EASTERN NATIONS AND CREECE MYERS THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES ANCIENT HISTORY COLLEGES AND HIGH SCHOOLS. BY WILLIAM F. ALLEN AND P. V. N. MYERS. Part I. THE EASTERN NATIONS AND GREECE. BY P. V. N. MYERS, PRESIDENT GF BELMONT COLLEGE, OHIO; AUTHOR OF " MEDI/EVAL AND MODERN HISTORY." BOSTON, U.S.A.: PUBLISHED BY GINN & COMPANY. 1890. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1888, by P. V. N. MYERS, in thp Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. TVPOGRAPHY BY J. S. CUSHING & Co., BoSTON, U.S.A. Pkesswork by Ginn & Co., Boston, U.S.-\. T> M9% PREFACE TO PART FIRST. THE following pages are a revision and expansion of the corresponding part of my Outlines of Ancient History, which was published as a library book in 1882, by Messrs. Har- per «& Brothers. It is through the generous action of these publishers that I have had the advantage of making this ear- lier work the basis of the present text-book. The chapters relating to the Eastern nations have been re- written in the light of the most recent revelations of the mon- uments of Egypt and Babylonia. The connecting hnks between the history of the East and that of the West have been care- fully traced, and the influence of Oriental civilization upon the later development of the Western peoples fully indicated. It is shown that, before the East gave a religion to the West, it imparted to the younger peoples of Europe many primary ele- ments of art and general culture. This lends a sort of epic unity to a series of events and historic developments too apt to be regarded as fragmentary and unrelated, and invests the history of the old civihzations of the Orient with fresh interest and instruction. In tracing the growth of Greek civilization, while the value of the germs of culture which the Greeks received from the older nations of the East is strongly insisted upon, still it is admitted that the determining factor in the wonderful Greek develop- ment was the peculiar genius of the Greek race itself. 1375617 iv PREFACE, The references throughout the book are given, not alone with the view of directing the pupil to the sources of information, but also of making acknowledgment of indebtedness. In ad- dition to these references to the authorities I have used, I wish here to make special mention of my indebtedness to the works of George Rawlinson, Sayce, Wilkinson, Brugsch, Grote, Cur- tius, and Dr. William Smith. The maps and illustrations with which my publishers have so liberally enriched the book, have been drawn from the most authentic sources. The maps are reproductions of the admira- ble charts accompanying Professor Freeman's Historical Geog- raphy of Europe; while the cuts, which have been chosen solely with reference to their historical and illustrative value, are, in the main, selections from Prang's Illustrations of the History of Art, and Oscar Jager's Weltgeschichte. For many valuable criticisms and suggestions, I wish to ex- press my hearty thanks to Professor William F. Allen, of the University of Wisconsin, and D. H. Montgomery, Esq., of Boston. College Hill, Ohio, P^ V. N. M. Feb. 4, 1888. — TABLE OF CONTENTS. Preface iii List of Illustrations vii List of Maps ix Tables and Chronological Summaries ix Introductory : The Races and their Migrations i Part I. THE EASTERN NATIONS AND GREECE. Section I. The Eastern Nations. CHAPTER I. Political History of Ancient Egypt 15 II. Religion, Monuments, Arts, and Sciences of the Ancient Egyp- tians 34 III. The Chaldsean Monarchy 57 IV. Arts and General Culture of the Chaldseans 64 V. The Assyrian Monarchy 76 VI. Institutions, Architecture, and Literature of the Assyrians 84 VII. The Babylonian Monarchy 96 VIII. The Hebrew Nation 107 IX. The Phoenicians 120 X. Lydia 128 XI. The Persian Empire 133 XII. Institutions, Religion, and Architecture of the Ancient Persians.. 144 VI CONTENTS. Section II. — Greece. CHAPTER PAGE I. The Land and the People 152 II. The Legendary or Heroic Age 162 III. Religion of the Greeks 1 74 IV. Age of Constitutional Changes and of Colonization : Growth of Sparta and of Athens 1 86 V. The Grseco-Persian Wars 210 VI. Period of Athenian Supremacy 225 VII. The Peloponnesian War : the Spartan and the Theban Suprem- acy 242 VIII. Period of Macedonian Supremacy : Empire of Alexander 258 IX. States formed from the Empire of Alexander 273 X. Greek Architecture, Sculpture, and Painting 283 XI. Greek Literature 305 XII. Greek Philosophy and Science 327 XIII. Social Life of the Greeks 346 Index and Pronouncing Vocabulary 359 . LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE 1 View of the Attic Plains, with a Glimpse of the Acropolis of Athens. F}-otitispiece. 2. Portrait-statue of Rameses II. 26 3. Rameses II. returning in Triumph from Syria 27 4. Judgment of the Dead 41 5. The Great Hall of Columns at Karnak 45 6. Facade of Rock Temple at Ipsambul 46 7. Colossi at Thebes 47 8. Seti 1 54 Profile of 9. Rameses II 55 10. Ancient Babylonian Canals 58 11. Babylonian Brick 64 1 2. Chaldsean Tablets 68 13. Chaldaean Tablet with Parts of the Deluge Legend 73 14. Siege of a City, showing Use of Battering-ram (from Nimrud) .... 82 15. Assyrians flaying their Prisoners 86 16. Lion Hunt (from Nineveh) 87 1 7. Assyrian Royal Palace at Nineveh 90 18. Sculptures from a Gateway at Khorsabad 91 19. Birs-Nimrud 102 20. Alphabets 125 21. Tomb of Cyrus the Great 134 22. Captive Insurgents brought before Darius 138 23. The Ruins of Persepolis 149 24. The King in Combat with a Monster (from Persepolis) 150 25. Greek Warriors preparing for Battle 210 . 1 viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE 26. Themistocles 214 27. Pericles 235 28. Alcibiades 247 29. Head of Alexander the Great 262 30. Pelasgian Masonry 284 31. Doric Capital 285 32. Ionic Capital 285 33. Corinthian Capital 286 34. Athenian Youth in Procession (from the frieze of the Parthenon) . 289 35. The Acropolis at Athens (restored) 290 36. The Parthenon (present condition) 291 37. The Theatre of Dionysus at Athens 292 38. Choragic Monument of Lysicrates 293 39. Pitching the Discus or Quoit (Discobolus) 295 40. Athena Parthenos ' 296 41 Head of the Olympian Zeus by Phidias 297 42. Interior of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia 299 43. The Laocoon Group 301 44. Homer 307 45. Bacchic Procession 311 46. .^chylus 314 47. Sophocles 316 48. Herodotus 318 49. Thucydides 320 50. Demosthenes 323 51. Socrates 333 52. Plato 334 53. Aristotle 336 54. A Greek School (after a vase-painting) 347 55. Greek Tragic Figure 35 LIST OF COLORED MAPS. PAGE Ancient Egypt i6 Region of the Tigris and Euphrates 60 Kingdoms of Lydia, Media, and Babylonia, c. B.C. 590 128 Greece and her Colonies 190 Greece in the Fifth Century B.c 242 Dominions and Dependencies of Alexander, c. B.C. 323 264 Kingdom of the Successors of Alexander, c. B.C. 350 274 Sketch-map of Athens and the Long Walls 236 o>»ic TABLES AND CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARIES. PAGE Races of Mankind, with Chief Families and Peoples 13 Chronological Summary of Egyptian History 33 Table of Chaldsean, Assyrian, and Babylonian Dynasties and Kings, 106 Table of Hebrew Kings 119 Table of Kings of Media and Persia 143 Chronological Summary of Grecian History to the Death of Alexan- der the Great 272 Table of the Seleucidae and the Ptolemies 282 ANCIENT HISTORY. INTRODUCTION. THE RACES AND THEIR EARLY MIGRATIONS. Definition of History. — ^History is a narrative of the life of humanity. ' The recital properly begins at that point in the progress of mankind where clans and tribes are found gathered in the larger political units called States, or Nations. If the narrative deal chiefly with outer, public events, such as the doings of kings and the fortunes of dynasties, wars between nations, and the feuds and contentions within a state of rival political parties, then the record constitutes Political History ; if, however, the recital concern itself mainly with the real, inner life of mtions, with the progress of art, science, literature, religion, and general culture, with the growth of ideas and institutions, then it becomes a History of Civilization. But it is only the narrative that weaves the several threads of these special histories into a single and continuous story, that constitutes History in the unre- stricted meaning of the term. The present work aims to be a history in this general sense. Divisions of History. — History is usually divided into three periods, — Ancient, Mediaeval, and Modem. Ancient History begins with the earliest nations of which we can gain any cer- tain knowledge, and extends to the fall of the Roman Empire 2 INTRODUCTION. in the West, a.d. 476. Mediaeval History embraces the period, about one thousand years in length, lying between the fall of Rome and the discovery of the New World by Columbus, a.d. 1492. Modern History commences with the close of the Medi- aeval period and extends to the present time. Some prefer to date the beginning of the Modern period from the capture of Constantinople by the Turks, a.d. 1453 ; while still others speak of it in a general way as commencing about the close of the 15 th century, at which time there were many inventions and discoveries, and a great stir in the intellectual world. Antiquity of Man. — We do not know when man first came into possession of the earth. His antiquity, like the age of the planet he inhabits, is shrouded in obscurity.