The Ancient History of the East - Earliest Times to Alexander the Great PDF
Preview The Ancient History of the East - Earliest Times to Alexander the Great
LIBRARY The Student's Ancient History. THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE EAST. FROM TilE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE CONQUEST BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT. INCLUDING EGYPT, ASSYRIA, BABYLONIx\, MEDIA, PERSIiV ASIA .MINOR, AND PIICENICIA. By PHILIP smith, B.A., AUTJIOK OF TUE "uiBTOliY OF TUE WOELD." Early AssyrianChariot. Illustrated by Engravings on Wood. HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK AND LONDON, 1899. AssyrianCylinder. PREFACE A KNOWLEDGE ofthe Histoiy ofthe East is indispensable to the student of Classical Literature. In the earliest rec- — ords,he meets with doubt—ful traditions and further study reveals undoubted signs of older forms of civilization, which helped to determine those of Greece and Rome. Egypt and Phoenicia loom up, however vaguely,in what he learns of the origin of Greek society, arts, and letters. The earliest and noblest poetry of Greece and ofthe world, as well as the legend of Rome's original,bring him at once in contact with an Asiatic kingdom, of whose real existence even he is left in doubt. As his first reading ofGreek poet- ry excites his curiosity about Troy,so his earliest lessons in Greek prose plunge him into the midst of the history of Persia,and into the heart ofthe region ofthe great Eastern empires. His first guide to the history of Greece is an au- — thor who with a wise prescience of that method of study — which we have only learned oflate carries him at once to Assyria and Babylon,Egypt and Libya,Lydia and Persia, that, in the light of the knOAvledge of the East, he may see the true meaning of the victories which form the glory of the history of Greece. And, at every succeeding step, he finds himself in contact with Oriental forms of government and civilization,and he learns that the victories of Alexan- der, Scipio, and Augustus were the decisive steps in the great conflict between E?^t^i;i] ^lOil Western principles of '^ ill} it social life. PKEFACE. viii Clearly, therefore,he has learned but halfthe lesson ofan cient history, so long as he sees the Oriental element only in that background which is all that can be allotted to it in the special histories of Greece and Rome. To present the other halfis the object of the present work, which is design- ed to be at once a necessary supplement to those histories, and a sketch of the Oriental states which deserve study for their own intrinsic interest. That interest has been immeasurably increased, within the period of one generation,by those wonderful discoveries in — hieroglyphic and cuneiform literature which at least in the principles of interpretation and in a large mass of positive — results have outlived the stage ofincredulity,and become a recognized branch of ancient learning. That the results thus gained may be made more clear and interesting, the present work contains some account of the processes ofdis- covery. How much the interest of these discoveries is en- hanced by the light they throw upon Scripture history, will be apr^&rent to every reader ofthe following pages. — The diversities of interpretation though based on the sawie essential ])rinciples,and leading to results for the most — part wonderfully consistent have given rise to what may be almost called two schools of cuneiform scholarship the : English, headed by Sir Henry C. Raavlinson, and the French,headed by M. Jules Oppert. The authorities quot- ed in the following pages will show the desire of the writer to use the best results of the labors of both schools. The — nature of these inquiries so novel, and still in a state so — progressive has made it necessary to give authorities and explanatory notes more fully than in other volumes ofthis series. The advanced student, for whom this work is de- signed,will thus be aided to distinguish certain from doubt- ful results, and will see the lines along which his further studies should be directed. The work is based on an independent study ofthe ancient writers, and a careful use of the best modern authorities. Great advantage has,ofcourse, been derived from the inval-
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