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.