Thrace. The Thracians occupied the region between the rivers Strymon and
Danube. They were more Asiatic than European in character and religion.
[C] Date uncertain.
=500 [D] (501, 502).= Rising of the Greek colonies in Ionia against the
Persians. Harpagus, who had saved Cyrus in his infancy from his
grandfather, while governor of Lydia reduced the cities of the coast.
Town after town submitted. The Tieans abandoned theirs, retiring to
Abdera in Thrace; the Phocians, after settling in Corsica, whence they
were driven by the Carthaginians and Tyrrhenians, went to Italy and
later founded Massalia (Marseilles) on the coast of Gaul. Thus the Greek
colonies became a portion of the Persian empire. The insurrection of the
Ionians continued for six years, the fate of the revolt turning at last
on the siege of Miletus.
=499 [D] (500)=. Ionian expedition against Sardis. The city was taken and
during the pillage was accidentally burned. The Ionian forces were
utterly inadequate to hold Sardis; and their return was not effected
without a serious defeat by the pursuing army of Persians.
=497.57= [D] The Latins are defeated by the Romans at Lake Regillus.
=495.= Birth of Sophocles.
=494.= The naval battle of Lade, in which the Persians defeat the Asiatic
Greeks. Fall of Miletus.
=494 (492).= First secession of the plebeians from Rome. Creation of the
tribunes of the people. See "ROME ESTABLISHED AS A REPUBLIC," i, 300.
=493 (491).= The Latins are compelled by the Romans to enter into a league
with Rome, which is threatened by the Etruscans, Volscians, and the
Æquians. The Latins obtained the name of Roman citizens; the title
disguised a real subjection, since the men who bore it had the
obligation of citizens without the rights.
=492.= [D] Mardonius heads the first Persian expedition against Greece.
=490.= Battle of Marathon, in which Darius' Persian host is overwhelmingly
defeated by Miltiades, See "THE BATTLE OF MARATHON," i, 322.
=489.= Condemnation and death of Miltiades. See "THE BATTLE OF MARATHON,"
i, 322.
=486.= Darius Hystaspes, of Persia, is succeeded on the throne by his son
Xerxes.
League of Rome with the Hernici.
=484.= [D] Birth of Herodotus, the "Father of History,"
=483.= Aristides, one of the ten leaders of the Greeks at Marathon,
ostracized through the jealousy of Themistocles.
=480.= Second Persian invasion of Greece, this time by Xerxes. Defence of
Thermopylæ by Leonidas. See "DEFENCE OF THERMOPYLÆ," i, 354. Naval
battle of Artemisium. Athens burned. The Persian fleet vanquished by
Themistocles and Eurybiades at Salamis. Retreat of Xerxes.
[D] Date uncertain.
The Carthaginians attempt the conquest of the Greek cities of Sicily.
Gelon, the tyrant of Syracuse, defeats their army at Himera.
Birth of Euripides, the celebrated Greek tragic poet.[E]
=479.= The Greeks, under the command of Pausanias, at the battle of
Platæa, crush the Persian army under the lead of Mardonius. Leotychides
and Nanthippus gain a simultaneous victory over the Persian fleet at
Mycale. End of the Persian invasion of Greece.
=478.= The tyranny of Hieron, brother of Gelon, begins at Syracuse. He was
noted as a patron of literature.
=477.= The predominance in Greece passes from Sparta to Athens, by the
formation of the Confederacy of Delos.
=474.= Hieron, of Syracuse, defeats the Etruscans near Cumæ.
=471.= Themistocles exiled from Athens, the Spartan faction having plotted
his ruin, alleging his complicity with the enemy.
Birth of Thucydides.[E]
=470 (471).= The Publilian law passed in Rome; the plebeians accorded the
right of initiating legislation in their assemblies. See "ROME
ESTABLISHED AS A REPUBLIC," i, 300.
=469.= [E] Birth of Socrates.
=468.= [E] Democracy triumphs in the cities of Sicily.
=466.= Naval victory of the Greeks, under Cimon, over the Persians at
Eurymedon. B.C. 470 Cimon had reduced Eion, after a gallant defence by
Boges, the Persian governor, who, rather than surrender, cast all his
gold and silver into the river Strymon, raised a huge pile of wood, and
on it placed the bodies of his wives, children, and slaves--all of whom
he had slain--then, having set fire thereto, he flung himself into the
flames and perished.
The Revolt of Naxos crushed by Cimon during the expedition against the
Persians.
Fall of the tyrants at Syracuse.
=465.= Murder of Xerxes I, by Artabanus, captain of his guard; accession
of Artaxerxes I to the Persian throne.
=464.= Sparta destroyed by an earthquake which shook the whole of Laconia,
opened great chasms in the ground, rolled down huge masses from the
peaks of Taygetus, and threw Sparta into a heap of ruins. Not more than
five houses are said to have remained standing. Twenty thousand persons
lost their lives by the shock. The flower of the Spartan youth was slain
by the overthrow of the building in which they were exercising.
=464-455.= The Messenian helots rise against the Spartans, taking
advantage of the confusion caused by the earthquake. This was the
beginning of the third Messenian war.
=463.= Mycenæ is reduced by the Argives, who enslave or drive away its
inhabitants.
=460.= Birth of Hippocrates, in the island of Cos, who became known as the
"Father of Medicine."
=458.= [E] Jews return from Babylonia to Jerusalem, under Ezra.
Esther, the Jewess, pleases King Ahasuerus and is made queen in place of
Vashti. This was the origin of the Jewish festival of Purim, celebrated
on the 14th and 15th of the month Adar (March).
Beginning of the Long Walls of Athens; built to protect the
communication of the city with its port. One, four miles long, ran to
the harbor of Phalerum, and others, four and one-half miles long, to the
Piræus.
=457.= Beginning of war of Corinth, Sparta, and Ægina with Athens: Battle
of Tanagra, in which the Athenians were defeated.
=456.= Athenian victory at OEnophyta; the Boeotians defeated by Myronides,
who also secures the submission of Phocis and Locris.
=455.= End of the third Messenian war.
=451.= Ion of Chios, historian and tragedian, exhibits his first drama.
[E] Date uncertain.
END OF VOLUME I
[Illustration]
[Illustration: The Sabine women--now mothers--suing for peace between
the combatants (their Roman husbands and their Sabine relations).
Painting by Jacques L. David]
[Illustration: Sphinx with Great and Second Pyramids of Gizeh
From an original photograph.]
[Illustration]
[Illustration: THE TRILINGUAL INSCRIPTION OF THE ROSETTA STONE. IN
HIEROGLYPHIC, DEMOTIC, AND GREEK CHARACTERS. BRITISH MUSEUM, LONDON.
(FOR DESCRIPTION OF THIS CUT, SEE OTHER SIDE.)]
THE ROSETTA STONE
Almost as interesting as the Rosetta Stone itself is the story of its
discovery. During the French occupation of Egypt soldiers were digging
out the foundations of a fort, and in the trench the famous tablet was
found. At the peace of Alexandra the Rosetta Stone passed to the
English, who (1801) housed it in the British Museum, where it remains.
The text when translated showed that the inscription is a "decree of the
priests of Memphis, conferring divine honors on Ptolemy V, Epiphanes,
King of Egypt, B.C. 195," on the occasion of his coronation. Further it
commands that the decree be inscribed in the sacred letters
(hieroglyphics); the alphabet of the people (enuchorial or demotic); and
Greek.
It was recognized by the trustees of the British Museum that the problem
of the Rosetta Stone was one which would test the ingenuity of the
scientists of the world to unfathom, and they promptly published a
carefully prepared copy of the entire inscription. Scholars of every
nation exhausted their learning to unravel the riddle, but beyond a few
shrewd guesses (afterward proved to be quite incorrect) nothing was
accomplished for a dozen years. The key was there, but its application
required the inspired insight of genius.
Dr. Thomas Young, the demonstrator of the vibratory nature of light, who
had perhaps the most versatile profundity of knowledge and the keenest
scientific imagination of his generation, undertook the task.
Accident had called Young's attention to the Rosetta Stone, and his
rapacity for knowledge led him to speculate as to the possible aid this
trilingual inscription might offer in the solution of Egyptian problems.
Having an amazing faculty for the acquisition of languages, he, in one
short year, had mastered Coptic, after having assured himself that it
was the nearest existing approach to the ancient Egyptian language, and
had even made a tentative attempt at the translation of the Egyptian
scroll. This was the very beginning of our knowledge of the meaning of
hieroglyphics.
The specific discoveries that Dr. Young made were: 1, That some of the
pictures of the hieroglyphics stand for the names of the objects
delineated; 2, that other pictures are at times only symbolic; 3, that
plural numbers are represented by repetition; 4, that numerals are
represented by dashes; 5, that hieroglyphics may read either from the
right or from the left, but always from the direction in which the
animals and human figures face; 6, that a graven oval ring surrounds
proper names, making a cartouche; 7, that the cartouches of the Rosetta
Stone stand for the name of Ptolemy alone; 8, that the presence of a
female figure after such cartouches always denotes the female sex; 9,
that within the cartouches the hieroglyphic symbols have an actual
phonetic value, either alphabetic or syllabic; and 10, that several
dissimilar characters may have the same phonetic value.
K A L A RE SA W SA RE M HA HER RE M T
[Illustration:
=_Kaharesapusaremkaherremt_=.
AN EGYPTIAN PROPER NAME SPELLED OUT IN FULL BY MEANS OF ALPHABETICAL AND
SYLLABIC SIGNS.]
Dr. Young was certainly on the right track, and very near the complete
discovery; unfortunately he failed to take the next step, which was to
learn that the use of an alphabet was not confined to proper names. This
grand secret Young missed; his French successor, Champollion, ferreted
it out from the foundation he had laid. The "Enigma of the Sphinx" was
practically solved, and the secrets held by the monuments of Egypt for
so many centuries were disclosed to the world. Champollion proved that
the Egyptians had developed an alphabet--neglecting the vowels, as did
also the early Semitic alphabet--centuries before the Phoenicians were
heard of in history. Some of these pictures are purely alphabetical in
character, some are otherwise symbolic. Some characters represent
syllables, others again stand as representatives of sounds, and once
again, as representatives of things; hence the difficulties and
complications it presented.