History Of Ancient Civilization Part 6

=The Satrapies.=--Oriental kings seldom concerned themselves with their subjects more than to draw money from them, levy soldiers, and collect presents; they never interfered in their local affairs.

Darius, like the rest, left each of the peoples of his empire to administer itself according to its own taste, to keep its language, its religion, its laws, often its ancient princes. But he took care to regulate the taxes which his subjects paid him. He divided all the empire into twenty[34] districts called satrapies. There were in the same satrapy peoples who differed much in language, customs, and beliefs; but each satrapy was to pay a fixed annual tribute, partly in gold and silver, partly in natural products (wheat, horses, ivory).

The satrap, or governor, had the tribute collected and sent it to the king.

=Revenues of the Empire.=--The total revenue of the king amounted to sixteen millions of dollars and this money was paid by weight. This sum was in addition to the tributes in kind. These sixteen millions of dollars, if we estimate them by the value of the metals at this time, would be equivalent to one hundred and twenty millions in our day.

With this sum the king supported his satraps, his army, his domestic servants and an extravagant court; there still remained to him every year enormous ingots of metal which acc.u.mulated in his treasuries.

The king of Persia, like all the Orientals, exercised his vanity in possessing an immense treasure.

=The Great King.=--No king had ever been so powerful and rich. The Greeks called the Persian king The Great King. Like all the monarchs of the East, the king had absolute sway over all his subjects, over the Persians as well as over tributary peoples. From Herodotus one can see how Cambyses treated the great lords at his court. "What do the Persians think of me?" said he one day to Prexaspes, whose son was his cupbearer. "Master, they load you with praises, but they believe that you have a little too strong desire for wine." "Learn," said Cambyses in anger, "whether the Persians speak the truth. If I strike in the middle of the heart of your son who is standing in the vestibule, that will show that the Persians do not know what they say." He drew his bow and struck the son of Prexaspes. The youth fell; Cambyses had the body opened to see where the shot had taken effect The arrow was found in the middle of the heart. The prince, full of joy said in derision to the father of the young man, "You see that it is the Persians who are out of their senses; tell me if you have seen anybody strike the mark with so great accuracy." "Master," replied Prexaspes, "I do not believe that even a G.o.d could shoot so surely."[35]

=Services Rendered by the Persians.=--The peoples of Asia have always paid tribute to conquerors and given allegiance to despots. The Persians, at least, rendered them a great service: in subjecting all these peoples to one master they prevented them from fighting among themselves. Under their domination we do not see a ceaseless burning of cities, devastation of fields, ma.s.sacre or wholesale enslavement of inhabitants. It was a period of peace.

=Susa and Persepolis.=--The kings of the Medes and Persians, following the example of the lords of a.s.syria, had palaces built for them. Those best known to us are the palaces at Susa and Persepolis. The ruins of Susa have been excavated by a French engineer,[36] who has discovered sculptures, capitals, and friezes in enameled bricks which give evidence of an advanced stage of art. The palace of Persepolis has left ruins of considerable ma.s.s. The rock of the hill had been fas.h.i.+oned into an enormous platform on which the palace was built. The approach to it was by a gently rising staircase so broad that ten hors.e.m.e.n could ascend riding side by side.

=Persian Architecture.=--Persian architects had copied the palaces of the a.s.syrians. At Persepolis and Susa, as in a.s.syria, are flat-roofed edifices with terraces, gates guarded by monsters carved in stone, bas-reliefs and enameled bricks, representing hunting-scenes and ceremonies. At three points, however, the Persians improved on their models:

(1) They used marble instead of brick; (2) they made in the halls painted floors of wood; (3) they erected eight columns in the form of trunks of trees, the slenderest that we know, twelve times as high as they were thick.

Thus their architecture is more elegant and lighter than that of a.s.syria.

The Persians had made little progress in the arts. But they seem to have been the most honest, the sanest, and the bravest people of the time. For two centuries they exercised in Asia a sovereignty the least cruel and the least unjust that it had ever known.

FOOTNOTES:

[28] That is, of about the same area as that part of the United States east of the Mississippi, with Minnesota and Iowa. Modern Persia is not two-thirds of this area.--ED.

[29] Most historians place Zoroaster before 1000 B.C.--ED.

[30] "I created the dog," said Ormuzd, "with a delicate scent and strong teeth, attached to man, biting the enemy to protect the herds. Thieves and wolves come not near the sheep-fold when the dog is on guard, strong in voice and defending the flocks."

[31] Certain Persian heretics of our day, on the contrary, adore only the evil G.o.d, for, they say, the principle of the good being in itself good and indulgent does not require appeasing. They are called Yezidis (wors.h.i.+ppers of the devil).

[32] Herod., i., 131.

[33] i., 138.

[34] Herodotus mentions 20, but we find as many as 31 enumerated in the inscriptions.

[35] Herod., iii., 34, 35. Compare also iii., 78, 79; and the book of Esther.

[36] M. Dieulafoi.

CHAPTER VII

THE PHNICIANS

THE PHNICIAN PEOPLE

=The Land.=--Phnicia is the narrow strip of country one hundred and fifty miles long by twenty-four to thirty wide, shut in between the sea of Syria and the high range of Lebanon. It is a succession of narrow valleys and ravines confined by abrupt hills which descend towards the sea; little torrents formed by the snows or rain-storms course through these in the early spring; in summer no water remains except in wells and cisterns. The mountains in this quarter were always covered with trees; at the summit were the renowned cedars of Lebanon, on the ridges, pines and cypresses; while lower yet palms grew even to the sea-sh.o.r.e. In the valleys flourished the olive, the vine, the fig, and the pomegranate.

=The Cities.=--At intervals along the rocky coast promontories or islands formed natural harbors. On these the Phnicians had founded their cities; Tyre and Arad were each built on a small island. The people housed themselves in dwellings six to eight stories in height.

Fresh water was ferried over in s.h.i.+ps. The other cities, Gebel, Beirut, and Sidon arose on the mainland. The soil was inadequate to support these swarms of men, and so the Phnicians were before all else seamen and traders.

=Phnician Ruins.=--Not a book of the Phnicians has come down to us, not even their sacred book. The sites of their cities have been excavated. But, in the words of the scholar sent to do this work, "Ruins are not preserved, especially in countries where people are not occupied with them," and the Syrians are not much occupied with ruins.

They have violated the tombs to remove the jewels of the dead, have demolished edifices to secure stone for building purposes, and Mussulman hatred of chiseled figures has shattered the sculptures.[37]

Very little is found beyond broken marble, cisterns, wine-presses cut in the rock and some sarcophagi hewn in rock. All this debris gives us little information and we know very little more of the Phnicians than Greek writers and Jewish prophets have taught us.

=Political Organization of the Phnicians.=--The Phnicians never built an empire. Each city had its little independent territory, its a.s.semblies, its king, and its government. For general state business each city sent delegates to Tyre, which from the thirteenth century B.C. was the princ.i.p.al city of Phnicia. The Phnicians were not a military people, and so submitted themselves to all the conquerors--Egyptians, a.s.syrians, Babylonians, Persians. They fulfilled all their obligations to them in paying tribute.

=Tyre.=--From the thirteenth century Tyre was the most notable of the cities. Its island becoming too small to contain it, a new city was built on the coast opposite. Tyrian merchants had founded colonies in every part of the Mediterranean, receiving silver from the mines of Spain and commodities from the entire ancient world. The prophet Isaiah[38] calls these traders princes; Ezekiel[39] describes the caravans which came to them from all quarters. It is Hiram, a king of Tyre, from whom Solomon asked workmen to build his palace and temple at Jerusalem.

=Carthage.=--A colony of Tyre surpa.s.sed even her in power. In the ninth century some Tyrians, exiled by a revolution, founded on the sh.o.r.e of Africa near Tunis the city of Carthage. A woman led them, Elissar, whom we call Dido (the fugitive). The inhabitants of the country, says the legend, were willing to sell her only as much land as could be covered by a bull's hide; but she cut the hide in strips so narrow that it enclosed a wide territory; and there she constructed a citadel. Situated at the centre of the Mediterranean, provided with two harbors, Carthage flourished, sent out colonies in turn, made conquests, and at last came to reign over all the coasts of Africa, Spain, and Sardinia. Everywhere she had agencies for her commerce and subjects who paid her tribute.

=The Carthaginian Army.=--To protect her colonies from the natives, to hold her subjects in check who were always ready to revolt, a strong army was necessary. But the life of a Carthaginian was too valuable to risk it without necessity. Carthage preferred to pay mercenary soldiers, recruiting them among the barbarians of her empire and among the adventurers of all countries. Her army was a bizarre aggregation in which all languages were spoken, all religions practised, and in which every soldier wore different arms and costume. There were seen Numidians clothed in lion skins which served them as couch, mounted bareback on small fleet horses, and drawing the bow with horse at full gallop; Libyans with black skins, armed with pikes; Iberians from Spain in white garments adorned with red, armed with a long pointed sword; Gauls, naked to the girdle, bearing enormous s.h.i.+elds and a rounded sword which they held in both hands; natives of the Balearic Islands, trained from infancy to sling with stones or b.a.l.l.s of lead.

The generals were Carthaginians; the government distrusted them, watched them closely, and when they were defeated, had them crucified.

=The Carthaginians.=--Carthage had two kings, but the senate was the real power, being composed of the richest merchants of the city. And so every state question for this government became a matter of commerce. The Carthaginians were hated by all other peoples, who found them cruel, greedy, and faithless. And yet, since they had a good fleet, had money to purchase soldiers, and possessed an energetic government, they succeeded in the midst of barbarous and divided peoples in maintaining their empire over the western Mediterranean for 300 years (from the sixth to the third century B.C.).

=The Phnician Religion.=--The Phnicians and the Carthaginians had a religion similar to that of the Chaldeans. The male G.o.d, Baal, is a sun-G.o.d; for the sun and the moon are in the eyes of the Phnicians the great forces which create and which destroy. Each of the cities of Phnicia has therefore its divine pair: at Sidon it is Baal Sidon (the sun) and Astoreth (the moon); at Gebel, Baal Tammouz and Baaleth; at Carthage, Baal-Hamon, and Tanith. But the same G.o.d changes his name according as he is conceived as creator or destroyer; thus Baal as destroyer is wors.h.i.+pped at Carthage under the name of Moloch. These G.o.ds, represented by idols, have their temples, altars, and priests.

As creators they are honored with orgies, with tumultuous feasts; as destroyers, by human victims. Astoreth, the great G.o.ddess of Sidon, whom they represented by the crescent of the moon and the dove, had her cult in the sacred woods. Baal Moloch is figured at Carthage as a bronze colossus with arms extended and lowered. When they wished to appease him they laid children in his hands who fell at once into a pit of fire. During the siege of Carthage by Agathocles the princ.i.p.al men of the city sacrificed to Moloch as many as two hundred of their children.

This sensual and sanguinary religion inspired other peoples with horror, but they imitated it. The Jews sacrificed to Baal on the mountains; the Greeks adored Astarte of Sidon under the name of Aphrodite, and Baal Melkhart of Tyre under the name of Herakles.

PHNICIAN COMMERCE

=Phnicians Occupations.=--Crowded into a small territory, the Phnicians gained their livelihood mainly from commerce. None of the other peoples of the East--the Egyptians, the Chaldeans, the a.s.syrians, nor the barbarian tribes of the West (Spaniards, Gauls, Italians) had a navy. The Phnicians alone in this time dared to navigate. They were the commission merchants of the old world; they went to every people to buy their merchandise and sold them in exchange the commodities of other countries. This traffic was by caravan with the East, by sea with the West.

=Caravans.=--On land the Phnicians sent caravans in three directions:

1.--Towards Arabia, from which they brought gold, agate, and onyx, incense and myrrh, and the perfumes of Arabia; pearls, spices, ivory, ebony, ostrich plumes and apes from India.

2.--Towards a.s.syria, whence came cotton and linen cloths, asphalt, precious stones, perfumery, and silk from China.

3.--Towards the Black Sea, where they went to receive horses, slaves, and copper vases made by the mountaineers of the Caucasus.

=Marine Commerce.=--For their sea commerce they built s.h.i.+ps from the cedars of Lebanon to be propelled by oars and sails. In their sailing it was not necessary to remain always in sight of the coast, for they knew how to direct their course by the polar star. Bold mariners, they pushed in their little boats to the mouth of the Mediterranean; they ventured even to pa.s.s through the strait of Gibraltar or, as the ancients called it, the Pillars of Hercules, and took the ocean course to the sh.o.r.es of England, and perhaps to Norway, Phnicians in the service of a king of Egypt started in the seventh century B.C. to circ.u.mnavigate Africa, and returned, it is said, at the end of three years by the Red Sea. An expedition issuing from Carthage skirted the coast of Africa to the Gulf of Guinea; the commander Hanno wrote an account of the voyage which is still preserved.

=Commodities.=--To civilized peoples the Phnicians sold the products of their industry. In barbarous countries they went to search for what they could not find in the Orient. On the coast of Greece they gathered sh.e.l.l-fish from which they extracted a red tint, the purple; cloths colored with purple were used among all the peoples of ancient times for garments of kings and great lords.

From Spain and Sardinia they brought the silver which the inhabitants took from the mines. Tin was necessary to make bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, but the Orient did not furnish this, and so they sought it even on the coasts of England, in the Isles of Tin (the Ca.s.siterides). In every country they procured slaves. Sometimes they bought them, as lately the slavers bought negroes on the coast of Africa, for all the peoples of this time made commerce in slaves; sometimes they swooped down on a coast, threw themselves on the women and children and carried them off to be retained in their own cities or to be sold abroad; for on occasion they were pirates and did not scruple to plunder strangers.

=The Secrets Kept by the Phnicians.=--The Phnicians did not care to have mariners of other peoples come into compet.i.tion with them. On the return from these far countries they concealed the road which they had travelled. No one in antiquity knew where were the famous Isles of the Ca.s.siterides from which they got their tin. It was by chance that a Greek s.h.i.+p discovered Spain, with which the Phnicians had traded for centuries. Carthage drowned the foreign merchants whom they found in Sardinia or on the sh.o.r.e of Gibraltar. Once a Carthaginian merchantman, seeing a strange s.h.i.+p following it, was run aground by the pilot that the foreigner might not see where he was going.

=Colonies.=--In the countries where they traded, the Phnicians founded factories, or branch-houses. They were fortified posts on a natural harbor. There they landed their merchandise, ordinarily cloths, pottery, ornaments, and idols.[40] The natives brought down their commodities and an exchange was made, just as now European merchants do with the negroes of Africa. There were Phnician markets in Cyprus, in Egypt, and in all the then barbarous countries of the Mediterranean--in Crete, Greece, Sicily, Africa, Malta, Sardinia, on the coasts of Spain at Malaga and Cadiz, and perhaps in Gaul at Monaco. Often around these Phnician buildings the natives set up their cabins and the mart became a city. The inhabitants adopted the Phnician G.o.ds, and even after the city had become Greek, the cult of the dove-G.o.ddess was found there (as in Cythera), that of the G.o.d Melkhart (as at Corinth), or of the G.o.d with the bull-face that devours human victims (as in Crete).