Early European History Part 12

18. Trace on the map facing page 40 the course of the Royal Road, noting the countries through which it pa.s.sed.

FOOTNOTES

[1] Webster, _Readings in Ancient History_, chapter ii, "The Founders of the Persian Empire: Cyrus, Cambyses, and Darius."

[2] See page 16.

[3] See page 39.

[4] See page 125.

[5] Herodotus, i, 193.

[6] See page 8.

[7] It is interesting to note that Hebrew tradition (_Genesis_, ii, 8-15) places Paradise, the garden of G.o.d and original home of man, in southern Babylonia. The ancient name for this district was Edin (Eden).

[8] The problem of regulating the Nile inundation so as to distribute the water for irrigation when and where it is most needed has been solved by the building of the a.s.suan dam. It lies across the head of the first cataract for a distance of a mile and a quarter, and creates a lake two hundred and forty miles in length. This great work was completed in 1912 A.D. by the British officials who now control Egypt.

[9] See page 50.

[10] Judges, xvii, 6.

[11] 2 _Kings_, xix, 35. See Byron's poem, _The Destruction of Sennacherib_.

[12] See page 29.

[13] See page 21.

[14] Herodotus, viii, 98.

[15] See chapter v.

CHAPTER III

ORIENTAL CIVILIZATION [1]

13. SOCIAL CLa.s.sES

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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 G.o.d. 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 G.o.ds. 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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.]

n.o.bLES AND PRIESTS

Besides the monarch and the royal family there was generally in Oriental countries an upper cla.s.s 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 n.o.bles. 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 n.o.bility supported by the income from landed property.

THE MIDDLE CLa.s.s

The middle cla.s.s 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 cla.s.s 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 n.o.bles 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 ca.n.a.ls, and erecting vast palaces and temples. The servile cla.s.s in Egypt was not as numerous as in Babylonia, and slavery itself seems to have a.s.sumed there a somewhat milder form.

[Ill.u.s.tration: TRANSPORT OF AN a.s.sYRIAN 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 gla.s.s 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."