Early European History Part 14

[14] Superst.i.tious people who try to read their fate in the stars are really practicing an art of Babylonian origin.

EGYPTIAN ANIMAL WORs.h.i.+P

Less influential in later times was the animal wors.h.i.+p 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 wors.h.i.+p because deities were supposed to dwell in them. The larger number, however, were not wors.h.i.+ped for themselves, but as symbols of different G.o.ds.

MONOTHEISM IN PERSIA

In the midst of such an a.s.semblage of nature deities, spirits, and sacred animals, it was remarkable that the belief in one G.o.d 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 G.o.d 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]

[Ill.u.s.tration: AMENHOTEP IV A striking likeness of an Egyptian king (reigned about 1375-1358 B.C.) who endeavored to introduce monotheism in Egypt by abolis.h.i.+ng the wors.h.i.+p of all G.o.ds except the sun G.o.d. 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 wors.h.i.+p of their G.o.d, 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 wors.h.i.+pers did not deny the existence of the G.o.ds 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 a.s.sociated 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 G.o.ds, borne false witness, ill treated his parents, or committed certain other wrongs, his soul would enjoy a blissful immortality.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MUMMY AND COVER OF COFFIN (U.S. National Museum, Was.h.i.+ngton)]

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 pa.s.sed 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE JUDGMENT OF THE DEAD From a papyrus containing the _Book of the Dead_. The ill.u.s.tration shows a man and his wife (at the left) entering the hall in the spirit world, where sits the G.o.d of the dead with forty two jurors (seen above) as his a.s.sistants. The heart of the man, symbolized by a jar, is being weighed in balances by a jackal-headed G.o.d 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 G.o.d 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 s.h.i.+ne and made it the ruler of the night. His last work was the creation of man, in order that the service and wors.h.i.+p of the G.o.ds might be established forever. The second epic contains an account of a flood, sent by the G.o.ds 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 pa.s.sage leading into another open court. Lower rooms at the rear of the temple contained the sanctuary of the G.o.d, 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 G.o.ds. 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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-cla.s.s official.]

ARCHITECTURE IN BABYLONIA AND a.s.sYRIA

The architecture of Babylonia and a.s.syria was totally unlike that of Egypt, because brick, and not stone, formed the chief building and a.s.syria 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 a.s.syria 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]

[Ill.u.s.tration: AN a.s.sYRIAN 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 a.s.sYRIA

Few examples have reached us of Babylonian and a.s.syrian sculpture in the round. As in Egypt, the figures seem rigid and out of proportion. The a.s.syrian 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: AN a.s.sYRIAN WINGED HUMAN HEADED BULL]

[Ill.u.s.tration: AN a.s.sYRIAN 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 ill.u.s.trates 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 compa.s.s. 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 pa.s.sage of the hours by day, the other by night. The Egyptians and Babylonians also made some progress in the practice of medicine.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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.'