Book VIII. History of the World. CHAPTER I. BEFORE THE CHRISTIAN ERA. ASSYRIA-MEDIA-BABYLON-ASIA MINOR-SYRIA-EGYPT-CARTHAGE-PERSIA-WAR WITH CARTHAGE-DOMESTIC TROUBLES THE TRIUMVIRS-THE EMPIRE. HERE the human race was cradled, and where civilization had its origin, is a secret of the unknown past. Asia, Africa and Central America all have claims to the distinction. The consensus of accessible evidence, however, places the earliest organized society on the shores of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea and of the Persian Gulf. The earliest of the Asiatic Monarchies sprang up in the great plane at the head of the Persian Gulf. Here Moses places the first "kingdom," and a Chaldean Monarchy was established probably as early as 2000 B. C. The Hebrew records give Nimrod as the founder of this kingdom. There were forty-nine Chaldean monarchs, whose reigns covered the space of from about 2000 to 1543 B. C. They were the builders of the most ancient edifices now existing in that country, and their date was long before the time of Sennacherib and Nebuchadnezzar. After the years had borne sway they were succeeded by Arabs, who held the dominion for 245 years, when they too were superseded by the Assyrians. These ruled for 526 years, and then the Chaldeans became free and independent again. Assyria. The beginning of the Assyrian Empire is lost in the mists of antiquity. The first great king of whom much is known was Sardanapalus. He was a great conqueror, who fought many foreign wars in Armenia, Syria and Babylonia, received the submission of the chief Phoenican towns and built a great palace at Calah. Ivalush, about 800 B. C., was another warlike monarch. He conquered Damascus, and received tribute from Samaria, Philistia and Edom. Babylon also acknowledged his sovereignty. His wife bore the name of Semiramis. The closing era of the Assyrian monarchy was a splendid one, but came to a sudden end. Among its kings were Sargon, Sennacherib and the second Sardanapalus. Another was the second Tiglath-pileser, who is mentioned in the Bible. Distant expeditions were resumed and the arms of Assyria carried into new regions. Naval expeditions were undertaken in both the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf. Cyprus was conquered and the Assyrian monarchs numbered Greeks among their subjects. Almost all the kings of this period came into contact with the Jews. But at last great hordes of Scythians invaded the Empire from the north and almost prostrated it. Before it could recover from this blow its old enemy, Media, fell upon it, and with the assistance of Babylon effected its downfall about 625 B. C. Media. Little is known of the early history of Media. About the ninth century B. C. it was attacked by the Assyrians, and in the time of Sargon, about 710 B. C., it was partially conquered, and some of the Jews who had been taken captive by the Assyrians were settled in it. About 650 B. C. the Medes began to assume the aggressive against Assyria, and at the fall of Nineveh they shared with the Babylonians supreme power in the western Asia. The revolt of the Persians under Cyrus brought the Median Empire to an end in 558 B. C., but Media remained thereafter for many years the most important of the Persian provinces. Babylon. After the conquest of Babylonia by the Assyrians, about 1250 B. C., an Assyrian dynasty was established at Babylon and the country was long subject to the Kings of Nineveh. Later Babylonia was not only an independent kingdom, but was the head of a great empire. At the fall of Nineveh it seized upon a large share of the spoils of the Assyrian Empire, taking the Euphrates Valley, Syria, Phoenicia and Palestine. A brilliant period followed. Attacked by Egypt, the Babylonians not only repelled the aggressor, but actually invaded the Egyptian Empire and inflicted severe blows upon it. The Babylonian Empire flourished until the rise of Cyrus, the Persian. At that time its ruler, Belshazzar, was a weak and effeminate prince, who neglected properly to defend his capital. Cyrus gained an easy victory and Babylon became a province of the Persian Empire. Asia Minor. The most powerful state in Asia Minor in early times seems to have been Phrygia. Its people were brave but somewhat brutal. Its monarchs bore alternately the two names of Gordias and Midas. It was conquered and became a province of Lydia about 560 B. C. Cilicia was likewise the seat of a monarchy before the time of Cyrus, but became subject to Persia in the reign of Cambyses. Ultimately the most important of all the kingdoms of Asia Minor was Lydia. According to the accounts which Herodotus followed, a Lydian Kingdom existed from very ancient times. The last Lydian monarch, Croesus, was conquered by Cyrus B. C. 554. Phoenicia was one of the most important countries of the ancient world. In her the commercial spirit first showed itself as the dominant spirit of a nation. She was the carrier between the East and the West, in the ages before the first appearance of the Greeks as navigators. Her chief cities were Tyre, Sidon, Berytus, Byblus, Tripolis and Aradus. Of these Sidon was the most ancient, and prior to 1050 B. C. was the most flourishing of all. The precedency enjoyed by Sidon afterward devolved upon Tyre. The defeat of Sidon by the Philistines caused the transfer of power. About 743 B. C. the passive submission of Phoenicia to the Assyrian yoke began to be exchanged for an impatience of it, and frequently efforts were made from this date until the fall of Nineveh to establish Phoenician independence. Nebuchadnezzar added Phoenicia to Babylon and the country remained thus subjected until the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus. Syria. Until it was made a province of the Persian Empire, Syria was a mere cluster of semi-independent states. The chief of these was Damascus, the capital city of which was at least as old as the time of Abraham. This state was powerful enough to escape absorption into the Jewish Empire of Solomon, but finally fell before the attacks of Tiglath-pileser, about 732 B. C. The story of Palestine and its inhabitants, the Jews, need not be rehearsed in this place as it is fully given in the stories of the Bible. Egypt. One of the most ancient of all nations was Egypt-how old it is impossible to say. The early establishment of a monarchical government there is indicated in the Bible by the mention of a Pharaoh as contemporary with Abraham. The Egyptian priests themselves claimed for the monarchy in the time of Herodotus an age of more than 11,000 years. In early times Egypt was divided into a number of kingdoms each with its own separate dynasty, so that of the thirty dynasties recorded before the Macedonian conquest several were all the time ruling simultaneously. It was during the first six dynasties that the most noted pyramids were built, as tombs of the Kings. The fourth dynasty, which had its seat at Memphis, is especially known as the pyramid dynasty, and its date is variously set at from 2440 to 3209 B. C. About 2080 B. C., or a little later, a powerful enemy entered Egypt from the northeast and subdued the greater part of the Empire. These were the so-called Shepherd Kings, wanderers from Syria or Arabia, who destroyed most of the Egyptian cities and nearly exterminated the male population, making slaves of the women and children. Native Egyptian dynasties continued, however, to hold their own in the far south. The city of Thebes accordingly rose at this time to preeminence, and after many years headed a movement for the expulsion of the Shepherd Kings. This was accomplished about 1525 B. C. Thebes then became the capital of all Egypt and the most flourishing period of Egyptian history followed. The great temple palaces of Thebes were built, and the obelisks were erected. Ethiopia, Arabia and Syria were invaded, the Euphrates was crossed, and a portion of Mesopotamia was added to the Egyptian Empire. Thothmes III was one of the greatest rulers of this dynasty. He was the invader of Mesopotamia and he built the great temples at Karnak, Thebes, Memphis and elsewhere. Thothmes IV was another great sovereign who led many military expeditions and constructed the famous Sphinx. Amunoph III also deserves notice as a military conqueror and the maker of the great statue of Memnon. Under the nineteenth dynasty Egypt reached the height of her power and glory. Under the twentieth she rapidly sank, and after 1100 B. C. played a comparatively small part in the history of the world. After that date Egypt was conquered successively by the Ethiopians and the Assyrians. Carthage. The foundation of Carthage was probably about 850 B. C. It was a colony of Tyre, founded because of political differences in the mother country. It rapidly rose to commercial and military importance and extended its influence over Western Sicily, nearly all the other islands of the Western Mediterranean, and the northern coast of Africa. Toward the middle of the sixth century B. C. jealousies and conflicts arose between Carthage and Greece, and then to strengthen herself against the rising power of Greece, Carthage made an alliance with Rome, the latter being then under the Tarquins. The extent of Carthaginian commerce was enormous. It reached northward to England, eastward to Phoenicia, westward to the Canary Islands, and southward almost to the Soudan. Persia. The Persians appeared to have formed a part of the great host which migrated westward from Bokhara in very early times. About a century before Cyrus the Persian monarchy was established by a chieftain named Achamenes, who founded an important dynasty. Until the time of Cyrus, however, the Persian Kings were in some measure subject to the Medians. Cyrus himself lived at first as a sort of hostage at the Median Court, and could not leave it without permission. But at length, seeing the weak character of the King of Media and the decay of the military spirit among the Medes he determined to revolt and make Persia an independent power. Finding this easily accomplished he went further and subdued the Medes, and made Persia the head of a new empire. His successor was Cambyses, a warlike prince who greatly extended his realm. He conquered Egypt, and marched against Carthage, but was overwhelmed by sandstorms in the desert and driven back. A similar disaster in the Nubian Desert checked his march against Ethiopia. Then a revolt arose against him in Persia and he committed suicide. After a revolutionary interregnum of a few months, Darius |