*^***<**'*<*'*''*****''<''l*'l^>j******'"**'<M'll***'*'*M<M^**1"*'^^ """""pj"**""
&3&^JSs*g&*zalU^
Is
HUTCHINSON'S STORY OF THE NATIONS
to
of tbe
of Toronto
bs
flfcre. 3. 5. *art
c
nii i,<i ('<Tr'x/ir/i«f/;»| [iiv j»rm iMtiim oj The Merlin P/totoffrapMc Co., l.<>n<t»n. II .
NAPOLEON WATCHING THE FIRE OF MOSCOW.
After thr victory of Borodino, Napoleon entered Moscow on September 14, 1812, and took up his residence in Hie Kremlin.
From the first day of his occupation flre broke out in different quarters, and three days later tin > ii \ \\;i- in flames. The Kremlin
was surrounded by flre, Its windows burst with the heat, and it was only witli tirat difficulty that Napoleon's own quarters
\v-rc preserved.
HUTCHINSON'S
STORY of the NATIONS
containing
THE EGYPTIANS
THE CHINESE
INDIA
THE BABYLONIAN NATION
THE HITTITES
THE ASSYRIANS
THE PHOENICIANS AND
THE CARTHAGINIANS
THE PHRYGIANS, THE
LYDIANS, AND OTHER
NATIONS OF ASIA MINOR
LONDON:
HUTCHINSON & CO. (Publishers), LTD.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE EGYPTIANS by Professor Flinders Petrie, D.C.L., Litt.D.,
LLD., Ph.D., F.R.S., F.B.A 3
Dates of Egyptian History . . . .. . . . 1,2
II. THE CHINESE by Professor H. A. Giles, M.A., LLD. . . 71
Dates of Chinese History 69,70
III. INDIA Edited by Lord Meston, K.C.S.I., LLD., etc. . . 123
Dates of Indian History ...... 121, 122
IV. THE BABYLONIAN NATION Edited by Chauncey P. T.
Winckworth, M.A. ... 223
V. THE HITTITES Edited by Chauncey P. T. Winckworth, M.A. 275
Dates of Hittite History 277
Table of the Kings of Assyria . . ... 277
VI. THE ASSYRIANS Edited by Chauncey P. T. Winckworth, M.A. 285
VII. THE PHOENICIANS AND THE CARTHAGINIANS Edited by
Bertrand L. Hallward, M.A 317
Dates of Phoenician and Carthaginian History . . 315, 316
VIII. THE PHRYGIANS, THE LYDIANS, AND OTHER NATIONS
OF ASIA MINOR Edited by Chauncey P. T. Winckworth,
M.A 348
Dates in the History of Asia Minor 347
These sub-contents appear also in HUTCHINSON'S
STORY OF THE NATIONS (in 3 vols.) and the
pages mentioned herein refer to their position in
that Work
From, a Photograph.] [By permission of the "Dailv Mail"
THE SINKING OF THE BLOCBER.
During the Great War, 1914-18, the British Navy maintained a constant guard in the North Soa with the object of prevent-
ing the escape of the German ships from their rortifled bases. On the few occasions that the latter attempted to emerge, they
were diiven back with loss. At the Battle of Dogger Bank, January 24th, 1915, the German Cruiser Blacker was sunk and
two battle cruisers badly damaged. As the Blitcher went down the members of the orew could be seen clinging to the sides
of the vessel.
A PHILOSOPHER once said
•**-t hat his heart was in the Past,
his body in the Present, and his
soul in the Future. He was not a
humorist, nor was he indulging in a
high-sounding phrase which should
impress the ignorant. He was
merely condensing into one sen-
tence Man's debt to the Past, his
identity with the Present, and his
responsibilities to the Future. The
story of how we make the future
is Prophecy ; the story of how
the past makes us is History.
When once we realize that we are
ourselves the result of all that
has gone before, History ceases to
be a cold informal narrative and
becomes a vivid intimate reality.
But when we look back — per-
haps fifty years — on our own life, it
may be difficult to visualize it, to
recall our wishes, feelings, and out-
look under conditions that have
changed. Still more difficult is it to
realize the lives of our forefathers,
where hearsay and reading are the
substitutes for personal knowledge.
For earlier ages, where we have to
gather our ideas in fragments from
scattered details, andjput them
INTRODUCTION
fainted by Alma Tadema.]
[By permission of The Berlin Photographic Co.
THE FINDING OF THE INFANT MOSES.
It is generally believed that Moses was born in the early half ot thi
fourteenth century B.C., when the Egyptians were attempting to reduce the
population of the Israelites. Tradition relates that the mother of Moses secured
his safety by contriving that he should be ound by the Pharaoh's daughter, who
took him under her protection.
il
Story of the Nations
laboriously together, the task is one .to be done by the scholar, for him to present to other men with
as much fidelity as possible.
The modern historian who writes on the early history of human progress has been compelled to gather
his information from a variety of sources. The earliest chronicles were^based on oral tradition, and
when facts can be discovered in them they are generally blended with legends, highly valuable and
interesting in themselves, but
unreliable for the historian's
purpose. Herodotus, called the
father of history, wrote an ac-
count of the struggles between
the Greeks and Barbarians, one
of the oldest literary historical
works extant. But there are
older and more reliable his-
torical records which, though
not literary, are none the less
eloquent. The geologist and
the archaeologist are the chief
coadjutors of the modern his-
torian of early man. The
former, in tracing the phases of
the earth's history, has enabled
the historian to approximate
when man first appeared on
this planet. He can see, more-
over, that under the stress of
the great Ice Age, when the
conditions of living must have
been very rigorous, man was
compelled to migrate as the
glacial sheet approached, and
that he appears to have made
^ more progress proportionately
Y4* *&?- *• ! during this Period than he
did either just preceding that
cataclysm, or for many years
after.
He can help us as to the
sequence of the different periods
of his existence. But it is
tolerably certain that his pro-
gress was so slow as to be
almost imperceptible to a
dweller in those ages ; he could
not have known what was
understood by the meaning of "change" or "progress". And so remote was the period in which
he lived that, compared with it the hoary antiquity of Egypt — probably the oldest civilization in
the world — seems to be robbed of its antiquity and to appear as a settlement but of yesterday.
In the path of the geologist follows the archaeologist, whose "spade-work" is concerned not with rock
and ice formations but with the remains of the actual buildings and works of art left behind as unlying
witnesses of the ancient civilizations.
When the modern historian came to study the earliest civilizations of Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia
and Persia, he found that most of his information had to be literally unearthed, for it lay under the sandy
From the Painting by Sir W. Orpen Ii.A.\
[By permission of the Imperial ll'nr
Museum Huuth Kensington.
THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES, 1919
The treaty with Germany which brought the Great War to an end was signed in
the Hall of Mirrors Versailles, on Juno 28th, 1919. By it a number of terr.torial
changes were made, including the creation ol several new States. The chief
signatories can be seen in the picture, including Mr. Lloyd George, Mi-, lionar Law,
and Mr. A. J. Balfour (Lord Balfour), representing Great Britain ; M. Clemenceau
(France) ; and President Wilson (America). Dr. Johannes Hell (Germany) is signing
the document.
IV
Story of the Nations
deserts of Egypt or the desolate plains of Assyria. The sacred inscriptions of the Ancient Egyptians
baffled the efforts of all those who attempted to decipher them, when in 1799 some of Napoleon's men
in Egypt'discovered what is known as the "Rosetta Stone", containing a key to the hieroglyphic or sacred
writings of the priests. In 1822 Champollion, a French savant, with the aid of this key, deciphered the
word Cleopatra ; he and others afterwards continued their studies, which subsequently led to revealing
these writings to the world.
Bu permission of] [The Berlin Pho agraphic Co., London, W
FREDERICK THE GREAT SURPRISING THE AUSTRIAN OFFICERS.
In 1757 Frederick the Great completely routed the Austrian army at Leuthen. The same evening he threwltwo_battalions
of Grenadiers into Lissa and, accompanied by some of his staff, entered the castle where the Austrian officers were assembled.
So thunderstruck were they at this unexpected appearance that they immediately yielded up their swords, although they might
easily have seized the whole party.
The first thing that we must bring to the reading of history is the conviction that at every stage it
was a living present, with men and women striving for what seemed to them to be the most necessary
and real ends of life. Even in an age of frivolity and pleasure such enjoyments seemed to be the most
urgent matters to those who shared in them. In every society into which we project ourselves by the
witchery of reading — forgetting all the present form of things around us — the actors were just as absorb-
ingly occupied as are the people of our day in their business and pleasures. We do not think the rest
of the world unreal because we happen to be encompassed by four walls where we sit ; nor should we
think other times in the least less real than our own because we do not happen to see them enacted.
That "all the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players" is the poet's view of history,
but not the standpoint from which the serious reader should regard the subject. The past is the mirror
of the present, not its plaything. If any of us has doubts as to the reality of life in bygone days let
Introduction
Painted by Alma Tadema.] [tiy permission of Tne Jitrun r/toioi/ratt/tic C'o.,
AVE C.ESAR, IO SATURNALIA
At the time of Emperor Caliguia's murder, Claudius, his uncle, had hidden in an obscure corner, fearing lest ho also should
lose his life. When found by the soldiers, he begged for life. "Bo our emperor," they answered, and carried him trembling
to the camp. Here he plucked up sufficient courage to address them, and procured their allegiance by promises of money and
good rule.
him read the pathetic inscriptions left in the Roman catacombs by the early Christians in memory of
their martyred comrades, or let him stroll through the streets of dead Pompeii, past the shops and taverns,
and stop before each of the many posters on which the tradesmen and politicians of the little provincial
city proclaimed their wares. Little effort of imagination will be required to conjure up a vision of the
past, to repeople those deserted streets, to restore the familiar sights and sounds. The sudden trans-
formation annihilates Time and bridges Space, and through the mists of eighteen hundred years one
fact stands clear, the essential oneness of the human race.
It is this presentation of the past like a chapter of_everyday life around us which is the guiding line
By F. a. Vridgman.] iB" permission of Goupil rf- Co.
THE PASTIME OK AN ASSYRIAN KIXC.
In addition to protecting his people against foreign invasion, it was tlir duty of an Assyrian Kin,' to clear the land of li.m^
and other wild animals. Hunting thus became a royal sport, and to embl<> the'Kini; to improve hi" skill Itmst- \virecaptured
and turned into the arena.
VI
Story of the Nations
of the STORY OF THE NATIONS, and which artist and historian have tried to portray with as much fidelity
as possible.
To enter into the past and live its life again we must try to feel that at every period it appeared to
those who lived in it to be the summing-up of all that went before, as our own present seems to us. To
each age everything before it seemed to have reached its climax in its own day, and the future was
ignored, considered superfluous — unimportant — incomprehensible : "Why should anyone wish to change
this present ?" has been the incredulous question of every age. When we look at Henry the Seventh's
chapel we should see it as the builder did, the most glorious consummation of architecture that he could
conceive, and a worthy setting to the eternal Masses which should ensure the felicity of his soul. We
must shut our minds entirely to the future, when the next generation swept away the chantries and the
motive of the building was gone.
Again, we should regard the Roman occupation of Britain — the camps, the villas, and the spread
of Latin civilization — as the Britons themselves regarded it. We should enter into their feelings of awe
Painted bv H. P. Delaroche.] [/•/»</.. '.;/ CHnuttm,
THE ASSASSINATION OF THE DUC DE GUISE, 1588.
At three o'clock in the morning the Kinir summoned Henri, Due tie Guise, wim. as head of the Catholic League, was the
most influential person in France. As the Duke entered the Chateau a note of warning, the sixteenth since the previous evening,
was thrust into his hand, but he ignored it. As he left the antechamber he was stabbed, ami Henri III, who had not dared
to face him when he lived, kicked his dead body, exclaiming : "Now I am King of France ; the King of Paris is dead."
and admiration of what must have appeared to them the very acme of luxury and power. We must
forget that the future was to show how rotten was the fabric and how easily the Saxon barbarians would
rend it in twain. So the Egyptians of the time of the Pyramids felt as if they had reached the climax
of everything possible in the immense works they had created. What more could man do ? To the
clans of the Prehistoric -Age even the unity of the Nile Valley must have been a mere dream ; their
agriculture, their triumphs of stone-working, their weaving and housing, well seemed to sum up all that
man could need and to be the ultimate development to which barbarians around them should be led
to conform. This sense of finality in each age we should try to grasp if we are to enter into the reality
of its life. •,
Many readers may have a feeling th:it all history is su long ago that a lifetime is a mere speck in the
roll of ages ; they stand aghast at the idea of even a few thousands ul years, and will not try to imagine
what seems so immeasurable. To bring the range of History within the imagination let us take a chain
of comparisons. To some of us the French Revolution and Napoleon are living matters, as we remember
Vlll
Story of the Nations
hearing of them from those who were contemporaries. In the same way our grandfathers heard of the
Restoration and the Fire of London from their grandfathers. The Fire of London is half-way back to
Prince Hal and the French wars. Prince Hal is half-way back to King Alfred ; Alfred is half-way to
the boyhood of Julius Caesar, where we touch the beginning of history in our own land. Julius Caesar
is half-way to Abraham, and Abraham is half-way to the later Prehistoric Age of Egypt. Six stages,
each double of that already named, take us back from living cognizance to before the earliest history-
began. Mankind is but a thing of recent times, and all history is a mere film on the depth of the
world's age..
To take a scale to cover all the time we know of, let us put an inch for the longest memory
of a century, each year easily visible in it. Then the beginning of History in the First Dynasty of Egypt
will be six feet on our scale ; the beginning of mankind may be perhaps a furlong or two distant ; while
By permission of] [The Illustrated London News.
THE SINKING Ofr"THE LUSITANIA, 1915.
The action of the German submarines in torpedoing passenger vessels without providing for the safety of the occup ants
was a defiance of International Law, and did much to turn world opinion in favour of the Allies. The most spectacular event
of this submarine warfare was the sinking of the Cunard liner Ltisitania off the coast of Ireland in May 1915. The heavy
loss of American lives was the chief cause of the ultimate entry of America into the war.
we must lengthen our scale as far as the whole length or width of England to represent the age of the
oldest rocks. Or, to put it in another form, if every tick of one second of a clock were taken as a year,
then a week or two would represent the duration of mankind, and half a century would be in proportion
to the age of the oldest rocks.
It should be borne in mind that the word History is often used in two different senses. When we
speak of pre-historic, we limit history to the artificial meaning of a written document. But the real
meaning of historia is any inquiry, narrative, or study of connected events, a meaning which we rightly
hold to in the term Natural History. Though to older writers there seemed no means of history except
the written record, yet the last generation or two has developed an entirely new apparatus of knowledge
in interpreting material facts about man and nature. We now look on any country which man has
inhabited as containing his history preserved in material form which only needs search and comparison
to trace out and reduce to a written story of connected events.
One great result of this change is that History is no longer regarded as the preserve of the professors,
but as a vast museum of human nature with an interest and an appeal to all. Each of us, according
Introduction
IX
Photo by Henry J. Mullen, Lid. (Bu kin/I inrmission of Sir Itilry Lord.
CHARLES I GOING TO EXECUTION.
Early in January 1649, Charles I, one of the best of men anil worst of rulers. wa« impeached for high treason for having
made war on Parliament and the English people. On the 27th instant he was declared guilty, and his execution took place In
front of the Palace of Whitehall three days later.
to his particular tastes and hobbies, can find in the inexhaustible mine of man's story the treasures that
he seeks and values most. One man cares little or nothing about what men have done in the past, but
very much about what they have thought. He is not concerned with social and political events, and
From the painting bti F. A. Bridgman.] [/>';/ kinrl permission of Goupil d- Co.
THE SACRED PROCESSION OF API.S OSIRIS.
When the Egyptian Priests had determined upon a bull which by reason of its marking they deemed sacred to Apis Osiris,
it was conveyed by boat to his temple After It had been anointed and clad in the most gorgeous garments, it became the most
sacred object in the religious processions and ceremonies.
Story of the Nations
the great scenes that grip the imagination leave him cold. His business is with the evolution of thought,
his purpose an analysis of the various modes in which man has addressed himself to the problem
of the ultimate reality of
things. His heroes are the
philosophers, not the men of
action.
Another takes the history
of Religion for his province.
He inquires into the rise, pro-
gress, and decline of religious
beliefs. He classifies men, not
as members of a nation or a
state, but as adherents of a
faith. Another, again, confines
himself to the history of Art,
and among the myriad facts
which constitute man's story
he singles out those which
reveal ar.tistic impulse and
foreshadow artistic achieve-
ment. To him the struggles
of the imperial and papal
factions in Italy are of no
importance except in so far as
they affected that wonderful
artistic outburst which we call
the Renaissance. The naval
triumphs of Holland in the
seventeenth century seem to
him as nothing compared with
its simultaneous pre-eminence
in the realm of painting. In
his eyes the highest human
achievements are not the
conquests of Alexander nor
the Code Napoleon, but the
Hermes of Praxiteles and
the decoration of the Sistine
Chapel.
Yet another pursues the
engrossing topic of man's
contest with Nature, watches
his earliest crude attempts to
harness the forces of the earth
and control the powers of the
air. For him the landmarks
of history arc the first triumphs
of the Phoenician traders over
the fury of the Atlantic, or
the construction of the first
Roman aqueduct. No history is complete which does not regard man in all these aspects, political,
social, or scientific, and it is the claim of this work that it presents them in the smallest pors'ble
compass in a form that will appeal to all, both in scope and treatment. "The proper study of m kind
From "With Lawrence in Arabia"] [by Lou-ell Thomas.
COLONEL T. E. LAWRENCE.
Colonel T. E. Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia, wns born in 1888 and
as quite a young man tin veiled extensively in and acquired an intimate knowledge of Syria
and Arabia. On the outbreak of war he was doing work for the Palestine Exploration
Fund. After a spell at the War Office Kitchener sent him to Kgypt and he was attached
to the Intelligence Department. Soon he was engaged on the great work of encouraging
and organizing an Arab movement of Independence against the Turks, his adventures
forming one of the most romantic chapters of wartime history. His ideal of forming a
united Arab Kingdom was frowned upon by the peacemakers at Versailles tmt he did
succeed in obtaining the throne of Irak for his great friend tin- Emir I •'< -i-;il. At the
present time he is serving in the Royal Air Force under the name of Shaw.
Xll
Story of the Nations
. • ~r- .- _
Fainted specially for this work]
(by Waller Tyndale, /?./.
YOSHITSUNE INSPECTING THE DEFENCES OF THE TAIRA ARMY.
When Yoritomo rebelled against the rule of the Taira family in Japan his brother, Yoshitsune, joined him and played an
important part in his ultimate success. After a certain indecisive battle on the plains Yoshitsune led during the night 3,000
men to the summit of a pass near Kobe, and inspected his enemies' defences without their knowledge. Sweeping down upon
the rear of their army from this favourable position, he caused the utmost confusion in their ranks and gained a great victory.
is man", said Pope, and it might also be called the motto of a history of the nations, for it offers to
readers of the most diverse tastes and interests something that particularly concerns them. Yet through
all the diversity runs the one connecting thread that human nature is one all the world over and at all
times, surviving social upheaval and political change, and defying the hand of Time.
We realize more and more that the lives of men in distant ages and other climes have a real and
intimate meaning to us ; that joy and pain, hope and despair, were to them very much what they are
to us. And this is the supreme fascination of the subject, that as we read, the rows of names and strings
of dates fade away into unimportance while'the feelings and passions, "like passions with our own",
stand out on the canvas in ever-increasing vividness. When we dwell on the Napoleonic conflict it is
natural to assume that in the turmoil of that terrific upheaval no one thought of anything but battles
and invasions, wars and rumours of wars. It is a little difficult to imagine that, with the world bursting
about their ears, men could rise in the morning as if nothing were happening, but it must be re-
membered that until the Great War the number of combatants was comparatively small, and in the absence
of cables and telegraph the scenes of great events seemed far more remote. The older historians were so
much impressed by the importance of warfare and so greatly overrated its influence that they remained
blind to other forces and movements m re silent in operation but infinitely more far-reaching in their effects.
To the spectator of events in the year 1453 the fall of Constantinople, the bulwark of Christen-
dom, to the Turks must have seemed an irreparable disaster and the beginning of a new era.
But looking back on that year from the standpoint of the twentieth century, and with the lessons of the
intervening period before our eyes, we should be much more justified in regarding the appearance of
Introduction
Xlll
the first printed book as the crowning achievement. For Europe speedily adjusted itself to the new
conditions created by the foundation of a Turkish Empire within its borders, whereas the influence of the
Press has increased from that day to this. Or, again, we know that certain events in Palestine at the
commencement of the Christian Era were regarded in the Roman world as a local riot. The Roman
Empire has become a memory, but that "local riot" has changed the face of the world, and as the
founder of Christianity a Jewish "rebel" is to-day reverenced by one quarter of the entire population of
the globe.
In 1810 it would have taken a bold man to assert that James Watt's inventions would affect the
lives of men more than the Peninsular War. In 1910 it would have taken an even -bolder man to
deny it.
This, then, is the first moral to be drawn from the reading of history, that to arrive at the truth we
must cultivate a sense of proportion, view men and movements in perspective, and single out what has
been of real value to the progress of mankind from that which is less important if more picturesque.
This, again, raises the supremely interesting question as to whether the phrase "progress of mankind"
has any meaning at all, whether there is some great concerted movement of the human race towards
some goal. And, if so, what is the goal at which, in the fulfilment of time, the nations of the world will
converge ? Is the story of humanity a river whose current flows within set bounds and with certainty of
direction, or is it an ocean whose restless movements betray no guiding principle ? When we think
of the Past, the forgotten races, the buried civilizations, the glories that have faded, we may well come
away with the feeling that change and decay, the ebb and flow of fortune, are as much part of the lives
of nations as of the lives of individuals. One after another we see the great Empires of the past — Egypt,
/•«/, »-,</ specialty jor i»>* ,.,//M Ito/ Ambrose Dudley.
A GREAT INDIAN PRINCE CELEBRATING HIS VICTORY.
At the beginning of the Christian era the chief Dynasty of the Dcccan was the Audhra, of which there was a great prince.
Gautainiputra Satakarni. In A.D. 126 he conquered Nahapana, the Satrap of Gujarat, Western India, and he is here seen amusing
himself after his victory. The details of the picture are taken from Indian sculptures of the time.
XIV
Story of the Nations
Assyria, Rome — rise in the flower and pride of youth, scatter and subdue their enemies, enjoy their
period of domination, then lose their grasp and fall exhausted before the rise of some new power. Why
should we expect more from the hands of Fate ? Science has increased our creature comforts, added to
our means of Knowledge, annihilated space and wrested Nature's secrets from her. Yet the palm for
the highest achievement of human intellect is with Greece, of political sense with Rome. Can science
save us from the doom which was theirs ?
Perhaps, however, this vision is too sweeping in its picture of another Chalons, another "Scourge of
God", with the destruction of most that now seems to make life worth living in order that the nations
may be reborn. There is another school of thought which holds that each generation begins where its
predecessors leave off ; that the accumulated wisdom and experience of one age is a legacy to the next ;
Painted by] M. Ackland Hunt.
WILLIAM GILBERD, M.D., DEMONSTRATING HIS EXPERIMENTS TO ELIZABETH.
William Gilberd, a celebrated physician and natural philosopher and the father of electric and magnetic science, was born
in 1544 at Colchester. In his work De Magnete, which embodies the results of many year-' ic>c;ncli. he explains his con-
ception that the earth is nothing but a large magnet. It is accordingly not only the first but the most important contribution
to electricity and magnetism.
and that there is a perpetual moral and social advancement to which the word "progress" is rightly
applied.
Whatever meaning we may attach to the word "progress" — whether we hold that man's course from
the earliest dawn of history to the present twentieth century has bsen a continuous or but slightly
interrupted change from a lower to a higher type of being, or whether it may be true, as some of the
wisest men say, that man's moral stature has not grown with his material progress, that though he may
weigh the distant planets as in a balance, may transmit his spoken words from one continent to another,
may speed over land and sea with a velocity of which his grandfathers wauld not have dreamed, and
may drive his way through the very air — yet he has still himself to conquer, his own passions to subdue ,
and that the task is the same, the achievement the same, for himself as for his most remote forefathers ;
whether or not we count this true, yet the fact that change, perpetual change is the law of human existence
cannot be doubted.
By permission of]
->-r». Braun ct Cie.'
THE DEATH OF DEMOSTHENES.
Demosthenes, the highest typo of orator, patriot and statesman, foresaw the rise of Macedonia and its attendant peril M
Athens, but his countrymen remained deaf to his warnings until their disastrous defeat at Chaeronea convinced them of the truth
of his words. Another defeat confirmed the Macedonian supremacy, and Demosthenes fled to Calaureia, where he was captured
by the Macedonian troops and took poison.
XVI
Story of the Nations
By •permission of] [The Autotype Fine Art Co., Ltd., 74, New Oxford Street, London
PETER THE HERMIT PREACHING THE FIRST CRUSADE.
At the end of the eleventh century the conquests of the Turks threatened the safety of Constantinople, and the Byzantine
Emperors appealed for help to the Pope. At the same time Peter the Hermit, horrified at the insults to which the pilgrims to
the Holy Sepulchre were subjected, preached throughout Europe a holy war.
We will now trace the great lines on which the change has hitherto proceeded. We shall find that
man, being a dweller on the earth, is in the last resort dependent on her will. It was first of all in those
regions where the earth yielded her fruits in lavish abundance, where the warmth and food were ready
to hand and needed little toil to win, that man, his physical wants easily satisfied, had leisure for those
activities and aspirations which raised him above the animal world.
The fertile river valleys of the East, the valleys of the Nile, the Ganges, the Tigris, and the Euphrates,
were the mothers of civilization, while the inhabitants of the less genial climates of the West were yet
in a state of savagery. The earth's natural regions have their characteristics, and the children of earth
are stamped with their imprint. To live, man must war with Nature, but Nature presents herself under
very different aspects to her denizens. In northern lands, where she yields her fruits with a more niggard
hand than in sunnier climes, man can in truth only eat his bread in the sweat of his brow. Perseverance,
practical resource, thrift and doggedness are the qualities so generated. Further, where the soil is less
productive than increasing population demands, the surplus inhabitants are driven to seek their sustenance
in other lands. The thin soil of Greece sent the young light-hearted masters of the world to Asia Minor,
to Egypt, and to Italy : the necessity of finding wider lands for their teeming hordes pressed the tribes
of the North against the peaceful countries under the sway of Imperial Rome, and the majestic fabric of the
Roman Empire tottered before them.
Is not the same problem of an expanding population with inadequate means of subsistence seen to-day
in the case of modern nations ? How different in the East, where the natural wants of man are few and
easily satisfied ! What motive has the inhabitant of Persia or Burma to bestir himself ? Where Nature
shows herself, suddenly and without warning, in her most awful mood, where a flood or an earthquake
Introduction
xvn
may destroy at one blow the results of years of patient industry, man is apt to be imbued with a spirit of
submission to her will, of blind acquiescence in her irresponsible ways, and with that fatalism which we
deem peculiarly Oriental. In the West, Nature is a more equable force ; she can to a greater extent be
relied upon, and she encourages us to go forward with confidence in her regularity.
These are broad and striking instances of the truth that the character of man is largely conditioned
by its material setting, and many more may suggest themselves at once.
Those who maintain that each generation begins where the previous one has left off point to the elimi-
nation of racial characteristics, the fusion of the peoples of the earth, the abolition of warfare as a means
of settling disputes, in short, the establishment of a brotherhood of man, as the goal towards which the
destinies of the Nations are tending. And, indeed, there is some evidence that this ideal is not the Utopia
it sounds. In every European country of importance a political party exists whose avowed object is to
remove the barriers of race and tongue and solve by international Socialism the problems eternally
presented by international rivalry. How far such an ideal is possible or desirable is a living issue, a question
for the reader of history to decide for himself with the lessons and example of the Past before his eyes.
It is not the first time that the conception of a "Federation of the World, a Parliament of Man," has seized
the imagination of writers and politicians. It was fully anticipated in that strange medieval Utopia, the
Holy Roman Empire, the governance of the Christian world by God through His temporal lieutenant the
Emperor and His spiritual lieutenant the Pope. It is matter of history that the grandiloquent conception
broke down utterly at the first touch of reality, that Christian unity was shattered not so much by the
jealousies of Pope and Emperor as by the growing national aspirations of England, France, and Germany.
It was in vain that the Popes bade all Christian brothers cease their quarrels and forget their differences in
Painted by J. D. Penrose. By -permission of] [The Autotype fine Art Co., Ltd., 74, New Oxford Street, London.
QUEEN PHILIPPA INTERCEDING FOR THE BURGHERS OF CALAIS.
A famous incident in the Hundred Years War was the siege of Calais by Edward III. The stout resistance of the burghers
enraged the King, and on the'fall of the town he resolved to strike terror into the French by hanging six of the principal citizens.
From this purpose he was turned aside by the pleading of his wile Philippa.
XV111
Story of the Nations
a common hatred of the infidel Saracen. The ranks of the Crusaders who poured forth to reclaim the East
for the Cross were torn by national antipathies and dissensions. The English knight and the French
seigneur who fought side by side in the Holy Land were the same who fought face to face in Normandy.
The German and Italian who were "Christian brothers" abroad were the bitterest of enemies at home.
Nevertheless, when the Crusades had become the merest farce, when all semblance of unity had departed,
when the spiritual and political authority of the Papacy were alike flouted, the old notion of a world state
of Christian peoples remained, more as an historical curiosity than as a practicable ideal. To follow the
fortunes of the idea of nationality among the states of Europe will give us the key to modern international
politics, and explain why a history of the nations will throw more light on the men and matters of our own
time than a history of the world could do.
We may assume that by the close of the thirteenth century the idea of nationality was clearly established
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS PRAYING BEFORE THE BATTLE OF LUTZEX.
The religious differences which had existed for more than seventy years between the Catholic and Protestant leaders in
Europe led in the beginning of the seventeenth century to the desperate conflict known as the Thirty Years War, concluded by the
treaty of Westphalia in 1648. At Lutzen, Gusta-rus Adolphus, Kine of Sweden, the hero of the Protestant armies, was killed.
in England and France. In England the fusion of the conquering Normans and the conquered Saxons-
was approaching completion. A king sat on the throne who represented in his own person the ability of
the one and the aspirations of the other. Englishmen of all sorts and conditions joined in the wars which
Edward I waged to conquer Wales and Scotland and hold his French possessions. In France, too, the
monarchy was gradually consolidating its position, absorbing and controlling the great fiefs which at
times threatened its very existence, and generally paving the way for that unchallenged autocracy which
was one of the most effective causes of the Revolution. In Germany, for historical reasons, the. process
was more slow. The great German principalities each had ties, associations, and traditions of their own,
the only bond of union being their formal allegiance to thet "Emperor. It was only fifty years ago that
German national aspirations overcame the jealousies of the" states and made a German Empire an
accomplished fact. In Italy, the presence of the Papal territories which claimed to belong not to one-
nation but to all, the rivalries of the flourishing city states in the north, and lastly the fatal attraction it
possessed for political robbers large and small combined to postpone the eventual unification of the
country, a consummation reserved for our own times. In Spain, the desperate resistance of the Christian
XX
Story of the Nations
kingdoms to the advance of the Moors was creating a spirit of independence and a national consciousness
which only needed time and success to blaze forth in triumphs by land and sea.
Allowing for these differences in kind and degree, it yet remains broadly accurate to say that by the
fourteenth century the feeling of nationality had become a force in politics, a force which from that time
to this has increased in intensity and which is to-day the dominant passion. If we follow the progress of
events during the intervening centuries we shall see that of all the motives which have moved men to do
or surfer the sense of nationality has been the most powerful and the most persistent. Not even religious
fervour has had more driving force. When we carry our minds back to the Reformation and the wars of
Painted by Albert JsdelfcU.} [Photo by permission of Messrs. Broun tt die.
DUKE CHARLES INSULTING THE CORPSE OF HIS ENEMY FLEMMING.
Claude Flemming, one of the most distinguished Swedish generals and statesmen, supported the young King Sigismund (who
was detested as a Catholic) against the intrigues of his uncle, Duke Charles of Sxidermania, who posed as the champion of
Protestantism; After suppressing a revolt of the peasants, Flemming died in 1597, not without suspicion of poison and
Duke Charles dethroned his nephew five years later.
religion which followed it, when we think of Christian Europe as divided into two hostile camps and dwell
on the carnival of bigotry and hatred that was let loose, it is not unnatural to believe that men forget
differences of race and speech in their common desire to secure the triumph of their faith.
But the facts would belie our belief. The Thirty Years War in Germany started as a genuine attempt
of the Protestant States in the Empire to vindicate their claim to freedom of worship against the hostility
of the bigoted Emperor Ferdinand. It ended as a purely political struggle between the allied forces of
Catholic France and Protestant Sweden and the combined might of Austria and Spain. The bulk of the
troops on both sides was composed of mercenaries who cared nothing about religion but everything about
pillage.
Introduction
xxi
By permisn
] [The LSerlin Photographic Co., London , W.
THE LANDING OF COLONEL, SINCLAIR AT ROMSDAL, 1612.
Colonel Sinclair brought 900 Scottish soldiers to assist the King of Sweden, Charles IX, in his claim to the province of
Finmark and to the title of "King of the Lapps". The King of Norway disputed these claims, and Colonel Sinclair was ordered
to invade his territory. The peasants attacked the Scottish forces at Kringen and, it is said, slew them all, their gallant
commander being killed at the first shot.
The famous Protestant leader, Mansfeld, was one of the most picturesque adventurers in history,
while even the noble Protestant hero, King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, whose sincerity was beyond
doubt, was subsidized by the Catholic Cardinal Richelieu of France and cherished designs of gaining
concessions of territory on the south Baltic shores as the price of his assistance. On the other side, the
Painted oyl IT. L. Oerome.
THE ASSASSINATION OF JULIUS C/ESAR, 44 B.C.
A meeting of the Senate was fixed for March 15 to make arrangements during Caesar's intended absence in the East. This
was considered by the leading Republicans as a suitable day to secure his assassination, and accordingly when he had taken his seat
the Senators surrounded him and, drawing forth their daggers, rushed at him and stabbed him to death. Thus ended the life of
one of the greatest figures of ancient history.
XX11
Story of the Nations
most eminent Catholic commander was Wallenstein, who seems to have believed in nothing except
astrology, and who was murdered by his own officers at the instigation of his imperial master, the
Catholic Emperor Ferdinand. These are the facts to be borne in mind when the reader is tempted to
think that the predominant issue in that so-called "War of Religion" was otherwise than political.
But it was in the nineteeth century that the spirit of nationality recorded its most triumphant victories
and manifested itself in its most striking forms. Napoleon was the prime cause of that great outburst of
national feeling in the States of Europe which, more than the exhaustion of France or the snows of Russia,
sealed his doom. As long as he could pit the manhood of young France against the decayed and corrupt
systems of an effete age, his task was easy. It was only when he had carved out territories and built up
Painted by Lionel Rover.] {By permission of Messrs. Brmm et Cie.
VERCINGETORIX BEFORE CAESAR.
In 52 B.C. nearly all Gaul rose up against the Roman dominion, and Vercingetorix, prince of the Arverni, was chosen as
leader. After many indecisive battles he was eventually compelled to surrender at Alesia, whence he was taken to Rome. After
being led in Julius Caesar's triumphant procession, he was thrown into a subterranean dungeon and there strangled.
paper states with a contemptuous indifference to the national and historical associations of the men who
composed them that he raised against himself that fervour of national enthusiasm which crushed him.
Leipzig was in every sense a "Battle of the Nations".
During the nineteenth century the movement proceeded unchecked. First Greece asserted and vin-
dicated her claim to independence. Then Belgium freed herself from her unnatural alliance with Holland.
Italy, no longer a "geographical expression", achieved political unity. Hungary, under the Dual
Monarchy, fiercely and passionately preserved her inherited characteristics and traditions.
The Great War and its terrible aftermath are still too close to be studied in the true perspective which
history demands. Whether the Treaty of Versailles which endorsed the principle of nationality by creating
a number of new states was an act of wisdom or blind folly time alone will show. The creation of an
international rather than a national spirit would seem a more promising approach to the problems of man-
kind. The League of Nations, though far from being what its creators or supporters hoped, may yet prove
the forerunner of the world federation of which idealists have dreamed. One thing the last twenty years
XXIV
Story of the Nations
have definitely proved, that war is a means of arbitrament which settles nothing, that it brings disaster
equally and inexorably upon victors and vanquished alike, and that it breeds hatreds and^bitterness which
a generation may not dispel.
The ancient saying that "History repeats itself", that the same situation tends to recur with'variation
of form and detail, contains a substantial element of truth.
We might enumerate a hundred burning questions of the day which have, in one form or another,
agitated the minds and stirred the passions of men in past ages and distant lands. It is for us to profit
by their example, avoid their mistakes, and show the wisdom that only comes by experience. To-day
we are the jury, called to pronounce on the achievements of the past. To-morrow we shall ourselves
await the verdict of posterity. History is written that we may await that verdict with composure, in
the sure and certain belief that its lessons have not passed unheeded, and that we ourselves have done
something to add to human knowledge and hasten the march of human progress.
By permission of] .the 1 in PI run i> »/• Museum.
BLOCKSHIPS IN ZEEBRUGGE HARBOUR, 1918
In the very early hours of St. George's Day (April 23) 1918, took place one of the most spectacular naral events of the Great
War, an attempt planned by Sir Roger Keyes to block the harbours of Ostend and Zeebrugge, and render them useless as
submarine bases. The Ostend attempt was a failure, but at Zeebrugge, under the protection of a heroic landing on the Mole
from H.M.S. Vindictive, the blocking ships, Intrepid and Iphigeneia, were manreuvrod into the canal entrance and sunk. The
harbour was not completely closed, but the daring of the attempt did much to weaken the German morale.
DATES OF EGYPTIAN HISTORY
DYNASTY.
B.C.
CHIEF KINGS.
MONUMENTS AND ClIlEP EVENTS.
I.
4326-4265
4158-4128
4112-4104
MKN\.
DEN.
SEMER-KHET
Tomb at Abydos. Queen's tomb at Nagadah. The reputed founder or Memphis.
Earliest granite work in a tomb.
Sculpture in Sinai.
II.
4040-3999
KAKAU.
The earliest stone-built tomb.
III.
3803-3784
ZESER.
The Step Pyramid at Saqqareh, the oldest large building in th« world.
IV.
3747-3718
3718-3655
3655-3589
3589-3526
SNEFERU.
KHUFU.
KHOFRA.
MENKAURA.
The first true pyramid at Meydum. He waged wars against the marauding tribe* ot the dewrt,
and is said to have conquered the peninsula of Sinai.
Builder of the Great Pyramid at Ghizeh. A period of great artistic and literary activity.
Builder of the Second Pyramid at Ghizeh.
Builder of the Third Pyramid at Ghizeh. He is reverenced at a good and humane ruler.
V.
3441-3397
3360-3330
NEUSERRA.
UNAS.
The Pyramid at Abusir.
A Pyramid at Saqqareh. The first with long religious inscriptions.
VI.
3288-3235
3228-3134
PEPY I.
PEPY II.
Successful campaigns in Nubia.
The longest reign in Egyptian history.
XI.
2597-2593
MENTUHETEP IV.
(Sankh-ka-ra).
The first expedition to Puntjprobably the modern Somaliland), of which the leader, Hannu, has
given a long account. The chapel on the mountain at Thebes.
XII.
2584-2564
2564-2519
2484-2465
2465-2432
2432-2384
AMENEMHAT I.
SENUSERT I.
SENUSERT II.
SENUSERT III.
AMENEMHAT III.
The tomb of Khnumhotep at Beni-hasan. Many military expeditions secure peace from external
foes and the internal consolidation of the kingdom.
The tomb of Ameni at Beni-hasan. Further expeditions to Nubia, but order maintained at home.
The pyramid of Illahun.
The pyramid at Dahshur. A great conqueror and ruler under whom Egypt enjoyed renown
and prosperity.
The pyramid at Hawara, and the famous Labyrinth. He made Lake Moris serve it a reservoii
for the Nile overflow.
XIII.
2371-1918
60 KINGS.
An Egyptian dynasty of great obscurity overlapped by the Hyksos Kings of the XVth dynasty.
XV.
2371-2111
KHYAN.
APEPA I.
and 4 others.
Objects from Crete to Baghdad.
Ruled from Bubastis to Gebeleyn. He is the greatest of the Hyksos Shepherd Kings who had
carried out a successful invasion.
XVII.
1734-1583
SEQENEN-RA
and 42 others.
The jewellery of Queen Aah-hotep. The south is won back from the Hykao*, who are driven
northwards.
XVIII.
J573-I560
1560-1539
I539-I5H
1514-1501
1501-1447
1449-1423
1423-1413
I4I3-I377
I377-J36I
I35I-I339
1322-1318
AAHMES I.
AMENHETEP I.
TAHUTMES I.
TAHUTMES II.
HATSHEPSUT. "1
TAHUTMES III. J
AMENHETEP II.
TAHUTMES IV.
AMENHETEP III.
AKHENATEN.
TUTANKHAMEN.
HEREMHEB.
The Hyksos expelled and driven into Syria. Successful campaign in Nubia. The beginnings
of an era of great power and prosperity Egypt's "Golden Age".
A temple at Karnak.
Obelisk at Karnak. Conducts a campaign as far as the Euphrates.
The peaceful reign o a great Queen. Another expedition to Punt, and a great expansion of com-
merce and industry takes place. She builds the great temple of Deir el Bahri.
A great conqueror and builder. He subdues Syria and keeps it in subjection. He builds a temple
at Karnak.
Further campaigns in Syria to crush revo.ts.
Continues the work of suppressing rebellion.
Temples at Luxor, Sedeinga, and Soleb. Only one campaign during this reign.
He changes the national religion for the worship of the solar disk, and builds a new capital Revolts-
occur in Syria. The famous Tell Amarna tablets date from this reign.
Restored the ancient religion.
A great administrator who reorganized the kingdom.
XIX.
1317-1295
1295-1229
1229-1210
SETY I.
RAMESSU II.
MERNEPTAH.
Successful war in Syria. A great builder and patron of the fine arts The hall of columns at
Karnak.
THE GREAT, so called on account of his boastfulness and the magnificence of his buildings.
Subdues Syria Builds the temple of Abu Simbel and the Ramesseum.
A Libyan invasion defeated.
XX.
1195-1163
1137-1118
RAMESSU III.
RAMESSU X.
Wars against Syria and Libya. Great nava battle at Pelusium. The temple of Medinet Habu.
The King recovers some of the eastern dependencies.
The papyrus of the tomb robberies.
XXI.
976-940
PASEBKHANU I.
A new dynasty from Tanis. The priests gain great influence and direct the royal policy. Thf
great wall of Tanis is built.
XXII.
940-919
877-852
SHESHENQ I
USARKKN II.
A commander of the mercenaries who rules at Bubastis. He invades Judxa and raptures and
sacks Jerusalem.
Builds the pylon of festival at Bubastis.
XXV.
748-725
7« 7-705
693-667
PANKHY I.
SHABAKA
TAHARQA
Founds a dynasty of Ethiopian rulers who gradually conquer the whole countrv. The petty
princes of Lower Egypt send in their allegiance.
The King So of the Bible. He foments rebellions of Israel and Syria against As6yri:i.
Joins the coalition against Assyria. Three Assyrian invasions result in the subjugation of Egypt
and the end of Ethiopian rule.
XXVI.
664-610
610-594
5^9-570
570-526
PSAMTEK I.
NECHO II.
HAA-AB RA.
AAHMES II
Drives out the Assyrians, restores Thebes and invades Syria. Builds the forts of Daphnx and
Naukratis.
Tries to renew Egyptian conquests. Invades Syria and advances towards Babylon, but is defeated
by Nebuchadnezzar at Carchemish.
(Apries of the Greeks.) Defeats the Phoenicians, but is defeated by the Greeks of Cyrene. His
army revolts and he is dethroned and murdered.
(Amasis of the Greeks.) Cuts off all the Greek settlements except Naukratis. A great builder.
XXVII.
525-521
521-486
CAMBYSES
DARIUS I.
This (jreat Persian conqueror invades and subdues Egypt, but fails to penetrate to Cyrene and
Ethiopia and in his rage wrtaks vengeance on the temples.
Egypt tranquil and prosperous. Reconstructs the Suez Canal and builds the Temple in the Oasis.
XXIX.
399-393
NAIFAAURUD.
Unsuccessful revolts against Persia. Builds a shrine at Athribis.
XXX.
378-361
359-342
NEKHT-NEB-F.
NEKHT-HOR-HEB.
Built temples at Horbeyt and Karnak.
Persian invasions of Egypt. Last native King.
Greeks.
332-323
323-285
285-248
248-221
51-30
ALEXANDER.
PTOLEMY I.
PTOLEMY II.
PTOLEMY III.
CLEOPATRA VI.
Period of Greek domination. Alexandria founded. He conciliates the Egyptians by respecting
their religion.
Successfully invades Syria.
Naukratis. The so-called "Revenue" papyrus dates from this reign.
Flourishing trade in the Red Sea. Builds the Pylon at Karnak.
Builds the temple of Denderah. Supports Antony against Octavius. Battle of Actium Dies
bv her own hand.
DATES OF EGYPTIAN HISTORY— continued
DATI. DOMINATION.
RULERS.
CHIEF EVENTS.
3°
Roman Period.
AUGUSTUS.
A.D. TRAJAN.
MARCUS AURELIUS
194. SEVERUS.
CARACALLA.
272. AURELIAN.
296. DIOCLETIAN.
311. GALERIUS.
390. THEODOSIUS l.2i
6:6.
626. HERACLIUS.
Establishes a personal government, but in general preserves the organization of the Ptolemie*.
He encourages the Jews to settle in the country. The Indian trade is secured for Eyypt.
Great massacre of the Greeks by the Jews, who are in turn subdued and almost exterminated
by the Roman army.
A rising of the native troops is followed by the usurpation of Avidius Cassius, who puts himself
at their head. The revolt is crushed with some difficulty by the Emperor himself.
Overthrows his rival Niger, who was commanding in Egypt. First persecution of the Egyptian
Christians.
Devises a massacre of all the able-bodied men in Alexandria. Roman citizenship extended to
Egypt.
Egypt conquered by Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra, who is expelled and carried away captive by
the Emperor.
Subdues a formidable revolt and commences a rigorous persecution of the Christians. Sets up
"Pompey's Pillai" at Alexandria.
Issues an edict of toleration to the Egyptian Christians.
Council of Nicaea and beginning of the Arian controversy in the Egyptian Church.
Arianism overthrown and issue of a final edict against Paganism.
Egypt conquered by Chosrogs the Persian.
Overthrows the Persians and restores Egypt to the Empire. Religious dissensions end in civil
war, which renders easy the Moslem conquest.
DATI.
DOMINATION.
i
CHIEF EVENTS.
Period of Arab supremacy.
1350
The Mameluke supremacy.
639. Egypt invaded by the Arabs. The Roman army defeated at Heliopolis, and Alexandria surrenders to the
Moslems. Egypt is lost to the Empire, and passes under the protection of the Caliphate.
639-968. Egypt is governed by the Abbaside caliphs. A series of insurrections by the Copts culminate in their
total defeat at Basharud in 832. The influence of the Turks increases and several Turkish governors
are appointed.
868. Ahmad founds a semi-independent dynasty, but the Fatimite caliphs unsuccessfully attempt
to gain Egypt for themselves.
935. Mahommed ben Tughj founds another semi -independent dynasty of the Jkshidi. The influence
of the Fatimites grows.
969-1171. Egypt under the Fatimite caliphs. The Fatimite general, Jauhar, invades Egypt, and founds Cairo,
which becomes the capital of the western caliphate. The caliphs conquer Arabia, Syria, and North
Africa.
996. Hakim, known as the "Caligula of the East", destroys the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in
Jerusalem (1010), which provokes the Crusades. He also persecutes the Christians.
1029. Battle of Ukhuwanah, in which the rebellious provinces of Syria and Palestine are recovered.
1035. Mostansir. Civil war in Egypt caused by dissensions between the Turks and negroes in the army.
1068. Cairo sacked by the Turkish commander, and numerous local revolts occur throughout the country.
1094. Mostali ends the civil war and subdues the whole country.
Is defeated at Askalon by the Crusaders (1099), who conquer many of the caliph's possessions in Palestine.
1118. Egypt invaded by the Crusaders under Baldwin I, who is compelled to retreat on account of ill-health.
The fleet of the caliph is defeated by the Venetians and Tyre captured by the Crusaders.
1171-1250. The Abbaside caliphate restored by Saladin. The Franks withdraw from Egypt. Saladin takes
the title of Sultan in 1174 and founds a virtually independent dynasty.
1219. Damietta captured by the Crusaders.
1221. The Crusaders evacuate Egypt.
1244. The Crusaders driven from Jerusalem.
1249. Egypt is invaded by Louis IX of France (the Seventh Crusade), but the invaders are routed by the Sultan
at the battle of Fariskur, and Louis is captured.
1250. The administration of affairs entrusted to Aibek, the captain of the retainers, who becomes the first Mameluk*
ruler.
1260. Kotuz defeats the Mongol invaders and recovers Syria.
Bitars attempts to restore the Abbaside caliphate. He conquers Arabia and Syria and makes Nubia and
the states of north-west Africa tributary to him.
1303. Defeat of Mongol invaders at the battle of Marj-al-SafJar.
1322. Alliance of the Sultan with the Mongols.
1349. Egypt visited by the great plague, the "Black Death".
1365. Alexandria plundered by the Franks under Peter I of Cyprus.
1374. Lesser Armenia added to the Mameluke Empire.
1390. The Burji Mamelukes succeed the Bahri Mamelukes.
1400. The Mongol Timur overruns Syria and compels Sultan Faraj to render homage.
1 105. Death of Timur. Recovery of Syria.
1426. Capture of the King of Cyprus, who is compelled to acknowledge the suzerainty of the Egyptian sultan.
1463. Beginning of the wars with the Ottoman Empire.
1515. Defeat of the Mamelukes by the Ottoman Turks. The Ottomans conquer Syria.
1517. Capture of Cairo by the Ottomans. Selim becomes Sultan of Egypt.
Turkish Period.
191.'
The Turkish Sultans consolidate their power in the country but make few changes in the administration.
1767. Ali Bey attempts to found an independent kingdom but after some success is defeated at Salihia, and the
domination of the Turks is restored.
1/98. Bonaparte enters Egypt and commences the French occupation. He defeats the Mamelukes at the battlt
of the Pyramids. Insurrection in Cairo repressed by Bonaparte.
The French fleet destroyed by the English at the Battle of the Nile.
1799. Bonaparte fails to conquer Syria.
1800. Assassination of General Kleber. The English land at Aboukir, and the French agree to evacuate Egypt.
1803. The British evacuate Alexandria and Turkish rule is restored but the Mamelukes attempt to make them-
selves independent.
1804. Civil war.
1805. Mehemet Ali becomes Pasha of Egypt.
1807. Failure of British expedition.
Massacre of the Mamelukes. Mehemet Ali becomes virtually independent, but acknowledges the suzerainty
of Turkey.
1820 Beginning of the conquest of the Sudan.
1827. Destruction of the Egyptian fleet at Navarino.
1841. The pashalik of Egypt made hereditary in the family of Mehemet Ali.
1869. Opening of the Suez Canal.
1876. Establishment of the Dual Control of England and France.
1882. Rising of Arabi and the bombardment of Alexandria by the British and French fleets.
1883. Revolt of the Mahdi in the Sudan. Murder of General Gordon and fall of Khartoum.
1898. Withdrawal of the French from Fashoda. Battla of Omdurman and occupation of Sudan by the British.
1902. Construction of the Asswan Dam.
1904. Anglo-French agreement formally recognizing the predominant position of Great Britain.
The Great War and after.
1914. Outbreak of Great War. Khedive Abbas Hilmi deposed. Egypt British protectorate.
1922. Egypt declared independent, subject to safeguarding of British interests.
THE NILE AND THE PLAIN OF THEBES.
Egypt before 10,000 years ago consisted of a wide sheet of limestone which was uplifted on the east until a fault took place.
The drainage of the land poured into it, and behold the Nile.
STORY OF THE NATIONS
THE EGYPTIANS.
CHAPTER I
By PROFESSOR SIR FLINDERS PETRIE, D.C.L., Litt.D.,
LL.D., Ph.D., F.R.S., F.B.A.
EGYPT BEFORE IO.OOO YEARS AGO
OUR earliest vision of Egypt is that of a wide sheet of Eocene limestone occupying the north-east of Africa.
The great contortions of the wrinkle of the crust which forms the Red Sea and Jordan valley were yet
going on ; the Red Sea coast was being forced :
up as the trough deepened, while the rest of
Africa to the west lay level. At last a crack
took place, the eastern side rose some hun-
dreds of feet above the western by a great
fault, deepest to the north and tapering off
to the south. Into such a crack the
rainfall naturally poured and wore it wider
and wider. Behold the Nile !
The land lay far higher above the sea
than it now does, but the Sahara was still
an inland sea or deep gulf. From that the
western winds brought rainfall abundantly I
across the Nile basin. Torrents flowed off
the limestone plateau into the great drainage
crack, gouging it out to a gorge some two
thousand feet deep. The streams mostly
flowed over the surface into it, scoring out
great tributary valleys ; but some escaped I
through cracks in the limestone and I
hollowed out vast caverns, like those in the P<*»*<d »p«*aUV for thi* work]
limestones of Derbyshire or the Cevennes. EARLY EGYPTIAN HUTS.
These caverns are now some hundreds
of feet below the present surface of the
(fcl/ If. M. S. Brunion,
H.B.A..4.R.M.S.
The habitations of the Egyptians over 10,000 years ago appear to
have been rude shelters formed by stones lodged one above the other.
A child is here pictured cooking a fish which has been caught.
4 Story of the Nations
valley, and are only observed where the strata above have collapsed headlong into the immense gulfs-
below.
After all the face of the country had been carved out into its present shape, the land level fell, and
the whole was submerged. Rain still continued ; the Nile valley and its tributaries all became choked
up with debris ; so far up as Thebes this mass of rock-chips fills the valleys to about two hundred feet
above the present level. At Sohag it is seen six hundred feet up. The Nile valley formed a great estuary
stretching over three hundred miles into the land, twice as long as the Gulf of Suez or Gulf of Corinth.
No trace of human work has been found in these deposits.
The land then rose, and probably the Saharan Sea was dried up in this rising. The change was appar-
ently rapid, as there was not enough rainfall during it to scoop out all the debris from the rock channels.
Painted tpccially for this work]
(by H. Seppings Wright.
HUNTING FOR A LIVING.
Like the modern Bushmen in Africa, the Early Egyptians must have subsisted upon the chase, and their main occupation
must hare been the hunting down of the gazelles and other wild animals. This was perhaps effected, wherever possible by
casting tomahawks at the animals and in this manner laming them and rendering their capture easy.
The deposits of the estuary were left where they may still be seen, in patches clinging to the cliffs and
largely filling the side valleys at Thebes, while the main valley has been ploughed out again by the rush
of the Nile from Central Africa. While this great current was rolling down masses of gravel in the valley,
man first appears, and flakes of flint of by no means the earliest style are found bedded in these high N ile
gravels.
There still continued enough rainfall to scour the channel, and to carry off the mud of the river, dow n
to about ten thousand years ago, when the deposits of the Nile mud began. These deposits mark the close
of the rainy period, the beginning of the aridity of North Africa, the first chance of the cultivation of a
flat of irrigated mud, which has been the culture-system of Egypt in all historic times.
Before this new system of life arose there must have been a long time of semi-aridity, when the rain
sufficed for wild animals and scrub pastures. What the human type then was we may gather from the
Painted »pecially lor this icork] [By H. Scppinvs Wright.
EARLY EGYPTIANS MAKING POTTERY 10.000 YEARS AGO.
The most abundant handwork of the Early Egyptians was the finely made pottery entirely formed by band. It was built
up from the base and hi form so true that no error is perceptible. The facing was finished with a coat of red hcematite, which
turned to a brilliant black in the furnace. It is interesting to note that the same materials are used in the same kind of patterns
Jiy the hill tribes at the back of Algeria at the present time.
Story of the Nations
Painted specially for this work]
[by W. IV. Collins.
HUNTING A HIPPOPOTAMUS.
It is seldom that the hippopotamus leaves the river in
the daytime, and we can well imagine how excited the com-
munity would be when such a booty was secured through its
movements being hampered by the marshes.
figures of the slave women found in the earliest
graves of the agricultural people. They were of the
Bushman type, distinguished by the growth of
great quantities of fat on the hips and thighs. In
later times the African woman develops fat on the
trunk to aid in the production of her children. To
a hunting race such accumulations would impede
the agility needed for subsistence, so the fat is
found on the parts which move with least
rapidity and is thus least in the way of the
activities of a hunting life. Similar causes may
perhaps produce the effect in different races ;
but at least we may say that the same type is
found in the figures of later cave-dwellers of
Southern France, in Malta, in Early Egypt, and
now in South Africa. Whether these were all
branches of one race cannot yet be safely decided,
but their unity seems probable. These people
must have subsisted, like the modern Bushmen,
upon the chase, and their main occupation must
have been the hunting down of the gazelles and
other wild animals, especially with the Nile as
a barrier which prevented their escape. The
flint implements which they have left strewed
thickly over some parts of the desert are their
principal remains ; but various stone shelters
which are found on the high desert were probably
put up by the same people, as there is no evidence that
later races troubled themselves about a region which
became entirely sterile in the present age of aridity.
THE FIRST CIVILIZATION :
IO.OOO TO 9,OOO YEARS AGO
ONE of the first things which is
asked, when we speak of ten
thousand years ago, is : How do
you know it ? And with very
good reason, considering that it
is outside of most men's ken, like
the atom or the distances of the
stars. We shall deal with the
length of recorded history when
we reach it in the third civiliza-
tion ; and the two earlier ages
certainly comprise the rise and
decay of two civilizations, which
on the scale of things in written
history would cover about two
thousand five hundred years.
There is another clue in the depth
I'aintrii fperiaUu for this work\ Ibv H. Seppings ll'ritjhf.
THE ART OF FLINT-FLAKING.
The skill of the Early Egyptians is shown in their art of Hint-flaking, in
which they proved themselves the most skilful craftsmen of any known race.
The great double-edged knives are as much as fifteen inches long, but only one
quarter of an inch thick, with the edges exquisitely serrated in minute teeth.
The Egyptians
AN EARLY CONTRACTKH IH'IUAI,.
The bodies were always buried on the' eft side, facing: west. Sometimes in the later
prehistoric age they were closely bound together by wrappings, forcing all the bones
parallel as here shown.
of the Nile deposits. These
have been bored through
to forty feet deep on an
average ; some places are
deeper where holes were
filled up, or shallower
where ridges were covered.
As the deposits average
five inches in a century,
this would show about
ten thousand years for
the age of the beginning
of the Nile flats. As any
agriculture or settled civili-
zation was impossible until
the Nile deposited its fer-
tile mud, this gives a limit
to the regular occupation
of the land. Doubtless
so soon as cultivation could
be practised the neighbour-
ing peoples would push in
from the arid regions around ; and, forming settlements, they left their remains in the cemeteries which
have been lately brought to light. The very large number of their graves would indicate a longer,
rather than a shorter, period than two thousand five hundred years, in comparison with the historic
times.
When we try to picture to ourselves what the position of these people of the first civilization must
have been, it seems that the Maori would give us the nearest living comparison. The free use of canoes
and shipping ; the habit of fishing in Egypt with harpoon, and with the Maori nets and hooks ;
the finely wrought hard stone maces in Egypt, and the Maori stone clubs ; the fondness for elaborate
linear geometrical orna-
ment on the pottery in
Egypt, and the Maor
carving and tattooing ; the
use of combs ; the keeping
of small sacred images
wrapped in cloths ; the
sacred places, the quarrel-
ling tribes, the fortified
towns — in all of these the
levels of culture seem
closely alike, as preserved
to us in the tales of the
Maori mythology. If the
Maori seems perhaps in
advance in his elaborate
woodwork (needful in the
wetter climate) and minute
carving, of which the
evidence does not remain
AN EARLY CONTRACTED BURIAL.
in the first Egyptian
civilization, on the other
hand the Egyptian in even
Later than the abore burial a less contracted position was adopted. a» here shown,
with the knees away from the body. This led on to the extended position, full length,
seen in all the mummies of historical times.
8
Story of the Nations
the first period did much finer and more skilful work in flint-flaking. The Egyptian slate palettes,
shaped like animals, began at a much higher level than they continued, and are quite equal to any
such figures of the Maori.
Having, then, a modern equivalent to give us a general picture of the civilization, we may turn to the
details. The most abundant handwork was the finely made pottery, entirely formed by hand without
any wheel. It was built up from the base, and pressed by a flat stick inside against the hand held outside.
The forms are so true that no error is perceptible, and the finish of the surface is beautifully fine. As no
circular motion was used, any form was equally readily made ; oval vases were common, twin vases,
square vases, fish- and figure-shaped vases, and other varieties are all found in this period. The facing
Painted rpeciaUv JOT this work] [by W. M. N. Brunion, R.B.A., A.R.M.S
AN EARLY RELIGIOUS DANCE.
As is customary with certain African races at the present day, the Egyptians performed a dance in which the various episodes
of a successful hunt were enacted. It was thought that this would ensure a successful hunt and therefore a plentiful supply of
food for the tribe. Every detail of the above drawing is authentic and has been taken from early Egyptian pottery.
was finished with a coat of red haematite, which turned to a brilliant polished black in the furnace. Some
of their forms may be seen in the foreground of the picture of this age.
The regular decoration of the pottery was with crossing lines of white clay, laid in geometrical patterns
on the red bowls and vases. Just the same materials are used in the same kind of patterns by the hill
tribes at the back of Algeria at the present time, and this is one of the main evidences for the Algerian or
Libyan connection of the earliest civilization, which is inherently likely from the geographical connection.
The most skilful art was that of flint-flaking. Though this was carried yet further in the second
civilization, yet in the first age it is equal to that of almost any other land, only exceeded by the best
Scandinavian work. The great double-edged knives are as much as fifteen inches long, but only a quarter
MAP OF ANCIENT EGYPT.
IO
Story of the Nations
of an inch thick, with the edges exquisitely serrated in minute teeth. For hunting the gazelles
widely forked lances of flint were made to cast at the legs, so as to cripple the animal : these are
very thin and delicate, and were held in by a long cord, so as to prevent their flying too far and striking
the ground.
Copper was known in the very earliest stage. Before more than small cups were made, and when the
people were only clad with a goat's skin over the shoulders, yet then a copper pin is found used to skewer
the skin together at the neck. Rather later the copper harpoon appears, copied from the bone harpoon,
by which the Egyptians speared the large fish of the Nile.
The decoration of the person scarcely yet included beads, except of clay ; but the hair was twisted
up and held by carved combs of bone with
long teeth, ornamented with the forms of
gazelles or birds. These animal combs dis-
appear with the decay of the first civiliza-
tion ; in the second period we rarely find
combs, and then shorter with a human bust.
Sandals were in use early in this first period.
The finely decorated pottery with white
line patterns imitated basket-work at first,
then the patterns become elaborate, and
finally decay in meaningless lines. After
that this decoration disappears, and we
may suppose that the art was declining
during several generations before a new
influence arises.
Painted specially lor this work]
[by Fred Roe, R.J .
THE SECOND CIVILIZATION : Q.OOO TO
7,800 YEARS AGO
THE flush of changes appear in every art
with the second civilization. The previous
period we have seen to be linked strongly
with Libya, the modern Algiers and Tunis ;
but the indications point to the second
movement having come from the east.
Lazuli from Persia and silver from Asia
Minor come into use, the forehead pendant
and face veil appear like that of the modern
Bedawy, the vases are cut of stone from
the eastern mountains, and the pottery
imitates these hard stone vases in its forms.
There is no further trace of a connection
with the Libyan culture, which seems to
have died out. It is therefore a migration
from the east, probably proto-Semitic in character, which determined the growth of the second civilization.
The nearest modern parallel to this culture may perhaps be that of the Malay States. The series of
small Sultanates, the high development of some of the arts, the widespread trade, with the absence of
stone monuments, and the unimportance of literature have a sufficient similarity in the two countries
to give a sense of the general position. An ancient parallel might perhaps be found in Gaul before the
Roman occupation.
The main development of this period was the common use of large galleys or ships. The pictures
on a tomb would indicate them to be about sixty feet long, but they might easily be more, as the figures
SHIPPING POTTERY IN 7000 B.C.
The main development ol the second civilization in Eifypt was
the common use of large ships for trading, which had as many as from
fifty to sixty oars a side. There were two cabins amidships, connected
by a bridge, upon which cargo was stored and the ensign of the purt
of origin was invariably carried.
The Egyptians
ii
of men are likely to be
exaggerated. On the vase-
painting they have as many
as fifty to sixty oars on a
side, which would imply a
length of over one hundred
feet. The large size is also
indicated by some of them
having three steering paddles
to govern them. As the
greatest fighting galleys of
the Venetians — the most
important war-vessels of the
Middle Ages — had only a
dozen oars to a side, it is
clear that these prehistoric
galleys were considerable
vessels As will be seen in
the illustration (page 10),
they had always two cabins
Agricultural scenes of the future life in the kingdom
of Osiris as painted in "The Book of the Dead".
amidships, connected by a
bridge, and cargo was stowed
on the cabins, showing that
they were strong wooden
structures. In front of the
fore-cabin was the tall pole
with the ensign of the port
of origin, like the initial
letters on the sails of fishing-
smacks at present. This
ensign was sometimes purely
geographical, as two, three,
four, or five hills, the ele-
phant, or the branch ; others
were connected with the
worship, emblems of the local
god, as the hawk on a cres-
cent, or the signs of the gods
Min and Neit ; others may
have referred to the rank of
the chief or petty sultan, as the harpoon, which seems to have been an autocratic title. At the stern was the
large steering-paddle with wide blade, or as many as three of them. In the bows was the seat for the look-out
man, shaded by a bough of a tree, and the tying-up rope hung over the stem. Such were the vessels which
carried on a trade with Smyrna for emery and electrum, with Crete for oil and ruddle, with Northern Syria for
fine wood, and doubtless to many other ports for consumable goods of which all trace has long since perished.
The social organization was considerable. The varying richness of the tombs shows that wealth
could be accumulated ; labour could be commanded for very long and tedious manufactures, such as
A PORTION OF "THE BOOK OF THE DEAD".
When a person died, invocations to the protector of the dead were painted on the sarcophagus. Later, when these
formulae or glorifications increased, they were written on a roll of papyrus, and this so-called "Book of the Dead" was bound
up inside the bandages of the mummy. This was considered to ensure the future welfare under all possible contingencies.
12
Story of the Nations
the production of vases of the hardest stones ; and, at least at the close of this period, we see figures
of the rulers, and there is a row of kings of the Delta named before the ist Dynasty on the early
annals.
Of the products of skill none is more surprising than the flaked flint knives. The beautiful effect,
of the rippled surface of the flint was so highly appreciated that the knives were first ground into shape
and then the whole surface was ripped off with a series of flakes of machine-like accuracy. No race of
man has ever equalled this work ;
even the Scandinavian, justly cele-
brated for the beauty of his craft,
has never reached the perfection
of judgment, eye, and hand shown
by the Egyptian in this most
difficult of all products.
Not only did they triumph by
skill and sleight of hand, but in
the inconceivably tedious work of
grinding vases of the hardest stones
they likewise achieved results of
faultless perfection. The porphyry,
granite, basalt, even quartz crystal,
were all wrought so truly by hand
grinding, the lines crossing diago-
nally, that no trace of error can
be seen. Not content with master-
ing the siliceous stones by the
use of emery, they even wrought
emery itself, as shown by a vase
and a plummet.
The use of metals steadily in-
creased. Copper, which had been
very scarce in earlier times, was
now usual for carpentry tools, and
a splendidly formed dagger of it
has been found. Silver came in at
the close of the first period ; gold
soon followed, and then lead. Iron
has twice been found, but was so
much valued that it was made
into beads worn with gold.
Amulets came into common use
and are connected with the animals
sacred in later times. The ram's
head is the commonest, and the
bull's head, hawk, scorpion, fly,
and frog are repeatedly found.
That there was a very strong belief
in immortality throughout both the first and second periods is certainly shown by the value of the offerings
of objects of daily use placed with the dead. The fine necklaces of gold, garnet, amethyst, and other
stones were not merely left with the dead from affection, for the abundant provision of pottery, the fine
weapons, and the supply of food all show that an active future was contemplated. Not only was this a
general belief, but it was formulated in detail, and the similar offerings were always put in the same posi-
tion in the grave, and the bodies in nearly all cases were placed on the left side, while generally
they were with the head to the south and face to the west. This uniformity in apparently
Painted specially for this work]
KILLING BIRDS IN THE
[by H. Seppings Wright.
MARSHES.
When in the earliest times food depended entirely upon what was caught
and killed, the Egyptians would visit the marshes of the Nile and secure wild
birds by bringing them down with their throw-sticks. A few thousand years
later their kings used to indulge in this same custom, and it became the
habitual sport of the nobles, who looked to continuing it in the future life.
Alenkaura,
Nuferuetep.
Amenhetep I.
Queen Aahmea.
Tahutmes II.
Qneen Hatshopsut.
Akbenaten
Sety I.
Kamcssu II. Merneptah.
LEAPING KINGS OF ANCIENT EGYPT.
Tdhutmea I.
Tahutmes III.
Uereinheb.
Sely II
Story of the Nations
unimportant detail shows how
firmly a ritual was already
established.
Of this ritual many portions
survived into historic times, and
were incorporated into the col-
lection of magic forms named
in modern times "The Book of
the Dead". That these sections
are as old as the prehistoric is
proved by the full account they
give of the dismemberment of
the body, and removal of the
flesh, as the unclean part, be-
fore reconstruction ceremonially.
This custom is found in many
cases in the second prehistoric,
and even in the first period ;
but it began to die out under
the dynasties, and disappeared
altogether by the Vlth. Hence
a ritual describing the removal
of the head, the limbs, and the
flesh, and the restoration of
the parts, in a dozen different
passages, must belong to the
time when such customs were
suggesting that this race had been slowly filtering into the country
Writing materials, consisting of a reed
pen, palette, and paint.
in full force. This being the
case, we may reasonably take
much — perhaps most — of the
rest of this ritual of magic as
belonging also to the prehistoric
age.
THE THIRD CIVILIZATION :
4700 TO 3800 B.C.
THE old order of things began
gradually to give way before a
new force. From the measure-
ments of the bones it is seen
that the pure dynastic race were
some three inches shorter than
the prehistoric people. But the
late prehistoric folk were dimi-
nishing, and the bulk of the
population when the 1st Dynasty
came upon them were already
about two inches shorter than
before. Hence there had been
for some centuries a gradual
approach to the dynastic type,
and mixing with the people, as the
*Ute*
HIERATIC WRITING FROM THE FIFTH CIVILIZATION.
Under the old Empire (4000-3000 B.C.), a special cursive hand grew into daily use. called the Hieratic, in which the different
hieroglyphics were gradually abbreviated so as to be more easily written by a reed pen. This writing afterwards became so
greatly degraded that it lost the original forms, and in that stage is known as the Demotic script.
The Egyptians 15
invading Hyksos and the Arabs did for some centuries before the political change of conquest. Where
these new people came from has long been a question. From their physiognomy they were not of
southern stock, nor were they like either Libyan or Semitic. They are historically first known at Abydos,
a dynasty of ten kings being recorded as having reigned there three hundred years before the 1st Dynasty.
How did they reach Abydos ? They do not seem to belong to southern or western peoples, they cer-
tainly were not northern, as they had to conquer the north. The most probable source seems to be
that they came in from the Red Sea by the well-known desert route at Koptos, the route followed in
1801 by our Indian troops. At the southern end of the Red Sea was the land of Punt, which was always
venerated by the Egyptians as the land of the Gods, and Min, one of the gods of the invading people.
I'umtfd speciftlli/ Jor thin work] [Bv H. Seppinon HVipW.
BUILDING THE TOMB OF A FIRST DYNASTY KING.
Giving to the scarcity of wood in Egypt the people soon had to flnd some other material for building purposes. The Nile
niud, mixed with short pieces of straw, moulded, stamped with the head of the ruling king's name, and then dried in the sun,
proved the most efficient. The mud also served as mortar, and for this purpose was usually mixed with potsherds.
always had a shrine of the old conical form of the huts of Punt. Further, the close similarity between
some of the earliest dynastic seals and those of Elam hints that these folk may have come round Arabia
from the Persian Gulf. Thus it is likely that both the Egyptian and the Mesopotamian civilizations
are branches from the still older culture of Elam, as shown in the depths of the great mound of Susa,
reaching back before 6000, or perhaps to 8000 or 10,000, B.C. At that time Elam was a maritime country,
with the Persian Gulf stretching up beyond Susa.
The great and essential changes which come in with the dynastic people are hieroglyphic writing,
extended burial, use of cylinder seals, the potter's wheel (found used in the lowest levels of Susa),the great
extension of brick building and carpentry, and high artistic ability.
How do we know the date of these people ? From the 1st Dynasty onward the Egyptians had a
continuous reckoning in years. This has come down to us in the very brief form of a bare list of kings
16
Story of the Nations
and years, through Greek sources ; and
with this agree portions of the Egyptian
sources written in the Vth and the
XVIIIth Dynasties, and the total
reckoning given by Egyptian priests to
Herodotus. There is no hesitation or
variation in the Egyptians' own history.
Further, we can check it by a curious
fault in their calendar. They omitted
to reckon leap year ; hence all the
names of the months slipped back in
the seasons, a month in one hundred
and twenty years, and the whole twelve
names went round the year and came
to the same seasons again in about one
thousand five hundred years. Hence if
we can get the season of a month, we
know to a certainty how far back that
'cd£aj£-' r
EGYIT1AN GODS.
1. Nefcr-Atmu, god of Growth and
Vegetation. 2. Uatbor, the Female
principle, later identified with Isis.
3. Isis, the Mother goddess. 4.
Anhur, a Sun god. 5. Osiris, Corn
god. 6. Ftah, the Creator or
Artificer god —
EARLIEST EGYPTIAN WHITING.
The earliest inscription that we know is
the tablet of King Aha at the beginning of
the 1st Dynasty, shown above.
month can have fallen on that season.
Such datings remain to us for the Xllth
Dynasty accurately, and for the Illrd
Dynasty approximately. These fixed
datings accord exactly with those of
the Egyptians, and not a single fact
contradicts this long record.
This dynastic people, then, appear
to have been gradually coming into the
country from perhaps 4800 B.C. or rather
before. By 4700 B.C. they had estab-
lished their authority at Abydos ; hence
they conquered up and down the valley ;
to Hierakonpolis in the south, where
they had a southern capital, and gradu-
ally down to the north, where their
temporary capital was about forty miles
south of Cairo, just before Mena founded
the permanent capital of Memphis. His
reign, beginning about 4326 B.C., is the
m
EGYPTIAN GO OS.
— 7. Hathor : 7 Hathore presided
over Birth and Destiny. S.Khonsu,
god of Time and Science . 9. Aab,
Moongod. lO.Honu, Couquerorof
Evil. 11. Anubis, Guide »t the
Dead. 12. Bastet, goddess of Animal
Passion and Patroness of Hunting.
MUMMY CASK OF A CAT.
MUMMIED APE.
ANOTHER SPECIES OF APE MUMMIED. EMBALMED HAWK.
ANIMALS MUMMIED BY THE EGYPTIANS.
To the Egyptians certain animals were sacred as the symbols of certain gods. Thus, for example, to Ptah, the beetle was
sacred; to Osiris, the heron ; to Ra and Bastet, the hawk and the oat to Set, the crocodile ; to Anubis, the jackal ; to Thoth,
the ibis. To honour these animals was an act of piety ; but to kill them an offence for which death was the penalty.
i8
Story of the Nations
Photo by permission of] [Messrs. Mansell.
Certain individual specimens of various animals were set apart to the gods
as pre-eminently sacred, the knowledge of which was in the priests' keeping.
When selected, the animal was regarded as an incarnation of the deity and —
Photo by permission o/] (Messrs. Mansell.
— kept in the temple, where prayers and worship were given to it as if to the
god himself. When it died it was embalmed with as jiuch care as if it were
a human person of the highest rank.
great starting-point of written history
the unification of all Egypt under one
king, and the establishment of a new
order of society.
Remains of the older separate
kingdoms were curiously preserved
down to the close of the history
in the several titles of the kings. In
the titles of our Royal Family we
preserve the old dignities of Prince
of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, Duke
of Rothesay, Lord of the Isles, Great
Steward of Scotland, and others,
each of which was originally a
separate dominion. Similarly the
Emperor of Russia rolled together half
a dozen other kingdoms in his titles.
Thus we can understand how the
kings of Egypt were in the first
place divine hawk-gods of the south-
ern capital of the dynasties, Hiera-
konpolis ; secondly, princes of the
prehistoric southern principality of
Nekheb, and the northern of Pe,
El Kab and Buto, distinguished
by the vulture and cobra ; thirdly,
princes of the Horus tribe conquer-
ing the Set tribe, the hawk on the
nub sign of Set ; fourthly, the kings
of all Upper Egypt, marked by the
growing plant, nesut ; fifthly, kings
of all Lower Egypt, marked by
the bee, bati ; sixthly, kings of the
old principality of Heliopolis, sons of
Ra, holding the crook and flail,
the sacred insignia of rule there ;
seventhly, lords of both banks of the
Nile, neb taui (the meaning of which
is shown by local princes being so
entitled) ; eighthly, lords of the
crowns, neb khau, as holding all the
rights of rule, like "Emperor of all
the Russias".
The system of writing begins with
one word one sign, or emblematic
writing, but very early transferred
meanings arose where the sign had
a sound attached to it and could
be used for that sound in different
senses and combinations. Gradually
every syllable in common use got a
sign, and lastly every letter apart
had its sign, some twenty-nine being
The Egyptians 19
in use, with about eighty word-signs, which considerably shortened the writing like our modern £ s. d.,
&c., lb., oz., and other abbreviations. The total number of six hundred or seven hundred signs were but
rarely used, and really there was not much more essential to remember than in knowing two or three
modern alphabets ; it was much easier than cuneiform, and immeasurably simpler than Chinese or literary
Japanese.
The official system and government of the country is shown to us by the variety of seals that were
used to mark the produce of the royal estates. On these we find the titles of the royal seal-bearer, royal
carpenter (= architect), councillor in the palace, private secretary, inspector of canals, overseer of the
\
Painted specially for this work] \bv H. Stppinos H'righl.
AN EGYPTIAN HOUSE 7,000 YEARS AGO.
Previous to the uae of clay bricks for building purposes the houses of the Egyptians were made of wood. The planks were
placed vertically and strapped by palm-fibre rope. Snch a system was evolved in order that the houses might be removed each
year from the plain when the cultivated land was inundated by the Nile.
inundation, overseer of the festival, gatherer of lotus-seed, and a few others. These titles, of course, only
cover those departments which happen to' be named in connection with the funeral offerings, but they
show that a regular bureaucracy was growing over the whole country.
The kings of this time were buried in large chambers of wood sunk in the ground and roofed with
beams, planks, and matting, with a bed of sand over the whole. By the middle of the ist Dynasty a
regular stairway was made leading down into the tomb. The funeral offerings were at first simply thrown
into the pit around the wooden chambers ; then divisions were made for them ; next, small chambers
appear, and by the end of the Ilnd Dynasty there is a long gallery of chambers of offerings leading to the
sepulchre. Granite was rarely worked in the Ist and Ilnd Dynasties ; and though limestone was early
used for tombstones, it is not till the close of the Ilnd Dynasty that we find a limestone chamber, and that
is very scantily wrought with hammer and adze.
20
Story of the Nations
The rapid rise of art is the most surprising activity of this age. The first two civilizations, though
extraordinary in their mechanical ability, had shown but poor artistic perception. The limbs of their
figures of men and animals are mere lines, or else end in points, showing little observation ; their mode
of expressing a solid was to draw a zigzag line to and fro, connecting the outlines of two sides, showing
a poor imagination. So soon as the dynastic race come in there begins the enormous step of art, rapidly
developing to perfection within its natural requirements. The vigorous figures on slate of the various
races, with their details of dress and action, are excellently given, with increasing technical ability, down to-
the start of the 1st Dynasty. After that we have the ivory carving, and one strangely natural limestone head.
The whole view we get is that of the rapid growth of all the benefits of a widely united rule : the
expansion of fine art and of the various crafts as the result of increased opportunity, certainty of demand,.
From a restoration by V. Holscher.] [By permission of J. C. Hinrich, Lfipzio-
THE PYRAMIDS OF OHIZBH.
The largest of the Ghizeh Pyramids, built by Khufu, was said by Herodotus to have taken 100,000 men thirty years to con-
struct. The extraordinary accuracy of the workmanship is more surprising even than the immense bulk of it, which is greater
than anything that man has since done. The second pyramid (to the left hand) is only exceeded in accuracy and size by the
Great Pyramid.
and improved facilities ; the growth of administration to deal with the problems of the country, especially
the inundation ; the regulation of the Nile by great dams across the country begins in this age, and the
lines of embankment have continued to the present time, raised on the old dams as the Nile bed has risen ;
the establishment of a regular bureaucracy to manage the country on permanent lines with regular registers.
All of these changes, which mark the beginning of the order which lasted onwards for thousands of years,,
are due to the organizing and artistic ability of the dynastic race.
Already before the middle of the 1st Dynasty a cheap diffusion of skill begins to be seen, and decay
soon showed itself. This civilization seems to have been brought to an early close by an immigration
of a new force, possibly from the south, to judge by the foreign type of the head of the first king
of the Illrd Dynasty ; but, not being fully decadent, it was able to rapidly civilize the invaders, and thus-
the country could rise again in two centuries only, refreshed and strengthened by the new blood that had
come into it.
Painted specially for this work]
[by Ambrose Dudley.
GUESTS AT A FEAST BEING CROWNED.
fluests, on arriving for dinner, which was held in the middle of the day. were given water in which to nash their feet and
were anointed with sweet-scented oil. For some time they remained conversing, as it was comridered impolite to
***.>. lmmfd,lately to dmncr- Bowers were brought to them and servants put garlands on their heads, bringing fresh flower
On the guest* being seated the servants handed round wine and the musicians entertained the
company with the favourite, airs of the day.
The Egyptians 23
If the history down to this point seems general rather than personal, it must be remembered that the
whole of what has been stated so far is an entirely new conception to us, formed in the last thirty years,
before which absolutely nothing was known of all these periods, and we have not yet any written narrations
of the course of events in these ages.
THE FOURTH CIVILIZATION : 3800 TO 3OOO B.C.
IN this period we reach the beginning of narrative history, and a far greater fullness of monuments from
which the civilization can be studied.
The best-known labours of this age were the Pyramids, and they well show the growth and decay of
the civilization. In the 1st Dynasty the royal tombs were chambers sunk in the ground and banked
l^fv
HH^BBHH^HB^B8NB9MHHHHHHIBBHIHBIHiHiliiiHH
From a restoration] (by CMjritt.
THE FORTRESS OF SEMNEH.
Under the^XHth Dynasty the" Egyptians took great precautions to guard themselves against barbarian inroads. We find
Senusert III blockading the right bank of the river at Semneh in Nubia with a large fortress. This immense brick building,
with its numerous angles and irregular ground plan, was surrounded by a wall, so built as to render the placing of scaling-ladders
exceedingly difficult. It was well garrisoned and sentinels were always stationed on the summit.
over with sand, held in by a slight dwarf wall around it. During that age a stairway was added to
approach the chamber. By the beginning of the Illrd Dynasty the structure had grown to be a high
mass of brickwork, rising about twenty feet, with vertical pits in it leading to the entrance-passage and
to the stone trapdoors that were let down to intercept the passage for security. The next stage was to
build the pile over the tomb with stone, and to add to its size from time to time by raising it and putting
a fresh coating of stone around it. This is seen in the so-called Step Pyramid of Saqqareh, built by Zeser,
the second king of the Illrd Dynasty.
At the close of the Illrd Dynasty this same system was followed by Sneferu (3747 B.C.) in the stone
pyramid of Meydum ; and after adding seven coatings of stone to the central mass, each finished and
supposed in its turn to be final, he at last conceived the idea of putting one entire slope of casing over the
whole. This was an afterthought, as the inner coats are well based on the rock, whereas the final casing
merely rests on gravel foundation. The true pyramid, therefore, began as a casual idea, growing out of
Story of the Nations
Painted specially for this work] (by W. M. N. Brunton, R.B.A., A.R.M.S.
THE MURDER OF AMENEMHAT II.
Amenemhat II, the third King of the Xllth Dynasty, was slain by his chamberlains. This murder, unlike so many in Oriental
history, was not followed by a change in the royal line. This fact suggests either that the murderers were caught before the
plot could mature, or that they were not concerned with the throne but only with the man they slew. The motive may even
have been one of personal revenge.
a different system. Ever after that, each pyramid was designed as a whole, and only one was enlarged
from its first plan.
The first pyramid planned from its foundation was the greatest ever erected, that of Khufu, the Great
Pyramid of Ghizeh. The outer slope is exactly the same as that of the pyramid of Sneferu, such that
the height is the radius of a circle equal to the circuit of it. This proportion is closely given by a height
of seven parts to a base of eleven ; and the unit of Sneferu was twenty-five Egyptian cubits ; that of
Khufu was forty cubits. This attention to geometry is what might be expected in view of the extra-
ordinary accuracy of the work. The side of the pyramid is seven hundred and fifty-five feet, as wide as
the Thames at Westminster ; yet the errors of the sides are less than a little finger's breadth in length
and in angle. If a brass rod were used for measuring, less than seven degrees warmer or cooler would cause
as much error as the pyramid builders made in carrying out their enormous work. The courses were laid
out so truly that they are true to the thickness of a sheet of paper in a length of twenty feet.
All of this brilliant accuracy rapidly fell away. The men who finished the pyramid were much less
careful. The pyramid of Khofra, in the next reign, was rather less in size and had three times the
tnl lii/ Ihf Hon. John Collier]
Hill perm i.s.-tjim /if tin Oltlltam A rt Callrnj < 'am in ill
THE DEATH OF CLEOPATRA.
After persuiidirij.' her lover, Antony, to riiiniiiit sniridr liy semlim; liini false news of her death, ( 'leopntra made advanees to the
victorious Octavian. but found bini impervious to aU her charms. At lcn«(li. h.aiini,' that she was tn !»• takm to Home us a
of war. she put an end to her life on Aus-'iist •><!. ;)0 B.C., in the thnt\ -ninth year of her age. Tradition says that she
bad an asp brought her in n banket of fruit, and poisoned herself liy upplyini; it to her body.
The Egyptians
I'ainteil specialty for thin u-ork] [hy Fred Roe, K.f.
FUNERAL PASSING OVER THE SACRED LAKE.
Preceded by boats conveying mourners who carried
wreaths, the sarcophagus was ferried across the sacred lake
to the tomb. Here with great ceremony the mummy of
the deceased, together with various possessions, was
carefully laid in the tomb.
society strongly organized about local
centres of the hereditary chiefs. Each
noble was the over-lord of a few miles of
the Nile valley, on one bank or the other,
and he was responsible for the supply of
recruits and local tribute to the court
expenses. But all the general expense of
administration was provided as a part
of the management of the great estate,
and all crafts were carried on by the
most able men on the estate.
Happily we are able to enter into
the inner life of this age perhaps more
than in most others. The new facility
of literature led to various collections
of precepts or proverbs being made,
which show the ideals 'of the time, and
are applicable in the main to most
other periods in Egypt. The personal
quality most valued was strength of
character, The boast was, "I have
not been weak" ; "Let not the heart
despair, overthrowing its happiness
after an evil hour" ; "Look well to
error. That of Menkaura was less than hal/ that
size, and had five times the error of Khufu. When
the next dynasty arose, the pyramids of Abusir
were built with dressed stone only on the outside,
and rough broken slabs for the filling. Coming
down to the VI th Dynasty, the pyramids were
mere shells filled up with chips and rubbish. In
the Xllth Dynasty mud brick was the material,
and stone was only used for a casing.
Not only is the mechanical development striking,
but the artistic power is quite as wonderful. The
portrait figures of the kings and nobles show an
amazing expression of character, apart from the
lower side of emotion. From the minute ivory
carving of Khufu up to the life-size figure of
Khofra the art was never excelled at any later
period.
Another branch of the art, which is astonishing
by its amount as well as its quality, is that of the
tombs. Funeral chapels were erected over the
sepulchres, in order to provide a home for the spirit
of the dead, where it could receive its offerings.
These chambers were covered with carvings showing
all the possessions and pleasures of life, so that the
spirit should enjoy them eternally. For some seven
centuries, during the IVth and Vlth Dynasties,
these carvings provide us with a picture-book o all
the affairs of life. The whole view is that of a
HAIRDRESSINO, XUh DYNASTY (2600 li.r.i.
At this period women generally wore a large coiffure of straight hair
hanging down to the breast in two tresses, but ladies of high birth wore a
shorter headdress, under whirh, in front, the natural hair roul'l be soon.
26
Story of the Nations
thyself ; thy existence, lowly or lofty, is liable to change ; but go straight on and thou wilt find the
way." Steadfastness also was urged . "If thou are found good in time of prosperity, when adversity comes
thou wilt be able to endure." Independence was of consequence in the public council ; if a debater was
speaking wrongly, it was the duty of any listener who was his equal to assert the truth, and to gain the
approval of the hearers. There are many injunctions against chicanery, crooked ways, worthlessness and
laziness.
Folly was as distinguished then as in later ages. "Verily the ignorant man, who hearkens not,
nothing can be done for him. He sees knowledge as ignorance, profitable things as hurtful ; he makes
every kind of mistake, so that he
is reprimanded every day. People
avoid having to do with him on
account of the multitude of his
continual misfortunes." Reserve
was praised : "Go not into the
crowd if thou findest thyself ex-
cited in the presence of violence" ;
"If there is an inquiry increase
not thy words ; in keeping quiet
thou wilt do best ; do not be a
talker" ; "Guard thyself from
sinning in words, that they may
not wound ; a thing to be con-
demned in the breast of man is
malicious gossip, which is never
still Discard the man who errs
thus, and let him not be thy com-
panion." It is hard to see that
anyone can better this practical
advice after all the ages of later
experience. We have not room here
to quote the many other admirable
precepts in the conduct of life,
but it is safe to say that any man
and any assembly of men would
be the better for acting up to the
ideals of the pyramid builders.
\ltll Clia*. I). Ward.
nl spa-lolly for (his work]
EARLY TRADING IN EGYPT.
yueen Hatshepsut did much to encourage foreign trade, and sent expeditions
to the land of Punt (probably the modern Somaliland) to bring back incense in
pxrliiinuc- for pottery and other exports from Eprypt.
THE FIFTH CIVILIZATION : 3OOO
TO 2300 B.C.
THE age of the pyramid-builders
ran into decay, as we have de-
scribed, and they were overcome by
a foreign invasion, probably from Syria. This dark period ol the Vllth to Xth Dynasties cannot yet be
explained, but we reach light again in the Xlth Dynasty, and then the Xllth Dynasty revived much
of the former glory of the kingdom. There was a greater formality in the life, and a more scholastic style
in the art, than in earlier times ; we miss the free vitality of the more vigorous ages.
Jewellery was carried to a much greater elaboration than before. Not content with making intricate
lorms in gold-work, these designs were coloured by the inlaying of brilliant stones, turquoise, carnelian
and lapis lazuli. From the 1st Dynasty the Egyptian had perfectly mastered the beating and soldering
of gold, and the free use of colour with it carried the work of this age to a higher perfection than was
ever reached later.
•
PaMed specially for 'Ms iroi-7. ; \by. Amlirns,-
THE EXl'fLSION OK Tilt- HYKSOS, ABOUT 158;> B.C.
Towards the end of the XVIIth Dynasty Egypt revolted against the ru'.e of the Hyksos. or "Shepherd Kings", a Semitic
tribe which had long been oppressing Kg.vpt. The insniTeet.ion WHS successful, and the Hyksos were slowly driven northward
until Aahmes hemmed them up in Aunris. n trnet of land in the Delta which they had strongly fortified. After a long siege they
' M'J'uhited. "nil were allowed to iniireh out anil leave Egypt unmolested. Their expulsion placed Auhnies tinnly on the throne of
I'M ri .IIH! l,n\\ci r;^> pt anil \\as the Iteginninic of the brightest nnd most pi-osp -rous period in the history of the country.
28
Story of the Nations
Painted sjieciiiay /or this worKi I6u n. heiiinnas WnaM.
THE JEWS BRICKMAKIXG.
Brlckmaking was probably a Royal monopoly. Large numbers of Asiatic captives were constantly employed upon this
manufacture, in which we find the Jews engaged at the time of the Exodus. Without such free labour the magnificent memorials
of the kings might never have been built.
The great nobles of this age hollowed out enormous tombs in the rock, by quarrying stone for their
palaces. These tombs were decorated with painting, in place of the far more costly carving of the
previous age. The variety of employments represented shows the details of life and work in the house
and estate with minuteness. The games performed by women are fully shown ; in earlier days a row
of dancing girls doing the high kick was about all that is shown, but in this period we see turning
somersaults, swinging round at arm's length, holding each other playing double somersault, leaping
games, keeping two balls in the air, and playing ball riding on the backs of others.
The principal work of this age was the permanent conquest of Nubia and establishing trade with
the Sudan. This was celebrated in a triumphal song, a copy of which has lasted to our days :
He has come to us, he has taken the land of the well
The double crown is placed on his head.
He has come, he has united the two lands.
He has joined the upper with the lower kingdom.
He has come, he has ruled Egypt,
He has placed the desert in his power.
He has come, he has made Egypt to live,
He has destroyed its afflictions.
He has come, we bring up our children.
We bury our aged by his good favour.
This is only a small part of this song, the earliest that we have preserved. Literature was beginning as
an art, and many tales still remain, some of which show the connections of Syria with Egypt.
After the splendid age there was a long autumn of gradual decay in the Xlllth and XlVth Dynasties,
closely parallel to the gradual decay of Egypt under the Romans. Syrians had begun to come into the
country in the Xllth Dynasty — as they had done in many previous ages; more followed; and in the
The Egyptians 29
XlVth Dynasty we find one Mesopotamian, Khenzer, adopting all the Epgytian religious duties as king,
in full royal state ; also another king, Khandy, who was also king in Syria or Mesopotamia. The infiltra-
tion of Syrians and Easterners was steadily going on as it did under the Romans before the Arab
conquest.
THE SIXTH CIVILIZATION : 230O TO 950 B.C.
THE storm burst at last, as at the Arab conquest, and Egypt was flooded with Semitic tribes, known
as the Shepherd Kings, or Hyksos. After a century of turmoil they established great rulers, like the later
Khalifehs, who reigned not only over Egypt, but far beyond. One of them, Khyan, took the title "Em
bracing territories" ; a sphinx of his was found at Baghdad and a jar-lid of his in Crete. Later Hyksos
took the title of sea kings, and probably held Cyprus and the Syrian coast. The latest wave of this invasion
is familiar to us as the migration of Abraham, who was of the same race and condition as these Hyksos.
Like all governments, this came
to its decadence, and the older
Egyptian culture which had taken
refuge in the south began to push
back to its former home. This
movement was not, however, led
by Egyptians, but by small,
curly - haired Nubians, almost
black. King Seqenen-ra was
killed in a hand-to-hand battle
which beat back the Hyksos ; and
the Nubian Aahmes, who over-
ran Egypt and drove them out
northwards, founded the XVIIIth
Dynasty.
The Egyptian movement con-
tinued : the powerful kings
Amenhetep I and Tahutmes I
drove the Semites up Syria, and
finally reached the Euphrates.
The daughter of Tahutmes I,
Queen Hatshepsut, reigned prac-
tically alone, and devoted herself
to peaceful growth. She fitted
out a trading fleet to go to the
land of Punt on the African coast,
at the south end of the Red
Sea. This expedition returned to
Thebes, and must therefore have
passed by a canal into the Nile.
It brought back great quantities
of incense, thirty-one frank-
incense trees to be planted at
Thebes, ebony, cinnamon, balsam,
resin, antimony, gold, electrum,
ivory, giraffes, leopards, panther-
skins, monkeys, and large white
dogs. In short, it was a trad-
ing voyage much like those of
Solomon a few centuries later.
Fainted specialty for lltte work]
EGYPTIAN INFANTRY.
During the XVIIIth Dynasty the Egyptians showed a warlike, soldlerl) spirit
developed, no doubt, by their successful campaigns against the Hyksos, who were
finally crushed by Aahmes I, the founder of the dynasty That there was a regular
standing army, and that organized warfare, as opposed to mere savage raids was
carried on, is conclusively proved by tomb inscriptions of the period.
30 Story of the Nations
The record of this was put up in the queen's great temple at Dcir-el-Bahri on the western side of Thebes.
So soon as she died her younger brother, Tahutmes III, began his great Syrian campaigns, which wore
destined to increase his country's wealth very considerably. The queen died on the I5th of January.
In April the army was gathered on the frontier. On the I3th of May Tahutmes had marched across the
desert to Gaza covering one hundred and sixty miles in about twelve days On the I4th he pushed on,
and did ninety miles more by the 25th of May, up to Mount Carmel. There he struck through a dangerr.us
pass in the mountains, and thus surprised the capital city of Megiddo. On the 3Oth of May came the
decisive battle of Mepiddo. in which he rolled back the Syrians into the rity and besieged it. In a few
'
I'amled gpeciaUv for lltiy work] >'U Ambrose L>udleii.
EGYPTIAN U1KLS UANCLNO AND PLAYINU UALL.
Slany pastimes ol the Egyptians, thousands of years ago, were similar to those of our own time. Dolls, crocodiles with
moving jaws, amongst other toys, were given to children, and the hoop and ball to those of a more advanced age. In the tomli.-
of Bcni Hassan we find representations of women playing ball in the form of a dance — at least so we may conjecture from the
costume worn.
days it was taken, and the chiefs came out to "smell the ground" in obeisance before the king The
-plunder was great — over two thousand horses, nine hundred chariots, two thousand bulls, twenty
thousand sheep, two hundred pounds of gold and silver, one hundred and fifty thousand bushels of corn,
beside much fine armour, furniture, bronze, and jewellery. Almost every year such plunder was
obtained, either as a tribute, or, if that was withheld, then by capture. For twenty years this went on.
till Syria was stripped of all its wealth, and its artists and women had been taken to swell the house-
holds in Egypt. This made a profound change in Egyptian culture and art. which was more altered than
it had been for a thousand years before.
Although the Nubians had driven out the dominion of the Hyksos, those people must have been
mingled with the Egyptians more or less, and portions of tribes must have lingered in various corners of
the country. One such tribe was that of the Israelites, some of whom had gone back into Syria, while
others remained on the east of the delta along the Wady Tumilat, and were reduced to slavery by the
•
lit
l-'ftotoa hit wmuaitian on
J. Sir flinders Pelrie, Messrs. MIIHH-II. unit Tin /•.<;///.( r..ri>l<irnrton htinil.
A PAGE SHOWING EGYPTIAN ART AT DIFFERENT PERIODS.
Heading irom Iclt to right the objects arc : Hcnd-irs1 of wunil and ebony Inlaid with ivory plaques an<i rosettes. Gold and
jewelled bracelets found in the tomb of Zer of the 1st Dynasty (Figs. '.' nnd 4). Combs of the 1st Civilization. Baked clay cones.
Pottery of the 1st Civilization. Gold pendant ol Vth Civilization (Xllth Dynasty). Pro-dynastic pottery (Figs. S and I-.').
Carved ichneumon. Very late pottery. Unbaked clay bricks. A stele from Punt Terrace, Dcir-el-Bahri. Fowling scene from
the frescoes upon tombs at Thebes, XVIIlth Dynasty Low chair with Icsrs n form <>: lion's paws, Inlaid with ivory with plaited
M-iit 1SOO B.C. Carved head of Ncfcrt rnrly I Vth Dynasty.
Story of the Nations
f'rom a restoration]
\bn f. Looter.
RESIDENCE OF A WEALTHY EUYPT1AN DUHINfi THE XVIIItli DYNASTY
The complete town house of the XVIIIth Dynasty contained a great vestibule with an ante-room for the porter; behind there
was a large dining-hall, at the back of which was a small cour : on the right of this stood tho bedroom of the master, and on the
left a kitchen and storeroom i beyond still further was built the house for the women and the garden. In this restoration tbc
walls have been broken away to show the interior of the vestibule and of the great dining-hall
Egyptians. The conqueror of the Hyksos must have been the new king who knew not Joseph, the
oppression beginning with the XVIIIth Dynasty
The most magnificent monarch of this age was Amenhetep III, who reigned thirty-six years, mainly
devoted to the peaceful spread of the arts. Of the organization of the country we learn from the tomb
of a great vizier, Rekh-ma-ra, who records the taxation from the various divisions of Egypt. From
these it is evident that the court levied only for its own expenses, and the cost of administration was
borne locally by the nobles. The great wars in Syria had brought in much wealth which was maintained
by the continuous tribute, and this went to the king and was not pooled in the expenses of government.
The large number of captives also greatly facilitated the public works, and their maintenance was
provided by the heavy tribute of corn exacted both from Syria and from Nubia
On the western side of Thebes, Amenhetep III built a great temple for the service ol his spirit, the
expansion of the old chapel of the tombs. The special home of his spirit was in the two colossal
seated figures in the temple, which, when complete, were sixty-nine feet high. The temple was
swept away for stone by the impious hands of later kings ; but the colossi still remain, looking across
that plain at a million sunrises since they were there set by the great king. An overthrown tablet,
which stood thirty feet high, is the only other relic of this great temple. These immense masses of stone
were not of the soft sandstone, easily cut, and floated down the Nile, like most of the Theban building
stone ; but they were cut in the flinty rock near Cairo, and taken hundreds of miles up the stream to be
erected.
This great king was in close relations with Syria, as we know by the correspondence on cuneiform
clay tablets found at Tell Amarna. These show that the kings of all the north ol Mesopotamia and
Assyria were in friendly correspondence with Egypt. Alliances were made for many generations ;
The Egyptians
33
daughters were sent as consorts to the kings on each side ; and ivory, silver, precious stones, horses,
chariots, crystal necklaces, copper from Cyprus, also came to Egypt ; gold was mainly asked for in return
from Egypt, also oxen, oils, and purple. The intercourse with Greece was also considerable. Fragments
of hundreds of Greek vases were found in the ruins of the palace at Tell Amarna, and such vases were
often placed in the tombs during this age. Such connection for trade had been going on since the later
prehistoric times ; but it was much increased, and it led to an influence on the art which is remarkable.
The free drawing and design of the Mykensan period in Greece was largely reflected in the lively naturalism
with which both figures and plants were represented in Egypt.
Another large work of this reign was the temple of Luxor, on the eastern side of Thebes. The papyrus
columns of the great avenue here are sixty-five feet high, only slightly exceeded by some in the fore-
court at Karnak ; and the courts with double colonnades of clustered columns are the most pleasing
example of the architecture on a large scale. This temple was specially built in recognition of the divine
birth of the king. The royal descent was in the female line, like all other property ; the king, usually a
half-brother of the queen, per-
sonated the god Amen as his
high priest, and the chil-
dren born to him in that
character were the sons of the
god.
This temple was connected
with that at Karnak by an
avenue of one hundred and
twenty-iwo sphinxes, carved in
sandstone. This combination
of the lion's body with the
king's head represented the
guarding protection given by
the king as ruler of the country.
They have no connection what-
ever with the Greek idea of a
female sphinx, which belongs
rather to the harpy tribe, and
was destructive rather than
protective. The temple of
Karnak, to which this avenue
led, was the earliest temple
at Thebes, repeatedly enlarged
from the Xllth Dynasty down
to the Ptolemies, for over three
thousand years.
Another great work of this
reign was an immense artificial
lake at Thebes, surrounded by
a high bank formed of the earth
dug out.
This was dug in fifteen days,
just at the time of highest Nile,
a8th of September to gth of
October. It would require
about eighty thousand men to raintea specially for /his work] \lni Ambnat
dig it, and perhaps a quarter COUNTING THE HANDS CUT FROM THE DEAD.
of a million lads to Carrv the ^ne m'l"ar-v secretaries, immediately after the conclusion of a bnttlr
reckoned the number of the slain in the presenre of the king. This counting was done
•earth; SO if the population of by cutting off the hands or some other portion of the body of the enemy.
34
Story of the Nations
Thebes were turned on to the job they might about do it in the fortnight
stated.
This magnificent king, Amenhetep III, had a remarkable wife, Queen Thyi,
who was daughter of a Syrian prince. She had brought with her a devotion to
the Syrian sun-worship of the Aten, which had long survived in the old Semitic
capital of Heliopolis. She imbued her son Amenhetep IV with this idea, and he
adopted it fanatically. The Semite, whether Jew or Muslim, is naturally a
monotheist ; and the young king — half Syrian — when he came to the throne at
about seventeen pushed the sun-worship to the exclusion of all the Egyptian
gods. Soon he proscribed all other worship, and had all mention of the other
gods erased on all the accessible monuments of the whole land. He started a
new capital, now known as Tell Amarna, and took a new name himself, Akhen-
aten, "the glorious disk of the sun". The idea of this worship was the adora-
tion of the power of the sun ; this was shown in emblem by the sun's rays
descending, each ending in a hand, and these hands accept the offerings,
confer life on the king, place the crown on his head, and are the sole means
of divine action. The idea of the radiant energy of the sun being the source
of all life is perhaps the only scientific materialism that has ever been accepted
as a religion.
The king also adored the sun in a noble hymn, which has come down to us.
A portion will show the scope of ideas :
The land brightens, for thou risest on the
Shining as the Aten in the day ; [horizon,
The darkness flees, for thou givest thy beams,
Both lands are rejoicing every day.
Men awake, and stand up on their feet,
For thou liftest them up ;
They bathe their limbs, they clothe themselves,
They lift their hands i n adoration of thy risi ng ,
Throughout the land they do their labours.
The cattle all rest in their pastures,
Where grow the trees and herbs :
The birds fly in their haunts.
Their wings adoring thy spirit.
.Viiinmy-case from Deir-el-
Bahri
Not only did Akhenaten
strive for truth in religion,
but also in art and in all
ideals of life. His constant
motto was "Living in Truth",
and the extraordinary change
which he wrought, and the
wide range of his ideas, place
him as the greatest thinker
that was ever born in Egypt.
Had he been in a lower station
he might have been a prophet
venerated for ages, with a
better right to such honour
than Buddha or Muhamed.
Unfortunately," 'he was a
king, and — contrary to Plato
— unhappy is that land where
kings are philosophers. His
ideals outweighed all common
Thou makest the seasons of the year to produce all thy works :
The winter making them cool, the summer giving warmth.
Thou makest the far-off heaven, that thou mayest rise in it,
That thou mayest see all that thou madest when thou wast alone.
* * * *
Since the day that thou laidst the foundations of the earth,
Thou raiscst them up for thy son, who came forth from thy substance,
The king of Egypt living in Truth
Photos by permission of] \Tlte /•:<;;/;</ Exploration Fvrvl.
A SARCOPHAGUS FROM DEIR-EL-HA II HI.
The Egyptian cottins, or "sarcophagi", differed irreatly in aecordanee with the riink
and wealth of the deceased. The poor had to ho content with i-onuh wooden lioxcs.
hut the rich man's casket was a thing of m.-iKnifiecnce. richly curved and painted with
symbolic-ill figure-, mid often with a full-length ofttK.v i.f the departed one on the lid.
K.MIiALMlM; Til 1C DEAD.
Le-t the de-cei s.-il niiuiit suffer- tnun hutuer ;m<l thirst, those parts which in lifetime sutler from thc.sc sensations were taken
out of the body anil placed Jii four jars, each containing the figurehead of the pirttcular jfcn'us nmlor whose protection they fell.
Under (he Old and Middle Umpires food in an imperishable form was placed beside the body in the tomb.
Story of the Nations
THE KING AND QUEEN'S PERFUME VASE
FROM TUTANKHAMEN'S TOMB.
The splendour of the contents of Tutankhamen's tomb
is partly accounted for by the fact that this King restored
the worship of Amen, and thus
earned the gratitude of the priests.
The ornaments and furnishings in-
cluding this wonderful perfume
vase, are now in Cairo Museum.
son Ramessu. This hall has
always excited wonder from
the overwhelming scale of it :
the columns of the middle
avenue are sixty-three feet
high, and those of the body of
the hall forty-six feet. The
whole height to the roof was
eighty feet. Such excessive
size, executed in a soft sand-
stone, brings its own nemesis.
It was impossible to support
such weights except by crowd-
ing the columns, and the in-
terspace is less than in almost
any temple : barely more than
the diameter of the column is
left between those of the hall.
It therefore appears crowded
sense ; he tried to force them on an unwilling
people ; and he neglected the care of his empire,
absorbed in his new life. Syria was left to
go to ruin by internal warfare, rebelling against
Egypt ; the whole land resented the new faith. He
only reigned sixteen years, and a few years later his
son-in-law, Tutankhamen, restored the old worship
of Amen and was rewarded with the magnificently
furnished tomb, the discovery of which provided an
archaeological sensation. The capital was moved
back to Thebes, and life went on as if Akhenaten.
the great idealist, had never spoken.
Not only Syria, but also Egypt, had fallen into
a terrible state of neglect and mismanagement.
After a few weak and short reigns, it required all
the energy of a soldier-statesman, King Heremheb,
to restore peace and good order to Egypt, and to
repress the tyranny of a plundering soldiery. After
his time it required another such ruler, Sety I, to
recover some part of the lost empire of Egypt in
Syria. The old realm out to the Euphrates was
hopelessly gone, but Sety stretched his power over
Syria, and reached the mouth of the Orontes
The great scenes of this war are sculptured on the
outer wall of the vast temple of Karnak. The Hall
of Columns there was built by Sety, though it
had probably been projected — perhaps even begun
— by a previous king. The whole of the building,
as we see it, was done by Sety, and he carved about
half the columns , the remainder were used by his
/'holographs Iji/ Mr. Harm liurton; uj the Meln>ix>idan A/«««m of Ar, , .Vtu: Yurk.
(World Copy right strictly reserved, i
KING TUTANKHAMEN'S OUTER COFFIN IN SARCOPHAGUS.
The opening of the tomb of King Tutankhamen by Lord Carnarvon and Mr.
Howard Carter in 1923 created an archaeological sensation. The tomb, the only one
discovered which had escaped the depredations of early robbers, contained furniture and
ornaments ol unparalleled magnificence. The coffins, carved in the likeness of the dead
king, were most beautifully painted and decorated.
The Egyptians
37
and gloomy, and the great weights have forced all the inevitable decay to the point of destruction. Many
of the columns have fallen by their own weakness, and during recent years a great rebuilding has been
needful, if the whole structure were not to become a heap of ruin. This rebuilding has been carried out on
the old Egyptian system, by the simplest means. As each course was laid, it was banked up with earth ;
the stones of the next course were then run on rollers into place, and more earth put around them ;
finally the temple was completed, but full of earth, and on removing that it stood finished. N«<
accidents can
occur, no power-
ful cranes or
scaffolds are re-
quired; and
where labour is
cheap, the
simple earth-
staging proves
to be as cheap
as any other
process.
The charac-
ter of Sety I
stands higher
than that of
perhaps any
other Egyptian
ruler. Not only
was he ener-
getic to recover
the status of his
country, and
left it secure
and in good
order, but he
also had all the
inscriptions
that had been
erased by Akh-
enaten carefully
re-cut with
great fidelity,
and only placed
hi ; own name
modestly as
restorer. When
we look at the
ruthless thefts
by Ramessu II,
to look in the face of the kings of three thousand years ago, yet, owing to
to hide their bodies from the ancient destroyers, we can now see the actual persons of many of the
greatest movers of the world's history. Aahmes, who expelled the Hyksos ; Tahutmes I, who swept up
to the Euphrates ; Tahutmes III, the great campaigner ; Sety I, the noble king ; Ramessu, the vain-
glorious ; and Ramessu III, who saved Egypt from Syrians and Africans — all these, and many others, are
as familiarly known by us as they were to the court of Egypt. In different tombs they were moved
about, as robbers increased in audacity, until they were grouped into two great deposits, where — bare oi
Painted sverially for this uvrk] [bu 1C. M. \. Uruntuii. It. II.. I
AKHENATKN COMPOSING HIS HYMN TO THE SUN (XVIIlth DYNASTY).
Amenhetep IV, who assumed the name of Akheniitrn, endeavoured to over-
throw the old religion and induce the people to imitate him in the worship of the
Aten, the solar disk. The Atcn was supposed to represent the gun as the universal
god. But the movement failed, and the records of tin kinir ami his religion wt>iv
subsequently erased from the monuments
substituting his
own name for
those of earlier
kini;son innum-
erable inscrip-
tions, we can
value the more
his father's
honourable
restoration of
defaced monu-
ments to their
original pur-
pose.
Happily the
body of this
truly great ruler
has been more
perfectly pre-
served than any
of the royal
mummies The
grace, the nobil-
ity, the dignity
of the man
show in all his
features. There
is no finer pre-
sentment of the
great dead than
this beautiful
face, which had
been moulded
by so noble a
character.
It would
seem an im-
possible ro-
mance that \vv
should be able
the care taken
38 Story of the Nations
all the pomp and state that could attract the plunderer — they lay until drawn torth again by ..t generation
that would value and reverence their remains. Truly the Egyptian achieved an imnv>rtality of renown
and respect which we cannot imagine any ruler of the present day retaining in A.D 5200
This care for the person and the glory of the dead was one of the greatest motives to the Egyptians
and it is to this that we owe nearly all our knowledge of their daily life. The dead were ornamented with
the jewellery and trinkets which they had worn in life. They were wrapped in the fine linen which had
been made for everyday wear. They had offerings of food and drink, vases, weapons, toilet things,
toys, even literature — al| that had been familiar around them were laid by them for their future solace.
The soul, when it came abroad from the tomb, was to be cherished by providing a model house for it in
great detail, with model servants to do all the work, made in wood carving, or later in pottery. And the
owner of great estates had all the scenes and life of his domains carved, or later painted, on the walls
Painted upcHaUj for this imrk ', <t>U Ohas T>. Ward
SETY 1 IN SYRIA (XlXth DYNASTY)
On the death of Ramessu 1 war broke out again between the Egyptians and the Hit liter.. Srty ! nmrcucd rapidly into Syria
and after several brilliant victories took Kadesh, a city of the Amorites which commanded the Orontes Valley. Mautenor, Kingof
the Hlttitcs. then attacked Set.y. lint wns defeated and forced to sign a peace, leaving Southern Syria in the hands of Egypt
of the tomb-chapel, where his soul was supposed to come to be refreshed with the joys of lite. Doubt-
less this was not nearly so prominent to the Egyptian as it is to us to day. To them it was a provision
far away upon the desert, seldom seen or noticed, while the active life lay in the town-; and fields of the
green plain. All those daily scenes are now buried deep below the accumulations of the Nile, and only
the works upon the desert stand out visible to our days.
After Scty I the kingdom rapidly declined. His son, Ramessu II. is only known by his boastfulnes^
and his preposterously long reign of sixty-seven years. In all this time he does not seem to have d me
anything for his country after his eighth year. For over half a century he stole the monuments of hi:
predecessors and lied about himself. His Syrian war never reached as far as his father had gone, and
he retreated from a drawn game with the Hittites He was glorified by a long and fulsome p:>em about
his exploits, of which many copies remain ; the mam interest is as showing the condition ot the greac
4o
Story of the Nations
Hittite confederacy at that time. They had formed an alliance of various peoples from Lycia to
Carchemish, and from the gulf of Issus down to Tyre. From their treaty with Ramessu in his twenty-
first year it is seen that their homeland, by the gods of which they swore, was around the head waters
of the Euphrates in Armenia.
The treaty of 1280 B.C. is preserved in hieroglyphs at Abu Simbcl in Nubia, and on a cuneiform tablet
at Boghaz iCeui in Asia Minor. It shows how carefully international acts were then drawn up. It recite*
the ancestry of both kings and their former relations ; declares permanent friendship ; confirms past
treaties ; makes a defensive alliance ; and declares the extradition of any subjects changing sides. It
Painted specially for this work} !'»/ H'. .V. .V. llrunton, K.H.A-.
SETY I BUILDING THE TEMPLE OF ABYDOS (XlXth DYNASTY).
Although a great part of his reign was occupied in warfare, Sety I found time to work the mines of Sinai and the Red St-.i. and
to restore and build many temples. At Abydos he built largely, commencing the magnificent temple to Osiris, which contain* sonic
of the finest bas-reliefs in the country.
concludes with the oath by each of the gods of the Hittites, and the description of the state seals of the-
Hittites and Kataonian kingdoms. The daughter of the Hittite king was given to Ramessu on making
this treaty ; the Egyptians gave her the name of the dawn, "beholding the beauty of the sun", an
allusion to her beholding the king.
Art decayed greatly in this reign, and the only creditable work of which we know is a seated figure
in black granite. But works of enormous size were executed ; a statue ninety-two feet high
looked out over the temple and city of Tanis ; another colossus of red granite was the seated figure,
fifty-seven feet high, at the king's funeral temple at Thebes. These weighed nine hundred or
one thousand tons each. The rage for erasures went so far that Ramessu had his own obelisks.
The Egyptians
cut down and re-engraved in some cases. The gigantic rock-
cut figures of Abu Simbel are impressive from their size, but the
execution is incredibly coarse and mechanical in the mode of
marking details.
There was a great spread of officialism growing throughout
the XVIIIth and XlXth Dynasties ; more and more place-
hunters had to be kept by the taxes and fees of the people, and
the burden was not diminished by finding offices for the eighty
sons and sixty sons-in-law of Ramessu. The vast endowments
of the temples maintained an army of priests in useless lives.
These drains upon the resources weakened Egypt greatly, and
it steadily fell into worse state under Ramessu and collapsed
in the tumults of about forty years later.
A new king of some ability arose in Ramessu III. As he
was the last king to build a funeral temple at Thebes, his work
has survived there at Medinet Habu, while all the earlier
temples have been destroyed more or less by later builders.
He had to face a great Algerian and Tunisian invasion, and
three years later a league of all the peoples of Syria, headed by
the Hittites. After another three years the westerners were
again forcing forward, and had to be massacred by Ramessu.
After these great battles the Egyptians kept precise accounts
of the slain, by bringing in the hands and piling them in
heaps, and also of the booty, in full lists which were recorded.
This external success was counterbalanced by the decadent
condition internally. Conspiracies were brought to light, and
the documents of two great trials have come down to us : one
a. trial for witchcraft with magic figures ; the other a trial for
conspiracy, perhaps connected with the witchcraft. In a large
secluded harem of concubines there was fuel for any, social
conflagration.
The close of this great family was curious. Ramessu III
was succeeded by his son, Ramessu IV, and he by his son,
Ramessu V. Meanwhile a brother of Ramessu IV had married
his daughter to the High Priest of the omnipotent god
Amen. Then suddenly Ramessu V died, and this next
brother succeeded as Ramessu VI, and, his heiress being high
priestess, the priests of Amen thus succeeded to the throne.
They prudently permitted the rest of the sons of Ramessu III
to follow one another, down to Ramessu XII ; and this was
the more easy as the high priest was court-tutor and had
educated them.
The great High Priests of Amen were the richest people
in Egypt, for the god had been granted enormous shares
of the booty and captives and lands. They were, however,
not capable of holding the country together, any more than
the Popes could hold Italy. Priestly rule might suffice for
the narrow valley of the Nile ; but the frontier facing Syria
needed a more vigorous hand. With apparently perfect good
will the priests at Thebes agreed to another line of secular
rulers managing the Delta from Tanis or Zoan, in the north-
east corner. Two lines were thus going on together in the
XX 1st Dynasty.
Mummy of Sety I as it now appears after bcinr
preserved for over 3.000 years.
42
Story of the Nations
A fascinating little story survives about an envoy sent from Thebes on April 6 to get cedars
in Palestine He went down to the coast, and the King of Tanis supplied him with a boat and sailors,
with which he started on April 20. On the voyage, at one port a sailor ran away with the stock
of money, equal to some hundreds of pounds now. The chief of the place repudiated all responsibility.
At last the envoy went on and began to get cedars cut down surreptitiously, on which the king of the
cedar district put him under arrest. He tried to escape one night on to a ship going to Egypt, but was
caught and brought back. Then follows a conversation between the Egyptian and the Syrian king on his
throne, with his back to the window, while the waves of the great sea broke on the shore below. After
much browbeating it ends with the king proposing an ordeal. He will allow the timber raft to be taken
if badly rigged, so that a storm would wreck it, then the god Amen can show his power by protecting his
own. This is declined, and the envoy sends a messenger for more presents to give the Syrian. On these
Painted specially far this work I//;/ Clias. D. Ward
THE EGYPTIAN CAMP ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES.
The suspicion with which Soiomon regarded Jeroboam drove the latter to seek refuge with Hheshenq (Shishak), King of
Egypt and on Solomon's death Rehoboam, his son, found the kingdom divided, the larger part owning allegiance to
Jeroboam. Sheshenq marched to the assistance of his ally, and in a short space of time entered Jerusalem, plundered the
temple and received the submission of Rehoboam.
coming, the timber is given in return. Then pirates from Crete sweep down, ironically calling themselves
''the guardians of the helpless". Unfortunately the end of the tale is lost.
THE SEVENTH CIVILIZATION : 950 B.C. TO A.D. 640.
As at the close of the Vth Civilization the Mesopotamians came in and held the land as Hyksos, before
a fresh growth of native power, so now, at the close of the Vlth Civilization, there arose a rule from a
Mesopotamian adventurer, which held Egypt for a couple of centuries. Shishak — Shfishenq, "the man
of Susa" — a name familiar in Babylonia, was probably a successful mercenary general of the Tanite kings.
He married the daughter of the last Tanite king, and, moving up to Bubastis, he set up a new dynasty,
the XXIInd.
specially for this work] lb« J. i(. SKeUon.
BRINGING TRIBUTE TO RAMESSU 11 (XlXth DYNASTY).
The tribute received annually from the nations which the Pharaoh had subdued in Ethiopia and Asia was or immense value.
It is described as consisting of gold and silver in ingots, porcelain and metal vases, ivory, rare woods, precious stones, horses dogs,
wild animal* trees, .seeds, fruits, perfumes, gums, spices und other luxuries. It was presented to the king as chief of the nation
but it formed part of the revenue of the State.
The Egyptians
45
Solomon had married another daughter oi the Tanite king, so that the queens of Judah and Egypt
were sisters. We have no mention of children of Pharaoh's daughter in the Bible, but probably she had
such ; and hence, when Solomon died, it was natural for Shishak to claim to interfere with Judah. He
swept up to Jerusalem with one thousand two hundred chariots, sixty thousand horsemen tnd a large
army. With Israel divided from Judah. resistance was hooeless. Shishak swept away all the treasure
accumulated by Solomon, his
brother-in-law, and left Judah
under the dread of Egypt. The
rest of this family, in the XXIInd
and XXIIIrd Dynasties, left no
mark in the world's history.
The next great movement
was the growth of the Ethiopian
kingdom of Napata (or Gebel
Barkal), about as far south of
Aswan as Aswan is from the sea.
While Egyptian power was
centred in the remote Delta,
the Ethiopians could extend
their hold northwards, until
about 730 or 740 B.C. they
grasped Egypt. After some re-
volt came a final conquest of
Egypt by Pankhy I, which is
well told on his long inscription
set up at Napata Tafnekht, a
prince of the western Delta, had
occupied the valley far above the
Eayum The army of Pankhy
was ordered to start from
Thebes, and to clear out the
invaders Pankhy himself then
advanced, and captured Her-
mopolis and Memphis His
anxiety for the safety of his
enemies, and his readiness to
pardon rebels are remarkable
evidences of the general human-
ity which is also seen in other
lands about this time. Pankhy
took up the sovereignty cere-
monially at Heliopolis, and then
held a great durbar at Athribis.
The Ethiopian kings appear to
have deputed their eldest sons
as viceroys to govern Egypt ;
Shabaka ("King So") and Taharqa ("Tirhaka") both began their rule thus. The Delta was left to a welter
of petty chiefs who were always trying to take one another's possessions. A tale of this time pictures them
as owning some faint allegiance to the king at Tanis ; and he summons them to fight out their quarrels in an
orderly manner, pitting the antagonist forces one against the other. There were fourteen chiefs on one
side, against nine others ; after some were worsted the king closes the quarrel without any of the chiefs
having been killed or losing their domains.
Since the days of Tafnekht about 742-721 B.C., there had been a power growing in the west of the
Painted specially for this work] [6v •/• i
CAPTIVES BEFORE PHARAOH.
Captives wen- led back with the army, their hands tied behind their back or orer
their head in the most strained positions, and were tied one to another by ropes
round their necks. Sometimes their hands were enclosed in fetters of wood. The
unfortunate prisoners on reaching Egypt were forced to labour on public work-.
46
Story of the Nations
Delta. His attempt on Upper Egypt had been checked b}' the Ethiopians, but Bakenranf, his son and
successor, rose to independence, and held Memphis. Two more generations were insignificant, and then a
greater ruler arose named Neko, who was father of Psamtek (Psammetichos) .
With Psamtek I begins the independence of Egypt and the XXVIth Dynasty. He saw how to make
use of the intrusive Greeks, and by taking them into his service as mercenaries he overcame the de-
cadent Ethiopians and conquered the whole of Egypt. But after having thus satisfied his ambitions,
the question stood : How were the
Greeks to be disposed of, so as not to
clash with the natives ? There was no
sort of sympathy between the Egyptian
and the Greek. Herodotus expresses
the feeling that everything was wrong
side before in Egypt ; whatever the
Greek did the Egyptian did oppositely.
This antagonism • would be felt all the
more by the Egyptian, as the Greeks
were intruders in his country. He
felt doubtless much as the modern
Egyptian feels about the Greek trader
now — that he is a godless, grasping
man, who by wicked skill and unfore-
seen craft can get the better of the
righteous. After using the Greeks to
conquer, it was necessary to get them
out of the way in order to tranquillize
the country. They were therefore
formed into two great garrisons for the
frontiers ; one camp protected the
Syrian road at Daphnae — the Tahpanhes
of Jeremiah ; the other held the western
side of the Delta at Naukratis. After
this settlement, Egypt rapidly grew in
wealth and prosperity ; so easy a time
had not been known for some seven
centuries, thanks to the grasp of a sound
W£ Pi mler-
D^IP*1^ •'-• w^*^ One °f those wild surses ot pe°p'e
that are thrown up by Asia threatened
to break up civilization. The Scythians
from beyond Persia burst through and
ravaged whole countries. They swept
down Syria, and the old town of Beth-
shean in Samaria became their head-
quarters, and was known ever after as
Scythopolis. They threatened Egypt, and but lor the stability of the land under a strong ruler might
have submerged it. But Psamtek rose to the emergency ; he held Gaza, and they could not advance
beyond Askelon ; soon he beat them back to Ashdod, and there he held the barbarians in check, it is
-aid. for twenty-nine years, until their force decayed and their dominion in Asia perished. Psamtek died
after a reign of fifty-four years.
The power of Egypt, which had held back the Scythians, soon stretched out when the scourge was
removed. Necho, the son of Psamtek, pushed forward, interfered with Judah, punished Syria, and led
the Egyptians once more as far as the Euphrates. But before long the power of Babylon under Nebu-
chadnezzar attacked and defeated him at Carchemish, and Egypt had to withdraw within its own borders.
Painted specially for this worn] \hu Ambrose Dudley
PSAMTEK ENTERS ASHDOD.
After a long period of decline Psamtek, a Libyan, restored prosperity
to Egypt. With the help of Greek and Carian mercenaries sent by Gyges,
King of Lydia, he made himself master of the country and rebuilt the ruined
cities. He defied the Assyrians and led an expedition into Phllistte.
There he met with little success, though Ashdod was captured after a
siege, it is said, of twenty -nine years.
Story of the Nations
From »ie painting &>/ AlmaTatlrma.] \BV permission of Messrs. Lrrtl, Sons <?• Co
A MOURNING SCENE.
Immediately a doath took place- ill Egypt the relations ot the deceased burst into most extravagant outbursts of iiioimiinj.',
running through the streets wailing and throwing dust on their heads. The near relations, such as a favourite wife or child, would
prostrate themselves for hours by the corpse, beseeching the dear one to return to them, or to take them with him on his journey.
After a brief reign, Haa-ab-ra (A pries of the Greeks) once more attempted Syria, and succeeded in
defeating the Phoenicians and holding Sidon. Early in his reign the Jews, fleeing from the wrath of
Babylon, went down into Egypt with Jeremiah ; they were there settled in the Greek frontier fort of
Tahpanhes.
Sooner or later, trouble was bound to come between the Greeks and Egyptians. An attempt to seize
Cyrene (in Tripoli) for Egypt was defeated by the Greeks, the failure was laid on Apries, and a revolt
followed. He sent a general named Aahmes (Amasis of the Greeks) to quell it ; but the tables turned,
Amasis led the revolt, and Apries was deserted. He then turned to his Greek mercenaries for help, but
even thirty thousand of them could not save him After a great battle Apries was taken, imprisoned, and
before long was killed.
Amasis then had to satisfy the Egyptians' dislike of the beaten Greeks. He therefore cut off all the
Greek settlements, including that of Daphnae, and only allowed trade to go on at Naukratis Only a year
after his death the terror of Asia again fell upon Egypt.
In 525 B.C. Cambyses, with his Persians, swept through Syria, and with the aid of Arab auxiliaries
crossed the desert and met the Egyptians at Pelusium After a fierce battle the Egyptians were broken,
and Cambyses advanced to Memphis, besieged it and took it. His rule began favourably ; he settled
his foreign troops and followers in the country peacefully, treated the priesthood with respect, and bid
fair to be a good ruler. Ambition, however, was his ruin. He tried to push farther west, and to take
the Greek colony of Cyrene, and Carthage. Foiled by great sandstorms and the hardness of the desert,
he then tried to push south, and led an expedition to near the Third Cataract, on the way to the Ethiopian
capital, Napata. There again Nature foiled his army, which was reduced to cannibalism The hard
ships, perhaps sunstroke also, so affected his mind that he became violent , and it is said that he attacked
The Egyptians
49
and wounded the sacred bull, Apis. To a monotheist Persian worshipper of Ahura-mazda, the veneration
of a mere bull must have been most repugnant. If, when he visited the great temple at Memphis, the gross
animal was thrust upon his notice, it is not surprising if he attacked it and drove it from his presence.
His successor Darius was one of the greatest and noblest of the Persians, and Egypt was tranquil and
prosperous under him for thirty-five years. After some turmoil Artaxerxes I again gave a long period
of tranquillity, as seen in the pages of Herodotus, who then visited the country. By 399 B.C. the Egyptians
once more managed their own affairs till 342, without any great success, when a terrible devastation of
Persians bent on mere plunder broke in and sacked the land for ten years.
The Greek influence on Egypt culminated at the great convulsion of Alexander's triumphal progress
through the world, when in a few years Greece expanded its dominance over twenty times its own area.
The ever-increasing connection between Egypt and the expanding activities of the West necessitated a
convenient meeting-ground outside of the tortuous channels and shoals of the Nile. Thus Alexandria
was the product of circumstance, and its rapid pre-eminence showed how necessary it then was
Egypt was fortunate above any other country of Alexander's empire in having for its new ruler the
most astute and capable of all his generals. At Alexander's death Ptolemy immediately obtained the
governance of Egypt, the most fertile and most defensible of all the provinces. There, ruling in the
name of young Alexander, or of anyone else who was nominally uppermost, he steadily kept a beneficent
hold on the country, and developed its resources peacefully, until after nineteen years he proclaimed
himself the king of Egypt.
The rule of the Ptolemies for a century was the most enlightened in the world, and Egypt was the only
country where peace was unbroken and trade and knowledge could develop unchecked. Ptolemy Soter
• r •
[&!/ Ambrose. Ihuttev
Prunlrd special!'! fur Una ii-orl;\ -,
A Fl'NEHAI. I'KOCESSION (XlXth DYNASTY)
From the time of the Vlth Dynasty countless numbers of Egyptians were Interred at Ahv.h.s. UK- lumal-place ,,r tb* noa.l
ol Osirte This In many cases necessitated n long journey. In the abore scene the ba rqnc it. whicb t he coffin crossed tl
is bctag drawn up to the Tombs by ox<-n, attended by relatives of the Jerked nml fnnorory prlosf
low? train of professional mourners, chiefly women
go Story of the Nations
•conscious of the new horizons spread out to the mind by the genius of Alexander's tutor Aristotle,
determined on developing research and science. He founded the first great Academy, the Musoeum of
Alexandria. He personally persuaded philosophers to gather there, and the development of the earliest
State University and Library was the special care of his successor Philadelphus. The Egyptian worships
were by no means neglected under these tolerant rulers. The large endowments of the temples were
not stripped away, but were devoted to a vast rebuilding, which has left the most grandiose temples that
we know. Dendereh, Edfu, Esneh, and Philae give some idea of what was going on also in other parts
of the land. These huge structures were not built at one stroke by the State, but were gradually piled
up during a couple of centuries or more, as the funds of the temple properties permitted.
I'aintcd ftyl \Alma Tademu.
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.
After thu battle of 1'hilippi, in which Octavius and Antony defeated the forces of Brutus and Cassius, Antony summoned
Cleopatra to explain why she had assisted Cassius. She sailed to meet him at Tarsus in Cilicia and by the magnificence of
her retinue drew all the people from the town to the banks of the Cydnus.
The affluence of the land, from the century of prosperity under the earlier Ptolemies, was somewhat
diminished by the decay of that family, which led to incessant revolts and family feuds, usually ending
in murders of brothers, sisters, mothers and children. The names of the earlier kings — the Saviour, the
Beneficent, the Illustrious — gave place later to the New Bacchus, and the nicknames of Paunchy and the
Flute-player.
The history ol these Macedonian rulers of Egypt is most complex ; not only were they incessantly
occupied in family squabbles, but they had adopted the Egyptian custom of royal succession in the
female line, so that the queens carried the right to the kingdom. Moreover, the regular law of succession
was for the son of a king to marry the daughter. Such had been the Egyptian law for thousands of
years, ameliorated by the polj'gamy of the kings, so that — like Abraham — the son by one wife married
the daughter by the heiress-wife.
Story of the Nations
/,:<.-> Pringle.
THE FLIGHT OF ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.
In 32 B.C. the Roman Senate outlawed Antony and declared war on Cleopatra. Antony's supporters gradually fell away
from him, and on September 2, 31, he was crushing!}' defeated by the Romans off Actliim. While the issue of the battle was
still uncertain, Cleopatra suddenly withdrew her squadron. Antony fled after her, leaving his fleet to be annihilated by the Roman*
These customs of marriage and inheritance have to be taken into account before we can begin to
understand the history of the most celebrated queen of the Macedonian family, Cleopatra VI. As the
kingdom was hers by right, as queen-heiress, so whatever man held the kingdom by right or force could
only legitimate his position by becoming her spouse. To conquer or command Egypt was likewise to be
the consort of Egypt's queen. The Macedonian queens had been most determined and vigorous in holding
their rights, raising armies and murdering relatives with readiness and ability. Cleopatra inherited their
powers with rather less than their vices.
Born in 68 B.C., Cleopatra lived at the court of her father, a disgraceful rascal, Ptolemy the Flute-
player. Her elder sister, of a first family, had been playing the family game, rebelled against her father,
and ejected him from Alexandria ; married a husband, and soon strangled him ; then married a second
husband, who lost his life in a year by the Roman intervention, which also wiped out the over-lively sister.
Such were the stirring excitements of life to young Cleopatra, as a growing girl. In the train of the
Roman general was a sturdy master of the horse, Antony, then twenty-nine years old, who was much
smitten by Cleopatra, then the heiress, aged sixteen. The Romans settled down Cleopatra as acting queen
of Egypt, with the plan that in due time she must marry her brother, then ten years old. After four years
young Ptolemy was proclaimed king, and his advisers promptly ejected Cleopatra, in order to have the
whole power in their hands. She fled to Syria, and called together an army, then returned and tried
to oust her brother. She does not seem to have succeeded, and therefore she fled to Alexandria and
claimed the protection and help of Caesar, who had arrived in pursuit of Pompey, and who proceeded to
settle the family quarrel. As master of Egypt, he was naturally the consort of Cleopatra, then twenty,
and her boy-husband was killed off in the first battle. Another sister, Arsinoe, then escaped from control,
and tried fighting ; but she was caught, and kept to ornament Caesar's triumph in Rome. Cleopatra
then went with Caesar to Rome, and there lived with him — the mistress of Egypt, heiress of three centuries
of kings, the supreme woman of her time, learned, witty, brilliant and fascinating. The foul stroke of
his assassination in 44 B.C. broke all this splendour, when she was yet only twenty-four.
In Rome Cleopatra snubbed the busybody Cicero unmercifully. He writes : "Of the haughtiness
of the queen herself, when she was in the gardens on the other side of the Tiber, I cannot speak without
great pain. . . . The queen I hate." Her Oriental manner and her life with Caesar had made her hated
in Rome ; and she fled with her son by Caesar, young Caesarion, back to her own kingdom, when the
The Egyptians
53
master of Egypt was no more. She skilfully got Roman ratification of her position as joint ruler with
her infant son, and yet managed to keep neutrality between the powers that were tearing the Roman
world in pieces.
After the great day of Philippi, Antony was master of the East. He sent for her to meet him at Tar-u>
just over the bounds of Syria, which Egypt claimed — as it were, at the garden-gate of her kingdom. When
they met first he was twenty-nine and she was sixteen ; now he was forty-two and she was twenty-nine.
Much had passed — the great convulsion of Caesar's rule and loss, and many changes of power to each of
them. Both utterly without scruple, they yet had the bravest souls, more humanity than many of their
compeers, and a gorgeous sense of life. When they met, she "prepared Antony a royal entertainment,
in which every dish was golden and inlaid with precious stones, wonderfully chased and embossed . . .
and, smiling, said that she made him a present of everything which he saw, and invited him to sup with
her again the next day, and to bring his friends and captains with him. And then she prepared a banquet
by far more splendid than the former one, so as to make that first one appear contemptible." She then
gave all the gold and palanquins and slaves to Antony's captains. Antony went with her to Egypt, the
master of the east, and, therefore, lord of Egypt. The murder of her sister Arsinoe, and poisoning of
her remaining brother, were mere incidents of the settlement of affairs.
Antony had to return to Rome, and thence went on his Parthian war. She met him at Antioch
with their children, whom he named the Sun and Moon. She then went back to Egypt, and visited
on the way Herod the Great at Jerusalem — both supremely full of wiles, both claimants for Syria, both
hesitating at nothing. Could either of them tempt the other to offer to consort together, the tempter could
H-i-i'iillii fur this work} \by Ambmse Dudleu.
THE BURNING OF THE LIHKARY AT ALEXANDRIA (A.I). 391).
Theodosius I showed himself a fauatic in liis zeal for Christianity. Among other things he deprived apostatizing Christ inn-
of 1 h< fiuht In liri|in-st . When the image of Sorapis was destroyed by his order, the Christians burnt the valuable library limited in •
the Scrapeum. Those books stored in Bruchc'ium were burnt in the reign of Aurelian, and many manuscripts were destroyed
when Julius Ctesar took Alexandria.
Painted specialty i»r lliia ivnrk\ [ft;/ Ambrose Dml/rii.
THE PEDIGREE OF ICI.-MOIXX,
EI-Moizz found his opportunity in the anarchy th-it followed (he death of Iviifur. the- fourth Fatemid Caliph, lie sent his
Kaid, Gauhar, into Egypt with a hundred thousand men. The Turks were defeated, and Oauhar laid the foiiiiclations of a new
city, KI-Kiiliiiii (Cairo). When later El-Moi/z followed, in !)73, and founded the university of El-Azhar, the leading Shios anil
Sherifs came and asked by what claim of descent ho had assumed his position. "Hero is my pedigree I" said ho, as he unsheathed
his sword : "and here is my proof," as he flung gold to the people.
The Egyptians
55
call down the wrath of Antony and Rome to
destroy the other claimant. Both played
around the supremely perilous game of
temptation ; one false step on either side
and life was the forfeit. Each foiled the
other, and they parted.
At last came the final struggle of the
only two great captains left in the Roman
world, Antony and Octavian, afterwards
styled Augustus. The decisive day came
in the Adriatic, off Actium, when Octa-
vian caught the fleet of Antony preparing
to retreat to Egypt. All know the flight
of Cleopatra, the defeat of Antony, the
pursuit by Octavian. Then Octavian
in Alexandria ; Cleopatra's submission
to the new master of Egypt, whom
neither beauty, wit, nor wiles could im-
press ; the evident Roman triumph
impending, with its disgraceful march
of captives ; the brave will to die as the
last queen of Egypt should — all this is
familiar in the close of that astonishing
life at only thirty-nine.
Egypt was henceforth the personal
possession of the emperor. He was king
of Egypt, as well as master of the Roman
Empire ; and his Egyptian title was by far
the more dignified, though not so effective
as- his imperatorship. No Roman of rank
might visit his kingdom without per-
mission. The revenues of Egypt belonged
to the emperor personally, administered by
his agent. The corn tribute was the
emperor's gift to his Roman clients, the
plebs.
Roman rule is a dreary record oi
the steady bleeding to death of Egypt.
Under the Ptolemies the tetradrachm coin
had run down in three centuries from half-
a-crown to a shilling in value. Under the
Romans, in as long a time, it ran down from a shilling to a farthing. After that, coinage ceased ; and
the country, too poor to own a currency, lived on barter. Alexandria, one of the great marts of the world,
retained some of its Ptolemaic splendour ; a romance of about A.D. 200 describes it : "At Alexandria 1
entered by the gate of the Sun and was at once amazed and delighted by the splendour of the city. A
row of columns, on either side, led in a straight line to the gate of the Moon. . . . In the midst of these
columns was the open part of the city, which branched out into so many streets that in traversing them
one seemed journeying abroad though all the time at home. Proceeding a little farther I came to a part
named after the great Alexander ; here began a second city, and its beauty was of a twofold kind, two
rows of columns equal in extent, intersecting each other at right angles. It was impossible to satisfy
the eye with gazing on the various streets, or to take in every object deserving of admiration ....
What struck me most was the extent of the city and its vast population .... the former seemed actu-
ally a country, the latter a nation." The condition of the country, however, is shown in these romances
[In Metropolitan A/itscum of Art, Nrn-
fainted by Alexandra
THE MASSACRE OK THE .MAMELUKES.
This piece of typically Oriental treachery took place on March 1,
1811. The Mamelukes, a Turkish tribe which hail Ion? oppressed Egypt,
had been lured into Cairo by an invitation from Mchcincl Alt Pasha
to the festivities in connection with his eon's departure on a campaign.
Riding out of the Citadel on their return journey, they found them-
selves hemmed in. One man only Is said to have escaped, and Egypt
was rid of them for ever.
Story of the Nations
to have been most un-
settled. Bands of pirates
and robbers infested the
inaccessible parts ef the
Delta, and preyed on
travellers and inhabitants.
The Arabs and Syrians
were continually filtering
into Egypt. The Palmy-
rene archers were estab-
lished under Hadrian, and
were settled at Koptos in
A.D. 216. Under Gallienus
the policy of devolution led
to Odenathus and Zenobia
of Palmyra having the
government of all the East
including Egypt, and their
coins struck in Alexandria
are common. A Palmyrene
army of seventy thousand
men tried to occupy
Egypt, but the Egyptians
would have none of them.
At last Aurelian expelled them, when he .reconstituted the Roman Emp;re. A century later we
find bodies of Arab auxiliaries settled in Egypt by the Ro:nans. These migrations were greatly acceler-
ated by the Persian movement westward in the sixth century When at last the Persians entered Egypt
the body of refugees fled
into Alexandria. The Per-
sian army itself was largely
Syrian and Arabian, and
added to the general migra-
tion. Finally, in 641, the
hopelessly impoverished
and degraded population
of Egypt succumbed to
the fierce onslaught of
only four thousand Arabs,
burning with fanatic zeal
of the new faith of Islam.
The Roman administration
had been so miserable and
extortionate that the na-
tives welcomed even the
Arab to bring it to an end.
From an cngrarina.} [By prrmtfwi'on of T. H. Parker Bros.
THE BATTLE OF THE NILE.
On the morning of August 1, 1798. after a bunt of some mouths' duration, Nelson
sighted the French fleet in Aboukir Bay. He gave battle that afternoon, and by the next
morning the French fleet had been practically annihilated. Shortly before midnight the
French flagship blew up.
f-'rmn fin fnrt"'ir'nff,
V T. H. Parker llro-i.
THK 1IATTLK OF THE MILK.
Neihon, hiiving received a severe wound which he thought to bu mortal, was down in the
cockpit waiting for the surgeons when the French flagship caught fire. Making his way up
nlonc he suddenly appeared on the quarter-deck and ordered boats to be sent to the relief
of the enemy
THE
EIGHTH CIVILIZATION I
A.D. 640 TO 1913.
WITHIN a year the Arabs
were masters of Egypt,
and in four years had
Story of the Nations
succeeded in raising the poll-tax to its
full amount of about seven million pounds
sterling, about a sovereign per head
of the men. The Arab period — like the
Hyksos — had produced so little of per-
manent growth in Egypt that we can only
notice the main masses of effect. So long
as Egypt was subject to another land
it was bound to be impoverished. The
Khalifehs of Baghdad treated the land as
merely a source of revenue to be drawn
from it, just as the Romans had done. In
827 as much as two million pounds a year
surplus was taken from Egypt, an amount
equal to ten times as much now.
More than two centuries of subjection
ended at last, and under Ibn Tulfln, in
880, Egypt began to recover from nine
centuries of foreign depletion. It soon
acquired control of Syria again, and the
Westerners who entered as the Fatimite
Dynasty from Tunis, 911-1171, maintained
the independence of the country, and
rapidly increased its wealth and importance.
The most curious contradiction of the
Middle Ages was the mixture of tolerance
and intolerance. On the one side — the best
known — there was the fury of the Crusades,
which disturbed Egypt from 1096 to 1250.
These wars were the old Norse plunder habits
of the Vikings, varnished over with a pretence
of Christian motive. Most of the expeditions
went out as a barbarian horde to pillage and
destroy what civilization remained in the
East ; and they were not particular whether
it belonged to Christian in Constantinople
or to Muslim in Syria. But at the same time
there was a strong movement of toleration and
advance. The Norman ruiers of Sicily in the twelfth century encouraged all learned men of whatever religion,
insisted on Christian and Muslim having perfect equality, and made it a crime for any man to give up the
religion of his fathers. In Egypt, rather later, St. Francis was welcomed, and preached his humanitarian
divinity before the Sultan Kamil ; and men of each religion favoured the other so much that they were
called to account for their orthodoxy on both sides. This reasonable spirit was largely destroyed by
the only respectable Crusade, that of Saint Louis. He could effect nothing owing to his hopeless ignorance
of geography and strategy ; the whole affair was bungled, and ended in miserable failure, while it alienated
the better feeling which existed.
Egypt changed from Western to Kurdish rulers with Saladin in 1169, and as Egypt was still
the centre of government, and Syria dependent upon it, the country was not depleted. The Turkish
domination of Mamelukes from 1250 to 1517 also centred in Egypt ; and though less able, and more
subject to turmoil than that of the great Sultans, yet it was a rule of Egypt for Egypt, albeit by complete
foreigners.
The conquest by the Turks of Constantinople really stamped degradation on the country. It became
again the milch-cow of a foreign power ; and if that power declined in authority, the change was the
Ry permission oj\ \Measra. liraun et Cie.
THE ASSASSINATION ()[•' GENERAL ICLli'BER.
liunaimrte having hurriedly left Egypt, General KI6bcr was left
in ful' command. Ho was nearly compelled to evacuate the country,
but at li-itgth retook Cairo, and conducted a highly successful adminis-
tration, which wnfl brought, to a premature end by his assassination on
July It, 1800.
The Egyptians 59
still worse contests ot petty chiefs incessantly quarrelling with one another. The Mameluke Beys were
impossible as rulers, and nothing could be done to raise the country until they were extinguished
In the latter part of the eighteenth century, various travellers describe Egypt as a strange country
apart, as we might now describe Afghanistan or Siberia. The people who ruled were much as the pre-war
Turks ; the people who served were ignorant, filthy, and debased. Modern Egypt dates from July,
1798, when Napoleon, for his political ends, landed at Alexandria By establishing a base at the eastern
end of the Mediterranean, as well as in France, he might catch and crush British trade between them.
Once holding the front door of the East he could always get men and news across far quicker than the
English could do by the back door round the Cape Within three weeks he fought the decisive "Battle
of the Pyramids" (so-called), close to the station of Embabeh. just outside the north of Cairo. This
put Egypt at his mercy.
But he had reckoned without Nelson. Just a month from the first landing, the French fleet
drawn up in the shallows of Abukir, in supposed safety, was attacked by Nelson, and thirteen
out of seventeen vessels were destroyed. The base was gone, the sea was his enemy's, and no success
on land could be permanent. The memory of Caesar without a base in Alexandria, or of Hannibal
in Italy, may have cheered him. Upper Egypt was then occupied, and for a year Napoleon remained,
trying to make Egypt an independent base. Such was impossible, and after thirteen months
of toil Napoleon escaped back to France. In the middle of the next year his commander-in-chief
Kteber, was assassinated by a native in Cairo — the fraternal wish to liberate all countries was seldom
appreciated in its practical working. British troops came from India and England, and by September
1801, three years from the start, the French capitulated in Cairo and Alexandria, and evacuated Egypt.
The front door was not to be in their hands. There was an enthusiastic view among the English about
the "deliverance of the Mamelukes".
Two years later Napoleon tried to attain his ends by getting Egypt into the hands of a nominee of
his own. A certain Albanian colonel, Mehemet Ali, was thought to be a fit man. The way was smoothed
for him by intrigue and violence. The British tried to interfere, but were frustrated On March I, 1811,
came one of the great strokes of history. Egypt was in the hands of a ruffianly set of military
l Iji/ A df NtuvUIt
\U\l pcrmisf'on ol 'he Fiar Art Sncitfv U<t
TELL-KL-KKBIK.
On the night of September 12. 188'Atbe Untisli Army m;;de an unexpected midnight advance on fhe Ffryptiau i..«ition at
IVII-el-Keblr which they attacked at dawn. A heroic charge mis made by the Highlanders, and hy 6 a.m. the I
won. The rebel troops surrendered on the Hth, and the expedition entered Cain, on MIC following afternoo
leader of the revolt was captured and banished to Ceylon.
6o
Story of the Nations
adventurers, the Mameluke Beys, who ground a living by tax and plunder out of the working population.
To progress with them was impossible. So the one great adventurer invited all the others to a feast —
the old historic expedient. As they rode jostling up the long, narrow side ascent to the Citadel in
Cairo, the soldiers opened fire. Of all the Beys and their followers, four hundred and eighty in all,
only one escaped by jumping his horse over the parapet ; he survived the fall, and was a favourite
with Mehemet Ali in after years. Then, with a free hand, the new master did all he could to develop
the country. Woefully ignorant, and
often misled by speculators, yet his
force of character and his honest
endeavour to give order and justice
did an immense deal. He brought in
European administrators, improved
irrigation, started cotton planting, tried
many sorts of factories, and formed a
trained army.
Egypt next attempted foreign
enterprise. Ibrahim, son of Mehemet, in
1831 began, like Tahutmes I, the inva-
sion of Syria ; and he so succeeded that
he even threatened Constantinople.
Most of the European powers inter-
vened one way or another, and filched
back from Ibrahim the fruit of his
victories.
But for this mistaken meddling,
Syria would have moved in step with
Egypt, and would by now have been
enjoying the same order and benefits.
A burdensome tribute to Turkey was
also imposed. Mehemet Ali's death in
1849 closes the first half-century of
modern Egypt.
The organization was too well
planted to wither along with the master
hand. It was maintained by the suc-
cessors of Mehemet, and was continued
into recent times. The next great
step was the making of the Suez Canal.
This had been the basis of Napoleon's
plans, and he ordered the surveys to
be made for it. An Englishman, Lieut.
Waghorn, zealously pushed the idea of
cross-transit without a canal, and a
railway was laid from Cairo to Suez on
the desert for the overland route. The French did all in their power, through Lesseps, to urge forward
the canal scheme. It was thwarted as far, and as long, as possible by Palmerston, because he saw that,
if a canal were made, then the control of it must accompany supremacy in the East, and he greatly
disliked having to commit England to holding Egypt. By 1856, however, the French began the scheme
of Lesseps, which was completed with a heartless disregard of the untended horde of natives who were
compelled to labour on it. By 1869 the canal was opened, and Ismail Pasha took the opportunity to
pose as a Gallicized Oriental, standing in line with the governments of Europe. Within six years the
deferred shares of Ismail were sold to the British Government for four million pounds, and now they
produce a return of one and a quarter million a year.
lly cmirUt-i/ >ij /-Vos/ .£• Henl. Ltd., of tlrialol and London, puiili*hrr* of /lit'
xizc etchinff
THE DEATH OF GENERAL GORDON,
in 1884, after the rise of the Mahdi in the Sudan, Charles Gordon was
sent out as Governor-General, He relied on his personal influence with the
people ; but after a long and heroic defence, Khartoum was taken by the
forces of the Mahdi on January 20, 1885, and Gordon cruelly murdered.
a £.
62
Story of the Nations
Ismail was an impossible ruler, spendthrift, ambitious, hasty, and insufferably grasping. He used to
have water cut off from districts for a few years until the starving owners would sell him the land at a
nominal price. By such means he seized about a fifth of the whole country. Meanwhile, with equal
disregard of his subjects' welfare, he was incessantly borrowing from Europe, until he had piled up seventy-
six millions of debt. Only a small part of this was represented by any assets, such as railways. Ten
years after the ostentatious opening of the Canal, Ismail was deposed, at the initiative of Germany. No
one dared to hand him the Turkish declaration of his deposition ; but when the ice was broken, he took
the act with his usual insouciance, walked up to his son Taufik, gave him a kiss, and said he greeted his
Effendina, the common native title of the Khedive.
Among the troubles of Egypt was the mixture of European and Oriental law. Worst of all, the
TMK BATTLE OF OMDUHMAN.
The Dervishes charged with fanatical bravery, but were driven back with terrific Losses, the British and Egyptian casualties
being infinitesimal. This crushing: defeat may he regarded as the death-blow t<> Mahdism in the Sudan.
European law was the most formal and artificial of all, the French law. Where a native ruler would
settle a case by a rough view of ultimate justice, the French law would tie the result by intricacies
which produced injustice Nowhere did this work more mischief than in mortgages. The un provident
native was incessantly tempted to borrow of the pervasive Greek trader, who squatted in every town and
village. The trader bought promissory notes at six months, usually paying half the amount named There
was no interest, nothing to touch legally, except a promise to pay or forfeit the land. In a few years a
trader would become owner of half a village, and live in a fine semi-fortified house. These incessant
evictions made the native ready for any promise of deliverance. Thus, when Colonel Araby Bey raised
a military revolt, for reforms against European influence, the whole population supported him. The
good old days returned as under the Mamelukes. Soldiers went about as masters, robbing whom they
would. Witnesses were browbeaten, and officers dictated the replies of any accused soldiers. The
Khedive was a prisoner, security was at an end, and the Christian Copts were expecting a massacre.
One main root of the trouble was the hopeless ignorance of the natives. Araby supposed that the British
could not reach India if he held Egypt
The Egyptians
Tin- temple of Dcir-el-Hahri built
by Queen Hatshepsut of the XVIIIth
Dynasty.
A propylon to the Temple of
I'toli'iny Eucrgctxjs I at Karnak
-'47 ••>•>•> B.C.
Such a condition could not
continue. The British and
French fleets went to Alexandria.
Fortifications were thrown up
to attack them. An ultimatum
to cease fortifying was delivered :
and then the French fleet left to
avoid being drawn into political
adventures. To the British fleet
fell the capture of Alexandria for
the second time. A land expedi-
tion was then sent out. Wolseley
amused Araby by moving up to the works behind Alexandria, but at last sent off transports one night,
professedly to Kosetta. At sunrise they seized the Suez Canal, and soon reached Ismailia. After some
weeks more of preparation before Tell-el-Kebir, those works were seized in an hour or two at dawn,
and a most brilliant ride of a small body of cavalry under General Drury Lowe covered eighty miles by
sunset, and at dusk demanded the surrender of the Citadel of Cairo to the British Army. Five thousand
Egyptian troops sullenly filed out; a single rash shot would have wrecked the movement. Then
the men and horses, exhausted by the August day, filed in, the smallness of their numbers causing con-
sternation and extreme surprise to the Egyptian watchers who had believed there were tens of thousands.
^^^^^m , Cairo was saved thus from fire
and wreck. The exact adap-
tation to the psychology of the
Egyptians in the dawn frontal
attack on Tell-el-Kebir, and the
seizure of the Citadel, mark
the most perfect .scientific war-
fare.
Though Egypt was now safe,
the Sudan was soon in rebellion
against the terrible mismanage-
ment to which the Egyptians
had subjected it. It had to be abandoned until Egypt was reorganized and solvent : Gordon was sacri-
ficed in a futile attempt to stem the fanatic movement of the Mahdi without any efficient means. Step
by step Egypt advanced until in 1898 the final battle of Omdurman was fought, and the Sudan was
occupied. Since then a great advance has been made in railways, organization, schools, etc. The Sudani
is finer mentally and physically than the Egyptian, and the education that is now being given, especially
in the police force, may, before long, give him the lead in all native enterprise. In future centuries
the Sudani may be the main force in North Africa.
In Egypt itself, great improvement of the conditions of life resulted Irom a more regular and just rule.
The wealth of the people has
greatly increased, or may almost
be said to have originated at the
downfall of Ismail. This was,
however, accompanied by a rise
of prices of food, land, and all
else, so that the benefits can
only be gauged by the practical
" ' '. :• .11, (| I , |,1 , , _ ^ J^ *P
standards.
General view of Cairo, Miuwing the
Mosque of Meheniet and the Citadel.
Egyptian boys of the present day
watering cattle in the River Nile.
A view ot the Long Avenue 01
rarn's-headed Sphynxes, originally
(i.500 feet long, between ICurnnk and
Luxor.
The great success has been
the irrigation system, which is
so essential to the country. The
A view of thu tiuu/, Cttiitti, opened
in 1869, which was made at an
expense of about seventeen million*
sterling.
Story of the Nations
regulation of this
has been an immense
benefit, for as the
Prime Minister Nubar
said : 'Egypt wants
only two things, water
and justice."
The regularity of
the supply was gained
by the great dam
at Aswan, and the
lesser dams at Asyut
and Qaliub. Thus a
much larger area
Phnta
P. DHIricli
Nile are conserved by the Aswan
The Hood waters of the
dnm, and released about May for irrigation purposes
EGYPT FROM IQI4
would be continu-
ously cultivated
with three crops a
year. But the free
supply of high-level
water was not under-
stood by the people,
who let too much be
used, so that the soil
was logged and marshes
were formed. Thisi
like all changes of
custom, needed a slow
growth
THAT the British management has resulted in solid and continuous benefits to the Egyptians them-
selves is amply proved by the course of events in that country since the outbreak of the Great
War.
The one most obvious obstacle in the way of Egyptian progress was the somewhat ambiguous nature
of the British occupation, the presence of the Khedive with his Turkish leanings and behind all this the
nominal suzerainty of Turkey.
The first effect of Turkey's intervention on the side ol the Central Powers was to tree Egypt from
the Turkish bond, give her a ruler of her own and regularize the British position by the formal proclama-
tion of a British Protectorate. It was high time.
One of Germany's main ambitions, in bringing Turkey into the war, was to use her troops lor an attack
on what was at once seen to be the very spinal cord of the British Empire Egypt and the Suez Canal
the shortest and most direct water route between Britain and her possessions and Colonies in the East
were critical points, the holding of which was obviously vital to British and Egyptian political and military
interests. Fortunately the danger had been seen and prepared against The Khedive's complicity in
Turco-German intrigues was established in the very first few weeks of the war, and he wisely disappeared
It was therefore an easy matter to offer his throne to his loyal uncle Prince Hussein Kamil, and enlarge
his status and authority by creating him Sultan of Egypt
The change was of profound significance, for it recognized the historical continuity oi Egyptian
nationality while pledging the authority and resources of the British Empire to its defence.
It was soon obvious that the conquest of Egypt by Turkey was one of Germany's most cherished
plans. Even before the end of 1914 signs were everywhere visible that the Turks contemplated an
offensive against and across the Suez Canal. Little could be concealed from the keen eyes of the agents
\TI. Walter Barnct
Lord Cromer, appointed
Uritish Agent in 1883, very
utily re-established Egyptian
Ilnanoo
Sir Kldon Gorst succeeded
Lord Cromer as British
Agent and Consul -General
in 1!IM7
The Khedive Abbas
HUrai threw In his lot with
Turkey in the Great War
and was deposed
Bourne <C' fihepfieril
Lord Kitchener who as
Sirdar conquered the Sudan,
was appointed British Agent
in 1911
Painted specially for this work}
THE GRAND MARSHAL PROCLAIMED EMPEROR ON THE BATTLEFIELD.
After Han YH's death in A.I). 8:24 * 'biiia remained in a state of chaos for many years. Five small dynasties followed one another
in the south of China while the Tartars conquered the north. The Grand Marsha.' to the last of these Emperors -a mere boy wag
a Tartar raid when his army rested him with the yellow robe and proclaimed him Emperor of the house of Sung. He
professed surprise and reluctance, but there is little doubt that he knew of the design.
The Egyptians
of the British Intelligence Service in Egypt The only surprising feature about the Turkish operation
which took place in February, 1915, was the weakness of the force with which it was made. The British
Army in the country was by then a very formidable opponent, consisting as it did of the Australian and
New Zealand Army Corps, as well as good British, Indian, and Egyptian troops.
It is obvious now that the Turks looked to the Arab tribes, notably the Senussi, on the western frontier
of Egypt, as well as to a nationalist rising in Egypt itself, to second their ill-advised attempt Neither of
these subsidiary operations materialized.
A Royal Flying Corps squadron manoeuvring fur :m
attack on the Turoo-Gerinan hanears nt El Arish, a hundred
miles east of the Suez Canal.
A British airman swooping and dropping a bomb on the
only Tnrco-Gcrman plane out at El Arish : the destruction
of the Turkish craft
In such circumstances the attack was doomed to failure, even to a failure as ignominious as that which
actually occurred. It further provided the British with the valuable lesson that the desert of Sinai was
not the impenetrable line of defence that in some quarters had been imagined.
For the rest of that year Egypt remained the base of the Dardanelles Expedition, and became one
great camp. The Turkish summons to a Holy War had failed miserably, and there were no signs of
active disaffection in the country itself. But by November the picture had changed, for Turco-German
intrigue had at length succeeded in moving the powerful sect of the Senussi into action. The Senussi
are perhaps the most fanatical of all Moslems, and the threat had to be taken very seriously, as the ap-
pearance of the enemy in the immediate vicinity of the Nile might well be the signal for a rising
in the country itself. The British Commander-in-Chief, Sir John Maxwell, dealt with the situation in
characteristic fashion by attacking first and that in no uncertain fashion. In a few weeks the power
of the Senussi was broken, and the same fate befell the Sultan of Darfur when he attempted a similar
operation some few months later. Henceforth Egypt was virtually secure from foreign enemies, and
when the country became the base for operations against Palestine and Syria General Murray and
G
66
Story of the Nations
later, General Allenby, could set their faces towards Jerusalem, Damascus and Aleppo without con-
stantly wondering or fearing what was taking place behind their backs. Apart from the part played
by Egypt in the series of brilliant campaigns which definitely broke Turkish power in Syria, the interest
of the country was henceforth absorbed in political questions.
The turn given to the war by the intervention of America brought into even greater prominence
the issue of nationality, which was naturally a matter of close concern to the country. The peace
presented the British Government with problems even more formidable than those it had successfully
solved in the war. The Egyptian nationalists thought the moment favourable to advance claims which
all wiser heads have deemed incompatible with order and good government at this stage of the country's
development. Nor did they hesitate to call in evil and unruly elements to their aid. In the early part
of 1919 riots and risings on a serious scale began, which were only repressed after considerable bloodshed.
Lord Allenby was sent out again, this time as High Commissioner, and inaugurated a policy of con-
ciliation by sanctioning the
liberation of the political
prisoners, including Zaghlul
Pasha, the Nationalist leader.
An important mission under
Lord Milner despatched by
the British Government re-
ported in favour of abolishing
the Protectorate and substitut-
ing a relationship "which
would, while securing the
special interests of Great
Britain and enabling her to
offer adequate guarantees to
foreign Powers, meet the
legitimate aspirations of the
Egyptian people".
In spite of the breakdown of
subsequent negotiations, the
British Government adhered
FIELD-MARSHAL VISCOUNT ALLEN 1!Y.
G.C.B., G.C.M.G.
nouncement published on Feb-
ruary 28, 1922, the British
Protectorate was ended and
Egypt declared an independent
sovereign state, the four vital
points, upon which no agree-
ment had been reached, being
reserved for future discussion.
These points were (a) The
security of the communications
of the British Empire in
Egypt ; (b) the defence of
Egypt against foreign aggres-
sion or interference ; (c) the
protection of foreign residents
and minorities ; (d) the Sudan.
As a result of this declaration
a new constitution, with two
houses on the European model,
was formulated, the Sultan
taking the title of King Fuad I.
to its promise. By a pro-
The first parliament contained an overwhelmingly Nationalist majority and Zaghlul became Prime Minister.
During the next two years the Nationalist propaganda increased in intensity and violence, the
Egyptian claims upon the Sudan being asserted again and again in most uncompromising terms.
Many anti-British incidents tcok place, culminating, on November 19, 1924, in the atrocious murder of
Sir Lee Stack, the Sirdar and Governor-General of the Sudan, in broad daylight in the streets of Cairo.
The indignation roused in Britain called for extreme measures. An ultimatum was presented
demanding an apology, the payment of a substantial fine, full enquiry into the crime and punishment
of the offenders, and the withdrawal of all Egyptian officers and units from the Sudan. When the Egyp-
tian Government demurred in face of some of these demands the British Government took the necessary
steps to see that they were carried out. Seven persons involved in the murder were executed, and to all
intents and purposes the Sudan became entirely British.
The next few years witnessed a firmer and more active British policy under the new High Com-
missioner, Lord Lloyd, and internally a period of short-lived ministries and political confusion,
during which the defects of the Constitution in the hands of an inexperienced electorate and
factious politicians were clearly brought to light. In 1928 King Fuad felt himself strong enough to
take the initiative, and by dissolving Parliament initiated a period of personal government. Since
that time the King, with the aid of his astute and able Prime Minister, Sidky Pasha, and a re-
modelled electoral system intended to ensure a submissive Parliament, has been diiefly responsible for
controlling the destinies of his country. Egypt has suffered much in the prevailing depression, especially
owing to the low prices realized for the cotton crops, but, though there has been an undercurrent
68
Story of the Nations
of unrest, poli-
tical tranquillity
has been, on the
whole, m a i n-
tained.
Throughout
the post-war
period there has
been a steadily
dwindling num-
ber of British
employed in the
public services, a
fact which has
undoubtedly led
to a considerable
loss of efficiency.
What results this
will have upon
the future
economy of the
country, or
whether after a
wider experience
the Egyptians
maintain the
British traditions
of administrative
integrity and
zeal, the next few
years will show.
Apart from the
garrison main-
tained in Cairo,
its responsi-
bilities for the
protection of
foreign interests
and the guar-
dianship of the
Suez Canal, the
British control-
ling influence in
Egyptian affairs
has been relin-
quished.
Apart from
political happen-
ings, the great
event in Egyp-
tian history dur-
ing the last few
years was the
[Man ue).
ZAGHLUL PASHA
The famous National-
ist leader in the post-
war years ; was several
times exiled.
LOUD LLOYD
An active and success-
ful High Commissioner
!n the post-war period.
[Topical.
SIDKY PASHA
The present Prime
Minister of Egypt, an
astute and able poli-
tician.
H.M. KING FUAD I.
On the death of Sultan Huscln in 1917, he was succeeded by Fuad, the sixth
son of the former Khedive Ismail. On the declaration of Egyptian Independence
In 1922 the new Sultan took the title of King Fuad I
disco very of King
Tutankhamen's
tomb by the late
Lord Carnarvon
and Mr. Howard
Carter. Being
the only tomb
discovered in-
tact, this find was
of unique impor-
tance, and the
magnificence of
the furniture,
j e w e 1 1 e r y ,
chariots, wea-
pons, etc., which
were buried with
the king and are
now in the Cairo
museum, bears
dazzling witness
to the wonder-
ful style in
which these
kings lived.
Excavations
organized by
various British
and other scien-
tific bodies con-
tinue year by
year, and finds of
greater or lesser
importance are
constantly being
made. In another
sphere of scien-
tific work the
great irrigation
works of the
Nile have been
brought nearer
and nearer per-
fection ; and thus
by the labour of
archaeologists,
engineers and
statesmen the
history of modern
and ancient
Egypt is being
unfolded simul-
taneously.
DATES OF CHINESE HISTORY
DYNASTY.
DATE.
B C,
EMPEROR.
CHIRP EVENTS.
Semi-
Mythical
Period.
3000
2698-2598
-2258
2317-2208
HUANG-TI.
YAO.
SHUN.
The native Histories give particulars of the Kings and their Government for many centuries
(the Emperor Fu Hsi is said to have reigned 2953-2838 B.C.), but fable predominates
over fact. Fu Hsi is supposed to have taught his people hunting, fishing and herding.
The YELLOW EMPEROR, the most famous of the legendary rulers, is said to have invented
wheeled vehicles. His wife is reputed to have been the firs*, person to spin silk.
Extends the boundaries of China. Ancient China covered a comparatively small area lying
almost entirely between the Yellow River and the Yang-tsze.
(Inundation of the Yellow River.)
Hsia.
2205-2197
TA Yf).
builds canals to take the overflow of the Yellow River, the Ho-ang Ho.
Shang or
(from 1401)
Yin.
1706-1087
CHING T'ANG.
CHOU HSIN.
Sacrificial bronze vessels ascribed to this dynasty are still preserved.
Wen Wang, 1231-1135, the chief of the West, protects the Empire against the Huns, is im-
prisoned and compiles the "Book of Chan^fs".
Under his rule the Yin Dynasty is overthrown by Wu Wang, the son of Wen Wang.
Chou.
ixaa
776
Interregnum.
WU WANG.
YU WANG.
China becomes a confederation of Stales.
The feudal system begins to break up, 781.
Oppresses the people. An eclipse, August 27, 776, is supposed to foretell his downfall.
Birth of Lao Tzu, 604.
Confucius (K'ung Ch'iu), 551-479.
Mencius (Me'ng-K'o). 372-289, known as "the second holy one" : a disciple of Confucius. In
the scale of national importance he placed the people first, the gods second, and the
emperor third.
The Confederation breaks up.
Ch'in or
Ts'in.
249
221
CIIL'ANG HSIANG.
SHIH HUANG TI.
The State of Ts'in (or Ch'in) becomes the head of the rival States.
Proclaims himself the first universal emperor.
Destroys the ancient literature, except works on agriculture, medicine, and the various ways of
foretelling the future.
His new copper coinage drives the cowry out of circulation.
Builds roads and bridges.
Constructs the Great Wall as a defence against Tartar inroads
Enlarges the Empire to the boundaries of the present-day Empire
Han.
202 -
140
LIU PANG (KAO TI).
LIU CH'E {WU TI).
Collects the classics and encourages the revival of learning.
Extends the Empire and organizes a strict military system.
Chang Ch'ien visits Bactria 125 B.C., and sends envoys to India. His reports on the kingdoms
of Western Asia exercised a great influence on Chinese life.
Reforms the calendar.
Turkestan becomes a Chinese Province.
War with the Huns.
Later Han
Empire.
A.D.
25
58-76
KWANG WU TI.
LIU CHUANG (MING TI).
Liu Hsin defeats Wang-Mang and takes the title of Kwang wu ti ; fixes his capital in Ho-Nan.
Sends ambassadors to Japan.
Despatches envoys to India to inquire into the Buddhist faith (A.D. 61).
156. Earliest record of a census. (Population 50 millions.)
173. A severe pestilence devastates China. From A.D. 220-265 China was divided into three
parts, the period being known as that of the Three Kingdoms.
Chin.
265
SSUMA YEN (WU TI).
Ambassadors arrive from Diocletian (284).
399. Fa Hsien visits India, Ceylon and Sumatra, and returns after an absence of fifteen years
with sacred books, relics and images illustrative of the Buddhist religion.
The institution of the Confucian Temple established,
420. Close of Chin Dynasty and period of civil war.
Sui.
3«1
YANG CHIEN
Constructs canals, revises the legal code, patronizes literature, confirms the Chinese overlord-
ship of Korea.
During his reign the population is said to have doubled.
T'ang.
618
626
684
LI YUAN (KAO TSU).
LI SHIH-MIN.
EMI RESS WU.
Buddhism discouraged and the teachings of Confucius favoured.
A golden age of literature.
Printing invented.
Alliance formed with the Turks.
The Empire extended.
Envoys of Persia and Nepaul at the Court of China.
A.D. 636. Nestorian missionaries allowed to settle in the capital.
The Tibetans defeated.
Invasion of the Tartars.
700-800. A great period of Painting.
During the eighth and ninth centuries the power of the T'ang Dynasty declined and history
consists of monotonous records of feeble governments, oppressions and rebellions.
907. Fall of the T'ang Empire.
Sung.
960-976
1022-1063
CHAO K'UANG-YIN
(T'AI TSU).
CHAO CHEN
(JEN TSUNG).
New calendar adopted. Criminal code revised.
Tartars' invasions bought off by the payment of a large annua tribute.
Paper notes issued (1025).
The art of porcelain- making attains a very high level.
1 100. The Tartars (or Kin) overrun China and fix their capital near Pekin.
The Sung Dynasty rule only Southern China, the seat of government being at Nanking and
afterwards at Hanchow.
Chu Hsi, historian and metaphysician (1130-1200).
Mongols at the beginning of the I2th century invade N.W. China and the state of Hia, whose
king pays a tribute and gives his daughter in marriage to their leader*
Jenghiz Khan captures Liao Yang, the chief city of the Kin Emperor.
Catholic missionaries come to Mongolia.
Jenghiz Khan re-invades China.
Constructs the Grand Canal.
DATES OF CHINESE HISTORY— continued
DYNASTY
DATE.
A.D.
EMPEROR.
CHIEF EVENTS.
Sung.
1227
Death of Jenghiz Khan. His son Ogdai is appointed his successor (1227).
Custom houses established and laws made.
1234. The Mongols make an alliance with the Sungs and overthrow the Kin Empire.
Ju-ning Fu taken and the Kin Kniperor burns himself in his palate.
War breaks out between Ogdai and the Sun^.
1279. Ping ti, the last emperor of the Sung Dynasty, despairs of defeating the Mongols ami
commits suicide.
Yuan.
I26O-I294
I3I2-I320
KUBLAI KHAN.
JEN-TSUNG.
i'28o. Kublai assumes complete control, lays the foundations of Pekin.
Is ruler "from the frozen sea almost to the Straits of Malacca ; with the exception of Hindustan,
Arabia and the westernmost parts of Asia, all the Mongol princes as far as the Dnieper
declared themselves his vassals and brought regularly their tribute".
The modern novel and stage-play introduced.
Marco Polo visits China bearing letters from Pope Gregory X. (1274).
1294-1307. Timur, Kublai's grandson, succeeds and takes the title of Yuen Chang.
Great commercial prosperity, but in adopting Chinese civilization the Mongols lost much of
their martial spirit. The successors of Jfen-Tsung were weak and vicious, and many secret
societies were formed to overthrow the Mongol Dynasty.
Chu Yuen Chang, the son of a Chinese labouring man, revolts, and in 1355 takes Nanking.
Ming.
Ta Ch'ing.
1368
1403-1424
162?
CHU Yt)AN-CHANG.
CHU TI (YUNG LO).
HUAI TSUNG.
Declares himself emperor and takes the name of Hung-Wu.
Intercourse with Europe seems to have been discontinued until the arrival of the Portuguese
in the sixteenth century.
Organizes the present system of examinations.
Buddhism and Taoism made State religions.
The capital transferred to Pekin.
Under his direction the great encyclopaedia, 11,000 volumes, was compiled.
Conquers Cochin-China and Tonking.
Missions sent to Java, Sumatra, Siam and Ceylon.
The Portuguese land at Canton, 1517.
The porcelain of this period is world-famous.
Tartar army threatens the capital, 1542.
A Japanese fleet ravages the littoral provinces.
1597- The Japanese invade Korea but are defeated.
1601-1610. Matteo Ricci becomes scientific adviser to the Court of Cnina.
1616. The Manchu Tartars invade Liao-Tung.
The last of the dynasty. English merchants arrive at Canton.
1642. Li rebels and the dykes of the Yellow River are cut to flood the country.
1644
1655-1723
1735-1795
1795-1820
1820-1850
1850-1861
I86I-I875
1875-1908
1908
SHUN CHIH.
K'ANG HSI.
CH'IEN LUNG.
CHIA CH'ING
TAO KUANG.
HSIUN FENG.
T'UNG CHIH.
KUANG HSU.
HSUAN T'UNG.
The Manchus, invited to assist the rebels, take possession of Pekin and proclaim Shun Chili
emperor.
They take Nanking.
Koxinga, the pirate, drives the Dutch out of Formosa (1662).
The shaved head and the pigtail are adopted.
1656. The first Russian embassy comes to Pekin
A great scholar and general.
1679. Treaty between Russia and China.
Earthquake at Pekin destroys 400,000 people.
Invades Nepaul and subjugates the Ghurkas.
Burma forced to pay tribute.
Return of the Turguts from the Caspian Sea (1770).
Massacre of Muhammadans.
1793. Lord Macartney sent on a mission to Pekin.
1807. Dr. Morrison, the first Protestant missionary arrives in Canton.
1834. The monopoly of the East India Company is terminated and Lord Napier is sent as
British Minister to superintend British trade in Canton.
1839. The English agree to refrain from the importation of opium.
Lin Tse-Lsu destroys the opium.
1840. England declares war and obtains the cession of Hong-Kong.
Peace concluded by Sir Henry Pottinger in 1842.
Freedom of trade given at five ports.
The T'ai-p'ing rebellion.
1857. England declares war and takes Canton.
1858. Capture of the Taku forts and peace made.
1860. Allied force of France and England enter Pekin.
Territory north of the Amur ceded to Russia 1858-1860.
The Dowager-Empresses Tsze An and Tz'u Hsi (1834-1908) become regents.
Gordon enters the Chinese service and subdues the T'ai-p'ings.
Nanking recaptured, 1864.
Murder of Mr. Margary, the interpreter tu a Briti>h minimi from Burma to Yun-nan, 1875.
Revolt of Yakuh Bt-«.*
1876. Treaty between Japan and Korea, in which the Independence of the latter is recognized.
18/9. Treatv of Livadia with Russia. Death of the Empress Tsze An, i^i.
Dispute between China and France over the States of Annam,. 1882.
1894. War with Japan. Formosa ceded to Japan.
1900. The Boxer rebellion and the siege of the foreign legations.
1905. Treaty relating to Manchuria made between China and Japan
Convention regarding Tibet signed April, 1908, between England ami China, in which ih<-
latter's suzerainty is acknowledged.
1908. Death of the Dowager Empress.
Dismissal of Yuan Shih-k'ai from the office of Guardian of the Hei,.
igi'i. Provincial assemblies constituted.
1911. Yuan Shih-k'ai appointed Prime Minister of China.
Republic.
1912
I914-I9I8
1922-1926
1927
I93I-I932
HI-; PUBLIC.
I2th February. Abdication of the Manchu Dynasty and inauguration of a republican form of
government.
Election of Yuan Shih-k'ai as First President. Sun Yat-sen leader of Knoinintang or Nation-
alist party.
Great War. 1917 China joins Allies.
Period of disorder. Chang Tso MIL of Manchuria, Wu Pci-fu and Feng Yu-hsian, the Christian
(inn-nil, strive for mastery.
Chiang K'a'-shek leads Nationalist Government at Nanking. 1928, Murder of Chang Tso-lin.
Japanese invade Manchuria ant! establish state of Manchukuo. Chinese protests lead to League
of Nations intervention.
The Chinese
Somewhat
CHAPTER II
THE CHINESE. By PROFESSOR H. A. GILES. M.A., LL.D.
IN China, as elsewhere, we find at the earliest dawn of history the record of a Golden Age.
shadowy accounts of this period have come
down to us. It is chiefly associated with
the names of two Emperors, Yao and
Shun, whose long reigns were devoted
entirely to the welfare of their people, and
whose virtues brought about ideal social
conditions, in which articles lost in the street
were not appropriated by the finders,
and all house-doors remained unlocked at
night.
The date assigned to the two rulers
above mentioned corresponds roughly with
2300 B.C. Chinese tradition, however, goes
still further back and tells of certain semi-
divine Emperors, by whose wisdom primitive
man in China learned the secret of fire, the
arts of making clothes, of agriculture, and of
writing, the use of wheeled vehicles, and the
construction of houses to take the place of
rudely formed nests in trees. There was the
famous "Yellow Emperor", 2698 B.C., who
could speak from birth. A flash of lightning
had caused his mother to become pregnant,
and after twenty-five months' gestation she
gave birth to this son. His court was thronged
with strange peoples from afar. Envoys
came from the Long-legged nation, and from
those strange beings who had holes in the
middle of their bodies, their grandees being
carried on poles passed through them. Under
his reign, too, is noted the appearance of the
phrenix, a bird which is seen only when the
Empire is well governed and enjoying pro-
found peace.
Our next landmark is the Great Yii,
founder, in 2200 B.C., of the first Chinese
dynasty — that is, the first sequence of
sovereigns under whom the throne was handed
on from father to son, thus making, as
Chinese writers say, "a family possession of
the Empire". The Great Yii himself gained
his position by his engineering skill ; he is
said to have drained the Empire from the
effects of a mighty deluge, which early writers
sought to identify with Noah's flood. This
Hsia dynasty lasted for four hundred years. It was brought to an end by the increasing degeneracy
of its line of monarchs, until the climax was reached by the Emperor Chieh Kuei, whose utter
"*<•
PREHISTORIC iJHIXKSK TRIE-DWELLERS.
Though nothin? certain is known of tlie primitive ancestors of
the Chinese, it may be presumed with safety that, like the
primitive HUTS in NVw Guinea, they built platform dwelling^ in
trees, living upon the wild fruits and herbs, and such animals as
they could kill by means of rudely-fashioned stone implements.
72
Story of the Nations
wickedness entailed much misery upon the people, and was even said to have caused two large
rivers to dry up.
Then came China's first revolution under the leadership of a prince to whom legend has ascribed the
possession of four elbow-joints. He defeated Chieh Kuei, and in 1766 B.C. mounted the throne as the
first Emperor of the Shang Dynasty, a title taken from the name of his princedom. Chieh Kuei's son
fled northwards, and gathered round him a tribe to be known later on as the Huns.
The Shang Dynasty lasted six hundred years, with a change of title from Shang to Yin in 1401 B.C.,
the capital being then moved from the north bank of the Yellow River to a place of that name on the
south bank. It should here be noted that ancient China covered a comparatively small area, lying
Painted specially for this icorK]
THE GREAT Yt) DRAINING THE EMPIRE.
The Great Yli founded the first Chinese Empire in 2200 B.C. He gained his position by his engineering skill, and is said to
have drained the Empire from the effects of a mighty deluge by utilizing the shells of the tortoise as drain-pipes. Early writers
try to identify this with Noah's flood. This Hsia Dynasty lasted for four hundred years, until it was brought to an end by the
increasing degeneracy of its line of monarchs, when the climax was reached by the Emperor Chieh Kuei, whose utter wickedness
brought much misery to the people, and was even eaid to have caused two large rivers to dry up.
almost entirely between the Yellow River and the Yang-tsze, with wild tribes occupying the few degrees
of seaboard on the east, and other objectionable neighbours on the north, west and south.
For the history of the whole period reviewed above, from the age of the Yellow Emperor down to the
close of the Yin Dynasty, 1122 B.C., we are dependent upon (i) the Annals of the Bamboo Books, a
document the authenticity of which is doubted by some scholars ; (2) certain detached historical papers
of undoubted antiquity, the collection and publication of which is ascribed to Confucius ; and also (3)
to various inscriptions on ancient bronze vessels, which have been carefully reproduced and published
in book form by Chinese archaeologists.
The course of events which brought about the fall of the Yin Dynasty was simply a repetition of that
described in connection with the fall of the Hsia Dynasty, ending again with a vicious tyrant, a revolution,
and the establishment of a new order of things. The hero of the hour in this case was one who did not
live to see the triumph to secure which he had devoted his life. When, however, his son Wu Wang, the
The Chinese
75
"martial king", came to the throne as first ruler of the Chou dynasty, almost his initial act was to
canonize his dead father as the virtual founder of his line, under the title of Win Wang, the "civil king",
in allusion to the higher work of the civilian who planned the revolution, which was carried out by mere
force of arms. It was not long before the fame of Wen Warfg was enshrined in deathless verse ; and
even at this remote date there are few names which kindle an equal enthusiasm in the hearts of his
countrymen of to-day.
We are beginning now, 1122 B.C., to stand on somewhat firmer ground, though still three centuries
before the time from which the genuinely historical period is usually held to date. With the advent of
the Chou Dynasty we realize the existence of a highly civilized people, living under a form of govern-
ment which we are quite able to understand and appreciate. Feudality was the keynote to the system.
Painted rpectoRy for this
THE FIRST REVOLUTION.
After the deposition of Chieh Kuei came China's first Revolution under the leadership of a prince to whom legends ascribed
the possession of four elbow -joints. He defeated Chieh Kuei, and in 1766 B.C. mounted the throne as the first Emperor of the
Shang Dynasty, a title taken from the name of his princedom. Chieh Kuei's son fled northward, and gathered round him a
tribe to be fcnown later as the Huns The Shang Dynasty lasted six hundred years.
The state of Chou, trom which the dynasty took its title, was the royal domain, and to its king the
chieftains of the various surrounding states swore an undying allegiance. Thus things went on, smoothly
enough, until 781 B.C., when for political reasons the capital was moved eastward ; and from that hour,
say Chinese writers, "the feudal bond was slackened". States began to indulge in internecine warfare,
the object being always acquisition of territory, and these conditions produced that singular being, the
professional politician, who went about offering advice to the rulers of states, and generally selling his
services to the highest bidder.
For the period between 722 and 484 B.C. we have, in addition to the Annals of the Bamboo Books,
the Annals of Lu, the native state of Confucius, written by the sage himself. From this work, which
gave its name. Springs and Autumns (=years, annals), to the period, and more especially from the
famous commentary provided by a disciple, we can obtain a fair idea of China's political condition The
76
Story of the Nations
feudal bond between suzerain
and vassal had indeed become
so far slackened that no
further attention was paid to-
the royal commands by the
more powerful feudal nobles.
Two or more of these chief-
tains would enter into solemn
covenants and alliances for
offensive and defensive pur-
poses, mostly the former ; but
how far they would loyally
keep such treaties was usually
determined more by circum-
stances than by any feeling of
actual obligation. One state
would "borrow a road" across
a friendly state in order to
attack a third, generally on
condition that such accommo-
dation should be rewarded by
some share of the spoils.
Cities were besieged and taken ;
armies were ambushed and
destroyed ; rulers of states
were poisoned or assassinated.
The only redeeming feature,
according to one writer, was
the pathetic figure of Confucius
wandering in exile from his
native state, after a short
period of office, the "wooden-
tongued bell of God", as he
was called, to whose notes no
attention was then paid. In-
dividual prowess and feats of
arms, as recorded under these
Annals, often call to mind the
stories of the Iliad, but with-
out the absurd intervention of gods and goddesses. For these Annals and commentary profess to deal
with real happenings, and are written in a serious historical spirit ; the credibility of the narrative
would be impaired by the admission of a supernatural element. As satisfactory evidence of their
authenticity, we find recorded notices of comets, the dates of which have been verified by European
astronomers.
One of the quaint episodes scattered throughout the commentary is related as lollows The mother
of a feudal duke had plotted against him, desiring to set his younger brother, her favourite, upon the
throne. Her plot failed, and she was placed under restraint, the rightful heir saying, "I will not see you
again until I have reached the Yellow Springs below" (that is, in the next world). Then he repented.
Later on, a certain officer, who had heard the news, came with a present to the duke, who, as was the
custom, caused him to be entertained with food. The officer put a piece of the meat on one side, and,
when asked by the duke why he did this, he said : "I have a mother who always shares in what I eat :
I beg to be allowed to keep this piece for her." The duke said : "You have a mother ; alas, I have
none !" The officer inquired what the duke meant, and the latter related all the circumstances, and
Painted specially for this work]
PROFESSIONAL POLITICIANS.
In 781 B.C. the capital was moved eastward, and from that time, say Chinese
writers, "the feudal bond was slackened". States began to indulge in internecine
warfare, the object being always the acquisition of territory, and these conditions
produced that singular being, the professional politician, who went about offering
advice to the rulers of states and generally selling his services to the highest bidder
The Chinese
77
4iow he had repented of his oath. "Why be distressed about that ?" said the officer. "If you dig into
the earth, down to the Yellow Springs, and then make a subterranean passage where you can meet, who
can say that your oath has been violated ?" The duke acted upon this suggestion and when the passage
was completed he entered it, singing •
In this tunnel there's love.'
and his mother, coming in at the other end, responded :
"There is none up above."
From tins tune torth they were mother and son, as before.
After the death of Confucius, 551-479 B.C., the political condition of the Middle Kingdom — "China"
fr/i eprciatly for >hif
SOLDIERS WITH "BITS" IN THEIR MOl'THS.
lu the early history of Cliinii (about 1000 B.C.), when wars between neighbouring states were frequent, it appears to have
been u common custom, when armies were making a night attack, for the soldiers to march with wooden "bits" in their mouths
to triuird against the danger of talking and thereby apprising the enemy's outposts of their approach
is not a native term — went rapidly from bad to worse, and the next two centuries are known as the
era of the Warring States, when everybody's hand was against somebody. Ultimately, after eight
hundred years of the Chou Dynasty, the longest stretch of power enjoyed by any ruling House, the great
western state of Ch'in (or Ts'in) assumed a commanding position, and in 221 B.C. its ruler succeeded in
establishing himself as Emperor of China, styling himself the First Emperor, and meaning his successors
to be the Second, Third, and so on for ever. He further tried to make literature begin with his reign, and
gave orders for the destruction of all existing books, with the exception of works on agriculture, medicine,
and divination ; and but for the fidelity of some scholars who hid their copies, the whole of the Confucian
Canon, and many other important philosophical works, would have perished irrecoverably by fire. He
left one famous mark on the earth's surface by the construction of a large portion of the Great Wall,
which was added to later on, and the object of which was to keep out aggressive tribes of Tartars — a
78
Story of the Nations
CONFUCIUS.
Confucius was born in the year 551 B.C., his
lather being a distinguished soldier. At tho age
of twenty-one he commenced teaching, but was
afterwards appointed Minister of Works and
Minister of Crime, in which capacity he reformed
ihe country. Owing to jealousy, Confucius left
the state and travelled with his followers for
about twelve years, when he was invited to return
to the state of Lu. He did little in politics, but
spent the last years of his life in literary work.
the House of Ch'in. To complain openly
was to incur the penalty of extermina-
tion. Even casual words of objection
were punished by decapitation of the
individual.
"Now it was agreed between myself
and the other nobles that whosoever
first entered the territory of Ch'in should
rule over it. Therefore I am come to
rule over you. With you, I further
agree upon three laws [as above], the
remainder of the Ch'in code to be
abrogated.
"The officials and people will con-
tinue to attend to their respective
duties, as heretofore. My sole object in
coming here is to eradicate wrong. I
desire to do violence to no one. Fear
not !"
One of the first cares of the early
word of fateful import throughout the history of China.
All this, however, was in vain ; his feeble son, who came to
the throne in succession to the "Old Dragon", was put to
death two years later (207 B.C.) ; "the roof-tiles", as the
Chinese put it, "came clattering down", and a new dynasty
appeared on the scene, with a longer and more glorious
career before it.
The founder of the House of Han, in memory ot which
the northern Chinese still call themselves "sons of Han"
figured during early life in the humble position of beadle.
Driven to desperation by the oppressive government of the
First Emperor, he headed a revolution which raised him
• ater on, after many ups and downs of fortune, to the
Imperial throne. Even before he was safely seated, he
issued a proclamation abrogating the severe laws then exist-
ing, and enacted three simple laws in their stead, referring
only to murder, bodily injury, and theft, to each of which
suitable penalties were assigned. This proclamation is still
in existence, and reads as follows : —
"FELLOW-COUNTRYMEN !
"You have long groaned under the despotic sway of
Photo by] \J- Thomson, F.Ji.fl.H.
THE CONFUCIAN TABLET, PEKING.
The inscription in large letters of gold above the tablet runs thus :
"The tenchcr and example of ten thousand generations."
Painted special/:/ fur this wnrk\
IH'KMXi; THK HOOKS.
After eight, hundred years of the Chon Dynasty, the ruler of the western ; tate ot Ch'in c staWMied himself as Emporor ol
China, styling himself the First Knipcroi-. He 1 Hcd to make literal ure Login with his reign (221 B.C.), and ordered the destruction
of all books, save those on agriculture, medicine, and divination. Some scholars faithfully hid their copies, or the whole of the
Confucian Canon and other important philosophical works would have perished irrecoverably by flre. 11 is dynasty was short-
lived, for his feel.le son was put to death after n reign of two years only and a new dynpsty began.
The Chinese
81
Emperors of this line was to recover the lost works of the Confucian Canon. Hidden volumes were
brought to light ; and the Odes, for instance, were recovered, at first from the lips of scholars who
had, in accordance with custom learned them by heart, arid later on from copies which had been
produced from their hiding-places. Unfortunately this condition of things offered an excellent chance
to unscrupulous scholars, who forthwith began to "discover" all kinds of missing works, such as
really had perished, and also others now heard of for the first time. Forgery was indeed rampant ;
and to this source we owe the absurd little volume known as the Tao Te Ching, which passes as
actually from the hand of Lao Tzu. a philosopher said to date from the close of the seventh century
B.C., and generally regarded as the founder of the sect of the Taoists. Taoism, which was once a
narrow speculative system based upon a few vory paradox'cal maxims by dint of appropriating most
Painted spcciali/ fo' this work]
AN EARLY HUN RAID.
The Huns were a wild, uncultured people who raided on horseback their more civilized neighbours and defeated them
by the fury of their attack. The Fourth Emperor of the Han Dynasty (179-156 B.C.) sent large presents to the Khan of the
Huns to induce him to keep his subjects, "the nations of the bow and arrow", from crossing the Great Wall to plunder the
Chinese, "the families of the hat and gird:e".
of the forms and ceremonies, together with some of the more modern superstitions of Buddhism, is
now a flourishing religion.
After a short reign the founder died, leaving the throne to a son ; but the latter was quickly over-
shadowed by his mother, the first of the three women who at various dates ruled with strong hands
over the Empire.
Towards the close of the second century B.C. vast campaigns were carried on by successful generals,
and the deadly Hsiung-nu of the north-west, forebears of the Huns, were kept in check. Chinese arms
were carried far into Central Asia, and Khoten, Kokand, and the Pamirs became part of the Empire.
The terror inspired by the raiding Huns finds frequent expression in early Chinese literature. During
the reign of the Fourth Emperor, 179-156 B.C., the growing power of the Huns was a source of grave
anxiety. We possess a remarkable letter addressed by his Majesty, when fearing a fresh outbreak, to
'The Khan of the Huns", and beginning: "We respectfully trust that the great Khan is well", an
82
Story of the Nations
unusual compliment from the Son of Heaven to a despised barbarian. It is pointed out in the letter
that since the founding of the Han Dynasty the following arrangement had been made : "All to the
north of the Great Wall, comprising the nations of the bow and arrow, to be subject to the great Khan ;
all within the Great Wall, namely, the families of the hat and girdle, to be subject to the House of Han "
The "hat and girdle" at once places the Chinese on a higher plane of civilization than could be con-
ceded to nations of the "bow
and
Painted specially for this work]
THE
HATHIOTIC ENVOY.
S>u Wu was dispatched upon a mission of peace to the Huns in the year 100 B.C.
bis business being to escort- borne some Hun envoys who had been Imprisoned by the
Chinese. While at the Court of the Khan an attempt was made to induce him to
enter the service of the Huns, but rather than do so he tried to commit suicide, and
wounded himself severely. He was thrown into prison, and afterwards sent north
to tend sheep.
The Emperor
say : "The Hans
arrow
goes on to
and the Huns are border
nations. Your northern climate
is early locked in deadly cold.
Therefore We have annually
sent large presents of food
and clothing and other useful
things ; and now the Empire
is at peace and the people
prosperous. Heaven, it is
said, covers no one in par-
ticular, and Earth is the
common resting-place of all
men. Let us then dismiss
trifling grievances and tread
the broader path accord-
ingly."
Two names stand out con-
spicuously in connection with
military operations against the
Huns under this dynasty In
100 B.C., an official named Su
Wu was dispatched upon a
mission of peace to the Huns,
his business being to escort
home some Hun envoys who
had been seized and imprisoned
by way of reprisal for similar
seizure and imprisonment of
Chinese envoys who had now
been allowed to return., While
at the Court of the Khan, an
attempt was made to persuade
him to throw off his allegiance
and enter the service of the
Huns ; upon which he tried to
commit suicide, and wounded
himself so severely that he lay
unconscious for hours. He
thrown into
was
a dungeon
and at length, when all attempts to shake his unswerving loyalty had failed, he was sent up north
and set to tend sheep. In the year 86 B.C. peace was made with the Huns, and then the Emperor
asked for the release of Su Wu. The Huns declared that he was dead ; but a new envoy told the
Khan that the Emperor had shot a goose with a letter tied to its leg, from which he had learned the
whereabouts of the missing man. This story so astonished the Khan that Su Wu was released, and in
81 B.C. returned to China after a captivity of nineteen years.
THE KMl'KHOIf
When peace w:i> made with the Huns the Kmperor of China asked for the release of Su \Vu, but the Huns answered thai
tho man \\;is dead. A new envoy was sent who informed the Khan that the Emperor had shot a goose to whose leg a letter was
tied, from which he had learned the whereabouts of the missing envoy. The story so astonished the Khan that Su Wu was
released, and be returned to China after a captivity of nineteen years.
84
Story of the Nations
\In Ilritish Museum
A portrait of Pan Chao, lady historian and
superintendent of the Court, by Ku K'ai-chih,
one of the greatest names of Chinese art. Fourth
century A.D
[In Victoria and Albert Museum.
An embossed Mir. or-back with Gra'co-
liactrian designs. Han Dynasty (202 B.C.-
A.D. 220). Chinese art owes much to Greek
influence.
The other
name is that of
Li Ling, a general
who, in 99 B.C.,
penetrated into
Hun territory
with only five
thousand men.
Surrounded by
thirty thousand
of the enemy, he
was forced to
surrender, where-
upon he swore
allegiance to the
Khan, whose
daughter he mar-
ried, remaining
among the Huns
until his death
some twenty
years later. Shortly after the Christian era, there was a break in the continuity of the dynasty.
A usurper, named Wang Mang, arose and seized the throne, which he managed to hold for
a dozen years or so, until his tyranny and cruelty caused "poisonous waves to roll up to God, and
the people to long for the return of their old rulers". The Han family, however, prevailed in the end,
and succeeded in obtaining another two hundred years' lease of rule. During this latter period, prior
to which the religion of the Chinese people was limited first to a pure monotheism, and later to a
general worship of hills, streams, and other natural objects — the religion of Buddha, already for some
time vaguely known as a great teaching from the West, began to take firm root in the country. Buddh-
ism is popularly supposed to have been brought to China about A.D. 67, in consequence of a vision of
a golden man which was seen in a dream by the reigning Emperor. A writer, however, of the Sung
Dynasty (see post) quotes a number of historical passages in support of the view that Buddhism was
known some centuries before the Christian era, and that "Buddhist books had long been circulated
far and wide, but
had disappeared
with the Ch'in
dynasty", under
which occurred
the Burning of
the Books. The
arts of poetry and
painting were
more systemati-
cally cultivated ;
and a new form
of music was im-
ported from Bac-
tria, then a Greek
province, to re-
place the ancient
style, the art of
which seems to
From original in]
A War Drum called Chu-ko ku, inscribed
A.D. 199, characteristic of the Shan tribes. have been
ll'ictorifi find Albert MI/*I-IIJ/I
The Drum-head showing elaborate workman-
ship, including four conventionalized tree-frogs.
The Chinese
unaccountably lost. Meanwhile the sands of the Han Dynasty were running out, and illustrating
once more the inevitable sequence of fullness and decay, a theory dear to the heart of the
Chinese philosopher. Four hundred years had passed away ; the later Emperors were vicious or
incompetent ; and a squabble over the succession set the ball rolling. The upshot of all this was the
division of the Empire into three parts ; and, although the Chinese maintain that there can never be
two sovereigns on earth any more
than two suns in the sky, the fact
remains that "the tripod — emblem
of Imperial rule — was divided into
three", so that in A.D. 222, and
for many years afterwards, there
were actually three Emperors, one
of them a descendant of a Han
Emperor, each with his own Court
and capital, and wielding independ-
ent power. This is known as the
epoch of the Three Kingdoms, and
is. remarkable for the number of
eminent personages called into
action by the exigencies of the times
First and foremost of the?e was
the great military hero now known
as Kuan Ti. Nine centuries after
his death he was posthumously
ennobled as Duke, and a few
year4 afterwards he was raised to
the rank of Prince ; in 1594 he
was deified, and has ever since
been worshipped as the God of
War.
Another great fighter of those
days was Chu-ko Liang, whose
memory is still affectionate!}'
cherished by the Chinese people.
Various inventions are credited to
his genius ; among others, mechani-
cal horses and oxen able to draw
heavy loads. Perhaps a crossbow
able to shoot several arrows at
once may be a safer example to
quote.
The final result oi this inter-
necine strife between the Three
Kingdoms was the disruption ol
all of them, and an attempt tc
re-establish an undivided Empire
under a new dynasty, styled Chin,
from which word, in spite of its tempting look, the term China is not derived. The leading spirit
of the revolutionaries, who in A.D. 265 proclaimed himself Emperor, was the grandson of a famous
commander under one of the Three Kingdoms. He may be regarded as the Fabius of the Middle
Kingdom , for his opposition to Chu-ko Liang, above mentioned, consisted in persistently refusing
battle, a course which so irritated his opponent that the latter contemptuously sent him a present of a
woman's headdress
I'ainted specially for this work]
A WOMAN S HEADDRESS FOR AN EMPEROR
The grandson of a famous commander under one of the Three Kingdoms
proclaimed himself Emperor in A.I>. 265. He persistently refused battle to
Chu-ko Liang, a course which so irritated I he latter that lie contemptuously
sent him a present of a woman's headdri>s>
86
Story of the Nations
With a break at the beginning of the fourth century, the Chin Dynasty, harassed on all sides by enemies,
and degraded at home by evil rulers, managed to drag on until the early years of the fifth century when
it passed away, as usual, in the throes of civil war.
In spite of the troubles of the times, pictorial art nourished, and the close of the dynasty saw one of
China's greatest painters, Ku K'ai-chih, a specimen of whose work is now in the British Museum.
Whether a mere coincidence or not, the same epoch produced one of China's greatest poets, T'ao Ch'ien,
whose story of "The Peach-
blossom Fountain", and poem
entitled "Home Again", are
familiar to all Chinese school-
boys.
The former may be taken
as a good specimen of Chinese
allegory, and runs as follows :
Towards the end of the fourth
century A.D. a certain fisher-
man, who had followed up one
of the river branches without
taking note whither he was
going, came suddenly upon a
grove of peach trees in full
bloom, extending to some dis-
tance on each bank, with not
a tree of any other kind in
sight. The beauty of the scene
and the exquisite perfume of
the flowers filled the heart of
the fisherman with surprise
as he proceeded onwards,
anxious to see the limit of this
lovely grove. He found that
the peach trees ended where
the water began, at the foot
of a hill ; and there he espied
what seemed to be a cave
with light issuing from it. So
he made fast his boat, and
crept in through a narrow en-
trance, which shortly ushered
him into a new world of level
country, with fine houses, rich
fields, beautiful pools, and a
luxuriance of mulberry and
bamboo. Highways for traffic
ran north and south ; sounds
of crowing cocks and barking dogs were heard around ; the dress of the people who passed along,
or were at work in the fields, was of a strange cut ; while young and old alike appeared to be
contented and happy.
One of the inhabitants, catching sight of the fisherman, was greatly astonished ; but, after learning
whence he came, he insisted on taking the stranger to his home, where he killed a chicken and placed
some wine on the table. Before long all the people of the place had turned out to see the visitor, and
they informed him that their ancestors had sought refuge here, with their wives and families, from
the troublous times of the House of Ch'in (B.C.), adding that they had thus become finally cut
Painted tpeeiatty for this work]
A MARQUIS AND MARQUISE OF THE PEOPLE.
The Emperor promoted one of his counsellors, Sung Hung, to be a Marquis, and
then suggested that as his wife, the new Marquise, was one of the people, he should
now get rid of her. "No, sire," replied the Marquis, "we bad our porridge-days
together, and now she shall not iro from my halls."
ft*.
£S
jg
It
ll
a —
o £
B §
el
|<
•o .
» g j
~3a
O g d
11 =
^1
3 ««
a s _
if
, o
* •?,?
' * S
'!!
111
*
o
a a =
>- ^ ~
|1|
«
= 5 ~
I
ill
M
2 g «
ill
H
lie
•o 5-2
1 i i
js8|
•3 " —
A|l
s{s
•o £ -
ill
•852
o 5 =
111
Hi
88
Story of the Nations
off from the rest of the human race. They then inquired about the politics of the day, ignorant
of the establishment of the Han Dynasty, and, of course, of the later dynasties which had suc-
ceeded it ; and when the fisherman told them the story they grieved over the vicissitudes of human
affairs.
Each in turn invited the fisherman to his home and entertained him hospitably, until at length the-
latter prepared to take his leave. "You need not talk to the outside world about what you have seen,"
said the people of the place to the fisherman as he bade them farewell and returned to his boat, making
mental notes of the route as he proceeded on his homeward voyage.
When he reached home, he at once went and reported what he had seen to the Governor of the
district, and the Governor sent off men with him to seek, by the aid of his notes, to discover this unknown
region. But he was never able to find it again ; the explanation being that this poor fisherman, by
a figment of the author's imagination, was allowed to revisit for a brief moment the peach-blossom scenes
of youth.
The Chin Dynasty witnessed, A.D. 399, the departure of Fa Hsien, the first of the Chinese Buddhists,
who travelled overland to-
India, and brought back many
of the sacred books of Buddh-
ism, images, relics, and other
instrumental parts of this re-
ligion. A few years previously,
Kumarajiva, one of the patri-
archs of Buddhism, had been;
invited from India to China ;
indeed, one of the many self-
appointed rebel Emperors of
the day sent, in 382, an army
of seventy thousand men to
fetch him. It was not, how-
ever, until after the death of
this "false Emperor", in 384,
that Kumarajiva took up his-
residence in China, and began,
to translate important
Buddhist works into-
Chinese At his death, some-
thirty years later, his body
was cremated but his tongue
is said to have remained
unhurt in the midst of trie-
fire.
With the final collapse of
the Chin Dynasty in 420 we-
reach a period known as "the
northern and southern dynas-
ties". This term means that
the Empire was divided up-
between Tartars in the north
and pure Chinese in the south
There were at first several
rival Tartar dynasties ; but in
386 these were displaced by
the Tobas a Tungusic race,
who. under five dynastic titles.
Painted speriatty for this work]
A SACRIFICE IN A CONFUCIAN TEMPLE.
Under the Liang Dynasty, Confucian Temples were definitely established. The
worship of the sage had been carried out previously in a more or less intermittent
fashion, and in the fourth century a shrine had been built in his honour : but it was
not until A.D. 505 that the first Confucian Temple was erected for the sacrifice ol
animals — the ox, sheep, and pig for musical rites with dancing . and for the display
of a portrait of Confucius, for which under the Minus a wooden tablet was substituted
The Chinese
89
Painted specially for this work]
REMOVING A TABLET FROM A CONFUCIAN TEMPLE
The glory of Confucius in the Temple is shared by his disciples in life and a number of scholars of later days who have
distinguished themselves by their efforts in upholding and spreading the Confucian teachings, to each one of whom a tablet Is put
up as a memorial. It has happened, indeed, many times in the course of ages that, perhaps at the whim of an Emperor, the
tablet of some favourite has been wrongly honoured with a place among the elect. In such cases posterity has always been eaual
to the occasion : the1 canonization has been cancelled, and the tablet incontinently removed, as here shown
ruled for some two hundred years, while during about the same period there were four Chinese
dvnasties in the south.
Under the third of these four, the Liang Dynasty, there was definitely established the institution
known as the Confucian Temple. The worship of Confucius had been previously carried out more or
less intermittently, and in the fourth century the Tobas had built a shrine in honour of the sage, and later
on other shrines appeared, at which women were accustomed to pray for children until forbidden by
Imperial edict to do so ; but it was not until 505 that the first Confucian Temple, in the modern sense
of the term, was erected for the sacrifice of animals — the ox, sheep and pig ; for musical rites with dancing ;
and for the display of a portrait of Confucius, for which under the Mings (see post) a wooden tablet was
substituted.
Fifty years later it was Imperially decreed that a Temple should be set up in every town
above a certain rank throughout the Empire. There, four times a year, Confucius is officially worshipped,
in recognition of the great services his teachings have rendered to mankind ; but no prayers for benefits,
personal or intercessory, are allowed. It is true that under the Ming Dynasty Confucius was raised to
the rank of a god. and that the same farce was again perpetrated so late as 1907 ; by the great bulk,
however, of the level-headed people of China he has always been regarded rather as an inspired man.
His glory in the Temple is shared by his disciples in life and a number of scholars of later days who have
distinguished themselves by their efforts in upholding and spreading the Confucian teachings, to each
one of whom a tablet is put up as a memorial. It has happened, indeed, many times in the course of
ages that, perhaps at the whim of an Emperor, the tablet of some favourite has been wrongly honoured
with a place among the elect. In such cases posterity has always been equal to the occasion ; the
canonization has been cancelled, and the tablet incontinently removed.
I
go Story of the Nations
In 581 there arose a revolutionary l^fer, named Yang Chien, who succeeded in uniting China once-
more under sfSgle rule, ptoclaiming^nimseli first Emperor of the Sui Dynasty. He was descended from
Yang Chin, the famous patriot of the Han Dynasty (died A.D. 124), who would receive no bribes, and
laid up no store for his family ; and who, when a friend remonstrated with him for leaving nothing to
his sons and grandsons, replied : "If posterity shall speak of me as an incorrupt official, is that nothing ?"
Yang Chien began by wholesale slaughter of the members of the late ruling House under which he had
served, and was treacherous in the treatment of his own relatives and friends ; yet he was not altogether
a bad ruler. He added long stretches to the Great Wall, to strengthen the defences against Tartar inroads.
He lightened taxation, codified the criminal law, instituted the tithing system, opened public libraries,
and set an example of simplicity and economy in food and dress. He was assassinated in 605 by his
Painterf specially for this u'ork]
A CHINESE PUBLIC LIBRARY.
Although the first Emperor of the Sui Dynasty had obtained power as a revolutionary leader, and had begun his reign
by a wholesale slaughter of the members of the late ruling house, he was not altogether a bad ruler. In addition to adding
long stretches to the Great Wall, lightening taxation, codifying the criminal law, and setting an example of simplicity in
food and dress, he established public libraries.
second son, whom he had named as his successor ; and the latter, after a dozen years of ignoble rule,
the country seething in discontent and with no fewer than seven usurpers established simultaneously at
various points, was himself assassinated, and a few months later the dynasty came to an end. This
was achieved by the efforts of Li Yuan, a military commandant, who won his beautiful wife by shooting
a match for her, the target being painted to resemble a peacock, both eyes of which were put out by his
arrows. Aided by his still more brilliant son, he rose against the House of Sui, and in 618 mounted the
Imperial throne as first Emperor of the T'ang Dynasty. Eight years later he abdicated in favour of
his son, and then followed nearly three centuries of rule which are among the most remarkable in the
annals of China.
The second Emperor of this line was indeed a man of first-class capacity. He crushed internal
rebellion, and broke the power of the ancient Turkish tribes. He reformed the civil and military services,
modified the penal code, fostered learning, and tried to restore astronomy to its place as a practical
Painted specially for this work]
WINNING A WIFE BY GOOD SHOOTING.
The house of Sui was brought to an end by Li Yuan, a military commandant, who ascended the throne A.D. 618 as first
Emperor of the T'ang Dynasty. He won his beautiful wife by shooting a match for her, the target being painted to res, mhlr
a peacock, both eyes of which were put out by his arrows. He reigned for eight years, and then abdicated in favour of bis
son. This was the beginning of nearly three centuries of rule which rank among the most remarkable in the annals of Chini
The Chinese
93
science Genial in his intercourse with public officials, his fame spread far beyond the limits of the
Middle Kingdom, which then extended up to the frontier of Persia. He was beloved by all priests,
Buddhist. Taoist and Christian, for it was under his auspices that Nestorian missionaries were allowed to
settle at the capital in A.D. 636 ; and in 643 the Byzantine Emperor is said to have sent a mission to
his Court. Numerous stories, true and false, have gathered about his name. One specimen of each
will perhaps suffice.
During a severe plague of locusts, always much dreaded by the Chinese, he is said to have offered up
a prayer to God. at the same time swallowing a live locust in evidence of sincerity. Cynical critics have,
• jf '
:- T-
I'ainteil x/irrinlly for this uiork]
A PLAGUE OF LOCUSTS.
China like other Eastern countries, has always suffered much from plagues of destroying locusts. Among the stories told
of the second Emperor of the T'ang Dynasty is one that during a severe visitation of this sort he offered up a prayer to God,
at the same time swallowing a live locust in evidence of sincerity. There is no record that the plague was stayed.
indeed, alleged that a paper locust was substituted for the real insect ; there is, at any rate, no record
that the plague was stayed.
On one occasion he is said to have died and to have gone down into Purgatory, but to have recovered
his life through the kindly intervention of the "recording angel", who altered a 13 against his name
in the Book of Fate into 33, thus giving him twenty more years to live.
Among the celebrities of the T'ang Dynasty may be mentioned the second Chinese Empress who
usurped Imperial power. She maintained her position as sole ruler of China from 684 to 705, when she
was compelled to abdicate.
The sixth Emperor of this line was remarkable for his long reign of forty-four years (712-756), which,
however, ended unhappily in forced abdication ; and also for the number of distinguished poets and
painters whom he drew to his Court. China's most famous poet, Li Po, the beauty of whose verses
gained for him the title of "a banished angel", was a tipsy, rollicking bard, of about thirty-seven years
94
Story of the Nations
of age when he was introduced to the Emperor. The latter was fascinated by him at once, prepared
a bowl of soup for him with his own Imperial hands, and forthwith made him an Academician. Li Po
then gave himself up to a career of wild dissipation, to which the Court was by that time well suited.
On one occasion, when the Emperor sent for him, he was found lying drunk in the street ; and it was
only after having his face well mopped with cold water that he was at all fit for the presence. His talents
however, did not fail him. With a lady of the seraglio to hold his ink-slab, he dashed off some of his most
impassioned lines ; at which the Emperor was so overcome that he made the powerful head eunuch pull
off the poet's boots. The result was resentment, followed by intrigue, which ended in Li Po, together
Painted specially for this work}
THE CHINESE EMPEROR RECEIVES A MISSION.
Ta Tsung, the second Tang Emperor, was so wise and genial ns well as powerful, that his fame spread far and wide among
the nations. He crushed h!B enemies ; but he encouraged learning and for his tolerance was beloved by the official representatives
of various religions. The Byzantine Emperor was so impressed with his sagacity and importance that he sent a special mission to
the Chinese Court.
with several distinguished colleagues, leaving the Court and starting a drinking-club, known as the Eight
Immortals of the Winecup. Li Po was subsequently drowned, from leaning one night too far over the
edge of a boat in a drunken effort to embrace the reflection of the moon.
Painting, which, as we have seen above, was already a fine art in the full sense of the term, made great
strides under the T'ang Dynasty. At the head of its long roll of artists stands, by common consent,
Wu Tao-tzu, generally acknowledged to be the greatest of all artists, ancient or modern We can judge
of his work by one famous picture, preserved in Japan, which, if not actually from the brush of Wu
Tao-tzu, must be a very early copy. It is really one of a series of incidents in the career of the Lord
Buddha, all of which were painted on the walls of a monastery in China, about A.D. 742, and described
J'ainlcd specially for this irnrkj
LI I'O RECITING BEFORE THE EMPEROR.
China's most famous poet, Li Po, was a tipsy bard of about thirtyscvcn when he was first introduced to the sixth
T ang Emperor. On one occasion when the Emperor sent for him he was lying in the street so drunk that it was not until
: had had his face well mopped that he was fit to appear, but even then his talents did not fail him. The poet incthii
-Irani l,y drowmnpr, having one night fallen nut of a boat in a drunken effort to embrace the reflection of the moon
Story of the Nations
Pninlfrl specially far tTtin trorfr]
HAN Yii PRESENTING HIS MEMORIAL.
One oi the Emperors of the T'ang Dynasty had arranged to icceive into the capita., with Imperial honours, a bone of
Buddha, when Han Yii, the Prince of Literature, came forward and indited a fierce memorial of protest. For this he was banished
to the wilds of Kiiangtung. and, a though recalled before long, he had grown prematurely old, and unable to resist a severe illness.
by a contemporary eyewitness as including "scenery, buildings, human figures, birds and beasts, to the
number of several thousands — the most beautiful and perfect work of all ages". The particular incident
which has come down to us is the Death of Buddha, more correctly described as his entry into Nirvana.
"While the Lord Buddha is passing, the bhikshus (Buddhist mendicants) are beating their breasts and
stamping in lamentation as though utterly beyond self-control. Even the birds of the air and the beasts
of the field are wailing and knocking their heads on the ground. Only the Lord Buddha himself is placed
as usual, with no trace of anguish on his face. How could the painter have thus fathomed the mysteries
of life and death ? The answer is that he was inspired."
He painted a picture of Purgatory, "the sight of which made the beholder's hair stand on end",
and inspired the butchers and fishmongers at the capital with such horror that many of them abandoned
those trades against which all the anathemas of Buddhism were hurled, and sought a livelihood in other
directions.
Legend has, of course, been busy with Wu Tao-tzu's name. On one occasion the priests at a temple
had been rude to him ; and out of revenge he painted on an inner wall a donkey, which during the night
kicked all the furniture to pieces.
His last picture was a landscape on a wall, painted to the order of the Emperor. While the Emperor
was gazing upon it in rapture, the artist pointed to the gate of a small temple and clapped his hands.
The gate opened and he passed through, turning round to beckon the Emperor to follow ; but in a moment
the gate closed, and before the amazed monarch could advance a step the whole scene faded away, and
Wu Tao-tzu was never seen again.
Then there was Wang Wei, a graceful poet as well as a painter, and a painter not of mere form but
of the spirit. It mattered not to him that the cart was too big for the stable-door, or that flowers of
different seasons were introduced into the same picture. A critic of the eleventh century refused to-
The Chinese
consider these points other than as evidence of unfettered genius, adding that "it is difficult to discuss
this with the unwashed".
Lastly — for volumes would be required to give even brief outlines of the poets and painters ol the
period — may be mentioned Han Kan, the great painter of horses. Upon two disks, measuring less than
six inches in diameter, he placed no fewer than one hundred horses, fifty on each disk, with every single
horse in a different attitude. We possess woodcuts of these two disks, handed down through the centuries ;
and of them Mr. Binyon writes : "Even in these poor and distant translations the power and Rubens-
like animation of the original can be felt."
The great men of the Tang Dynasty were not, however, only poets and painters. First and toremost ol
them all stands Han Yii, A.D. 768-824, popularly known from his canonization as the Prince of Literature,
who, in addition to literary achievements of the highest order, gained distinction as a pure and
enlightened statesman and patriot. His works were extensive and of great variety ; and a con-
temporary writer declared that he never ventured to open them without having first washed his hands in
rose-water.
The times were already out of joint when Han Yii set himself to mend them One decadent Emperor
had changed the year-title of
his reign to the First of all
time, as though unwarned by
the fate of an earlier attempt
of the kind , as mentioned above.
Another had arranged to re-
ceive into the capital, with
Imperial honours, a bone of
Buddha, when Han Yii stepped
forward and indited a fierce
memorial of protest. For this
he was banished to the wilds
of Kuangtung, not far from
what is now the thriving and
populous port of Swatow. Be-
fore long he was recalled ; but
he had grown prematurely old,
and was unable to resist a
severe illness which came upon
him. His name is as well
known in China to-day as
that of Alfred the Great
with us. The two patriots
were almost contemporaries,
our King was born only
twenty-five years after Han
Yii's death.
An almost uninterrupted
debacle now set in, the credit
for which must be divided be-
tween eunuch influence and
gross superstition. Two Em-
perors poisoned themselves by
drinking concoctions which
were supposed to confer im-
mortal life ; a third gave
himself up entirely to foot-
ball, cock-fighting and polo.
for this irurk]
I'l SHKNG, THE C'HINKSK. CANTON.
The Sung Dynasty is (unions for u prodigious development ill both literature and
art. The efficient cause in the former was the art of printing, which ttrst began to
piny:, n import ant part ill the tenth century, though the principle of taking impre>Mnn-
from carved wooden blocks had lieeii already widely known under the T'ang !>>na-t>.
Printing with movable types wan invented in 1043, but did not appeal to the nrtist it-
sense of the Chinese.
98 Story of the Nations
The last Emperor was assassinated by his prime minister, who set himself up as the founder of a new
dynasty.
Within the next fifty years China, that is, Southern China, witnessed a succession of no fewer than
five small dynasties. In the north, the Kitan Tartars, taking advantage of the previous collapse of the
Turkish domination before the conquering T'angs. established themselves firmly for two centuries to come
fixing their capital near what is now Peking.
The Grand Marshal to the last Emperor — a mere boy — of the last of these five dynasties was repelling
an inroad of the Kitan Tartars, when suddenly, in a style reminiscent of Imperial Rome, his army invested
him with the yellow robe and proclaimed him Emperor of the House of Sung. He professed surprise
and reluctance ; but there is little doubt that he knew of the design. He used his authority well, fostering
Painted special!]/ for this work]
THE GRAND CANAL.
The Grand Canal was principally dug in the thirteenth century by Kublai Khan, though parts are thought to date from the
time of Confucius. The northern part is less used now ; it has fallen into disrepair and is clogged with the mud of the Yellow
River. It is crossed by stone bridges, and many memorial arches and pagodas are situated near its banks. The canal, which
is 1,200 miles in length, connected Hang-Chow Fu in Cheh-Kiang with Tientsin in Chih-li, where it joins the IViho, which runs
close to Peking,
•i
agriculture and education, and choosing his ministers with anxious care. Personally frugal, he forbade
luxury in the palace. In every war his one command was that there should be no reckless slaughter or loot-
ing. Among the many benefits he conferred on his Empire were a new calendar and a revised criminal code.
The Sung Dynasty was now well under way, fairly started on its glorious career of three hundred
years. This period is famous for a prodigious development in both literature and art. As to the former
the efficient cause was the art of printing, which first began to play an important part in the tenth
century, though the principle of taking impressions from carved wooden blocks had been already widely
known under the T'ang Dynasty. Printing with movable types was invented so early as 1043, but did
not appeal to the artistic sense of the Chinese ; nor, indeed, is it possible to produce under this system
such beautiful editions as have been taken from double-page blocks, when time was not a factor in
the problem.
I'riini Hie originals in] [""' Victnrin anil Allii'rt Museum, l.nndnn.
OBJECTS OF CHINESE ART.
Reading from left to right : Dove-sbap^d wine vessel on wheels — Han Dynasty (202 B.c.-A.D. 220). Elephant in c.'ofsonnc
enamel. Bronze wine vessel in form of a duck, encrusted with gold and silver. Bronze wine-pot, inlaid with gold and silver.
I'ish of painted Canton enamel. Blue and white porcelain bowl marked Wan Li. Bronze basin, decorated with gold and silver
enami'l. Bronze Lama figure of a liodhisattva. Jade honorific vase. Blue and white porcelain vase. Rosary of amber and
corundum heads. Cup of rhinoceros horn on pedestal. Vase of silver-gilt filigree work, the top being made to open like the
I" 'tals of a lotus. Model of pavilions in carved ivory. Porcelain jar of early Fumille I'erte style.
IOO
Story of the Nations
CHINA UNDER THE HSIA DYNASTY 2205 B.C.
The nine provinces were probably stations of colonists placed by the Emperoi
YU among the aborigines when the population of China was about two millions.
u permissitm of the Itoi/nl Omarniihirnl .SVwiV/i/l [/•><>« K L. Oxenham's Historical Atla*
CHINA UNDER THK MANCHUri: THE TA CH'ING DYNASTY, 1644-1912.
The countries outside the eighteen province* were until quite lately tributary In
China The population of China proper at the present day is computed at over
420 millions.
In the domain ol art we
find a catalogue of no fewer
than eight hundred artists, of
varying merit, but most of
them making truth to nature
their guiding star, and re-
cognizing that a knowledge of
technique is necessary even to
genius.
One artist painted on a temple
wall a kind of panorama of a
mountain stream, in which there
was a single brush-stroke forty feet
in length. A critic said : "To stand
and look at its eddying onrush
made one's eyes quite dazed ; while
if you stood near and raised your
head, you would feel a chill as
though the spray were splashing on
your face." Another, a minor
artist, painted a picture which he
called "A Crouching Tiger", of
which a critic said, with some
severity, that not a mouse would
venture near it, meaning that it
was like a cat. Such stories, serious
and humorous alike, are embedded
by hundreds in Chinese art litera-
ture, and on the whole may be
taken as evidence of a great artistic
age.
The eleventh century, indeed,
produced Shen Kua, who, after
failing ignominiously as a military
commander against the Kitan Tar-
tars, became China's most eminent
art critic. The following is a speci-
men of his work : "When painters
paint the aureole of the Lord
Buddha they make it flat and round
like a fan. If his body is de-
flected, then the aureole is also
deflected — a serious blunder. Such
an artist is only thinking of the
Lord Buddha as a graven image,
and does not know that the round-
ness of his aureole is everlasting.
In like manner, when he is repre-
sented as walking, his aureole is
made to tail out behind him, and
this is called the wind-borne aureole
— also a serious blunder. For the
aureole of the Lord Buddha is a
The Chinese
101
divine aureole which even a universe-wrecking hurricane could not move still less could our light
breezes flutter it."
The art of making porcelain is claimed by Chinese writers ior the Chin Dynasty, say the fourth
century A.D., and recent excavations of graves have certainly disclosed specimens of T'ang Dynasty work ;
but the latter seem to be rough and rude in conception and wanting in finish, no great advance, in fact,
beyond the green enamelled pottery of the Han period. It is not until half-way through the tenth
century that we hear of transparent porcelain "as thin as paper", and it was perhaps a century or so
later that we come to the beautiful celadon ware and the wonderful coloured glazes, the work of Sung
craftsmen, which have scarcely been rivalled in later days.
The excavations just mentioned could not have been carried out a few years ago. Between those
nlrit xpecittlli/ for this trttrk]
THE WRECK OF A CHINESE ARMADA
Kublai K IKIII, the first Mongol Emperor of China, decided to annex Japan, and in 1280 sent against it a huge armada, which
met with precisely ths same fate that befell another and more famous expedition of the kind. It was totally destroyed hy a
storm and of the hundred thousand men who set out to conouer only one or two out of every ten got bark to Korea
graves and the eager European speculator stood a weird bogy the geomantic system of China, known
as Feng Shui, wind and water. Under this system it was taught that human fortunes were closely
bound up with the configuration of the surrounding country. High poles, dominating the scene, must
not be set up at random ; still less must there be a cutting through a hill where generations of ancestors
may be lying entombed. But money, according to the Chinese proverb, can move the gods ; it can
now undoubtedly move graveyards, and allow profitable telegraph-poles to pierce the sky. and long
straight lines (abhorred by Feng Shui) to carry railway-coaches from one end of the Empire to the
other.
After this digression we may return to the Sung Dynasty and its literature. It was the age of classical
scholarship and systematic philosophy, in both of which one remarkable man easily takes first place
Chu Hsi, A.D. 1130-1200, began life as an official, and rose to high posts, but he fell a victim to all kinds
of malicious attacks, and had little chance of distinguishing himself as a statesman. What he did for the
102
Story of the Nations
Confucian Canon may be summed up in a few words. Down to his date, scholars had understood and
taught the Canon according to the interpretations which came into vogue after the revival of classical
learning under the Han Dynasty. Chu Hsi revised the work of those early scholiasts and put forth a new
version, based upon uniformity of interpretation throughout, in which words and phrases taken in one
sense in one place were not, for mere convenience, taken in another sense in another place. He also
distinguished himself as an historian and writer on metaphysics. He elaborated a cosmogonical theory
according to which there was a time when nothing existed except ether. Gradually there was a coalescence
of ether, forming a single spot, or nucleus. After lapse of ages, this nucleus separated into two, and
these two began to whirl around one another. They represented the male and female forces in nature,
and by their interaction the universe and all things in it were produced. The symbol of these forces is-
well known, appearing as it often does on modern bronzes and porcelain, and in decorative designs-
Painled specially for this work]
THE EMPEROR BURNS HIMSELF IN HIS PALACE.
The State of Sung and the Mongo s combined against the Kin Dynasty and besieged the Emperor at Ju-ning Fu. The town,
held out until all the animals had been eaten, and then the Emperor burned himself in his palace so that his body should not
fall into the hands of the besiegers. His heir, Chang-lin. was Emperor for a few days, but he was killed by his followers, and
thus the Kin Dynasty ended.
generally. It shows the two original points, and exhibits, so far as possible in a diagram, the whirling
motion to which creative powers are assigned. A similar theory of male and female principles was
formulated by Aristotle, who regarded the former as the origin of generation and the latter of the material
generated.
The extreme materialistic attitude of educated Chinese towards religious thought dates from the
writings and influence of Chu Hsi. Confucius undoubtedly believed in God — an anthropomorphic God,
who punished evil-doers, and whom some have tried to identify with the Jewish God of the Old Testament.
On one occasion Confucius silenced a questioner by saying : "He who has offended against God has
no one to whom he can pray." Now Chu Hsi had no place in his scheme of nature for a supernatural
element ; and he seized on this sentence, which occurs quite early in the Confucian Discourses, to settle
the interpretation of the important word once and for all. "The term God," he said, "means simply a
This temple supports in its centre a symbolical building
where the Emperor used to sacrifice to the supreme Lord of
Heaven and Earth on the 21st December every year.
The Wu-shan Gorge is one of the most picturesque on
the Upper Yang-tsze, a river which crosses China proper
from west to cast and is 3,000 miles in length.
The Nankow Pass is a boundary of China pioper.
This scene is within four miles of the Great Wall. On
the left is a temple to the God of Literature.
The summer retreat, known as the Imperial Summer
Palace, covers an area of twelve square miles, and contains
very beautiful residences, lakes and gardens.
Memorial arches, such as this in the Summer Palace,
are put up by special authority to commemorate the great.
They are generally built of wood.
The tomb of Yung Lo, the third Ming Emperor, is
approached by an avenue of stone animals and a double row
of stone warriors.
Photos by\
This marble Buddhist arch is in the Nankow Pass, in
one of the lines of defence behind the Great Wall, and is
carved with figures from Indian mythology.
[J. Thomson, F.R.OJS.
The Peking Observatory was erected during the Yiian
Dynasty, and contained many bronze instruments of
beautiful workmanship and design.
IO4
Story of the Nations
Principle. ' ' This was the death-blow
of the old belief in a more or
less personal Being, endowed with
human attributes and interest in
the welfare of the human race.
From that date the masses began
to believe more earnestly than ever
in the Lord Buddha, and the
educated classes in nothing at all.
Chu Hsi. however, was hopelessly
wrong. The old character for
"God" is a picture after the form
of a human being, with arms and
legs.
It may here be remarked that
the Buddhism of China involves a
totally different creed from that
which was originally taught by the
great founder of this faith, and
which still prevails in Southern
India, Burma, Ceylon and Siam.
The Buddhism of China was intro-
duced, via Tibet and Nepaul, from
Northern India, in the last of
which a new development had
already taken place. Holy men
had been raised to the status of
gods, to whom prayer was offered
up, and even a Trinity had been
called into being, not to mention
the practice of incantations and
magic, all of which were entirely
alien to the original conception of
Buddhism. In China the Lord
Buddha himself has come to be regarded in the light of a Saviour, and he is now worshipped by a
celibate and vegetarian priesthood with such accessories as holy water, flowers, vestments, litanies,
lighted candles, incense, fasting, masses for the dead, etc., etc., strangely in keeping with the rites and
ceremonies of the Roman Catholic Church.
Under the first three Emperors of the Sung Dynasty the government was well administered. The
Empire was divided into fifteen provinces, each under a Governor ; education and agriculture occupied
Imperial attention, and in 1023 paper notes were issued to replace an unwieldy coinage. Meanwhile
the Kitan Tartars were giving endless trouble in the north, and practically reducing the area of the
Empire. Early in the twelfth century their rule was brought to an end by their old rivals, the Nii-chen
Tartars, the forebears of the Manchus, who continued to maintain an aggressive attitude towards the
House of Sung, until both sides were finally swept out of existence by the inrush of the Mongols in the
thirteenth century. "Eighteen times was the throne transmitted," says the famous Primer for children,
"and then the north and south were reunited."
This reunion took place under Kublai Khan, A.D. 1260-1294, the first Mongol Emperor ; for, although
he stands fifth on the roll, his four predecessors, including the great Gengis Khan, never actually sat
upon the throne of China, but, in accordance with common custom in such cases, were posthumously
canonized by their filial descendant.
Kublai was greatly assisted in completing the conquest of China by a Mongol chieftain ol first-class
military capacity, named Po-yen, who took service under him
Painted specially for this work]
MARCO POLO RECEIVED BY THE EMPEROR.
Marco Polo, the celebrated Venetian, visited China in 1274 bearing a lettei
from Pope Gregoiy X to Kublai Khan, and pent twenty-lour years in the East
holding high civil office ior three years as Governor of the city of Yangchow. The
Mongol Court at which he was received was fur more magnificent than European
Court of the game date
I'lthll'll s;, .,-,,///// /„,' ,7,,'x
A TCKXIXC POINT t\ IXIUAX Ht.STORY.
In 11,:,. fayacbbandra .lai rhandl i;ah;,ru:,, ,,r Kuimm lu-l.l a *»•„,/„,„, «m. the pul,li<- oholee of n ImsbuinI f"r hiv daughter
KanaoJ. and l-nthvimj Chnulmn mat I'ithom) of l)«llii ami Ajin.-r. hi, r,,ii«in. tr.ok Hir «,|,p,,rt unity t,, mrry her off The
feud thus ttenerated l,,iw,e,, the two K,eat KaJiHit rulers of the Hindu frontiers enabled Muhammad Ghori who had
irown Hi,- Miihiiiniiuiilaii Dynasty established l,y Miihininl ot (iha/.ni in I he
of Delhi :inrl .Northern India which led eventually t,, the Mughal Kinpire.
for n Ifindii i,ririrf->.
- Pnnjal,. to found, in 1193, the Sultanate
Thic famous su-nnammira wns the l,,«t held
The Chinese
'05
Po-yen had a fine martial appearance ; his plans were deep-laid, and he was decisive in action. He
handled an army two hundred thousand strong as though it had been one man, and his lieutenants looked
up to him as a god. We meet him in the pages of Marco Polo, where he is loosely spoken of as "a Baron
whose name was Bayan Chingsan, which is as much as to say Bayan Hundred-Eyes".
We obtain an excellent view of the empire under the Mongols from the travels of Marco Polo, the
celebrated Venetian, who visited China in 1274, bearing letters from Pope Gregory X. to Kublai Khan,
and who spent twenty-four years 'n the East, holding high civil office for three years From his pages
we gather that the magnificence of the Imperial Court, the wealth of the large provincial cities, and the
general prosperity of the people, were far ahead of anything in Europe at that date. The area, too, of
the empire was extended more widely than had ever before been the case. Korea, Burma and Annam.
were added to a domain which already extended over Central Asia and included even Russia. In 1280
Kublai decided to annex Japan, and sent against it a huge armada, which met with precisely the same fate
that befell another and more famous expedition of the kind. It was totally destroyed by a storm, and of
the hundred thousand men who set out to conquer, "only one or two out of every ten got back to
Korea".
With the death of Kublai, the glory of the Mongol Dynasty rapidly came to an end. The last of a
succession of alien and now feeble
rulers fled before an opponent who
represented the pure Chinese tradi-
tion ; and the displacement of the
Mongols by the incoming Mings
involved nothing like the prolonged
and bloody resistance which had
been offered by the Sungs to the
Mongols. The whole country was
glad to be rid of the "stinking
Tartars", who had done next to
nothing for the empire since the
days of Kublai Khan and the exe-
cution of the Grand Canal which
with the aid of the natural water-
ways of Southern China, practically
united Peking with Canton. Some
few great artists had indeed come
to the front, and the modern novel
and the modern stage-play had
both been introduced to an eagerly
receptive public. At the present
date, when China is covered with
theatres and the shops of vendors
of novels, it is difficult to under-
stand that prior to the Mongol
Dynasty the drama was represented
by some kind of operatic perform-
ance, of which we really know
nothing ; while readers of fiction
had to be content with short
stories of incidents mostly
based upon the supernatural.
Now there is a perfect embarras
de richesses in the matter of
historical tragedies and broad
farces of historical novels, love
Painted siminllii fur this irvrk}
A. FUTURE EMPEROR ADMITTED AS A BUDDHIST NOVICB.
Chu Yuan-Chang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, began life as a mwlioy.
and later on decided to enter the Buddhist priesthood, for which purpose he
enrolled himself as a novice in a temple. But events were too strong for him ; he
joined the revolutionary movement, obtained an important command, won
victory after victory and finally proclaimed himself Emperor.
K
io6
Storv of the Nations
stories, and other kinds with the exception only of the "problem" variety which is (wssihly to
reach China later on.
The House of Ming enjoyed a span of three centuries of rule, 1368-1644, shared among sixteen
Kmperors. Readers must have already begun to realize that efficient rulers are to be found at the begin-
ning rather than towards the close of a dynasty, and the present instance is no exception to the rule
The founder of the Ming Dynasty began life as a cowboy, and later on decided to enter the Buddhist priest-
hood, for which purpose he enrolled himself as a novice in a temple. But events were too strong for him :
he joined the revolutionary movement, gradually obtained an important command, won victory after
victory ; and finally proclaimed himself
Emperor, with his capital at Nanking.
Popularly known as the Beggar King,
in allusion to the poverty of his early
days, he has also been called the Golden
Youth, probably from the prosperity
which came to him as a comparatively
young man. The wars he waged were
successful, and the reforms he intro-
duced into the administration of the
empire were all framed with a view to
the national welfare.
The second Emperor was a nonen-
tity, who disappeared after a reign of
only four years , but the reign of the
third Emperor, fourth son of the
founder, rivalled in glory that of his
father. In 1421 he transferred the
capital to Peking, where it has re-
mained ever since, and dispatched
various military expeditions against
the Tartars costing vast sums of
money with very little result.
During the first hundred years of
Ming rule the knowledge of dis-
tant countries was widely extended
Chinese junks visited the shores of
Arabia, and there is reason to believe
that they even reached Zanzibar, while
tribute was received from Siam, Java
Sumatra, and Ceylon.
The art of making porcelain at-
tained to a pitch of excellence never
before equalled, and surpassed only
under the Manchu Emperor K'ang
Hsi. It was carefully fostered by
(he iirst Emperor of the Mings, who rebuilt an old Imperial factory which is still in working order ; and
several of the later rulers took a deep interest in its development.
The sixth Emperor was an ardent Buddhist, and spent huge sums on temples ; but although his
immediate Court may have been influenced to some extent by this, the great body of the literati remained
faithful to the teachings of Confucius. Inasmuch as Buddhism absolutely forbids the taking of life
we may ascribe to His Majesty's faith an edict which forbade the sacrifice of concubines, as heretofore
at liis death.
It would appear, however, that slaughter m war is excused trom the application ol the rule, as
tins same Buddhist Emperor led an army against the Oirads, who had been giving continual
Painted sjteriaUil for this u*ork]
THE KI.1XIK OF L1KK
After only reigning two months, the fourteenth Ming Emperor was
poisoned by an oflieial, who administered a. drug which he said was the elixir
of life. , All through Chinese history to this date Chinese rulers had heeome
infatuated with the idea of securing immortality hy means of a drug.
J'ninfril specially for this u-rirk]
SIAMESE ENVOYS PAYING TRIBUTE TO THE EMPEROR OF CHIN \
. *£»:££%& K^EKSE IETS*- of it±m r *** — ** — >
Stem, .lav,,, Sunmtra, and Ccvlon. In the , c u c th °VC" ^ '" /Mm"KIT- " hik' "*««» "a.s re^ivoJ fro
«t...ny, ivory, etc. bian'OS" '•"»"'"-">» i-- -'"> Planting tribute of popper, satin, ambergri
io8
Story of the Nations
trouble, with a view to extermi-
nate them ; instead of which result
his army was routed and he him-
seif was taken prisoner. Some
time after his release he was forced
against his will to reascend the
throne, but he was ultimately de-
posed and sent into banishment.
During the reign of the eleventh
Emperor, who occupied himself
chiefly in searching for the elixir
of life, the Portuguese appeared in
China, and in 1520 an envoy, named
Thome Pires, succeeded in reaching
Peking. He was sent back to
Canton and died there in prison,
after three years' incarceration.
The Portuguese were followed in
the next reign but one by the
Spaniards, two priests of that
nation arriving from Manila on a
proselytizing mission in 1575 ; and
the next European nation to arrive
was the Dutch, who succeeded in
establishing themselves on the
island of Formosa until 1662,
when they were expelled by
the celebrated pirate-chieftain
Koxinga.
Meanwhile the Manchus were
rising to power under their great
leader Nurhachu. They invaded
Korea and threatened Liao-yang,
meeting with only a feeble resist-
ance from the ill-paid soldiery
and corrupt officers of the Mings.
The long and disastrous reign of
the thirteenth Emperor came to
an end in 1620, and the fourteenth Emperor mounted the throne of a bankrupt empire to rule over a
discontented and rebellious people. After a reign of two months he was poisoned by an official, who
administered a drug which he said was the elixir of life.
It is extraordinary how, all through Chinese history down to the date last mentioned, various rulers
have become infatuated with the idea of securing immortality by means of a drug. There is an old
story from feudal days which is very much to the point in this connection. Some person sent to one
of the feudal princes a phial said to contain the elixir of life. It was duly received by the gatekeeper
of the palace and handed on to the Chief Warden. "Is this to be swallowed ?" inquired the latter.
"It is," replied the gatekeeper, whereupon the Chief Warden promptly swallowed it. The prince was
exceedingly angry, and ordered the immediate execution of the perpetrator of such an outrage. But
the Chief Warden suggested that if the drug really possessed the property of conferring im-
mortality, he was then beyond the reach of His Highness's vengeance ; whereas if it did not, it would be
more fittingly called the elixir of death, and the prince would be the laughing-stock of all. His life was
spared.
The mandate of the Ming Dynasty was now evidently exhausted, and with the hour arrived the man. A
Painted specially for this work]
THE JAPANESE RAVAGE THE COAST OF CHINA.
In 1592 the Japanese invaded Korea, and the Japanese regent, Taikosama,
was going to appoint himself king of the peninsula when a Chinese army
defeated the Japanese, while the Chinese fleet cut off their retreat. The Japanese
sent an embassy for peace to Peking, but in 1597 they sent an army again to
Korea, and defeated the Chinese. They also destroyed the Chinese ships and
made raids on the const s.
The Chinese
log
quondam village beadle, who had turned brigand and was known as the Rebel Li, headed in 1640 a small
gang of desperadoes, and overrunning parts of Hupeh and Honan, was soon in command of a large army.
By 1644 he was ready to march against Peking, and forthwith proclaimed himself Emperor of a new
dynasty
The moment was unusually opportune. Wu San-kuei, the one Chinese general of first-class rank,
was away opposing the Manchus and fully occupied in trying to arrest their advance. He was hurriedly
recalled by the distracted Emperor, but it was too late ; Peking was taken and pillaged, and the Emperor
hanged himself. On hearing this news, General Wu came to terms with the Manchus, and invited them
to assist in the expulsion of the Rebel Li and the recapture of the capital.
The rest of the story is summed up in the fable of the horse that sought the aid of man against its
enemy the stag. The Manchus helped indeed to get rid of the Rebel Li, and then annexed the empire for
themselves. But just as the Mongols, being an alien race, experienced endless difficulties, through a
long series of years, in displacing the Sungs, a native dynasty, even though effete and corrupt, so did
the Manchu Tartars meet with dissatisfaction and resentment on all sides, which it took many years to
allay, and a thread of which may be said to have run through their all but three centuries of power.
The first thing the Manchus
did was to make the "pigtail"
style of coiffure obligatory
throughout the empire. Al-
ready there were a certain num-
ber of Chinese who, mostly from
fear, had shaved their heads
as a token of submission to
the new -rulers; but this was
confined to the north, where
the change of dynasty was an
accomplished fact. In the
south resistance to the order
was obstinate and prolonged,
and was only swept away
gradually, as the Manchus bit
by bit succeeded in estab-
lishing their administration.
Altogether, the reduction of
the country was carried out in
a wise and statesmanlike man-
ner, great concessions being
made to popular prejudices by
the Tartar conquerors. These
last were not, and they must
have fe't that they were not,
on the same intellectual level,
or in any way to be compared,
from the point of view of
civilization, with . the van-
quished Chinese. The Manchus
were skilled archers and bold
horsemen, with little or no
knowledge of the arts and
crafts in which the Chinese
were so distinguished, and
they had been possessors of
a written language only since
Pninted sjirciallii for thi» work]
THE LOOTING OF PEKING
BY THE REBEL Li.
The Rebel Li hail been a village beadle but he turned brigand and was soon at tne
head of a large army. In 1044 ho marched against Poking, and pillaged it : he then
proclaimed himself Emperor, and the founder of a new dynasty. The Manchus were
invited to conn: in and assist in the repression of Li, and having done this they decided
to stay and annex the empire for themselves.
no
Story of the Nations
1599. On one head they were quite clear : they had got hold of China and they meant to-
keep it.
This they were enabled to do chiefly owing to the great abilities and sterling virtue? of several
of the early Emperors. The third of his line, 1655-1723, is popularly known by his year-title,
K'ang Hsi, in accordance with the custom which has prevailed since the beginning of the Ming
Dynasty. He succeeded to the-
throne as a child of eight,
and became actually the ruler
of the Chinese Empire at the-
age of twenty. He was then,
faced with a very serious re-
bellion.
Several of the provinces,
decided to set up independent
governments, and six or seven
years of fighting elapsed before
this trouble was at an end. It
was shortly followed by raids
upon outlying parts of the em-
pire by the Kalmuck Tartars,
against whom the Emperor led
an expedition in person, the
upshot being an extension of
Chinese frontier to Kokand.
Badakshan, and Tibet. This
reign was marked, too, by an
extraordinary revival of learn-
ing, earnestly encouraged by the
Emperor himself, who either
initiated Or sanctioned the pub-
lication of many important aids-
to study.
The fifth Manchu Emperor
was a grandson of K'ang Hsi.
He reigned under the year-title
of Ch'ien Lung, and his fame
rivals that of his grandfather.
Both monarchs occupied the
throne for sixty years, thus
completing a full Chinese cycle ;
THE INTRODUCTION OK THE PIGTAIL.
The fVrst thiui? the .Mmielius did was to make the "pigtail" <tyle of coiffure
lions on a large scale, and
in extending the frontiers of
the empire ; both were warm
patrons of literature, and the
nominal, if not real, editors of a series of works in the hands of every student of to-day.
In 1795 Ch'ien Lung, who had previously received Lord Macartney in audience, abdicated in favour
of his son, and died three years later. From that hour Manchu rule was on the downward grade. The
son, who reigned as Chia Ch'ing, neglected his duties and gave himself up to a life of pleasure and
debauchery. Hence, family feuds, secret society risings, and plots, which cost vast sums to put down.
From 1805 to 1809 the coast from Shantung to Tongking was infested with pirates who fought pitched
battles with the Imperial navy and almost stopped trade. The Emperor himself was once attacked.
obligatory throughout the empire. In the north there weir already n errtain
number nf Chiue.-e who, mostly from fear, had shaved their heads as a token or
-nbniission to the new rulei : but in the south resislanee (u the order \v;is obstinate
and prolonged, and WHS only swept away tnadnally. I'pon the abdieal ion of the
Manehits ir t'.'!'.' the wearing of the pii^ail was uenerully diseonl lulled
both were successful in sup-
pressing anti-dynastic rebel-
HJI perm iaslon of] [ Undent-ami (fr fmlmrnoil.
LORD MACAKTXKY ARRIVES IN CHINA.
In 1793 Lord Macartney was sent to China as the British Ambassador for the extension of British commerce. He landed on
August 6, and was received by the aged Ambassador with great hospitality. The Chinese barges of the Embassy are here
shown preparing to pass under a bridge.
' -
By prrmlttioa ,,f\
LORD MACARTNEY HECKIVKD HY THE EMl'EROR.
On December II, 17!)!!. the Kmperor, who is here -ecu approaching the reception tent, received Lord Macartncv at .Idml.
Many rest riel ions had been placed upon trade with China and British subjects treated in a sr>'--l> unjust manner. The Q
failed to obtain redress for British i;rievanee>.
Painted spe natty for this icorJM
COMMISSIONER LIN DESTROYS THOUSANDS OF CHESTS OF OPIUM.
Tao Kuang, the successor of Chia Oh'ing, began his reign with good intentions, but was unable to make headway against
the evil influence of the age. Following the example of his father, he treated British merchants with contempt, encouraging the
injudicious action of the great patriot, Commissioner Lin, who destroyed 20,291 chests of opium, and so bringing upon China a
disastrous war, with a heavy indemnity to pay.
I'ainlnl .•.•/'""'"".'/ tar thin irork]
A BATTLE BETWEEN PIRATES AND THE IMPERIAL NAVY.
One of the later Manehu Emperors, Chia Ch'ing, neglected his duties and gave himself up to a life of pleasure and debauchery.
From 1805 to 1809 the coast from Shantung to Tongking was infested with pirates, who fought pitched battles with the Imperial
navy and almost stopped trade. The pirate iunks are seen in the centre of the picture, the Imperial vessels to the left.
The Chinese
in the streets of Peking, and again
nearly assassinated in his palace by
a band of conspirators who had
broken in. His successor, Tao
Kuan;;, seems to have begun with
good intentions, but he was un-
able to make headway against
the evil influence of the age.
Following the example of his father,
•who had repelled the embassy of
Lord Amherst, he treated British
officials with contumely and British
merchants with contempt, encour-
aging the injudicious action of the
great patriot Commissioner Lin,
who destroyed twenty thousand
two hundred and ninety-one
chests of opium, and bringing
upon China a disastrous war,
with a heavy indemnity to pay.
His son, who succeeded in 1851,
would not have stood much
chance, even if he had been
fitted for the task, of repairing
the fallen fortunes of his house.
The T'ai-p'ing rebellion broke out,
nominally as a Christia'fc., as well
as an anti-dynastic movement ;
whole provinces were devastated
and more or less denuded of
population; and the rebels
were within an ace of overthrow-
ing the Manchu Dynasty. To
add to the difficulties of the
hour, England and France
sent a joint expedition to secure
trading and other rights ; and in
1860 the allied forces entered
Peking.
The next two reigns were
overshadowed by the strong-
willed and brutal personality of
the famous Empress Dowager,
during which period dissatis-
faction with Manchu rule was
secretly fomented all over the
empire.
Dr. Sun Vat -sen, who died
in 1925, was the moving spirit
of the new rebellion; its organ-
izer, and collector of the funds
which made a revolution poss-
ible. He was called, among
By permission of]
(T. H. I'arkrr Bros.
BLOWING UP CHINESE JUNKS.
In 1841, owing to the hostile attitude of the Chinese, a proclamation was
issued to the effect that any attacks would be put down by force. Trade con-
tinued for some time, but soon severe measures were taken, nnd several Junks
\vtTo blown up.
Hi/ permission o/l IT1, fl. f'nrkrr Urn*.
THE TREATY OF NANKING.
In August 1842, the English fleet arrived at Nanking, and the Chinese agreed
to a treaty of peace, the chief effects of which were the opening of five trade
ports, the cession of Hong-Kong, the release of all English prisoners, and tho
payment of the sum of twenty-one million dollars.
t Of]
STORMING THE TAKU FORTS.
In 1858 Lord Elgin, owing to lurtlii-r trade difficult ies. sailed with tho
Hi-itish and French fleets to the mouth of the Peiho and attacked the Taku IWt>.
Their capture led to the concession of further privileges under the Treaty of
Tientsin.
114
Story of the Nations
other hard names, a dreamer ; at any rate, it must be conceded that he dreamed the downfall of the
Manchus to some purpose.
The fact that twenty years of disorder has followed the establishment of the new regime is only
an instance of history repeating itself. At a moderate computation of time, it took Liu Pang seven years,
209-202 B.C., before he could establish himself on the throne as first Emperor of the Hans, at the end
of which dynasty, four hundred years later, the country was torn to pieces for sixty years before China
was united again under one ruler. The fall of the T'ang Dynasty in 907 was also followed by fifty
years of unstable government, until the empire was once more firmly re-established under the Sungs.
The Mongols, who displaced the Sungs, occupied by 1240 all China north of the Yang-tsze, and in 1260
Kublai Khan proclaimed himself Emperor at Xanadu, a summer retreat about one hundred and eighty
miles north of Peking ; but it was not until 1279 tnat the last trace of resistance to his arms had altogether
till permiminn '>f\
>'
<ll>c Lnnrton Flertrotvrif Aocnrn.
THE CHINO-JAI'ANESK WAR, 1834
The Chino-Japanesc war was caused by the action of China in keeping control over Korea after sending troops to nupprcs* a
rebellion. Li Hnng Chang had spent large sums of money in ur^ani/in1.; n F.nropi-an drilled army, but the Chinese were decisively
beaten in the war. The onerous terms imposed by Japan were mitigated at the' instance nf the Powers, but China was forced to
pay a heavy indemnity and to cede Formosa.
faded away. The Mings, who drove out the Mongols, took about twenty years to accomplish their aim ,
and the Manchus, who in turn drove out the Mings, took nearly as many more. A Manchu chieftain
actually proclaimed himself Emperor of China in 1635 ; but it was not until 1644 that the first recognized
Manchu,- or Ch'ing, Emperor mounted the throne, and even then his rule was far from being accepted by
the people at large. In 1912 the malign sway of the later Manchu Emperors was brought to an end, but
the ease with which the change was effected was deceptive, as the long years of civil strife which have
followed have disastrously proved. The signal for the revolution was a mutiny of troops at Wuchang
in October 1911, and immediately, like a house of cards, the outworn Imperial System came tumbling
down. In February 1912, the boy-Emperor was forced to abdicate, and (he Chinese Republic was in being.
THE REPUBLIC FROM I()I2
THE republic in China has had a troubled existence. Yiian Shih-k'ai, the first President, was elected
in the face of strong opposition from the southern provinces, who only agreed to accept him on the under-
standing that the capital was removed from Peking to Nanking. A Cantonese, T'ang Shao-yi, became
H'l permigiion of] \llif Japan Sorietv.
THE CAPTURE OF PING-YANG, 1894.
At Ping- Yang, in Korea, General Tso, who was beheaded for his defeat in the campaign, was attacked by the Japanese Field-
Mil rshal. Count Yamagata, with very superior forces. Of the Chinese, 2,300 were killed, four or five thousand wounded, and a
still greater number taken prisoners, others dispersed and put to flight. The Japanese loss was very small.
TUB HOXER MOVKMKXT, 1900.
I'll'' n-iirt ion, n-y ant i-iorei;:n movement assumed dangerous proportions in 1900, when the "Boxer rebels", with the approval
of the Dmvuifei-Knipress, bemin to i nininit outrages upon forfigners and native Chii*tians. The foreign legations in Ivkimj were
hcsiegeil. nii'l the intei-iiiit innal army t hat niai-elinl to their irlic'f did not arrive until the ilefcmlcr-.' I'm id and ammunition were
nearly exhausted.
In
THE REVOLUTION, 1911.
In 1911 the Chinese rebelled against Manchu nile and elected Sun Yat-tien to be the head of a provisional government
February 1912, the Emperor formally abdicated and a republican form of government was inaugurated. Sun Yat-sen resigned
big office In favour of Yuan Sbih-k'ai. who became the first President of the Republic. The illustration shows a part}- of Chinese
with special permits leaving Nanking in November 1911, under the supervision of the Captain of the Gate.
The Chinese
117
Prime Minister ; but, an attempt being made to assassinate him, he fled, and a mutiny of troops was used
by Yuan as a reason for keeping the capital at Peking. The Cantonese Radical party, which dominated
the political situation, set to work to thwart Yuan at every turn, and he replied by drastic steps, including
the summary executions of two generals accused of plotting against the Republic.
Elections for the Provincial and National Assemblies took place in 1912, and in 1913 they commenced
to function. A new Nationalist party preponderated and stood for decentralization and provincial
Home Rule as opposed to the President's policy of personal rule from Peking. He raised a reorganization
loan from foreign banks, and with the help of this foreign money he defied the Nationalists, who broke into
open rebellion. The revolt, though assisted by Japanese and Young China generally, soon collapsed, and by
the end of the year Yuan was firmly in the saddle. He suppressed the Assemblies and put in their place
a nominated Council mainly composed of his favoured officials of the Manchu regime. On the petition,
engineered by himself, of the provincial governors at the close of 1913, Yuan assumed the role of Dictator.
The Original Constitutional Drafting ( 'minniitrc of 1!)13, photographed on the steps of the Temple of Heaven, where
the Draft was completed.
W hen the date fixed tor the convocation of the new parliament approached, a movement for the
establishment of a monarchy was set on foot. Yuan readily agreed to become the titular, as he was
the virtual, sovereign, and a referendum of supporters was adopted as the method to legalize
the change. But the Japanese Government set up a most determined opposition, and soon after Yuan
adopted the throne a rebellion, headed by Tsai Ao, a young officer who had been educated in Japan,
spread over the whole of South China. This time the South, supported by Japanese intrigues, arms and
money, succeeded, and the rule of Yuan ended with his death on June 6, 1916. Shortly after the
outbreak of the Great War, Japan demanded Tsingtao from Germany, and, receiving no answer,
she invested the place and took it on November 7, 1914. She followed this up by a series of
demands on China, known as the "Twenty-one demands", the effect of which was to make
Japan predominant in China at the expense, not only of Germany, but also of all the West-
ern nations, including Japan's allies.
Li Yuan-hung succeeded Yuan Shih-k'ai as President ; but the parliamentary struggle continued.
Story of the Nations
RH courtesy of\
4.U Encampment
ol "Tne Punitive
\3faior Isaac Newell, U.S. Military Attache.
Expedition" of 1916 on the Upper Yangtze
It now lay between the Nation-
alist majority and a conserv-
ative military clique which
controlled the Peking execu-
tive. A new bone of conten-
tion between North and South
was found in the invitation
of the American Government
to China in February 1917 to
sever relations with Germany.
The military party recom-
mended a declaration of war,
but this was opposed by the
Parliament. A deadlock en-
sued, and an attempt was
made in July 1917 to restore
the Manchu Dynasty. This
again failed ; but President
Li resigned. His successor, Feng Kuo-chang, had as little success with the Nationalists. A formal declara-
ation against Germany was issued on August 14, and this was followed by the secession of the southern
provinces, which proceeded to form an independent government at Canton. Both North and South now
angled for Japanese support, and, though Japan never actively moved against the Cantonese Govern-
ment, the bulk of the assistance she gave to the warring factions in money and arms went to the North.
All through the presidency of Feng Kuo-chang the discord and dissension continued. Serious
attempts were made since Hsu Shih-ch'ang became President (September 1918) to heal the breach and
to form a unified Government, but these met with very little success.
To give in fullness of detail a record of the various partizan struggles which have troubled the
peace of China during 1918-1928 would be as tedious as it would be fruitless. The Nationalist Govern-
ment, though it continued to exist, was not strong enough to suppress the various War Lords
who ranged the country, gaining transitory power. Among the more important were VVu P'ei-fu,
Chang Tso-lin, the master of Manchuria, and Feng Yu-hsiang, popularly known as the Christian
General £ These three, now in alliance, now in opposition to one another, now nominally in support
of the central government, now in rebellion against it, kept the North in a state of confusion and
anarchy for several years. Meanwhile, at Canton, an extreme ultra-radical Government maintained a
separate existence. The only point upon which these warring elements were united was their foreign
policy. This aimed at the
recovery of the special rights
granted to foreigners, and
tended to inflame public opin-
ion against the European
and especially the British
population. An anti-British
boycott in 1925 produced a sit-
uation which threatened to be
dangerous. In 1926 a new
personality appeared on the
Chinese stage. This was Chiang
K'ai Shek, the leader of the
Nationalist armies, who in thr
ensuing years has proved him-
self a man of great strength
and wisdom and has done
much to restore order to the
Hevivai of the Imperialistic \Vm>hip of Heaven l>y Yiinn Shih-k'ai in I'.HI-
•RESIDENT OF MAXCHUKUO AND HIS WIFE.
In 191'.', while still a buy, the' former Emperor of China, the last of the Manehu Dynasty, was lorced lo abdicate by the
revolutionaries, ("nder his republican name of Mr. Henry P'u he \vas living as a private citizen when he was elwted first
1'rfsident of the m-\\ st;itc of Manehukno, created by the .Tai>;uies( jiftcr tln-ir invasion of Manchuria in 1931.
I2O
Story of the Nations
stricken country. From the time that
he came to the fore the power of the
War Lords waned. Wu P'ei-fu was
defeated, Chang Tso-lin maintained a
stubborn resistance but was already in
full retreat, when a bomb put an end
to his life and career. The Christian
General, though he saved himself for
the moment by allying his forces to
the National cause, gradually ceased
to be dangerous. In 1927 a Central
Government was established at Nanking,
and it really seemed that the childhood
ailments of the new republic were
nearly over and that China was slowly
developing on modern lines into an or-
dered and prosperous State, when the
new troubles developed which created
a fresh menace to peace in the Far East.
Japan, with her growing population, had long looked upon Manchuria as a possible outlet for expansion.
She had acquired important treaty rights and had vast commercial interests. Finding these threatened,
by the state of the country and the Nationalist feeling displayed by the Chinese, they determined upon,
an annexationist policy. With incidents so frequent between the two countries pretexts for intervention
were not far to seek. The Japanese invaded Manchuria on September 18, 1931, and in 1932, having
broken down the disorganized resistance by which they were opposed, set up the puppet state of Man-
chukuo under the presidency of the former Emperor of China, who had been deposed as a small,
boy :n 1912. Almost coincident with the invasion of Manchuria, hostilities had been opened in.
Shanghai, the Japanese being incensed by the boycott directed against their goods. Fortunately
this second unofficial war was of short duration. The Japanese, already sufficiently engrossed
with the Manchurian affair, and probably fearing that they would become embroiled with the other
powers occupying the International Concession in Shanghai, withdrew their troops after minor
successes.
Against both these Japanese incursions the Chinese protested vigorously to the League of Nations, under
the auspices of which a Commission of Inquiry, headed by Lord Lytton, was sent to Manchuria. The Commis-
MARSHAL CHIANG K'AI SHEK
The Nationalist leader who
has done much to strengthen the
authority of the Central Govern-
ment. He is now in arms ngainst
the Japanese
MARSHAL CHANG TSO-LIN
One of the most successful
Chinese "war-lords" main-
tained his supremacy over Man
churia until he was killed by n
bomb in 1928
sion though
it presented a
cautious and
impartial re-
port, decided
against the
pretensions
of Japan
on all major
issues. After
much dolib-
eration at
Geneva the
Comm i t tee
of Nineteen,
and subse-
quently the
Assembly of
the League it-
self, endorsed
Ynrs.
JAPAN KSK CAM!
.MUKDEN.
In September, 1931, the Japanese invnded Manctnirin, and having broken down
the disorganised resistance by which they were opposed, set up (lie puppet state of
Muuchukuo. Tbis aerial view of the huge cnmp outside Mukden gives an idea of the
strength of the Japanese forces '-M^iired.
the main re-
commenda-
tions of the
Report, a de-
cision which,
ledtothe with-
drawal of the-
Japanese dele-
gates. Mean-
while Japan-
took matters-
into her own-
hands by in-
vading and
overrunning
the Province
of Jehol and
capturing the
city of that
name.
DATES OF INDIAN HISTORY
(Most of the early dates and many Hindu dates up to the Muhammadan Conquest in 1193 are still controversial.)
EMPIRES AND CHIEF HISTORIC DYNASTIES.
DATE.
CHIEF EVENTS.
INDIAN TRADITION:
Before 600 B.C.
3500-2500 B.C.
2500-1200
1200-800
800-600
Dravidian occupation.
Aryan immigration and settlement in Northern India. Dravidian civilization
in Southern India.
Vedic culture in the North. Great War of the Ufahabftarata, c. 1000.
Consolidation of Hinduism. Struggles of the Katnayana with the South.
ANCIENT INDIAN DATED HISTORY:
c. 600 B.C.-C. A.D. 751.
4 MAGADHA SUPREMACY (N.K. India) :
QIJUNAGA DYNASTY : Before 630-361 B.C.
NANDA DYNASTY : 361-321 B.c.
MAURYAN EMPIRE : 321-184 B.C.
QUNCA DYNASTY : 184-72 B.C.
KANVA DYNASTY: 72-27 B.C.
II. OTHER KINGDOMS:
ANDHRA DYNASTY (S. INDIA ):22O B.C.-A.D. 236.
WiiSTKRN SATRAPS : 150-388 A.D.
INDO-PARTIIIANS : 250 B.C.-A.D. 50.
KUSHAN DYNASTY : A.D. 45-225.
540-468
563-483
327-325
321-297
291-273
274-237
257-244
248-140
165-140
140
i44-"5
A.D. II3-I34
134-152
150
I50-I6I
249
300
Magadha was one of sixteen kingdoms stretching across India from Gandhara
(Peshawar) to Bengal. Aryan migration into the Deccan.
Vardhamana Mahavira, Jina : founder of Jainism.
Gautama Siddharta, Buddha : founder of Buddhism. 515-509. Darius Hystaspes
on the Indus.
Alexander's irruption. 326. Battle of the Hydaspes (Jhelum) : defeat of Poms
(Paurava).
CHANDRAGUPTA MAURYA (SANDRAKOTTOS). 305. War with Seleukos Nikator of
Syria (Babylon).
BINDUSARA (AMITRAGHATA, AMITOKRATES).
ASOKHAVARDHANA (ASOKHA). General extension of Buddhism.
Monolith Buddhist edicts; early siupas (topes) at Sanchi, etc.
Baktrians and Parthians established in Afghanistan ; "Greek" coins.
Brahmanic reaction against Buddhism.
The Yue-chi tribes break out of China and expel the Cakas (Scythians), who invade
Baktria.
Mithridates of Parthia occupies Baktria (Afghanistan), and drives the f';ikas into
N.W. India, where they set up Satraps. 126. ^akas, Baktrians, Parthians
and Yue-chi (Kushans) all mixed up in Baktria and N.W. India.
Menander, Baktrian, invades India and turns Buddhist ; King Milinda of "the
Questions".
GAUTAMIPUTRA SATAKARNI. 126. His agent Chashtana, founder of the Great
Satraps.
SRI PULUMAVI (Smo POLEMICS). 139. Jain scriptures committed to writing.
Sivaskandavarman Pallava's horse sacrifice (asvamedka.).
RUDRADAMAN MAHAKSHATRAPA.
Rise of the Kalachuris of Chedi (Haihaya).
Vigorous revival of Hinduism; revision of the Puranas and ancient works on
Science and Literature.
ill. GUPTA EMPIRE . 319-520.
319-326
375-413
375
430
435-800
490
515-523
CHANDRAGUPTA I. 326-375. SAMUDRAGUPTA.
CHANDRAGUPTA II. {VIKRAMADITYA, BIKRAMAJIT, RAJA BIKRAM).
Kalidasa, poet. 399-414. Fa Hsien, first Chinese traveller.
White Huns (Ephthalites) in N.W. India. 470-513. Toramana at Sakala (Panjab).
Gurjara (Gujar) Dynasty of Bharoch (Gujarat).
Chalukhyas of Badami (Deccan). 495. Valabhis of Gujarat.
MIHIRAGULA; driven out by Rajput combination. 540. Death in Kashmir.
IV. SRIKANTHA OF THANESAR AND KASAUJ
(Northern India) : 585-666. VALABHI
(Dcccan) : 495-766. CHALUKHYA OF
BADAMI (Deccan and Southern India) :
525-747.
600
606-648
625
631-671
636
640-650
713-855
747
Revival of Saiva Hinduism in S. India; the Tevaram (Tamil) hymns.
HARSHAVARDHANA (HARSHA, SILADITYA) SRIKANTHA. 609-642. PULIKESIN 11.
(SATYASRAYA) CHALUKHYA. 615-1127. Eastern Chalukhyas of Vengi(S. India).
Embassy of Khusru II of Persia to Pulikesin II. 629-645. Hiuen Tsiang, Chinese
traveller.
Chach Dynasty of Sind (Brahman). 635-754. Lichhavis of Nepal.
First appearance of Arabs on the Western coasts. 71 1-71 2. Arab conquest of Sind.
Tamil irruptions into Ceylon under Narasimhavaiman Tallava.
Karkota (Naga) Dynasty of Kashmir. 735. Capture of Chitor by the Sisodhia
Rajputs. 766, of Gujarat.
Rise of the Rashtrakutas under Dantidurga. 757-888. The Rahtors of Gujarat.
MEDIEVAL HINDU INDIA : 750-1193.
KASHTRAKUTA (Deccan and South India) : 747-982.
RAJPUT STATES : from 815 onwards. CHOLA
{Southern India) : 900-1250. CHALUKHYA OF
KALYANA (Deccan) : 975-1200. KALACHURI OF
OIKDI (Central India) : (580) 925-1195. CIIANDELLA
<>i Hi. NDEI.KHAND (Northern India) : 900-1289.
774
794-814
815-973
825
962-1181
980-1053
979-1002
1001-1026
1033
1040- 1069
1048-1310
1070- uo8
1076-1127
1097-1187
1192-1193
Jewish colony at Cochin, 780—820. Sankaracharya, reformer.
GOVINDA III ; patronage of the Digambara (naked) Jains. 940-971. KRISHNA III.
Rise of Rajput States. 815-1249. Silaharas (Konhan, Bombay). 831-1289.
Chand.llas (Bundelkhand). 840-1161. Palas (Bengal). 855-1128. Utpalas
(Kashmir). 862-948. Kings of Mahodaya (Kanauj). 875-1228. Rattas
(Saundatli). 902-1025. Shahiya (Lahore and Kabul). 902-1432 . Chudasaroas
(Girnar, Junagadh). 940-1242. Chalukhyas (Solankhi) of Anhilwad (Gujarat).
950-1193. Chauhans (Ajmer and Delhi): 968-1162. (Nadole). 973-1183.
Chalukhyas (Kalyana).
Conversion to Islam of Cheruman Perumal. last Cbera King of Malabar.
Mubammadan Dynasty of Ghaznj (Ghaznavides). 983. Muhammadan Gakkhars
(Khokars, Panjab).
Atisa, Buddhist revivalist of Tibet.
RAJARAJACHOLA, THE GREAT. 953-999. DHANGADEVACHANDELLA(RAJADHANGA).
The fifteen raids of Mahmud of Ghazni. loss-iico. KIRTIVARMAN CHANDELLA.
Ghazi Miyan of Bharaich (Oudh); first great Muhammadan saint in India.
SOMESVARA I, CHALUKHYA. 1042-1063. KARNADEVA KALACHURI.
Hoysala-Ballalas of Dwarasamudra (Halebid in Mysore).
KULOTIUNGA CHOLA I. Great output of Tamil literature.
VIKRAMADITYA VI (VIKRAMANKA) CHALUKHYA. 1127. Ramanuja, reformer.
Rise of Rajput States. 1097-1193. Gaharwars of Kanauj. 1128-1183. Kalachuris
of Kalyana. 1150-1325. Kakatiyas of Warangal (Decran). 1187-1309.
Yadavas of Deva^iri (Daulatabad).
Muhammad Ghori defeats and slays Prithiviraj Chauhan (Rai Pilhora) of Delhi.
MEDIEVAL MVHAMMADAN INDIA •
1193-1526. "93-1205
SULTANS OF DELHI, 'GHORI : 1193-1205.
1204-1261
MUHAMMAD GHORI (MUHAMMAD BIN SAM, SHAHABU'DDIN, MU'IZZU'DDIN).
Venetian trade with India after capture of Conslanlinople by the Crusaders.
"SLAVE KINGS" OF DELHI : 1206-1293.
1206-1210
1211-1230
1266-1287
1292
KUTBU'DDIN AIBAK; slave of Muhammad Ghori.
SHAMSU'DDIN ILTUTMISH (ALTAMSH) : slave of Kutbu'ddin Aibak.
Hindu Dynasties. 1230-1824. Indrayamsa of Assam. 1261-1798. Chand of
Kumaun.
GHIYASU'UDIN BALBAN : son of slave of Muhammad Ghori. 1282-1338. His son
founds Balban Dynasty of Bengal.
Mughal invasion.
SULTANS OF DELHI, KHILJI (TURKI)
1290-1320.
1296-1316
1309-1312
1318-1320 -
ALAU'DDIN KHILJI (MUHAMMAD SHAH). Extension of power to the South.
The slave eunuch and general, Malik Kafur, raids S. India: 1316, murdered.
The slave minister, Malik Khusru : reign of terror in Delhi : 1320, murdered.
SULTANS OF DELHI, TUGHLAK (TuRKi) (Northern
India) : 1320-1414. BAHMAM OF KULBARGA
(Deccan) : 1347-1525- (Hindu) VIJAYANAGAR
EMPIRE (South India): 1336-1563.
1325-1351
1335-1370
MUHAMMAD TUGHLAK : the "mad" King of Delhi.
Local Muhammadan Dynasties. 1335-1586. Kashmir. 1336-1377. Malabar
(Raim-shwaram, S. India). 153^-1478. Ilv;i> Shuln of Bengal. 1370-1596.
Faruki of Khandesh (Deccan). 1328-1427. (Hindu) Recklis of Kondavidu
fS. India).
1351-1388
1354-1379
. nda).
FIROZ SHAH TUGHLAK : sound administrator ; canals, reads, light taxation.
BUKKA I. Of VlJAYANAGAR. 1379-1406. HARIHARA Of- \'lj A YANAGAR.
EMPIRES AND CHIEF HISTORIC DYNASTIES.
DATE.
CHIEF EVENTS.
SULTANS OF DELHI : SAYVID, 1414-1451 ; LODI
(AFGHAN) 1451-1526 (Northern India). SHARKI
OF JAUNPUR, 1394-1493 (Northern India.)
GUJARAT (Deccan), 1396-1583. ILYAS-SHAHI,
!339-i487; HABSHI, 1487-1492 ; HUSSAIN-SHAHI
1493-1576 (Bengal).
1396-1411
1398
1401-1440
1411-1442
1417-1467
1428
1438-1460
1451-1489
M53
1469-1485
1485-1512
1497-1499
1506-1518
MUZAFFAR SHAH OF GUJARAT. 1399-1731. Hindu Rajas of Mysore.
Invasion of Hindustan by Timur Lang (Tamerlane) Mughal : sack of Delhi.
IBRAHIM SHAH OF JAUNPUR. 1401-1569. Ghori and Khilji rulers of Malwa (Rajpu-
tana).
AHMAD SHAH OF GUJARAT. 1414-1421. SAYYID KHIZR KHAN, SULTAN op DELHI.
Zainu'l-'abidin of Kashmir: iconoclast. 1421-1446. Active career of Jasrat
Khan Ghakkar (Pan jab).
Ahmad Shah Bahmani (1422-1435) founds Bidar (Deccan).
MAHMI i> SHAH I, ILYAS-SHAHI OF BENC.AL : 1446, founds Gaur and Tanda.
BAHLOL LODI OF DELHI. 1489-1517. SIKANDAR LODI OF DELHI. •
Turks in Constantinople : Venetian monopoly of trade with the East.
Rise of medieval reformers. 1469-1538. Guru Nanak (Sikhs). 1479. Vallabha
(Hindu Vaishnava). 1480-1518. Kabir (North India). 1485-1527. Chaitanya
(Bengal).
Rise of the Five Shahi Dynasties of the Deccan. 1485-1588, Ima'd of Bcrar.
1490-1595. Nizam of Ahmadnagar. 1490-1661. 'Adil of Bijapur. 1492-1609.
Barid of Bidar. 1512-1672. Kutab of Golkonda.
Voyage of Vasco da Gama to India. 1500. First Portuguese settlement (Calicut).
Portuguese power at its zenith under Affonso D'Albuquerque. 1509-1530.
KRISHNADEVA RAYA OF VIJAYANAGAR.
MODERN INDIA FROM 1526.
MUCHALS AT AGRA : 1526-1556. SUR AFGHANS
AT DELHI: 1539-1555.
1526-1530
1530-1556
1539-1545
1542
BABAR. 1526. Battle of Panipat : first use of field guns in India. Holocausts-
of Rajput women (jauhar) : 1528, Chanderi : 1532, Raisin : 1567 Chitor:
1757, Bobili (Vizagapatam).
HUMAYUN (intermittently).
SHER SHAH SUR. Father of modern Indian administration.
Francois Xavier, first Jesuit missionary to Goa.
MUGHAL EMPIRE : 1556-1774.
1556-1605
1565
1600
1595-1599
1602-1761
1605-1628
1612
1615
1620
1628-1658
1640-1690
1658-1707
1659
1697
1702-1708
1706
1707
1710-1739
I7U-I759
1733-1739
1749-1761
I75I-I767
1756
I759-I76I
AKBAR. 1573. Marries Jodhbai of Marwar (Hindu). 1575-1589. Todar Mai :
financial administrator. 1576 Foundation of Fatehpur Sikri.
Battle of Talikota : fall of Vijayanagar Empire. 1578. Rise of Wodeyar Dynasty
of Mysore.
Queen Elizabeth's Charter to the London East India Company. 1608. Factory
at Surat. 1617. Scottish E. I. Company.
First Dutch voyage to the South Seas. 1605. Factories in India.
Struggles between various foreign East India Companies.
JAHANGIR. 1611. Marries Nurjahan.
Danish E. I. Company. 1616. Factory at Tranquebar.
French E. I. Company. 1664. Compagnie des Indes. 1667, in Cochin : 1674 -in
Pondicherry.
Sahuji Bhonsla : commencement of Maratha power.
SHAHJAHAN. 1631. Death of Mumtaz Mahal. 1632-1645. The Taj at Agr»in her
memory.
Foundations of English power : 1640, Madras : 1645, Imperial patent to trade ;
1665, Bombay : 1690, Calcutta.
AURANGZEB 'ALAMGIR. Persecution of Hindus.
Sivaji Bhonsla: extension of Maratha power. 1664. Assumes royal titles.
1677. Levies chauth (Maratha indemnity cess).
European piracy in the Indian Ocean. 1718. Rise of the Angria pirates (Bombay).
United E. I. Co. 1714-1727. Austrian Ostend Co. 1731. Swedish E. I. Co.
First Protestant missionaries : Danes in Tranquebar. 1726. First British mission,
Madras.
Rajput League against the Mnghals • rise of the Maratha Confederacy. Break up
of the Mughal Empire.
Local Muhammadan powers. 1710. Nawabs of the Carnatic (Arcot, Madras).
1712. Savvids of Barha ("the king-makers", Hindustan). 1713. Nizams of
Haidarabad. 1724. Nawabs of Oudh. 1727. Rohilla Afghans. 1739. Nawabs
of Bengal.
Maratha States. 1714. Peshwas of Poona. 1727. Gaikwars of Baroda. 1732-
Holkars of Indore. 1739. Bhonslas of Nagpur. 1759. Sindhias of Gwalior.
Nadir Shah : sack of Delhi.
Haidar 'Ali of Mysore. 1756. Ahmad Shah Abdali • sack of Delhi. 1761. His
defeat of the Marathas at Panipat.
Clivc's Indian career. 1751. Defence of Arcot. 1757. Battle of Plassey. 1764.
Government and reforms : battle of Buxar (Hector Munro).
Capture of Calcutta by Suraju'ddaula, Nawab of Bengal : the Black Hole.
Destruction of French power in India (Eyre Coote). 1765. Rise of the French
military adventurers. 1767. Gurkhas overrun Nepal.
EAST INDIA COMPANY'S RULE : GOVERNORS-
GENERAL : 1774-1858.
1774-1785
1786-1793
1798-1805
1803
1807-1813
1814-1816
1816-1818
1823-1828
1828-1835
1836-1842
18.12-1844
1844-1848
1848-1856
WARREN HASTINGS. 1788-1795. Trial. 1782-1799. Tipu Sahib (Sultan) ot Myaore.
LORD CORNWALI.IS. 1787. Overland communication with Europe. 1793. Per-
manent revenue settlement, Bengal.
LORD WELI.ESLEY. 1798-1839. Ranjit Singh : Sikh power in the Panjab.
Victories cinsolidate British power. Lake at Delhi and Laswari : Wellesley
(Duke of Wellington) at Assaye, Asirgarh, ami Argaon : Harcourt at Cuttack :
Woodington at Baroda : Monson at Aligarh. 1804. I.ake at Dig 1 1 '
LORD MINTO. 1808. Napoleon's designs on India: the "Russian scare" com-
mences. 1809. Treaty of Amritsar (Ranjit Singh).
Nepal campaign : Gurkhas enlist in British Annv.
Maratha, Rohilla and Pindhari (freebooters from 1812) Canij ai«n : battle of Kirki.
LORD AMHERST. 1824-1826. First Burma War : Arakan and Tenasserim annexed.
LORD WILLIAM BENTINCK. 1829. Suppression of the Thags (highwaymen) and
s.iti (widow-burning) : 1830, of female infanticide.
LORD AUCKLAND. "Doctrine of Lapse" enforced against childless Native Rulers.
States annexed. 1838-1842. First Afghan War.
LORD ELI.ENBOROUGH. 1843. Battle of Miani : annexation of Sind. 1844. War
with Sirulhia : battles of Maharajpur and Panniar.
LORD HARDIM.K. 1845-1849. Sikh War : 1845, battles of Mudki and Firozshah ;
1846, Aliwal and Sobraon ; 1849, Chilianwala and Gujrat : annexation of
the Panjab.
LORD DAi.nm MI . "Doctrine of Lapse" continued : more States annexed. 1852.
Second Burmese War : annexation of Pegu. 1856. Annexation of Oudh.
1856-1862
1864-1869
1876-1880
1884-1888
1899-1905
1910-1916
1917
1916-1921
1926-1931
1931
LORD CANNING. 1857-1859. The Mutiny and its suppression : 1859. Rewaius to
Sikh and other chiefs for services. 1862. End of "Doctrine of Lapse".
LORD LAWRENCE. 1864. Bhutan War. 1867. Abyssinian War. 1868. Hazara
Campaign.
Lottn LYTTON. 1877. Proclamation of Queen Victoria as Empress of India at
Delhi. 1878-1880. Second Afghan War.
LORD DIIFFERIN. 1885-1889. Third Burmese War: annexation of Burma.
1885. National Congress started.
LORD CURZON. Partition of Bengal. Tibet expedition.
LORD HARDINGE. 1911. King George V crowned Emperor: Imperial capital at
Delhi.
Expe-Iilion to Mesopotamia.
LORD CHELMSFORD. 1917. Mr. Montagu's announcement. 1921. New constitution,
inaugurated.
LORD IRWIN. Much political unrest. 1930. Simon Commission report published.
LORD WII.LINGDON.
India
123
CHAPTER III
INDIA. Edited by LORD MESTON, K.C.S.I., LL.D.. etc.
PREHI STO RIC INDIA
IN dealing with India, we find ourselves considering a continent of many peoples rather than a country
inhabited by a single dominant nation. This continent has been occupied in succession by many alien
races, which have immigrated from outside from time to time, and have become mingled into a genera'
population, consisting of many elements, traces of which are to be found to-day all over the land. One
Painted specially for this work.]
THE DAWN OF LIFE— BUILDING A HOME.
The earliest Inhabitants of India appear as small, black, curly-haired, nomadic savages, entirely naked, or habited in short
leaf skirts and ornaments made of natural objects. They lived in leaf shelters and obtained their living from roots, seeds and
fruits, and killed small birds, animals and fish, which they secured by means of spears, arrows and adzes tipped with teeth and
flakes of hard natural materials. They could swim and climb well, and got about the jungle with the agility of monkeys.
prominent result, largely owing to the physical features of the country, is that every stage of civiliza-
tion is still to be observed there, from the most primitive and savage to the most highly cultivated and
civilized. The immigrants have belonged to three varieties of the human race, black, yellow and fair,
and are represented now by two distinct main types — "short, dark, snub-nosed and often ugly, and tall,
fair, long-nosed and often handsome" — in short, refined and unrefined. The history of this mixed
population, as a whole, can be best studied in five chief epochs : Prehistoric, Northern Hindu, Southern
Hindu, Muhammadan Sovereignty, and British Rule.
Traces of man are to be found in India as old as elsewhere in the world, where geologists and pre-
historians have been able to work, and an imagination trained in the observation of existing savages
I24
Story of the Nations
in the southerly regions of what is now the Asiatic continent, enables us sparsely to populate the
country with its earliest inhabitants — short, black, curly-haired savages of good physique, scattered
about in small groups and nomadic in habits. A race of this kind is now represented, in such purity
as is possible at this period of the earth's history, by the Andaman Islanders.
To this population an imagination trained in the observation of another kind of savage still exist-
ing on the Indian peninsular — dark, but browner, larger in build, but comely, stronger, snub-nosed,
broad-faced, long-haired — shows us tribes introducing themselves from somewhere, perhaps from regions
no longer to be traced on the earth's surface. These were not higher in the scale of civilization, nor
had they a better capacity for mental expansion. But their strength was sufficient to let them gradually
Painted s/ieciallu for this work.]
THE EARLY MORNING OF LIFE— THE DAILY BREAD.
The earliest Indian savages were gradually ousted by another pace of the same general civilization. Hut these were long-
haired and comely, though snub-nosed and broad-faced, and browner, stronger and larger than their predecessors. Their
descendants still live on in difficult isolated localities in the same low scale of civilization. They were driven out of the better
lands by Dravidian races of the same general physical type, but endowed with a high capacity for mental development. The
Dravidians now occupy all Southern India as u highly civilized race.
supersede the aborigines and to take their place generally on the Indian continent. For the present
purpose we may call them the Kolarians.
Time that can only be measured geologically — that is, by changes in the earth's surface — must
be reckoned with before we can proceed further, and we must imagine that India has assumed its
present general geographical shape : an isolated land surrounded by wide seas and immense mountains
penetrable practically only on the north-west and north-east. But we must not conceive the India
of the time as that of to-day. The great rivers did not then run in their present courses. Even up
to comparatively modern times there was an important river, now lost, which watered the present great
arid desert of Rajputana and Sind. Right across the middle of the peninsula there was a mighty
barrier of hills and dense jungle, intersected by large rivers, which divided the north from the south,
126
Story of the Nations
and it was so important that in later Hindu times it had definite recognition and a name, Mahakantara
(the Great Forest).
Into this land there migrated from somewhere, perhaps from the north, perhaps from now submerged
tracts, another race of similar general physical type to the last, but with the crucial difference of possess-
ing a capacity for high mental development. This race, for which the usual name Dravidian may be
conveniently adopted, spread itself everywhere, and as surely by degrees ousted the Kolarians as they
had removed the black aborigines, leaving them only the more inaccessible regions as their portion.
They became a very different people, and were the barbarians, the demon and monkey tribes of the
Painted specially for this ttorit.l
ARYANS SETTLING IN INDIA.
The primitive Aryans settled wherever they went in stockaded villages, leading a simple agricultural lilt-. Milk \vus their
principal beverage, and open-air sacrifice, performed by the men to the singing of hymns, formed their chief religious rite, in
which the women had no part. In time they intermarried with the older inhabitant" and propagated the mixed darker-skinned
race which covers most of Upper India to-day.
records and legends of the later invaders. This view of them, however, does not mean that they were
inferior in civilization to those who thus "miscalled" them.
At some time in the far-away days the Dravidians were themselves, by a slow process still to be
observed on the north-eastern frontiers, troubled by a great irruption from the north by waves of a
yellow race from the uplands of what is now Western China, which had spread itself over the whole of
Further India and the Himalayan Mountains. This race was broad of nose and face, long-haired, short
and sturdy, and of equal mental capacity and general civilization. But they did not get far beyond the
north-east of their new country, the modern Assam and Bengal, where they mingled with the population
and considerably affected it.
Long ago, somewhere in the Europeo-Asiatic Continent, there dwelt, in the dim ages of the past,
a tall, fair, long-nosed, long-haired people of refined features and of a commanding capacity for mental
development. They split up and migrated into many lands in groups which formed the bases ol leading
128
Story of the Nations
nations of the present day. A great branch of this race was further divided into two portions, of which-
one occupied the modern Persia, and is now represented in India, under a very much later immigration,
by an isolated and numerically insignificant, but financially powerful, race, the Parsis. The other found
its way to the Indus and across into India. But by the time it had done this it had a civilization equal
to that of the Dravidians, and a considerably developed religious system, consisting of worship of
ancestors and the dead, combined with that of personified divinities, representing natural phenomena,
and aspects of life. These gods they propitiated by prayer and sacrifice, with an established ritual
and hvmns.
.-
.
i i1
Painted spiritilltt for tins u-ork.]
A HERMIT IN TIMES BEYOXL) DATES.
Tapas, or penance by heat, i.e. austerity of life, finds a place in the Rigvcda, the curliest collection of Aryan hymns. In Intel
Jays, of which, however, the history is still traditional, society and religion considerably developed, and the value placed on
austerity greatly increased, bringing about the advent of the hermit. He was usually a man advanced in years, who led an idle.
ascetic life of contemplation near a shrine on the outskirts of his native village and was kept In rude comfort by the younger
eeneration.
Slowly and surely they lought their way, mingling with the people already in possession,.
until they dominated the whole peninsula, except the extreme south, to which the political supremacy
of the Uravidians was eventually restricted, though after an immense struggle they succumbed to the
religious and domestic institutions of the aliens, and are now amongst their staunches! supporters This
conquering and pervading race, which we may style the Aryans, called the plains in the northern portion
of country, which they occupied politically, Aryavarta (the Aryan territory) after their own title for
themselves. This region was long ages afterwards called by the Muhammadans, Hindustan, or the
land of the Hindus. The country to the southwards, that is, the central forests and hills, the Aryan
immigrants called Uakshina (the land on the right hand), because of its situation during their onward
progress. It is now the Deccan (Dakhan). The extreme south always remained to them Dravida (the
Dravidians' land), now roughly the Madras Presidency. The Brahmanic, or priestly, religion they set
India
129
up has been called Hinduism, of which Jainism and Buddhism were great reformations, and the history
of India, until the Muhammadan domination twelve hundred years after Christ, is the story of the
doings of its followers, the Hindus.
UNDATED HISTORY
WE have now, in say 2000 B.C., an intelligent military and pastoral-agricultural nation, consisting of
tribes under chiefs, established be-
yond the Indus amongst t he natives,
leading a simple family life, and
earnestly following its religion.
Their chief rite was open-air sacri.
fice without temples or images, and
at their sacrifices they sang or re-
cited hymns. They were divided
into three classes : warriors, priests,
and agriculturists. The influence
of the priest (Brahman) tended con-
stantly to increase, owing to super-
stition, until it overwhelmed the
rest. The priests were organized
in three orders : sacrificer, singer
and worker, and there were schools
for educating each. It was this
education for a set purpose that
led to that social predominance of
the Brahman which has lasted to
the present day. Collections of
hymns, believed to be revelations
to inspired singers, were com-
mitted to memory in the Brahman
schools, and formed, about 1250
B.C., the Rigveda (science of praise)
the lasting value of which is that
the allusions in it enable us to put
together the whole life of the
people, intellectual and social. In
the Rigveda a late hymn assigns
a separate divine origin to each
of the three categories of the
Ayran invaders : to the Brahmans
or priests, the Kshatriyas or
warriors, the Vaisyas or the
people (agriculturists and traders).
A similar origin was also provided
for a fourth category, the Sudras,
native servants or aborigines.
This division of the social organization under a divine sanction was long afterwards further
developed by confining the Rigveda to the priesthood and dedicating a veda, or science, to each
of the other two Aryan classes • the Sdmaveda (science of chants) for the warriors, and the
Yajurveda (science of sacrifice) to the people. To these, much later towards dated historical times,
was gradually added a fourth, the Atharvaveda (science of ritual) for the non-Aryan servile and
unattached native population. Thus were the foundations laid for the system of caste that so greatly
I'ainifd specitillll fur //i/s irork.]
AN EXHORTATION BY MAHAVIRA. THE JINA, 560 U.O.
Varilhamana .Mahavira was born in 599 n.o. and died in 527, spending nis
lite in promoting Jainism, a reform of the ancient Brahmanism that has lasted
to the present day. He grave an extreme sanctity to life in any shape, endowed
everything observable with a living soul, anil exacted the severest asceticism
even to entire nakedness (difjambara, sky-clad).
130
Story of the Nations
Painted specially for this work.}
THE LAST DAYS OF BUDDHA'S TEACHING, 489 B.C.
Buddha died in 483, aged eighty years, preaching his doctrines to the end.
These differed greatly from the teaching of Mahavira and the Jains. He built
up his theory of life without a soul, and taught that release from the consequences
of evil deeds was obtainable by an ascetic rectitude of life.
distinguishes India from the rest
of the world. Even in the days of
the Rigveda the rudiments of
certain ideas appear which have
dominated Hindu life ever since :
of a supreme lord who is behind
the gods and divinities, of aus-
terity of life, and of burning
the dead as a development of
sacrifice.
The Aryan immigrants have
imposed themselves on the abori-
ginal natives in exactly the same
way through all time, more by the
activities of the priest than by the
exertions of the warrior, more by
absorption than by conquest. This
method of obtaining command
was so slow that their supremacy
synchronized with the development
of themselves, and by the time they
had obtained the social control of Aryavarta they had mingled with the population and had become
the Hindus — the natives, the inhabitants of the soil, a people far removed from their ancestors from
the West. Beyond the warrior marched the priest, turning the gods of the aborigines into representa-
tives of the Aryan theocracy and assimilating their practices, while he taught them his own. Thus
sprang up the old Brahmanic faith, a blend of specially developed aboriginal Western ideas with those
of aboriginal India. The progress of the priest furthered the principle of caste. Once the idea of
divine origin for each separate community and mode of life had taken root, it developed comparatively
quickly, as new tribes were taken into the fold, new occupations arose, and difficulty of communication
this necessitated the erection of
in a certain social isolation, until
Hindu India became an agglomer-
ate of small local societies, at the
head of which the Brahman every-
where managed to remain in his
own infinite divisions. It is this
individual isolation of the Hindu
communities, while dwelling to-
gether politically and following a
common form of religion, that has
prevented them from combining
against the outsider and made
them the prey of successive in-
vaders. They have not succumbed
through inferiority of intelligence
or fighting capacity.
In the long process of spread-
ing over the land the Indo-Aryans
had developed in civilisation pari
passn with the Western peoples of
the same general descent. They
had raised up kingdoms,
domesticated the useful animals,
between distant congeners made them strangers to each other. All
new castes and new subdivisions of castes, each living alone
Painted specially for this u-ork.]
I'HASENAJIT OF KOSALA (OUDH) PAYS A VISIT, 520 B.C.
The seen, of Buddha's labours as a preacher was largely laid in Magadha
(Southern Bihar), between which and Kosala there was ii hit I IT family feud, in
which Prasenajit, King of Kosalu, was eventually worsted. One of Buddha's
early triumphs was the winning over of Prasenajit, who paid him a ceremonial
visit that baa become famous in Buddhist story.
'///>/ /or this work.]
AJATASATTU OF MAGADHA MAKES A MIDNIGHT CALL, 495 B.C.
The cause of the quarrel between Ajatasattu of Magadha and Prasenajit of Kosala was that Ajatasattu had slowly poisoned
his father Bimbisara, one of whose wives was the sister of Prasenajit. Ajatasattu was ultimately pardoned by Prasenajit, who
gave him his daughter to wife. His crime, however, weighed on his mind, and he could not sleep, so he visited Buddha at midnight
with a great procession of elephants, accompanied by only one male attendant and a great retinue of women, in order to obtain
1 1 lief of conscience.
132
Story of the Nations
including elephants, contrived wheeled conveyances, set up constant communications by paths
through hill and forest, reached the ocean, raised up a large trade with the West both by land
and sea, become wealthy, and had learned the use of the precious metals and money and the arts of
architecture in stone and brick and of writing — though this last for want of suitable materials came
late to them for the purposes of literature. The intellectual advance was marked by an increase in the
power of the Brahman priest as the interpreter and even controller of the will of the gods. It was the
age of priest-governed sacrifices. Those at coronations, at assumption of supreme authority, at times
of great stress (human sacrifice, actual or by substitute), became general public functions. The social
progress was in the direction of the patriarchal authority, and women became inferior and men ate
apart.
By 1000 B.C. religion had greatly developed. There came into the mental conceptions a personal
Creator and a mysterious universal soul beyond all else. The old gods had become generally forgotten,
while Siva, the mountain and mundane god, and Vishnu, the heavenly sun-god, came to the front. The
value placed on austerity brought about the advent of the hermits. These were always ascetic idlers,
secluded wanderers and mendicants, the monks and even nuns of India. Some of them conceived and
taught by precept the doctrine of harmlessness, sometimes even then carried very far : destroying
nothing that lived, not even the twig of a tree. The VMas and their traditional interpretation were now
handed down by heart from generation to generation with extraordinary verbal accuracy in great
priestly schools, which in time multiplied and specialized. Through one of these every Brahman priest
Painted specialln for thin mirk.}
ANATIIAI'IXnAK.VS CHEAT ACT OK CHARITY, 183 H.C.
One ill liiiililhn's chief haunts was the .Matanti, the Harden nf I'riner .Ma uf Sravasti. ami amongst his prominent supporters
\vas the princely merchant Anathapimluku. After Huddha's deat h he bought the Jetavana fur as much bullion as could he spread
over it, dedicated it for a monastery of the new order of monks instituted hy Kuddha. and built within it two shrines, (iandakuti
and Kosambakuti, famous in Buddhist story. The scene of the dedication hy libation uutl purchase with ingots ol metal is ;?.
favourite one in ancient Ifuddhist sculpture.
India
133
•
I'uintcd specially for this work.]
PORUS AWAITS THE ATTACK OF ALEXANDER. JULY 326 B.C.
When Alexander invaded the Panjab, he was vigorously resisted by a skilful commander known to European history as
Pome. He had a powerful army, and was held in great respect by Alexander. But by movements conducted with extraordinary
skill Alexander manoeuvred him into a position between the Hydaspes (Jhelum) and some low hills in which his force became
Immobile — long lines of elephants and infantry in the centre, chariots and cavalry on each flank. Alexander attacked the flanks
with cavalry, throwing the whole force into confusion, and the elephants became unmanageable. The appearance of the Indian
force to the Greeks was that of a walled city, with the elephants as the turrets.
had to pass. This made them study language as a science and created for each school an oral
tradition (Brahmana) , now embodied in a tedious, uninteresting literature, except for the light it throws
on manners and superstitions.
The schools began to philosophize, but never really got beyond inquiry. Nevertheless, they set
up doctrines. This world is an illusion. The one reality is the Absolute, unchanging, inert,
unknowable. The varying fortunes of individual men were explained by the transmigration and
reincarnation of personal souls expiating the action of former lives, with a final release at last by
reabsorption into the universal soul. So the merit of actionless, ascetic life in this world became the
passport to release from rebirth. The necessity of oft-recurring rebirth before sufficient merit can be
accumulated to obtain release led to the idea of the cyclic destruction and recreation of the whole earth.
Out of this grew the conception of the Four Ages, of which the present is of course the fourth. And
through it all the Brahman priest was the divine interpreter to all the rest of the Indo-Aryans,
initiating them into Hinduism and all its rights by an act of spiritual birth, of which the devotional
threads over the left shoulder are to this day the outward sign, whence all representatives of the three
original Aryan orders of society are "twice-born". The initiation in the case of girls, for whom no
education was provided, was represented by marriage, and this interpretation of marriage led to the
ideas that affected Hindu life ever afterwards. Girls were married, that is, initiated, while very
young, before puberty, a custom which brought about child-marriage of both sexes, and only the child-
less widows could remarry, that is, undergo true initiation, though later on even this was prohibited in
134
Story of the Nations
Painted specially for this work.]
A FEAT OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT, 326 B.C.
Alexander the Great was as brave as he was capable, and on his
return from India in 326 B.C. he was strongly opposed by the
Malloi (Malava) on the Indus. He was the first to scale their fort.
The ladder broke, and for a time he was fighting alone, "a magni-
ficent figure", on the wall. He soon leapt down into the citadel,
fighting at bay, and was severely wounded.
(systematic enumeration), which was "godless", in that
it referred everything to Nature.
The whole social fabric was then in the hands of
the Brahmans, and this naturally produced sturdy
opponents. Among these there stand out two of
noble birth, whose work has survived ever since ; of
the one in India and of the other outside it. They
were contemporaries, Mahavira, the Jina (conqueror),
the founder of Jainism, and Gautama, the Buddha
(knower), the founder of Buddhism ; and it is because
we are able to date their deaths with sufficient cer-
tainty as taking place respectively in 468 and 483 B.C.
that the undated history of India conies to an end.
The • Brahmans carried on their religious services
in Sanskrit (refined Aryan language), which was not
understood by the people, who spoke one or other
of the Prakrits (vulgar Aryan tongues), or another
language altogether. So both the Jains and the
the case of the orthodox. Another trend-
of thought, subsequently all-important,
arose at this time. The Brahman taught
everywhere that the God behind the gods,,
the Absolute, was unknowable, and that
the worship of the gods could therefore-
go on unchanged, and this enabled them
to gather all and sundry of the
non-Aryans— the Sudras and all the
wild tribes, Mlecchas, Dasyus, Hanu-
mans — into their religious fold by
finding places in their subordinate pan-
theism for all the objects of aboriginal
worship.
At first philosophies, each with its
attendant cosmogony, multiplied apace,
and there were many which were gradually
focused into two fundamental outstanding
schools. Brahman, the world-soul, be-
came Atman, the universal self, and
identical with the personal self. So self-
knowledge was sacred knowledge and
showed the way to the great release.
Thus was laid in self-contemplation the
foundation of the Vedanta (end of the
Veda) school of metaphysics. In its-
speculations the Vedanta philosophy re-
cognized an intelligent creator, and it had
all along an opponent, working, however,
to the same end — release — in the Sankhya
ANCIENT INDIAN COINS.
Reading from left to right : Punch-marked copper,
500 B.C.; Antialkidas of Baktria, 160 B.o. ; Cast
copper, 450 B.O. ; Ujjayini (Ujain), 250 B.C. ; Kanerkes
(Kanishka the Kushan), A.D. 100 ; Ayodhya, Oudh,
100 B.C. ; Andragoras of Parthia, 300 B.C. ; Eukratides
of Uaktria and India, 170 B.C. : Euthydemus of
Baktria, 220 B.C.
India
135
Buddhists taught in one of the ordinary Aryan dialects of the day, which, however, in its turn long
afterwards became sacerdotally fixed and as unintelligible to the people as Sanskrit itself. Their teachings
are phases of the old Indian philosophies and constituted Reformations of the ancient Brahmanism.
The prominent points in the Jain philosophy are the extreme sanctity of life, the endowment of everything
observable with a living soul, and the severest ascetic simplicity, even to the extent of being entirely
naked (digambara, sky-clad). The Buddhists, on the contrary, built up their theory of life without a
soul and thought that release was attainable by a mildly ascetic rectitude of life. Throughout the Indian
Pal;
f specially for fhi* ir»rl:.\
CHANDRAGUPTA MAURYA ENTERTAINS HIS BRIDE FROM BABYLON, 303 B.C.
The first great empire in India, the Mauryan, was founded by Chandragupta, a rebel relative of the preceding Nanda Dynasty,
who had been a fugitive in Alexander's camp. There he learnt the arts of creating and commanding a large army. In 305
Seleukos Nikator of Syria (Babylon), one of Alexander's generals, then creating his immense Asiatic empire, attacked India.
After a protracted struggle with Chandragupta, peace was made, and a Greek narrative has been (doubtfully) interpreted a
meaning that he gave a daughter in marriage to the Mauryan Emperor.
schools of thought, even the most ancient, there is much that is as noble and elevated as anything
to be found elsewhere.
As in the case of the Vedas and the Brahmanas, the teaching and philosophies of the schools
were handed down orally in the shape of Aranyakas for the hermit and Upanishads for the
wandering monk.
These with the Vedas and Brahmanas were the Hindu Canon of Revelation. There was also a large
body of other sacred productions of lesser authority, which formed the Tradition. At this time, too,
minstrels repeated versified epics to the people. Of these there has come down to us the Ramayana
("concerning Rama"), relating the story of a purely human hero of Kosala (Oudh), who has since
become the representative of the godhead itself, through an immense philosophic extension of the
original poem.
Story of the Nations
NORTHERN HINDU INDIA
600 B.C. — A.D. IIQ3
THE DAYS BEFORE THE MAURYAN EMPIRE (60O — 321 B.C.)
AT the time when Mahavira, who was born in 540 B.C., and Buddha, who was born in 563, began to
consolidate their respective schools
of philosophy, the Aryan terri-
tories in India stretched eastwards
from Gandhara (Peshawar) to
Magadha (Southern Bihar), and
southwards as far as Avanti
(Malwa), with Ujjain as its chief
city, which still exists under its
original name. They were divided
into many tribal kingdoms, con-
ventionally sixteen in number, and
of these three stood out promi-
nently : Kosala or Oudh, Magadha
or Bihar, and Avanti or Rajputana-
Malwa.
In Magadha there reigned the
Qi9unaga Dynasty, of which the
fifth ruler, Bimbisara (543-491)
enlarged his borders by marriages
and founded Rajagriha (Rajgir,
near Gaya), which appears so fre-
quently in Buddhist legend and
story. He abdicated in favour
of his famous son, Ajatasattu.
but this did not prevent the latter
from murdering him, a crime that
weighed on Ajatasattu's mind and
brought about a remarkable mid-
night visit to Buddha in the hope
of curing the consequent sleepless-
ness It also brought on a war,
as a wife of Bimbisara was the
sister of Prasenajit of Kosala, who
attempted to avenge the wrong
done to her. This was, however,
the beginning of Ajatasattu's event-
tual successes as a fighter, which
included his marrying Prasenajit's
daughter, and finally the annexa-
tion of Kosala. Three important
things are connected with this
period : the foundation by Ajatasattu of Pataliputra or Patna as his capital, the massacre of the
Sakya clan to which Buddha belonged by Prasenajit's successor, and the fixing on the since famous
Buddhist site Sravasti on the Rapti, now buried in the Nepalese jungles, as the capital of the extended
Magadha kingdom.
I'ainted sprcinlln t»r '/"'.< n-nrk.\
ASOK.VS KNVOY DECLARE.-* 1'EACE, L'lil H.t;.
The great loss of life, want and misery caused by the war with the Kalinga-
along the eastern coast of India, previous to the annexation of the country to
his empire, weighed heavily on Asoka's mind for years, and he never again,
during his long reign, allowed war in his territories where it could be avoided.
The ill list i at ion shows the wild tribes rejoicing at the declaration of peace
after the Kalinga, war.
138
Story of the Nations
H7K
Painter! specially for Ihia u:ork.]
ASOKA'S MISSIONARIES SET UP AN EDICT PILLAR AT LAURIYA NANDANGARH, 244 B.C.
The most important of the Mauryans and one of the three outstanding emperors in Indan history \\;is Asoka (274-237 B.C.),
grandson of Chandragupta. The horrors of the Kalinga war, waged early in his reign, made him turn to the peaceful doctrines of
Buddha, and by 259 he had become an emperor-monk. Before his death he had been the greatest personal distributor of
missionaries ever known, and is one of the few men who have controlled the faith of a large portion of mankind. Part of his
method was to set up edict pillars along highways of communication inscribed with his religious and administrative views.
While Mahavira was still young, and before Buddha had reached the zenith of his preaching, there
occurred an event on the north-western borders of India which produced a permanent effect on the
subsequent history of the Peninsula. Towards the end of the sixth century B.C. India was invaded by
Darius the Great, ruler of the then huge Persian Empire, who annexed the rich, densely populated and
prosperous Indus Valley, which thus became a Persian province. So rapid and complete was the
domination that Indian archers were included in the Persian army of Xerxes that was defeated at
Plataea in Greece in 479. Darius was one of the great administrators of antiquity and maintained
a system of viceroys or Satraps (Kshatrapavan), who sent him a fixed annual tribute. The Indian
dominion formed one of his Satrapies and produced a revenue paid in gold that was important even
to him, and it was under his orders that Skylax of Karyanda in Asia Minor had made his famous and
informing voyage down the Indus and along the shore of the ocean to the Red Sea. But the permanent
results of contact with such an empire as that of Darius, stretching from the Mediterranean to the
Indus, were the establishment of a trade between India and the West, the introduction of a syllabic
alphabet, and the acquirement of a knowledge of the methods by which imperial government
becomes possible that sank deeply into the minds of native Indian rulers, as is shown by subsequent
events.
In 361 there occurred a typically Indian change of dynasty. An illegitimate son of the last
<Ji9unaga King by a Sudra woman, and therefore, in those days, a person of low origin without
caste or any social position at all, usurped the throne and founded an unpopular dynasty of nine
India
139
kings known as the Nandas, which lasted nevertheless down to 321, when it was brought to an
end by a revolution placing on the throne a relative, Chandragupta, afterwards the great Mauryan
Emperor.
During the days of the Nandas, however, an event happened which has become famous in all story.
In 526 Alexander the Great, in the course of the most remarkable progress in the world's history, moved
eastwards from Greece and invaded India by the Khaibar Pass, since so often used in history, being
partly attracted thither by the reports collected in 380 by Ktesias, the Greek physician at the Persian
Court, of the importance and wealth of the Nanda kings of Magadha, known to him as Nandres. After
a hospitable reception at Taxila (Takshasila) , then the largest city in the north-west of India, and a great
seat of Buddhistic learning, he was vigorously resisted in the difficult country between the Indus and the
Bias (Hyphasis) by one of two brothers, who were known in India as the Pauravas, but are now usually
called Porus. By a battle fought on tactical lines, which showed the military genius of Alexander and are
even now well worth the study of soldiers, Porus was defeated and Alexandrian rule was extended to
the Panjab and Sind. On Alexander's death in 323 Chandragupta's (Sandrakottos) military capacity
so completely wiped out in three years all that the great Greek conqueror had done politically that
Indian writers have not even mentioned his raid.
Alexander was, however, no mere raider at any period of his astonishing career, and his work had
a permanent effect on India. He founded cities at important points, of which Patala (Haidarabad
in Sind) is still important, constructed harbours, docks and lighthouses, and instituted surveys and
Painted ;
MIIiINUA ASKS QUESTIONS, 140 1>.1 .
After the deaths of Seleukos Nikator and Asoka, the great empires they controlled broke up, and on the uorth-western
frontiers of India beyond the Indus the country (Baktria and Parthia) came to be held by rulers of Greek descent. Conspicuous
amongst these was Mcnandcr of Kabul, who penetrated far into Northern India and created a capital at Sagttla (Sialkot in the
Panjab). He had strong leanings towards Buddhism, and his religious disputations with the great teacher Xagasenn have been
preserved in a famous classic, the Milindaiiantiti, the Questions of Milinda (Menander).
140
Story of the Nations
inquiries into the institutions of his newly acquired subjects. He taught statecraft on a large scale and
generalship to the Indian chiefs, making known to them the European system of organizing, disciplining,
arming, drilling and leading armies, and thus rendering possible the work of the great native Emperors
that succeeded him in later generations. He strengthened the trade-routes and intercourse between
India and the West to such an extent that the Indian and Greek art, letters, science and commerce reacted
on each other, for wherever he went he was accompanied by men eminent in all these matters, and he
introduced an artistic coinage among
many other invaluable things. His in-
vasion was indeed even more important
.-.. \ .•'„•' •- '(?'.»- ^ : :.fet5^/"V-S''**./s-;'J and beneficial to Indian life than that
' - 'ME****5I^^K'^£ ' V ^^-i/ "-V^?.-^- '• "- - T
'V.-o £si&3ws>%HK^4^&Jj£ of his great predecessor, Darius, and
marked a turning-point in the history
of the Peninsula.
THE MAURYAN EMPIRE, 321-184 B.C.,
AND ITS SUCCESSORS TO 2J B.C.
CHANDRAGUPTA MAURYA first seized
Patna, then the capital of Magadha,
through the agency of Chanakya, a
capable Brahman and afterwards his
minister, whose "A rthasastra"
("Treatise on Politics") is the most
valuable document that has survived
relating to the system of administration
and social life of early Indian times.
In twenty-four years Chandragupta, who
had been a fugitive in Alexander's
camp and an apt pupil indeed, made
himself master of all Northern India,
from Patna to Kabul, by means of a
very large and thoroughly organized
paid standing army, consisting of four
arms — elephant and chariot corps,
cavalry and infantry — maintained in
fixed proportions. His forces were
under defined controlling authorities,
one for each arm, and two others for
transport and supply and for a navy
lor the great rivers.
Chandragupta has come down to us
as a man of commanding capacity —
stern, vigorous, alert — who lived, nevertheless, under careful guard and in daily fear of assassination,
while he worked all day long at the administration of his great dominions. But, great as his achieve-
ments and military organization show him to have been, the outstanding figure of his dynasty is his
grandson Asoka (Asokavardhana, 274-237), a truly mighty man of the past, in war, in administra-
tion and in moral character, whose beneficent sway extended over all his grandfather's empire and
southwards almost to the modern Madras. He was never suzerain of quite all India, but approached
as nearly to it as any subsequent ruler except the British King-Emperor. The horrors of the Kalinga
war to the south at the beginning of his reign so affected his mind that he turned more and more to
the peaceful doctrines of Buddhism for spiritual guidance, became the staunchest of all its royal
supporters, and finally assumed the garb and vows of a monk as early as 259, holding that
Painted specially for this work.
OONDOPHARNES HECEIVKS A LETTKU KKOM ST. THOMAS
There arc many stories connecting the Apostle St. Thomas with
India, one of whieh tells of his writing to the Indo-Parthian King Gondo-
uharnes (Guduphara). who ruled at Gandhara (Peshawar) between A.D.
25 and 4.5, n letter from Syria to announce his intention of visiting India
I'ninlid sjicriiillv fur this ii-urk.,
KANISHKA INAUGURATES MAHAYANA (NORTHERN) BUDDHISM, A.D. 100.
The Kushans were one of the chief Central Asian tribes that overran the country Just beyond the frontiers of India in the
eentury before rhrist, and afterwards became a ruling race in Northern India itself. The greatest of the Kiishaiis was the
conqueror Kanishka JKiinerkcs of the "Greek" coins), who did such great things for Huddhism by founding the Mahayana or
popular gorgeously ritualistic form of it that his fame for ages has been spread from end to end of Asia. But he destroyed the
philosophic Buddhism and substituted for it a superstitious polytheistic idolatry.
142
Story of the Nations
I'ninlrd specially for this u-ork.]
A STREET SCENE
tJl ,,*,
IN TAXILA. A.D. 260.
For quite a thousand years Takshasila, better known by Us Greek name
Tazila, was the greatest city in N.W. India, through Hindu and Buddhist times,
from the days of Darius, 500 B.C., to at least A.D. 500. Its ruins, not far
from Peshawar, are now being systematically excavated and are yielding rich
archaeological results.
the chiefest conquest of all was
by the Law of Duty (Dharnui).
Thereafter he governed as the
gracious Emperor (Piyadasi, Priva-
darsin), a man of affairs, who was
also a monk, working continuously
every day for what he conceived
to be the good of his people. The
policy which has preserved his fame
was the enforcement of his moral
views by a wonderful series of in-
scriptions on rocks and stone pillars
along the ancient highways through-
out his empire, some of which still
exist from the Panjab and Oudh on
the north, to Orissa on the east, to
Mysore on the south and to Kanara
and Kathiawar on the west. Kind-
ness to animals, purity of life and
body, with reverence, toleration and
liberality even to the unpopular,
were the doctrines they promulgated.
But As5ka was not content with
spreading his faith merely over his
own wide dominions. He was the
greatest personal distributor of mis-
sionaries ever known. These in-
cluded his own near relatives, and
he sent them to the Himalayan re-
gions, to the Tamils of the extreme
south, to Ceylon, and to the Greek
monarchies of Syria, Egypt, Cyrene,
Macedonia and Epirus. His monks
educated everywhere, and it was
on his initiative that Buddhism
became one of the chief religions
of the world, a position it still
holds. Asoka is thus presented
of the leading
a large portion of
to us as one
have controlled the faith of
characters of all time —one of the few men who
mankind.
The Empire began to break up immediately after his death, and the Mauryan Dynasty finally
disappeared in a palace revolution, when its last representative was killed by Pushyamitra £unga, his
military commander, who founded the CJunga Dynasty In 72 B.C. this was ousted by the Brahman
Kanvas, who in turn gave place in 27 to the Andhras of the Deccan, who, with the famous Jain King
Kharavela of Kalinga on the east coast, had made themselves independent very soon after the death
of Asoka. The history of this period of decay is naturally obscure, but it is clear that none of Asoka's
successors ever held anything like his authority in the country.
The Mauryan civil administration was as effective as the military, and the most striking point in it
is its wonderful modernity. A lingua franca for the Empire was found in Magadhi, just as another
was found much later on in the still existing Hindustani, which is now being rapidly replaced by English.
This fact shows that there must have been a general spread of reading and writing. There was, too,
the same religious tolerance as nowadays distinguishes the British Empire in India. The supreme
India
government was centralized, but local government was often entrusted to the natural chiefs of distant
parts, while the frontiers were protected by specially appointed wardens. The traditional Indian
system of controlling everything by boards of five members (panchayat) was also then in full swing, and
the capital, Pataliputra, had a municipality governed by six such boards. Crown land rents were the
mainstay of the revenue system, and on the land were assessed water-rates according to the mode of
irrigation adopted, which was under a special government department. There were also an excise
system, with both on and off licences for the drinking-houses, and a host of other minute regulations for
controlling the revenue and keeping order. The regulations of these times were, in fact, of the same
general type as those devised under British rule at the present day ; but the laws, both civil and
criminal, administered by judges and magistrates, with appeal to official censors, were enforced with
infinitely greater severity ; private life was interfered with by a system of espionage which would
nowadays be looked on as intolerable, and slavery of a mild kind was prevalent. All this supplies
food for serious reflection. It shows that the principles of sound government never change, for the
success of the Brahmanist, and subsequently Buddhist, Mauryan Empire was due to precisely the same
methods of imperial rule as that which very long afterwards attended the efforts of the other two
general Indian Empires — of the Muhammadan Akbar and the Christian Victoria.
In Mauryan days the caste system tended to harden and become hereditary in occupations and pro-
fessions, and on the whole the people lived and dressed much as they do now, with the same fondness
for jewellery. There was the same unguarded condition of house and property as now exists. There
were a few very large towns, but the population was agriculturist by chief occupation, with the same liability
to famine as persisted down to our own times. It contained, as now, a numerous class of clever artists in the
metals and in wood and stone, and many skilful rule-of-thumb engineers. The oldest known building not
of wood is the tope (stupa, mound) over relics of Buddha at Piprawa, now on the Nepalese frontier,
VIKHAMADITYA GUPTA GOES FORTH TO WAR, A.D. 395.
One of the great figures of ancient India whose fame has come down to modern times in legend and story is the Gupta
KnilitTor Chandragupta II, surnamed Vikramaditya. nowadays corrupted into Bikramajit and still more popularly into Raja
Bikram. His most famous exploit was a march across India, ending in the conquest of the Western Satraps of Surashtra, now
known as Kachh and Gujarat.
144
Story of the Nations
which dates from about 450 B.C. The railings of the Mahabodhi Temple at Buddh-Gaya, in Bihar, and
of the great Sanchi Tope in Bhopal, and also Asoka's pillars, attest the skill of the mason and stone-
carver in his days. The remains at Sanchi, Buddh-Gaya, Bharhut in Baghelkhand, at Amaravati
on the Kistna River, are all proofs of the fact that the successors of the greater Mauryas, though
small personages in comparison, were by no means of no consideration, and that, though they
reverted to Hinduism, they were tolerant, perrritting those under them to become mighty
builders and workers in stone for their own
faith.
The main facts of the religious beliefs of
the period are that Brahmanism became crys-
tallized and the influence of the Brahman
caste paramount ; but the Brahmans left out
of their ken large sections of the people as
being beneath their ministration — a state of
things that has lasted to this day. Later on,
under Asoka's influence, Buddhism became the
general religion, but the very popularity given
to it by his missionary efforts laid the seeds of
its eventual undoing ; for the creed was too
cold and elevated for the public, which soon
brought into it the pantheism taught by the
lower class of Brahman and the cast-iron
methods advocated by the Hindu thinkers
of classifying, numbering and labelling all
ideas. Buddhism was also powerless to prevent
the ever-increasing spread of the caste system.
Indeed, it was at this time that the modern
Hindu images definitely assumed their appear-
ance and dress and the temples their present
form. The learning of the schools was still
handed down orally, and this practice gave
rise to the Sutras, or versified aphorisms, which
have been aptly styled a sort of telegraphic
code, tabloids of condensed knowledge, easily
committed to memory.
In popular sacred literature the great
Buddhist Canon (Tipitaka, the three baskets)
was completed about 200 B.C. in the form of
sermons (sutta], some of which are beautiful
reading indeed, conveyed in an easy
mellifluous tongue known as Pali, or the
"Language of the Texts". But the Hindus.
who now stood as rivals to the Buddhists, did not lag behind, and created their six Vedangas,
or members of the body of the Veda, turning the popular heroes Rama and Krishna into
incarnations of Vishnu.
Meanwhile Siva, as a god, held his own as the typical ascetic, and hence arose the two
great rival divisions of Hinduism, the Vaishnavas and the Saivas. There was much frank
idolatry, but into it all was woven the philosophy of the Atman, or Universal Soul. In popular
literature the second great Hindu epic, the Mahabharata, appeared. Originally it was an heroic poem
relating ancient Aryan wars between the Kauravas and the Pandavas, both descendants of Bharata of
Delhi (Hastinapura), and in a supplement Krishna appears as a purely human hero. The poem in
time was enormously enlarged, until it became an epitome of Hinduism, and Krishna, in a much
later addition, the Bhagavadgita ("The Song of the Adorable"), appears as a fully established god.
Painted speciallu for this work.}
KALIDASA INDITING THE "CLOUD MESSENGER". A. D. 375.
The most productive period of Sanskrit literature was that
covered by the Gupta Empire (319-520), and the greatest of the
elassieal Sanskrit poets was Kalidasa, who flourished in the days of
the Gupta Emperor Vikramaditya. One of his poems, the
Megluidutu (Cloud Messenger), and his famous play. Sakunlala, are
still household words in India
'fd sprrtnllll lor tiny tr<trk,\
THE KHAN JAHAN SHOWS AKBAR HIS PRINCELY CAPTIVES.
In 1506 several of Akbar's near relatives, known as the Mirzas or Princes, raised a rebellion in the Punjab, which was carried
on Intermitti'iitly fur some years. Husain Knli Khan, one of Akbar's gencnils. iiftrrwardH better known as Tin- Khan Jahan,
captured tin- fort rf-s of Nagarkot in l."»72, and shortly afterwards took several of the Mirzas prisoners. In the following year
he produced his captives dn ••.-< -il in Animals' skins, with their eyelashes fastened together, to Akbar in audience. The Emperor
ordered their eyes to be opened, and treated them with great consideration.
I'ainteil
TIIK DEFEAT OF THE EPHTHAHTES, OR WHITE HUNS A.D. 528
In the fifth century, when the Central Asian hordes known as the Huns were still the- curse of Europe, auotbci body of them
known as the Ephthalitea, or White Huns, were overrunning all Northern India, nnd establishing a sort of government. The
last ruler, Mihiragula, was so outrageous a tyrant that a combination of the falling Gupta Dynasty and the rising Yasodhannnn ol
Mahva rebelled and overthrew him in 528. He died in Kashmir in .140, and the power of the Huns disappeared for ever
N
I46
Story of the Nations
THE NORTHERN INVADERS AND THE
KUSHAN EMPIRE (155 B.C. — A.D. 319)
WHILE the Mauryan Empire was yet
at the zenith of its strength it was
not left undisturbed by the rulers
further west. Thus, in 305 B.C.
Seleukos Nikator (the Victorious),
King of Syria (Babylon), invaded
India after the break-up of the
Empire created by Alexander.
The envoy whom he subsequently
accredited to Chandragupta's Court,
Megasthenes, left a lost but invaluable
account behind him, so constantly
quoted by Greek and Roman authors
that fortunately much of it has come
down to our time. This western
raid was the forerunner of long, tur-
bulent days in the north and west.
in comparison with which the many
and great troubles caused to the
dying Mauryan Empire by the
Andhras on the south were as
nothing.
After the death of Seleukos Nikator
his huge Babylonian kingdom was
upset by a revolution about 250 B.C.,
while Asoka was still alive. By this
revolution Parthia, lying to the south-
east of the Caspian Sea, and Baktria,
the country between the Hindu Rush
mountains and the river Oxus, came
to be held by kings of Greek descent
Raids on Asoka's Empire began soon
after his death, and Antiokhos III.
King of Syria, overran the borders
as far as Kabul in 206. His example
was followed by his son-in-law
Demetrios, the Baktrian, in 190, who
took the Panjab and Sind. Thereupon all the country west of the Bias river came to be divided up
between a number of local principalities under Baktrian and Parthian rulers. One of the former, Menander
of Kabul and Sialkot in the Panjab, and afterwards the celebrated Buddhist king Milinda of "The
Questions", invaded India in 144 B.C., penetrating as far as Oudh to the east, and Rajputana and
Kathiawar to the south. In 140 Mithridates of Parthia annexed the western Panjab to his Empire. All
this caused confusion enough, but about the same time it became worse confounded by an irruption into
Baktria of wild nomad tribes from Central Asia, called by the Indians the (Jakas. They, too, had rulers
of their own, who overran Surashtra (Kathiawar), where they set up governors-general known to history
as the C^aka Satraps. On top of all this the Yueh-chi another swarm of Central Asian nomads, swept
down on Baktria and Kabul. Of these the leading clan was the Kushan, the king ol which, known to us
by the Greek name of Kadphises II, made himself master of all the country on the frontier and of Northern
India as far as Benares. His successor, Kanishka (succeeded about 120 A.D.), became one of the greatest
of all Buddhist monarchs, and his fame rivals that of Asoka throughout all Asia north of India In the
Painted specially for fAts work.]
FA HSIEN AT THE RUINS OF ASOKA'.S PALACE, A.D. 407.
The Chinese Buddhist monk Fa Hslen was the first of a long series of
monastic visitors from China to India between the fifth and eighth
centuries. In 407 he visited I'ataliputra (Patna) with three followers, and
has left an account of the Palace of Asoka which was then standing.
India
147
course of a reign of thirty years he immensely extended the Kushan Empire formed by his predecessor,
until it comprised Kabul and North India as far south as the Narbada river, and also Kashmir, as well as
Khotan and Kashgar in Central Asia. It was this dynasty that in 78 A.D. founded the celebrated (Jaka
Era, called later on the Era of Salivahana, made a general east and west trade again possible, and enriched
the earth with the beautiful Gandhara sculptures. At some time in the third century the Kushan Empire
came to an end : it is not yet known how or when, as the confusion then prevailing makes history and
chronology very obscure.
Two important facts emerge from the general confusion. In A.D. 65 Rome had its way with
the Parthian Empire and in 60 was made that voyage (preserved to us in the priceless journal,
the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea) which opened up the East to Roman activity and laid the
foundation of a subsequently immense trade. It is also alleged that about A.D. 34 Thomas the
Apostle introduced Christianity into
India in the days of the Parthian king
Gondopharnes.
The religious development of the
people preserved its calm and steady
way in the midst of all the political
tribulations. In A.D. 82 the Jains
split into halves over the burning
question of clothes and became the
Digambaras (sky-clad), or naked, and
Svetambaras, or clad in white. The
Hindus worked out their six systems
of orthodox philosophy, each with its
school of aphorisms and commentaries
thereon, the Vedanta School being
the greatest. Meanwhile the Vaish-
navas propounded their great theory
of incarnation (avatara), which had
much to do with their ultimate victory
over Buddhism, as it declared Buddha
to be one of the many incarnations of
Vishnu, and thus it brought him and
his doctrines theoretically into the
Hindu fold. Buddhism itself in other
ways had undergone downward
changes. Images of Buddha and
certain supposed predecessors were
set up in shrines which the general
public worshipped, however much the
monks might have looked on them
merely as stimulants to emotion. And
then the Buddhists of the Kushan
Empire under Kanishka's influence
split Buddhism in two. The older
Buddhist became an arhat (deserving)
and so attained nirvana, but the
newer one became a Bodhisattva,
who, though he became entitled
by sanctity of life to nirvana,
remained alive as a god to help
the seeker after salvation, while
Buddha became a great saviour
l'«int</l specially for this work.]
THE EMPEROR HARSHA PAYS HOMAGE" TO BUDDHA, A.D. 645.
One of the great figures of Ancient India in Harshavardhana, or, shortly,
Harsha, of Thanesar and Xanuuj (fi06-fi48), the last Buddhist to form an
Empire. Hiuen Tsiang, the Chinese traveller, describes how on a state
occasion he and his heir apparent did homage to an image of Buddha.
148
Story of the Nations
god. The old or humble path (Hinayana) could only appeal to the few, whereas the new or great path
(Mahdyana) was open to all. It was very popular, whence Kanishka's abiding fame, and spread over all
Central and Eastern Asia, though not to Ceylon nor to modern Burma, and to this day the greatest of
the Bodhisattvas, Amitabha, is worshipped, as Amida, by the Japanese. But it destroyed Buddhism
as a philosophy and substituted
for it a polytheistic idolatry with
a gorgeous ritual and very much
superstition.
The outstanding literary event
of the period was the reduction of
the Buddhist orthodox Scriptures
(Tipiiaka) to writing in 80 B.C.,
and presumably at the same time
of the Hindu sacred texts as well.
About a century afterwards the
new Mahayana Buddhist canon
followed suit. The Ramdydna by
additions now became a Vaishnava
text, devoted to the cult of Krishna
as the actual Brahman or the
Absolute, and to the promulgation
of the KarmaySga (performance
of duties) doctrine, which united
philosophic renunciation of this
world with practical everyday life.
At this time, too, there arose
poems known as Dharmasdstras,
composed of dharmasutras, or rules
of behaviour for all classes. Of
these the Manava Dhar>nasastra,
or the Laws of Manu, took shape
about 200 A.D. and became famous
in all subsequent times. The
momentous import of this code
of law to the Hindu is that by it
no widow, not even a virgin, could
remarry.
THE GUPTA EMPIRE (A.D. 319 — 520)
THE political whirligig of the
times now takes us back to Bihar,
of which Pataliputra or Patna was
then, as now, the capital, though it
was shifted later to Ajudhya
(Ayodhya) in Oudh. Its ruler,
another great Chandragupta, laid the foundations of his fortunes by a political marriage, and crowned them
by pushing his authority as far as the River Sutley in the Panjab, and thus creating the Gupta Empire. In
320 he celebrated his coronation by founding the Gupta Era. His successor, Samudragupta of the long
reign (326-375), a mighty warrior, administrator and patron of letters, in the course of his many
adventures, made an extraordinary raid into Southern India, which centuries later was imitated by
the Muhammadan adventurer Malik Kafur. His successor, the Raja Bikram of legend, was Chandra-
/?}/ permission of] [the Secrctan/ of Hlate for India.
AN ANCIENT CORONATION.
The original, a fresco in the caves of Ajanta (Deccan). still exists in colours
and was painted about A.D. 500. The upper part of the panel shows the Kiiu'
on his throne being anointed with consecrated oil poured out of eurlhrn
vessels, while ho touches offerings made by the Queen. Other figures in the
vestibule to the hall where the King sit<= arc bringing more offerings and oil.
Mendicants without arc begging for alms. Below women arc presenting heads to
a priest in token of the human sacrifices made on such occasions.
frpecuilly for this work.'
THE END OF A LONG AND PROSPEROUS REIGN.
In the centuries immediately preceding the Muhammadan conquest the Chandellas of Mahoba and Khajurabu were one ot thu
most powerful Rajput ruling Families. The name that has come down most prominently to modern times is that of Raja Dhanga,
who ascended the throne at flf ty-five and reigned with success forty-six years. In 999, when over 100 years old, he drowned himself
at the confluence of the Ganges and Jamna at Prag (Allahabad). To the Hindu this was a fitting end for a very old man after a
life of prosperity, as it brought him entire salvation.
150
Story of the Nations
Painted specially for this work.l
MAHMUD OF GHAZNI'S FIRST SUCCESS, A.D. 1000.
Mahmud of Qhazni in Afghanistan (997-1030) vowed a. jihad or holy war against the idolaters of India, and between 1000 and
1026 he raided Northern India fifteen times, meeting in his first expedition the forces of the frontier Rajput ruler, Jaipal Shahiya
of Kabul and Lahore. In the mountains of the Khaibar Pass about Jalalabad, the scene of the disaster to the British troops in
1842 Jaipal's array was surprised by a snowstorm, which enabled Mahmud to gain his first success.
gupta Vikramaditya, another mighty man of the past (375-413), who extended his sway as far to the
west as Rajputana and Kathiawar. In the reign of the fourth emperor, Kumaragupta (413-455).
yet another swarm of Central Asian nomads, the Ephthalites, or White Huns (Huna), commenced
their depredations and finally overcame the Dynasty by 520.
The reigns of the chief Guptas, comparable in individual length to those of the Mughal Emperors
later, created a time of strong government, and literature everywhere flourished. Among the Hindus
rose the Pur anas (concerning the old days), purporting to relate ancient history, but really popular
sectarian works, each in favour of particular deities. Secular literature also flourished greatly, and so
many enduring works on rhetoric, grammar, astronomy, romance, the drama and poetry (kavya, something
inspired) were produced that this is the golden age of Sanskrit literature in the opinion of many
scholars. In 454 an important literary event occurred in the completion of the canon of the
Svetambara Jains.
The general peace that prevailed induced the erection of great and beautiful buildings of all sorts,
Hindu, Buddhist and Jain. Of the Buddhist shrines the Mahabodhi of Buddh-Gaya, and of Hindu
temples Bhuvanesvara in Orissa, still survive to attest the skill and taste of the period, besides many
of the most beautifully ornamented caves.
THE WHITE HUNS, AND THE LAST HINDU EMPEROR, HARSHA OF KANAUJ (A.D. 495 — 648)
THE White Hun rule did not last long in Northern India, which, while they held the supreme power
India
became a province of their immense Central Asian Empire, extending in those days from Persia to Chinese
Turkestan. In 528 a combination of Indian chiefs drove out the tyrannical Hun ruler, Mihiragula,
and forced him into Kashmir, where he died some years later. But this did not end the White Hun
influence, for many of their tribes remained on in the Panjab and Rajputana and brought about changes
which have definitely affected the population to the present day.
Then came a time of general internecine fighting and confusion until Harsha of Thanesar
(Sthanesvara), in the Panjab, the son of a prominent opponent of the Huns, in so short a time as
six years made himself master of Northern India from the Sutlej to Ka.thia.war and Gujarat in the
west, and to Assam and Bengal in the east, fixing his capital at Kanauj, now marked by ruins on the
Ganges between Cawnpore and Farukhabad, and taking his well-known titles of Harshavardhana and
Siladitya. He was the last of the Hindu imperial rulers, and died in 648. There followed another
period of anarchy, during which the whole country was divided into innumerable petty States, chiefly
governed by Rajput rulers.
The White Huns were destroyers and pillagers, but Harsha was anything but that, and he was
fortunate in having a great literary character, Bana, to write up his deeds and prowess for him.
He was also visited by the celebrated Chinese traveller, Hiuen Tsiang. In Indian story Harsha
appears as an accomplished man of letters, as well as their munificent patron, a tireless worker, and a
strong tolerant ruler.
The religious history of this time is best considered from the rise of the Guptas in 319
to the death of Harsha in 648. The Hindu literature is filled with the odium theologicum >
is thoroughly sectarian, undignified and pretentious. It is chiefly marked by an attempt to popularize
Painted Sjieciitlbi for this work.
MAHMUD OF OHA/XI'S LAST SUCCESS, A.D. 1026.
During the last of his fifteen incursions into India Mahmud of Qhazui attacked the Jats on the Chenab off Mtiltan, and inflicted
a crushing defeat on them just before his final return home in 1020. He organized a huge fleet of boats armed with iron s]. ike-
on bow and sides and filled with archers who, in addition to bows and arrows, carried vessels of naphtha. The Jats acted on the
defensive and their fleet was soon broken up and burnt.
152
Story of the Nations
Painted speciaUu for this work.}
SANKARACHARYA TALKS OF THE ONE GOD, A.D. 815.
After the beginning of the eighth century, Hinduism became
deeply affected by a long series of popular reformers. The most
learned of these was Sankaracharya, whose doctrines of a single
impersonal deity and the unreality of this world have guided the
philosophic thought of many educated Hindus ever since.
Burma, Siam, and Java, and through the continent
ment, whose memory is, in consequence, still
green in those regions. The great Nalanda
School of Buddhism in Bihar was founded in
the sixth century, and produced a long array
of important scholars. This period was an
opportunity for Jainism, and its comparative
purity of precept and practice gave it that hold
on the thoughtful mercantile classes which it has
never since lost.
THE RULE OF THE RAJPUT CLANS
(A.D. 648—987)
TAKEN all round, the people now known as the
Rajputs (sons of the chiefs) are not of Aryan
origin, but of various descent, generally foreign,
though sometimes aboriginal ; for during the
many invasions a great number of miscellaneous
tribes from the north and west had settled in
India, each with its ruling family and its "people",
and thus were set up clans held together by a
highly developed sense of chivalry. The same
process has gone on in the case of the more closely
knit and powerful of the aboriginal tribes. By
the seventh century all these had become
thoroughly Hinduized and had adopted the
Hindu law of right conduct (dharma). So the
ruling families were taken into the Aryan
Hindu fold and became Kshatnyas, while the
"people" followed in a gradation of castes
beneath them.
the theory of the three-fold form of the
Absolute in the person of Brahma the
Creator, Vishnu the Preserver, and
Siva the Destroyer ; but it was never really
grasped by the people. At this time, also, the
cult of Krishna as a god came into promi-
nence at Mathura, with all the sensuousness
involved in the legends of his heroic and
amorous exploits as a man, which were
elaborated to capture the masses. It gave
rise afterwards in the tenth century to two
influential popular works, the rhapsodical
"Bhagavata Purana" ("Ancient History of
the Adorable") and the erotic "Gita Govinda"
("Song of the Cowherd or Krishna").
Generally speaking, both Hinduism and
Buddhism steadily became coarser and ap-
proached each other ; but the latter, both in
its pure and debased form, was widely spread
t>y Devoted missionaries east and south to
of Asia to Japan under Harsha's encoura<*e-
Paintcd specially for tfi is work, j
KIRTIVARMAN CHANDELLA VISITS 111-i TKMPLE
AT 1CHAJUKAHU, A.D. 1065.
The sacred place of the great Chandella clan of Rajputs
was Khajurahu in Central India. It was the delight of their
rulers to beautify it with a series of splendidly carved and
ornamented temples; that of Kirtivarman Chandella (1055-
1100), a mighty prince in his day, to the Hindu god Kaudariya
Mahadeva, is one of the finest.
••• 7
I'aiittctl specially for this wwfc.l
RAMANUJA CONTEMPLATING HIS PHILOSOPHY OF THE ONE PERSONAL GOD, A.D. 1100.
The doi'tilncs of the reformer Sankaracharya held undisputed sway over India for throe centuries until the rise of another
great Vnishimva teacher, liaumimja (1070-1127), also a South Indian. He toned down his predecessor's philosophy by preaching
a mod'fled inunimn (visishthadvaita) which became very popular, and practically brought about the still prevalent worship of n
- personal God (Vishnu) in combination with that of images.
154
Story of the Nations
The number of petty tribal states
created by the Rajputs, some of
which have survived to the present
day, was very great, but only a few
were able to enlarge their boundaries
to any extent. Thus there were
still Guptas in Bihar in the seventh
century. At the beginning of the
ninth the Palas of Bengal held sway
also over Bihar, and had Oudh in
their power, while towards the end
of it the Parihars of K a n a u j
(Panchala) on the Ganges set up an
empire for a time of almost the same
extent as Harsha's. The Chandellas
of Jejakabhukti (Bundelkhand) and
the Kalachuris of Chedi, to the south
of the Kanauj kingdom and the
Jumna river, were important general
ruling races about A.D. 1000, when
the Muhammadan irruptions seriously
began to affect Hindu India.
THE MUHAMMADAN CONQUESTS
(A.D. 987—1193)
As far back as 712, and within a
century of the death of Muhammad,
the Arabs had invaded Sind from
Mekran along the shores of the Indian
Ocean, and overthrown the ruler
and established a Muhammadan
kingdom there. Nearly three cen-
turies later, in 987, Amir Sabuktigin
of Ghazni in Afghanistan originally
a slave, began to raid the Panjab,
invading the territory of Jaipal of
Lahore, and after varying fortunes of war a great combination of Rajput chiefs was routed somewhere in
the mountains of the Khaibar Pass. In 997 Sabuktigin died, and his son, the famous Mahmud of Ghazni,
the first Musalman chief to take the title of Sultan, vowed a holy war (jihad) against the idolaters of
India, and invaded it some fifteen times between A.D. 1000 and 1026. He died in 1030, having
retained only the province of Lahore out of all the regions he had overrun. His dynasty lasted on
after a fashion till the last unworthy representative was expelled from Lahore in 1186 by Shahabu'ddin
of Ghor, near Herat, also known to history as Muhammad-bin-Sam and Sultan Mu'izzu'ddin, under
whom the Muhammadan conquest of Northern India was effected in 1193. It is a mistake to suppose
that Mahmud of Ghazni was merely a wild, ruthless destroyer. Fanaticism and greed no doubt induced
him to raid, but he lived a magnificent life, was a great builder, and a noted entertainer of Muhammadan
poets and men of learning. To his munificence in this direction Persian epic poetry owes the
'Shahnama" ("Story of the Kings") of Firdusi, and Orientalists the important "Memoir on India"
of Albiruni, the mathematician and astronomer, who accompanied him in his Indian expeditions.
At his death all India east of the Panjab was still Hindu, and for the century and a half ot peace
irom without between that event and the advent of Shahabu'ddin Ghori, it was ruled as before by Rajput
fainted specially for thie work.'i
WORSHIP AT KARLI IN THE DAYS OF CHRIST A.D 20.
One of the finest Buddhist Cave Shrines eyer erected in India is that of
K-i r'i between Poona and Bombay on the top of the Bhor Ghat mountains
separating the Dcccan plateau from the Konkan plains on the sea-coast.
It dates from the second century B.C. and is in excellent preservation. It has
a most remarkable roof of wooden beams still in good order under the real roof
of natural rock.
India
155
chiefs, who lived in fine palaces with splendidly appointed Courts, built large and beautiful temples, and
entertained men of Hindu letters and learning, laid the foundations of the vernacular literatures by
encouraging bards, and fought one another endlessly. Of these Bhoja, the Pawar of Dhara in Malwa,
Jaichand (Jayacchandra), the Gaharwar of Kanauj, and the warlike Chauhan, Prithiviraja (Rai Pith5ra)
of Delhi and Ajmer, have become famous in legend ; the first as the model ruler and patron of Sanskrit
literature and the two latter for their stand against the invaders. Anangapala, the Tomara of Delhi,
in 736, built the temple there, out of which the Mosque near the famous Kutab Minar was afterwards
constructed by the Musalmans. The Palas of Bengal remained Buddhists at Munger and Bihar till the
last days of their rule, and sent missionaries into Tibet to try to purify their faith as followed in that
country.
The death of Harsha in 648 marked a great change in the religion of the Hindus. Buddhism began
to disappear in India and to make way for the modern Hinduism, which differs much from the old
original Brahmanism. The ancient sacrifices were replaced by worship at the temples and festivals
celebrated in private houses, and many new divinities from aboriginal sources were absorbed from the
new castes, along with processions, shows and dramatic representations. Siva and Vishnu still remained
supreme, and their worship had many points in common, but with this difference, Siva was now
generally represented by the phallic emblem and Vishnu by images. A new theory had, however,
by this time been introduced. The gods came to be looked on as inaccessible, and each to be
represented by his sakti (energy) or wife, who acted for him, and was approachable by mankind. This
gave rise to a new sect, the Saktas, which soon divided into two groups, called the right and left hand
who, respectively in a respectable and an immoral manner, worshipped Kali as the emanation of Siva
of the phallic emblem. Their manuals were called tantra (the looms), and the Tantrika Schools thus set
up spread widely, especially in Tibet, where they still exist.
Concurrently with all this, the doctrine of bhakti or taith made great strides, and was the
Painferl SftccinUi/ for tin'* trork.
THE LAST STAND OF THE RAJPUTS AGAINST THE MUHA.MMADANS IN 111)-.' A.I)
1'rithivirai (Raj Pithora) of Ajmer and Delhi, the greatest warrior among the Rajput chiefs and hero of the escapade with
Raja Jaichand's daughter at Kanauj in 1175, met the conqueror Muhammad Ghori twice at Tarain, near Thancsar. In the
Panjab. In 1191 he defeated and wounded Muhammad Ghori. who. however returned in 1192 and utterly routed, captured and
executed him.
156
Story of the Nations
foundation of the disputations of ascetic reforming Acharyas, or spiritual guides, who appeared about
A.D. 700 as the heads of schools of thought. Their procedure was to comment on the old sacred
books relating to revelation and tradition. The greatest of them was Sankara (Sankaracharya,
780-820), who commented on the Vedanta philosophy, teaching to the effect that this system
advocated an unqualified monism (advaita], while at the same time he accepted the doctrine of the
incarnations of Vishnu. In this way the worship of a single personal God was combined with that of
images. His doctrine prevailed until noo, when Ramanuja, a great teacher of the South, challenged it,
and produced a modified monism, together with the doctrines of faith and surrender to God
Painifd speciallti for this work,}
ARRIVAL OF THE JEWISH PILGRIMS AT COCHIN, A.D. 68.
Jewish refugees settled along the Western coasts of India at various early dates, mostly traditional. The largo Jewish
colonies at Cochin and elsewhere on the Malabar or Western coast of South India claim an origin in the migration of 10,000
families in A.D. 68 direct from Palestine itself, during the troubles which led to the destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersal of
the Jews under the Roman Emperor Vespasian.
The temples, such as Hindu at Khajurahu and Jain at Mount Abu, raised at this period were splendid
and elaborately decorated with sculptures, but occasionally these were very indecent. The main social
outcome of the times was the burning of widows with the bodies of their husbands. Such widows became
sati (suttee), or holy women, a term commonly applied to this form of suicide itself.
SOUTHERN HINDU INDIA
IOOO B.C. — A.D. 1563
BEFORE THE ARYAN DOMINATION (lOOO — 232 B.C.)
SOUTHERN INDIA, as distinguished from the Northern, may be said to commence with the Narbada river
as its Northern boundary, but it has always consisted of two main divisions : the Deccan (Dakhan),
158
Story of the Nations
Painted specially for this work.}
CUTTING AN INSCRIPTION AT VATAPI, A.D. 578.
Mangalisvara Chalukhya caused a well-known in-
scription to be cut in 578 on a pilaster in the veranda
of one ot the famous caves at Badarai.
colonizing. The Aryan
immigrants brought their
religions of the day with
them : the old Brahman-
ism, and then, in due
course, Buddhism and
Jainism. These by de-
grees so entirely super-
seded the original faith
of the Dravidians that it
disappeared altogether
in the case of the edu-
cated classes. However,
what the Dravidian faith
originally was is still
apparent in the ubiqui-
tous "devil-worship" of
the uneducated in the
south, which is primitive
Animism, or belief in
spirits that can harm and
hence have to be pro-
pitiated by ceremonies,
in which ecstatic dancing
which meant "the South" to the Aryans, extending
as far as the Krishna river, and the real South beyond
that boundary to Cape Comorin (Kumari, Kumari).
In the days before dates the whole country was held
by powerful Dravidian tribes of much civilization of
their own, and for historical purposes it must be further
divided up : the Deccan into Maharashtra, Maratha
Land, on the west, and Telingana, Telugu Land, on
the east. South of the Krishna to the Tungabudra
river the country was occupied in chief by tribes allied
to the Telugus, and the extreme south by the great
Dravidian race of the Tamils.
The Aryans entered the Deccan in the sixth cen-
tury B.C. and colonized Berar (Vidarbha) and Kalinga
(East Coast). In a hundred years they were sufficiently
numerous to have a social law-book of their own, the
Code of Apasthamba. The principal city was
Pratisthana (Paithan) on the Godavari, with Bharu-
kaccha (Bharoch, Broach) as the trading port to the
west. The tribes whom the Aryans found to be in
occupation were the Telugus under Andhra rulers on
the east and the Rattas (Rashtrakutas, Marathas) on
the west. The country immediately to the south of
the Deccan, however, still remained chiefly in the
various occupation of a number of tribes driven there
by the Aryans from the north, and of the same general
descent as the then existing Dravidians. In the
extreme south the Tamils always held their own, and
there the Aryans never penetrated to the extent of
Painted speciallii for this work.]
A SINGHALESE KAIL) INTO SOUTHERN INDIA A.D. 1175.
The territories of the Pandyas and the Cheras, two ancient dynasties in the extreme south
of India, were constantly the prey of neighbouring rulers, and in 1 1 7 !> the strong King of Ceylon
Parakramabahu, invaded an 1 overran the Pandyan kingdom.
India
159
takes a prominent place The southern peoples had advanced in civilization quite as far as the Aryans
when the latter came amongst them. Indeed, if anything, they had progressed further. There was
a very early over-sea trade, both to the east and the west.
The Jewish king, Solomon, received continuous consignments of valuables from the Malabar Coast
as early as the beginning of the tenth century B.C., and the China sea-trade of Babylon went by way
of the Dravidian coast towns down to the sixth century B.C. This maritime commerce was kept up later
on, through the centuries, with the Persians, Greeks, and Romans, as each in turn became supreme in
the western parts of Asia.
Painted specially for fftis work. }
VIKUAJMANKA CHALUKHYA SENDS A FRIENDLY LETTER TO KULOTTUNUA CHOLA
Fortunately 1'or the Southern portions of India, there reigned for many years respectively in the Deccan and in South India
proper two powerful contemporary monarchs, Vikramanka (Vikramaditya VI) Chalukhya (lOTG-ll-'T), and Kulottunga Chola
(1070—1118), who kept the peace towards each other. Literature and architecture and the arts of peace generally flourished
ereatly, and many a fine ruin of to-day dates from that period.
THE HINDU DECCAN (237 B.C. — A.D. 1325)
DATED history in the Deccan commences practically with the death of the great Mauryan emperor Asoka,
in 237 B.C., when Buddhism and Jainism were in the ascendant. It is very complicated, because the
country was always anybody's land, open to the rule of the strongest for the time being. It is, however,
necessary to know the outlines in order to understand historical allusions and the conditions obtaining
in modern times
The Andhras made themselves independent of the Mauryans under a dynasty known as the Satakarnis
(Satavahana), which managed to keep its head above water till A.D. 236. In the two centuries about
the birth of Christ they were an important power, and held practically all the Deccan and the remains
of the Mauryan Empire as well. The inscriptions they left behind them enable us to reconstruct the
i6o
Story of the Nations
Kuilv Indian Jewellery.
Early Indian Jewellery.
conditions under which the people lived Architects
and sculptors were obviously highly skilled. Through-
out the Deccan trade-routes were kept open, travelling
was comparatively safe, trade and industrial guilds
abounded which looked after charitable endowments,
and large seaports and trading centres existed under
their own municipal government. The Satakarni
Dynasty impartially allowed the Brahmans, Budd-
hists, and Jains to follow their respective religions
side by side.
At first Buddhism was much the most
prosperous, and it is to the early Andhra period
(220 B.C.-A.D. 100) that India owes some of its most
magnificent cave temples, at Karli, between Poona and Bombay, and at other places.
On the north-west of the Deccan proper lie Kathiawar (Saurashtra) and Gujarat (Gurjararashtra), the
country of the Gujars (Gurjara), a people that early immigrated into India from the north-wesi. Their
dated history commences in the third century B.c , when they succumbed to the Mauryans. Then
came the Baktrians, Parthians, and Cakas (Scythians), as rulers with their foreign Governors or
Satraps, who warred with the Andhras incessantly, and were finally beaten by Gautamiputra Satakarni
in A.D.I26.
But on the decline of the Andhra power the descendants of Chastana, a C. aka governor set up by Gaut-
amiputra, who had become Hindus, made themselves independent under the title of Mahakshatrapa (Great
Satraps). Their ascendency lasted till it was overthrown by the mighty Gupta Emperor, Chandragupta
Vikramaditya, in 388. It produced one important ruler, Rudradaman (A.D. 150-161), who governed
a large extent of country on the West Coast from Gujarat to the Konkan. The Guptas did not stay long
and after them came the White Huns, and then, in 495, a Gujar chief set up a great dynasty at Valabhi,
near Cambay in Kathiawar, which with much trouble remained there and in Gujarat till 766, when it
was destroyed by Arab Musalman invaders, and its descendants became the Sisodhias of Mewar (Udaipur)
the premier Rajput chiefs of to-day. Finally, when the Muhammadans came as permanent conquerors-
in 1296, Gujarat was in the hands of the Baghela Rajputs. The Mahakshatrapas were strong Hindus for
political reasons, but they did not interfere with the allied faiths in the Deccan. The Valabhi kings were
Hindus from the beginning and they behaved with equally praiseworthy forbearance. About the same
time as the Qaka Mahakshatrapas were rising in Gujarat, another foreign tribe of Parthians, the Pallavas-
(Pahlavas), penetrated
into Southern India and
became Hindus for the
sake of politics, but to
their credit they never
persecuted the other
faiths.
By constant warring
they upset everything in
the Deccan for 350 years.
Their capitals were Kan-
chipuram (Conjeveram)
and Vatapipura (Badami)
in the South Maratha
country. The Rashtra-
kutas (Marathas) resisted
them persistently but
unsuccessfully until 525,
when the Chalukhyas,
Solanki Rajputs from the
/?)/ permission of] [the Secretary of State for i
THE RUINS OF THE KAILASA.
This, the most astounding of the many Hindu rock-cut
temples, is in the Deccan at Ellora, and was finished under
the Kashtrakute, king Krishna I in A.D. 760. It is cut out
of the solid rock
north, dislodged them
and drove them south.
From that time forward
for two hundred years,
till 747, there was war
between the Pallavas and
the Chalukhyas with-
varying success.
The Chalukhyas pro-
duced one of the great
rulers of India in Puli-
kesin II (Satyasraya,
609-642), almost exactly
contemporary with the
remarkable Northern
Emperor Harsha, whom
he kept in check on the
Narbada in and after 620.
He had a checkered but
most important career.
MAURYAN INDIA, ASOKA'S EMPIRE, 260 B.C.
INDIA IN THE SECOND CENTURY A.D.
THE LAST PHASE OF ANCIENT INDIA, A.D. 350-750
MEDIEVAL HINDU INDIA, A.D. 750-1200.
MAPS OF INDIA FROM 260 B.C. TO A.D. 1200.
l62
Story of the Nations
and by 630 was by far the most powerful sovereign in the south, but in 642 he was nevertheless killed
in defending his own capital from the Pallava king, Narasinghavarman. The Chalukhya power was,
however, restored by his son and lasted on till 747.
The wars of the Pallavas made the conditions of life much rougher than in the Andhra days as regards
trade, but industries and arts at any rate did not decline, as is proved by the paintings in the Ajanta
Caves, and the rock-cut temples and caves at Ellora near Aurangabad, constructed under the Chalukhyas,
and by their buildings generally. Pulikesin II lived in magnificent state and kept up a well-equipped and
trained army, and was, in fact, so famous in his day that the Arab writers of the time knew of him, and
so great a monarch as the Sassanid king Chosroes II (Khusru Parvez, 590-628) thought it worth while
to send an embassy which reached him in 625. It has been pointed out that the temples cut out of solid
rock, so as to stand both in the open and in caves, were not architectural freaks, but the result of a
deliberate policy which combined cheapness, as skilled labour was then paid, with impressiveness on
the populace.
In 747 the last Chalukhya was overthrown by a Rashtrakuta (Maratha) vassal, Dantidurga, who
founded a truly warlike dynasty, which at one time extended its boundaries from the Kaveri river to
Malwa in the north. They were in power till 982, when they were overthrown by a descendant of the
Chalukhyas. This proceeding has caused some historical confusion, for in the days of the great Pulikesin,
his brother and viceroy at Vengi, on the east coast, became independent and founded there, in 615, an
important separate dynasty lasting on till 1070, or for more than four hundred years. This is now known
as the Eastern Chalukhyas, and so the new dynasty of 982 with the same descent, which ruled from
Painted specially for this work. ]
THE DEFEAT OF PULIKESIN II CHALUKHYA BY MAHAMALLA PALLAVA AT BADAMI, A.D. (ili.
In the second century a Western Asian tribe known as the Pallavas established itself as a ruling race in the East and South of
India where for many centuries it carried on an incessant struggle with its neighbours. The great Chalukliyan King, Pulikesin II
inflicted many defeats on them, but in his old age Narasinghavarman, or Mahamulla Pallava, an important ruler, overthrew him in.
642, and for a short time the Pallavas were supreme in the Chalukhyan dominions.
India
163
Painted specially lor this wnrk,\
RAJARAJA CHOLA INSPECTS THE BAS-RELIEF OF HIS EXPLOITS AT TANJORE, A.D. 995.
One of the most famous of the South Indian kings was Chola, Rajaraja the Great (ace. 985), who spent the first seven years of
his reign in the rapid expansion of his dominions by carefully prepared campaigns, and the last fourteen years in an equally careful
consolidation of his extended territories. He was a great builder, the Subraraanya Temple at Tanjorc being his chief architectural
achievement. Part of its elaborate. ornamentation consisted of a series of scenes of his military performances
Kalyana on the west coast, has been called the Later Chalukhyas. It existed till 1200, producing some
remarkable personages.
In these times the Deccan was constantly troubled by incursions of Tamils, notably under the great
Chola king, Rajaraja (died 1016). A successor who reigned from 1070 to 1118, Kulottunga, the con-
temporary of another long-reigned monarch, the Later Chalukhya Vikramanka (1076-1128), kept the
peace, and between them these wise rulers allowed the arts of peace to flourish greatly in the south.
Literature became important and very many fine buildings arose, while under the Eastern Chalukhyas
of Vengi Telugu vernacular literature received a great impetus.
During this period Buddhism gradually and peacefully gave way to Hinduism without ill-treatment
of any consequence. Jainism was, however, for a short period less fortunate. Bijjala, a Jain viceroy of
part of the Chalukhya Kingdom, usurped the supreme power about 1163, and left the effects of his rule
all over Southern India to this day. His minister, Basava, was a fanatical Hindu and promulgated an
erotic Saiva creed, whereby his followers were enjoined to wear a small phallus (lingam) as a symbolic
article of costume, and he bitterly persecuted the Jains. On this question he and his master came to
blows and disposed of each other, but Basava's sect still exists in numbers as the Lingayats.
After the deaths of the two strong contemporaries, the usual anarchy occurred, out of which emerged
certain local dynasties : the Hoysala-Ballala of Dwarasamudra (Halebld) in Mysore, and in the Deccan
the Yadavas of Devagiri (Daulatabad), and the Kakatiyas of Ekasilapuri (Warangal). These were the
kingdoms that the Muhammadans found on their inroads into the south, and overcame between 1309
164
Story of the Nations
and 1325. They were not small people, and were as wonderful builders, and lived in as great state, as
any of the other dynasties of the time.
THE FURTHEST SOUTH (350 B.C. — A.D. 1563)
FROM all known time there were three ruling powers in Tamil Land, or true Southern India, ever con-
tending for supremacy : the Pandyas in the extreme south, the Cheras on the Malabar Coast, and the
Cholas of the Kaveri catchment area. They are heard of by name historically from 350 B.C. By A.D. 150
KfLOTTUNGA CHOLA INSTRUCTS HIS SURVEYORS, A.I). 1086.
Hujaraja Chola of Southern India (died 1016) and his equally great descendant Kulottunga Chola spent much of tholrtimciii
camping about the country. Rajaraja instituted a revenue survey of his dominions, and in 1086 Kulottunura carried one out on an
extensive scale in the same year as William the Conqueror in England.
their internecine struggles admitted the Hinduized Parthian Pallavas to power at Kanchipuram
(Conjeveram), and for seven hundred and fifty years these foreigners fought the powers in the Deccan
at intervals with very varying success, and struggled with rebellions at home, especially in Mysore, where
the local dynasties gave trouble continuously. Early in the tenth century Parantaka Chola (907-947),
of Uraiyur near Trichinopoly, finally overthrew the Pallavas, and a century later Rajaraja Chola (985-
1016) conquered the whole of Southern India. His work was consolidated by the great ruler Kulottunga
Chola, who reigned beneficently for over forty years (1070-1118). After him there was much anarchy,
till the Muhammadans, under Malik Kafur, made confusion worse confounded in 1310 by falling on
Southern India and establishing at Madura, the Pandya capital of the extreme south, Muhammadan
governors who stayed there till 1358. The constant raiding of Hindus on each other and the horrors of
From original* in Indian Section., OIUECTS OF INDIAN ART \yictoria and Albert Museum.
Reading from left to right the objects are : Illuminated tempera painting, early 18th century : blue and white Delhi jar and
cover, 18th century ; fine printed cotton fabric, Madras, 18th century ; silver-gilt enamelled betel-box, Lucknow, 17th century ;
carved crystal toilet-tray, formerly jewelled, Delhi. 10th or 17th century ; Kashmiri lacquered spinning-wheel, early 10th century ;
Khatmandu censer, Nepal, 19th century ; Mogu jewelled jade box, Delhi, about 1600 ; jewelled jade crook-head, about 1600;
steotype carving, Gandhara influence, Kashmir, fith century ; copper and brass ewer, 1819, Yarkand ; gold damascened steel
helmet Lahore, about 1700 ; tunic worn over chain mail by Rajput horseman, 17th century ; carved crystal bowl, Delhi, abont
1600 ; round bidri-work vase late 17th century : inlaid marble column, Mogul, Delhi, early 17th century ; cabinet, sbisham wood
inlaid with engraved ivory, Hoshiarpur, late 17th century : gold necklace, Bombay, 19th century : a so in centre, Delhi jewelled
piece, 17th century, and pendant, Mogul 17th century beneath, left, Delhi forehead pendant, gold and jewels 18th century
right, Jaipur enamelled gold pendant, about 1800 : Travancore curved ivory casket. 17th century.
1 66
Story of the Nations
the Muhammadan conquest brought
about the curious effect of raising up
a great Hindu kingdom, in 1336, at
Vijayanagara (Bijanagar), on the
Tungabudra, by two refugees claim-
ing royal descent from both the
Yadavas and the Hoysalas. This
kingdom lived on till 1565, when its
last arrogant ruler was overthrown
by a Muhammadan combination
from the Deccan at the famous
battle of Talikota, and its splendid
capital destroyed for ever. The
Vijayanagara rulers conducted their
government in an even more mag-
nificent style than their predecessors.
Theirs was the great Bisnaga king-
dom of the Portuguese, and its repre-
sentatives at Vengi lasted in indepen-
dence after its overthrow long
enough to grant the si te of the modern
Madras to Francis Day in 1639.
In a very rapid survey covering
nearly two thousand years the his-
tory of the Furthest South reads
like a tale of continuous anarchy and
war for all that period ; but such an
impression would give an entirely
incorrect idea of the Dravidian
peoples at any time. As early as
the first century A.D. Tamil had
become already so universal and so
polished a literary tongue that
Tiruvallavar, a low-caste weaver of
Mylapore (Madras), could produce
the Rural, a book of moral distichs
of so high a quality as to be a delight
to the readers of the present day,
and in the centuries that followed some of the finest Tamil poems were produced. At the same time,
the Tamils were no mean builders and carvers in stone, as is attested by the rock-cut Hindu buildings
at Mamallapuram (the Seven Pagodas, south of Madras) in the fourth century A.D. and by the Buddhist
tope at Amaravati on the Krishna in that following, and many another fine temple in the South. The
fighting Hindu Pallavas were great builders. One of them, Mahamalla (625-645), the Narasinghavarman
who slew the great Pulikesin II, so added to the Seven Pagodas that the place was named after him.
It was under their rule, which favoured Vaishnavas and Saivas alike, that Jainism and Buddhism gave
way before Hinduism in the Furthest South : Buddhism altogether, and Jainism also except in Mysore
and the West. Many stately buildings were erected, and Tamil literature was greatly enriched by a
remarkable series of hymns, some of which were Jain.
The great Chola conqueror Rajaraja spent the last fourteen years of his reign in attending to the
administration and architecture of his dominions, including the erection of the temple at Tanjore, the
finest example of the Tamil style. Soon after his accession, he showed remarkable administrative capacity
by causing a revenue survey to be made of his kingdom ^ The whole of the long reign of his equally great
successor Kulottunga was devoted to the national progress in days of peace, and in 1086, the year of the
I'aintt-il s/
THE MURDER OF MUHAMMAD GHORI, A.D. 120B.
The great Muhammad Ghori, the conqueror of Northern India and first Sultan
of Delhi, when journeying to Ghaznifrom Lahore had pitched his tent "on the bank
of a pure stream in a garden filled w.th lil'Ci, and jasmines". He was at his evening
prayers, when some fanatical Muhammadan sectaries rushed up "like the wind
towards His Majesty", and killed him and his attendants
India
167
Domesday survey of William the Conqueror, he carried out a revenue survey of all his dominions. He
also performed another most remarkable act by abolishing internal customs duties and the trade tolls
between the constituent parts of his empire, which the people hated. Apart from these two extraordinary
men the Cholas were, on the whole, enthusiastic builders and good administrators. In war or peace they
issued their orders themselves to secretaries, who communicated them to viceroys of provinces, which
were each divided into districts, all under a great body of executive officers, and very careful records were
maintained. Taxes, paid in gold or in kind, were very numerous, but the main source of revenue was the
land-tax, assessed not on individuals, but on villages as a whole, which were each controlled by a com-
mittee working under very precise regulations. Roads and irrigation works, some of them on a large
scale, were maintained. The Cholas, though themselves Hindus, were tolerant of others, except for a
short period after Kulottunga, when there was a persecution of the Jains and of the followers of the
reformed Hindu doctrines of Ramanuja.
Between the fifth and seventh centuries A.D., during the time of the formation of modern Hinduism
in Northern India, an important religious movement arose in the South, which had a remarkable effect
on the whole future of that religion there. Wandering religious bards of various castes, known as the
Alwars and Adiyars, preached respectively a popular Vaishnavism and Saivism by means of. beautiful
lyrical verse, offering salvation to all. At the end of the eighth century rose the great Sankaracharya, as
famous in the North as in the South, and propounded his doctrine of a single God, and about noo came
the equally influential Ramanuja, with his modification of his predecessor's teaching, which turned Vishnu
into a personal God. In the thirteenth century Ramanuja's followers split up into the Vadagalai and
Tengalai sects, who differed on the question of divine grace, holding it respectively to be the result of
t for this work.]
DEATH OF THE SLAVE KING, KUTBU'DDIN AIBAK OF DELHI, A.D. 1210.
The first "Slave King" of Delhi (1206-1210) was Kutbu'ddin Aibak, a shrewd and energetic prince and a great builder. His
end was tragically sudden, as he was killed by a fall from his horse, which fell on him and crushed him, while playing a game of
rltitmjiin (polo) in a. field outside the city.
i68
Story of the Nations
co-operation, the combined action of God and man, and of surrender, the irresistible influence of God
on man.
THE MUHAMMADAN SOVEREIGNTY (A.D. 1193-1774)
BEFORE THE MUGHAL EMPIRE (1193-1526)
FROM the time that Shahabu'ddin Ghori and his lieutenants over-
ran Northern India, the whole country as far south as the Krishna
River may be said to have known no peace at all for three hundred
and fifty years : not, indeed, until the days of the great Mughal
Emperor Akbar, and even then only in a distinctly modified form.
In Shahabu'ddin "Ghori's 'time it was just conquest piecemeal with
awful bloodshed and misery, resulting in the abandonment by Rajput
chiefs of their holdings in Northern India, and their departure to
various points in the hills and rough country of Rajputana and
Central India, in many parts of which their descendants still rule
locally under British suzerainty.
One proof of the kind of life that the early Muhammadan
rulers themselves had to lead lies in the fact that it was in their
days that the lingua franca arose which has since become the
great Hindustani language. It is based on Western Hindi, the
language around Delhi, with a free admixture of Arabic and Persian
forms. Its proper name is Urdu Zaban, or the language of the camp
(urdu).
After the death of the conqueror in 1206 there arose a curious dynasty,
possible only in the social conditions that have obtained in the Western
and Central Asiatic countries from all time, where slavery has borne a
complexion very different from that commonly given it by stay-at-home
Englishmen of the present day. The great military leader to whose
capacity the conquest of Northern India was chiefly due was Kutbu'ddin
HI/ permission oft (The Secretary of State for India.
THE KUTAB MINAR, NEAR DELHI, A.D. 1230.
The thirst Miilmiiunadan tower in India is that known as the Kutab Minar (tower), near Delhi. ]t was crertr.l by shamsu'ddin
lltutmish, the third of the "Slaye Kings" of Delhi (1211-1236), and obtained Its name from the shrine of Kutub'ddin Ushi a
Mubammadan saint, which i» close by.
fainted
THE END OF THE BUDDHIST -MONKS, A.D. 1193.
By the time Muhammad Ohori overran Northern India and founded Muhamiuadan rule, the only princes still protect In*
Buddhism \V*TI- the I'alas of Bengal, whose capital was Hihar. One of the invading generals, Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khilji, boldly
attiickcd liihar with a few followers, whereon the 1'ala kinsr lied and left the monks to their fate. Most of them were slaiiKht'-n-.l.
and Huddhism finally disappeared from India. Their sucred books, which no one left behind could read, much pu/./led the
conqueror from the Wi-st.
170
Story of the Nations
Aibak, a Turkoman, bought as a
slave by Shahabu'ddm Ghori, and
still legally a slave, although com-
mander-in-chief, when his nominal
owner died. Kutbu'ddin Aibak, soon
after his master's death, made himself
the first Sultan of Delhi, and it is
noteworthy that several of his con-
temporaries with whom he set up
close alliances, matrimonial, social
and other, were military chiefs and
lords in Sind, Bihar, and other
provinces, and at the same time
technically slaves of the great Sha-
habu'ddin Ghori. One of them was
Shamsu'ddln Iltutmish, a Turkoman
and Governor of Bihar, who practic-
ally succeeded Kutbu'ddin Aibak as
Sultan. Later on, Ghiyasu'ddin
Balban, yet another prominent man
of the same class, after long acting as
prime minister, seized the throne and
became an important monarch. But
with his effete grandson this odd
dynasty of "slave kings" came to an
end after existing for about eighty
years, and gave way to the Turko-
man Dynasty of the Khiljis in 1290.
It produced one remarkable woman,
Raziyatu'ddin, who was a capable
ruler from Delhi on behalf of an
incompetent brother for a short time
after 1236.
The days of the "slave kings"
were no doubt days of horror in
many respects, but remarkable acts
of peace were nevertheless, per-
formed under their able direction.
Ghiyasu'ddin Balban, for instance, was a conspicuous patron of Persian literature, and the beginning
of the "Indian practice" of that language (Muhawara-i-Hind) is due to the men of letters who flourished
under him.
However inexcusable the many cruelties perpetrated by the members of this dynasty may have
been, their destructive zeal was due to fanaticism. It was a duty to God, in the eyes of the early Muham-
madan invaders, to abolish all images and all temples and institutions of any religion not after their own
pattern. With them the long days of toleration, which had so distinguished the rulers of India, disappeared.
But the world owes the celebrated tower near Delhi, known as the Kutab Minar, to Shamsu'ddin Iltutmish,
and to Kutbu'ddin Aibak the foundations of the great mosque beside it, which he built out of the beautiful
Hindu temples erected by Anangpala six hundred years previously, producing a blend of Muhammadan
style with Hindu construction that is not only striking in its comeliness, but invaluable to the history of
modern Indian architecture. Wherever the lieutenants of these rulers went they erected and endowed
mosques, colleges, and other religious institutions, whilst destroying every existing thing of the kind
that was Hindu and stood in their way. Hindu learning came to a standstill for a long while, and Budd-
hism disappeared for good in the very first year of the conquest, 1193, when Bakhtiyar Khilji, one of the
intftl specially for this work.}
THE LAST ACT OF MALIK NAIB KAFUU, A.D. 1316.
In the course of an extraordinary career, a Hindu eunuch slave became the
renegade Muhammadan favourite of 'Alan'ddin Khilji of Delhi, on whose behalf
he executed a wonderful series of raids into Southern India which are still remem-
bered. He then became 'Alau'ddin's Minister, and on his death controlled the
country as an atrocious tyrant. One night on retiring to rest he took a sword
from an attendant, flourished it wildly and cave it back, whereon he was at
once run through and killed
India
171
•generals of Shahabu'ddln Ghori, took Bihar, and brought to a pathetic end the last monastery of Buddhist
monks there, which was still flourishing under the patronage of the Pala Dynasty of Bengal.
The Khilji Dynasty was short-lived, lasting only thirty years, but it did great things nevertheless, and
•was represented by at least two remarkable men who made history : the fanatical, cruel, arbitrary and
yet capable 'Alau'ddin Khilji, who in 1294 made the first successful attempt to extend the Muhammadan
power southwards, and the energetic slave Malik Kaffir, who was a military commander of high capacities
and overran the Deccan in South India to the great enrichment of himself and his master. In Malik
Kafur's career the political possibilities of Oriental life are again prominently brought to notice. He was
a Hindu renegade and a eunuch, the first of many such to rise to great social heights and to become a
leader and administrator of consequence in both military and civil life. In 1320, the Khiljis were succeeded
by the Tughlaks, who came of a mixed, high-class Turkoman slave and Hindu descent, were governors of
the Panjab, and were placed on the throne by nobles rebelling against the Khiljis. They lasted ninety
years and produced a remarkably capable but unbalanced ruler in Muhammad Tughlak, who reigned for
twenty-six years (1325-1351), and has been described as "learned, merciless, religious and mad". He
•certainly tried some wonderful schemes. Without any adequate cause, and for a time only, he moved the
•capital seven hundred miles from Delhi to Deogiri in the Deccan, to which he gave the name of Daulatabad,
forcing the people of Delhi to migrate first there and then back again. He grossly misapplied his armies
•on vainglorious expeditions, where they suffered unspeakable hardships and accomplished nothing. He
tried to oblige his people to accept
copper and brass tokens as silver
•coins, and issued a stamped leather
note currency without any bullion
support behind it ; schemes which
•not even his vengeance when opposed
could make to succeed. He com-
mitted wholesale massacre on alto-
gether insufficient provocation and
finally he ruined his kingdom. All
the while his own opinion of himself
was that he was a perfectly just ruler
and that to obey him was to obey
•God. But the most remarkable
thing about him is that he died
from natural disease undisturbed
in his bed, thus proving the awe
in which his mad abilities kept those
about him. This man of contra-
dictions was eloquent of speech,
sober and moral in his life, an ac-
complished scholar in Arabic, Per-
sian and Greek philosophy and
learning of all kinds, and conspicu-
ously brave. Fortunately for India
he was succeeded by his cousin, Firoz
Shah Tughlak, a man of peaceful
ways and lofty character, who
•reigned for thirty-seven years (1351-
1388).
Under the earlier Khiljis the
times were no doubt hard, and to
make matters worse at the beginning
of their ascendancy there occurred
in 1291 one of those memorable
''ih:lifl sfuriatljt for this ""/•/,•.
MUHAMMAD TUOHLAK
ORDERS
SILVER,
ins
A.D.
II R ASS
1330.
COIN'S TO PASS VOK
Muhammad Tughlak, who reigned at Delhi fiom 1325 to 1351, was the author
of many curious schemes. One of those was an attempt to force the people to
accept, as silver, copper and brass money, on which he had engraved : 'Ho who
obeys the King, truly ho obeys God". The penalty of refusal was death, but tno
measure ignominiously failed nevertheless.
172
Story of the Nations
-X^
Painting in Ajanta Caves, about A.D.
500, showing head decoration and
eonch shell used as a musical instru-
ment.
unstable but scholarly Muham-
mad Tughlak the literature of
Islam naturally flourished in
all its branches. His successor,
Firoz Shah Tughlak, was a born
builder and engineer, and spent
all his long reign in constructing
an adequate capital, Firozabad,
near Delhi, where to this day is
to be found in Firoz Shah's
Lit (pillar) a famous specimen
of one of Asoka's inscribed iron
pillars (stambha), which he re-
moved from Ambala. But he
did a much greater service to
his country in creating a system
of canals from the Jumna to
general famines that have peri-
odically devastated India from
all time, and this one, of course,
fell with full severity on the un-
fortunate Hindus. But like the
"slave kings", both the Khiljis
and the Tughlaks liked to show
their capacity for the works
of peace and employed the
treasure wrung elsewhere from
the Hindus in enlarging and
beautifying their capital at Delhi,
and even the wild 'Alau'ddin
Khilji, who amongst his
other disqualifications for un-
controlled power was illiterate,
essayed unsuccessfully to imitate
the Kutab Minar. Under the
From oritftnaia in Indian
The copper seal of the Warden of
the Frontier of Srivadra. A.U. 6th or 7th
century.
Jumna -Sntk-j canal, a magnificent work
constructed l>y Firoz Shah Tughlak
(A.D. 1351-1388), one of the greatest
administrators India ever had.
by the Mongol nomad tribes,
who had united under a single
ruler, usually known as Chinghiz
Khan. Called by the Indians
Mughals and by the English
Moguls, these tribes began to
worry North India in the days of
the "slave kings", and while
the capable Khiljis were in power
they raided incessantly but in-
effectively, some of them settling
as Muhammadans at Mughalpur
near Delhi. These unlucky
settlers were, however, wiped
out by a characteristic act of
treachery perpetrated by 'Alau'-
ddin Khilji in 1297. But a real
Copper-gilt relic casket (circa A.D. 100),
containing fragments of bones said to
be those of Buddha.
the Sutlej, some of which have
been utilized by British engineers
in more recent times.
The Tughlak Dynasty hung
on till 1414, after a fashion, but
its practical end came in 1398
with the invasion from the west
of the Mongol chief TImur Lang
(the lame), better known to
readers of histories written in
English as Tamerlane. At the
beginning of the thirteenth cen-
tury a new terror had commenced
to harass the population of
Central and Western Asia in
the form of depredations atten-
ded with unspeakable cruelties
[J'iclorin >niii .Uhni .V
Ail cart hrmviiiv printing block, Kannu
district, .Hb century.
lly i
the Secretary of State for India-
A CORNER OF THE HOYSALESVARA TEMPLE AT DWAUASAMUDRA (HALEBID), A.D. 1244.
The Hoysula-Ballala Dynasty of Mysore (1048-1310) came to the front in consequence of the trouble that arose on the deaths
of the grreat contemporary South Indian monarehs, Kulottunsa Chola in 1118 and Vikrainanka C'halukhya in 1128. They were
magnificent rulers, and built splendidly at their capital, Dwarasamudra, now represented by the ruins at Halebid in Mysore. The
great temple of Hoysalesvara. built by Vira Soiuesvara Hoysala (1234-1254). Is acknowledged to be the acme of South Indian
architecture.
174
Story of the Nations
AN INSCRIPTION OF SIKANDAR SHAH OF BENGAL, A.D. 1363.
The forms of Arabo-Persian script adopted by the Muhannnadan rulers of
India in their inscriptions arc often so beautiful as to bo additional ornaments to
the buildings on which they are placed. The illustration shows the inscription
on the ruined fort of Devikot, near Oaur, stating that a tomb to the saint Maulana
Ata was built by Abu'l-Mujahid Sikandar Shah, son of Ilyas Shah in A.H. 765
(A.D. 13fi3).
.
opportunity for the Mongols rame
at last, when a long burlesque
struggle for the throne of Delhi
commenced between the descend-
ants of Firoz Shah Tughlak. Then
Timur swept down on Delhi,
which he sacked without mercy,
and so thoroughly did he ravage
town and country that an awful
famine and pestilence followed in
his wake.
Like the White Huns of the
fifth century, these new Central
Asian irrupters were only raiders
and ravagers, and accomplished nothing but "brigandage on an imperial scale".
After a while Timur fortunately departed for Samarkand, whence he had come, leaving a noble Sayyid
(descendant of the Prophet) named Khizr Khan, in charge of Delhi and its surroundings. He set up
the Sayyid Dynasty, which maintained a precarious authority over very limited dominions in a state
of continuous war till 1451, when it was ousted by the Lodis, the only real Pathans (Afghans)
to sit on the throne of Delhi. The first two of these, Bahlol and Sikandar Lodi, are regarded by
Muhammadan historians as good rulers, but by Hindus as terrible iconoclasts. Later on the public
troubles caused by claimants of the Lodi family to supreme power, induced a frontier noble, also a L5di,
to apply, in 1524, to the Mughal ruler, Babar of Kabul, for help. This paved the way for the Mughal sway
over India, and brought about the foundation of a stable imperial dynasty, whose power lasted, amidst
many troubles towards its latter end, till 1774, when it gave way in its turn to British rule, though the
dynasty did not die out nominally till 1858. Sikandar Lodi was the first monarch to reside for a time at
Agra and make it an imperial city, and while he was there the earthquake occurred in 1505 which has
become memorable all over India and Persia, and created a sensation which is not yet forgotten. His name
is preserved near by at Sikandra, where Akbar's tomb was erected to its enduring fame.
It is obvious that while history was being made in the fashion above described, effective power was
frequently confined to the neigh-
bourhood of the capital, and that
accordingly there were numerous
Muhammadan governors of pro-
vinces and subordinate Hindu
states, whose subordination was
merely nominal. Actual indepen-
dence often ensued. Thus there
were important independent
Muhammadan governors (after-
wards kings) in Bengal from 1202
to 1576, in Akbar's day, with a
great capital at Gaur ; another set
at Jaunpur from 1394 to 1479 ; a
third in Gujarat from 1396 to
1572 with Ahmadabad as the
capital. Mfihva and Khandesh
also had independent Muhamma-
dan rulers, while in the Dcccan
there were first the great
Bahmani Dynasty of Gulbarga
and Bidar, whose dominions
stretched from sea to sea, and then
, "
Painted specially lor this work.]
DELHI AFTER THE SACK OF TIMUR LANG, 1398.
The weakness nnd (iiiari-cls of the descendants of the first strong Tughlak
Sultans of Delhi gave the Mongol (Muahal) tribes led by Timur an opportunity of
raiding India, and in 1398 they swept down on Delhi. The sack was so severe that
It led to a great pestilence and BO savage that even Timur devotes several pa<rcsin
bla Memoirs (Mulfutat-i-Timuri) to excusing it.
India
175
the celebrated five Shahi Dynasties, which were formed by Turkoman and Hindu renegade military
adventurers, and mostly succumbed to Mughal power only in the days of Aurangzeb as late as 1672.
These were no petty States, but important and powerful kingdoms, under rulers who were generous
patrons of literature and the arts, lived magnificently, and built splendid cities, as the ruins
attest at Golkonda, Gulbarga, Ahmadnagar, Bidar, Gaur, Pandua, and many another place.
Ahmadabad in its glory was the finest city in India, and its builders have left their skill in design and
construction as a legacy amongst the
people to this day, while the architec-
ture of Jaunpur gave a name to a style,
the Sharki, after the title of its dynasty.
The Deccan kingdoms were in no way
behindhand, and at Bijapur, the capital
of the Adil Shahis, a dome still stands
which is yet the largest in the
world.
Taken all round the Muhammadan
kings were, however, despots whose
rule was an unfortunate period for
the Hindus, and it produced one
lasting social effect detrimental to the
whole country. Mainly in self-defence
the upper classes of Hindus began
to seclude their women, a custom
which has since universally descended
as low down the social scale as
family funds will permit. The Zenana
system of India, which has done
so much injury to many millions of
human beings, dates from the insecure
time for Hindus in the early days of
Muhammadan domination, and its
origin accounts for the tenacity with
which it is maintained by the women
most affected by it.
The Hindus and Hinduism were
not, however, by any means altogether
ousted from authority during the pre-
Mughal days. , There was the empire
of Vijayanagar, covering after a fashion
the whole South, which on its break-up
in 1565 left behind it independent Naiks
or Palegars, all over the South, and the
present State of Mysore. There were
the Sisodhia Rajputs of Mewar (now
of Udaipur), with • Chitor as their
capital, which stood siege after siege, all famous in Hindu song and story, before it was destroyed
by Akbar in 1567. And there was the kingdom of Orissa, which, too, only finally succumbed to
Akbar. While Muhammadan literature and art nourished elsewhere, the Hindu religion with its
concomitant literature, art and architecture, was equally alive here, and many of the finest Hindu
structural remains and literary work date from the period between the conquests of Shahabu'ddln Ghori
and the arrival of the Mughals.
Though, on the whole, the years of the thirteenth to the seventeenth centuries make up a period of
perpetual war with indiscriminate, merciless fighting, it does not follow that individual towns and villages
Painted speriaUy for this irork.l
THE GREAT EARTHQUAKE AT AGRA A.D. 1505.
A widespread and violent earthquake still remembered took place all ovei
Hindustan and Persia in 1505, and did great damage at Agra, then a capital of
the Lodi Afghan Dynasty. The Muhammadans of the time believed that no
such earthquake had ever occurred and "supposed that the day of resurrection
had arrived". •
176
Story of the Nations
saw a great deal of it. The ordinary citizens who lived under it were left alone to do largely as they
pleased socially, with recurring intervals, not necessarily close together, of sheer nightmare, times of over-
whelming horror, which they regarded much in the light of the epidemics and famines to which also they
were always liable. As each bad period passed by, life recovered its ordinary routine more or less
completely. Sometimes, of course, there was no recovery, and what was left of the villages and towns
departed miserably elsewhere, but this was by no means commonly the case.
Among the troubles that afflicted the Hindus were the forcible methods of conversion adopted by the
Muhammadans : by the sword, by taxation by the administration of the law, by terrorism and by inter-
marriage. In a desperate hope for easier times whole tribes went over to Islam, at any rate nominally,
.<' i ' "NI*
Painted specially for tins work.\
THE FLIGHT OF SULTAN UUSAIN SHARKI OF JAUNPUH, A.D. 1479.
From 1 394 to 1479 Jaunpur, now in the province of Agra, was the scat of the famous Shark! ( East <>rn ) Kings, who were power
ful military commanders, great builders in a style of their own, and distinguished patrons of Persian and Arabic literature. The
last of the line was the unlucky Sultan Husain, who was so uniformly beaten by Bahlol Lodi, the Pat han king of Delhi, that defeat
was said to have become a second nature to him. Finally, in 1479, he fled to the Ilyas-Shahl King of Bengal, under whose
protection he lived lor many years.
and many existing Muhammadan families trace their*" conversion" to this period, and as a matter ol
course the mixed families of Musalman immigrants could not be Hindus. All this produced its effect on
Hinduism, for Buddhism disappeared for good and Jainism lay low. Especially effective were the des-
truction of temples and religious foundations, which drove the religion to the home and its simpler faith,
and the doctrine in the Muhammadan creed, "There is no God but God", paraded publicly before minds
already imbued with the monistical teachings of the Vaishnava schools of Sankaracharya and Ramanuja.
On the other hand, the mode of conversion adopted by the Muhammadan invaders naturally brought
about its own revenge and reacted on their form of Islam. The converts, and through them their foreign
leaders, were unable to resist the Hindu philosophy and trend of thought. They never got over either
India
177
the native superstitions or the caste system, and so for the people Muhammadanism in India has taken on
a form peculiar to itself and in its essence is Hinduism modified by the teaching and philosophy
of Islam.
The influence of the Muhammadan flood over Hindu India on religious practice and belief reached
its full height practically within the period of the pre-Mughal rulers, which thus becomes a most important
time in Indian history Left to itself, the Hindu religion had evolved to this extent : belief in one God
of love with the worship of minor gods and their images for help in practical life, in an individual
soul, in salvation by faith and devotion (bhakti, adoration), in teaching through the vernacular,
in the guidance of set preceptors (guru, weighty), in initiation with a password and a sacramental
meal, and, finally, in orders of ascetics. The great promoter of all this was Ramananda (c. 1350-1400),
Painted speciaHv tor Ihl.t work.]
THE FOUNDATION OK AN EMPIRE, 133SI
A long series ol raids by the Muhammadan power? at Delhi had devastated the Deccan by the opening of the fourteenth centurj.
During a lull in the operations a petty oh'eftain of Anagundi, Sangaum T , succeeded in establishing (1339) the dynasty of
Vijayanagar, the last Hindu Empire in Indin The Empire finally foil at the hattle of Talikota (1.5(>.V>. and Its magnificent
capital is now the ruins of Hampe
a Southerner and member ot Ramanuja's sect, but without its exclusiveness, and he had one
immensely influential disciple in Tulsi Das (1532-1623), who used the story of the Ramayana to teach his
doctrine of bhakti. or salvation by the adoration of God (Rama), in one of the finest poems ever written in
the East
Alongside the cult of Rama arose that of Krishna, which produced much beautiful poetry in various
tongues from Bengali on the east to Marathi on the west. The difference between them is that the
latter appeals to emotional excitement, using the erotic elements in the fabled life of Krishna for that
purpose. All the modern Bhagavatas are followers of sects which recognize one or other of two main
divisions of these two cults.
Between 1480 and 1518 Kabir. a most remarkable man and low-class Muhammadan disciple of
178
Story of the Nations
Ramananda, preached a deistic doctrine distinctly affected by Muhammadan influence. While his
teaching is Hindu in form and he calls God "Ram", he vigorously condemned the theories of caste and
incarnation and the practice of idolatry ; the first of course without effect. His sayings and epigrams,
however, on the other two points have had an enormous sway over modern Indian peasant and working-
class theology, and are popular everywhere. His sect, the Kabirpanthis, include both Hindus and
Musalmans. In Guru Nanak (1469-1538) Kablr had a follower in one sense even greater than himself,
for he founded the religion of the Sikhs (Disciples) in the Panjab, a sect which included many kinds of
men. Later on. his tenth successor, Guru Gobind Singh (1675-1708), turned it into a military Order,
the Khalsa. which embraced all the Hindu warlike elements in the north-west, thus creating that Sikh
Paintrd sprrifillir fftr this
KAMINK SCKKEREKS DROWN Til KMSKLVKS IX THE JAMXA.
F:roz Shah Khilji overthrow the dynasty <n the Slave Kings or Delhi in Itixii. in the same year a terrible lamine n.-mrrcd
throughout Northern India. It is best described in the actual words of the contemporary chronicle : "In the Siwalik (Himalayan
foothills) the dearth was greatly felt. The Hindus of that country came into Delhi with their families, twenty or thirty of them
together, and in the extremity of hunger drowned themselves in the Jamna."
military population with which the British have had so much to do Nanak condemned idolatry and
Gobind Singh abolished caste within the Khalsa ; but caste has, nevertheless, come back among the
members, just as it has done elsewhere in India. Kabir's great object was to unite Hindu and Musalman,
but, nevertheless, the Mughals never had a more implacable enemy than the Sikhs. The deistic teachers
had a great effect on the vernacular literature, and produced popular works in many languages and
dialects.
In Southern India, too, the Hindu religion steadily developed, and in the fourteenth century
there arose at Vijayanagar a Canarese teacher, Madhvacharya, who taught an exclusive dualistic
Vaishnava doctrine (dvaita), and founded a sect, the Srimadhva, which is numerous and influential.
It inculcates caste, personal cleanliness and temple ritual. Also, among the Saivas there was
produced in Tamil, during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the Saiva Siddhanta (estab-
lished truth), books for teaching their special system of philosophy by a series of acharyas
(teachers).
i8o
Story of the Nations
Painted specially for this
THE MEDIEVAL REFORMER KABIR AND HIS SONS 1510.
Among the most remarkable and influential of the medieval religions reformers was Kabir (1480-1518), the author of muiiy
a pithy couplet and epigram. He was a Muhammudan weaver who followed the Hindu philosophic reformer llamanauda,
and though he called God by the Hindu name of Ram he taught a pure monotheistic ileism still accepted by mauy of the
poorer classes.
But underneath all the Hindu philosophies ot the thoughtful and educated, and the veneer of Muham-
madan teaching, there has run continuously from end to end of India, and still runs as strongly as ever,
a rich vein of aboriginal animistic superstition. To the Hindu the unseen but ever-present spirit that
can harm and sometimes help is the hero or godling, to the Muhammadan he is the saint, and to the
aborigines simply the spirit, "devil" as the British have taught them to call him. All such beings or
creations of the mind exhibit everywhere a strong family likeness, and they and the ceremonies
connected with them are to the illiterate public — still an overwhelming body in India — as important
as all the rest of their religious notions. Time, conquest and philosophy have brought this about
in India : for the Hindu public a belief in a supreme God, plus the orthodox gods, plus the
aboriginal spirits ; for the Muhammadan public a belief in a supreme God, plus the saints : for the
aboriginal tribes their spirits in the general body of which the Hindu gods and the Muhammadan saints
are included
THE MUGHAL EMPIRE (1526-1774)
BABAR (1526-1530) was a pure Mongol (Mughal), being descended on his lather's side Irom Timur
and on his mother's from Chinghiz Khan, and had already had a remarkable career when he was
summoned to India in 1524, to intervene in the quarrels of the Lodis, his whole youth having been spent
in fighting. His hereditary principality was Farghana (Kokhand), now in Russian Central Asia, and after
having been driven out of that, seizing Kabul and trying to regain Timur's Empire of Samarkand, he had
India
181
turned his attention to India in 1519, when he occupied the Panjab for a time, having performed the
remarkable feat of introducing European artillery into the campaign. So when he was invited to India
he was fully prepared.
In 1526 he fought a battle at Panipat, fifty miles north of Delhi, the natural scene of many a fight
through all time in India, where he showed himself to be a general after the type of Alexander, effectively
using his new weapon of artillery against the ancient Indian system of using elephants, slew Sultan Ibrahim
Lodi, and was proclaimed Badshah (enthroned king) at Delhi and Agra. Two more decisive battles, one
against the Rajputs at Kanwaha (Khanua, near Fatehpur Slkri) in 1527, and the other against the Afghan
ruler of Bihar on the Ghagra (Gogra) in 1529, made him military master of all Northern India. But that
was all he could manage, and he died in 1530 before he could consolidate his conquests. Polished,
literary, fearless, strong-willed, of great military capacity, affectionate and a passionate admirer
of the beauties of nature, he has left a pleasing and naive record of himself in his Memoirs
(Tuzak-i-Babari), though he could not accomplish more before his death than the foundation
of the Mughal Empire.
Babar's successor was his son, Humayun (1530-1556), an amiable man, highly educated, with a strong
taste for science ; generous and merci-
ful, but too weak and unstable for the ^^g^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^i^^^
times, and so he passed a troubled
life on the throne, generally off it and
fighting to regain it. In 1539 Sher
Khan, a Sur Afghan, ruler of Bihar,
seized the throne from him, and, as
Sher Shah Sur, established a short-
lived but notable dynasty. He was
a remarkably able man, reforming
the coinage and laying the founda-
tions of a revenue system afterwards
made famous by the Emperor Akbar.
His dynasty soon broke up, and
Humayun recovered his throne from
the Sur family in 1555, only to be
accidentally killed in the next year.
His successor was the great Akbar
(1556-1605), born and brought
up in exile and in a hard school
indeed.
Akbar was only thirteen when
his father died, and was at first under
the tutelage of Bairam Khan.
Khan Khanan (Lord of lords), a
powerful and imperious Turkoman
commander, under whose regime
Akbar overcame his first enemy,
the Hindu leader Himu, a man of
humble origin, as the form of his
name implies. He had, nevertheless.
first made himself Minister of the
last feeble Sur king and then
usurped the throne of Delhi as
Raja Bikramajit (Vikramaditya)
The defeat of Himu confirmed his
hereditary rights to Akbar. In four
years' time (1560) Akbar got rid ot
f'ninftrl xpeciaUv for this ww/e. I
AN INSPECTION OF SHER SHAH SUR'S GREAT NORTH ROAD, 1542
Sher Shah Sur was the lather oi modern Indian Administration, following
ihe lead of his great predecessor, Firoz Shah Tughlak of Delhi (1351-1388), and
giving it to his successors, Akbar the Great (1556-1605), Warren Hastings
(1774-1785) and Lord Dalnousie (1848-1856). Among his beneficial works wa?
the Great North Road, now part of the Grand Trunk Road of Northern India.
182
Story of the Nations
his mentor, and then for thirty-five years he fought and laboured without ceasing to create and consolidate
his great empire. In the course of the almost continuous war that followed his assumption of independent
power, Akbar commenced his empire-building in 1567, by reducing the most powerful of the Rajputs,
the Sisodhias of Chitor, and driving them to Udaipur, to be defeated again twenty years later on. After
Chitor, Surat (Gujarat) fell finally, and then in due time Patna, Kabul, Kashmir and Sind. But all this
took up the forty years of the reign, and it gave birth to many a well-known tale dating from these
times : the sslf-sacrifice by fire (janhar) of the Rajput women at Chitor ; the heroic story of the princess,
Chand Bibi of Ahmadnagar ; the "lightning" campaign in Gujarat, from which Fatehpur Sikri obtained
its name of the City of Victory (faleh). In the meanwhile, Akbar had demanded the submission of the
Pain/fd special?!! for Htis vork.\
REJOICINGS AT THE 1URTH OF THE EMPEROR AKBAIl THE GREAT, 1542.
The second Mughal ruler in Northern India was Humayun, who reigned nominally from 1530 to 1556, but for sixteen years
of that time (1539-1555) he was a fusit i\ >• from shcr shah Sur and his successors of the Sur tribe of Afghans, who ousted him from
Delhi. So his son, Akbar, afterwards the grreat Mughal Kmpcror, was born at Amarkot. an unimportant fortress in the Hajputana
desert, and brought up in a very hard school.
Deccan, and on the refusal of the rulers there he attacked them, with the result of the fall of Ahmadnagar
and the great fortress of Asirgarh by 1601. By this time he was too old to do more, but he bequeathed
an empire from the Krishna to the Himalayas and from Bengal to Afghanistan. He never quite suc-
ceeded in his design of conquering all India and making Hindu and Musalman live together in harmony,
and died in 1605, disillusioned, disappointed and disgusted with the behaviour of all his sons.
He aimed very high, believing himself to be the Viceregent of the Most High, heaven-sent for the
better government of the people. He certainly did his best, and with the Buddhist Asoka and the
Christian British Queen this.Muhammadan ruler was one of the three greatest sovereigns that India
has seen.
While Akbar was thus laboriously building up the Mughal Empire, the seed was being sown oi a yet
I'ninlnl specially for Ihte work.}
THE RAJPUT CEREMONY OF JAUHAR (HOLOCAUST), 1567.
This terrible ceremony has frequently been performed In Indian history. The most famous instance occurred when Chitoi
was taken by the Emperor Akl>ar in 1567 The description in the contemporary chronicle is sufficiently impressive : "Jaiihar
is the name of a rite among the Hindus. When they know for certain that there is no escape, they collect their wives and children,
goods and chattels, heap firewood around the pile, and fire it with their own hands. After the burning is accomplished, they
rash into the fight, and give themselves over to death."
184
Story of the Nations
Prom the Indian Section
[Victoria, and Albert Museum.
JAI SINGH'S OBSERVATORY AT DELHI, 1719
Raja Jai Singh Sawai (the Excellent) of Jaipur (1693-1743) was a famous man of science. He built live observatories, viz.
at Delhi, Benares, Mathura, Ujjain, and Jaipur. He was a benevolent governor under the Mughal Emperors, and built a large
number of <tarai's (inns) and markets for the convenience of the people.
more vigorous plant that was ultimately to destroy his handiwork. In the days of the Lodis, the Portu-
guese Bartholomeu Dias de Novaes had doubled the Cape of Good Hope in 1486 In 1498 Vasco da
Gama visited Calicut on the Malabar (Western) coast, and the reports of its riches induced further
expeditions eastwards, until the great Affonso D'Albuquerque created a province in 1510, built a
magnificent city, the Goa Dourada (Golden Goa) of travellers, and set up an important State, which
had the monopoly of European trade in 1595. The first great blow to Portuguese power in India was
the fall of its chief correspondent in international trade, the Vijayanagar Empire, in 1565. The mad
proselytizing policy of Philip II, as King of Spain and Portugal, completed its downfall by 1625, so that
it was never of any serious consideration thereafter. But before the end of Akbar's reign the Dutch and
the English had arrived to join in the Indian trade with Europe, and had come into conflict with the Portu-
guese and each other. Nevertheless, in Akbar's time the Europeans can hardly be said to have had
any influence of consequence in India, and so far it is hardly necessary to note anything further than
the fact that on the 3ist December, 1600, Queen Elizabeth gave her charter to the "Governor and
Company of Merchants of London trading into the East Indies' . Thus came into existence what was
eventually to become after many vicissitudes a ruling power in India, known to the common people
as Kampani Bahadur.
Akbar was much more than a military conqueror. He was a real leader of men and had all the
instincts of a very great administrator. Quite early in his career, when only twenty-two, he abolished
the poll-tax on non-Muhammadans and then the tax on Hindu pilgrimages, imposed by his undiscerning
predecessors, and he always discouraged oppression in the collection of his taxes, showing that, even at
that young age, he understood that in order to rule successfully it is necessary to secure the good
will of the people as a whole. He married Hindu princesses, and his successor Jahangir was the son of
one of them. He raised Rajputs to the highest positions and they fought loyally for him Raja Man
f'aintiit *i>ri-iti//!/ fnr //i/.s work]
THE BURNING OF LAOASH.
In the roign of tin- ill -fated reformer, rnikngiim, l,ana-h was attacked by her hereditary foes, the men of the neighbouring city
ot I 'IMIII;I, who ni;t<-;i(-n-tl tlic in ha hit a nts. sacked and liurnt tlit- cit> , and set even the tfnipU-s of tin- pods on fire. Through
the reforms, l>y whicli I rukiutina had .succeeded in stamping out corruption among his officials, the state had been
disorgiiuisi'd and the army wrtikriii'd hnn-r the city fell an easy prry to In-r cncini<'>.
India
i85
Singh Kachhwaha of Amber (Jaipur) was his governor in Kabul, Bihar and Bengal. One of his best
friends was the clever and capable Raja Birbal, a Brahman. And last but not least there was Todar
Mall, the devout Hindu of the Khatri caste of Oudh, who was not only a good general, but also one of the
greatest of all Indian administrators, to whom the British Empire owes the basis of its, land revenue
system, the foundations of which had been laid by Sher Shah Sur. In his time the land revenue produced
about nineteen millions sterling, and all the taxes about as much more, while the army practically corres-
ponded to the modern British yeomanry in form, with artillery attached, and it was raised by thejagirdars
and mansabddrs, or, as we should say, by lords-lieutenant and their deputies. Akbar was, however, faced
with the universal and perennial trouble of a militia force, the making of false returns of strength, and
he introduced elaborate regulations to try and prevent it. All the internal arrangements of the
time are embodied in a work which has attracted universal attention, the Institutes of Akbar
(Ain-i-Akbari) , compiled for the Emperor by a bosom friend, Shekh Abu'1-Fazl, who is looked on
by his compatriots as one of the greatest masters of Persian style. Akbar was a great man as well
as a great king, and, like his forerunner Asoka, he ruled his country for the benefit of the people with
toleration and tact.
Akbar was succeeded by his eldest son, Jahangir, who reigned from 1605 to 1627 : a man very different
from his father. Talented, intemperate, self-indulgent and good-natured when things went to his
satisfaction, Jahangir was otherwise a ferocious tyrant. Among his many evil deeds in his father's life-
time he caused Abu'1-Fazl to be murdered in 1602. He was clever enough, however, despite his weakness,
to keep his great inheritance together and his rebellious sons at bay, with the help of his famous intriguing
Painted uprrinJJn for His icorfr.1
AKBAR PLAYS DRAUGHTS WITH LIVING PIECES AT FATEHPUR SIKRI, 1575.
J
The game of pachisi or chaupur is played with pieces nn a cross chess-board by two opponents, whoso object, under certain
rules governed by the throw of cowries or dice, is to get all their men into the centre of the cross first. Akbar was fond of playing
the game with the slave irirls of his Court as pieces, and constructed a Pachis Board at Fatehpur Sikri for the purpose, near the
Diwan-J-Khas.
i86
Story of the Nations
consort, Nurjahan (Nurmahal), to whom and her capable brother Asa( Khan he practically left the
government. Like many other great Indian rulers, Jahangir was a highly educated man, and wrote his
own Memoirs (Tuzak-i-Jahanglri), in which he reveals his character in the most intimate manner, and there
are also good descriptions of him by the British Ambassador, Sir Thomas Roe, who was three years in
India from 1615. Jahangir was an aesthetic lover of natural beauty, spending every summer in Kashmir,
where his immense and beautiful buildings still abound.
After Jahangir came his magnificent son, Shahjahan, who reigned for thirty years (1628-1658),
till he was deposed by his equally famous son, Aurangzeb. His wife was Nurjahan 's niece, Mumtaz
Mahal, for whom the world-renowned mausoleum at Agra, commonly called the Taj, was constructed.
Shahjahan reduced the whole Deccan to obedience in a seven years war (1630-1637), but beyond that
his reign is chiefly remarkable for the splendour of his Court and buildings. Under him the country
I \iinled specially for this work.]
COINING MONEY FOR AFFONSO D'ALBUQUERQUE AT OOA, 1510.
The great Affonso D'Albuqucrque, who created an Empire for the Portuguese along the coast of India, between 150B and
1518, was a remarkable administrator. Amon? other things, wherever hu went he sot up a coinage of Portuguese money mainly
for the encouragement of trade, and some of the novnl denominations he introduced arc still in existence.
enjoyed peace on the whole, but the mildness of his own rule was much marred by the cruelties he
permitted his subordinates to perpetrate. He led a moral life so long as Mumtaz Mahal held sway over
him, but after her death he strayed into the paths of a useless sensuality.
In 1657 Shahjahan became seriously incapacitated for all business, and the result was that his four
sons fought for the supremacy, in which after a considerable struggle the third son, the wily and capable
Aurangzeb, triumphed, and the others met their deaths. In the next year, with the help of his
sister, Raushanara, Aurangzeb deposed his father, who was allowed to live on in luxury and sensuality
till 1666, when he died in the veranda of his palace at Agra, whence he could behold his great
creation, the Taj. He was at last buried beside the woman he had loved beyond all others.
The redeeming feature of his latter end was that he had with him as an elevating companion his
I'aiiUed specially for this imrk.
PRINCESS CHAND BIB! DEFENDS AHMADNAOAK 1595
the wal, o, the fort
Chand Bibi,
^^
i88
Story of the Nations
other daughter, Jahanara, "an example of female modesty, beautiful, heroic, witty, generous, elegant,
accomplished", whose grave near Delhi has still only grass above it, according to her request : "Let
no one scatter over my grave anything but verdure, for such best becomes the sepulchre of one who had
a humble mind."
Aurangzeb, known equally well to Indian historians as Alamgir, was forty when he came to th&
throne, a man of strong character and fixed ideas. He reigned forty-nine years (1659-1707), and
throughout that time he remained a fanatical Musalman, never deviating from his principles and his
Painted specially for this work.
A SAVAGE LESSON,
Soon after Jaliangir's accession, bis eldest BOD Kbusru rebelled unsuccessfully at Lahore, and the Emperor thought he would
give him a warning by compelling him to ride on an elephant between long lines of his companions impaled on stakes. Jahan;ir*s
own words describing this are : "I directed a number of sharp stakes to be set up in the bed of the river, upon which thrones of
misfortune and despair I caused the three hundred traitors who had conspired with Khusru to be impaled alive."
India
189
Painted specially far this work.]
HUMPHREY COOKE TAKES POSSESSION OF BOMBAY, 1665.
The first Governor sent from England to take over Bombay from the Portuguese was Sir Abraham Shipman, whose expedition
fared very badly for nearly three years. Most of the party died, including Shipmau himself, but at last, in 1665, a small mud fort
on the Island of Bombay was handed over to his secretary, Humphrey Cooke. The European dress of the period in India was
that of the natives except as to breeches and boots.
notion of duty : to suppress infidels and idolaters and all heretics from his own sect, the Sunni Muham-
madans. He was a capable man, a brilliant writer, an astute diplomatist, a courageous military
commander, an able administrator, a just judge, and of ascetic personal habits ; but no considerations
of his own advantage or public policy ever made him swerve from his fixed principles. The actions which
his austerity induced him to perform broke up the Empire he sought so assiduously to extend and
maintain all the years of his long life for the sake of what he considered to be the benefit of his people :
their conversion, willing or unwilling, to his sect of Islam. His was the career of a bigoted missionary,
invested with imperial authority, who carried out settled ideas to their logical end regardless of results,
and it failed disastrously.
But for all his ill-treatment of those who disagreed with his religious views Northern India enjoyed
profound peace for at least twenty years of his reign. His acts, however, in the end brought about
rebellion and the complete alienation of the Hindus. He reimposed the poll-tax on unbelievers (jizya),
destroyed sacred buildings and schools, built mosques in such holy places of the Hindus as Benares, and
tried to kidnap the children of Rajput chiefs for "conversion". He did not massacre, but he worried
perpetually. His clever defeat of his able eldest brother, Dara Shikoh of the large tolerant heart, had
much to do with the further history of India, and one cannot help wondering what would have happened
had Dara Shikoh triumphed and held the Empire together by his religious tolerance and not split it to
fragments as did Aurangzeb by his fanaticism.
The European intruders into India had not advanced far enough in Aurangzeb's reign to affect the
general history of his Empire, though they had progressed considerably towards the end of it, but a new
and for the time a much more menacing power had come into existence soon after he assumed imperial
authority. The old Maharashtra (Rashtrakuta) Hindu power of the Deccan once again appeared in the
form of the Marathas under the able Sivaji, who was the son of Sahuji Bhonsla., a soldier of fortune and a
fiefholder under the Bijapur kingdom in the Deccan. He afterwards became one of the greatest generals
and military and civil administrators of Indian history. Sivaji began by annexing territory from Bijapur,
190
Story of the Nations
and before his death in 1680 he had acquired practical supremacy for his people over all Western India.
But he had done much more. He had created the Maratha nation as the champion of Hinduism.
After Sivaji's death, Aurangzeb succeeded in getting possession of the remaining Musalman kingdoms
of the Deccan, Bijapur and Golkonda, but the Maratha power was ever becoming more efficient and the
Emperor's religious policy had des-
troyed the efficiency of his own unwieldy
armies, and thus the now very aged man
of eighty-nine was forced into retirement
and death at Aurangabad, not far from
which he lies buried at Khuldabad in an
unhonoured grave, in contrast to that
of his great predecessor Akbar, which
is still honoured by Hindu and Muham-
madan alike. After the death of
Aurangzeb (1707) the history of India
is much concerned with the doings of
the three great Brahman ministers of
the ineffective successors of Sivaji at
Poona, better known to history by their
Persian title of Peshwa (leader).
The condition of India for the next
fifty years was just chaos with "hell let
loose" at times in places. Nominally
there was sovereignty at Delhi, but
there was no physical empire, nor were
there any emperors that ruled. The
political history of the time resolves
itself into the varying struggles of local
peoples and personages for sovereign
power, and the rise of new States and
authorities. Out of the general melee
certain im'portant powers and person-
ages emerged. Thus there were two
foreign invaders who, for a brief while,
wrote their names large on the page of
Indian history. In 1739, Nadir Shah,
the famous Afghan usurper of the
Persian throne, swooped down on
Delhi, and committed the notorious
massacre there, carried off an immense
treasure, and last, but not least, took
away with him hundreds of skilled
Satanati ) and built a wattle and daub factory on the banks of the Hugli artizans. Nine years later (1748) his
from which he had to Hoc on account of troubles between the British and
native authorities. He went to Madras until these were over. In 1690 he
returned to liciiRtil. iiml with an armed party proceeded to Satanati and
scrambled up the mud bank in the rains, to find only the remains of a burnt
hut. out of which eventually ifrew the groat capital of Calcutta.
Paintfd specially far this imrk.}
JOB CHARNOCK FOUNDING CALCUTTA, 1690.
In 1680 the noted factor. Job Charnock, fixed upon the site of Calcutta
successor in Persia, Ahmad Shah
Durrani, founder of the Durrani (Ab-
dali) Dynasty of Afghanistan, invaded
the Pan jab and annexed it. In 1756 he
repeated the sack of Delhi, disappearing with his plunder, except for intermittent raids into the Panjab,
and did one important, though unintentional, service to India by defeating the Marathas in 1761 at
Panipat. Among the Indian Muhammadans, kingdoms were set up in Bengal and Oudh, the Rohilla
Afghans made themselves independent in Rohilkhand, north of the Ganges, and in the Deccan a new
power, which still exists, arose in 1723, when a Turkoman noble, Chin Kilich Khan, better known as Asa!
Jah, became independent as the Nizam of Haidarabad, near the older Deccan capital of Golkonda,
India
191
A scene at the Jlmla Jatra or Summer Swinging Festival
in honour of Krishna.
Figures of Durga the goddess of destruction, at the great
Autumn festival of the Durga Puja.
Meanwhile the Sikh Khalsa, or military Order, had become a political confederation, and began to
ravage the Panjab and set up petty principalities. And, lastly, the Hindu Marathas had rapidly made
themselves into an important Indian power under the great Peshwa, Baji Rao, and by 1760 had occupied
most of Western India from the Himalayas to Mysore. But in 1761, on the historic field of Panipat,
a-puja : devotees in procession with iron spikes run
through their tongues in honour of Mahadev (Siva).
i.Rimn Jatra : the ceremony of bathing Jagannath after his
miraculous arrival at Serainpore in one night from Cuttark.
Ahmad Shah Durrani and his Muhammadan allies utterly defeated the Marathas, and broke the power
of the Peshwas, leaving it to the Holkars of Indor, the Gaikwars (Gayakwad) of Baroda, the Sindhias of
Gwalior, and the now extinct Bhonslas of Nagpur, all families of humble Maratha origin, to revive the
power of their nation for a while, with the help of an army thoroughly organized and armed on the European
model of the time The Marathas, of course, sacked the unfortunate Delhi, but they did much more harm
Uruirn '>n lliiltliii.inr No/ri/n.s-.] \]Sij permission tif the Nreretnrii of slnte for India.
The final ceremony at a Hindu mnrriauic (iiiijnh) : joininr tho Sannyasis (devotees) throwing themselves on to hoards
hands of the bridal pair over a lirass vessel of Mater. studded with nails carried on men's shoulders
HINDU CEREMONIES IN BENGAL IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
Story of the Nations
than this. Their ru'.e included the levy of a heavy tribute (sardesmukhi] , and the extraction of the chauth,
nominally a land-tax of a fourth of the land revenue, as the price of forbearance from ravage, but in
reality a terrible blackmail extorted at odd times whenever practicable. The ascendancy of the Marathas
was indeed a national terror, and meant the impoverishment of all but themselves, and the increase of
power for that section of the Brahman caste to which the Peshwas belonged.
Indefinite and often indiscriminate authority exerted by the Marathas, the Sikhs and the Muhammadan
States of Oudh. Bengal and the Deccan describes the state of India, when yet another power, the British,
arose, which was destined to imperial
sway on a larger scale than any
that had ever been known before.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries England, Holland, France.
Denmark, Scotland, Spain, Austria,
and Sweden all made bids for the
S3aborne trade between India and
Europe ; but of these only the
companies established by England,
Holland, and France rose to any
position of importance. The Dutch
arrived before the English, the
English East India Company being
formed in order to compete with
the Dutch monopoly of the trade,
and all through the seventeenth
century there was a long-continued
struggle between them for the
command of the sea-borne trade,
from which they ousted the Portu-
guese in 1658. This rivalry con-
tinued till just before the final
triumph of the British in India
over all other Europeans. The
British East India Company had
several English rivals until the time
of Charles II (1660-1685), whose
five charters gave it rights of rule,
and after various vicissitudes it was
endowed with political power by
Parliament in 1708. The French
first came into India as rivals of
the British with the Compagnie
des Indes in 1664, and for a long
while there was a most serious
struggle between them for supremacy,
culminating in the final defeat of
the French in 1761, as the result of
want of backing and intelligent
interest at home. The brave and
capable French leaders in the East
left a great legacy behind them
in the form of many permanently
valuable points in administration,
and of teaching the British trading
fainted specially fur Hi in trork.)
THE BLACK HOLE, JUNE 20, 1756.
The Black Hole was the name of a guard-room lock-up used for refractory
soldiers of the garrison of old Fort William in Calcutta. In 1756, Suraju'ddaula,
«hc young and worthless successor if his grandfather, the great Allrardi Khan,
Viceroy of Bengal, attacked Calcutta and drove out the English, except 146, who
were confined for a whole night in the Black Hole while Suraju'ddaula slept. All
but twenty -three died of heat and thirst. The sepoy guard posted outside the
barred window amused themselves by ostentatiously pouring out water and
drinking it before the eyes of the sufferers.
India
193
Fainted fpfciatty for this worfc.l
THE BATTLE OF PLASSEY, JUNE 23, 1757.
At the end of 1756 Clive arrived in Calcutta from Madras to avenge the proceedings ot Suraju'ddaula, whom he defeated
ta February of 1757, at Dum Dum. Thereupon Suraju'ddaula invited the aid of the French at Chandernagorc, which
Cllve captured. He finally routed the allied forces at Plassey, near Kasimbazar, on June 23, 1757, against enormous odda.
Suraju'ddaula, who showed great cowardice on this occasion, fled and was soon afterwards murdered. By this victory Clive
made possible the British Empire in India.
community the importance in the then existing conditions in India of empire in order to make '
trade succeed.
The first attempts of the British Company at attaining practical political power in India were an
unsuccessful armed resistance, undertaken with the sanction of James II, in 1686, against encroachments
on the part of Shayista Khan, uncle of Aurangzeb and Viceroy of Bengal, and a successful blockade of
Surat in 1690, which brought Aurangzeb, much occupied elsewhere, to terms. In 1696 Fort William was
built at Calcutta, and trading went on quietly there until 1756, when Suraju'ddaula, the graceless Viceroy
of Bengal, attacked Calcutta, inflicting on the European survivors the horrors of the Black Hole, a military
guardroom lock-up, where one hundred and forty-six prisoners were confined in one room during a hot
July night while the Viceroy slept. Only twenty-three came out of it alive. Revenge was, however,
•soon forthcoming from Madras in the person of a great man, Robert Clive, who had already become famous.
With a very small force Clive badly defeated Suraju'ddaula at Dum Dum, near Calcutta, and in the follow-
ing year (1757) routed him at the famous battle of Plassey (Palasi), near Murshidabad, which led to his
•death and the placing of his uncle, Mir Jafir, on the Viceregal throne as the candidate of the British Com-
pany. Thus did the British begin to rule, and soon afterwards a quarrel with the new Viceroy, in 1759,
backed by the Dutch, led to the end of Dutch power in India. Five years later, in 1764, Sir Hector Munro
.gained a great victory at Buxar over the forces of the Mughal Emperor, Shah Alam, and in 1765 there
followed the formal British occupation of Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, and part of Oudh by grant from the
Emperor. In this year Clive, who had gone to England in 1760, returned for a short while, during which
•he introduced real imperial sway for the Company, and, by raising the pay of public servants to a reasonable
amount, aimed at purity of conduct and loyalty of service in India. To the efforts of this one individual,
•then, are to be traced, first the origin of British empire in India by his victory at Plassey, and, secondly,
the beginnings of the British system of administration. In 1767 Clive left India ill, only to be bitterly
attacked by malignant calumny in England and to end his life by his own hand in 1774. Courageous,
resourceful, indomitable of will, a born general and a far-seeing statesman : in the words of the final
194
Story of the Nations
«!/ rirrmiesion of] \tlte Stmtary of State for India
THE ACTION ISETWEEN THE FRENCH AND THE ENGLISH OFF PULO AOR IN 1804.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century Napoleon was the bugbear of the British in India and his intrigues were the
cause of a great straggle. In 1804 the ships of the French squadron (in the foreground), under Admiral Linois, were routed by
the East India Company's Indiamcn under Commodore (Sir Nathaniel) Dance off Pulo Aor, an island in the Straits of .Malacca.
judgment of Parliament upon his work, he rendered "great and meritorious service to his country". Clive's
rule was followed by five years of mismanagement by incompetent and dishonest officials, in whose time
occurred, in 1770, one of the worst famines on record. To them succeeded another great man, Warren
Hastings, as Governor of Fort William in 1772 and Governor-General in 1774. Meanwhile in the south
there occurred a life-and-death struggle between the French and the English. Dupleix, the able Governor
of the French settlements
at Pondicherry, had de-
vised the policy of inter-
vening in native politics,
captured Madrasin 1746,
and carried on war
1 against the British till
1754, when his inappreci-
ative masters in France
recalled him, and left a
really great man to die
in poverty and disap-
pointment. After this
the British became pre-
dominant in the Car-
natic, and the French in
the Deccan. By 1756
De Bussy. a capable
French official, had
taken possession of the
Northern Circars, south
of Orissa, and instituted
a form of administration
still used in part by the
British Government; but
by the folly of his
superior, Lally, all his
work was destroyed at
the battle of Wandiwash ,
near Arcot, in 1760, and
French power disap-
liy permission of\ [the Secretary of Htalr for I
THE TOMB OF JAHANARA BEGAM AT DELHI.
Jahanara Begam, one of the daughters of Shahjahan,
generous, elegant and accomplished, has come down to modern
times as the model of Muhammadan womanhood ami filial
devotion, she died in 11180 and was buried near Delhi, in ac-
cordance with her will, without a tomb over her. "Let no one
scatter over my grave anything but verdure, for such best bo-
comes the sepulchre of one who had a humble mind." The
railings round her grave arc among the finest known examples
of pierced marble work.
peared from tndia in
1761, except in so far as
French officers and ad-
venturers of note were
able to harass British
armies by capable lead-
ing of those of native
rulers until their final
destruction by Lord
Lake in 1803.
The year 1761 saw
the destruction of the
Maratha Empire, the
disappearance of French
rule in India, and at the
same time the rise of a
new temporary power
in the south. Haidar
Ali, an illiterate Muham-
madan officer in the
service of the Hindu
kingdom of Mysore, one
of those to survive the
ruin of the Vijayanagar
Empire, and a man
of remarkable energy
power of work, resource
and general capacity,
made himself master of
the country owing to
the weakness of the
A|TM<I £>>»hi of 0«rar
B.rid « Bid.r
J~~ Ku:*b >* Colkon
el N)X*m tt Ahmjd"»|*'
^/ Adll " Bij.p.r
MAPS OF MUHAMMADAN INDIA IN THE XlVth AND XVtn CENTURIES.
EARLY BRITISH EMPIRE
A.D. 1805.
MAP OF THE MUGHAL EMPIIiE.
MAI' OF THE EARLY BRITISH EMPIRE.
196
Story of the Nations
THE TRIAL OF WARREN HASTINGS, 1788.
Warren Hastings, the first Governor-General (1774-1785), was with Clive the founder of the British Empire in India, but
during his administration he made many enemies. On his retirement he was pursued by them with extraordinary rancour, which
led to a trial before Parliament, lasting nine years (1786-1795). He was acquitted on all charges, but received no reward what-
ever for his magnificent services to his country.
Marathas after their defeat at Panipat by Ahmad Shah Durrani. In 1769 he was a serious menace to the
British at Madras, and it was not until 1780 that he was beaten by Sir Eyre Coote, to die unsubdued, how-
ever, in 1782, but acknowledging the coming power of the British in pathetically prophetic terms. Thus,
when Warren Hastings was called to govern, the English were in actual power over a considerable portion
of India, and were alone among the European peoples in having any foothold in the country.
All the great Mughal Emperors, from Babar downwards, were men of cultured taste, which showed
itself in literature, architecture, and the arts generally, and tecause their work is the most recent, the
remains are nowadays the best preserved in India, and the most widely renowned over the world. The
influence of the Mughal architecture is foreign, as these rulers brought the Persian style of the sixteenth
r.entury with them : at first modified by the ideas of the Indians employed as builders and subsequently
by the introduction of Italian stone-inlay. Their buildings are, however, among the most beautiful in
the world in any style, and remarkable indeed, from Akbar's tomb to his father, Humayun, at Delhi
and his buildings at Fatehpur Sikri, to Shahjahan's great masterpiece, the Taj at Agra, and his superbly
magnificent palace at Delhi. Like their architecture, the literature of the Mughals was mainly Persian,
so much so that some of the most famous works in that language were composed in India under their
influence. But under them was initiated a new literature, which promises to be of permanent value and
to go down to posterity as one of the most important of the world. The rough lingtia franca of the camp,
Urdu, has been transformed into the highly polished and cultivated literary tongue now known as
Hindustani, in which have been and are still being produced works of general importance and reputation
in every branch of study, aesthetic and practical.
Perhaps no one fact shows the effect on popular domestic affairs of the general influence of the Mughal
sovereignty and of the chaos at its latter end more than the state to which religion was reduced among
the people under its sway. No proselytizing by force or otherwise was able to turn them as a whole from
their ancient faith and they remained essentially Hindu, but after the days of the tolerant Akbar, the
indifferent Jahangir, the unstable Shahjahan at first tolerant and then intolerant, and the sympathetic
Dara Shikoh, no teacher or reformer of note arose, until long afterwards in the days when the Pax
Britannica became established. Tulsi Das, the great poetical teacher of salvation by faith, died in 1623,
India
197
and Dadu, the deistic follower of Kablr, the last to found a sect (Dadupanthi) of any consequence, died
in 1603. After them, indeed, the sects and divisions of Hinduism lived on in places, but only after a
fashion, under repression and discouragement, and the result was this : scholarship sank low, and a
coarse, ignorant ritualism was the rule, covering a grossly immoral idolatry with all its worst features
on the surface — immolation of widows, hook-swinging, ascetic torture, and so on. This was the Hinduism
of the first days of British rule, and that which greeted the earlier English residents in the country, and is
described in their records : a very different form of religion from that which had gone before and that
which was to come afterwards and to exist in our own time.
Since the Mughal days the dominating influence on the people's daily life has been that of the British,
and its present trend is largely due to the direction given it by the great Robert Clive. One of his
lasting services to his countrymen, and that which brought about the subsequent attack on him, was his
enforcement of the principle that honesty is the best policy in all public administration. The principle
adopted by the Company in his day was to give grotesquely inadequate salaries, and to allow private trade
within the limits of the country to make up for them, probably on the anticipation that servants so far
beyond control would in any case peculate. 'It led to all sorts of evil : to demoralized habits of unlimited
peculation both from the Company and from the people, high and low, and to endless insubordination,
for, when once a man had acquired a private estate under the terms of his employment, dismissal had
no terrors for him, and he proceeded to act for his own advantage in successful defiance of his masters.
It led also to continuous bickering and trouble between the Company and their servants. But though
in the records of the times the average Englishmen in India in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
By permission of\ [the Secretary of Stale for India.
LORD CORNWALLIS RECEIVING THE SONS OF TIPU SAHIB AS HOSTAGES, 1792.
Tipu Sahib (1782-1799), the troublesome successor of Haidar All of Mysore, carried on a desultory war in the Madras Presi-
dency against the English for many years. In 1790 he attacked Travaucore, which induced the Governor-General, Lord Cornwallls
to take the field in person. Tipu Sahib was subdued for the time being, and in 1792 bad to pay a heavy indemnity, giving his
sons as hostages for the payment.
198 Story of the Nations
are not revealed to us as men of a high class of character or mental attainments, their leaders were
wonderfully acute men of business and judges of those with whom they had to deal, carrying on success-
fully a large trade under extraordinary difficulties of financing and merchanting. Their account system
was at first bad, and so arranged as to provide opportunities for hiding peculation, until Streynsham Master
considerably discouraged it by a new and more correct method of book-keeping in 1678, thereby rendering
a service to India the effects of which are felt to this day.
The Company's servants led isolated and not very elevated lives as a rule, and much of their time
was taken up with undignified quarrelling among themselves, but many of them nevertheless acquired
a knowledge of the Indians, their habits, religions, customs and history, which, though not by any means
accurate, was much to their credit, considering their opportunities for literary study. There is a point
Painted feyl \R. K Porter
THE FINDING OK THE BODY OF TIPU 8AHIH AT SEKINUAPATAM, 17»!i.
The fourth and last Mysore War lasted exactly two months, and on April 4, 179U, SerinKapatam, the fortress of Tipu
Sahib, the ruler of Mysore, was stormed by General Baird in seven minutes, Tipn hlmcclf beintr killed in the breach in the wall.
Mysore was handed back to the Hindu Wodeyar Dynasty, which still holds it.
also in their lives which has been much misunderstood and misreported in the past. Large fortunes
under the system of private trading were made in individual cases and comfortable competences in others,
but as a rule Englishmen in India at that time were unsuccessful in "shaking the pagoda tree". Most of
them died in the country, many in debt, while many others left but little property behind them, and not
much of that ever found its way to heirs at home.
BRITISH RULE (from 1774)
THE RULE OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY (1774 — 1858)
THE CHILDHOOD OF A GOVERNMENT
THE system initiated by Ciive and kept up till the formal establishment of British imperial power in 1858
was that the Mughal Emperor reigned, but the British East India Company ruled wherever its territory
Maharawal Salivahan of
Jaisaliner, 1891.
Shah Alam, -Mughal Kmpernr,
1759-1806.
Maharaja Ji
1 »!)•.'.
Maharaja D hangar Singh of
Bikaner.
Akbar, the Great, Mughal Emperor
1556-1605.
Maharaja Sajan Singh of
Udaipur. 1874.
Maharaja Ram Singh of
Jaipur, 1835-1880.
Farrukhsiyar, Mughal Emperor,
1707-1712.
Jahangir, Mughal Emperor.
1605-162S.
Maharaja Jaswant Singh of
Jodhpur, 1873.
Shahjahan, Mughal Emperor,
1628-1658.
Aurangzeb, the Great .Mughal
1658-1707.
From "The Rulers at Iiuliu anri the Chiefs of liajputana"]
[by T. H. Hendleu, C.I.E.
2OO
Story of the Nations
*By permission of] \the Secretary of State for tnrJin.
LORD WELLESLKY REVIEWING HIS BODYGUARD AT BALIGANJ, NEAR CALCUTTA, 1805.
The Marquess of Wellcsley, the elder brother of the Duke of Wellington, pursued a decidedly forward policy as Governor-
General (1798-1805), and under him were obtained in various parts of India a long series of victories over native states, resulting
in a great extension of British territory. This was distasteful to the Directors of the East India Company, and he was recalled
in 1805.
extended. So that from his time onwards the Emperors may be ignored as factors in the Government
of India, though by a political fiction all the Governors-General held sway in their name.
Warren Hastings was the first Governor-General in British India (1774-1785) and was deliberately
selected by the Directors of the Company to put an end to the misrule of Clive's successors in office,
because he was a strong man with a high reputation for ability and integrity, who had long acted with
discretion in the Company's service. He justified his selection by laying the foundations of the existing
system of administration in India and checking the encroachments of the Marathas, of whom a menacing:
Confederacy had arisen. Hastings worked under extraordinary difficulties, as he was in conflict with
his High Court and constantly and deliberately hampered by his colleagues. In 1785 his stormy and
effective career in India came to an end, and on his departure he was attacked with extraordinary
rancour owing to party politics at home, impeached, and subjected to an undignified trial in 1786.
which dragged on for nine years until his acquittal in 1795. He was a great Englishman : inflexible,
patient, imperturbable, far-seeing and an untiring worker, generous, amiable and refined as a private
gentleman, though somewhat arrogant and intolerant of opposition in his public career.
In 1784 Pitt's India Act confirmed all real power to the Crown, while it left patronage to the Company ;
and a special Act permitted the Governor-General to overrule his Council, a power that Hastings ought
to have had. It was under these conditions that Lord Cornwallis (1786-1793) succeeded Hastings. He
performed two famous acts. One was the Permanent Settlement of the land revenue in Bengal (1793),
a "benevolent" measure designed to create a race of great landowners of the British type, and at the
same time to protect the interests of tenants. It effected neither, but it benefited Bengal at the expense
By permission of] f'*« Secretary of Slate for India.
THE BATTLE OF KIRKI, 1817.
In 1817 Baji Rao, the Peshwa of Poona and chief of the Maratha confederacy, thought he had an opportunity of destroying
British influence at Poona, and after much intrigue finally attacked and destroyed the British Residency there. The situation was
eared by the despatch of a small force from Bombay, which entirely routed the huge Maratha army at Kirki, near Poona. Twelve
days later Baji Rao surrendered and the Pcsbwas disappeared as Indian rulers.
India
201
of other provinces. The other was his judicial Code, which, though defective in many important respects,
is the foundation of the existing Indian system of administering justice. Cornwallis was followed by his
trusted friend and colleague, Sir John Shore (Lord Teignmouth, 1793-98), who initiated a disastrous
policy of non-intervention, which was reversed by his successor, Lord Wellesley (1798-1805), the elder
brother of the Duke of Wellington, then serving in Madras as Colonel Arthur Wellesley. Wellesley's aim
was the supremacy of the British power over all India. He began by the foundation of a British force to
be maintained by the Nizam, causing the destruction of Tipu Sahib at Seringapatam under Lord Harris
in 1799, and the restoration of the old Hindu Dynasty of Mysore under British suzerainty, a most important
series of acts, as it broke the Maratha power and destroyed all chance of the French ascendancy which
rrtf Rperially for this work.]
VILLAGERS BURNING THEMSELVES TO AVOID THE PINDHARIS, 1815.
The 1'iudharis were bodies of marauding outlaws composed of all castes and classes, which arose out of the troubles following
on the death of Aurangzeb in 1707. A century later their ravages in Central India were so cruel and severe that the inhabitants of
whole villages sacrificed themselves and their wives and children by flre rather than allow the latter to fall into the freebooters'
hands. This led to their forcible suppression in 1818, under Lord Minto.
Napoleon had planned. Then followed war with the Marathas, ending in their total defeat in 1803 at
Assaye (Asai), near Aurangabad, by Arthur Wellesley, the victories of Lord Lake in Hindustan proper,
and the final disappearance of the French commanders, de Boigne, Perron, Filoze, and others, who had
helped the Marathas, not as mere adventurers, but as capable military leaders of large ideas and of a
magnificent style of living. Out of the welter of all this fighting arose Great Britain as the paramount
power in India. This was Wellesley's political achievement, but it was too much for the unimaginative
Government at home, which, after worrying him, resolved to reverse his policy by one of non-intervention,
a line of action that, like all political timidity, brought misery to India and much further war.
The greater part of the term of office of Lord Minto (1807-13) was spent in resisting the non-intervention
policy and demonstrating its futility in the then conditions of India, and in combating French designs
2O2
Story of the Nations
under Napoleon. In his time, too, there were many outrages in Central India by the Pindharis, armed
lawless plunderers of all castes and classes, who arose in large bodies under chiefs during the century of
local misrule that followed on the death of Aurangzeb in 1707. Along the frontiers there were serious
encroachments by the Gurkhas of Nepal in the North, and by the Burmans in the East. And ail the while
there was a haunting fear of the French everywhere, and trouble in Persia and Kabul, on account of the
action of the Czar Alexander I in consequence of the Treaty of Tilsit, when he and Napoleon divided the
whole world between them with a sublime indifference to the interests of all other States. In the North-
West the great Ranjit Singh, the Lion of the Panjab, as head of one of the Sikh clans (misals) had made
himself master of the whole of that
country ; but Minto obliged him to
sign a treaty of "perpetual amity
between the British Government
and the State of Lahore" at
Amritsar in 1809, a compact to
which he carefully adhered until
his death thirty years later in
1839. Thus did the non-inter-
vention policy of the Home Govern-
ment lead immediately to incessant
trouble all over India, and eventu-
ally to the increase of British
authority. Later on it caused
much further trouble, as the next
Governor-General, Lord Hastings
(1813-23), was forced to spend
most of his time in serious war,
and achieved much. Lord Hast-
ings' successor, Lord Amherst
(1823-8), famous on his appoint-
ment for having conspicuously
upheld British prestige in China,
was another Governor-General who
"sought peace and found war".
His main achievement, after a
campaign not well conducted on
the whole, was the annexation of
Assam, Arakan and Tenasserim,
as the result of resisting the
aggressions of the Alompra (Alaung-
phaya) dynasty of Burma. On his
departure the Sikhs of the Panjab
and the Amirs of Sind were the only
independent States left in India.
After Amherst came another personality that performed great services for India, Lord William
Bentinck (1828-35), the most peaceful of rulers, whose energies were mainly devoted to internal
improvement. He toured all over the country, extending to other parts of the country the Madras
system of leasing lands direct to the peasantry (ryotwari). He commenced the long crusade against
female infanticide, prohibited sati (1829), making the immolation of widows a criminal offence for all
participants, and he suppressed thuggee (thagi), a widely organized system of strangling travellers by
gangs of armed highwaymen. He threw open judicial and executive appointments to the people of
the country, and introduced with the help of Macaulay the teaching of English, making it "the official
and literary language" of India. The mere enumeration of his chief measures is sufficient to show how
much the India of to-day owes to his personal efforts. Amongst his services was the foundation of
By jwrmfcwi'on nf\ [the Scrretaru of Stale fur India.
MAHARAJA RANJIT SINGH OF THE PANJAB (1780-1839).
The confusion in the Panjab in the last quarter of the eighteenth century
caused by the raids of Ahmad Shah Abdali and the feebleness of the Mughal
Emperors of the time, enabled Ranjit Singh, the head of a local Sikh confederacy
(misal), to raise a large and well-trained army, by means of which he created for
himself the kingdom of the Panjab, including Kashmir. In 1809 he concluded
a treaty of alliance with the British at Amritsar, which he faithfully kept until
his death in 1839.
Painted specially for this u-ork.]
BAJIDAW. KINO OF BURMA. ORDERS HIS GENERAL TO WREST BENGAL FROM THE BRITISH
Lord Amhere
or,lcrciJ to brlnB Lor,! Aulhcrs
«.„,„, wnich ,.CSHlted :n tbe
°"
•
the C°mmalld °f Maha Bandllla'
204
Story of the Nations
Painted by Prince Soltykoff,] [By permission of the Secretary of State jor India.
THE CAVALCADE OF RAJA DHYAN SINGH AT AMRITSAR IN 1829
Dhyan Singh Dogra was the younger brother of Gulab Singh of Jammu, afterwards the first Maharaja of Kashmir. He was in
the employ of Ranjit Singh of the Panjab, and after hie patron's death became the chief minister of his successors. He was
Bnally assassinated in 1843, an act which led to a series of palace murders extraordinary even in the history of India.
the "Overland Route" to England, via the Red Sea and Suez, by utilizing the then novel application
of steam power on the sea. Shortly after his departure Sir Charles (Lord) Metcalfe introduced the
freedom of the Press, then wholly European, a measure that has been attended with varying success.
By the Charter Act of 1833, the Company ceased to exist as a commercial body, and became merely
an adjunct of the mechanism of imperial administration, the Government of India being empowered to
legislate. A careful survey of the Company's administration while the Court of Directors held sway will
show that it was not competent to deal with the imperial problems involved in the acquisition of power,
and that India accrued to the British Crown in consequence of the efforts of the loyal representatives of the
nation abroad in spite of persistent discouragement on the part of the directors. They perpetually inter-
fered with their servants and very often mistakenly ; they constantly recalled and dismissed those who
did them eminently good service, and they seldom grasped the political situations with which they were
confronted. India has indeed been won for England and held on the initiative of the men on the spot
rather than by the guidance of their official superiors at home.
The careers of the next three Governors-General, Lords Auckland, Ellenborough and Hardinge
(1837-48), working under the revised system, may be best taken together. All Lord Auckland's time
(1837-42) was filled up with combating the bugbear of Russian aggression consequent on the extension
of the dominion and influence in Central Asia of the Czar Nicholas I, the opponent of the British and
their allies in the Crimean War. This brought on the disastrous campaign in Afghanistan, ending in the
destruction of the forces sent to Kabul in 1842, and the recall of the Governor-General. His successor,
the impetuous Lord Ellenborough (1842-44), commenced with repairing the damage done to British
prestige in Afghanistan, and followed it up with the annexation of the territories of the Amirs of Sind on
account of their attitude during the Afghan Wars. But his operations were not skilfully conducted and
he, too, was recalled. To him succeeded a distinguished general of the Peninsular Wars, Lord Hardinge
,(1844-48), a man of peace like his two predecessors, who had to spend his time in war with the political
India
205
successors of Ranjit Singh in the Panjab. Ranjit Singh's death in 1839 gave occasion for a series of palace
murders and general anarchy extraordinary even in the annals of India, and finally his widow, Rani Jindan,
mother of Dalip (Dhuleep) Singh, his last successor, then a boy, was led to induce the armed nation she
could not control to attack the British outposts at Ferozepore (Firozpur). After a war including several
famous battles, the Sikh forces were routed at Sobraon on the Satluj near Ferozepore, and a British regency
was set up under Sir Henry Lawrence at Lahore in 1846. In the midst of all these struggles Gulab Singh,
the hereditary Dogra chief of Jammu, who had possessed himself of the neighbouring State of Kashmir
and had rendered important services to the British Government during the war with the Sikhs, was
confirmed in his acquired territories. The acceptance by Lord Hardinge's Government, in accordance
with immemorial Oriental custom, of seventy-five thousand rupees, paid by Gulab Singh to the British
on this occasion as peshkash (present on appointment), in token of their suzerainty, has often been
virulently criticized as the "Sale of Kashmir".
After Hardinge came a truly great man, Lord Dalhousie (1848-56), who crowded into his short life of
forty-eight years an astonishing amount of work of the first order. Like his predecessors, he expected to
rule in peace, but the Sikhs revolted, and, after the memorable battles at Chilianwala on the Jhelum and
at Gujrat in 1849, were so completely beaten that the Panjab was annexed, and thereafter so managed
that within three years a Sikh battalion was fighting for the British Government in Burma, and the
general body of the Sikhs supported it loyally in the great Mutiny of eight years later (1857). In 1852
further aggression on the part of the Burmese king brought on a well-conducted war, which ended in the
ni tin F C.
, | [By permission o/ the Secretani of Statr /or
THE INSTALLATION OF THE NAWAB OF THE UARNATIC (ARCOT), 1842.
The Carnatic is the country aluug the East Coast of Southern India over which Aurangzob appointed a Nawab or Viceroy in
1692. After the Emperor's death the Viceroy made himself independent as the Nawab of Arcot, and eventually the succession to
that throne became a cause of the disputes between the French and English, which ended in the Nawabs becoming dependants of
British pmvcr and purely titular princes.
Story of the Nations
By permisfion of]
{the Secretary of State for India
SIR-I-KHAJUR IN THE BOLAN PASS, 1839.
The stiffest part of Bolan Pass is the Sir-i-Khajur (the crest of the date-tree;,
where it is steep and covered with boulders. There the army of 1839 suffered
considerably from lialoch robbers, who hid in crevices and caves and fired on the
passing troops. They were circumvented by armed scouting parties.
annexation of Pegu. Dalhousie
was firmly convinced of the advan-
tage of British rule to the in-
habitants of India, owing to the
conspicuous mismanagement and
misrule of so many of the princes
since the adoption by Lord Welles-
ley of the system of treaties with
Indian rulers "in subordinate
alliance". He sought to overcome
this evil by enforcing "the doctrine
of lapse", by which a childless ruler
created or revived by the British
Government, could not pass on his
sovereignty by the adoption of an
heir from amongst his relatives
according to the ordinary Indian
practice. Under the application
of this doctrine several Maratha
and other States passed to the
Crown, and much territory came
under direct British sway But
the contemporary annexation of Oudh for persistent misgovernment to an appalling extent was
carried out in consequence of orders from home issued against Dalhousie's advice as to the
wisdom thereof; and another grievance of the time,
that the notorious Nana Sahib of Bithur, near
Cawnpore, adopted son of the last Peshwa of Poona
who died in 1851, was unjustly deprived of a com-
pensatory pension, was without any foundation in
fact. The policy of "lapse", however necessary
politically at the time of its application, is neverthe-
less contrary to Indian ideas of the just rights of
possessors of property, and was withdrawn by Lord
Canning in 1862, to the great relief of the rulers of
Native States.
Dalhousie's activities were endless in all
directions. He steadily built on the foundations
of his predecessors and made Modern India. He
upheld the integrity of the independent States,
reorganized the Army and Civil Service, created
many of the existing State Departments, and
inaugurated public instruction on the basis of the
celebrated dispatch of Sir Charles Wood as Secretary
of State for India, often called the Education
Charter (1854), which established universities
and colleges, with State-aided English and ver-
nacular schools in all districts. But the incessant
labours undertaken by Dalhousie were too much
for his strength, and he returned to England
in shattered health, to die a few years later in
1860.
In his time the patronage of the Civil Service
was withdrawn from the Directors and the
I'ainted by] \James Atkin»<n.
THE BURNING OF A WIDOW (SATI).
The burning of widows with the bodies ol their
husbands was a common practice among certain castes of
Hindus. It was otlicially prohibited by Lord William
Bentinck in 1829, and was finally suppressed soon after-
wards. Women who performed this act of devotion were
called safi (holy).
S 9 a
ill
IIJ
° ^r
208
Story of the Nations
appointments to it were thrown open
to public competition. Soon after
his departure an equally momentous
change was made in the Government
of India, as the result of the Mutiny
of 1857, whereby the country
passed from the rule of the East
India Company, and empire therein
directly to the Crown under Viceroys in
1858.
In the course of an extremely rapid
historical survey it is impossible to
mention even by name the very many
loyal and capable men, European and
Indian, of all classes and descriptions,
who ungrudgingly and indefatigably
performed yeoman service for the
Governors-General in building up the
British Indian Empire in all its aspects,
and thus made possible the attainment
of their great aims. But though the
epoch of the Governors-General was
necessarily one of strife and confusion,
inseparable from the imposition of
Western authority on an Eastern popula-
tion, the efforts of those who laboured
under them rapidly began to take
effect.
The introduction of Western teach-
ing, inventions and arrangements ; the
action of Christian ideas, moral and
social, expounded by able and earnest
teachers by word of niouth and by
literature ; the critical examination
of Indian religious and historical tra-
ditions by competent Western scholars ;
the spectacle of Western methods of
philanthropy in the care of the sick,
the famine-stricken, the ignorant, the
outcast and the down-trodden ; the
equal administration of justice ; the
strict toleration ot creed and faith — each had its separate effect on the people, all the greater for
being gradual and imperceptible.
This was indeed a period of Western influence on the popular daily life, in which arose
a new class deeply imbued with it, the modern educated men of India, the class on which the
future of India must largely depend. And thus, while war and discord and actual rebellion against the
new order of things were in those days everywhere rife, the steady extension of British rule silently
produced a revolutionary change in the Indian mind, which cannot but remain effective, whatever
the political future may bring forth. Even as a lusty child, forcing its growth through all obstacles
and vigorously combating all opposition, British control brought into India conditions that can
never be eradicated, and through storm and stress laid on the national character an indelible stamp of
Western civilization.
[the Secre'ari/ of .S7«/< t<n- Im/i
THE BRITISH ARMY ENTERING THE BOLAN PASS.
The first Afghan War, 1838-1842, arose out of the Russian scare, which
had its origin In the division of the world by Napoleon and Alexander I of
Russia between themselves. After Napoleon's death in 1821 the Russians
continued their designs on Persia and India. The Bolan is the first of the
between Sind and India.
India
THE BRITISH EMPIRE FROM 1858
THE RULE OF THE VICEROYS — THE MANHOOD OF A GOVERNMENT
209
WHEN Lord Canning (1856-62) arrived in India as Governor-General, unrest was universal, and especially
was this the case in Hindustan, north of the Nerbudda owing to a natural distrust of the inevitable
concomitants of European progress on the part of the population. Innovations such as railways, tele-
graphs, steamships, and education on novel lines were in their ultra-conservative eyes all objects of
dread, and upset them as being unorthodox. But it was in Oudh, whence the Bengal Army was largely
recruited, that the discontent was most marked, in consequence of the ill-feeling roused by the recent
annexation of that province among the soldiers and the large landowners and their dependants, classes
that had profited by the old bad order of affairs. Rebelliously inclined leaders of the people were well
aware of all this, and when England, while still unrecovered from the military exhaustion following on
the Crimean War with Russia (1853-56), became involved in wars in Persia and China, and the home
authorities unduly depleted India of European troops to complete their requirements in those countries,
seditious agitators, employed by disloyal social leaders, fancied that their opportunity had come. So
when some unthinking military authorities blundered and issued cartridges for a newly adopted rifle
greased with animal fat, said to be that of cows and pigs, to the Indian troops, a cry was successfully
raised that the Europeans contemplated the destruction of caste and religious customs, Hindu and
Muhammadan alike, and the forcible conversion of all to Christianity. Thereupon the smouldering
dislike of the new order of things quickly burst into flame, and in 1857 practically the whole army in
Northern India mutinied. There was, however, no national rebellion : it was military mutiny, taken
advantage of by malcontents of political standing for their own ends. There were, of course, violent
convulsions for the time being, memorable massacres of white men and their families, and much natural
retaliation. There were also innumerable gallant actions in local defence, while many reputations were
Painted by Prince Soltykoff.} \By permission of the Secretary of Slate for India.
THE HAREM CARRIAGE OF THE LAST KINO OF DELHI, 1857.
Bahadur Sbab, the last titular Mughal Emperor, earae to his semblance of an empire in 1837, and was the nominal Sing
ol Delhi during the Mutiny. Ho was aftenvardH tried and deposed for his complicity therein, in 1857, and finally died as a
prisoner in Rangoon. The single bullock-cart, accompanied by one racing camel, shows how low had fallen tho state which the
arrcat Mughal Emperors maintained for their families in the days of their decay.
210
Story of the Nations
THE DEFEAT OF TANTIA TOPI BEFORE CAWNPOHE.
Immediately after the massacre, Cawnpore was reoccupied by Sir Henry Harelock anil
made the base of the first relief of Lucknow. While the bulk of the British forces were there,
Cawnpore was besieged by Tantia Topi, the most capable of the mutinous leaders, who was
finally defeated by Sir Colin Campbell on December 6, 1857.
lost and won. Revolted
Delhi and Lueknow had
to be besieged and cap-
tured, and a severe follow-
ing up of the scattered
mutineers was thereafter
necessary. But it was all
over in a year, and in the
story of India it is his-
torically only an episode
with far-reaching results.
The practical effects of it
were the creation of a
definite proportion
between British and Indian
troops in India, the final
disappearance of the
Muhammadan sovereignty,
the abolition of the Com-
pany's rule, the transfer
of the government directly
to the Crown, substituting
the Secretary of State in
Council for the Board of Control on taking over the government, and last, but not least, the practical
demonstration of the uselessness of rebellion against the British nation. The famous Queen's Proclama-
tion was published on November i, 1858, appointing a Viceroy and containing the principles on which
Her Majesty proposed to rule her Indian possessions. In it are many words of wisdom, but of them all
the following have sunk most deeply into the Indian mind : "Firmly relying ourselves on the truth of
Christianity, and acknowledging with gratitude the solace of religion, we disclaim alike the right and the
. desire to impose our con-
victions on any of our
subjects." These words
expressed the principles
which guided the policy
of another great Indian
ruler, the Muhammadan
Emperor Akbar, in the
days of Queen Elizabeth,
and are strongly reminis-
cent of one of the edicts
promulgated over two
thousand years earlier by
the first great ruler of
India, the Buddhist
Emperor AsOka: "His
Majesty King Piyadasi
(AsOka) reverences men
of all sorts whether
ascetics or householders, by
largesses and other modes
The Nana Sahib, Raja of Bithar, near Cawnpore, though ostensibly a friend of the English °f showing respect,
was one of the chief fomcnters 01 the Mutiny. In April 1857 he paid a treacherous After the Mutiny was
visit of friendship to Sir Henry Lawrence at Lueknow, shortly before the outbreak, . - , „ ,
rnd suddenly left that city on a pretext of business at Bithur. quelled. Lord
THE NANA SAHIB LEAVING LUCKNOW FOR CAWNI'OHK.
THE VISIT Or NIZAM AFZULU'DDAULA, 1857.
On the advice of his ereat minister, Salar Jang, the
young Nizam of Haitlarabad remained true to the English
and paid a ceremonial vis,t to the British Residency in proof
of his loyalty.
THE STORMING OF DELHI, SEPT. 14, 1857.
Immediately after the destruction of the Kashmir Gate,
the 52nd Foot entered the city and rushed a grun com-
manding the advance, under a tremendous fire, in which
General Nicholson lost his life.
BLOWING UP THE KASHMIR GATE. DELHI.
The storming of Delhi commenced with an act of
splendid audacity by a party of six, under Lieutenants
Home and Salkeld, in which the latter and three others
lost their lives.
AN ATTACK OF QUA/IS, MAY 6, 1858.
Khan Bahadur Khan was proclaimed Viceroy of
Rohilkhand, of which Bareli was the capital. Among hia
forces were a number of ghazis, fanatical "death or glory
boys".
DEFEAT OF TANTIA TOPI, AT JHANSI.
The Rani of Jhansi, a victim of the "Doctrine of
Lapse", joined in the Mutiny with Tnntia Topi and led her
troopj in person, and was killed in battle at Kotk Sorai
June 17. 1858.
VINCENT EYRE AT ARRAH. AUGUST 2, 1857.
Vincent Eyro, rn route from Calcutta to Allahabad
with a battery, hearing of the mutiny at Patna and
Arrah, diverted his line of march, and with great gallantry
drove the mutineers into tho Ganges.
212
Story of the Nations
time as the first Viceroy was wholly taken up in the arduous and most difficult task of pacifying the
animosities it had aroused and reorganizing the whole administration, including that of the army, law,
and finance. These tremendous tasks wore him out, and he returned to England in 1862, only to die
within a month of his reaching it. His successor, Lord Lawrence, is rightly remembered as the saviour
of the Panjab during the Mutiny.
His administration (1864-1869) typi-
cally inaugurated the government of
India by the Viceroys. It created that
internal peace ever since maintained
as the Pax Britannica, and from the
date that his rule began there has
been no war anywhere on the soil of
India, a state of things hitherto un-
known in its long drawn-out history.
It also carefully followed up the
policy of the steady consolidation of
the material and moral well-being of
the people, which was commenced by
Lord Canning and has been thought-
fully adhered to by all succeeding
viceroys. So that although the events
of the last half-century are far too
close to us to admit of unbiased
review at the present time, two points
of policy may safely be called the
distinguishing feature of the Rule of
the Viceroys : the maintenance of
internal peace, and government aimed
directly at the promotion of the
welfare of the people.
Incidents of lasting importance
have necessarily arisen, and each
Viceroy has had some special difficulty,
political or administrative, to meet as
the principal preoccupation of his
brief career. In Lord Lytton's time
(1876-1880) the Queen of England
was formally proclaimed Empress of
India (Kaisar-i-Hind] at a magnificent
THE PLUNDER OF THE KAiSARBAGH, LUCKNOW darbar held at Delhi on January i,
Sir Colin Campbell, after relieving the garrison at Lucknow in November
1857, withdrew to the Alanibagh, outside the city. In the following March
when strong enough, he finally captured it. The Kaisarbagh, the residence
of. the deposed Kings of Oudh, was stormed, whereupon the troops got out of
hand, and the treasures of Waiitl Ali Shall Iho last king, wer.- plundered and
destroyed
[The Victoria and Albert Musi inn.
1877. In his time, too, aggressive
designs on the part of Russian
politicians on the north-western fron-
tiers again loomed large, and
brought on war with Afghanistan,
which followed an uncertain course similar to thac ot 1842, owing to party politics at home,
and was finally settled by his successor. Lord Ripon (1880-1884), by just withdrawing from the
country. In Lord Dufferin's (1884-1888) day a very narrow escape from war with Russia, owing to
frontier disputes, ended in a material strengthening of the army and in a large extension of strategic
frontier railways for defensive purposes. It also brought about the far-reaching measure of the
organization of the Imperial Service Corps, which gave the Indian aristocracy an opportunity for a
military career, and through the Indian rulers greatly added to the value of the Indian troops. In
Dufferin's time too, Upper Burma was annexed owing to the dangerous intrigues of its King with foreign
India
213
European powers
The energetic Lord
Curzon (1898-1905)
moved in practically
every branch of the
administration and
tightened up the
whole machinery of
government ; among
his achievements
were the Tibet ex-
pedition of 1904, the
Coronation (Edward
VII) Darbar at
Delhi in 1903, the
partition of Bengal,
the formation of an
Imperial Cadet
Corps, and a great
forward movement
in education. Lord
THE WELL AT CAWNPORE, 1857.
On the eve of the arrival (July 12) of Sir Henry Havelock, in relief
of Cawnporc, the British women and children were all massacred in their
prison and their bodies next morning thrown into the neighbouring well.
Minto (1905-1910)
was occupied in
coping with sedition
fomented by the
discontented among
the newly formed
educated classes,
encouraged by the
successes of the
Japanese in their
war with Russia.
The discontent was
largely due to a
cheap system of
education which
turned out youths
detached from
the wholesome
home influences
that build up sound
moral character and
make for the securing oi suitable occupation in after life. Lord Hardinge of Penshurst succeeded , in 1910, to
meet a tide of unrest which was steadily rising. There was soon, however, to come a dramatic lull with the
visit to India of the King-Emperor and his Consort. At a magnificent "coronation darbar", which he held
on December 12. 1911, King George V announced the transfer of the capital from Calcutta to Delhi, along
with a number of other administrative changes, and his subsequent progress through the country was
the occasion for a remarkable outburst of the innate loyalty of the people. Within a year after the
By permission of] {the Sn-ntnru uf Htutr tor liuliii.
THE MEETING OF SIR COLIN CAMPBELL WITH HAVELOCK AND OUTRAM AT LUCKNOW, NOV. 17, 1857.
The Mutiny broke out at Lucknow on May 30, 1857, and the loyal garrison under Sir Henry Lawrence (who was killed
on July 4), was besieged until September 25, when it was reinforced by Havelock and Outram. The siege then lasted
until the garrison was relieved by Colin Campbell on November 17, after hard and long-continued fighting. The three
Commanders and their staffs met in an open space under a heavy flre. in which Havelock nearly lost his life and several others
were wounded.
214
Story of the Nations
paradox of Indian life was illustrated by the Viceroy's narrow escape from death by a bomb thrown at
him as he was entering Delhi in December 1912. Yet once again was revolutionary crime hushed with
the outbreak of the Great War. when there surged through India, in every class, from prince to peasant
a wave of allegiance to the Empire and enthusiasm for its cause. By the time that war ended, India
had sent altogether some 700,000 combatants and 400,000 non-combatants into the field. She had
added over £150 millions to her public debt, and had been mainly responsible for the conduct of the
campaign in Mesopotamia, an enterprise which wrung the hearts of our Moslem fellow subjects when
they found themselves fighting their own co-religionists, the Turks. The assistance given bv India at
the most critical period of the British nation's history can never be forgotten.
Before peace came, Lord Chelmsford had taken office as Viceroy. He arrived to find the enthusiasm
LORD CANNING DECORATING LOYAL CHIEFS AT CAWNPORE, NOVEMBER 3, 1859.
During the Mutiny, the Sikh chiefs and a number of Rajput and other chiefs in Northern India remained loyal to the
English, and in pursuance of his policy of pacification Lord Canning made a tour and rewarded those who had done good service.
The most magnificent of these ceremonies was a Darbar at Cawnpore, when the Rajas of Rewa, lienares and Chikari were
publicly honoured.
of 1914 on the wane, and the forces ol political and social unrest again asserting themselves. At no
period in the history of the country have influences been at work causing such an upheaval in society
as has been going on, ever since the Mutiny and especially since Lord Curzon's regime, under the irresistible
pressure of an old and highly developed Western civilization upon that of a people saturated with an
Eastern culture equally old but developed on entirely different lines. The changes brought about in
this way have affected every phase of the people's life ; and, however great they may have been, they
have necessarily tended to be imperceptible and impalpable, but, nevertheless, very real, and they have
inevitably led to deep-seated unrest. Threefold have been its causes. First is the struggle for existence
among the mass of imperfectly educated youths, for whom there seems to be no place in the slowly
expanding economic structure of the country, and who fall an easy prey to the organizers of anarchy
and senseless crime. Second is the unhappiness of the old orthodox Hindus at the changes which have
come from the West and shaken the ancient order oi their social life. And third is the rising political
)"* • *
From the 1'ictoria and Albert Museum.] [Painted h;/ William .Simpson.
THE TAJ MAHAL AT AGRA, AS IT APPEARED IN 1864.
Mumtaz Mahal, the wife to whom the Emperor Shahjahan was so devoted, died in childbirth with her fourteenth child, in
1631. In the following year Shahjahan began the construction of the famous mausoleum to her memory, known as the Tai
Mahal, and finished it in 1643, holding a great ceremony in honour of its completion, on the twelfth anniversary of her death.
from l/n \'h:l,,riu uml Alln-rl Museum.]
[1'ainttrt by ll'illiain Simpson.
THE ARAL BUNGA AT THE GOLDEN TEMPLE AT AMRITSAR, IN 186 1.
The Amritsar (Pool of Immortality) was granted by Akbar to Guru Ram Das, the Sikh leader, in 1577, and round it has since
risen the great city of that name. In and about the pool has been constructed the Darbar Sahib, as the Sikhs call the Golden
Temple. It is their holy place and contains the Granth Sahib, or Scriptures. The Akal Bunga in the middle of the pool prnto-i
the teniplr I n^^ures.
2l6
Story of the Nations
From the] [Victoria and Albert Museum.
THE DUHGA PUJA ON THE HUGLI IN 1882.
Durga, the inaccessible, is the Hindu goddess of destruction, and in her honour is held
the chief annual festival of the Bengalis in the autumn, lasting ten days. It corresponds to
the ten days Dasahra of Northern India, which is the "taker-away of sins", and is the chief
military festival during which, in former days, campaigns were opened.
ambition of the literati,
fired by their knowledge of
Western ways and thought,
to claim the right of self-
determination and to
dream of a unified India,
governed by her own
leaders, and marching
along the path of economic
progress to prosperity and
independence. Of this last
movement the National
Congress, founded in 1885
by a group of moderate
reformers, has been the
mouthpiece; though it has
recently been captured by
the more extreme section
of the Nationalists.
Home rule aspirations
received a powerful stimulus from the Great War, and from the terms of peace. Indian troops had fought
both alongside of and against European armies. Indian magnates had signed the Treaty of Versailles.
Why should India not meet with the same consideration as the nations which that treaty had
emancipated ? It was
largely a foreboding of this
sentiment which set the
British Cabinet devising a
formula for India's future.
The result was the most
momentous pronounce-
ment since Queen Victoria's
proclamation after the
Mutiny. It was the decision
to lead India towards the
goal of responsible govern-
rnent by progressive
stages, which the British
Parliament would deter-
mine from time to time.
The Viceroy and Mr.
Edwin Montagu, the then
Secretary of State, held
a joint inquiry which led
to the first stage of the
new constitution being em-
bodied in an Act of 1919.
The other outstanding
events of Lord Chelms-
''"'"'''" '«" °- "• Pa!mer' ford's rule were a serious
THE MUHARRAM FESTIVAL AT CALCUTTA, IN 1882.
rising in the Paniab, which
Hit. sun and Ilusain. the grandsons of Muhammad, won' both killed in such tragical . .
circumstances that the memory <if their death tent ill \i\iill\ preserved iiimingst Muham- brought Mr. Gandhi into
inailans, and has led to the performance everywhere of a Passion I'lay, known as the the forefront of political
Muharram Festival. Part of the proceedings is a procession of tabiitt or t<r.iii«». models of
their tomb at Karbela, near llaghdad. agitation, and a Short War
India
217
with Afghanistan which followed an abortive invasion ol British territory by King Aman-ulla.
With the opening of the doors of political freedom to India, a number of other movements sprang into
activity. During the British connection there has been no internal alteration in Hinduism, but it
has been vitally affected by external influences of Western and Christian origin, which have been
silently at work ; so that Hinduism to-day embraces a definite tendency towards the absorption of
unorthodox ideas from without, combated from within by a vigorous orthodoxy. Christian teaching
as such has little direct effect on the castes of recognized social standing ; but on the castes outside the
pale of orthodox Hinduism it has, in combination with education and British equality before the law.
resulted in no small upheaval from below and a general claim for a better social status among those
customarily regarded as the lowest. Thus we see a general drift among the literate classes away from
the traditional creed of their fathers towards a vague agnosticism ; a growing demand by the "Untouch-
Painted L)/ Luitis 7>r*i7??r/r.<j.l \B\i in'riin*xi<ni of the Wantage U.D.C
LORD ROBP:RTS AT THE ZAMBURAK KOTAL ON THE MARCH FROM KABUL TO KANDAHAR, isso.
After the disaster at Maiwand nn July 27, 1880, during the Second Afghan War, the country rose and the British garrison at
Kandahar was besieged. Sir Frederick Roberts was sent from Kabul In relict, and by an extraordinary march of 318 miles
through the mountains reached Kandahar in twenty-three days.
ables" for more considerate treatment (e.g. admission to Hindu temples) and some political representation ;
and a strong revolt by the older-fashioned Hindus, particularly the Brahmans, against Western innovations.
The last of these has had the curious result of throwing orthodox influence into the home-rule scale, not
Irom any love of democratic principles, but in the hope that an independent India will find its way back
to the ideals and practice of a purer Hinduism. Alongside all these movements, and almost more striking
than any of them, is the stirring of a new spirit among the women of India. The old fetters of the
Purdah (seclusion of women) are being strained nearly to breaking. Women who had never before been
seen outside their own doors have flung themselves into street riots and served as pickets in the home-
rule scheme of boycott. Agitation is growing against child-marriage, and in favour of widow-remarriage.
Education is being demanded as a right, and "votes for women" have been accepted, after much heart-
burning, by all the provincial legislatures.
Into all this whirlwind of emotion and excitement Lord Reading entered when he took over the vice-
royalty in 1921. His tenure of office was a continual struggle against the forces of disorder marshalled
s
2l8
Story of the Nations
by the Congress party and placed generally under the direction of Mr. Gandhi, an ascetic whose character
and methods exercise an enormous influence over the credulous masses. The whole energy of the
extreme Nationalist's was consecrated to discovering means — whether called non-cooperation, civil dis-
obedience, boycott, soul-force, or by any other name— by which the Government of the country could be
discredited and crippled. Disastrous though often were the consequences of the movement, it was
countered with infinite patience both by Lord Reading and by Lord Irwin who followed him in 1926.
It had penetrated, however, among the common people and produced an atmosphere of lawlessness and
unset tlement such as India had never formerly known under the British Crown. It had also succeeded
THE Nl/A.M OF HAIDA11ABAD PAYING HOMAGE AT THE DELHI DARBAR. 1011.
King George V and Queen Mary of England were crowned Emperor and Empress of India in full darbnr (court) at Delhi in
1911. During the ceremonies the rulers of the Native States in succession paid them public homage, led by the senior chief, the
Nizam of Haidarabad, in whose dominion arc thirteen million inhabitants.
in conveying the mistaken impression to the world at large that India has suddenly become a great and
united nation struggling for freedom.
During the last few years, in common with the other agricultural countries of the world, India has
suffered severely from the universal fall in prices, and both her Government and her people have had to
face grave hardship. But, as a result of the internal turmoil just described, the focus of interest has
been almost exclusively political. In 1930 a Royal Commission, which had been at work under the
presidency of Sir John Simon for two years before, reported on the next step to be taken, in pursuance
of the policy of 1919, towards self-government. The proposals were curtly repudiated by the Congress
party, who also refused any lot or part in a Round-table Conference which His Majesty's Government
summoned for the end of the year, to consider, in free consultation, the whole situation. At an adjourned
session, it is true, held in the autumn of 1931, Mr. Gandhi was persuaded by Lord Irwin to attend ; but
f
THE ROUND TABLE CONFERENCE, 1931
Mr Gandhi, the Indian Nationalist leader, attended the adjourned Round Table Conference at St. James's Palace iu September 1931.
The picture shows a meeting of the Federal Structure Committee with Lord Sankey in the chair.
DISl'KHSIMi DEMONSTRATORS IN i 'AM TTTA, l!):;l
During recent years demonstrations by the Nationalist extremists have often led them into conflict, with the police, and heavy loss of
life hasonly been avoided owing to the great tact and forbearance exercised by the authorities. The riots in Calcutta on "Independence
Day", 1931 were due to the persistence of the Nationalists iu holding a banned parade.
India
221
MK. GANDHI
Leader of ludian Congress Party, a
fanatical adherent of the Nationalist
cause.
LORD SANKEY
Presided over the Round Table Con-
ference In London attended by Mr
Gandhi and other Indian leaders.
his presence did nothing to abate
the cleavage between Hindus and
Moslems which had threatened
the conference with failure, and
he added no iota of constructive
wisdom to its deliberations.
Indeed, on his return to India
he called for a renewal of the
civil disobedience campaign, ex-
actly as if nothing whatever had
been done to conciliate Indian
opinion ; and his intransigence left
the new Viceroy, Lord Willingdon,
with no option but to put him in
confinement and to proscribe the
whole activities of the National
Congress. The third and closing
session of the Round-table Con-
ference in the winter of 1932
paved the way for a complete
scheme of advance which is now being examined by a joint committee of both Houses of Parliament with
a view to legislation in 1934.
To make India mistress in her own house is a very different problem from the grant of self-government
in Canada or Australia. As in their case, the only way of bringing the widely scattered provincial interests
into harmony is through a central federal power. But in India it will not be a federation of provinces or
states speaking the same language and accustomed to the same political institutions ; it will be a grouping
on the one hand of British provinces, each with its own parliamentary system, and of Indian states on the
other hand, with no parliamentary systems at all, but governed by more or less independent rulers, with
autocratic powers — a mixture of which the world has had no previous experience. Add to this complication
the diversity of languages among the different units, and the racial dissensions which they inherit from
their stormy past. In such circumstances Federation must be a gradual, and may even be a painful,
growth, and the first step towards it is the emancipation of the British provinces from official control.
This is the immediate advance
which the new constitution will
inaugurate, and while the central
federal organ is slowly evolving
the provinces will provide an
ample field of trial and experience
for India's best brains in the
coming generation.
India is thus on the threshold
of a new era in her ancient and
troubled story. We have ob-
served how, long before the dawn
of history she was the scene of a
great and advanced civilization.
We have seen how she was
invaded by branches of the Aryan
stock, which gradually penetrated
to the ocean and were slowly
absorbed among the older in-
habitants, with Hinduism as the
chief fruit of the amalgam. We
LORD IRWIN
SIR JOHN SIMON
Viceroy 1920-31, pursued a patient and
conciliatory policy in his dealings with
Indian extremists.
Chairman of the Royal Commission
which after two years' investigation
presented its report in 1930.
222
Story of the Nations
'
THE ItOYCOTT ON FOREIGN CLOTH.
One of the measures adopted by the Indian Nationalists was a
boycott on foreign cloth. A dealer who sold foreign cloth in Karachi
was carried through the streets in effigy amid the jeers ot the populace.
different footing
from the work of
any of the earlier
empires ; but per-
haps the historian of
the future will des-
cribe as its finest
achievement that it
has planted in the
Indian mind the
ambition of self-
government ; that it
has provided the
machinery for
realizing that am-
bition ; and that it
has left a model
which should enable
India, when once
she becomes a
nation, to step in-
to the front rank
of the great nations
of the world
then witnessed century upon century of
dynastic struggle, with splendid empires
arising out of the welter and falling back
into it ; with powerful upstarts establishing
kingdoms ever shifting in their personnel
and their boundaries ; with the fury of war
periodically devastating vast areas and
defenceless peoples.
Synchronous with these alternations of
greatness and chaos, we have seen the
unhurrying evolution of the complex philo-
sophy and ritual of Hindu life ; the rise and
decay of Buddhism ; the epic masterpieces
of Hindu literature ; and the crystallization
of social forms and practices on lines widely
divergent from those of the West. Then
about a thousand years ago, came the
sword of Islam ; and through centuries of
agony and rapine we watched it culminate-
in the mighty Mughal Empire. Yet, as
though as a symbol of the ephemeral nature
of all earthly splendour, in fullness of
time this also tottered to its fall, and after
another period of strife and anarchy there were
laid the first frail foundations of the British
power. What that power as it grew and ex-
tended did for India stands on an entirely
AN ELEPHANT BATTLE.
Elephant tight* are still staged in thegrounds of the .Maharana'u Palace at Udaipur. The elephants
are held by chains and parted by a barrier. The fight lasts for about an hour. The exhausted beasts
are then parted and chained up safely.
The Babylonian Nation
223
CHAPTER IV
THE BABYLONIAN NATION. Edited by CHAUNCEY P. T. WINCKWORTH. M.A.
IN the history of the nations of antiquity two races stand out pre-eminently as centres of civilization,
from which other nations of the ancient East drew inspiration. The successive stages of Egyptian
civili/ation have already been described, from the remotest prehistoric times down to our own era. We
may now turn to that other great cradle of culture, Babylonia, and follow its gradual growth from com-
paratively rude beginnings until its influence dominated a great part of Western Asia. But when we
come to investigate the origins of this second great civilization we find that the circumstances under
I'tiotn hi,]
Sir wmium Ifillmrka. K.C.M.fJ.
A BABYLONIAN DATE PLANTATION.
The date-palm was cultivated from the earliest period in Babylonia. In antiquity the date formed one of the chief souir. >
of the country's wealth, supplying wine, vinegar, palm-sugar and a species of flour ; ropes were twisted from its fibrous bark
and its wood furnished a light but touxh building material. It was the Sacred Tree of the Babylonians.
which it arose are altogether different from those which prevailed in Egypt. In that country we were
dealing with a self-contained community, the growth of whose culture it was possible to trace back to
the simple beginnings of the older Stone Age, in the palaeolithic flints scattered over the limestone and
sandstone ridges that bound the Nile valley. It was in this valley, rather than in the delta, that the
civilization of Egypt steadily developed along its own lines. In Babylonia, on the other hand, we are
confronted with a plurality of racial and cultural groups, each of which made its own contribution to the
complex growth of Babylonian civilization. It was in the newly formed delta of the Tigris and the
Euphrates that the elements of Babylonian culture were first implanted, the growth of which was only
later to extend up the river valleys. The earliest arrivals in the delta were men who had advanced far
beyond the pala-olithic stage of existence when they came to establish their settlements there. For they
were living in the period called chalcolithic, the age of transition from stone to metal, when neolithic
tools of flint and of obsidian were still used alongside of copper. We cannot therefore trace back the
224
Story of the Nations
growth of Babylonian culture to such simple, remotely prehistoric origins as we could that of the Egyptian.
To attempt to do so would not only involve us in boundless speculation, but also carry us far beyond
the geographical limits of Babylonia itself.
The earliest civilization of which we find traces in Babylonia, like those that succeeded it, was essen-
tially agricultural in character. The country obtained from its twin rivers all that it needed for its develop-
ment ; and, as the natural fertility of its alluvial soil was gradually increased by scientific irrigation, it
became a more tempting prey to neighbours settled in less favoured regions upon its flanks. As a result,
the history of Babylonia is in great part a record of successive incursions by new races into the lower
plains of the Euphrates and the Tigris. But on no occasion did Babylonian civilization undergo any
subversive change in consequence of such incursions ; in every instance the conquerors were themselves
Paintrd specially for this work.]
DRAINING THE -MARSHES.
Babylonia is an alluvial country formed by the deposit carried down by its two great rivers. The earliest s<'ttlri> ;m- here
shown building a dam of wattles and earth across a branch stream of the Euphrates, in order to confine its waters ami control
them for the purposes of irrigation. They also piled up earthen embankments as a protection against flood.
gradually absorbed, and, although the Babylonian race was certainly enriched thereby, the general
character of its civilization remained in all essentials unchanged. And the reason for such persistence
of one type of culture is not far to seek : it was entirely suited to the peculiar character of the country.
Let us then glance for a moment at Babylonia itself and note the climatic and geographical conditions
which so deeply impressed and moulded the life of its inhabitants.
The country of Babylonia lies in the lower half of the Tigris and Euphrates valley and covers what
is really the delta of these two rivers. It has, in fact, been formed by the deposit their streams have
carried down into the waters of the Persian Gulf, and its rich alluvial soil forms a marked contrast to
the northern half of the valley to which the Greeks gave the names of Mesopotamia and Assyria. The
natural limit of the country on the north extends along a line drawn from Hit upon the Euphrates to a
point below Samarra on the Tigris, where the slightly elevated and undulating northern plain changes
Painted specially for th is work]
THE FAMOUS LIBRARY OF KING ASHUR-BANI-PAL AT NINEVEH.
In 728 B.C. Babylon was captured by the Assyrians, and from then until 625 Babylonia remained a troublesome province of
the Kings <if Assyria, who cither aseemle.l the throne themselves or appointed nominees. The last and among the most
famous of these Assyrian conquerors was Iving Ashur-bani-pal, who collected a great library in his palace at Nineveh,
the capital of the country, sending out scribes to every city in his dominions to make copies of the ancient texts. These were
written in cuneiform characters on clay tablets which were afterwards baked ; they are here represented as stored
upon shelves in the thickness of the wall.
The Babylonian Nation
225
abruptly to the dead level of the alluvium. North of this line the valley differs but little from the Syro-
Arabian desert and it is only in the neighbourhood of the rivers and their tributaries that cultivation is
possible ; at a short distance from the river banks the plain is covered with vegetation after the winter
and spring rains and serves only as a pasture-land for nomad tribes. But south of the dividing line the
whole alluvial region is capable of cultivation and is marvellously fertile. Its subtropical climate and
parching summer-heat are further causes of prosperity, in view of its ample water-supply.
During her periods of greatness the whole of Babylonia was intersected by a network of canals, and
the modern traveller may still see the remains of the great irrigation system which formerly distributed
water over the surface of the plain. But the system could never be left to itself ; it needed constant
l «)iiclally for this work.\
AN INCURSION OF SEMITIC NOMADS.
From a very early period Semitic nomads from the Arabian desert made continual raids upon the Babylonian plain. Armed
with the bow, they were able to attack the Sumurian settlers from a distance, and were always their most dreaded foe. They
gradually obtained a permanent foothold in Northern Babylonia and exchanged a pastoral for an agricultural life.
attention and careful management. For the rivers carry down much silt in their waters ; and the channels
could only be kept -clear by continual dredging. Even so, the level of the canals was gradually raised
above the surrounding plain, and to retain their waters reliance had to be placed upon the massive embank-
ments of earth which gradually rose as the result of dredging operations. The strength of these embank-
ments was amply sufficient during the greater part of the year, but in the spring they were often subjected
to a heavy strain when the rivers rose suddenly with the melting of the snows in the Taurus and the
mountains of Armenia. The Babylonians of all ages have had to wage a continual war against the dangers
of silt and flood, and the problems which Sir William Willcocks had to face in his survey of the country
are precisely those which the engineers of ancient Babylonia met and solved in their own way. To
carry off flood-water, and to keep the channels clear, have been the two watchwords of the successful
T
Painted specially for this u-ork.]
A PRIMITIVE SUMERIAN SETTLEMENT.
Among the earliest inhabitants to leave any traces of their presence in Southern Uabylonla were the Sumerians. a race who
brought with them a knowledge of metal and the art of picture-writing. On their first settlement in the Euphrates valley
they made themselves huts of reeds which they out in the marshes. Later they practised briekmakiiiK, and lived in villages
around the rude temnles of their local gods.
Damascus
'.Bethlehem
.Ndzareth
Sainaria
I R Jordan
salem
MAP OF THE BABYLONIAN, ASSYRIAN AN'D HITTITE EMPIRES.
DATES OF BABYLONIAN HISTORY
•v-B-r~The nrst twenty-one dynasties are given in the order in which they occur in the traditional King-list. Of the first eleyen some must
have been more or less contemporary, but there is no means of determining their overlap, as nothing is known about their relative chronology.
IJynastv XII onward the amount of overlap is indicated by the approximate dating given in the second column.]
DYNASTY.
DATE.
KING.
CHIEF EVENTS.
I. — FIRST DYNASTY OF KISH
(24,510 years !}.
23 kings.
According to the Sumcrian king-list this was the first dynasty to
rule "after the Flood". Seven of its kings bear Semitic
names. The earliest remains discovered at Kish are perhaps
to be assigned to it.
II. — FIRST DYNASTY OF ERECH
{2,310 years !}.
12 kings.
The existence of a flourishing civilization at Erech in the Early
Sumcrian period has been proved by the excavations on its
site, now called Warka. The civilization represented by the
earliest cemetery at Ur may perhaps have flourished under
this dynasty.
III.— FIRST DYNASTY OF UR
(177 years).
Began to
rule
between
3000 and
2QOO B.C.
MES-ANNI-PADDA.
fA-ANNI-PADDAl.
MES-KI-AG-NANNAR.
ELULU.
BALULU.
The first historical dynasty. The name of the second king
"A-anni-padda, King of Ur, son of Mes-anni-padda, King
of Ur", is known from the excavations at Ur, but is 'omitted
from the king-list. Temple at el-'Ubaid built by A-anni-
padda.
IV. — DYNASTY OP AWAN
(356 years !).
— "
3 kings.
V. — SECOND DYNASTY OF KISH
(3195 years!)
—
8 kings.
VI. — DYNASTY OF HAMAZI
(360 years !)
—
HADANISH.
The name of this king sounds Gutian.
VII.- — SECOND DYNASTY OF ERECH
(480 years!)
—
3 kings.
VIII. — SECOND DYNASTY OF UR
(i 08 years).
—
4 kings.
No certain remains of this dynasty yet discovered at Ur. The
names of the kings are not preserved in the list.
IX. DYNASTY OF ADAB
(90 years !)
LUGAL-ANNI-MUNDU.
The name of this King is mentioned in a text of the time of
Ammizaduga.
X. — DYNASTY OF MARI
(136 years).
—
6 kings.
This dynasty must have overlapped the preceding and the follow-
ing dynasties.
XI. — THIRD DYNASTY OF KISH
{100 years!)
—
KU-BAU, a woman,
wine-seller.
This dynasty is almost certainly contemporary with that of
Akshak.
XII. — DYNASTY OF AKSHAK (Opis)
c. 2651-
2559
6 kings.
The rise to power of the Semites of Akkad took place during
the rule of this dynasty, the last three kings of which bear
Semitic names.
XIII.— FOURTH DYNASTY OF KISH
c. 2558-
2467
7 kings.
The second king of this dynasty was Ur-Ilbaba, against whom
Sharrukin (Sargon I), his former cup-bearer, revolted and
set up the Dynasty of Agade.
DATES OF BABYLONIAN HISTORY— Continued
DYNASTY.
XIV. — THIRD DYNASTY OF ERECH
XV. — DYNASTY OF AGADB.
XVI. — FOURTH DYNASTY OF ERECH.
DATE.
c. 2528-
c. 2528-
2332
c. 2380-
2350
KING.
LUGAL-ZAGGISI.
SHARRUKIN.
RIMUSH.
MANISHTUSU.
NARAM-SIN.
SHARGALISHARRI.
(interregnum).
6 other kings.
UR-NIGIN.
VK-GIUIR.
3 other kings.
CHIEF EVENTS.
Lugal-zaggisi, patesi of Umnia, destroyed Lagash and established
himself in Erech as king of S. Babylonia.
Sharrukin, the Sargon of later tradition, founded at Akkad the
first great Semitic dynasty, establishing its authority in
S. Babylonia, in Klam, and westwards to Syrian coast.
After Shargalisharri there was an interregnum which the
king-list indicates by the remark, "Who was king, who was
not king ?" After this six other kings are named.
Known from inscriptions. Three other kings named.
XVII. — DYNASTY OF GUTIOM.
c. 2370-
2282
20 kings.
X\ III.— FIFTH DYNASTY OF ERECH.
XIX.— THIRD DYNASTY OF UR.
c. 2282-
__
c. 2277-
2170
UTU-HEGAL.
UR-NAMMU.
SHULGI.
BUR-SIN.
GIMIL-S1N.
IBI-SIN.
Babylonia subject to the foreign domination of the Zagros people
called Gutians. The last king, Tirigan, overthrown by
Utu-hegal.
The conqueror of Tirigan and liberator of Babylonia from Gutian
supremacy.
XX.— DYNASTY OF ISIN.
c. 2170-
1945
XXI. — DYNASTY OF LARSA.
c. 2170-
1910
XXII. — FIRST DYNASTY OF BABYLON
(n kings ; c. 300 years).
c. 2040
XXIII. — SECOND DYNASTY OF
BABYLON
king).
c. 1890-
1520
XXIV. — THIRD DYNASTY OF
BABYLON.
(36 kings; 576! years).
c. 1740
XXV.— FOURTH DYNASTY OF
BABYLON
(u kings ; 132! years).
c. 1168
15 kings.
14 kings.
SUMU-ABU.
HAMMI'KABI.
SAMSU-ILUNA.
ABES!!!
ILUMA-ILU.
EA-GAMIL.
GANDASH.
KAKA-1NDASH.
KADASHMAN-ENLIL.
BURNA-BURIASH.
NEBUCHADNEZZAR I.
MARDUK-NADIN-AKHI.
XXVI. — FIFTH DYNASTY OF BABYLON
(3 kings; 2iJ years).
c. 1019
X XVI I . — SIXTH DYNASTY OF BABYLON
(3 kings ; soj years).
£.998
XXVIII. — SEVENTH DYNASTY OF
BABYLON
(i king ; 6 years).
XXIX . — EIGHTHDYNASTYOF BABYLON
{About 13 kings).
c. 972
XXX .—NINTH DYNASTY OF BABYLON
(4 or 5 kings ; 22 years).
753
XXXI.— TENTH DYNASTY or
BABYLON
(16 kings; 106 years).
732
XXXII.— NEO-BABYLONIAN EHFIRE
(6 kings; c. 87 years).
625
XXXIII.— ACH^MENIAN (OLD
PERSIAN) DOMINATION
(10 kings; 208 years).
539
XXXIV. — GREEK DOMINATION
(14 kings ; 192 years).
SIMMASH-SHIPAK.
EULMASH-SHAKIN-SHUM.
MARBITI-APAL-USUR~
NAUU-MUK1N-APLI.
NABU-APAL-IDDINA.
NABU-SHUM-ISHKUN II.
NABONASSAR.
UKIN-ZEK.
MERODACH-BALADAN II.
SHAMASH-SHUM-UKIN.
NABOPOI.ASSAR
NEBUCHADNEZZAR II.
NERIGLISSAR.
NABONIDUS.
CYRUS.
CAMBYSES.
DARIUS I.
XERXES I.
The most brilliant epoch of Babylonian - ivili/ation and of Ur's
fortunes. The city then was the capital of an extensive
empire and the kings of Ur ruled without rival. The final
phase of Sumerian supremacy.
The founder of this dynasty was a westerner named Ishbi-Irra,who
succeeded to the control of Ur after the city had been sacked
by Elamite invaders with whom he had allied himself. A
period of internecine conflict.
The dynasty was founded by Xaplanum simultaneously with that
of Isin by Ishbi-Irra. The fifth king, Gungunu, took Ur
from Isin, after which that dynasty ceased to be a serious
rival. The last two kings of Larsa, Warad-Sin and Rim-Sin,
were Elamites, the latter being Hammurabi's great rival.
A strong dynasty of West-Semitic kings; Hammurabi (c. 1940) con-
solidated the whole of Babylonia. Its later kings were weaken-
ed by struggle with rulers of the Sea-Land (Dynasty XXIII).
It ended with the capture and sack of Babylon by the Hittites.
Ruled only in Sea-Land at head of Persian Gulf ; contemporaneous
with the second half of the First, and the first half of the
Third Dynasties of Babylon.
A dynasty of Kassite kings, established in Babylon on the with-
drawal of the Hittites. After the reign of Ea-gamil tin-
Sea-Land was occupied. Kadashman Enlil and Burna-
Buriash corresponded with Amenophis III and IV of Egypt-
Conflicts with Assyria and Elam begin.
Nebuchadnezzar freed Babylonia from the Elamites. Conflicts
and alliances with Assyria continue. The Arameans ravage
Babylonia.
"Babylonia weakened by Aramean onslaught.
Babylonia still powerless and a prey to invasion.
This king is said to have been of Elamite extraction ; name not
certain.
Assyria takes an active part in Babylonian affairs. The Chaldeans
appear in S. Babylonia and begin to give trouble.
Tiglath-pileser III of Assyria defeats the Aramean and Chaldean
tribes, and Nabonassar acknowledges him as suzerain.
From 731 to 625 B.C. Babylonia remained a troublesome provim »•
of Assyria, whose kings appointed their own nominees or
ascended the throne themselves. Principal periods of inde-
pendence under Mcrodach-baladan and Shamash-shiim ukin.
The Chaldean, Nabopolassar, having declared his independence
in 625 B.C., occupied the S. and W. provinces of Assyria after
the fall of Nineveh, 612 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar II consolidated
the empire and even invaded Egypt ; his successors were
weak, and under Nabonidus, Babylon falls an easy prey
to th? Pertbr.s.
Babylonia becomes a Persian satrapy. Rebellions take place on
the death of Cambyses and in the reigns of Darius and Xerxes,
but are suppressed.
In 331 Alexander conquered Babylon, and ten years later
Babylonia became part of the Seleucid Empire.
The Parthian king, Mithridates I, who came to the throne in
174 B.C., took possession of Mesopotamia and Babylonia
in 139 B.C.
331
ALEXANDER THE GREAT.
SELEUCUS I. NICATOR.
XXXV. — PARTHIAN DOMINATION
(26 kings ; 364 years).
ARSACESVI (MITHklDATtS 1).
ARSACES XXXI (ARTABAN IV)
XXXVI.— SASANIAN (Mmni i.
PFRSIAN) DOMINATION
(28 kings: 4'Q years).
XXXVII. — ARAB DOMINATION
A.D. 226
ARDASH1R I.
YEXDEGIRD III.
The Sasanian Ardashir, after his decisive defeat of Artaban IV
in A.D. 226, took possession of Babylonia with the rest of the
Parthian Empire.
(The Caliphate).
636
OMAK.
MUSTASSIM.
XXXVilL— MONGOL DOMINATION.
XX XIX. —PERSIAN AND TURKISH
RIVALRY.
XI.. I i KKi-.il DOMINATION.
1258
1502
1638-
1918
Hl'l .\'.( .
T1MUR (TAMERLANE).
Omar, who succeeded Abu Bekr in A.D. 634, defeated the Persians
near Babylon in A.D. 636 ; in 637 he took Medain, the com-
bined cities of Seleucia and Ctesiphon, which had superseded
Babylon as the capital.
The Mongols, having conquered Persia, Hulagu, the grandson of
Jenghiz Khan, advancing from Hamadan, sacked Baghdad in
A.D. 1258, and put Mustassim, the last of the Caliphs, to
death.
SHAH l.-vMAil. 1.
SULTAN SULEIMAN I.
SHAH ABBAS I.
MURA1) IV.
MAHOMMED V.
Timur died in 1405 and the Mongol I inpirc bewail to (In a\ . In
1502 Ismail I occupied Baghdad and for long it was an
object of Persian and Turkish rivalry. The Ottomans had
captured Constantinople (Byzantium) in 1453, and in 1517
Selim I overthrew the Mameluk Dynasty in Egypt. In
1534 Selim's son, Suleiman I, took Baghdad ; but in 1620
Shah Abbas I reoccupied the city.
In 1638 Sultan Murad IV captured Baghdad, and from that
time.1 until the defeat of Turkey in the Great War Babylonia
formed part of the Turkish Empire. It is now part of the
Arab Kingdom of Irak (1933).
Painted specially for this work.
ZIUSUDRA'S SACRIFICE AFTER THE FLOOD.
The Sunn-nans preserved the tradition of a great flood, which took place in the Euphrates valley in the time of their earliest
rubra. A pious priest-king named Ziusudra (also called Utu-napishtim) -vas divinely warned of its approach, and he succeeded
in escaping in a bunt with his family and various animals. After seven days the heavy rain ceased and the sun came out, and
when the boat grounded Ziusiidra sacrificed an ox and a sheep to Enlil.
230
Story of the Nations
Patfueu aijt-cuuiy jur (A
MIGRATION OF SUMERIAN TRIHES
The early inhabitants of Sumer, or Southern Babylonia, may have reached the Euphrates valley from some region of Central
Asia. Proof that they came from a mountainous country may perhaps be seen in their employment in their system of writing:
of the same picture-sign for "mountain" and "country".
cultivator, and have lain at the base of Babylonia's prosperity. It is to the neglect of these two
principles that the arid plains and swamps of modern Babylonia are due.
There are two other points we must notice with regard to the geographical conditions in Babylonia
during the ages with which we are about to deal : a considerable alteration in the course of the Euphrates
and the gradual extension of the Babylonian coast-line southwards at the head of the Persian Gulf. For
unless these two great changes are realized it is impossible to understand the grouping of the ancient
cities, the chief centres of population. A glance at a modern map of Babylonia on which the mounds
are marked which cover the sites of her ancient cities will show that these now lie far from the course
of either river, and not upon their banks, where we should naturally expect to find them. Now the
Tigris has undergone comparatively little change in the course of ages, and the fact that none of the great
Babylonian cities, with the exception of Opis in the north, was built upon its banks is no doubt to be
traced to its swift current and high banks, which rendered irrigation of the surrounding country a difficult
matter. The Euphrates, on the other hand, with its lower banks, tends during high water to spread
itself over the plain, and this must have suggested to the earliest inhabitants the possibilities of utilizing
the excess of its water by means of reservoirs and canals. The more sluggish stream of the Euphrates,
and its consequently slower fall during the summer months, were doubtless additional reasons for their pre-
ference. How, then, is it that almost all the cities of Old Babylonia lie so far to the east of its present bed ?
The answer to this question is to be found in the fact that the Euphrates, aftertntering the alluvium
to the south of the modern town of Faluja, has always shown a tendency to break away westward. We
need not follow the successive changes in its course, but will merely note that the main stream formerly
flowed far to the east of its present channel. In the north, Sippar and Cutha were on its banks ; and
more to the south its bed is now marked by the practically dry channels of the Shatt en-Nil and the Shatt
el-Kar. Hence, the important cities of Nippur, Erech, and Larsa, to name but three of the more central
sites, were on the main waterway or on one of its channels. It is true that Babylon, the later capital
of the country, lies on the present bed of the Euphrates, but this westward channel probably did not
The Babylonian Nation
231
extend further south than Babylon ; flowing eastwards by way of Kish, the modern El-Ohemir, it rejoined
the main stream to the south of Cutha.
The other fact to realize is that Babylonia in these earlier ages was a far smaller country than it
appears on a modern map ; for the natural process which formed the alluvium, on which most of her
early cities were built, has been going on without interruption to the present day. In a modern map it
will be seen that the streams of the Tigris and Euphrates now unite below the modern town of Kurna
and flow thence by a joint channel, the Shatt el-Arab, into the Persian Gulf. A little more than half-way
down its course this channel is joined from the east by the great Karun River, which drains the mountains
and valleys of Western Persia. But in the early historical period the head of the Persian Gulf extended
for some hundred and twenty, or hundred and thirty, miles to the north of its present coast-line. Hence
each of the three great rivers, the Euphrates, the Tigris, and the Karun, had its independent outlet to
the sea.. The head of the Gulf has been gradually rilled up by the deposit of the copious silt carried down
by their muddy waters ; and it has been calculated that the coast-line is now extending southwards
at the average rate of a mile in thirty years. At the time of the early Babylonians, Eridu, their most
southerly city, lay on an inland lake connected by a short channel with the sea ; Ur lay almost on the
coast on the right bank of the most western mouth of the Euphrates ; and Lagash, the city from which
we have gained so much of our knowledge of the early history of the Babylonians, was a seaport.
BABYLONIA BEFORE THE BABYLONIANS
SUCH, then, was the country which was known to the Greeks as Babylonia, and whose inhabitants we
may conveniently style Babylonians from the great city which eventually dominated the land and became
Paint(nt Nfirciull// for this wt>rk.\
THE MARKET-PLACE IN NIPPUR.
Nippur, in Central Habylonia, was the country's first metropolis. In it wus the temple of Enlil, the cnicf god of the Sumorians,
whose teniple-tower is seen rising in stages above the city. During the wars of the city-states the possession of Nippur was
considered to confer supremacy, and in its market-place Siimerians and Semites met and trafficked.
232
Story of the Nations
its permanent capital. But the city of Babylon did not achieve such pre-eminence until after the year
2000 B.C. And the excavations systematically carried out upon the sites of other early cities have enabled
us to carry back the history of the country and its inhabitants for more than a thousand years before that
time. What , then, do we know of Babylonia before the Babylonians ? Who were the men whom we first find
in occupation of the country, and whose civilization so intimately affected all those that came after them ?
We have already noted that the most ancient inhabitants of Babylonia were men of the chalcolithic
age, who manufactured implements both of flint and of copper. But they are chiefly distinguished by
their use of a hand-made pottery painted with geometric designs in black upon a buff or greenish surface,
the most characteristic examples of which come from the little suburb of Ur called al-'Ubayd. Similar
wares have been found very widely spread over the ancient East, and always in association with remains
Painted specially fur this work.}
THE WORSHIP OF NINGIRSU.
Ningirsu was god of Lagash in Southern Babylonia. Like other Sumerian deities, he was believed to be the real king of his
city and to lead its army into battle. The patcsi, or priest-king, who ruled the city in his name, is here seen worshipping
Ningirsu, into whose presence he is being led to the accompaniment of sacred music .
typical of the chalcolithic period, which may therefore be appropriately termed "the painted-pottery age".
According to one view the painted pottery of Southern Babylonia is closely analogous to the earlier of
two styles of ware found at Susa in Elam. It has therefore been argued that the first inhabitants of
Babylonia were early colonists from Elam, who continued to make and to use the type of pottery to
which they had been accustomed before their migration. However this may be, the period of the painted-
pottery makers was of comparatively short duration. They were simple folk, living in humble dwellings
of reed-matting plastered with mud, and they cannot be said to be the originators of the specifically
Babylonian culture. The excavations at Ur have proved that they flourished about 3500 B.C. Then
they pass from our purview, leaving little more than their broken crockery and flints behind them. The
people who enter upon their heritage build for themselves walled cities, use copper in abundance, and
content themselves with plain, yellowish earthenware. These are the people whose civilization we
designate Early Sumerian.
The Babylonian Nation
233
SUMERIAN WRITING.
Specimen ot Sumerian
writing, still retaining to
some extent its pictorial
character Notice the star
in the first and third lines,
which was employed as the
sign for"god"and"hea ven"
Sumer. They probably
where they came from,
linguistic affinities ; but
ASSYRIAN WRITING
After being written on
soft clay the characters be
came cuneiform, or wedge-
shaped. The "star" sign, in
a simplified form, occurs as
the second character in the
sixth line.
IMansell.
FARLY SUMEKIAN PRIEST-
KING.
This stone figure is a
sjM-r-imen of archaic Sum-
erian sculpture in the round,
typical with its harsh and
conventional treatment of
the features. There is little
Attempt at representation oj
detail.
As the result of modern excavation and re-
search, it has been found that from about the
twenty-fifth century onward the country was
divided into two halves, known as Sumer in the
south, and Akkad in the north, which were for the
most part inhabited by men of different race,
sharply divided from one another, not only by
their speech, but also in their physical charac-
teristics. The southern race, the inhabitants of
Sumer, were the true originators of Babylonian
culture. Upon their sculptured monuments that
have come down to us we note their strongly
marked features and prominent nose, which, how-
ever, is never full nor fleshy, like that of their
Semitic neighbours who were settled in Akkad to
the north. Unlike the Semites, too, they shaved
the head, and their speech was of the agglutinative
and uninflexional type, such as survives to-day in
Turkish and other Mongol languages, which had
their origin in Central Asia.
These people we name Sumerians because their
language was called Sumerian in later ages, and
because they were the predominating element in
the population of the territory later known as
entered Babylonia at the head of the Persian Gulf ; but it is impossible to say
A considerable number of theories have been put forward as to their racial and
no one of these can be supported by conclusive evidence. One theory, based
upon their physiognomy, would connect them with
the Dravidian race of India, whose languages also
happen to be of the agglutinative type. Some
colour is lent to this hypothesis by the recent dis-
coveries at Mohenjo Daro and Harappa, which
have revealed the existence of an ancient civiliza-
tion in the Indus valley that certainly had close
connections with that of the early Sumerians.
But as yet we have no right to assume that the
Sumerians and the exponents of the Indus civiliza-
tion were of one and the same racial stock ; nor,
on the other hand, can we deny the possibility of
this. For the present we must be content to accept
the Sumerians as we find them in Babylonia at the
dawn of history, in a stage of culture that is already
well advanced.
The earliest phase of Sumerian civilization yet
revealed to us is illustrated by recent discoveries
at Kish. It is at Kish that the most ancient
example of Sumerian writing has been found, a
stone tablet inscribed with signs that are purely
pictographic. The community among whose re-
mains it was found must have flourished before
3500 B.C., by which time we know that the
Sumerian script was fast losing its pictorial
character. Among other early objects from Kish
IMansell.
GUDEA. FRIEST-KING OF
LAGASH.
The advance in tech-
nique which had taken
place in the course of five
centuries may be noted in
this portrait-figure. The
treatment of the features is
more naturalistic.
234
Story of the Nations
is an inlaid slate plaque upon which is depicted the bearded figure of a king. While the style of the art is
typically Sumerian, the figure thus represented is by no means so. In all probability it portrays an early
Semite, which serves to illustrate the fact that even at this remote period Sumerian civilization was made up
of heterogeneous elements. Tradition knows of a very ancient First Dynasty of Kish, some of whose kings
bear unmistakably Semitic names. To associate these earliest remains with that traditional dynasty is
by no means unreasonable.
'
The next phase of early Su-
merian civilization is that represen-
ted by the truly astonishing collec-
tion of funerary objects from the
prehistoric cemetery at Ur. The
richness and the beauty of these
remains entitle us to speak of the
period to which they belong as the
"golden age" of Sumerian civiliza-
tion. Of the wealth of golden objects
discovered in the tombs, the wig-
helmet of the prince Meskalamshar,
the royal head-dress of the princess
Shubad, and the exquisitely sheathed
dagger, with hilt of lapis-lazuli set
with gold studs, are universally
famous. Of the many other
treasures yielded by these tombs,
gold and silver work, sculpture,
small carving and inlay, two objects
in particular claim special attention.
The first is the mosaic "standard",
now in the British Museum, with its
brightly coloured series of pictures,
made by inlaying shell figures in a
background of blue lapis-lazuli, the
whole tricked out with red and
black fillings, which exhibit a wealth
of details in the life of an early
Sumerian prince in war and peace.
The second of these objects is a
small limestone plaque sculptured in
low relief, upon which is seen a
warrior walking behind a two-
wheeled chariot drawn by a team of
four. That the chariot was used in
warfare by these earliest Sumerians
at Ur is indeed remarkable when we
consider that it was unknown in
Egypt before the Hyksos invasion.
The magnificence of the grave-goods from the prehistoric cemetery at Ur, the like of which were never
seen again in Babylonia, testifies that the dead laid to rest there must have been great personages indeed.
This fact is further borne out by the apparent practice of mass human sacrifice on the occasion of certain
burials, the most natural explanation- of which barbarous rite would seem to be that it was, as elsewhere,
the prerogative of royalty, although it appears to have died out completely in later days. But if these
early tombs at Ur are those of royal, or at least semi-royal, personages, there is nothing in the historical
traditions of a later age to tell us who they were or what part they played in the political history of early
I'ainti:*! 8/M'cinlli/ fur this u-nrk.\
DELIMITATION OF THE BOUNDARY OF LAGASH
Lagash and Umma constantly disputed the possession of a neighbouring: fertile
plain. The high priest of Nippur is here scon delimiting the boundary, and pointing
to the stele of delimitation set up beside the frontier-ditch. On either side stand
the priest-kings, accompanied by officials holding the city emblems
Painted sperinlla fur lit in u-ork. ]
VULTURES CARRYING OFF THE LIMBS OF THE SLAIN.
The powerful city of Lavish \vas font iimaUy at war with the other city-states of Babylonia. The chief historical record of
these campaigns is generally known us the "Stele of the Vultures", from the carving at its head representing these birds carrying
otT in their talons t he >e\ ered limbs *»f the slain. The Sumerians ^em-rally left t heir dead enemies unburied on the field of battle,
that their spirits might wander about and have no rest.
236
Story of the Nations
Babylonia. Whoever they were, they must have antedated the First Dynasty of Ur by several centuries.
It is with the First Dynasty of Ur, the advanced culture of which marks the third phase of early
Sumerian civilization, that the history of Babylonia properly begins for us. Long before this the Sumerians
had founded towns or cities all along the lower course of the Euphrates, many of them little more than a
collection of rude mud huts of sun-dried brick, built around the shrine of the local city-god. The god
was regarded as the real ruler of the city, and the "patesi", or local governor, was little more than his
human representative. At first each settlement, or town, was independent of its neighbours, and the
authority of the city-god did not extend beyond the limits of the territory farmed by his own worshippers.
But in a purely agricultural population, the fertility of whose land depended so entirely upon artificial
irrigation, it was natural that disputes should soon arise with regard to the control of the water-supply
or of coveted areas which lay between two cities and could be reached by cither's system of canals. On
such occasions each city went out to do battle for its local god, and it was through conflicts of this sort
that one city from time to time claimed predominance over its neighbours and laid the foundations of
a dynasty. The order in which cities thus rose to predominance and the names of their dynastic rulers,
who bore the title "lugal", or king, are preserved in a traditional king-list, which was compiled by Sumerian
scribes living at the turn of the third and the second millennia. Before this time the human memory had
been almost the sole repository of native learning, so it is not surprising to find that the earlier passages
of the king-list contain much that belongs to legend rather than to history. But when we come down
to the third dynasty to rule all Babylonia "after the Flood", namely the First Dynasty of Ur, we find
ourselves on firm historical ground. For the king-list alleges that this early dynasty was founded by a
certain Mes-anni-padda, and the excavations at Ur have brought to light inscriptions dating from about
2900 B.C. in which this very same king's name may be read. The veracity of the king-list at this point
is therefore strikingly confirmed, although it for some reason excludes mention of his son and successor
A-anni-padda who built a temple to the mother-goddess at al-'Ubaid, near Ur
tcl K/WW//!/ for tftiit imrk.]
KANNATUM, I'HIE.ST-KJNO OF LAGASH, {'RESIDING AT FUNERAL RITES ON THE BATTLEFIELD
The Sumcriaus scrupulously buried their own dead to ensure their safe arrival in the Underworld. It was their custom to
collect their dead upon the battlefield and arrange them In a shallow trench, head to feet and feet to head alternately. After
the pouring of libations and the sacrifice of an ox, a tumulus of earth was piled over the bodies.
The Babylonian Nation
237
While the king-list serves as a •«••
framework upon which to reconstruct j
the course of Babylonian history
during the third millennium, the
material for this purpose has to be
gathered in from a variety of ex-
ternal sources. One of the most
fruitful of these is the archives of the
city of Lagash, whose earlier rulers
have much to tell us of the kind of
local dispute in which they and their
contemporaries were constantly in-
volved. As typical of this earliest
phase of Babylonian history we wul
note the relations which existed be-
tween Lagash and the neighbouring
town of Umma, during the reign of
Eannatum, the most powerful of
the former city's long line of early
kings and rulers. Many years be-
fore Eannatum ascended the throne
of Lagash there had been disputes
from time to time between that city
and Umma as to the possession of
a very fertile tract of land between
the two towns ; and after each
fight the boundary between their
territories had been delimited under
the direction of Enlil of Nippur,
the principal god of Babylonia, to
whose high priest each side appealed.
In Eannatum's reign the men of
Umma renewed their attempts to
gain control of the plain, which the
men of Lagash had always regarded
as the sacred property of Ningirsu,
their city god. On receiving news
that his enemies had violated the
frontier and were plundering Ningirsu's land, Eannatum repaired to the latter 's temple in Lagash and,
lying flat upon his face, besought the god's protection. And as he lay stretched out upon the ground,
Ningirsu appeared to him in a dream and promised him victory with the help of the Sun-god, who would
advance to battle at his side. It is needless to say that with such encouragement Eannatum and his
army smote the men of Umma and utterly defeated them, although we may conjecture that his scribes
patriotically exaggerated the number of the slain, which they put at three thousand six hundred men.
Eannatum took an' active part in the fighting, and proudly records how he raged in the battle.
This battle is one of the earliest to be recorded in history, and the monument which commemorates
it is one of the most famous in antiquity. It is known as the "Stele of the Vultures", from the fact that
upon one side of it, near the top which represents the sky, vultures are carved bearing off in their beaks
the severed heads and limbs of the slain. On another part of the stele we see Eannatum himself leading
his troops into battle, and we obtain a vivid picture of the Sumerian method of fighting. We see the
troops advancing to the attack, the leading rank being protected by huge shields, or bucklers, which
covered the whole body from neck to feet, and were so broad that only enough space was left for a lance
to be levelled between each. These shields protected the whole front of an attacking force, and when
BUILDING A TEMPLE-TOWEIt.
A Babylonian temple-tower rose in stages high above the surrounding build-
ings. It was a. solid structure, the interior being composed of unburnt brick.
The exterior was strengthened by the use of burnt bricks sot in bitumen, and
every few courses a layer of reeds was spread, which bound the fabric together
238
Story of the Nations
Photo by] [Sir William Wittcocks, K.C.M.Q.
RUINS OF THE MOSQUE OF CALIPH MUTASSIM AT SAMARRA.
The city of Samarra on the Tigris was the capital of the Caliphs from A.D. 836 to 892. The photograph shows the great
mosque founded by Mutasslm in A.D. 836. The design of its great minaret, built of solid brick with a spiral stairway winding
round it to the top, was evidently suggested by one of the temple-towers of Babylonia.
once the frontal attack had been delivered and the enemy was in flight, the lance-bearers dropped their
heavy lances and the shield-bearers their shields, and all joined in the pursuit armed only with a light
axe, which was admirably suited for hand-to-hand conflicts.
The religious element bulked largely in the life of the early Sumerians ; and Gudea, another of the
rulers of Lagash, has left us a fine description of one of the great temples and of the elaborate ceremonial
which characterized their cult. It is true that Gudea came to the throne some five hundred years after
Eannatum, but he was a pure Sumerian ; and although things were simpler and more primitive under
his earlier predecessors, his descriptions may be taken as characterizing the theocratic spirit of his race.
From them we gather that
Ningirsu, a typical Sumerian
city-god, was endowed with all
the attributes and enjoyed all
the privileges of the patesi, or
king, his human representa-
tive. The ritual of the temple
was modelled in great part
upon the routine of the royal
palace, for the god had his wife
and household like the king,
and when not engaged in lead-
ing his city's forces into battle,
would recline at ease within
his own apartments, listen to
music and singing, and partake
of the divine repasts. The
patesi was essentially his high
priest, but the details of his
service were controlled by an
elaborately organized priest-
hood. Each great temple was
a little world in itself, for it
was surrounded by dwellings
for the priests and temple-
servants, storehouses, treasure-
chambers, and immense gran-
ny permission of\
[M. Ernest Lcrtrux.
AN EARLY BABYLONIAN OBELLHK.
The inscription records in sixty -nine
columns of Old Babylonian writing the
purchase of large tracts of cultivated land
in. M Kish mid other cities by Munishtusu
an early Akkadian king.
aries, and pens and stabling
for the flocks and cattle des-
tined for sacrifice. Above these
single-storied buildings, with
their flat mud roofs, rose the
"ziggurrat", or temple-tower,
of which by far the best pre-
served example is to be seen at
Ur. A brief description of this
imposing structure will not be
out of place here.
The "ziggurrat" of Ur is one
solid, rectangular mass of
brickwork, having a core of
unbaked brick and a thick
facing of baked brick mortised
with bitumen. At its base the
tower, of which the original
height would have been about
70 feet, measures some 200 by
150 feet, and the walls, which
are relieved by shallow but-
tresses and have a pronounced
inward slope, rise to a height
of about 50 feet. The top of
these walls marks the level of
the lowest of the four stages,
Painted specially fur this wark\
A BABYLONIAN LOOM.
Babylonia was famed in antiquity for its weaving. In the earliest period the loom must have been of a very primitive kind,
consisting of a few upright stubs upon which the threads were stretched, the transverse threads being inserted by hand and pressed
home with a piece of wood. But gradually the mechanism of the upright loom was elaborated. According to Hebrew tradition
it was a "goodly Babylonish garment" that tempted Achan to his destruction.
240
Story of the Nations
Painted specially for this work.]
BATTLE BETWEEN SUMKRIANS AND
SEMITES.
The Semites of Northern Babylonia were armed
with the bow, and were thus enabled to shoot the
Sumerians down from a distance, armed as they
were with heavy shields and spears.
or "steps", in which the tower is built, each stage being-
smaller than the one below On the north-east side are
three stairways, each of a hundred steps, which meet at the
level of the second stage. Of these, one is a central stair-
way, standing out at right-angles to the wall-face, and the
other two, starting from its lower corners and lying against
its surface, converge at the top of the central stairway.
Upon the uppermost stage there once stood a small temple
built entirely of blue-enamelled bricks, which would have
been dedicated to the worship of the city's patron deity,
the Moon-god Nannar, or Sin. Although such temple-towers
once rose over every great Babylonian city, we do not know
exactly what religious purpose they served. They continued
to be built throughout the whole course of Babylonian
history, and one of them doubtlessly inspired the story of
the Tower of Babel.
In the Sumerian period the best land around each city
was the property of the great temples, and was farmed by a
large staff under the control of the priesthood. The power
of the priesthood and the extent of the property they con-
trolled is illustrated by the thousands of tablets inscribed
with temple-accounts which make up the great bulk of the
documents found on every Sumerian site.
The peaceful existence of these agricultural settlements
was often broken, as we have seen, by internal conflicts and jealousies, but their political horizon was
soon to be enlarged by dangers which began to threaten them from foreign neighbours on the east and
west. The most pressing danger was from the west, beyond the Euphrates, where the nomads of Arabia
were already deserting their pasture-lands and were soon destined, as we shall see, to dominate and even-
tually to displace the Sumerians themselves in their more fertile country. But in the mountains to the
east of the Babylonian plain was another and more highly civilized race, with whose warlike raids the
city-states of Babylonia had always to reckon. Its capital was at Susa, "Shushan the Palace" of a
later age, and on its upland site it
has been found possible to trace back
the history of the Elamites to an age
as remote as that of any of the
earliest remains in Babylonia.
Among the more recent discoveries
on the site of Lagash is a record of
an Elamite raid, which probably
took place in the reign of Enannatum
II, the grandson of Eannatum's
brother. , The inscription is an
extremely interesting one, as it is
undoubtedly the oldest letter in the
world. It was written by a certain
Lu-enna, chief priest of the Sumerian
goddess Ninmar, and is addressed to
Enetarzi, chief priest of Ningirsu,
the city-god of Lagash. Its contents
are scarcely those we should expect Painted sprrinii!,f<>rti,i* work.]
to find in a letter written by one THE CITY OF SUSA.
priest to another. The Writer States Situated on the Euteu.-. the city of Susn became the capital of the
that a hand nf Flamit^c haH ™llo<«»-l frrcat Elamitc empire. Its civilization had much in common with tliat
Islamites had pUiaged of Babylonia, its rival during all periods.
The Babylonian Nation
241
Hi/ permission o/J [Underu-ood «£• Underwood.
THE BULL OF BABYLON.
Nebuchadnezzar II decorated the great Ishtar
Gate in Babylon with hundreds of bulls and
dragons moulded in relief and built into the
structure of the wall, many being decorated with
coloured enamel.
/?!/ permission of] [Sir Benjamin Stone
THE GODDESS ISHTAR.
Votive clay figures, stamped in the form ol
Ishtar, the goddess of love, occur on many
ancient sites throughout Western Asia. The
figure in the photograph was found at Susa.
the territory of
Lagash, but that
he had fought a
battle with the
enemy, had put
^^SLIJ them to fli&ht'
^^A^lrCTi. '"."'
or slain five hun-
dred and forty of
them. He then
tells of various
amounts of silver
and wool and
some royal gar-
ments which he
had taken as
booty, and in the
division of this
spoil directs that
certain offerings
should be deduc-
ted for presen-
tation to the
goddess Ninmar in the temple under his control. The central government in Lagash was probably not
very stable at this time ; but that a priest should lead an army against the enemies of Lagash and report
his success to another chief priest of the city is striking proof of the political influence and power wielded
by the Sumerian priesthood.
With the enlarged outlook which such territorial conflicts with a neighbouring power were bound to
bring, commercial relations began to be extended beyond the limits of the country. Soon after 3000 B.C.
there must have
been some kind
of trade connec-
tion between
Babylonia and
north-west India,
either by land or
by sea. For
among the re-
mains of that
time at Ur we
find seals of
exactly the same
type as c those
recently dis-
covered at
Mohenjo Daro
and Harappa in
the Indus valley.
In Egypt there
have been found
vases and
cylinder-seals,
dating from late
By permission of] [Messrs. Mansell.
BABYLONIAN MAP OF THE WORLD.
For the Babylonian the world consisted of
Babylonia and the neighbouring countries,
surrounded by the ocean, which is represented
by the circle. The triangles are unknown
"districts" beyond the sea.
By permission of]
[Messrs. Mansell.
CLAY MODEL OF A LIVER.
Divination was largely practised by observing
the markings on the livers of sheep. In the
model the different parts of the liver arc labelled
for the Instruction of young diviners.
U
242
Story of the Nations
pre-dynastic and early dynastic days that betray unmistakable signs of Sumerian cultural influence.
It is therefore certain that commercial traffic existed between that country and Babylonia in the Early
Sumerian period, most probably by way of the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. A very important trade
route led from Babylonia, up the Euphrates valley, through northern Syria and Cilicia, to Asia Minor,
and this may have been opened up in prehistoric times. There will be occasion to refer to it later.
Babylonia was thus the centre of a very extensive trade, which during the Early Sumerian period reached
from Egypt to India. Had it not been for this widespread commerce, civilization in Babylonia could
never have attained to the luxurious-
ness revealed by the pre-dynastic
tombs at Ur. For the natural resources
of Babylonia are extremely limited,
and only the agriculturist could thrive
upon them. The scientific cultivation
of the date-palm from the earliest
period, and the ingenuity of the
inhabitants in adapting it to an as-
tonishing variety of uses, made it one of
the country's chief sources of wealth.
But the industrial population was
almost entirely dependent upon foreign
imports for the raw material of trade ;
for there is no metal in Babylonia, and
the only kind of stone to be had locally
is a limestone of poor quality. Copper
was brought from Magan, somewhere to
the south-west ; various hard stones
from the Zagros hills, to the east ;
cedar-wood from the Amanus, far
away to the west. If such essential
commodities could not be acquired by
peaceful trading they must be obtained
by force of arms.
The caravans plying along the great
trade route between Babylonia and the
north-west were largely responsible for
the widespread diffusion of Sumerian
cultural influence in Asia Minor, Syria,
and the river valleys. This process
appears to have reached its culminat-
ing point in the period of the Third
THE REFORMS OF URUKAGINA.
Urukagina, King of Lagash, introduced extensive reforms into the Dynasty of Ur (about 2277-2170 B.C.),
administration of his city. He abolished the posts of a large number of when that city became the centre of a
officials who for many years had battened on the people, and he attempted .„ , ,. .,
to stamp out all corruption. Some of his convicted officials are here shown unmed empire extending from the
receiving punishment. Persian Gulf to the Upper Zab, and
from Susa to the Lebanon. A hoard of cuneiform tablets discovered near Caesarea in Cappadocia proves the
existence there at this period of a flourishing business community engaged in financing and organizing
a regular system of caravans between Asia Minor, Assyria, and Babylonia. These merchants had adopted
Babylonian commercial usage, and they recorded their transactions in a Semitic dialect akin to that
which was spoken by the non-Sumerian element in the population of Babylonia, the so-called Akkadians.
But while Sumerian cultural influence was making itself thus widely felt abroad the Semites in Baby-
lonia were being more and more reinforced by fresh immigrants of the same stock. It is time then that
we should give some account of this other element in the population of Babylonia, and, after tracing,
its origins, note its gradual conquest and absorption of the whole of Babylonia.
.
244
Story of the Nations
•tally far this work.}
SARGON I AT THE MEDITERRANEAN.
Sargon, the founder of the first great Semitic dynasty in Akkad, or Northern Babylonia, carried his arms from the shores of
the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean. He is here seen leading his army along the coast-road in Northern Syria. He is related to
bave carved images of himself in the Lebanon to commemorate his conquest of the country.
THE SEMITES
THE Semites of Western Asia, south of the Taurus and the mountains of Armenia, may be classified
into four groups : the Aramaeans, including the Syrians, in the north ; the Babylonians and the Assyrians
in the east ; the Arabs in the south ; the Phoenicians, Hebrews, Moabites, etc., in the west. To account
for this dispersion various theories have been propounded as to their ultimate place of origin. The older
view, that their homeland was the Arabian peninsula, out of which they spread over the Near East as
the result of five epoch-making migrations, the last of which was the Muhammadan invasion of the seventh
century A.D., is now repudiated by many authorities. For the alleged migrations of the first three epochs
are no more than inferential, the Semitic invasions of Mesopotamia and North Syria in the fourth
millennium, and of Canaan about the middle of the third, as well as the widespread movement of Aramaean
tribes a thousand years later, being ascribed to precisely the same cause as that which led to the establish-
ment of the Nabataaan kingdoms of Petra and Damascus in the second century B.C., and to the Muham-
madan colonizations of the seventh century A.D., namely, a great exodus of nomads from the deserts
of Arabia. An alternative theory would seek the homeland of the Semites somewhere in North Africa,
and this has much to commend it. But the perplexing question of ultimate Semitic origins does not
directly concern us here.
From about 3500 to 2700 B.C. there was spread over the whole of Babylonia a homogeneous civiliza-
tion, which we designate Sumerian, because its chief exponents were the people whom we call Sumerian
for reasons already stated. These Sumerians formed by far the most important element in the population
of Babylonia, which even at this early period was a mixed one. But it also included a definitely Semitic
The Babylonian Nation
245
element, which not only partook of, but also contributed to, the common culture. It is not unlikely that
Semitic nomads from the south had always been present in Babylonia. But nomads do not readily settle
down to agricultural pursuits, preferring to hover on the outskirts of cultivation and to engage in barter
with their more civilized neighbours. Therefore the Semites that formed part of the settled community
in Babylonia must have come from a home more civilized than the arid deserts of Arabia. Moreover,
had they come from the south, either along the western shore of the Persian Gulf or from the direction
of the Hijaz, we should expect to find evidence of this at Ur and Eridu, which we do not. On the other
hand there is abundant evidence that they entered Babylonia from the north-west, descending the
Euphrates valley from the direction of Syria and bringing with them a tradition of settled habits.
These Semitic immigrants were at first of little consequence. But in course of time their number
in the north increased to such an extent that they were able to wrest authority from the Sumerians and
to seize the reins of government at the important city of Akshak, or Opis, some time about the beginning
of the twenty-sixth century. Fifty years later they founded the Fourth Dynasty of Kish. But no sooner
had this dynasty assumed control of the north than a young cupbearer of its second ruler, Ur-Ilbaba,
cast off allegiance to his sovereign, started a successful revolt, and set himself up as rival king at Agade,
a new city that he had built for his capital. This was the famous Sargon I, the founder of the powerful
Semitic Dynasty of Agade, which pro-
ceeded to establish an effective control
over the whole of Babylonia. The
territorial distinction between Sumer
and Akkad dates from this period
the name Akkad being derived from
that of the new northern capital,
Agade, where Sargon I began to rule
about 2528 B.C. Sargon I is the first
Semitic king to have left monuments
of any importance, and his inscriptions
preserve for us the oldest Semitic
dialect of which we have any real
knowledge, the so-called Akkadian.
This northern success had been
preceded by a period of internecine
conflict among the Sumerian cities, in
the course of which the city of Erech
had established a short-lived hege-
mony in the south. During the cen-
tury which followed the death of that
great conqueror Eannatum, the city of
Lagash had been weakened by cor-
ruption and abuses among the secular
officials and the priesthood. The old
simplicity of life had been exchanged
for the elaborate organization of a
powerful court, and the country
groaned under the heavy taxation
levied by an army of officials upon
every class of the population. Fanners,
owners of flocks and herds, fishermen,
and the boatmen plying on the canals
and rivers were never free from the
rapacity of these officials, who billeted
themselves on their unfortunate
victims. In the words of the
Painted specially for this work.]
THE GUTIANS CAPTURING A
BABYLONIAN CITY.
About 2370 B.C. a confederation of tribes from Gnthun descended upon
the Babylonian plain. After a severe struggle they overcame the more
civilized Akkadians, as well as the Sumerians in the south, and dominated the
country for many years. Akkadian troops are hero seen making a stain!
outside their strongly fortified city, which has fallen by assault.
246
Story of the Nations
reformer Urukagina, throughout the whole territory of Ningirsu there were inspectors down to the
sea. On securing the throne Urukagina set himself zealously to put an end to these abuses by
dispossessing the host of officials from office. But his well-meant efforts had a result he had not fore-
seen. He succeeded. in putting an end to corruption, but at the same time he completely disorganized
the civil administration and military power of the state ; and when her old rival Umma made a renewed
attack upon the city, Lagash was taken and laid waste with fire and sword. Her conqueror, Lugal-
zaggisi, soon added Erech to his dominion, and, taking that city as his capital, he pushed his army north-
ward along the Euphrates and claims to have extended his conquests to "the Upper Sea", a phrase we
may probably interpret as the Mediterranean coast.
This was the first attempt at imperial rule on the part of a Sumerian city-state, and it brought a
i (I specially for this work.]
UTU-HEGAL IMPLORING VICTORY FOR HIS ARMS.
It was Utu-hegal, a prince of tho Sumerian city of Erech, who put an end to the Gutlan domination. Having organized an
army, he led it against Tirikan, the Gutian king. On his march he entered the ancient shrines of his country's gods, whoso assist-
ance he implored in the coming battle. He completely routed the Gutians, and drove them from Babylonia.
speedy retribution in its train. By embarking on his adventurous northern march, the Sumerian king
put himself into direct rivalry with the growing Semitic power of Akkad ; soon afterwards Sargon I
invaded Sumer, completely defeated Lugal-zaggisi, and proceeded to lay the whok of Babylonia under
Semitic rule. The secret of his swift success is no doubt to be traced to his use of the bow, an inheritance
from his nomad ancestors which he had greatly improved. For his bowmen were enabled to destroy
the heavily armed phalanxes of the Sumerians from a distance, precisely as the Assyrian archers of a
later day caused havoc among the chariotry of Egypt. Sargon's preliminary success was amply sustained
by his immediate successors on the throne of Akkad, Manishtusu, Naram-Sin and Shargani-sharri, and
the kingdom which these Semitic rulers founded may be regarded as the first Babylonian empire in any
true sense of the term. For its internal administration was founded on a regular system of communication
between the principal cities and the capital. We have incontestable evidence of the establishment of a
service of convoys under the direct control of the king's officers, for many clay seals have been discovered
248
Story of the Nations
bearing the different addresses to which the roped packets they secured had been despatched. They
constitute the earliest recorded example of a parcel-post.
From this period until the rise of Babylon the history of the country is a continuous struggle between
Semite and Sumerian for supremacy. The Dynasty of Akkad was followed by a short return of power
to the south, when Erech once again for a generation succeeded in recovering the hegemony. Then follows
a time of disaster when the whole of Babylonia was for about ninety years subjected to the foreign
domination of the kingdom of Gutium, established to the east of the Lower Zab among the upland valleys
of the Zagros range. The Gutian supremacy was brought to an end through the valour of Utu-hegal. a
Painted specially for this work.}
TRIAL DEFORE HAMMURABI.
Hammurabi codified his country's laws and administered them in person. He here occupies the seat of judgment by the
city-gate, and Is trying a surgeon accused by a member of the upper class of having caused the loss of his eye by an unskilful
operation The executioners stand ready, in case of a conviction, to cut off the surgeon's hands.
Sumerian king of Erech, who in a recently discovered inscription records how he overcame "Gutium, the
dragon of the mountain", defeating and capturing Tiri-kan, its king, after having sought and obtained the
assistance of the great Babylonian gods in their ancient shrines upon his line of march.
But the real heirs of this success were the kings of the Third Dynasty of Ur, whose rule marks the
most brilliant epoch of Babylonian civilization. The founder of this powerful line of kings was Ur-Nammu.
a former vassal of the king of Erech, from whom he wrested the suzerainty and transferred it to his own
city of Ur, where he and his successors ruled without rival from about 2277 to 2170 B.C.
Some notion of the greatness of the Third Dynasty of Ur is to be regained from its monumental
remains within the city itself. The "ziggurrat", which has already been described, was begun by Ur-
Nammu and completed by his son Shulgi, or Dungi. To the latter must be assigned the main part of the
recently discovered "Royal Tombs of the Third Dynasty", which were added to by his son Bur-Sin.
These "Royal Tombs" comprise a massive superstructure in three parts — a large central building with
The Babylonian Nation
249
Ptiotn by} [Messrs. Manxett
A CYLINDER-SEAL AND ITS IMPRESSION.
The seals used by the Babylonians were in the form ot
cylinders, which were rolled over the surface of their clay
tablets before these were hanlcnod by baking. They were
made of the mi re precious stones, and the designs upon
them were generally of a religious character. According
to Herodotus every Babylonian carried a seal.
two smaller annexes — all of which are modelled after
the private house of the period, and an underground
substructure some forty feet in depth. A flight of
steps leads down from the cential building above to
a landing situated half-way down, and in the centre
of, a spacious brick-lined shaft, and from this landing
there descend to the bottom of the shaft two further
broad nights of balustraded steps, one to the right
and the other to the left. At the foot of each of these
two stairways, which pass beneath massive corbelled
arches spanning the opposite ends of the shaft
above, is the entrance to one of two large vaults.
These vaults were doubtless intended to serve as
tombs for the kings of the Third Dynasty. We know
that these kings were deified in their lifetime and worshipped as gods after their death. The palatial resi-
dential quarters above the tombs would, then, have been conceived as the earthly abode of the discarnate
god-kings, where their cult might be fittingly perpetuated by generations to come. The grandeur of the
conception is quite in keeping with what we already know of the achievements of these mighty monarchs
under whose benign and energetic rule Ur must have been a very stately and magnificent city.
But the glory of Ur was soon to depart. A presage of this may be discerned in the business documents
of the period, which betray a rapid increase of Semitic names among the working-class population. The
people bearing these names were known to their contemporaries as "Amorites", that is, they were natives
of Amurru, or the northern plateau of the Syrian
desert. Shulgi's grandson, Gimil-Sin, evidently found
it necessary to check further immigrations from
that region by building a fortification known as
"the wall of Amurru". But no sooner had his suc-
cessor Ibi-Sin ascended the throne than a certain
Ishbi-Irra placed himself at the head of a band of
Amorites, invaded Akkad, and proclaimed himself
king of Isin. In this venture he was aided by the
Elamites, who threw off the supremacy of Ur and
attacked Babylonia. For a few years Ibi-Sin held
his own against the twofold menace. But about
2170 B.C. the Elamite invaders reached Ur, sacked
the city, and carried away its king captive to Elam,
thus bringing the Third Dynasty of Ur to a close.
Their ally Ishbi-Irra of Isin assumed control of Ur,
and for about a century his successors ruled it from
their capital, after which it fell into the hands of
Gungunum, king of Larsa, at which city a rival
dynasty to that of Isin had been established at the
very time that Ishbi-Irra ascended the throne. With
the collapse of the empire of Ur, Babylonia had
again become a scene of internecine conflict, which
was to last until the rise to power of the First
Dynasty of Babylon under its great king
Hammurabi.
The turn ot the third and the second mil-
lennia was a period of intense literary activity
in Babylonia. Hitherto the human memory had
been the chief repository of Sumerian learning.
But now that the Semitic speech of Akkad
PORTRAIT OF HAMMURABI.
In addition to his fame as a legislator, Hammurabi is re
membered as the king who first raised the city of Habylon
to pre-eminence in the country. He defeated the Elamite,
Rim-Sin, and welded Sumor and Akkad into a strong king
dom. The portrait is taken from a lias-relief in the British
Museum.
250
Story of the Nations
was rapidly displacing the Sumerian, knowledge of which was becoming more and more confined
to the learned, it was necessary to commit to writing what had until then been preserved by oral
tradition alone. Consequently we find that most of the important Sumerian compositions that
have come down to us can be traced back to this period. These compositions were copied and
recopied until the cuneiform script became extinct, and the original Sumerian texts were often either
provided with an interlinear Semitic translation or else replaced by purely Semitic recensions. " Until
comparatively recent years the Semites in Babylonia were credited with more than is their due, for no
other reason than that much of the mythical and legendary literature of Babylonia was known to scholars
only through the medium of late Semitic versions. But now that modern excavations have brought to
ta specially for tins work.\
ELAMITES BURNING AND PILLAGING A BABYLONIAN VILLAGE.
Babylon's struggle with Elaiu continued after the death of Hammurabi, whoso closing years were probably marred by
Crceh conflicts with his old enemy. Ar. end was finally put to these depredations when Samsu-ilnna, Hammurabi's son and
(•accessor, defeated the Elamite army and captured or slew Rim-Sin. Thereafter Elam ceased for many years to trouble the
Babylonian plain.
light more and more written material dating from earlier periods it becomes increasingly clear that
Babylonian learning in all its branches is essentially Sumerian. The discovery of the famous Code of
Hammurabi was held to prove that it was the Semites who first introduced systematized law ; but we
now know that Hammurabi's Code is no more than an enlarged and ordered collection of Sumerian laws
upon which a definite legal system was already based in the days of the Third Dynasty of Ur. The great
Babylonian Epic of Creation is known to us only in a very late Semitic recension ; but the original com-
position can be proved to belong to the turn of the third and the second millennia, and there can be no
doubt that this was based upon Sumerian mythology. The Story of the Deluge is of Sumerian origin,
and the results of excavation at Kish and at Ur have been held to prove that the legend was based upon
an actual occurrence. The famous Epic of Gilgamish, which we know principally from a Semitic version
of the seventh century B.C., is to be traced back to a Sumerian original of very great antiquity.
252
Story of the Nations
Painted specialln /</«• this tnirk, i
BABYLONIAN VOTARESS DESPATCHING A CARAVAN
FOR TRADE.
Under the First Dynasty of Babylon bodies of religious votaresses,
drawn from the upper class, enjoyed special privileges. They were
allowed to engage in commerce on their own account, but were forbidden
to open or even enter a beer-shop. The penalty for misbehaviour on their
part was death.
The old argument that the
Sumerian gods were of Semitic origin,
because they are represented with
beards, whereas the Sumerians them-
selves did not grow beards as a rule, is
now regarded as fallacious. The religion
of Babylonia is essentially Sumerian,
and of the several thousand deities that
make up the enormous Babylonian
pantheon there are only a few minor
ones of purely Semitic origin. Sumerian
theologians of the latter half of the
third millennium reduced this unwieldy
pantheon to a logical scheme, and the
liturgies and the litanies that they based
upon it received their final canonical
form. The Semites who became the
heirs of the older Sumerian civilization
from the time of Hammurabi until the
fall of the Neo-Babylonian Empire,
and after that right through the Persian
and Greek periods, accepted these
religious traditions as sacred and un-
alterable. Babylonian culture in all
its branches no doubt owed its ultimate
inspiration to the ancient Sumerians,
but it was the Semitic inheritors of
this culture who diffused it among the
younger races of the Near East long
after the Sumerians themselves had
passed from history.
THE RISE OF BABYLON, AND HER FIRST
THREE DYNASTIES : 2040-1169 B.C.
WHILE the rival dynasties of Isin and
of Larsa were contending with each
other for the control of the south,
"Amorite" immigrants continued to settle in the north. The city of Babylon, which had hitherto been
of little significance in politics, although a place of special sanctity, offered an easy prey to these
westerners, one of whom, Sumu-abu by name, declared himself king and founded the First Dynasty
of Babylon. With the loss of Ur the power of Isin was so undermined that for the future the real issue
lay between the rival dynasties of Larsa and of Babylon. We know little about the political relations
of the three powers to begin with. But when, about 1980 B.C., the throne of Larsa was occupied by an
Elamite lord named Warad-Sin, who had been installed there by his father, Kudur-Mabug, the rivalry
between Larsa and Babylon became really serious. The crisis was reached during the long reign of his
brother Rim-Sin, who succeeded him twelve years later. For about thirty years Hammurabi, the fifth
successor of Sumu-abu, and Rim-Sin waged war upon each other, until the latter's final defeat after
a reign of sixty-one years. After this success Hammurabi succeeded in uniting the whole of Babylonia
into a single kingdom with Babylon as its capital.
The view that "Amraphel, king of Shinar", in the fourteenth chapter of Genesis, is no other than
Hammurabi, king of Babylon, is not so generally accepted as it used to be. The story in which he figures
doubtless has a basis in fact ; but it is not possible to link it up with any known historical event of
The Babylonian Nation
253
Hammurabi's time. The inconsistencies that so seriously prejudice the identification have not yet been
satisfactorily accounted for, despite the exercise of considerable ingenuity. It is best to regard the
question as unsettled until more evidence is forthcoming.
In accordance with this identification Abraham would have been contemporary with Hammurabi,
that is, he would have lived in the second half of the twentieth century B.C. This possibility is borne
out by independent considerations. We know that there were in Babylonia at the time of Rim-Sin and
later, that is, from about 2000 to 1900 B.C., a people called "Habiru", and there is very good reason to
suppose that the "Habiru" are "Hebrews". The biblical story of Abraham's journeying from Ur to
Harran may very well be reminiscent of a general northward movement of these "Habiru" from Southern
Babylonia, which we are able to infer took place at this time.
Hammurabi was the real founder of Babylon's greatness. To his military achievements he added
a genius for administrative detail, and his letters and despatches which have been recovered reveal him
as in active control of even subordinate officials stationed in distant cities of his empire. That he should
have superintended matters of such public importance as the transference of troops, the arrangement
of the calendar, the dredging of the canals, and the regulation of land and water transport was what we
should naturally expect ; but we also see him investigating quite trivial complaints and disputes among
the humbler classes of his subjects, and often sending back a case for re-trial, or for further report, especially
Pninlnl specially for this uwt.l
HEPATOSCOPY, OR DIVINATION BY THE LIVER
The Babylonians believed that the gods made their will known to men by the markings on the livers ol sheep, after these
bad been consecrated for sacrifice. The Babylonian King is here seen in the temple-court anxiously awaiting the verdict of the
diviner, who is conning the liver in his hand. A scribe takes down hie words for future reference.
254
Story of the Nations
when it concerned the extortions of a moneylender, or if he suspected bribery on the part ot the officials-
concerned. In fact, Hammurabi's fame will always rest on his achievements as a law-giver, and on the-
great legal Code which he drew up for use throughout his empire. It is true this elaborate system ot
laws, which deal in detail with every class of the population from the most powerful noble to the slave,
was not the creative work of Hammurabi himself. Like all other ancient legal Codes it was governed
strictly by precedent, and where it did not incorporate earlier collections of laws it was based on careful
consideration of established custom. Indeed, a great body of its enactments were probably already in
force under the Sumerian kings and rulers several centuries before. Hammurabi's great achievement
was the codification of this floating mass of legal enactments and the rigid enforcement of the provisions
of the resulting Code throughout the whole territory of Babylonia. Its provisions reflect the king's own
enthusiasm, of which his letters give independent proof, in the cause of the humbler and more oppressed
classes of his subjects ; he saw to it that not only the poor free-man but also the slave was protected
by legislation. The rights and privileges of landowners, officials and professional men, such as physicians,
were amply secured, but the penalties exacted from them for any infringement of the law were
proportionately larger.
We have not space to deal in any detail with this remarkable Code, which in the opinion of some
writers had an influence on the Mosaic
legislation. We will be content to refer
only to one subject on which it throws
light, the position of women in Babylonia
at this early period. The laws regulating
divorce are in themselves remarkable
enough, for they safeguard the woman
against injustice, and they provide for her
proper maintenance and that of her
children, except in the case of infidelity on
her part. But what is still more remark-
able is the proof the Code affords that
unmarried women were in certain circum-
stances entitled to hold property in their
own names, and to engage in commercial
undertakings. Such women were naturally
drawn from the more powerful and wealthy
lamilies, and they were enrolled as mem-
bers of guilds attached to the great
temples, particularly that of the Sun-god.
But they were not confined in any
nunnery, nor except for their vows of
celibacy, were they restricted by rules or regulations. A high standard of commercial and social conduct
was expected from them, and severe penalties were imposed for its infringement. But they had complete
freedom in other respects ; they lived in houses of their own, and could dispose of their time and money in
their own way. It is a striking fact that women of an Eastern race should have achieved such a position
of independence at the beginning of the second millennium before Christ The explanation is to be sought
in the great part already played by commerce in the Babylonian social scheme. Among contemporary
races, occupied mainly with agriculture and war, woman's activity was necessarily restricted to the
rearing of children and the internal economy of the household. But with the growth of Babylonian
trade and commercial enterprise some of the problems of our modern commercial world seem to
have made their appearance. Not the least interesting sections of Hammurabi's Code show how the
Babylonians met the demand of their women of the upper class to take part in activities in which
they considered themselves capable of joining The success of the experiment was doubtless due to the fact
that the government was not restricted by any false sentimentality from inflicting the penalty of
death in cases of misdemeanour.
The rise of Babylon to the position of capital of the whole ol Babylonia naturally led to a number
/iterf specially for this w-orfr.]
THE HITTITE RAID ON BABYLON
It appears that the strong dynasty of Hammurabi, weakened by
straggles with the kings of the Sea-Land, was brought to an end by n
Hlttite raid about 17*0 B.C. These wild tribes, descending the
Euphrates from Anatolia, saeked the city and carried off its gods.
leaving it a prey to the Kassntes.
s ~
256
Story of the Nations
BV permission of] [Underwood & Underwood
THE LION OF BABYLON.
This roughly hewn, and possibly unfinished, sculpture, found many years
ago in the ruins of Babylon and still standing on the palace-mound, probably
represents Babylon trampling on a fallen foe.
By permission of] [Underwood & Underwood.
THE RUINS OF BABYLON.
The view shows the remains of Babylon ao they appeared after the
German excavations before the Great War. In the foreground is the Ishtar
Gate, decorated with rows of bulls and dragons in relief.
of changes in the religious sphere and
to a revision of the Babylonian Pan-
theon. Marduk, the god of Babylon,
from being a comparatively obscure
city-god, underwent a transformation
in proportion to the increase in his
city's importance. The achievements
and attributes of Enlil, the chief
Sumerian deity, were ascribed to him,
and the old Sumerian sagas and
legends, particularly those of the
creation of the world, were rewritten in
this new spirit by the Babylonian
priesthood. Enlil could not be entirely
ousted from the position he had so
long enjoyed, but Marduk becomes his
greater son. He is represented as
winning his position by his own valour
in coming to the help of the older
gods when their very existence was
threatened by the dragons of chaos ;
and, having slain the chief monster of
the deep, he is portrayed as creating the
universe from her severed body. The
older legends no doubt continued to be
treasured in the ancient cult-centres of
the land, but the Babylonian versions,
under royal sanction and encourage-
ment, tended to gain wide recognition
and popularity.
At this period of renaissance a great
impetus was also given to all branches
of literary activity. The old Sumerian
language still bulked largely in the
phraseology of legal and commercial
documents as well as in the purely
religious literature of the country. And
to aid them in their study of the ancient
texts, the Semitic scribes undertook a
systematic compilation of dictionaries
and explanatory lists of words and
ideograms which, surviving in later
Assyrian copies, have been of great
assistance to the modern decipherer.
The Sumerian texts, too, were copied out
and furnished with interlinear Semitic
translations. The astronomical and
astrological studies and records of the
Sumerian priests were also taken over
and great collections were edited of their
astronomical observations, and of the
omens which had been deduced from
them.
The Babylonian Nation
257
Other great literary and religious series, which were now compiled, dealt with omens deduced
from the livers of sacrificial victims, from the phenomena of birth, and from countless incidents in animal
and human life. The old medical texts and magical prescriptions were also carefully collected and written
out upon series of numbered tablets. A study of the Babylonian literature, in fact, affords a striking
proof that the Semitizing of the country was accompanied by no break or setback in the Babylonian
civilization. The older texts and traditions were taken over in bulk and, except where the rank and
position of Marduk was affected, little change or modification was made. The Semitic scribes no doubt
developed their inheritance, but expan-
sion took place on the old lines. In
commercial life, too, Sumerian customs
remained unaltered. Taxes, rent, and
prices continued to be paid in kind, and
though the talent, maneh, and shekel
were in use as metal weights, no true
currency was developed. In the sale of
land, for example, even during the period
of the Kassite kings, the purchase-price
was settled in shekel-weights of silver,
but very little metal actually changed
hands. Various items were exchanged
against the land, and these, in addition
to corn, the principal medium of ex-
change, included slaves, animals,
weapons, garments, etc., the value of
each item being reckoned on the same
silver basis until the agreed purchase-
price was made up. The Semitic Baby-
lonian, despite his commercial activity,
did not advance beyond the transition
stage between pure barter and a regular
currency.
Under Hammurabi's Dynasty the
common speech of Babylonia became
Semitic, and it remained so throughout
the course of her subsequent history.
The Sumerian race and language appear
to have survived longest in the extreme
south, for under Hammurabi's son,
Samsu-iluna, an independent dynasty, Paint
largely of Sumerian origin, established
itself in the "Sea-Land" at the head of
the Persian Gulf. The later kings of the
First Dynasty of Babylon attempted to
dislodge these rulers, but without suc-
cess, and they continued to hold their strip of territory in complete independence at the time of the earlier
kings of the Third or Kassite Dynasty. It is a tribute to their importance that the native Babylonian
annalists included them in the official lists of Babylonian kings, and it was formerly supposed they suc-
ceeded Hammurabi's Dynasty in Babylon ; consequently they were known as the Second Babylonian
Dynasty. But it is now clear that their authority never extended beyond the littoral of the Persian
Gulf. Babylon was undoubtedly weakened by her struggles to subdue this revolting province, and her
attention was now distracted from the south by a new enemy who began to make his appearance on
her north-eastern frontier. Bands of Kassite tribes were beginning to descend from the mountains of
Media, through the Zagros Pass, and to make periodical raids across the Akkadian frontier. They repre-
• fhin teorfr.l
THE KASSITE INVASION.
The Kassites, who invaded Babylonia from the east, owed their victories
to the horse, which they introduced into Western Asia. The astonishment
of a frontier village is here shown on tlist beholding the invaders advancing
on the backs of strange animals. In the earlier period very few people in
Babylonia had seen a horse.
258
Story of the Nations
sented an early wave of the great Indo-European migration, which at about the same period led to the
establishment of the kingdom of Mitanni in Northern Mesopotamia, and affected in a marked degree
the early history of Assyria. But the first arrivals in Babylonia were not strong enough to cause much
trouble to Samsu-iluna and his successors. It is in Samsu-iluna's reign that we find the earliest record
of the horse in Babylonia, and it was probably introduced by the Kassites ; for the Babylonians expressed
their name for this strange animal by an ideograph signifying literally "the ass of the mountain", suggest-
ing that it was brought to Babylonia by mountain tribes from the east.
Even in the reign of Ammi-zaduga, the great-grandson of Samsu-iluna, Babylon continued to retain
a semblance of Hammurabi's empire, for she had recovered her control of Elam and held that land as a
tributary state. But she had necessarily to garrison the country, and other large bodies of her troops
Painted specially for IMp .
CONQUEST OF THE SEA-LAND BY THE KASSITES.
The iivople living in the Sca-Land, the swampy district at the head of the Persian Gulf, had given trouble to the kings or
the First Dynasty, and they retained their independence after the Kussites had conquered Babylon. Their last kins, Ea-gamil
fired with ambition, invaded Elam, hut lie was signally defeated, and soon afterwards the Kassites of Babylon, under Ai?um
occupied the country.
must have been massed in the south to retain the forces of the Sea-Land kings, and also in the north-east
to safeguard her mountain frontier against Kassite raids. She does not appear to have given much atten-
tion to the west, the direction from which her West Semitic rulers had themselves entered the country ;
and it was from this quarter that the blow fell which shattered her defences and paralysed her existence
for a time. In the reign of Samsu-ditana, the last king of Babylon's First Dynasty, the Hittites of Anatolia
marched down the Euphrates, broke through Babylon's defences, captured and sacked the city, and
carried off as spoil the sacred images of Marduk, the national god, and of Sarpanitum, his consort. The
Hittites do not appear to have occupied the country for long, which soon fell an easy prey to the Kassites,
who, finding no opposition to their advance, now pressed across her eastern frontier Gandash, their
leader, established himself in Babylon, and the Kassite Dynasty he founded endured according to the
native annalists, for five hundred and seventy-six years.
We know little of the earlier Kassite kings. Our principal contemporary records of the period are
boundary-stones, which prove that the kings rewarded their military commanders and principal
26o
Story of the Nations
BOUNDARY-STONE OF NEBUCHAD
NEZZAR 1.
The stone commemorates a grant of
land made by Nebuchadnezzar 1 to Rittl-
Marduk, captain of his chariots, for valour
in the Elamite war. Divine symbols are
carved on the stone to protect it.
but she does not hesitate to
encourage Assyria, which now
begins to display her power as
Babylon's rival. The Babylonian
king, writing to the Egyptian
Pharaoh, might boastfully refer to
the Assyrians as his "subjects", but
he had to defend his own northern
frontier against Assyrian encroach-
ment by force of arms. Indeed,
Tukulti-Enurta I of Assyria, about
the middle of the thirteenth cen-
tury B.C., succeeded in capturing
and sacking Babylon and, according
supporters by grants of land throughout the country. In fact,
the Kassites in Babylonia were a ruling aristocracy, and though
they doubtless brought with them numbers of humbler followers
their domination did not affect the linguistic nor the racial character
of the country in any marked degree. We may compare their rule
to that of Turkey before the Great War in the Tigris and
Euphrates valley. They give no evidence of having possessed a
high degree of culture, and, though they gradually adopted the
civilization of Babylon, they tended for long to keep themselves
aloof, retaining their native names along with their separate
nationality. They were essentially a practical people, and pro-
duced successful administrators. The chief gain they brought to
Babylon was an improved method of time-reckoning. In place of
the unwieldy system of date-formulae inherited by the Semites
from the Sumerians, under which each year was known by an
elaborate title taken from some great event, the Kassites in-
troduced the simpler plan of dating by the years of the king's
reign.
It was not until the sixteenth century B.C. that the new rulers
of Babylon succeeded in establishing their authority throughout
the whole of the country in the south. The last Sea-Land king was
Ea-gamil. More ambitious than his predecessors, he invaded Elam,
but was defeated by a Kassite chieftain, Ulam-Buriash, who held
his kingdom for a few years as an independent fief, until it was
incorporated with Babylonia. In the fourteenth century we find
the Kassite kings ruling a powerful kingdom, and maintaining
friendly relations with Egypt, which meanwhile had extended her
empire over Syria. The letters discovered at Tell el-Amarna, in
Upper Egypt, are striking evidence of the extent to which
Babylonian culture had meanwhile spread throughout Western
Asia ; for the Babylonian writing and language were used by
Egypt for her communications with her Syrian and Palestinian
dependencies, as well as for letters to Babylonian and Assyrian
kings. The documents which have been recovered include corres-
pondence which was carried on between Amenophis III and IV
and the Kassite kings, Kadashman-Enlil and Burna-Buriash, the
son of Kurigalzu. and they throw an interesting light on
the international diplomacy of the period. Egypt succeeds in
preventing Babylon from giving support to revolts in Canaan,
I'liolo hi/] \f,lessrs. MnnseU.
BABYLONIAN FOUNDATION-CYLINDER.
Clay cylinders, inscribed with the deeds of the reigning king, were buried
in the foundations of buildings, as wo bury coins and newspapers. This one
commemorates the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus.
The Babylonian Nation
261
to one account, ruled the city for seven years. But Assyria was not yet strong enough to dominate the
southern kingdom for any length of time, and Babylon not only regained her independence, but afterwards
carried the war into the enemy's country. It was Elam. not Assyria that brought the long and
undistinguished Kassite Dynasty to an end
FROM THE FOURTH TO THE NINTH DYNASTY OF BABYLON : 1168-625 B.C.
THE native Babylonian annalists make no mention of the Elamite conquest of Babylonia, which put an
end to the Third Dynasty ; but we have unimpeachable evidence of its drastic character in the number
Fatnte;l specially for th is work.]
THE DESTRUCTION OF BABYLON BY SENNACHERIB.
Babylonia had always been a thorn in the side of Assyria, and the Sargonids tried conciliation and force alternately in tholr
treatment of. the province. The latter policy reached its culmination under Sennacherib in 689 B.C., when he attempted to blot
out Babylon completely by diverting the Euphrates so that its waters flowed over the city and destroyed all but the most massive
buildings.
of Kassite monuments from Babylonia^which have been discovered during recent excavations at Susa,
the Elamite capital. ' These had been carried off as spoil of war by the Elamite king Shutruk-Nakhunte,
and it is probable that for some years the Elamites retained their hold on Babylon. But they were
finally driven out by Nebuchadnezzar I of the Fourth Dynasty, whose early rulers appear to have estab-
lished themselves at first in Isin and, using that city as their headquarters, to have extended their authority
gradually over the rest of the country. Nebuchadnezzar I followed the retreating Elamites across the
frontier, and subdued the Kassite tribes who were settled in the upland valleys of Western Elam. We
have an interesting memorial of one of Nebuchadnezzar's successes against the Elamites in what is
probably the finest Babylonian boundary-stone which has yet been recovered. It recorded a grant of
land to Ritti-Marduk, the captain of the king's chariots, as a reward for his valour in battle against the
262
Story of the Nations
Elamites, when the Babylonian army, led by the king in person, drove the Elamites out of the frontier
fortress of Dur-ilu and routed them in their own territory on the banks of the Eulasus.
Nebuchadnezzar was not equally fortunate against Assyria, and when he attacked the Northern
Kingdom he was defeated by Ashur-resh-ishi, who captured forty of his chariots of war and slew Karashtu,
the commander of his army. But Babylonia was to experience still worse disasters at the hands of
Tiglath-pileser I, the great successor of Ashur-resh-ishi. Under his able leadership Assyria achieved her
first period of empire, and his suc-
cesses in the south, which included
the temporary capture of Babylon
and other Akkadian cities, was his
justification for assuming the
ancient Babylonian title of "King
of Sumer and Akkad". During the
reign of Tiglath-pileser's son,
Ashur-bel-kala, we find Babylon
maintaining friendly relations
with Assyria ; but her power of
resistance and recuperation after
defeat was now considerably
weakened by the attacks of a new
and uncivilized foe.
The expulsion of the Hyksos
from Egypt and Southern Palestine,
about 1580 B.C., caused an up-
heaval among the tribesmen of the
Syrian desert, who began to push
northwards towards Syria, and later
spread south-eastward. This was
the beginning of the great Aramaean
movement. At first their presence
was more a source of annoyance
than of danger to their civilized
neighbours. But before the be-
ginning of the eleventh century
they had become a menace to civili-
zation both in Babylonia and in
Assyria. Tiglath-pileser I conducted
vigorous campaigns against these
tribes, who had begun to abandon
the nomadic life and to ~ take
possession of the rich lands of the
middle Euphrates valley. Driven
southward by the Assyrian attack,
they pressed into Babylonia, which
was too enfeebled to offer any effec-
tive resistance, and the Babylonian king, Marduk-shapik-zer-mati, lost his throne to an Aramaean usurper
named Adad-apal-iddin. His fourth successor, Nabu-shum-libur, is reckoned to be the last king of Babylon's
Fourth Dynasty, which was followed by a period of impotence, covered in the native annals by three
short dynasties of unimportant kings. The first of these, the Fifth Dynasty, consisted of three kings from
the Sea-Land, which had probably escaped the attention of the nomads. But it was not until the Eighth
Dynasty that a stable government was once more re-established. Even in the reign of Nabu-mukin-apli,
its founder, the Aramaeans continued to give trouble, holding the Euphrates in the neighbourhood of
Babylon and Borsippa, cutting communications and raiding the countryside. In the reign of
Painted specially for this irorfr.l
NEW YEAR'S DAY IN BABYLON, «80 B.C.
Esarhaddon completely reversed his father's Babylonian policy. He rebuilt
the city and revived the national worship. He is here seen in Babylon on the
first Feast of the New Year after his accession, witnessing the restoration to Its
ancient shrine of the statue of Marduk, whose hands he grasped as mi/erain.
Painted specially for this work.]
THE HANGING GARDENS OF BABYLON.
The Hanging Gardens ol Babylon were one of the wonders of the ancient world. They were laid out on terraces supported by
massive arches of burnt brick, the foundations of which have been laid bare (luring recent excavations. The Nco-Iiuhylonlan
kings delighted to collect plants and shrubs from foreign countries and to acclimatize them in their capital. Nebuchadnezzar II
is here seen inspecting a rare flower which his head gardener is about to plant out in the border.
264
Story of the Nations
fainted specially for this uurk.
THE BATTLE OF CARCHEMISH.
In the reign of Nabopolaesar, the founder of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, Necho II of Egypt took advantage of the siege of
Nineveh and occupied Palestine. In 605 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian crown prince, utterly defeated his Nubian troops
at the Battle of Carchemish, and pursued them to the Egyptian border, whence he was recalled to Babylon on hearing of
Nabopolassar's death.
Nabu-aplu-iddina.in the ninth century, we have evidence that efforts were made to repair some of the material
damage caused by Aramaean raids, for we have recovered the memorial inscription this king engraved
to commemorate his rebuilding of the great Temple of the Sun-god at Sippar, which for long had lain
in ruins. But, politically, the centre of gravity in the Tigris and Euphrates valley now passes to the
north. Under that ruthless conqueror Ashur-nasir-pal II and his son Shalmaneser III, the military forces
of Assyria were entirely reorganized, and she achieved her second period of empire. In the year 852 B.C.
Shalmaneser marched through Babylonia and, having appointed a vassal king, exercised his privileges as
overlord by sacrificing in the great temples of Babylon, Borsippa, and Cutha.
The subsequent period shows a gradual tightening of Assyria's grasp upon the southern kingdom,
varied by comparatively ineffective struggles and revolts on Babylon's part to avoid her loss of indepen-
dence. A temporary decline of Assyrian power in the eighth century enabled Babylon for a time to regain
her former position, under Nabu-shum-ishkun and his son Nabonassar. But the military revolt in Assyria,
which in 745 B.C. placed Tiglath-pileser III upon the throne, put a speedy end at this period to Babylon's
hopes of a permanent recovery of power. For Assyria now entered upon her third and last phase of empire,
which made her for a time the mistress of the Nearer East. Babylon was taken in 728 B.C., and her Ninth
Dynasty of kings is mainly composed of Assyrian rulers or their nominees.
Babylonia was no match for the trained legions of Assyria at the height of the latter's power, but the
industrial and commercial life of her cities, based ultimately on the rich return her soil yielded to her
agricultural population, enabled her to survive blows which would have permanently disabled a race
less favoured by nature. Moreover, she always regarded the Assyrians as an upstart people, who had
borrowed her culture and whose land had been a mere province in her empire at a time when her own
The Babylonian Nation
265
political influence extended from Elam to the Mediterranean coast. Even in her darkest hour she was
buoyed up by the hope of recovering her ancient glory, and she let no opportunity slip of striking a blow
at the Northern Kingdom. She was consequently always a drag on Assyria's advance to the
Mediterranean, for when the latter's armies marched westward they left Babylon and Elam in their
rear. It follows that the history of Babylon during the period of Assyria's domination is best studied in
detail from the standpoint of the Assyrian nation : Babylon's political activities constituted but one
factor in the drama of Assyria's rise as the greatest power of Western Asia and of her speedy decline and
fall. We will here only note the alternative policies with regard to the Southern Kingdom which Assyria
was constantly trying, with equal want of success : intimidation and indulgence. They reached their
climax in the reigns of Sennacherib and Esarhaddon — Sennacherib carried the stern policy of repression to
its utmost limits. He attempted to destroy Babylon for ever, and succeeded, by deflecting the course of
the Euphrates, in wiping out the greater part of the city, so that its houses and many of its temples and
palaces were carried away by the waters. Immediately on his accession Esarhaddon completely reversed
this policy by rebuilding the city and restoring its ancient rights and privileges. It is quite possible that
either of these policies, if consistently pursued, would have been equally futile in its aim of coercing or
placating Babylonia. But their alternation was a far worse blunder : it only succeeded in revealing to
the Babylonians their own power, and in confirming them in their obstinate resistance. Hence in the
reign of Ashur-bani-pal, Esarhaddon's successor, we have the long revolt under Shamash-shum-ukin,
when Babylon, with Elam's help, struck a succession of blows which helped in a material degree to reduce
the power of the Assyrian army, already weakened by the Egyptian campaigns. And in 625 B.C., when
the Scythians had overrun the Assyrian Empire, and her power was on the wane, we find Nabopolassar
proclaiming himself king in Babylon, and founding a new empire, which for nearly seventy years was to
survive the citv of Nineveh itself.
NABONIDUS SENDING INSTRUCTIONS TO BELSHAZZAK.
The last Babylonian king. Nabonidus, was a weak monarch, and estranged the priesthood by ill-advised changes in the ritual.
On the advance of the rersiunp. .~>:i!J B.C., he placed his son, Bclshazzar, In command of the army, and contented himself with.
Bending messages to the front. Belshazzur was defeated near Opis, Nabonidus was captured, and Babylon surrendered.
266
Story of the Nations
THE NEO-BABYLONIAN EMPIRE : 625-539 B.C.
FREED from her Assyrian oppressors, Babylon now renewed her youth, and the city attained a material
splendour and magnificence such as she had not achieved during the long course of her earlier history.
But it took her more than a generation to realize to the full her "newly awakened ambitions. After his
declaration of independence, Nabopolassar's influence did not extend far beyond the walls of Babylon
and Borsippa. The other great
cities, both in the north and south,
continued for a time to acknowledge
Assyrian supremacy. But the sons
of Ashur-bani-pal, who succeeded
him upon the throne, had inherited
a reduced empire, .whose sole sup-
port, the Assyrian army, was now
largely composed of disheartened
mercenaries. According to Hero-
dotus, the Medes had already
twice invaded Assyria before
Cyaxares finally invested Nineveh.
It was natural that Nabopolassar
should have regarded them as his
allies, and have concluded a definite
alliance with them. Though he
does not appear to have taken
any active part in the long siege
of Nineveh, he was not slow in
securing his share of the dismem-
bered empire when the city fell in
612 B.C. The northern territory
of Assyria fell to the Medes, while
Mesopotamia and the districts
south of Nineveh became parts of
Nabopolassar's empire.
It was not long before Babylon
had the opportunity of putting her
newly organized army to the test.
In 608 B.C. Egypt had seized the
opportunity, afforded her by
Assyria's impotence, of occupying
Palestine and Syria. She had crush-
ed Josiah and his Hebrew army at
Megiddo, and, though it is not cer-
tain whether Judah had the support
of other allies, it is clear that Necho
encountered no effective opposition
on his advance to the Euphrates.
But Nabopolassar did not intend to allow this portion of the Assyrian Empire to fall to Egypt unchallenged,
and he despatched a Babylonian force northwards along the Euphrates under the command of
the crown prince, Nebuchadnezzar. The two armies met at Carchemish in 605 B.C., where the Egyptians
were utterly routed and driven back through Palestine. But Nebuchadnezzar did not press his pursuit
beyond the borders of Egypt, for news reached him at Pelusium of Nabopolassar's death, and he was
obliged to return at once to Babylon in order to carry out at the capital the necessary ceremonies attend-
ing his accession to the throne.
Painted specially for this work. ]
THE PERSIANS STORMING THE CITADEL OF BABYLON.
Although the city of Babylon surrendered without fighting to the Persian
general Gobryas, the strong citadel seems to have been garrisoned by loyal troops
and to have held out for a time. But it was soon captured by assault. The
picture shows the Persian besiegers penetrating its triple line of defence.
268
Story of the Nations
In spite of his withdrawal from the country the greater part of Syria and Palestine lost no time in
transferring their allegiance to Babylon. The little state of Judah was an exception, for though she
paid her tribute at first, she soon put the warnings of the prophet Jeremiah at defiance, and her short-
sighted revolt led to the capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in 596 B.C. and to the carrying away
of a large portion of her population into captivity. A few years later Egypt made her last attempt t«
rcoccupy Palestine and Syria, and
. Judah joined the Phoenician cities of
Sidon and Tyre in rallying to her
support. In 587 Nebuchadnezzar
advanced into Northern Syria and took
up a strong strategic position at Riblah
on the Orontes, whence he despatched
a part of his army to besiege Jerusalem.
An attempt by Apries, the Egyptian
king, to relieve the city was unsuccess-
ful and in 586 Jerusalem was once
more taken and the greater part of the
remnant of the Jews followed their
fellow-countrymen into exile. The
Babylonian army then occupied
Phoenicia, though the city of Tyre
offered an obstinate resistance and
only acknowledged its allegiance to
Babylon after a long siege which is said
to have lasted for thirteen years. Thus
Nebuchadnezzar completed the work
begun by his father, Nabopolassar,
and by the skilful and vigorous prosecu-
tion of his campaigns established the
Neo-Babylonian Empire on a firm
basis, so that its authority was un-
questioned from the Persian Gulf to
the Egyptian frontier. Of his later
campaigns we know nothing beyond a
fragmentary reference to a conflict
with Amasis of Egypt in the thirty-
seventh year of his reign. Though we
do not know the circumstances under
which it took place, we may assume
that the Babylonian army was again
victorious against the Egyptian troops
and the Greek mercenaries who fought
in their ranks. A tradition is indeed
preserved by Josephus that Nebu-
chadnezzar made Egypt -a Babylonian
province, and, although that is certainly
an exaggeration, the evidence suggests
that he may well have conducted at least one successful campaign on Egyptian territory. The troubles
of Apries, in consequence of his ill-advised expedition against Gyrene, followed by the revolt of Amasis
and his own deposition and death, may well have furnished the occasion for a successful invasion of the
country by Nebuchadnezzar.
A very large number of inscriptions have been recovered ot the Neo-Babylonian kings ; but. unlike
the foundation-records of Assyria, they contain no records of military expeditions, but confine themselves
I'uinted specially for this work. 1
ALEXANDER INSPECTING THE RUINS OF ESAGILA.
Ou his capture of Babylon In 331 B.C. Alexander, according to
tradition, wished to restore Esagila, the temple of Mardnk, which had been
allowed to fall into decay since its partial destruction by Xerxes. But on
eeeing the mounds of fallen brickwork he gave up the idea. The piers
of the bridge on which he stands are built in the shape of boats which
they displaced.
Pointed specially for this worAr.i
HARUN AL-RASHID RECEIVING AN EMBASSY FROM CHARLES THE GREAT.
Under Harun al-Hashid the empire of the Abbasid Caliphs was of greater extent than at any other period. His reputation
in the West Is sufficiently attested by the fact that Charlemagne, about the time he was crowned emperor of the Romans in
A.D. 800. sent an embassy to the Caliph to obtain facilities for trade and for pilgrimage in the Holy Land. The ambassadors were
two Christians and a Jew, and among the gifts they brought was an organ.
270
Story of the Nations
-i
Painted specially for Hit's uork.^
ENTRY OF THE TURKS INTO BAGHDAD, A.D. 1534.
Early iu tbc thirteenth century the Turks, who were destined to found the Ottoman Empire, retreated from Central Asia
before the Mongols. Three centuries later they had captured Byzantium and had occupied Egypt. Sultan Suleiman I directed
bis arms against Persia, and his army, after wresting Armenia and a great part of Babylonia from the son of Shah Ismail I.
entered Baghdad in A.D. 1534.
to commemorating the restoration or erection of temples and palaces in Babylon and the other great
cities in the land. Nebuchadnezzar in particular was a mighty builder, and he transformed the city
of Babylon. He greatly enlarged and entirely rebuilt his father's royal palace, and in the course of his
reconstructions raised its terraced platforms to so great a height above the surrounding city and plain
that its Hanging Gardens became one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. He rebuilt the great
temples of Ezida at Borsippa and of Esagila in Babylon, and the Sacred Road within the city he sump-
tuously rcpaved, spanning it between the temple of Ninmakh and his own palace with the famous Ishtar
Gate, adorned with hundreds of bulls and dragons in relief. The fortifications of the city he also greatly
strengthened by his extension and completion of its double line of walls. During his long reign of forty-
two years he devoted his energies and the new wealth of his kingdom to this work of rebuilding both in
the capital and in the other ancient religious centres of Babylonia
Nebuchadnezzar's three immediate successors did not extend his dynasty tor more than seven years,
and on the accession of Nabonidus in 555 B.C., who owed his election to the influence of the Babylonian
priesthood, the close of Babylon's last period of greatness is in sight. The new king carried on Nebu-
chadnezzar's tradition of temple reconstruction with enthusiasm, but he had none of his great predecessor's
military qualities. He was an archaeologist, not a soldier, and loved to occupy himself investigating the
past history of the temples he rebuilt. But the Neo-Babylonian Empire did not crumble of its own accord
for Nabonidus boasts in one of his inscriptions that the whole of Mesopotamia and the We"st, as far as
Gaza on the Egyptian border, continued to acknowledge his authority. It required a blow from without
to shatter the decaying empire ; and this was given by Cyrus, whose Persian kingdom, rising on a new
The Babylonian Nation
271
wave of the Indo-European migration, had already absorbed that of the Medes. Five years after the
accession of Nabonidus, Cyrus had deposed Astyages, and, uniting his own followers from the south of
Iran with their Median kinsfolk, he proceeded to defeat Crcesus of Lydia, who marched against him. After
the capture of Sardis, Cyrus was free to turn his attention to Babylon. In 539 B.C. Gobryas, the Persian
governor of Assyria, marched southwards. Nabonidus entrusted the defence of his country to his son
Belshazzar, who met the advancing Persians at Opis and was totally defeated. Nabonidus fled from
Sippar, which was at once taken, and Gobryas then entered Babylon without further fighting.
Nebuchadnezzar's strong citadel continued for some time a hopeless resistance, but fell after Cyrus himself
had entered the city in the following spring. It is remarkable that the native priesthood welcomed the
Persian king as their country's deliverer, whose victory had been brought about by Marduk, the national
god. For in the course of his reign Nabonidus had estranged the local priests throughout the
land by collecting and bringing to his capital the images of the gods from other cities. By
restoring the gods to their local shrines Cyrus gained popularity with the people and completely
won over the priesthood, the most powerful political section of the community. Thus it happened
that Babylon made no further struggle to retain her independence, and the whole of the terri-
tory she had enjoyed was incorporated without resistance in the Persian Empire.
BABYLONIA UNDER
FOREIGN DOMINATION
539 B.C. — PRESENT DAY
THE -history of the Baby-
lonians as an independent
nation comes to an end
with the capture ol
Babylon by Cyrus. From
that time forward Baby-
lonia has remained a subject
province under the foreign
domination of the powers
which have succeeded one
another in the rule of that
region of the Nearer East
The tranquillity of the
country under Cyrus formed
a striking contrast to the
unrest and intrigue which
characterized its attitude
under Assyrian rule ; and
this was due to the fact
that the policy he inaugu-
rated in the provinces of
his empire was a complete
reversal of Assyrian
methods. For the. nation-
ality of each conquered race
was respected, and it was
encouraged to retain its own
religion and its laws and
customs. Hence Babylonia's
commercial life and pros-
perity suffered no interrup-
tion in consequence of the
v courtexv oil IMr. c. Leonard Woollen, Director of the Joint British Museum and
Pennsylvania University Museum Expedition to Mesopotamia.
GOLDEN HEAD-DRESS OF QUEEN SHUB-AD
A remarkable reconstruction of a 5,000-year-old coiffure found by Mr. G. Leonard
Woollcy, the famous archaeologist, in the stone-built tomb chamber at Ur. It is made of
gold and heads, and though crushed by stones and earth when discovered, enough of too
original shape remained to allow (he reconstruction to be made. Queen Shub-ad reigned
In the Sumerian period of Babylonian history
Story of the Nations
By ptrmissio
MODERN BAGHDAD.
(.Sir William Willcocks, K.C.M.O,
The modern city of Bnghiiad, though It retains but few relics of its former glory, Is still an important centre for Eastern
commerce, since it receives by way of Basrah the manufactures and produce of India, which it distributes throughout the
Nearer East.
change in its political status : little was altered beyond the name and title of the reigning king in
the dates upon commercial and legal documents of the period. And this state of things would no doubt
have continued, had not the authority of the Persian Empire itself been rudely shaken during the
reign of Cambyses, Cyrus's son and successor.
Cambyses' energies were mainly directed to the conquest of Egypt, and to making that country an
integral part of the Achaemenian Empire. This he achieved after the battle of Pelusium and the fall of
Memphis ; but when attempting to extend his sway over Nubia in the south he received news of revolt
in Persia. Before his departure for Egypt he had murdered his brother Bardiya, known to the Greeks as
Smerdis. The murder had been kept a secret, and the revolt against the absent king was now headed by
a Magian, named Gaumata, who ga.ve himself out as the missing Smerdis and the true heir to the throne.
Cambyses made preparations to repress the revolt, but died on the return journey in Syria in 522. The
death of the king gave a fresh impetus to the forces of rebellion, which now began to spread into the various
provinces of the Persian Empire. But Gaumata, the Persian rebel, soon met his fate. For after Cambyses'
death the Persian army was led back by Darius, a prince of the same royal house as Cyrus and his son ;
Gaumata was surprised and murdered, and Darius firmly established on the throne. Darius continued
to act with extraordinary energy, and in the course of a single year succeeded in quelling the rebellions
in Babylon and in the various provinces.
The siege of Babylon by Darius, and a second siege which was soon rendered necessary by a fresh
revolt, may be regarded as marking the beginning of Babylon's decay. The defences of the city had
not been seriously impaired by Cyrus, but they now suffered considerably. Further damage was done
By permission of\ [Sir William H'illeorks, K.C.M.C.
CONSTRUCTING A DAM ON A CHANNEL OF THE EUPHRATES.
One of the methods employed by Sir William Willcocks for the conntruction of a ilam was to build a solid tower on each side
of the channel, leaning slightly towards the wate". Dynamite was then inserted in holes bored at the base of each on the rive»
side, and on firing the fuse the tower fell with a mighty splash into the water.
The Babylonian Nation
273
in the reign of Xerxes, when the Babylonians made their last bid for independence. For Xerxes is said
not only to have dismantled the walls, but to have plundered and destroyed the great temple of Marduk
itself. Large areas in the famous city, which had been the wonder of the nations, now began to lie per-
manently in ruins. In 331 B.C. Babylon enters on a new phase, when the long struggle between Greece
and Persia was ended by the defeat of Darius III at Gaugamela. For Susa and Babylon submitted to
Alexander, who, on proclaiming himself King of Asia, took Babylon as his capital.
We may picture Alexander gazing on the city's mighty buildings, many of which now lay ruined and
deserted. Like Cyrus before him, he sacrificed to Babylon's gods, and he is said to have wished to restore
I'iiotna In/ miirlixil "I
THK GOLDEN BULL.
A magnificent gold head of a bearded bull, a mastor-
piecc of dceorative metal-work on the finest of the harps
found in the Death Pit at Ur.
IMr. C. Leonard Woollcy, Director of the Joint llritisli Museum and
Pennsylvania University Museum Expedition to Mesopotamia.
A TUMBLER OF FLUTED GOLD.
A beautiful example of Suinerian craftsmanship found
by Mr. C. Leonard Woolley at Ur, in a subterranean
stone-domed chamber.
Esagila, Marduk's great temple, but to have given up the idea, as it would have taken ten thousand men
more than two months to remove the rubbish from the ruins. But he seems to have made some attempt
in that direction, since a tablet has been found, dated in his sixth year, which records the payment of ten
manehs of silver for "clearing away the dust of Esagila". While the old buildings decayed, some new
ones arose in their place, including a Greek theatre for the use of the large Greek colony. But the
Babylonians themselves continued to retain their own separate life and customs. From the year 270 B.C. we
have a record that Antiochus Soter restored the temples of Nabu and Marduk at Borsippa and at Babylon,
and services in honour of later forms of the Babylonian gods were probably practised into the Christian era.
Our latest information relates to the year 29 B.p.,when we know that in a corner of Marduk's great temple at
Babylon Marduk and the God of Heaven were worshipped as a twofold deity under the name of Anna-Bel.
274
Story of the Nations
But the city was then a ghost of its former self. Seleucia had risen on the Tigris, founded by Seleucus
after he had secured the satrapy of Babylon on Alexander's death. It was largely built from bricks
carted from Babylon, and the Babylonian merchants and people, in pursuit of trade and commerce,
had gradually deserted the old capital for Seleucia.
The life of the ancient city probably flickered longest around the ruined temples and seats ol worship ;
but even these, like the citadel and palaces, eventually became quarries for the builder. In 147 B.C. the
Parthian Empire succeeded the Macedonian dynasty of the Seleucidae, and the city of Ctesiphon, like
Seleucia, went to Babylon for its building materials. In fact Babylon has served as the quarry for all
succeeding cities and villages in its neighbourhood. Ctesiphon, indeed, declined on the fall of the Parthian
Empire, but it recovered its prosperity and population under the Persian dynasty of the Sassanidae.
When the Sassanian dominion was finally brought to an end in the middle of the seventh century A.D.,
Babylonia again changed hands and served new masters. For a time the armies of Islam had been fully
occupied with the conquest of Palestine and Syria, and had not tried conclusions with the great Persian
Empire. But Yezdigerd III, the last of the Persian monarchs, despatched his forces across the Euphrates and
offered battle to the advancing Arabs in the plain of Kufa, not far to the south of the deserted ruins of Babylon.
In the course of a four days' battle the Arabs were completely victorious, and, after capturing Ctesiphon
and its rich spoils, marched on to Susa. The battle of Mahavend, near Hamadan, in Persia, in 641 B.C., saw
Yezdigerd finally defeated, and the Persian Empire became subject to the Mohammedan Khalif at Damascus.
The last great city to be built from the ruins of Babylon was Baghdad, founded in the year 754 A.D .
as the capital of the Eastern Khalifate, by Al-Mansur, the second Khalif of the Abbasid dynasty. The
glory of ancient Babylon was now revived, and, except for a short period, Baghdad continued to enjoy
the position of a metropolis until the overthrow of the dynasty by the Mongols in 1258 A.D., when the
Khalifate was removed to Cairo. In 1534 Baghdad was captured by the Ottomans, and the country of
the ancient Babylonians remained in Turkish possession until the defeat of Turkey in the Great War led
to the creation of the Arab state of Irak.
European interest in the country may be said to date from the twelfth century A.D., when Benjamin
of Tudela visited Mosul and Baghdad. He brought back with him a tale of ancient Babylon, with
Nebuchadnezzar's palace still standing, but with the people of the country afraid to go near
because of
the serpents
and scorpions
with which the
ruins were in-
fested. Since
the time this
learned Rabbi
wrote his He-
brew book of
travels many
a European
traveller has
followed in his
steps, and the
mounds of
Babylonia are
steadily yield-
i n g their
secrets to ex-
cavation and
research. From
the i n f o r -
mation so re-
covered it has
/>'// courtesti of ' Mr. C. Leonard Woollen. Director of the Joint British Museum an<t
Pennsylvania L'nin-mitu Museum Kxpedition to Mesopotamia.
THE DEATH PIT AT OR
The remarkable discoveries made by Mr. C. Leonard \Voollcy in 19!J8-'J at Ur
have thrown much new light on early Babylonian history. In the outer Death Pit,
about twenty-five feet square, were found the remains of seventy -four persons, mostly
women victims in the whole-sale sacrifice which celebrated the funeral of the kins
been possible
to form a pic-
ture of the
country's early
prosperity and
magnificence.
But Babylon's
prosperity, as
we said at the
beginning o f
this section,
was won from
the waters, and
was only re-
tained by the
practice of
continual and
systematic irri.
gation. When
these were neg-
lected, swamps
and desert
took the place
of cultivated
fields.
The Hittites
275
CHAPTER V
THE HITTITES. Edited by CHAUNCEY P. T. WINCKWORTH, M.A.
SCATTERED over a great part of Asia Minor, the northern half of Syria, and the north-west of Mesopotamia
are the monumental remains of a very distinctive civilization, characterized by common use of a peculiar
hieroglyphic system of writing and by practice of a particular style of art. The hieroglyphic script, which
is elaborately carved in high relief,
appears to be constructed much after
the Egyptian manner ; but no relation
between it and the Egyptian system
can be detected, and, although many
attempts have been made to decipher
it, it still remains unintelligible. The
art is crude but vigorous, and it
possesses marked individuality. On its
monuments various human types are
depicted, the predominant one being
represented with clean-shaven face,
prominent and slightly curved nose,
small mouth and chin, and abruptly
receding forehead. This is the type of
the modern Armenian, which is neither
Semitic nor Aryan, and which is doubt-
less indigenous to Asia Minor. It is
unlike any other type in the Near
East and has been aptly designated
"Armenoid". The civilization thus
represented by the monuments is as
self-contained as, say, the Egyptian or
the Assyrian, although it was subjected
to local and temporal variations as
much as any other. Its activity lasted
at least a thousand years, during which
time it was, at different periods and in
different localities, shared in and de-
veloped by more than one community.
As long ago as 1876 it was designated
"Hittite", although there was no real
justification for doing so, the application
of the term being, in the first place,
based upon mere conjecture.
When we speak of the "Hittites"
we ordinarily understand the word
to denote a people, or group of
peoples, who were known to the Hebrews as "Heth", to the Assyrians as "Haiti", and to the Egyptians
as "Heta". But we now know that the Biblical references to the "Hittites", according to which they
were settled in Palestine, apply in reality not to the Hittites but to the Hurrians, about whom something
will be said later.* The Assyrians used the term "Hittite" with such indiscrimination that they came to
apply it to the entire West, calling even the inhabitants of the Philistine city of Asdod "the faithless
Many linguistic and cultural elements were styled "Hittite" by the Semites for no other
reason, apparently, than that they were obviously non-Semitic. For the Semites the "Hittites" were
little more than outer barbarians, who infested the mountainous regions away to the north, from which
* See Chapter VIII. The language ol the hitherto nndeciphered "Hittite" hieroglyphs may also prove to be Hurrian.
Painted specially for this work.]
CULT DANCE IN THE ROCK SANCTUARY OF THE HITTITE
MOTHER-GODDESS.
The principal deity of tbe Hittites was the great Mother-goddess, whose
worship was attended by orgiastic rites. The celebration of a Spring festival
in her honour is here shown in the sanctuary at Yasill Kaya where her figure
may still be seen sculptured on the rock with a train of attendant deities.
276
Story of the Nations
they periodically descended to slay and to rob. So long, then, as our knowledge of the Hittites was
confined to the traces they had left in the records of Egypt, Assyria, and the Old Testament we could
never have formed any clear conception of the people themselves, even had we been certain that the
alleged "Hittite" monumental remains were really theirs. But, thanks to modern discovery and research,
we now know with tolerable certainty that the "Armenoid" physiognomy so vividly portrayed on the
monuments of the "Hittite" civilization is the facial type of the ancient people to whom all that is most
characteristic of that civilization must be ascribed ; that this people was of a race probably indigenous to
Anatolia ; that it is they who were properly called Hittite.
Ninety miles due east of Angora, in an upland valley some three thousand feet above sea-level, lies
the modern Turkish village of Boghaz Keui, in the vicinity of which are extensive monumental remains
characteristic of the "Hittite" civilization. This is the site of the ancient capital city Hattushash, 'the
Vainted sprcm/7?/ for this work.]
RETURN OF SHUBBILULIUMA FROM HIS SYRIAN CAMPAIGN.
The second imperial period of Hittite history was inaugurated by Shubbiluliuma, who harassed and eventually annexed the
powerful state of Mitanni in Northern Mesopotamia and conquered Northern Syria. He is seen entering Hattushash, his mountain
capital, on his return from a victorious campa:gn in Syria. He brought back with him a heavy spoil and two captive Btlt&nnlAn
princes who had opposed him.
Hittite city" par excellence, which was excavated just over twenty-five years ago. Among the ruins was
discovered a large quantity of clay tablets, which appear to have been collected and arranged about
1300 B.C. to form an official library. The tablets are all of them written in the cuneiform script of
Babylonia, the use of which had become current in Asia Minor some thousand years earlier. Some of the
tablets are in the Semitic Babylonian language itself, which was then the diplomatic medium of com-
munication throughout the Near East, just as French has been in modern times. But the bulk of them
are in native dialects, the most prevalent of which is an idiom that would seem to have been the lingua
franca of the later Hittite Empire, of which Hattushash was then the capital city. This idiom, which is
undeniably related to the languages of the Indo-European group, is not the indigenous Anatolian, or true
Hittite speech, fragments of which are preserved in the Boghaz Keui texts, and which, probably a dead
language by the fifteenth century B.C., appears to have had no relation to any other tongue spoken in the
later empire. On the contrary, it is the speech of another people who, for reasons that are still problematical,
DATES OF HITTITE HISTORY
No
B.C.
KING.
CHIEF EVENTS.
2525
Sargon of Agade undertakes an expedition into Asia Minor to protect merchants of Ganith
against "the king of battle" of Eurushkhanda.
_
2420
PAMBA.
Naram-Sin wars against an early Hittite king called Fan.ba, whose kingdom probably did
not extend much beyond his native district, Kushshar, and was one of many petty kingdoms
in Asia Minor.
—
2200
Under the Third Dynasty of Ur, Babylonian cultural influence widely extended in Asia Minor.
'
Cuneiform writing used and Semitic dialects akin to Akkadian spoken. Pericd of
Cappadocian tablets.
—
—
Proto-Hittitc kings of Kushshar.
1.
—
TABARNASH.
First king of the Old Hittite Empire.
II.
—
HATTUSHIUSH I.
Successor of Tabarnash.
III.
1740
MUKSHILISH I.
Son of Tabarnash and last of his line. Hittites raid Patvlcnia in the reign of Sarr.su-ditara.
First Hittite kirg to reside at Hattushash (Ecgfcaz Kcui).
—
1580
The Kassite king, Agum-kak-riire, brings tack frcm the district of Hani statuts of Marduk
and his Consort that had been carried off by the Hittites.
IV.
1415
DUDHALIASH I.
First king of the New Hittite Empire. Expedition against Arzawa. Destroys Aleppo. Hittite
control extends to North Syria.
V.
1400
HATTUSHILISH II.
Revolt of Aleppo, which is retaken. Civil war in eastern provinces of empire.
VI.
1390
SHUBBILULIUMA.
Son of Hattushilish II. Puts end to civil war. Moves rapital frcm Kushfhar to Hattushash.
Correspondence with Amenophis IV. Defeats Aziru ar.d captures N. Syria. Marries his
daughter to Mattiuaza, son of Dushratta, and establishes Protectorate over Mitanni. Con-
cludes treaty with Egypt.
VII.
1353
ARNUANDASH I.
Eldest son of Shubbiluliuma. At his death there was a general revolt in Asia Minor.
VIII.
1352
MURSHILISH II.
Yt. unger son of Shubbiluliun^a. Partially suppresses revolt. Installs his brother as king of
Carchemish to guard Euphrates valley against Assyrian ad\ance. King of Kadesh becomes
vassal. Defeat of the Hittites in N. Syria by Seti of Egypt.
IX.
1310
MUWATTALISH.
Son of Murshilisb II. Defeat of the Hittiles at the Battle of Kadesh by Rameces II (1296 or
i?88). Treaty with Egypt.
X.
1285
HATTUSHILISH III.
Brother of Muwattalish. Great treaty of Alliance with Rameses II. Marries his daughter to
the Egyptian king and brings her to Egypt. Friendly relations with Babylonia. Visit
of the statue of the Egyptian Moon-god, Khonsu, to Hattushash. to cure the king's daughter
of a devil.
XI.
1255
DUDHALIASH II.
Son of Hattushilish II. Ruled with his mother, Puduhipa, as co-regent. Eastern provinces of
Hittite empire ravaged by Assyrians.
XII.
1230
ARNUANDASH II.
Srn of Dudhaliash II. Increasing weakness of Empire.
XIII.
1205
DUDHALIASH III.
Invasion of Asia Minor by the Phrygians, the Musbki, and other peoples. The Hittites, driven
southward frcm Anatolia, establish themselves in Carchemish and other cities in N. Syria.
End of Hittite power at Hatlushash.
XIV.
876
SANGARA.
Prince of Carchemish. Pays heavy tribute to Ashur-nasir-pal II, and later on to his son
Shalmaneser III.
XV.
717
PISIRIS.
The last prince of Carchemish. Captured on the fall of that city before Sargon II, who deported
its inhabitants.
—
700
The Hittites cease to be a nation and are absorbed into the population of Syria.
TABLE OF THE KINGS OF ASSYRIA
[N.B. — Before 911 B.C. dates are approximate. The names of some of the earlier kings, about whom very little or nothing at all is known,
are omitted. A comma follows a king's name when his son succeeded him.]
No.
B.C.
KING.
CHIEF EVENTS OF REIGN.
I.
_
KIKIA.
Traditional builder of the city-wall of Ashur, the earliest capital.
II.
—
USHPIA.
Traditional founder of the temple of Ashur, the national god.
III.
—
ITITI.
Known from a votive inscription, dating from end of third millennium.
(The chronological order of the above rulers cannot yet be determined
.1
IV.
2215
ZARIKU.
Appointed governor of Ashur towards end of King Shulgi of Ur's reign.
V.
2060
PUZUR-ASHUR I,
First in a consecutive list of Assyrian rulers.
VI.
2050
• SHALIM-AKHUM,
Builds a chamber in the temple of Ishtar at Asluir for miracle cures.
•VII. . . 2035
ILUSHl'.MA,
A contemporary of Sumu-abu of Babylon. Claims that he " established the freedom of the
Akkadians".
VIII.
2025
IRISHUM I,
Numerous building operations at Ashur.
IX.
2005
1KUNKM,
Strengthened fortifications of Ashur.
X.
1985
' SHAKIU'KIN, or
An important ruler from whom Sargon II probably took his royal name. Not to be confused
SARGON, I.
with Sargon of Agade.
XI.
1950
PUZUR-ASHUR II.
Known only from dynastic list.
XII.
1935
AKHI ASHUR.
A contemporary of Hammurabi of Babylon.
XIII.
1900
IKISHUM II.
By this time Ashur had become subject to Babylon.
XIV.
1835
SHAMSHI-ADAD I,
A great conqueror, whose dominion, from east to west, was a very extensive one
reaching as
far as the Mediterranean. The first Assyrian king to style himself "King
of hosts".
TABLE OF THE KINGS OF ASSYRIA— continued
No.
B.C.
KING.
CHIEF EVENTS OF REIGN.
XV.
I800
1SHME-DAGAN I.
Rebuilt the temple of Ashur.
^~
~~
"
The period from the end of the nineteenth to the middle of the fifteenth century is one of obscurity
in the history of Assyria, owing to lack of historical inscriptions, although the names of
the kings are known from various sources.
XVI.
1540
PUZUR-ASHUR IV.
Considerable building operations at Ashur. He made a treaty with Bumaburiash of Babylon
concerning boundary.
XVII.
1440
ASHUR-BEL-NISHESHU.
Fourtli successor of Puzur-Ashur IV, whose building operations he continued on a large scale.
He concluded a treaty with Karaindash of Babylon, similar to that of the former one with
Burnaburiash.
XVIII.
I42O
ASHUR-RIM-NISESHU.
Assyria becomes subject to the State of Mitanni.
XIX.
I4OO
ASHUR-NADIN-AKHI.
Assyria still subject to Mitanni. Relations with Amenophis III.
xx.
1380
ASHUR-UBALLIT.
Freed Assyria from Mitanni, after organizing Assyria on a military- basis. Active intervention
in Babylonian politics. Correspondence with Amenophis IV.
XXI.
'335
ENLIL-NIRARI,
Defeated Kurigalzu of Babylon.
XXII.
1320
ARIK-DEN-ILI,
Campaigns against mountaineers north of Assyria and Bedouin of the Assyrian desert.
XXIII.
1310
ADAD-NIRARI I,
All Mesopotamia brought under Assyrian yoke. Defeat of Nazimaruttash of Babylon, with
whom a treaty is concluded. Numerous buildings at Ashur.
XXIV.
1280
SHALMANESER I,
Upholds Assyrian control of Mesopotamia after heavy fighting. Founds Calah, which he makes
the new capital of Assyria.
XXV.
1250
TUKULTI-ENURTA I,
Defeats the Babylonian king, Ka^htiliash, and reduces Babylon to a subject state. Destroys
Babylon after a revolt, and carries away the statue of Marduk. Founds the new residential
city, Kar-Tukulti-Enurta. Murdered by his son and successor.
XXVI.
1220
ASHURNADINAPAL.
In his reign the conquests of Tukulti-Enurta I are quickly lost.
XXVII. . .
I2IO
ASHUR-NIRARI IV.
Subject to the Babylonian king, Adad-shum-nasir.
XXVIII. ..
12O5
ENLIL-KUDUR-USUR I.
Wars against Babylon, and falls by sword of Adad-shum-nasir himself.
XXIX.
I2OO
ENURTA-APAL-EKUR.
Founder of a new dynasty.
xxx.
118;
ASHUR-DAN I.
Began to restore Assyria's fortunes ; raided in N. Babylonia and E. of Assyria.
XXXI.
—
ENURTA-TUKULTI-
ASHUR.
A usurper, subservient to Babylon, to which he restored the statue of Marduk carried off by
Tukulti-Enurta I.
XXXII. ..
—
MUTAKKIL-NUSKU,
Son of Ashur-dan I. Assyria still under Babylonian hegemony.
XXXIII. ..
—
ASHUR-RESH-ISHI I,
Wars against eastern mountaineers and AraniEean Bedouin. Defeats Nebuchadnezzar I and
frees Assyria from Babvlonian hegemony.
XXXIV. ..
1098
TIGLATH-PILESER I.
One of Assyria's greatest warriors. Raids Syria and readies the Phoenician coast. Defeats
Marduk-nadin-Akhi of Babylon and conquers N. Babylonia.
XXXV. ..
1067 ENURTA-APAL-EKUR II.
Probably a usurper.
XXXVI. ..
—
ASHUR-BEL-KALA.
Son of Tiglath-pileser I. Babylonia again free of Assyria, which makes a treaty with the Baby-
Ionian king, Marduk-Shapik-zer-mati.
XXXVII. ..
_
ER1BA-ADAD 11.
XXXVIII.
—
SHAMSHI-ADAD IV,
\
XXXIX. ..
1047
ASHUR-NASIR-PAL I,
I
XL.
1026
SHALMANESER II.
XLI.
1014
ASHUR-NIRARI V.
> Very little is known about these kings. Assyria brought low by Arama>an invasions
XLII.
XLIII.
1008
ASHUR-RABI II.
ASHUR-RESH-ISHI II,
XLIV.
963
TIGLATH-PILESER II,
'
XLV.
932
ASHUR-DAN II.
/
LXVI.
911
ADAD-NIRARI 11,
With this king the " Eponym Canon" begins and chronology becomes accurate. Defeated two
Babylonian kings, and marries the second one's daughter. Fortunes of Assyria greatly
improved.
LXVII.
890
TUKULTI-ENURTA II,
Successful campaigns on the northern border. Kingdom of Urartu is established.
LXVIII. ..
884
ASHUR-NASIR-PAL II,
The most ruthless of Assyrian conquerors. Campaigns in East, in North, in Mesopotamia, and
in West to Mediterranean. Capital transferred to Calah.
XLIX.
859
SHALMANESER III,
Suzerainty over Babylonia. Battle of Karkar, 854 ; Syrian conquests consolidated. Conflicts
with Urartu.
L.
824
SHAMSHI-ADAD V,
Expeditions against Urartu and Babylonia.
LI.
811
ADAD-NIRARI III.
His mother, Semiramis, acts as regent during the first four years of the young king's reign.
Conquests in North and in Syria. Babylonia once more under Assyrian rule.
HI.
782
SHALMANESER IV.
Conflicts with Urartu and Syria. Decline in Assyria's fortunes.
LIII.
772
ASHUR-DAN III, Assyria's fortunes still on the decline. Expeditions to Assyria. Internal dissension at home.
LIV.
754
ASHUR-NIRARI V. Continued weakness of Assyria. Military revolt in Calah (746).
LV.
745
TIGLATH-PILESER III,
Restorer of Assyria's fortunes. Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine submit. N. Israel becomes an
Assyrian province (734); likewise Damascus (732), and Babylonia (729). Devastated
Urartu.
LV1.
727
SHALMANESER V.
Campaigns against Israel and Tyre.
LVII.
722
SARGON 11,
Founder of a new dynasty. Capture of Samaria. Successful campaigns in the West, in Arabia,
and in the North. Further devastation of Urartu. Ruled in Babylon, after expelling
Merodach-baladan. Built Dur-Sharrukin, near Nineveh, as his residence.
LVIII.
705
SENNACHERIB,
Campaigns in Babylonia Cilicia, Phoenicia, and Palestine. Makes Nineveh his residence. Un-
sucrrssful siege of Jerusalem. Attempted destruction of Babylon (689). Murdered in
Nineveh by one of his sons.
LIX.
68 1
ESARHADDON
Babylon rebuilt. Further expansion of Assyria. Cimmerians repulsed. Destruction of Sidon;
submission of 'lyre. Conquest of Lower Egypt.
LX
668
ASIIUR-BANI-PAL,
Reconqucst of Egypt ; sack of Thebes. Prolonged war with Elam and Babylon. Expedition
in Arabia, Scythian invasion of Western Asia. Organized famous library at Nineveh.
LXI.
626
ASHUR-ETIL-II.ANI.
Rapid decline of Assyrian power Throne seized by Sin-shum-lishir, who held it for a few months
LXH.
621
SIN-SHAR-ISKUN.
Sonof Ashur-bani-pal. Ashur sacked by Medes (614). Medes and Scythians unite. Faltof Nineveh
(612). Assyrian government moved to Harran in N. Syria (612-610). Harran destroye«l
by Nabopolassar (610). Final collapse of Assyria in 606.
The Hittites
279
came to style themselves "Hittites", as though they were the natural descendants of the ancient people
properly so called. The rise to power of this second "Hittite" people must have been the result of some
kind of invasion.
The native religion of the Anatolians seems to be non-Aryan. It is strongly characterized by the univer-
sal worship of the mother-goddess Ma, who was known to the Greeks and Romans as Cybele, and who was
probably the original of the Mesopotamian Ishtar. In close attendance upon her was the equivocal Attis,
and the worship of these two deities seems to have been the most ancient cult of Anatolia. Later on there
was combined with the worship of Ma and Attis that of Teshub, who was primarily a god of war and the
all-powerful deity of the Hittite state. Besides these chief deities many others of less importance were
worshipped by the Anatolians, whose national pantheon marked out Asia Minor as a distinct religious
province. But the archives of Boghaz Keui have also yielded the names of the deities Mitra, Varuna,
1 9
I'ainted specially for this work.}
THE HATTLE OF KADESH
About 1288 B.C. Rameses II of Egypt marched into Northern Syria against the Hittitcs, who surprised his army near Kadesb
on the Orontcs. At one stage of the battle ho wassurroimded by the Hittite chariots and in great danger. But by personal cour-
age and the help of his trained lion he kept the enemy at bay and converted imminent disaster into victory.
Indra and the heavenly twins, the Nasatyas, names that are so well known in Indian mythology. How,
then, did these "Indian" deities become attached to the non-Aryan pantheon of Anatolia ? The most
plausible answer to this question will also explain the rise of the new "Hittite" power.
Some time about the beginning of the second millennium Indo-European tribes appeared in Anatolia
from across the Bosphorus. As elsewhere, they soon gained ascendancy over the aboriginal inhabitants
and established themselves as a small but powerful feudal aristocracy, imposing their own Indo-European
speech on their subjects, adopting for its written expression the cuneiform script that was already in use
among the older population. But by intermarriage with their dependants the members of this Indo-
European ruling class soon lost their racial purity, and their nordic racial type all but disappeared. Just
as an Englishman regards himself the natural heir of the Briton, so these radically Indo-European
"Hittites" had come to regard themselves as the natural heirs of the aboriginal Anatolian Hittites whom
they had supplanted, appropriating to themselves even their name. They were Indo-Europeans of Aryan
280
Story of the Nations
I'alnlitl fjirriallii fur tl.
RAMESES II RECEIVING A COPY OF HIS TREATY WITH THE HITTITES.
At lasi,, wearied by the Hittite war, Rameses II concluded an offensive and defensive alliance with the Hittite king, Hattu-
ehilisb III, a grandson of Shubbiluliuraa. After the terms of the treaty had been drawn up, a silver tablet, on which a copy was
engraved in the Babylonian character and language, was sent by Hattushilish to Rameses in charge of an ambassador.
stock, not yet differentiated into Iranians and Indians, and the "Indian" deities they had brought with
them into Anatolia from their home beyond the Bosphorus were still the common property of the Aryan
people.
So much we have been able to elicit from the contents of the Boghaz Keui archives. Of ihe history
of the ancient people properly called Hittite, or the "Proto-Hittites", as they have been designated by
modern scholars, we know practically nothing. The Semitized Cappadocians of the third millennium
and the early part of the second may have been of their race ; but this cannot be determined yet. The
early line of "Great Kings" belonging to the new Hittite people begins with Tabarnash and ends with
Murshilish I, who was apparently the first Hittite king to reside at Hattushash. A native record tells
us that he destroyed Babylon and carried away the spoils to Hattushash. This event is probably to be
identified as the one that led to the fall of the First Dynasty of Babylon and the rise of the Kassite
Dynasty. But it is not until the time of Shubbiluliuma, the "Great King" par excellence, that the world
south of the Taurus is finally brought into close contact with the Hittite power in Asia Minor. Shubbilu-
liuma, son of Hattushilish II, who succeeded his father about 1390 B.C., is the first Hittite king whose
contemporary records have been found at Boghaz Keui, and it was he who moved the capital from Kushshar
to Hattushash and inaugurated the second imperial period of Hittite history.
It was probably because of its strategic importance that Shubbiluliuma selected Hattushash as his
capita! in place of his ancestral city. From this base, as much by diplomatic means as by actual con-
quest, he succeeded in making the power of the Hittites felt beyond their own borders. The Syrian revolts
in the reign of Amenophis III, by which the authority of Egypt was weakened in her Asiatic provinces,
undoubtedly received Hittite encouragement. Shubbiluliuma also crossed the Euphrates and ravaged
the northern territory of Mitanni, the principal rival of the Hittites up to that time. Later he invaded
Syria in force, and returned to his mountain fastness of Hattushash laden with spoil and leading two
Mitannian princes as captives in his train. On the accession of Amenophis IV, Shubbiluliuma wrote him
a letter of congratulation ; but when the Syrian prince Aziru acknowledged the suzerainty of Egypt,
The Hittites
281
Shubbiluliuma defeated him, and laid the whole of Northern Syria under tribute, subsequently con-
firming his possession of the country by treaty with Egypt. The state of Mitanni, too, submitted to his
dictation, for on the murder of its powerful king Dushratta he espoused the cause of Mattiuaza, whom
he restored to his father's throne after marrying him to his daughter. We have recovered the text of
his treaty with Mitanni, and it reflects the despotic power of the Hittite king at this time. Referring to
himself in the third person, he says : "The great king, for the sake of his daughter, gave the country
of Mitanni a new life."
In the reign of Murshilish II, a younger son of Shubbiluliuma, the Hittite Empire came into armed
conflict with Egypt, where a change of dynasty and the restoration of her old religion had strengthened
the government, and now led to renewed attempts on her part at recovering her lost territory. On the
first occasion the Hittites were defeated by Seti I in the north of Syria, and Egypt reoccupied Phrenicia
and Canaan. Later on, in the reign of Muwattalish, Murshilish's son, Rameses II attempted
to recover Northern Syria, and at the battle of Kadesh on the Orontes he succeeded in defeating the
Hittite army, though both sides lost heavily ; at one stage of the battle Rameses himself was in imminent
danger of capture. For the Egyptians had never yet met so powerful an enemy as the Hittites proved
themselves to be, and the disastrous opening of the battle was largely due to the over-confidence of
Rameses and his complete miscalculation of the enemy's strength and resources. It is possible to follow
the tactics of the opposing armies in some detail, for episodes of the fight may still be seen pictured on the
temple-walls at Luxor, Karnak and Abydos. It is true that the accompanying inscriptions are very
Iragmentary, but they are supplemented by an historical account of the battle, introducing a poem
in celebration of the valour of Rameses, preserved on a papyrus in the British Museum.*
* For a detailed account of the battle, illustrated by plans and accompanied by translations of the texts, see
Breasted, "Ancient Records of Egypt", vol. iii., pp. J23ff.
Painted specially for this work.}
CURE OF THE HITTITE PRINCESS WHO WAS POSSESSED BY A DEVIL.
When Hentresh, the daughter of Hattu.shilish III, fell sick possessed by a devil, her brother-in-law, Rameses LI, sent the statue
of his god Khonsu to Hattushash In order to cure her. While the god wrought with the spirit, it is said that the Hittite king "stood
with his soldiers and feared very greatly". But Khonsu was victorious, and, the spirit having departed in pence to the place whence
In- came, (here wns great rejoicing.
282
Story of the Nations
I'ainted speciallii for this work.]
SANGAR OF CARCHEMISH RECEIVING ASHUR-NASIR-PAL II.
About the year 876 B.C. Carchemish submitted to Ashur-nasir-pal when the latter advanced from Assyria. Sangar, the
Hittitc King of Carchemish, had to pay a heavy tribute and supply contingents of his foot soldiers for the Assyrian army. He and
the Crown Prince are here seen starting from the palace to meet the Assyrian King. The Queen has caught a glimpse of the
approaching procession and is calling to her children to retire out of sight.
The army of some twenty thousand men which Rameses led from Egypt in his advance against
the Hittites he marshalled in four divisions, named after four Egyptian gods, the divisions of Ammon,
Ra, Ptah and Sutekh. In this order, and with the Pharaoh at their head, they marched through
Palestine and afterwards by the coast road through Southern Phoenicia. Then, leaving the coast and
striking the east bank of the Orontes, Rameses and the divisions of Ammon forded the river at
Shabtuna, the later village of Ribleh, only a few miles south of Kadesh. Here two Bedawin, by the
instructions of the Hittite king, informed him that the enemy had retreated northwards ; and
Rameses, misled by the report, continued to advance on Kadesh, his divisions strung out behind
him, and the last two still on the other side of the ford. Meanwhile the Hittite army lay behind
Kadesh, masked from the Egyptians by the city walls. As Rameses and the division of Ammon
continued to advance to their selected camping-ground on the north-west of Kadesh, the Hittite
king worked round the city on its eastern and southern sides, and suddenly threw his chariots
across the Orontes and drove down upon the second Egyptian division, that of Ra, as they
were marching northwards to join Rameses. Taken completely by surprise, they fled towards Rameses,
pursued by the Hittites, who thus cut the Egyptian army into two.
Just before his camp was driven in, Rameses had learned of the presence of the Hittite army from
two captured spies, and he had sent an urgent message to his southern divisions. Meanwhile he was
surrounded by the Hittites, and, rallying his bodyguard, he proceeded to charge eastwards against the
weakest point in the enemy's lines. He succeeded in driving the Hittites before him into the Orontes,
and, though he thereby lost his camp and his rich baggage, this proved in the end his salvation. For the
The Hittites
283
Hittites stayed to plunder, and Rameses himself was not driven into the river in his turn. Upon the
opportune arrival of some reinforcements he continued to keep the main body of the Hittite chariots
in check by repeated charges, until, after three hours' desperate fighting, his southern divisions came up,
took the Hittites in the rear, and completed their discomfiture. Many of the Hittites were slain or
captured, caught as they were between the two halves of the Egyptian army. But the Hittite king and
his foot soldiers were still undefeated to the east of the Orontes, and Rameses appears to have made
no attempt to capture Kadesh. Relieved at his escape, he was content to return to Egypt with the
reputation he had gained for his personal achievements in the fight.
During the following years the war was continued with varying success, though Rameses appears
eventually to have been more successful in the north. But in the reign of Hattushilish III both sides
were weary of the conflict, and an elaborate treaty of peace and alliance was drawn up. This, when
engraved upon a silver tablet, was carried to Egypt by an ambassador and presented to Rameses. The
contents of the treaty have long been known from the Egyptian text engraved on the walls of the temple
at Karnak ; among the tablets found at Boghaz Keui was a broken copy of the Hittite version, drawn
up in cuneiform characters and in the Babylonian language. Hattushiiish also maintained friendly
relations with the Babylonian court, and he informed the King of Babylon of his treaty with the King
of Egypt.
A few years later, accompanied by a great retinue, Hattushilish brought his daughter to Egypt, where
she was married to Rameses with great pomp and circumstance. An intimate friendship continued to
Painted specially for this work.]
A HITTITE PRINCE IN SYRIA.
With the fall of the Hittite empire in Asia Minor people of mixed races from that region founded "Hittite" petty princi-
palities in Syria, imposing their language and method of writing for official purposes and strongly influencing the local art. The
picture shows n Syro-IIittite prince interviewing a body of his Semitic subject* in the liit-khilani or portico of his palace.
284
Story of the Nations
exist between the two royal families,
and when the queen's sister fell ill
in Hattushash, and was believed to
be incurably possessed by a devil,
Rameses hastened to send his physician
to cure her. But his efforts proving
fruitless, the Pharaoh despatched the
holy image of Khonsu, the Egyptian
Moon-god, to Cappadocia, where, in the
mountain capital of Hattushash, the
god and his Egyptian priests succeeded
in casting out the evil spirit which
possessed the princess.
The son and grandson of Hat-
tushilish, Dudhaliash II and Arnuan-
dash II, carried on their father's
policy of friendliness towards Egypt,
and the latter, to judge from the seals
upon a Hittite document, seems to have
adopted the Egyptian custom of marry-
ing his sister.
Dudhaliash III is the last king
of Hattushash whose name has been
recovered, and it is certain that in
the following century the invasion of
Anatolia by the Phrygians and the
Mushki put an end to Hittite power
in Cappadocia. The Hittites and related
peoples were pressed southwards through
the passes, and they continued to
wield a diminished political influence
in Northern Syria. Here they became
the ruling class in scattered city-states,
of which the most important was
Carchemish on the Euphrates. The
former inhabitants of the districts
which they here controlled were mainly
Semites, of Syrian or Aramean ex-
traction, and their influence may be
traced to some extent in the character
of the Hittite art of this late period.
To the kings of Assyria the Hittites
were merely inhabitants of Northern Syria, and the name Hatti, or "Hittites", was now used for that region
withr.ut any reference to Cappadocia.
When Tiglath-pileser I, after defeating the Mushki, invaded Northern Syria, the city of Carchemish
was strong enough to avoid capture. During the middle period of Assyrian expansion, both Ashur-
nasir-pal II and his son, Shalmaneser III, received tribute from Sangar of Carchemish. But in the
reign of Sargon II, in the year 717 B.C., the city was captured by assault, its king Pisiris taken prisoner,
and its inhabitants carried into captivity. The fall of Carchemish, and the capture of the Hittite strong-
hold of Marash, a few years later, put an end to any semblance of a Hittite state. From that time
forward the Hittites ceased to be a nation, and the remnants of their race survived only as one more
strain in the mixed population of Syria.
Painted sjteeiallu for this work. }
THE CAPTURE OF CAECHEMISH BY SARGON.
In 717 B.C. Pisiris, relying upon help promised by the Phrygian king
Midas, revolted from Assyria, but he was defeated and captured by Sargon,
who converted Carchemish and its territory into an Assyrian province.
Catchemish had been chief of the cities ruled by the Hittite aristocracy
in Syria, and with its fall the Hittites ceased to have an independent political
existence .
The Assyrians
2*5
CHAPTER VI
THE ASSYRJANS. Edited by CHAUNCEY P. T. WINCKWORTH, M.A.
THE land of Assyria consists of the Tigris valley from about fifteen miles above Balad to the mouth of
the Lower Zab. Throughout its length there is steppe-land on the western side ; but above the mouth
of the Upper Zab it extends eastward, across an alluvial plain, as far as the foot of the Zagros mountains.
From the earliest time the country must have been populated by heterogeneous elements. From the
north and the east mountaineers would have descended into the fertile plain to settle down to agricultural
pursuits, while the western steppe-land would have been a constant attraction to nomads. Immigrants
from Babylonia must, from time to time, have crossed the southern border, soon to lose their racial purity
in their new environment, and periodical invasions by migrating hordes would have left other settlers in
the plain, which is the meeting-place of natural trade-routes from north to south and from east to west.
The geographical circumstances of the land and the nature of its population were, therefore, such that
unity could be attained only by a political development, and these two factors largely determined the
course of Assyrian history in later ages.
No palaeolithic remains have yet come to light in Assyria, but the painted pottery and flints character-
istic of the chalcolithic age have been found at Ashur and at Nineveh, which proves that there were settled
agricultural communities in Assyria
contemporary with the earliest ones
in Babylonia that have already been
described, which date from about
3500 to 3000 B.C. Then there is a gap
in our knowledge, owing to the
absence of any remains belonging to
the period 3000-2700 B.C. This does
not imply that Assyria was unin-
habited during that period ; for the
absence of finds is doubtless due to
the chances of excavation. We may
assume that civilization in Assyria
developed along the same lines as in
the South, until it emerges again
about 2700 B.C., when men were
already far advanced in the arts of
metal-working and of writing. The
remains of this period at Ashur prove
that Sumerian civilization was then
dominant in Assyria, with the result
that cultural connections with Baby-
lonia were once and for all established.
Whatever the political relations with
Babylonia might be in later ages, the
Assyrians continued to the last to
respect Sumerian beliefs and religious
observances, worshipping Sumerian
deities in temples that bore Sumerian
names. But it cannot be asserted
that Ashur, the most ancient city of
Assyria, had ever been a Sumerian
settlement with a purely Sumerian
population. It is almost certain
that the Sumerian civilization had
tattg fur l/i is u;>rk.\
TIIK ASSYRIAN METHOD OF IRRIGATION.
The high banks of the Tigris have always hindered irrigation, and the
Assyrians may well ha\e invented the simple contrivance still in use. The
water is raised in a skin ending in a funnel, through which, when at the top-
it is discharged into a tri-ugh connected with the irrigation channel.
28b
Story of the Nations
been imposed upon a mixed population as the result of the city's becoming subject to a Sumerian Dynasty
of the South, whose provincial governors would naturally have introduced the customs of their own
country in ruling the foreign cities to which they were appointed. The main stock of this early population
was neither Semitic nor Sumerian, but would seem to have been Subaraean, a people who had descended
from the mountains north and north-east of Assyria, bringing with them cultural and linguistic elements
that would appear to have originated in western Asia Minor. In the time of the Dynasty of Agade
(c. 2528-2332 B.C.) the northern and eastern part of Assyria was known as Subartu, from which the name
Subarjean is derived, and in the middle of the second millennium the Subarteans were spread right across
northern Mesopotamia. In early Assyria these Subarsans, who formed the basic element of the popu-
lation, had completely identified themselves with the superior civilization of their Sumerian overlords
Painted specialty for this vxtrk.]
THE ASSYRIAN ARMY LEAVING ASHUR TO OPPOSE THE WESTERN SEMITES.
About 2030 B.C. Ilu-shuma, King of Assyria, fought with the We.st Semitic king, Sumu-abu, who founded tHo. First Dynast \
of Babylon. The Assyrians are here seen leaving their capital to march southward. Stores for the use of the army are being
loaded on to rafts supported by inflated skins, which the swift current of the river will carry down-stream.
The excavations at Ashur have revealed the fact that the period of Sumerian domination in Assyria
was brought to an abrupt end, the city itself being completely destroyed by a great conflagration. The
evidence of the material remains and the known historical circumstances of the time point to the city's
having been captured and sacked by invaders whose activities were intimately connected with the general
rise to power of the Semites in the north. These newcomers were the Semitic-speaking people known to
subsequent history as Assyrians, the worshippers of the Semitic god Ashur, who rebuilt and resettled the
city they had destroyed, naming it after their national god. These early Assyrians would seem to have
developed their national characteristics somewhere in the middle Euphrates area, in the valleys of the
Balikh and the Khabur, where people of Semitic speech lived for a long time in close contact with an
older population derived from Asia Minor, probably the Hurrians.who together with the Proto-Hittites
I'niitlni spfciallu for this work.l
SHALMANESER I POURS OUT THE DUST OF ARINA BEFORE HIS GOD.
The fierce and vindictive treatment of their foes by tho rulers of Assyria is already apparent in the reign of Shalmancscr I.
After capturing the mountain fortress of Arina, which had revolted "despising the god Ashur", he razed it to the ground and!
gathering its dust, he poured it out in the gate of A«hur as u witness for tho days to come.
2«8
Story of the Nations
Painted specially for this work.}
RAID OF SHAMSHI-ADAD I TO THE SHORE OF "THE GREAT SEA".
After the First Dynasty of Babylon had fallen before the Hittitc invaders. Assyria was freed from her control. and began a
career of conquest. Shamshi-Adad I, who ruled at about this period, tells us that he received tribute from "the king of the
Upper Country" and set up a memorial stele "on the shore of the Great Sea", that is, the Mcditenancan.
formed one of the main ethic stocks of central and eastern Anatolia. The sculptural representations of
the Assyrians reveal physical characteristics that are distinctly "Armenoid", and these must have been
inherited from the Hurrian element in the population of the district in which their type was moulded,
although it was the speech of their Semitic ancestors that the Assyrians retained.
Although the Assyrians adopted and adapted the Sumerian civilization when they were settled in-
their new land, their social institutions and religious customs retained much that was distinct from the
civilization of Sumer and Akkad. The Assyrian laws, unlike Hammurabi's code, lack system, and appear
to have been based upon the precedent of judgments in particular cases. The position of women in
Assyria differed in many respects from that in Babylonia, a remarkable feature being extensive levirate
marriage. Unlike the Babylonians, they employed a dating by eponymous officers, instead of by the reign-
ing king, and their calendar was of an origin independent of any Akkadian or Sumerian calendar. Their
commercial practice differed in certain respects from that of the Babylonians. In sculpture and in some
of the minor arts they struck out a line of their own ; but it is for their military science that they are
chiefly to be remembered. From the first they were hunters and warriors, and their persistent efforts
at conquest gradually hardened the race into a very efficient fighting machine. They were essentially
a military people, strongly differentiated in this respect from the commercial Babylonians. The Assyrian
king always kept a small standing army of royal troops, and this was increased in time of war by the
mobilization of all the manhood of the nation. The backbone of Assyria consisted in its middle class of
hardy yeoman farmers, and from them the rank and file were drawn. The majority were armed with
the bow, and to their power of destroying the charioteers and horsemen of an enemy at a distance the
later Assyrian victories, in the Egyptian wars at any rate, were largely due.
The most famous of all Assyrian campaigns is perhaps that of Sennacherib, during which his
The Assyrians
289
commander-in-chief appeared before Jerusalem in Hezekiah's reign. But the royal annals that have been
recovered show that it was but the type of what took place almost every year against one or other of
the tribes bordering on the great plain of Northern Mesopotamia. For the Assyrians never acquired
a liking for commerce, and when once they had ceased to be content with the rewards of an agricultural
life, a yearly expedition for plunder was necessary to secure the means of satisfying their ambitions. As
a result of this continuous raiding they eventually acquired control of an extensive empire, and devised
methods of subjection and of rule which, at least for a time, were successful in maintaining their domination.
The Assyrians have been termed the Romans of Asia, and it is true that in certain points they
resembled them. Their skill in military organization and their mastery of the principles of war may be
held to justify the comparison. But they possessed no Roman genius for consolidating a conquered
province or binding it to themselves. Hence, when the manhood of the nation had been exhausted by
continuous campaigns, and mercenaries had to be enrolled to fill the ranks, their empire fell to pieces
with tragic suddenness. But at the height of their power the Assyrian legions proved themselves
irresistible in Western Asia.
Such were the main characteristics of the Assyrians as a race ; but their later military achievements were
the result of a long period of gradual development. The first glimpse we have of them is in their old
capital of Ashur, built on a natural rocky mound on the right bank of the Tigris some distance below
its junction with the Upper Zab. Here we may picture the old priest-king Kikia, the traditional builder
of the city wall of Ashur, fortifying his primitive settlement ; or we may watch Ushpia, the traditional
founder of the temple of Ashur, building the first shrine to Ashur, their national god.
The next time the veil is lifted, we perceive the Assyrians already giving us a foretaste of their later
quality. Under the leadership of Ilu-shuma, a hardy band of citizen-soldiers are leaving the Southern
Gate of Ashur, to oppose successfully the incursion of the Western Semites. At the close of the third
millennium, Sumu-abu himself, the famous founder of the Dynasty of Babylon, is checked in his attempt
to march northwards up the Tigris and, wisely leaving Assyria to herself, he and his immediate successors
turn their attention to secure the southward extension of Babylonian control.
The last picture we possess of this earliest phase of Assyrian history is painted in different colours
i
From stereo copi/riahn [by Vndern-oud A- Undertmod.
ASSYRIAN METHODS OF BURIAL.
The Assyrians, like tin- Babylonians, Iniricd and did not burn their dead. In the earliest period the corpse was placed
without protection in a grave dug in the soil. Later, sarcophagi of unglazcd clay were employed, and more sumptuous inter-
ments took place in vaults constructed of burnt brick The bodies were arranged in the contracted position, lying on the side.
2A
2QO
Story of the Nations
Under Hammurabi, perhaps her most famous king, the city of Babylon has entered on her first period
of empire. Assyria has become a province of Babylon, and is kept in a state of subjection by garrisons
of Babylonian troops. In the British Museum there is one of Hammurabi's military despatches, directing
the transference of two hundred and forty soldiers of "the King's Regiment", who had been stationed
in Assyria. It is the earliest military despatch in the world.
THE FIRST PERIOD OF ASSYRIAN CONQUEST I 1835-9!! B.C.
ONE of the earliest Assyrian inscriptions of any length which has been recovered was set up in Ashur to
record the achievements of Shamshi-Adad I, who in it lays claim to the high-sounding title, "King of the
•
ea specialty Jor this work. I
ARRANGING THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN ASSYRIA AND BABYLON.
From the fifteenth century B.C. onwards there were continual conflicts between the growing power of Assyria and that of
Babylon, which wns cm the decline. A battle between the two states generally ended with a rectifirat inn of their common frontier.
The Assyrian king is here seen delimiting the frontier in person, while a high Babylonian official holds a plan, \\hich he consults.
World". In view of this early date, it is of peculiar interest that he should proudly record the setting
up of a stele of victory "in the land of Laban on the shore of the Great Sea", that is, the Mediterranean.
It is clear that the Assyrians of the nineteenth century B.C. penetrated on their raiding expeditions over
a far more extended area than was formerly thought possible.
It would seem that, while finding scope for her ambition in the north, Assyria was content to maintain
friendly relations with the earlier Kassite kings of Babylon. Thus, about 1430 B.C., Ashur-bel-nisheshu
forms a compact with Kara-indash of Babylon, and determines by mutual consent the boundary that
should divide their respective kingdoms. Moreover, the establishment of the state of Mitanni in northern
Mesopotamia provided an effective check for some time to Assyrian aggression. In fact, the kingdoms
of Mitanni, Assyria and Babylon formed for a time a balanc- of power in Western Asia, of which the
Egyptian monarchs of the Eighteenth Dynasty astutely took advantage. In the royal letters of the
PAGE TO ILLUSTRATE ASSYRIAN ART.
Reading from left to right : Great vase of baked clay decorated with dragons in relief. Bronze knives and axe-heads.
Colossal limestone head of a winged bull. Limestone model of a basket. Bronze bowl from Nimrud, showing Egyptian
intluencc. Portion of a bronze throne. Mythological being represented as fertilizer of the date-palm. Wounded lion from.
Ashin-lnuii-pal's palace at Nineveh. Corner of pavement slab from Ashur-bani-pal's palace, the design reproducing a rug or
carpet. The B!;u-k < (Urlisk nT Shjilmaneser III. Figure of Ashur-nasir-pal II. The god Nabu from Nimrud. Baketlr];i> \rs-<],
with ilgure of favourite demon. Portion of one of the bronze bands from the Gates of Shaliuaneser III. Winged lion from
Niiuruil, which flunked a palace entrance.
2Q2
Story of the Nations
Painted specially for thift trork.]
TUKULTI-ENURTA I IN THE TEMPLE OF MARDUK
The first King of Assyria to occupy the Babylonian throne was Tukulti-Ennrta I, who, after conquering the southern king
dom, ruled it for seven years by means of viceroys appointed by himself. He is here wen within the shrine of Marcluk at Babylon,
gazing on the holy statue of the god, which he proceeded to carry off, with other spoil, to Assyria.
period we note how these Asiatic monarchs compete with one another to secure the friendship and
alliance of Egypt, and how the Pharaoh marries their daughters indiscriminately and plays one power
off against the others. One of these monarchs, Dushratta of Mitanni, appears for a time to have secured
control over, at any rate, the northern part of Assyria, for we find him sending the holy statue of the
goddess Ishtar of Nineveh to Egypt as a mark of his esteem for the Egyptian Pharaoh. The letter, which
the Mitannian monarch sent to Egypt with the Assyrian statue, throws an interesting light on the religious
beliefs of the time. For we gather that this was not the first time Ishtar had visited Egypt, and we may
infer from such a custom the belief that a deity, when stopping in a foreign country, with his or her own
consent, would, if properly treated, confer favour and prosperity upon that land. The episode affords
striking evidence of international intercourse in the fourteenth century B.C.
With the murder of Dushratta through a conspiracy by one of his sons the state of Mitanni was
weakened, and in the period of internal dissension that followed the greater part of its territory fell
a prey to the Hittites. Assyria thus completely regained her independence, and began to take an active
part in Babylonian politics. The energetic Assyrian king Ashur-uballit had given his daughter Mubal-
litat-sherua in marriage to the Babylonian king Kara-khardash. The offspring of this union succeeded his
father on the Babylonian throne, and when he was slain in a revolt, Ashur-uballit avenged his grandson's
death by invading Babylonia and setting his own nominee upon the throne. But Assyria did not long
retain her hold upon the southern kingdom, and Ashur-uballit 's son, Enlil-nirari, and his great-grandson,
Adad-nirari I, were both at war with Babylon and both claimed victories.
With the passing of the Mitannian kingdom the ambitions of Assyria began to turn to conquest in
the west Arik-den-ili the son and successor of Enlil-nirari, had already penetrated to theKhabur, and
The Assyrians
293
Shalmaneser I, like his father Adad-nirari, captured cities as far to the west of Assyria as Haran. They
claim even to have marched victoriously as far as Carchemish on the Euphrates ; and the latter defeated
Hittite and Aramaean armies that came against him. Shalmaneser has left us a striking picture of
symbolic ritual, which throws a strong light on the fanatical character of these early Assyrian campaigns
waged against his foes on behalf of Ashur, the national god. When, after a stubborn resistance on
its part, Shalmaneser captured Arina, a strongly fortified mountain fastness in Armenia, he sowed its
site with salt, and carried some of its soil back with him to Assyria. Then, standing in the entry to the
chief gate of his capital, he took the soil in his hands and poured it out upon the ground, as a witness
for the days to come against all his god's enemies.
As a natural consequence of his victories in the north and west Shalmaneser transferred his capital
from Ashur to Calah, some forty miles higher up the Tigris, where he built a palace and founded a strongly
fortified city. His son, Tukulti-Enurta I, continued his father's aggressive policy, and his reign marks
an epoch in Assyrian history, for he was the first Assyrian monarch to ascend the Babylonian throne.
Having captured Kashtiliash, the Babylonian king, and carried him in chains to Ashur, he ruled Babylonia
for seven years. But at the end of that period the Babylonian nobles successfully revolted and regained
their independence. Tukulti-Enurta shortly afterwards came to a tragic end, for he was murdered by
one of his sons in his palace at Kar-
Tukulti-Enurta, a city he had built
and named in his own honour.
During this early period the
power of Assyria was subject to
alternate periods of expansion and
relapse, and one of the latter set
in during the century that fol-
lowed Tukulti-Enurta's assassina-
tion. Pressed by tribes of Hittite
origin from Anatolia, she lost her
hold on the provinces she had gained
on the north-west, and her nascent
empire was once more confined to
the narrow limits of what was
strictly Assyrian territory. In the
second half of the twelfth century
Ashur-resh-ishi did something to
restore his country's fortunes by
twice defeating Nebuchadnezzar I
of Babylon ; but it was his son,
Tiglath-pileser I. whose reign was
to mark a fresh stage in Assyria's
rise t0 greatness. In his earlier
years this monarch led his armies
far to the north and west, and
broke the power of the Anatolian
peoples who had annexed the terri-
tories formerly held by Assyria
The Euphrates even did not stop
his advance, for he threw his troops
across on rafts, supported by in
flated skins, and he marched to
the Mediterranean. The figure ol r'"'"M sr>rr!""" fnr ""'* '""*•'
T. , , .. THE ASSASSINATION OF TUKULTI-ENUKTA I.
n-Plleser stands OUt in his- rukultl-EnurtaV, reign ended in disaster. Babylon revolted and refined
tory, not only as a great fighter ber independence, and in Assyria the nobles, led by his own son, Ashur-nnsir-pul,
but as One of the mightiest hunters ^TnoT, 'ZfttZ Kar-TnUulti-Enurta. the city he had founded in his
294
Story of the Nations
of antiquity. Lions, wild bulls and elephants he slew with his own sword and bow, and it was
characteristic that on reaching Arvad on the Mediterranean coast he should have embarked in a ship
and have slain a mighty dolphin in the deep. News must have been carried to Egypt of the presence
of his army in Syria, for the Pharaoh sent him a present consisting of a crocodile and a hippopotamus.
The odd nature of the gift was doubtless suggested by Tiglath-pileser's reputation as a hunter, and
we may imagine the surprise of the Assyrians when these strange beasts were paraded through the streets
of the capital.
Tiglath-pileser was thus the first Assyrian monarch, with the exception of Shamshi-Adad, to carry
Assyrian arms to the coast of the Mediterranean. It cannot be claimed that his rule constituted an
empire in any sense of the term, for his aim was to exact tribute, not to administer. But within these
7 . "~ ' • sr .
Painted specially for this work.]
TIGLATH-PILESER I SLAYING A LION.
In addition to his achievements as a conqueror, Tiglath-pilcser I was the most famous hunter of antiquity. He boasts that
he killed four wild bulls and ten mighty bull-elephants in Northern Mesopotamia and brought their hides and tusks to Assyria
He slew eight hundred lions in his chariot, and no less than one-hundrcd-aml-twenty lions when hunting on foot.
limits we may credit him with accomplishing more than any of his predecessors. It was probably in
consequence of his preoccupation in the west that Marduk-nadin-akhe, of Babylonia, had been able to
raid Assyria and carry off the statues of Adad and Shala, gods of Ekallate, which four hundred and
eighteen years afterwards were recovered from Babylon by Sennacherib. But Tiglath-pileser's sub-
sequent conquest of Northern Babylonia and his occupation of the capital restored the temporary loss
of Assyrian prestige and, taken in conjunction with his achievements in the west, they form ample
justification for regarding his reign as marking the culmination of this first period of Assyrian conquest.
His sons and successors did not succeed in maintaining the inheritance he left them. Friend! v
relations were preserved with Babylon, and Ashur-bel-kala even married the daughter of the Babylonian
king. But it is certain that Assyria as well as Babylon now felt the effects of the great Aramaean
migration ; and while Babylonia was overrun and ravaged by the Sutu, Aranuean tribes wrested from
Assyria the western provinces which Tiglath-pileser had re-annexed. It is true that tradition tells of a
296
Story of the Nations
certain Ashur-irbi, who, like Tiglath-pileser, set up an image of himself on the Mediterranean coast ;
he may perhaps be identified with Ashur-rabi II. But we have no evidence of any effective recovery
of Assyrian power until the ninth century, when the country suddenly emerges from its temporary
obscurity and by the brutal ferocity of its methods of conquest produces unparalleled terror among the
races upon its immediate borders.
THE MIDDLE PERIOD OF ASSYRIAN EXPANSION : QII — 745 B.C.
THE main claim to remembrance that can be advanced on behalf of Adad-nirari II, who came to the
throne of Assyria in the year 911 B.C., is that he was the grandfather of that great but ruthless conqueror,
Ashur-nasir-pal II. Adad-nirari certainly inaugurated Assyria's renaissance, for he defeated two
successive occupants of the Babylonian throne, and with the second of them, Nabu-shum-ukin I, he
afterwards formed an alliance which was cemented by the exchange of their daughters in marriage. His
son, Tukulti-Enurta II, profiting by this renewed sense of security from attack upon his southern border,
began to make tentative efforts at expanding westwards into Mesopotamia. But it was reserved for
Ashur-nasir-pal, his son, who ruled from 884 to 859 B.C., to cross the Euphrates and lead Assyrian
armies once more into Syrian territory. After securing his frontier on the east and north of Assyria.
Ashur-nasir-pal turned his attention to the west. The Aramaean states of Bit-Khalupi and Bit-Adini,
both on the left bank of the Euphrates, fell before his onslaught. Then, crossing the Euphrates on rafts
of skins, he received the submission of Sangar of Carchemish, and marched in triumph through Syria to the
coast.
Ashur-nasir-pal has left us a detailed account of his conquests, and they form a catalogue of pitiless
specially for tin'* ni»rk.\
PURSUING FUGITIVES ACROSS THE KHAHIIi.
Under Tiikulti-Kniirta II Assyria's fortunes, after n century and a half of weakness, began to mend. \Ve possess records
of five of his campaigns, in the course of which he raided Northern Hiihyioniu and Kasteni Mesopotamia as far as the Khalmr.
Assyrian nrchcrs are here seen shooting at fugitives as they swim the river to thcii- fortress on the further hank.
The Assyrians
297
torture and destruction : "I took
the city, their fighting men I put to
the sword, and I cut off their heads
Many I captured alive and the rest
I burned with fire. Heaps of the
living and of heads I piled up over
against their city-gate, and seven
hundred men I impaled on stakes
around the city. Their young men
and maidens I burned in the fire,
and I laid waste their city and turned
it into heaps of ruins." Such phrases
occur as a refrain after the record of
each capture, and those of the con-
quered were fortunate who fell dead
into the hands of their captors. The
Assyrian army, under Ashur-nasir-
pal's leadership, left behind it a trail
of blood and fire, and on its return
to Assyria it carried back with it the
chiefs and princes who had attempted
any opposition, that their quivering
bodies might be flayed at leisure in
the capital.
With all his cruelty Ashur-nasir-
pal was a great soldier, and he gives
evidence of military genius of no small
order. Under him and his son, Shal-
maneser III, the military organization
of Assyria was renewed, and both made
effective use of their extraordinarily
efficient armies. Ashur-nasir-pal's Painted special^/ for mis «-»rA-.]
policy was one of annihilation, and ASHUH-NASIR-PAL AND HIS BONERS OF WAR
The son and successor of Tukulti-Enurta II was Ashur-nasir-pal II, per-
the Speed with which he Struck haps the most barbarous of Assyrian kings. He reorganized the Assyrian
oncureH Viic ciir/-oc= Triiic ii/hon Vin army and led it victoriously as far as the Mediterranean coast. Fortunate
were those of his enemies who fell in battle for his treatment of survivors
Crossed the Euphrates after taking was unparalleled in its ferocity. Many of them were flayed alive.
Carchemish, the King of Damascus, the most powerful and important state in Syria, made no attempt
to oppose him or to organize a defence. He had evidently been taken by surprise. But Syria then
learned her lesson, and at the battle of Karkar, in 854 B.C., Shalmaneser found himself opposed by a
confederation of the northern kings, and though he eventually succeeded in ravaging the territory of
Damascus, the city itself held out and remained untaken In fact, the stubborn resistance of Damascus
prevented any further attempt on Assyria's part at this period to penetrate further into Southern Syria
and Palestine. So Shalmaneser had to content himself with marching northwards across Mount Amanus,
subjugating Cilicia, and exacting tribute from districts north of the Taurus. He also conducted a successful
campaign in Armenia, from which quarter one of Assyria's most powerful enemies was about to arise.
From this middle period of Assyrian history a very striking series of monuments have come down to
us, which are now preserved in the British Museum. From the palace of Ashur-nasir-pal at Calah we
have the fine series of sculptured reliefs which lined the palace-walls. On the famous "Black Obelisk"
of Shalmaneser we may see portrayed the tribute which subject princes sent the Assyrian king, among
them that of Jehu, King of Israel. But most interesting of all, perhaps, are the famous "Bronze Gates of
Balawat", so called from the village near which they are said to have been found in Assyria. They
are the bronze sheathing from two great wooden gates which were set up in one of his palaces by
Shalmaneser ; and the thin metal has been skilfully decorated with a series of designs in low relief
298
Story of the Nations
obtained by hammering out the
back. The gates are one of the
finest and earliest examples of
metal repousse work, and in the
designs upon them the Assyrian
craftsmen have given a wonder-
fully detailed and vivid picture of
the various campaigns conducted
by Shalmaneser against Armenians,
Hittites, Syrians, and the other
nations he conquered or fought
in the course of his reign We
see the Assyrian chariots and
bowmen marching over the moun-
tains, engineers bridging streams
in their advance, the fortified
camps they established at head-
quarters, their heavy siege trains
in action, and their different
methods of attack. The inferior
arms and quaint costumes of the
conquered races are faithfully por-
trayed, as well as the barbarous
Assyrian custom, practised so extensively, as we have seen, by Shalmaneser's father, of punishing a
stubborn defence by impalement or .mutilation.
As we have already noted more than once, a forward movement on the part of Assyria was generally
lollowed by a period of comparative weakness and inaction. Assyria, in fact, expanded in a series of
successive waves, and when one had spent itself a recoil took place before the next advance. The principal
cause of Assyria's contraction after the brilliant reigns of Shalmaneser III and his father may undoubtedly
be traced to the rise of a new power in the mountains of Armenia, in the district known as Urartu, the
Ararat of Genesis where the Ark
is said to have rested. From their
capital on the shores of Lake Van,
the Urartians marched southwards
and menaced the northern frontier
of Assyria itself. Her kings could
no longer dream of further ad-
ventures in the west, which would
leave their home territory at the
mercy of this new foe Urartu
was now the principal drag on
Assyria's ambitions, a part we
VC/i& B^KI^Hk.1 . F!£¥ shall afterwards see so effectively
played by Elam in alliance with
Babylon.
I'aintei sjicHally for this u-orl;.}
THE ARMY OF SHALMANESER III IN THE TAURUS.
.Shalmaneser III continued his father's policy of foreign conquest and,
though in his long war with Syria he failed to capture Damascus, he extended
Assyrian control over Cilicia and the southern region of the Taurus. On hh
famous Bronze Gates his craftsmen have portrayed the difficult country over
which he took his chariots.
THE ASSYRIAN
EMPIRE
B.C.
I'ainlcd spfTldHii fnr tliis
THE ASSYRIAN
n-ork.]
MKTHOD OF TREATING THE CONQUERED.
The Assyrian conquerors of the ninth century made no attempt to con-
solidate a pennit rient empire, but confined themselves t<> the collection of plunder
and tribute. Any city whirh offered opposition to their demands was ruthlessly
destroyed, and its inhabitants were mutilated, impaled, or burnt a*, the stake.
IN the year 746 B.C. a military
revolt took place in Calah against
the reigning Assyrian king, Ashur-
nirari. The military party was
300
Story of the Nations
utu aptcMUy /or this work.]
THE ECLIPSE OF THE SUN, JUNE 15, 763 B.C.
For some years Assyria had been passing through a period of weakness. Matters reached a climax in 163 B.C., when the
total eclipse of the sun was taken as a terrible portent of the wrath of the gods. Ashur-dan III is watching the eclipse. He
met his death later in the year, and the country was given over to civil war and plague.
completely successful, and their leader, a general named Pulu, was placed by them upon the throne.
To mark his assumption of royal rank he changed his name to Tiglath-pileser, a royal name, which from
the close of the twelfth century had been associated in the minds of his subjects with a period of glorious
success. His accession marks the beginning of the last period of Assyrian expansion, and the administra-
tive policy he inaugurated justifies us in ascribing the term "Empire" to the area conquered by him and
his successors in the last half of the eighth and the first half of the seventh centuries B.C.
Tiglath-pileser's first object was to secure his southern frontier, and this he effected by invading
Babylonia and forcing from Nabonassar an acknowledgment of Assyrian control. He then proceeded
to cripple the power of Urartu, who had already given ineffectual support to the resistance offered by
Arpad and the states of northern Syria to his advance in that direction. He therefore invaded Armenia
itself, and besieged Sarduris III, the Urartian king, in his rocky citadel of Turushpa, near the shore of
Lake Van. The natural strength of the position was too great to admit of its capture by assault, and
the Assyrian king could not spare tiie time for a prolonged investment. So Tiglath-pileser had to be
content with setting up a statue of himself on the plain below the rock in full view of the besieged. But
though he failed in his attack upon this central fortress, he laid the country waste and broke for some
years its power of assuming the offensive. Thus Tiglath-pileser, having secured his frontiers on both
the north and south, was able to turn his attention once more to the Mediterranean littoral.
It was in the reign of Tiglath-pileser that Assyria first took an active interest in the Hebrew states
of Israel and Judah ; and it is interesting to note that in each her intervention was at the invitation of
the ruling king. For internal dissension in many a small state of Syria and Palestine led one or other
of its political parties to invite the help of the great power which was only waiting for the chance to
crush it out of existence. In 738 B.C. Menahem of Israel, in order to secure his throne, purchased Assyrian
support at the cost of a heavy tribute, and a few years later we find Judah appealing for Assyrian help
The Assyrians
301
against her northern neighbours. For during Tiglath-pileser's Armenian campaigns Damascus
attempted to form a coalition of the Palestinian states against their common foe, and Israel joined
Damascus in an attack on Judah to force her into their alliance. So Ahaz invoked Assyrian help to rid
himself of his invaders. As in the case of Menahem, the step cost him his independence and a heavy
treasure. But its immediate result was successful. Tiglath-pileser invaded Palestine and the allied
forces were obliged to retire from Judah. It was on this occasion, in the year 734 B.C., that the districts
of north-eastern Israel, including Gilead, Galilee and Naphthali, were lost to Israel and their inhabitants
deported to Assyria. Damascus was then subjected to a siege which ended two years later with the
capture of the city and the deportation of its inhabitants.
But even then Israel had not realized the futility of attempting to oppose Assyria. At this time
a new dynasty had arisen in Egypt under the Ethiopian king Piankhi and his energetic son Shabaka.
Having conquered the whole Nile valley and the Delta with their black Nubian troops, they now turned
their eyes on Palestine. Totally ignorant of the real power of Assyria, Egypt, under its new rulers, became
the evil genius of the Palestinian peoples. It encouraged them to defy their Assyrian suzerain, and then
failed them when the hour of need arrived. In 726 B.C. Hosea of Israel and the king of Tyre intrigued
against Assyria, relying, as we read in 2 Kings xvii, 4, on the help of So, or Seve, king of Egypt, whom
we may identify with Shabaka. Vengeance quickly followed. Tyre submitted to the Assyrians, but
Hosea held out. Samaria, after a siege of two years, fell before Sargon of Assyria in 722 B.C. Two years
later its people were carried into captivity and inhabitants from Babylonia and other parts of the Assyrian
Empire were settled in their place in Palestine.
This policy of deportation was the final answer of Assyria to her pressing problem of how to administer
the wide areas she conquered. Former Assyrian kings had carried away the conquered into slavery,
Painted specially for this irort:. I
THE CAPTURE OF DAMASCUS BY TIGLATH-PILESEll III, 732 B.C.
The strong Aranuean city of Damascus had long blocked the path of Assyrian advance into Palestine. When Rezin attempted
to form a coalition of the Palestinian states against Assyria, Tiglath-pileser invaded the country in 734 B.C., and after a siege of
two years succeeded in capturing Damascus. He carried its people into captivity and deprived the city of its independence.
302
Story of the Nations
but Tiglath-Pileser III had inaugu-
rated a regular transference ol
nations. Fully half the population
of each each conquered province
was carried into captivity, and their
place was taken by foreign captives
from other parts of the empire. Thus
the native population in each case
was rendered ineffective, while the
new colonists, hated by the native^,
naturally supported their Assyrian
masters and protectors. This
policy certainly effected its im-
mediate object : it kept the sub-
ject provinces quiet But as a
permanent method of administra-
tion it was bound to be a failure,
for it sinned against every law of
Painted specially for this irnrk.] ..,. .,.. ., " ,
SARGON PROCLAIMED KING OF ASSYRIA. 722 B.C. political economy. While destroy-
Snrgon, the founder of the last and most famous dynasty of Assyrian kings jng patriotism and love of Country,
probably owed his election to the army. His early years were occupied with
revolts in Babylonia and the west. it put an end at the same time to
all incentives to labour. Such a country's accumulated wealth had already been drained for the bene-
fit of Assyrian coffers, and in the hands of its half-starved colonists it was not likely to prove a per-
manent source either of strength or of wealth to its suzerain. Sargon himself had apparently
not been present at the capture of Samaria, and his army had been soon recalled by threatening events
in the south of his kingdom. For Merodach-baladan, a Chaldean chief of Bit-Yakin, at the head of the
Persian Gulf, now laid claim to the throne of Babylon. By himself Merodach-baladan would not have
been formidable to Assyria, but he was backed by an unexpected and dangerous ally. The kingdom of
Elam, which lay to the east of
Babylonia, had not meddled' in
Mesopotamia!! affairs for centuries.
But she had gradually become
alarmed at the growth of Assyrian
power. So Khumbanigash, the
Elamite king, allying himself with
Merodach-baladan, invaded Meso-
potamia, laid siege to the frontier
fortress of Dur-ilu, or Der, on the
Lower Tigris, and defeated Sargon
and the Assyrian army before
its walls. Merodach-baladan was
acknowledged by the Babylonians
as their king, and he continued for
years to be a thorn in the side of
Assyria.
After the defeat of Shabaka
and the Egyptians at Raphia,
Sargon was occupied with the
final subjugation of Urartu in the
north, which had for so long been
ruin'i'' tptcictUu in-- IhU "nrk.\
CAPTURE OF AN IONIAN PIRATE. a danger to Assyria But Urartu
At tne end of the eighth century, in Sargon's reign, the Assyrians first came had to fight not only t h C-
I,, contact v -ith t.,, l,,,v«3, who*- ve,.s,l> bcg» to hurry the const, of Clllda A j fa t also en ' thfr
and N'nrllicni Syrio
304
Story of the Nations
Cimmerians, who now made their
appearance from the north and
east. In fact, Sargon's conquest
of Urartu resulted in the destruc-
tion of that people as a buffer
state, and laid Assyria open to
the direct attack of the barbarian
invaders ; though it was not until
the reign of Esarhaddon that their
activity began to be formidable.
Meanwhile, having subjugated his
other foes, Sargon was able to turn
his attention once more to Babylon
from which he expelled Merodach-
baladan. His appearance was wel-
comed by the priestly party, and,
entering the city in state, he assumed
the title of Governor, and for the last
seven years of his life he ruled in
Babylon virtually as king.
It was after this success that he
received tribute from seven kings of
Cyprus, and established political re-
lationship with men of the Ionian
race. In the course of his conquests
on the Mediterranean coast he had
already come into contact with the
Ionian pirates who had begun to
infest the south-eastern coasts of
Asia Minor, and Sargon tells us that
he dragged them "like fish out of the
sea". No doubt he made use of
Phoenician galleys, with which he
was able to overhaul the Ionian vessels.
In the reign of Sargon, Assyrian
art received a strong impetus, for his
conquests subjected the native crafts-
men to new influences and largely
increased the area from which their
materials could be obtained. They found full scope for their ambitions in the decoration of the
new town and palace of Dur-Sharrukin, or "Sargon's Town" which the king built a few miles to the
east of Nineveh, and used as his capital. The two colossal bulls and winged mythological figures
in the Assyrian Vestibule of the British Museum once flanked a doorway in his palace. This artistic
activity was further increased in the reign of Sennacherib, Sargon's son and successor, who transferred his
capital to Nineveh, which he rebuilt and fortified, erecting his mighty palace on an artificial mound high
above the Tigris, which continued to be the royal residence until the fall and destruction of the city.
On Sargon's death, in 705 B.C., the subject provinces of the empire rebelled. The revolt was led by
Babylon, where Merodach-baladan reappears with Elamite support, while Hezekiah of Judah headed
a confederation of the states of southern Syria Sennacherib was first occupied with Babylon, where
he had little difficulty in defeating Merodach-baladan and his allies. He was then free to deal with Syria
and Palestine and at Eltekeh, near Ekron, he routed the Egyptian army, which had come to the support
of the rebel states He then received the submission of Ekron, and took Lachish after a siege, though
Tyre resisted. A famous bas-relief in the British Museum represents Sennacherib seated on his throne
Painted specially for this work.]
THE DEFEAT OF AN IONIAN FLEET.
In 696 B.C. Kirua, the Assyrian governor of llhibru, organized a revolt
and, with the help of Ionian settlers in the district of Tarsus, seized the
important caravan road through the C'ilician gates. Sennacherib thereupon
despatched an expedition thither, which defeated the rebels, captured
Tarsus, and destroyed the local Ionian fleet.
/•'mm the painting by Lord Liii.ihlun. l'.Ii.A.\ [6(/ permission of TJir Fine Arts Publishing ("n.. Ltd.
PHCENICIAN TRADERS ON THE COAST OF BRITAIN.
The Phoenicians were the earliest commercial travellers and middlemen — buying, selling, and bartering with all the peoples
around the Mediterranean, extending their eommeree over all the countries of Asia and Europe, and as far even as Britain.
From the disemery iit Stujiehenge of Egyptian beads of twelfth dynasty date—which may have been brought there by
I'liiriiii'iaii merchants — it appears that their ruinniei ce with Britain may date from the twelfth century B.C.
The Assyrians
305
outside Lachish and receiving its submission. Hezekiah of Judah at first paid heavy tribute, but later,
when Sennacherib demanded the surrender of Jerusalem, he defied the Assyrian officers, and escaped
punishment through the withdrawal of the Assyrian army from Palestine, possibly in consequence of plague.
Babylon, with Elam's backing, was again soon giving trouble, and Sennacherib was engaged in a
succession of punitive expeditions against both countries. In the course of these Merodach-baladan was
driven from the Sea-Land into Elam, while his Chaldean ally, Mushezib-Marduk, only found security
by escaping into the intricate marshes and swamps of southern Babylonia. Matters reached a climax
in 689 B.C., when, after the death of Uman-menanu of Elam, Sennacherib captured Babylon and attempted
to put an end for all time to her constant menace by destroying the city. He succeeded in doing an
enormous amount of damage, and for the last eight years of his reign the country was given over to a
state of anarchy. In 681 Sennacherib was murdered by his sons, and after a struggle for the succession
Esarhaddon secured the throne.
The first thought of the new king was to reverse completely his father's Babylonian policy, and by
rebuilding the city and restoring its ancient privileges to placate the priestly party, whose support his
grandfather, Sargon, had secured. In the year 668 the statue of Marduk was restored to its shrine and
Esarhaddon's son, Shamash-shum-ukin was proclaimed king of Babylon. At the same time Esarhaddon
sought to reconcile the military and aggressive party in his own capital by crowning Ashur-bani-pal, his
eldest son, as king in Assyria. But Babylon was still taught to look upon Assyria as her suzerain, and
the spirit of rivalry and disaffection was only driven for the moment underground.
The wars of Esarhaddon, like those of his father, were in the main aimed at retaining territory already
Painifd specially for this work.}
DESTRUCTION OF CHALDEAN SETTLERS ON THE ELAMITE COAST.
Under Merodach-baladan Chaldean settlements had been formed on the Elamite shore of the Persian Gulf, anil these proved
a constant menace to Babylonia. In 694 B.C. Senmicherib destroyed them, transportins his troops across the head of the Gulf
in ships built on the Tigris and manned with sailors from Phoenicia and Cyprus
2B
306
Story of the Nations
incorporated in the Assyrian Empire. And had he been able to confine his country's energies within these
limits its existence as a state might have been prolonged. But he was unable to curb the ambitions of his
generals, and in his effort to find employment for the army he achieved the ultimate object of his father's
western campaigns : the conquest of Egypt.
This conflict between the two great civilized powers of antiquity was bound to follow the gradual
conquest of Syria and Palestine by the Assyrian armies. From a very early period these coast-lands of
the Mediterranean had either been
in the possession of Egypt or were
the object of their desire. It was
fully in accordance with precedent
that the Ethiopian king Piankhi
and his son Shabaka, after their
occupation of Egypt, should have
turned their eyes on Palestine ; and
we have already noted how at the
close of the eighth century they
encouraged the Palestinian states
in their resistance to Assyrian en-
croachment, and on two occasions
sent them substantial help. Egypt-
ian troops had taken part both at
the battle of Raphia and at Elte-
keh, but neither Sargon nor Sen-
nacherib had trodden Egyptian soil.
Shabaka's policy of active opposi-
tion to the Assyrian advance had
been carried on by Tirhakah, who
encouraged Tyre in its successful
struggle to maintain its independ-
ence, and in 678 instigated Sidon
to revolt. Esarhaddon had little
difficulty in capturing the city of
Sidon, in spite of its sea-girt walls,
and, having reduced its defences,
he built a new town on the main-
land to which he gave the name of
Kar-Ashur-ahku-iddina, or "Esar-
haddon's Citadel". Here he es-
tablished an Assyrian governor
and Sidon became an Assyrian
province.
Meanwhile Esarhaddon con-
tinued his march to Egypt, and
having safely led his army across
the desert to the south of Palestine, drove Tirhakah and his levies before him through the Delta and
laid siege to Memphis. The city was strongly fortified, and was only taken by Esarhaddon after
a severe assault. Tirhakah and a remnant of his army succeeded in making their escape to Thebes,
and the Assyrian king contented himself with the rich spoil of Memphis, including the royal harem
and twenty-five statues of Egyptian kings, which were carried to Nineveh.
<_ That Esarhaddon's occupation of Egypt had been merely nominal was soon apparent ; for in a few
months' time Tirhakah had returned with fresh forces from the south, and having massacred the Assyrian
garrisons, had installed himself once more as kintj in Memphis. On his return to Assyria, Esarhaddon
had attempted to compose internal discord in his kingdom by the coronation of his two sons, Ashur-bani-pal
fainted specially for this work. ]
THE DEATH OF SENNACHERIB.
Sennacherib had decreed that Esarhaddon, who was not his eldest son
should succeed him upon the throne, and had appointed him Governor of Babylon.
Jealous at being slighted, two others of his sons headed a revolt in 681 B.C. and
murdered their father as he was worshipping in the temple of his god
-™
THE RECOGNITION OK ESARHADDON AS KING IN NINEVEH
308
Story of the Nations
Painted specially for this worfr.]
REJOICING IN BABYLON ON THE REBUILDING OF THE CITY BY ESARHADDON.
It was probably in consequence of his residence in Babylon as governor that Esarhaddon decided to reverse his father's
policy of stern repression and restore the privileges of which the city had been deprived. In the first year of his reign he began
the rebuilding of the city and of the great temple of Marduk to the great joy of the Babylonians.
and Shamash-shum-ukin, in Nineveh and Babylon. By the year 668 B.C. he was free to set out for
Egypt in order to chastise Tirhakah, but he died on the road.
It thus fell to his son Ashur-bani-pal to continue the Egyptian war and to complete the work which
his father had left unfinished. But though he met with far greater success, he, too, in the end, found
the task of any permanent conquest of the country beyond his power. Having joined the Assyrian army,
he led it across the Egyptian frontier, and at Karbaniti had little difficulty in defeating Tirhakah's forces,
who forthwith abandoned Memphis and retreated to Thebes. On the approach of the Assyrian army
he again retreated up-stream, and, Thebes having tendered its submission, Ashur-bani-pal proceeded
to reinstate the princes whom Esarhaddon had appointed as his governors. The chief among them was
a certain Necho, King of Sais and Memphis, whose son Psammetichus was destined to found a new dynasty
of Egyptian kings.
Ashur-bani-pal's return to Assyria was the signal for renewed trouble in Egypt, fomented by Tir-
hakah. But the projected revolt was discovered in good time, and the Egyptian prince Necho, with
Sharru-lu-dari, the Assyrian governor of Pelusium, were sent in chains to Nineveh to answer the charge
of treason. Ashur-bani-pal received Necho in a friendly spirit, and, having won over his allegiance, sent
him back in great honour to his own country. But Tirhakah continued to hold his own in Upper Egypt
and on his death his nephew, Tanut-Amon, occupied Thebes, captured Memphis, and put the Assyrian
garrison to the sword. Ashur-bani-pal's answer to this fresh defiance was not long in coming. He
returned to Egypt in person at the head of his army, totally defeated Tanut-Amon drove the Ethiopians
from the country and plundered Thebes.
Ashur-bani-pal's reconquest of Egypt was far more thorough than his own previous campaign or than
The Assyrians
309
his father's raid of Memphis and the Delta. Tanut-Amon, now driven into Nubia, gave up his ambition
to rule the country and ceased to trouble Assyria. Psammetichus succeeded his father as Assyrian
viceroy, and for some years Egypt continued to acknowledge Assyrian control.
But Ashur-bani-pal soon had his hands full with troubles nearer home, in consequence of which his
hold on Egypt gradually relaxed. The new aggressor was Elam, whose king Urtaku carried out an
invasion of Babylonia, but does not appear to have followed up his first success. On his death Teumman,
who succeeded him on the Elamite throne, again invaded Northern Babylonia, but was forced to retreat
on reaching Dur-ilu, and, having been defeated and slain in the subsequent battle on the Eulaus, his
decapitated head was sent as a trophy to the Assyrian king at Nineveh. But the strength of Elam
was not broken, and when, in 652 B.C., Ashur-bani-pal's brother. Shamash-shum-ukin, revolted, he
received active Elamite support.
Not only in Elam, but also throughout the territory controlled by Assyria, Shamash-shum-ukin found
support in his rebellion, a fact significant of the detestation of Assyrian rule in the scattered provinces
of the empire, which continued to be held together only by fear. But the force at Ashur-bani-pal's dis-
posal was still powerful enough to stamp out the conflagration and head off disaster for a time. He
marched into Babylonia, besieged and captured Babylon, and his brother Shamash-shum-ukin met his
death in the flames of his palace in 648 B.C. The Assyrian king then invaded Elam, and, having captured
Susa, he determined to break its power for ever by the complete destruction of the city. So Susa was
plundered and destroyed, and in Babylon itself Ashur-bani-pal ascended the throne, where he continued
to rule until his death under the name of Kandalanu.
Painted ipeetaHv
A CHALDEAN SPY NOTING THE APPROACH OK THE ASSYRIAN VANGUARD.
Under Esarhaddon the Chaldeans again gave trouble, and Nabu zcr-napishti-ushteshir, a grandson of Merodach-baladan,
raided Southern Babylonia as far as Ur. The record relates that on hearing news of the approach of the Assyrians he fled "like
a fox" to Elam. But the Elamite king put him to death, and Esarhaddon installed his brother in the Sea-Land.
3io
Story of the Nations
Of Ashur-bani-pal's later campaigns we know but
little, beyond the fact that some were undoubtedly
undertaken in revenge for support accorded his
brother during the latter's rebellion. The Arabian
king Yailu was chastised for this reason, and his
successor Uaite, who attempted aggression on his own
account, was carried captive to Nineveh, where Ashur-
bani-pal chained him beside the door of his palace.
But the strain of incessant warfare was already telling
on the striking-force of the Assyrian army, and the
fact that we possess no historical records of Ashur-
bani-pal's closing years is perhaps to be explained
by a complete lack of military successes to record.
A few years after the Babylonian revolt had been
quelled, Ashur-bani-pal celebrated a solemn triumph
at Nineveh to thank his gods for the victories of'
his reign. His conquest of Egypt up to Thebes
had certainly marked the greatest limits of the
Assyrian Empire, but by the time he held his triumph
at his capital he must have realized that his vic-
torious days were numbered.
THE FALL OF ASSYRIA.
IT is a remarkable fact that during these closing
I'ainied specially for this work.]
ASHUR-BANI-PAL FEASTING WITH HIS QUEEN.
When the Elamite king, Teumman. who had inraded
Babylonia, was defeated and slain, Ashur-bani-pal hung
his head upon a tree in hie palace-garden at Nineveh while
b« feasted.
Painted specially for this uvrk.]
THE SCYTHIAN INVASION OF WESTERN ASIA.
In the closing years of Ashur-bani-pal's reign the
Assyrian Empire was shaken to its foundations by the
invading hordes of Scythians, whose onslaught Assyria was
then too weak to repel.
decades of Assyrian history, when exhaustion was
following the partial attainment of a purely
military ideal, Assyrian art should have reached
its zenith. For vigour and naturalism the famous
stone reliefs of hunting scenes from Ashur-bani-pal's
palace at Nineveh find no equal in the work of
earlier periods. And the ivory carving and con-
temporary metal-work furnish scarcely less striking
evidence of artistic achievement. But it is for his
literary attainments that the name of Ashur-bani-
pal, 'the last great king of Assyria, will always be
held in remembrance. In his zeal for preserving
the ancient literature of his country and that of
Babylon he sent his scribes into every ancient city
and town throughout both lands, with imperative
orders to make copies of every literary, religious or
scientific text they came across. The resulting
editions of these ancient works, in which the literary
wealth of the country was enshrined, he stored in
his famous library in his palace at Nineveh. And
it is thanks to this enthusiasm on his part that we
have recovered so much of the ancient literature of
Assyria and Babylon.
The Assyrians
But even in the first half of Ashur-bani-pal's reign there were signs of coming change and of the appear-
ance of new races before whom the Assyrians were doomed to disappear. We have already noted the
destruction of the great kingdom of Urartu in Armenia, which had formed a buffer state against the
incursion of nomad tribes. And with its disappearance we find new racial elements pressing into Western
Asia of the same Indo-European family as that of the Medes and their Iranian kinsfolk. These were
the nomad Scythians, who, in the ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
middle of the seventh century, •
drove the Cimmerians before them
into Asia Minor ; and the fall of
the kingdom of L'ydia was an omen
of the fate in store for more
distant and more powerful states.
Shortly after 628 B. c. the
Scythians themselves struck the
death-blow of the Assyrian Empire.
For they poured across it in
resistless hordes. And Assyria had
no force in reserve with which to
oppose their progress, or repair
their ravages. For centuries this
great military power had struck
terror throughout Western Asia.
But insatiable lust for dominion
now met with its due reward.
Since Sennacherib's day the ranks
of the army had been filled with
levies drawn from her subject
peoples or with mercenary troops.
And these were a poor substitute
for the race of hardy fighters who
had been sacrificed in their
country's countless wars, So when
the Medes invested Nineveh with ,
the assistance of the Scythians I
and the Babylonians, the capital !
could look for no assistance from H
her provinces. Sennacherib's |
mighty walls kept the enemy at
bay for three years, but in 612
B.C. the city was taken by storm, painted specially for this work.]
Later ages preserved the tradition THE CAPTURE OF MEMPHIS BY THE ASSYRIANS.
that her last king, Sin-shar-ishkun,
the Sarakos of the Greeks, perished
in the flames of his palace rather
than fall alive into the besieger's
hands.
A text recently discovered in the British Museum relates that the Assyrian commander-in-chtef,
Ashur-uballit, escaped from Nineveh at the time of its destruction and fled to the city of Harran, where
he assumed the kingship of Assyria. For about two years he held his own ; but in 610 B.C. the Scyths
and the Babylonians took Harran and Ashur-uballit fled, apparently to Egypt. The following year,
with the support of an Egyptian Army, he made an attempt to retrieve the fortunes of Assyria. After
a preliminary success against the Babylonians he laid siege to Harran ; but the Scythian garrison in the
city prevented his taking it while the Babylonian king, Nabopolassar, hastened to its relief. Here the
The conquest of Egypt, so far from adding to the strength of the empire,
strained its resources. The first invasion of the country was made by Esarhaddon,
who in 670 B.C. captured Memphis after a fierce assault. On Esarhaddon's
return to Nineveh, Tirhakah retook Memphis and. although Ashur-bani-pal
afterwards occupied the country and in 661 B.C. sacked Thebes. Psammetichus
threw off the Assyrian yoke.
312
Story of the Nations
text of the Chronicle breaks off but we may assume that Ashur-uballit tell before the advance of
Nabopolassar. The army had become Assyria's only asset and with its destruction Assyria as a nation
ceased to exist .
The fall of the Assyrian kingdom was followed by the almost complete disappearance ol the Assyrian
people themselves, which is a phenomenon without parallel in the annals of ancient history. Other great
kingdoms and empires passed away, but the people lived on. Assyrian man-power had no doubt been
seriously depleted by civil warfare during the last years of Assyrian history and the Medes certainlv
From "Monuments of Nineveh". J
INTERIOR OF THE PALACE AT NINEVEH
An attempt is here made to give some Idea of the appearance of one of the halls in the great palace at Nineveh founded
by Sennacherib. The limestone bas-reliefs were painted in brilliant colours, and the effect must have been very gorgeous.
Traces of paint may still be detected on somi of the bas-reliefs from the palace now in the British Museum.
carried away into their own land large numbers of Assyrian artizans, to whose skilled craftsmanship
much of the splendour of Persepolis and Ecbatana can be traced. But these two considerations are alone
insufficient to account for the entire disappearance of the Assyrian people, which was perhaps in large
measure due to the fact that they are known to have been quite unusually addicted to practices that
inevitably lead to racial suicide. Nor is it possible to discover any lasting Assyrian influence on the history
of later ages, unless it be in the political organization of the Persian empire and that of subsequent oriental
monarchies conforming to the same type of polity. It has been well said that the Assyrian empire
justified its existence by keeping Babylonian civilization alive over a period during which it could hardly
have survived without the might of Assyrian arms behind it.
DATES OF PHCENICIAN AND CARTHAGINIAN HISTORY
THE PHOENICIANS
CHIEF HISTORIC PERIODS.
DATE.
CHIEF EVENTS.
From the earliest times to the freedom
of Phoenicia from Egyptian rule, and
the rise of Aradus, then Byblos and
Sidon, about 2750-1.250 B.C.
B.C.
About
^750 i Goo
The Phoenicians, a race of Semitic origin, who had probably migrated from the neighbourhood of
the Persian Gulf, and had been settled for a long time on the Sidonian coast build Aradus.
About 2756 B.C.
(It is probable that during and for some time previous to this period Babylon held some control
over the country.)
After the expulsion of the Hyksos from Egypt, Aahmes I visits southern Phoenicia during his
invasion of Asia. About 1600
1600-1250
The Egyptians under Thothmes I invade Phoenicia and appear to have made the people pay
tribute, and in the time of Thothmes III (1503-1449) all Phoenicia becomes tributary to Egypt.
About this time the Phoenicians settle in Cyprus, and commence an establishment of colonies and
trading stations on the coast and islands of the Mediterranean.
By the time of the death of Rameses II (about 1250) Egypt has lost her hold over Phoenicia, and
never again takes any real part in Svrian affairs.
From the commencement of Phoenician
independence to the Assyrian conquest,
1250-876.
1250-876
The Phoenicians have by now reached the western Mediterranean and Spain, and have discovered
the famous "Tin Islands", thought by some to be Britain.
Founding of Utica in Africa and perhaps Tartessus in Spain. noo
Tiglath pileser I of Assyria invades northern Phoenicia and temporarily occupies Aradus.
About ii" •
The power of Sidon, until now the first among the Phoenician cities, has declined, and Tyre has
risen to the hegemony. Phoenician history of this period is chiefly the history of Tyre. The
first known king of Tyre is ABIBAAL. About 1020
He is succeeded by his son, HIRAM I. 1000-936
Under Hiram, Tyre enjoys great prosperity and power, and friendly relations are established
with the Israelites ; a joint expedition is sent by Hiram and Solomon down the coast of
Arabia for purposes of trade. Hiram sends help for the building of the temple at Jerusalem.
BAALBAZER, son of Hiram, reigns. 936-929
He is succeeded by ABDASTARTE, his son. 929-920
METUASTARTE murders the king and usurps the throne. 920-896
ASTARTE, a member of Hiram's family, reigns in conjunction. 908-896
They are succeeded by ASTARYM, brother of Metuastarte. 896-887
His brother PHELLES murders him and seizes the throne. 887
A few months afterwards ITHOBAAL, a priest of Astarte, kills Phelles and makes himself king.
887-855
During his reign Ashur-nazir-pal of Assyria invades Phoenicia, and levies tribute on Tyre, Sidon,
Byblos and other cities. 876
Phoenicia an Assyrian dependency.
876-636
Carthage founded in Africa.
Ithobaal i? succeeded by his SOB BAALAZAR. 855-849
Shalinaneser II levies tribute on the Pho-nician towns. 846-839
MUTTON I, son of Baalazar. 849-820
He is succeeded by PYGMALION. 820 773
After Pvgmalion we have no continuous record of Tvria-n kings.
HIRAM II, King of Tyre. 738
Phoenicia falls more and more under Assyrian sway, and, although Tyre holds out longest,
Sennacherib's invasion (701) greatly impairs her commerce, and her colonial power begins to
decline. A revolution of Sidon against Assyria (680) lead?; to almost total submission of
Phoenicia and Cyprus to Esarhaddon.
Tyre taken by Assur-bani-pal. 664
A revolt of Tyre under BAAL I (672) is unsuccessful, but troubles in Babylonia cause Assyrian
power to decline in Phoenicia, and there is no record of an Assyrian governor after 636
Egypt for a short time obtains a hold over most of Phoenicia. 608-605
Phoenicia a Babylonian dependency till
her conquest by Persia.
605-538
Nechu II of Egypt defeated by Nebuchadnezzar at Carchcmish ; Phoenicia comes under Babylonian
sway. 605
Under ITHOBAAL II Tyre revolts against Nebuchadnezzar, who besieges the city for u years,
without success, except that the Tyrians submit to a governor from Babylon. 574
Nebuchadnezzar deposes Ithobiial and places BAAL II on the throne. 574-5*>4
The power of Tyre has been declining for some time ; 'after the death of Baal there are several
changes of government until the monarchy is revived bv MAHASBAAL being sent from Babvlon.
556
HIKAM III succeeds his brother. 538-2
Cvrus of Persia conquers Babylon, and Phoenicia becomes the fifth satrapy of the Persian Empire.
538
From the Persian conquest to the cap-
ture of Tyre by Alexander the Great,
538-332.
5$8-36a
Sidon has now regained her place at the head of the Phoenician cities, and for some time Tyre
has no political importance.
The Phoenicians enjov a period of peace and prosperity.
They are favourably treated by Persia because of their valuable fleet, and take part with her in
campaigns against Greece. Lade 496. Salamis 480.
A Phoenician fleet assists the Athenians against the Spartans at Cnidus. 394
STRATON I becomes King of Sidon. 374~36i
During his reign friendly relations are established with Athens.
Kvagoras, tyrant of Cyprus, conquers Phoenicia. 387
Straton joins in the great revolt of the satraps against Persia, is disgraced, and dies. 361
361-332
Straton is succeeded by TENNES II. 361-346
Tennes conspires against Persia, but afterwards turns traitor and betrays his city to Artaxerxes III,
who eventually has him killed. 346
The Persians destroy Sidon (345), and Tyre obtains a lending place in Phoenician affairs until she
is IxNirgrd and taken by Alexander the Great. 33^
Tyre now ceases to be of political importance, and the foundation of Alexandria changes the lines
of trade; the Phoenician nation sinks into comparative insignificance.
From the conquest of Phoenicia by
Alexander the Great to the inclusion
of all Syria in the Ottoman Empire
331 B.C.-A.D. 1510,
331-20
Phoenicia is made part of a province by Alexander. On his death (323) the Egyptian and Syrian
kings struggle for a hold over the country. 323-125
In 120 Tyre regains independence, and Sidon in in. This state of affairs continues more or less
until Pompey makes Syria a Roman province and incorporates Phoenicia. 63
Except for thirteen years (83-69) when the entire country is held by Tigranes of Armenia.
Antony give* Phit-nieia to Cleopatra, but allows Tyre and Sidon to remain independent 42
Tyre and Sidon are reduced by Augustus. 20
Under Roman occupation the Phoenicians as a nation finally cease to exist.
THE PHOENICIANS— nntintied
CHIEF HISTORIC PERIODS.
DATE.
CHIEF EVENTS.
A.D.
193-636
Under the Emperor Pescennius Niger, Tyre is sacked by Mauritanian troops in his pay for support-
ing Septimius Sevcrus against him. 194
Porphyry, the Neo-Platonist philosopher, bom at Tyre. 232
Severus repopulates the city (201), which enjoys considerable prosperity for some time.
Syria and Pho?nicia remain under Roman rule, except for some years under Chosroes II of Persia
(616-622), until the battle of Hieromax (636), after which the Muhammadans seize thef.uumry.
636-1516
Tyre enjoys a long period of peaceful commercial prosperity under Saracen rule.
A siege of Tyre is begun by the Crusaders under Baldwin, but abandoned. mi
Tyre is taken by the Crusaders. 1124
Saladin attempts to retake Tyre, but is compelled to raise his siege by Guy de Lusignan. 1189
The Crusaders also capture Acre, 1189, which becomes the chief town on the Phoenician coast.
Tyre is abandoned to the Saracens. i?gi
The Turks, under Selim I, conquer Syria and Phoenicia, and make them a part of the Ottoman
Empire (1516). in which thev are still incorporated.
THE CARTHAGINIANS
CHIEF HISTORIC PERIODS.
From the foundation of Carthage to the
commencement of the First Punic
War, about 850-265 B.C.
Carthaginians drive back the Western
Greeks.
From the commencement of the First
Punic War to the destruction of
Carthage by the Romans, 264-146 B.C.
Roman province.
DATE.
B.C.
850-550
650-550
480-277
277-265
264-250
249-219
218-214
213-201
200-150
CHIEF EVENTS.
Carthage is founded in Libya by Phoenician political refugees from Tyre (about 850), who do not
dispossess the original inhabitants of the land, but pay them rent and obtain some kind of
influence over the neighbouring nomad tribes.
Carthaginian colonization in Western Sicily.
Malchus, the nest-known ruler of Carthage, increases the power of the city in Africa ami Sicily, but
is defeated in Sardinia and banished. He re-obtains power, but is finally killed by his own
party. About 535
Alliance between Etruscans and Carthaginians.
Malchus is succeeded by Mago and his family, under whose rule Carthage makes great strides
towards local supremacy, control being obtained over Sardinia, Balearic Islands, and parts
of Sicily and Gaul, and the Phoca?ans driven from Corsica after the Battle of Alalia. 536
A commercial treaty is arranged with Rome, affirming trade-monopoly in the Western
Mediterranean. 509
Two expeditions sent out to explore the west coast of Africa and of Spain and the Atlantic estab-
lish trade with Britain and with Senegal. About 300
First serious check to Carthaginian advance is caused by defeat of Hamilcar by Gclo of Syracuse.
Battle of Himera. 480
Reduction of Libya into a province under Carthage, and a landed aristocracy created at Carthage.
A second and more successful invasion of Sicily results in Carthage increasing her power in Sit i I v j < > s
The tyrant, Dionysius I of Syracuse (405-367), saves Sicily from being entirely < cnqiicn.d by the
Carthaginians; but he is never strong enough to drive them out of Western Sicily.
Timoleon of Corinth aids Syracuse against Carthage and, by defeating them at the battlf of the
Crimisus, frees the Greek cities. 343
Carthage receives the fugitives from Tyre when besieged by Alexander the Great, but afterwards
sends an embassy to Babylon. 333
Agathocles of Agrigentum declares war on Carthage and invades Africa, but is compelled t< •- retire
owing to a revolt in Agrigentum. 310
After his death (289), Carthage extends her dominions in Sicily. Pyrrhus, King of Epirn-
to the help of Syracuse (277), but Carthage unites with Rome and forces him to leave the
island. 276
Thr Mamcrtines, besieged in Messana by the Syracusans, appeal to both Rome ami Carthage
for help (265). This furnishes a pretext for war between the two rival power-*.
First Punic War 264-241 B.C. The Romans come to the help of Messana and defeat the Cartha-
ginians and Syracusans. 264
Hiero of Syracuse joins the Romans (264), who are victorious in Sicily and win two great naval
battles, Mylae (260), and Economus (256), against the Carthaginians.
Encouraged by their victories the Romans invade Africa, but are defeated by Xanthippus, and
their fleet lost in a storm on the voyage home. 255
They are, however, successful in Sicily, causing Carthage to offer terms of peace, which are
refused. 250
The Carthaginians defeat the Romans in the harbour of Drepanum (249!, and under Hamilcar
Barca are victorious in Sicily and along the Italian coast. -M; -M3
Roman victory off ^Estates Islands (242) compels the Carthaginians finally to evacuate Sicily. ^41
A revolt of Carthaginian mercenaries and her Libyan subject soldiers develops into civil
war (241-237), during which Rome seizes Corsica and Sardinia. 238
The Carthaginians invade Spain (236), and gain control as far as the Ebro, which is fixed as their
boundary by a treaty with Rome. Hannibal seizes Saguntum, a town with which Rome
has made an alliance although it was south of the Ebro. 219
Second Punic War, 218-201 B.C. Hannibal leaves Hasdrubal in command of Spain and marches
for Italy. He crosses the Alps by out-manoeuvring the Romans, defeats them at Ticinu> and
Trebia (218) and winters in the Po valley. -• i '••
Hannibal defeats the Romans at Lake Trasimene (217) and again at Cannae. 316
Hasdruba prevented from joining him by great victory of the Scipios in Spain. 117
Encouraged by an alliance with Macedon and Syracuse, the Carthaginians invade Sicily. ^i \
The Carthaginians are driven from Sicily, but are successful against the Scipios in Spain. 211
Hannibal approaches Rome, but fails to take the city, and has to retire. 211
Capture of Nova Carthago by the young Scipio Africanus. 209
Defeat of Hasdrubal in Spain. 208
He tries to join Hannibal in Italy, but is defeated and slain at Metaurus. 207
Scipio expels the Carthaginians from Spain (206) and invades Africa. 204
Hannibal recalled from Italy.
Scipio finally crushes the Carthaginians at Zama. 202
Carthage sue? for peace, and the supremacy of the West passes to Rome. 201
Hannibal become-; ^ivi-rimr of ( arthage, but is checkmated by his political rival-., <.'•
influence, and flics from the city by night. 195
Death of Hannibal. 183
One of the conditions which Rome laid on Carthage was the resignation of the right to wag-1 foreign
wars. Carthage is compelled t<> defend itself against Numidian aggression. 151
The Romans accuse Carthage of breaking the treaty and invade Africa. 150
I bird Punic War, 149-146 B.C. Carthage besieged, taken, and destroyed; the Carthaginians
cease to be a nation. Her t'-rriioiv made into a Roman province.
The Phoenicians and the Carthaginians
317
CHAPTER VII
THE PH(ENICIANS AND THE CARTHAGINIANS
Edited by BERTRAND L. HALLWARD, M.A.
ANY intelligent survey of the globe from an historical point of view will show at once how far superior
is quality to quantity. For the nations that have been famous seldom owned a great area till they
subdued it by arms and arts ; some of the greatest never did, so that the largest changes in human
civilization have often sprung from the smallest beginnings. Of these Palestine and Greece and Venice
and Holland are examples ; they are petty indeed on the map, but vast in their influences. Even Great
Painted specially for this worfr.1
ARRIVAL OF THE FOUNDERS OF PH<ENICTA.
The founders ot the Phoenician nation appear to have been emigrants from the Lower Euphrates or Persian Gulf. From
time to time there were various migrations of the surplus population from this somewhat congested region, and they passed
westward and settled on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean. This narrow strip of land between the mountains and the
sea included a sandy belt particularly favourable for the growth of date-palms, and from their abundance it became known
as the Palm Land — Phceniee.
Britain, in comparison with the Empire she has acquired, is but a small island of inconsiderable size.
These considerations apply eminently to Phoenicia — a fringe along the coast of Syria, between
mountains and the sea, which consisted of a small string of cities along this coast and a few hundred
thousand inhabitants ; and yet, even if we exclude Carthage, her greatest colony, which in time developed
an empire of her own, Phoenicia and Phcenicians were a household word as merchants in all the empires
that arose in Asia and Europe for twenty centuries. They were in contact with Egypt, Assyria and
Babylonia, Greece, Rome, not to speak of the barbarians of Spain, Gaul and Britain ; and their solid con-
tributions to the world's comfort and luxury, improvements in the art of shipbuilding, glass vessels and
purple garments, kept them wealthy and respected down, at least, to the days of the traveller Strabo.
An indelible purple dye was the one original commercial discovery of the Phcenicians ; the manufacture
of glass was learned from the Egyptians, but perfected by the accident of finding a peculiar sand off the
coast south of Tyre.
Story of the Nations
Great, however, as were these manufactures, and widespread and popular in their use, the main work
of the Phoenicians was not manufacturing, but carrying. They created and built the carrying trade of
the Mediterranean for many centuries, and so contributed, as much as any nation we know, to the
civilization of Europe. The glazed beads found about Stonehenge are now recognized as Egyptian,
and Egyptian of the Twelfth Dynasty ; so that the Britons obtained such foreign wares as early as the
fourteenth century B.C. It is almost certain that these things were obtained through the mediation of
the Phoenicians.
However, even when one has said all this about them, one has not mentioned the most important
fact of all. The discovery of the alphabetic system of writing is one of the greatest discoveries in the
world's history, comparable with the discovery of printing or of the steam and petrol engines. Previous
Painted specially for this imrk.l
PRIMITIVE SHIP-BUILDING.
The Phoenicians, though they made their first voyages in what were little better than open boats, afterwards made i'on-
siderable advance in their ideas of ship-building. Their earlier vessels were impelled by rowers seated along each side, and
under favourable eondilioiiR a small square sail was hoisted. They improved this form by decking the vessel and seating
the rowers in the hold, their oars working throush holes in the sides.
scripts had used pictorial signs, ideograms or syllabic representations. But the alphabet was
a physiological discovery ; it recognized for the first time that all human speech is produced by con-
formations of the tongue, lips, palate and teeth, etc. A medium was thereby invented which all languages
could use. The Greeks attributed the invention of the alphabet to the Phoenicians : modern investigation
has discovered nothing to disprove this view. There can at any rate be no doubt that the Phoenicians
carried the alphabet all over the Mediterranean.
Where did this people come from, and when did they first occupy their very peculiar strip oi
land ? Their language was not only wholly Semitic, but more akin to Hebrew than any other dialect
of that family Their traditions pretended that they had come from the south-east, even from the
Persian Gulf, where there were still in historical days towns called Tyre and Arved. The Hebrews also
had come from the east, across the desert that separates Palestine from the Euphrates valley. But the
existence of the great Semite family of the Arabs points to a possibility that the earliest seat of that rare
was somewhere in southern Arabia afterwards known as Arabia Felix ; and that from thence successive
320
Story of the Nations
1'aintcd tpectdtty for this work.]
PHOENICIAN MAIDENS MOURNING THE LOSS OF ADONIS.
This was a form of nature worship. The sun fading each winter was
supposed to suffer death, which was typified by tho death of Adonis while
hunting on Lehanou. Every year during the autumn floods Phoenician
maidens mourned his loss on the banks of the Hirer Adonis, which, naturally
swollen and discoloured at this period, was considered to be stained by his blood.
waves spread north-east, north and
north-west, of whom the Aramaean
tribes of Palestine were an earlier
invasion, displaced about 2000 B.C.
by the Phoenicians, and after some
centuries by the Hebrews, who had
sojourned in Lower Egypt.
All these things are as yet very
obscure ; and still more obscure is the
question. What races peopled Syria
and Palestine before these Semites,
and did they leave behind them and
infuse into the Semites any ideas of
civilization such as the pre-Aryans did
into the early culture of Greece and
Italy ? There were wild legends among
the Hebrews of Rephaim and Zum-
zummin, primitive giants that dwelt
in the land, not to speak of the Anikim,
whom the Hebrew spies professed to
have seen. It does not require so
much imagination to believe that when
the Phoenicians arrived on that coast
they found a primitive race of fisher-
men, who taught them the use of boats
and the art of netting for fish ; quite
possibly, also, the fact that a rich red
dye could be extracted from pounding
shell-fish on the spot.
This is all the more likely, as the
new race seem not to have come across
the Jordan with the Hebrews, or before
them, but by some morenorthern route,
bringing them over the Syrian moun-
tains first to Aradus, from which they
spread southward to Byblos, Sidon,
Marathus and, last of all, Tyre, the greatest of their cities. The peculiar method and site chosen for these
cities may have come from the first experiment at Aradus. There was always a promontory, easily defended
against an attack from land ; if not an island, like Tyre, almost a mile from the mainland across a shallow
sea. Sidon means the place of fishermen ; Tyre (Tsur), the fortress. The model of them all seems to have
been Aradus. Byblos or Gebal only was not on the sea, but a few miles inland, and reputed the most
ancient city of the world, only because it was the centre of the worship of Adonis, or ' Thammuz
yearly wounded.'
The mention of Adonis creates a difficulty regarding the close relation between Phoenicians and
Hebrews, which is suggested by their languages. The former always remained polytheistic ; their creed
was cruel, demanding human sacrifices, even of firstborn children, to appease the supposed anger of their
Moloch. In any great war, at moments of disaster or defeat, these sacrifices are a dark spot on Phoenician
civilization. But they were shared by Canaanites, and even by Assyrians, and it was only the select
minority among the Jews that maintained the pure worship of Jehovah, the one God who tolerated no
divided allegiance. The history of the Old Testament shows the gradual evolution of the loftier doctrine
of monotheism . but it also gives us ample evidence how difficult pious kings and prophets found it to
maintain their creed against the worship of Baal and of Asthtaroth, the Baal-Melkart and the Astarte of
the Phoenicians The polytheistic crowd, either in Palestine or in Phoenicia have left us no literature .
The Phoenicians and the Carthaginians
321
the worshippers of the one God have left us no material images, which were an abomination to them.
But, nevertheless, the creed of the Phoenicians does not show any radical difference from the superstitions
of those Hebrews and Canaanites who were given to idolatry.
Though the strip of land occupied by the Phoenicians was very small, about one hundred and
fifty miles, with an average of twelve miles broad, both margins offered ample scope to fire the imagination
and to hold out hopes of material profits. The chain of Lebanon, which shuts off the coast land by
a barrier so complete that even recently it was not crossed by roads, protected the dwellers of the
coast from the attacks of the inland empires, and afforded them picturesque glens, splendid forest trees,
of which the cedars are world-famous, tumbling rivers, and near their issue to the sea rich alluvial
valleys, good for oil and wine. On the seaside they could reap another harvest — plenty of fish and,
moreover, that invaluable shell whose inhabitants, a sort of mussel, when boiled down, produced the
purple dye which brought in countless millions to the dyers for a succession of ages. And within sight
of the slopes of Lebanon, on a clear day, could be seen the mountains of Cyprus, a great island which
they very soon colonized ; its eastern chief city, Citium, founded by them, is known as Chittim in the
tenth chapter of Genesis. Indeed, they so interpenetrated Cyprus with their arts and crafts that it may
almost be regarded as a larger Phoenicia. Yet they found there not savages, but a people and peoples
-who had already adopted a graphic system foreign to their famous alphabet, and one founded, it is said, on
earlier cuneiform influences from Mesopotamia.
The earliest allusions to Phoenicia known to us come from Egypt, as a country which several
great Egyptian kings, such as Thothmes III, profess to have overrun and from which they received
tribute. We even have pictures of the tribute brought by Phoenicians. But what is remarkable, the
first account of an Egyptian official going to Palestine, in the time of the Twelfth Egyptian Dynasty
COLONIZATION OF CYPRUS MY THE PHOENICIANS.
is, \\-;th it* irreat mineral wealth and fertile soil, so near the mainland as to be visible from the slopes ot Lebanon, must
r,t n very early date have attraeted l'h:.-nicinn enlonist.s. They interpenetrated the island with their art" and crafts to such an
• extent that it may he regarded as a Greater Phoenicia
322
Story of the Nations
mentions no Canaanite tribe or town. On the contrary, in an account of the voyage of an official near the
end of the reign of Ramses II — who had wars and treaties with the Hittites, northern neighbours of the
Phoenicians, with a great capital at Carchemish — an official who returns from Aleppo by the sea coast,
Gebal (Byblos), Berytos, Sidon, Sarepta, and other places are mentioned, and last, of course, "maritime
Tyre", built on a rock amid the
sea full of fishes, to which fresh
water is carried by boats. This
must be more than twelve centuries
before Christ.* The cities of the
coast down to Joppa number eleven
or twelve, and if they were worth
speaking of at that date, we may
suppose that the occupation of the
coast by these Semites may date
at least 2000 B.C. For there is no
sign or symptom of a sudden con-
quest. It has also been noted
that not one of these cities has
wholly disappeared, and that no
new one has ever been established
on that coast.
The claims of the various cities
for the primacy are now of no im-
portance. We need only note here
that Sidon was the first of them to
attain celebrity abroad. The Book
of Genesis calls Sidon the eldest son
of Canaan, and makes him the
descendant of Ham, which may
possibly mean that the earliest
population there, to which we have
already alluded, was pre-Semitic.
Sidon means the "fishing place", and
it is remarkable that while Homer
knew Sidonians as > merchants,
or even pirates, bartering the wares
of Assyria and Egypt for native
produce, and often kidnapping a
girl or a child to sell as a slave, he
never mentions Tyre. This seems to
prove that when the earlier bards
wrote, whose lays were used by
the great poet of the Iliad and
of the Odyssey, Tyre had not yet
risen to importance. It also proves
that the mining operations of the
Phoenicians, such as the whole
mountain at Thasos turned inside out in search ot gold, which Herodotus mentions, cannot be as
early as some historians have supposed. It is impossible that the memory of such an occupation
of Greek islands could have died out so soon. But Homeric Sidonians represent the true and eternal
I'hd nician (and Jew) — a middleman that barters the products of widely separated countries and who
only turns manufacturer or craftsman in exceptional cases.
• A later account was written by an Egyptian official sent to obtain cedar trees, to be towed by sea to the coast of ligypt.
I'ainted specially for ttt is work. \ <
THOTHMES III SACKING ZAHI AT HARVEST-TIME.
Repeated invasions by the Egyptians Inid the country for a time under
tribute and homage. Thothmcs III several times entered Phoenicia at the
beiid of his army. On one occasion it was the time of harvest . when the corn was
await inu t he ( hreshers, and the oil and wine were in store. The Egyptians marched
off with all they could carry. Under the name of /.nhi the Egyptian? coinpre
hcnded that part ctf Syria to which I'hu'niciu belonged.
324
Story of the Nations
-
cially Jor this u-ork.j
PHCENICIAN CRAFTSMEN BUILDING A TEMPLE FOR SOLOMON.
During the reign of Hiram the Tyrians were on very friendly terms with the Israelites, who were then the dominant race in
Syria. At the request of Solomon, Hiram gave him valuable help in the building of his temple to Jehovah, sending him cedar-
wood from Lebanon and a large number of skilled Phoenician craftsmen.
The greatest of all carrying trades in the early centuries of which we are speaking must have been
between Babylonia and Egypt. There then existed long before these Semite irruptions and wanderings,
two great civilizations, which valued foreign luxuries and could pay for them handsomely. So
there must have been an extensive carrying trade on the route which came up from Egypt by the coast, and
at some point near or at Phoenicia struck inland by caravans of camels, such as those of the Ishmaelites
who carried Joseph for sale into Egypt. With the land transit the Phoenicians were only indirectly
concerned. But by ship they could not only float down their own precious produce of timber, especially
cedar, to Egypt, but 'they could bring Egyptian luxuries a good way towards Babylon by landing them
where they could take the shortest way, by Baalbec and Palmyra, to the Euphrates. In any case, they
got Egyptian glass beads and precious stones, and at first gold, to carry in their ships and expose for
sale in foreign ports. And if the carrying trade to Babylonia was partly beyond their possibilities, this
was not at all the case regarding the traffic towards the west. Here they won the first place in the
Mediterranean sea-borne trade, bringing the rarities and luxuries of Egypt, and even Assyria, to the coasts
and islands of Asia Minor, Greece, Sicily, Sardinia, Gaul, and even to Spain and Britain. Of course, the
first of their conquests, if a peaceful occupation for the purposes of trade can be so called, was Cyprus.
Here they found more fine timber, as the word cypress still shows, and valuable mines of ore, which is
still called Cyprian (copper). Here, too, they carried in, and afterwards made objects of art and of trade —
figures of gods, amulets and charms, pottery, glass — all of which have been found in large quantities in
Cypriot tombs, and which form a notable feature in many museums, especially that of New York. These
objects, which show very little trace of any pre-Semitic art, as the early remains in Greece show of
a pre-Hellenic art, confirm the judgment of all who have studied them that the Phoenicians had no native
The Phoenicians and the Carthaginians
325
artistic genius ; that not only at home, but in Cyprus — afterwards in North Africa — they merely brought
in objects from other countries, and imitated them without any improvements. The Assyrian and the
Egyptian features in all their work are manifest ; the only originality in their art, says M. Perrot is that
it is not original. To this we shall return when we come to the great tombs found at Sidon.
As regards the political conditions under which these cities rose and flourished, we are only sure
of two facts — first, that most, if not all, of them once had an hereditary king ruling over them ; but,
secondly, that soon the real power lay in the hands of a few wealthy families ; so that Aristotle speaks of
the constitution of Carthage, our best -known example, as an aristocracy tending to oligarchy, wealth and
with it ability, being the sine qua non of political power. In this these cities resembled other such com-
munities all through the ages — Venice, Genoa, the Italian republics, the Hansa towns. The main difference
seems to be that the royal title was preserved in Phoenicia, probably from the very origin of the towns ;
whereas the medieval parallels were, from the first, aristocracies. The particular case of Carthage tends to
illustrate it This city was founded in historical days, and by people whose names survived. Here legend ac-
counted for the disappearance of the royal family, and history shows us a government not unlike the Roman
republic. The centuries of progress, of prosperity, of endurance, shown by Tyre and Sidon are the work of
nameless aristocracies, with kings only nominal, in every sense, except as high priests, ruling over them.
It is noticed that after the time of Ramessu II (circa. 1250 B.C.) no further attempt was ever made
by Egypt to rule over northern Syria or Phoenicia ; but with the rise of Assyria another danger arose,
for Tiglath-Pileser I (circa. 1098 B.C.), boasts that his conquests reached over Lebanon to the western
sea. He does not, however, specify Phoenicia, and we know very well that the shrewd merchants of
its cities were quite content to acknowledge the nominal suzerainty of such an invader, and bribe him
with gifts of tribute, provided he did not interfere with their commerce. Indeed it would be for
their advantage to open new or enlarged traffic with the great cities of Mesopotamia.
I'nin-nl foa
In return for Hiram's assistance in the building of his temple at Jerusalem, Solomon sent him annual supplies of wheat and
oil as "fond for his house". Legend asserts that the famous golden pillar in the temple of Mclkart, set up by Hiram was a present
from the Israelitish king as a mark of gratitude.
326
Story of the Nations
The cloud in the East, however, in course of time became a real danger lor the cities of the coast. As
yet their main outlook was westward. Finding no obstacles from any great civilized power in that
direction — that of Crete must have already decayed — these traders not only settled on various coasts
and islands in the Mediterranean, but actually founded Utica, in North Africa, and possibly Tartessus
{Cadiz), outside the Pillars of Hercules, about noo B.C. The very name for the famous strait is Phoenician,
for in the temples of Baal-Melkart (the Greek Heracles) there were set up two pillars, such as the Jachin
and Boaz of the temple of Jerusalem, or the pillars — one of them translucent — which Herodotus saw at
his temple in Tyre. How soon they penetrated beyond Tartessus towards the north of Europe we shall
probably never know for certain. The Egyptian beads found about Stonehenge may have gone through
many intermediate hands in barter between the Tyrian exporters and the British recipients. For Tyre
Painted specially for this work.)
PREPARING FOR A TRADING VOYAGE.
Tyre, the Venice of the ancient world, was the door between East and West. Great trading fleets weir sent out, laden with
Oriental luxuries to be bartered for the spoils of Africa Greece, and the western Mediterranean. But it is a sad fact that many
of the splendidly equipped ships which left the Phoenician harbours never returned, so great were the dangers from storms and
pirates.
had by this time outrun Sidon. But what is certain is that it was the iron, copper and silver of Spain,
and the tin (the needed alloy to make bronze from copper) of Cornwall, that was the mainspring of these
long voyages.
We have names of several Tyrian kings preserved to us in the fragment of Menander of Ephesus
quoted by Josephus. But they are mere names till we come to Hiram, the friend and ally of Solomon,
who is said to have become king in 1000 B.C. Hiram had already been the friend of David, towards the
end of David's reign. The advantages of this alliance to Hiram were obvious. In return for gold, silver
and cedar wood, he not only obtained wheat and oil from Palestine, but new routes to the south and east
for his commerce, especially a way — perhaps an old way renewed — to the head of the Persian Gulf, as well
as the Red Sea. By this means he reached the gold of Ophir, wherever that may be, and the apes and
peacocks of India. It was from Hiram that Solomon borrowed skilled workmen, who brought the
The Phoenicians and the Carthaginians
327
materials, wood, stone and metals for the building of the famous temple ol Jerusalem. Architects
who have verified the measurements in the First Book of Kings tell us that the exterior must have been
to our taste an ugly elevation, narrow and tall while of the description in the Book of Chronicles they
can make no building at all, the figures being evidently either imaginary or corrupt in our texts.
We need only remind English readers, who know their Bible, of the glowing account given of the
imported splendours of Jerusalem owing to this Tyrian alliance, but also of the various suspicious
features, theologically, which Hiram's builders introduced into the temple. The principal worker in
metal, and apparently also designer, is a namesake of the king, but the son of a Tyrian father by a woman
of Naphtali. He had all the foundry work done near Jerusalem, and as to the conveyance of the cedar,
the king of Tyre says he will have the trees cut in Lebanon, and brought down to the coast by gangs
i'ainttd siicciulli/ /or this work. I
PHOENICIAN TRADERS KIDNAPPING MAIDENS ON THE COAST OF GREECE.
Herodotus tells how, at a period considerably antecedent to the Trojan War, the Phoenicians made long trading voyages,
their Tessels laden with Egyptian and Assyrian wares. They did not always return with merely that which they had received
by sale or barter : occasionally, when the merchandise had been sold and the ships were ready for departure, a raid was made
npon the maidens, who were taken on board by force and sold as slaves in Egypt.
of workmen, some of which are supplied by Solomon. He will then have them floated to the spot Solomon
finds most convenient — probably Joppa (Ako).- The whole narrative (i Kings vi-viii) is well worth
studying, to give us a picture of the expertness of the Phoenicians at that time. This long practice
of dealing with cedar and fir, the forest trees here mentioned, was also the main cause of their excellence
in shipbuilding, an excellence which the Greeks never attained until Hellenistic times ; for even Xenophon
(CEconomicus) tells us that a Phrenician vessel which came into Corinth from the far west was visited by
the citizens in much the same way that we go to admire a German airship.
We have the names of Hiram's successors, which are of no interest till we come to one Mutton
(sic), who left a son and daughter, Pygmalion and Elissa, but married the latter to his brother Sicharbaal,
the marriage of uncle and niece being evidently lawful, as it was at Athens. But Pygmalion, according
to tradition, who was to reign jointly with his sister, murdered her husband to obtain his treasure, and
Story ot the Nations
hence Elissa fled the country and went off to Africa, where she founded the famous Carthage. She is
known to all the world as the Dido of Virgil's immortal poem.
This is the legendary account of the foundation of Carthage, which may perhaps have taken place in
the ninth century B.C., but it was not the only settlement made on the northern shore of Africa. Sidon
had already founded Ityke (Utica) two centuries before, and Hippo at least as early ; and, as we shall see,
the former stood in peculiar relations of independence to Carthage in later days. But we shall resume the-
history of Carthage when we have sketched that of the mother country
Another and an earlier Tyrian settlement is known in the Bible as Tarshish — in Greek. Tartessus—
Painted specially for /his work.]
"CEDAR FROM LEBANON" TRANSPORTED ALONG THE SYRIAN COAST.
The timber cut on Mount Lebanon was usually thrown into the rivers at flood season, and, being thus carried down to tdelr
mouths, was made into huge floats or rafts which were towed along the coast, of Syria to their destination, usually a Jewish or
Egyptian port
for in the eighth and seventh centuries B.C. Tartessus established a maritime empire along the south coast
of Spain as far as the River Ebro and a famous King Arganthonius (Silver King) ruled over it.
It was from this country, the richest in Europe for valuable ore, that the Phoenicians imported, above
all, silver, which is talked of as of no account in Jerusalem in the days of Solomon and, if so, most certainly
a Phoenician import.
The next reappearance of Phoenicia on the canvas ol world-history is when the Assyrian power
became the chief military power in Asia, and when sovereigns like Ashur-nasir-pal II spread their conquests
as far as the Mediterranean This king, according to his own account, advanced west to the Lebanon
range 876 (B.C.), and made all the coast subject to tribute. The same thing was done by his successor,
Shalmaneser III. The ascendancy thus obtained over Phoenicia by the kings of Assyria, if it only amounted
to a reasonable tribute, may not have been resented by its cities ; for this people was always ready to pay
money in order to secure peaceful trade. The markets of Mesopotamia being opened to them by their
Assyrian suzerain must have far more than repaid their tribute ; and it is from this time onward that
Painted specially for this irork.]
BUYING OFF ASHUR-NASIR-PAL.
The Phoenicians, in common with their neighbours, had long acknowledged Assyria as their suzerain and had
tribute. On these terms peace had been maintained for nearly a hundred and lift > yea rs : but at length (876 B.C.) A
„ Vma.rlM-d with an armv southward along the coast, and the Plm-nichm towns maAe hwte to buy him off with presents.
2D
The Phoenicians and the Carthaginians
331
the many figurines, gems, and other objects Assyrian in style became common in the exports of Tyre
and Sidon to Cyprus and the Far West. The protection of a great power in the East must have contributed
to their security.
During the next two centuries of Assyrian and Babylonian supremacy there were not wanting revolts
in Syria, especially with the help of Egypt, and we hear of another Shalmaneser besieging Tyre for five
years (circa 725 B.C.) without taking it, though he had the assistance of the ships of the other
Phoenician cities. So also another
Ashur-bani-pal, contemporary with
Gyges of Lydia (660 B.C.), boasts that
he brought maritime Tyre to terms, by
isolating it from the shore and cutting
off the supply of fresh water. But it is
very likely that as Sidon had, even in
Strabo's day, ingenious means of
getting fresh water from springs coming
up in the shallow sea, so Tyre was
preserved from capture when the other
coast cities were wholly subdued. The
ambitious policy of the Assyrians was
to reach as far as Cyprus and into Asia
Minor, and for this purpose the fleets of
the Phoenicians must have been abso-
lutely necessary.
It is very remarkable how the
Hebrew prophets of this period look
upon Tyre and Sidon with hatred, and
prophesy their fall. They were no
longer the allies of Judah and Israel,
but hated rivals, who profited by the
misfortunes of their Semite cousins.
Moreover, Joel, one of the earliest of
these prophets, who speaks of the
invasions of the Assyrians, brings a
very definite accusation : "What are ye
to me, .O Tyre and Sidon, and Philistia ;
will ye render me a recompense ? . .
forasmuch as ye have taken my silver
and my gold, and have carried into
your temples my goodly pleasant
things ; the children also of Judah and Painted spcciallv for „,„ v.ork ,
of Jersualem have ye sold to the sons DESTRUCTION OF SIDON BY ESARHADDON
of the Greeks, that ye might remove Abdi-Milkut, King of Sidon, wished to free himself from the Assyrian
tV,om fo.- (m *!,„:, A . u u u i suzerainty, and allied himself with Sanduarri of Lebanon. They declared
hem far from their border , behold I themsclve8 inctependent ; but Esarhaddon swept down upon them, destroyed
will Stir them up Out of the place tne Sldonlan cities, and led a large number of the inhabitants away into
whither ye have sold them, and will «>*"'"*•
return your recompense upon your own head ; and I will sell your sons and your daughters into the
land of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the men of Sheba." Here we see the old
slave-trading of the Phoenicians brought up against them ; also, that the Hebrews did not
scruple to repay them by retaliation. But loyalty to their neighbours and cousins, among these Semite
peoples, seems a very rare virtue. Even the rest of the coast cities, over and over again, helped the
common enemy against Tyre, and probably rejoiced in her humiliation, or even her ruin.
In spite of all these difficulties, the condition of Tyre and her sister cities remained very splendid all
through the Assyrian supremacy as appears from the pictures of other prophets. Thus Isaiah, in his
332
Story of the Nations
"Burden of Tyre" (chapter xxiii), beginning, "Howl, ye ships of Tarshish," prophesies that not even by
passing over to Cyprus shall the inhabitants escape slavery. But the most famous passage in these
prophets is the denunciation of Ezekiel (chapters xxvi.-ix), which describes the splendours of Tyre,
and the universality of her traffic with all her neighbours, and yet she is to fall, and become a
bare rock for fishers to dry their nets.
The accusations against her are two :
in the first place, she has rejoiced in the
fall of Jerusalem, and said that by her
neighbours becoming poor and wasted
she will become richer ; secondly that,
being mortal, she sets up for divine
honours, and says, "I am God."
The actual name assumed by her king
was Baal. The burden is too long for
quotation, but this splendid text
should be studied by any reader
who desires to know the reputation
of the city, when the new power
of Babylon came against her.
Ezekiel's prophecy was not ful-
filled as he expected it to be fulfilled.
For though Nebuchadnezzar, after the
capture of Jerusalem, besieged Tyre
for many years (we hear for eleven),
he did not capture it, but was content
to retire under some treaty by which
the Tyrians saved their city and par-
tial independence.
We do not hear that the successive
rise of the Medes, and then of
the Persians, had any great effect
on Phoenicia, except that when
the Oriental powers interfered in
Asia Minor, and fought with the
kingdom of Lydia, they demanded
from the Phoenicians that they should
supply them with a fleet. This fleet
was a very important item in the
Persian power, and neither Darius
nor Xerxes could have undertaken
their expeditions against Greece
without its assistance. Nor do we
hear of any doubtful loyalty on the part
of these subject allies of Persia. Of
course, the Greeks had been, and were,
their most dangerous enemies all over the Mediterranean. They had thrust themselves into the Phoenician
preserves of the West, and settled on the coasts of Italy, Sicily and Gaul. No wonder the Tyrians stood by
the Oriental enemies of the Greeks. Though in the sea-battles, which they fought, the Greeks were generally
successful, yet there is never any question of the efficiency of the Phoenician sailors. We must presume
that it was in the fighting qualities of the marine soldiers on board that they were inferior to their enemies.
Still, it is a constant fear in the minds of the Greeks that a Phoenician fleet should appear west of Cilicia,
and provisions against it were not uncommon in treaties between the Greeks and the great king.
Hence when Alexander the Great led a western army to conquer Persia he met with no more stubborn
Painted specially for this »•<•/•/,•.]
DEATH
OF AUDI-MILKUT.
Sidon, which under Its king Abdi-Milkut had conspired against
Esarhaddon, was besieged, taken, and destroyed by the angry monarch.
Abdl-Milkut, captured while trying to escape to Cyprus, wns killed at onr-r
and his head carried in triumph back to the Assyrian capital.
334
Story of the Nations
resistance than that of Tyre. As
usual, the other cities of the coast
submitted without difficulty, and
Sidon obtained good terms as com-
pared with Tyre. For the latter,
although ready to pay tribute, would
not submit to a formal entry of
Alexander with his troops to sacri-
fice at the altar of Baal-Melkart,
and hence the enraged king under-
took the formal siege of the island
fortress — a quixotic undertaking
which wasted seven months of his
most precious time and a vast
amount of life, and only obtained
absolutely what he could have
easily attained with very reasonable
limitations. But as it turned out,
the capture of Tyre was one of the
most astonishing of all the great
conqueror's performances. For he
had to build a causeway for nearly
a mile in the face of the active
attacks of the Tyrian vessels, and
make a breach in their great walls
sufficient to admit his storming
infantry. The task was long thought
impossible, and must have remained
so had the other cities remained
either neutral or helped Tyre. In
the end, the daemonic force of his
genius triumphed over all obstacles,
and what Nebuchadnezzar had failed
to do in thirteen years was accom-
plished in seven months. It was far
from the wise policy of the con-
queror to raze Tyre and scatter its
Painted specially for this work.\ population. What he wanted was to
TYRE BESIEGED BY NEBUCHADNEZZAR OF BABYLON. secure the power of the sea when he
Tyre, having thrown off the yoke of Assyria, made strenuous efforts to , • rvaitm infn Asia
avoid falling under that of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar besieged the city for was
thirteen years but was not able to take it. "Every head was made bald and and for this purpose Tyrian ships
every shoulder peeled," says Ezeklcl xrlx, alluding to the difficulties of the wefe needfu] to him . but he cer.
tainly favoured Sidon, and hence we find unexpected evidences of wealth and splendour belonging to it
which we have not yet discovered belonging to Tyre.
I mean the famous necropolis of Sidon, from whence came, in 1855, the great basalt sarcophagus
of King Eshmunazar (now in the Louvre) and the equally splendid sarcophagus of Tabnit, his son (found
in 1888, and now at Constantinople), and the further group of Greek and Asianic tombs which make
the collection quite the finest in the world. There is the great tomb with reliefs of Alexander's battles
and hunting, which seems to belong to a king or grandee who was his companion, and therefore probably
that of Philocles, the first Greek king of Sidon, who was Ptolemy Soter's High Admiral in the JEgean.
This marble sarcophagus, with its coloured reliefs, with its Macedonians, Persians and Greeks in conflict
or engaged in hunting the leopard or the stag, is certainly the finest in the world. But the other coffins
of Greek work — the "tomb of the Satrap", "the Lycian tomb", "the mourning women", as they
The Phoenicians and the Carthaginians
335
are called, only illustrate the lasting feature of Phoenician art ; it was always borrowed. Here the
appropriation is without alloy ; but the tombs of Eshmunazar and Tabnit are bona-fide Egyptian coffins,
with hieroglyphic inscriptions, adapted to new circumstances by the Sidonians, and furnished with solemn
Phoenician texts, telling us who the occupant was — a king, but, above all, a priest of Ashtaroth ; in
Tabnit's case telling that there are no treasures buried with him, and in both cases cursing him that
would dare to disturb their bones. Nor did Hamdi Bey long survive the violating of the tomb and the
exposing of Tabnit's remains.
They were concealed in a rock-chamber, with an enormous stone weighing many tons set over the sarco-
phagus, so that it had to be sawed off in layers to penetrate to the chamber beneath. These Egypto-
Phcenician tombs are referred by the learned to the fourth century B.C., apparently not Jong before the
days of Alexander. For we cannot conceive the older fashion being resumed after the Greek fashion
of such great beauty had invaded Sidon.
We must assume that the foundation of Alexandria, and the opening of trade-routes by the
Red Sea to the East, must have affected the wealth of Phoenicia very seriously, and we hear very little
of Tyre and Sidon during the struggles of the Diadochi and the rise of the Seleucid empire of Syria, with
Antioch for its capital ; and this, too, with its port at the mouth of the Orontes, must have been a serious
rival. Nevertheless, even in Roman times we hear of Pompey taking strong measures in Sidon by
executing a so-called tyrant who had evidently associated himself with the pirates, whose rapid extermina-
tion was one of Pompey 's greatest feats. This was in the first century B.C. (67 B.C.). A generation
or two later Strabo describes the cities of Phoenicia, and tells us of both Aradus and Tyre as still crowded
cities, with many-storied houses like Rome and Ostia, because there was no room for expansion on their
island site. He also tells us that Tyre was unpleasant to dwell in owing to the smell of the purple
factories. - ,
In spite of all the other changes, this industry remained constant. Tyrian purple garments were always
of great value, and brought great prices ; so much so that a purple stripe was enough for a Roman
senator, and purple robes were only fit for a sovereign or for great pomp. There were many shades manu-
.
. - ..... Wr .»"
-; ' UU.U-1.
mLTXU.UJLU.LU-lJLl.1;
fhotabu] [F.N.A.
THE ALEXANDER SARCOPHAGUS.
The famous Sarcophagus, now (n the Museum at Istumbul, the reliefs on which Illustrate the campaigns and banting
adventures of Alexander the Great, was unearthed at Sidoa. It probably belonged to Philocles, first Greek King of Sidon,
who was Ptolemj' Sotjfs High Admiral in the .F.gcan.
Story of the Nations
lactured, ol which scarlet was the most highly prized. Pliny tells us that one pound of the best
double-dyed Tyrian purple wool cost one thou and denarii (nearly £45) ; so that when Martial says
you could get a Tyrian purple cloak for ten thousand sesterces (about £110) he must have been speaking
of some inferior quality. Amethyst and violet colours were far less costly, but still a pound of such
Tyrian wool cost £15.
We do not know when the high fashion died out or whether other factories displaced the
Tyrian dye. In the publication of the treasures of the Muste Guimet (in Paris), which consists
mainly in the wrappings of the dead from Antinoe, a city in Upper Egypt founded by Hadrian (early
second century A.D.), while there is a great display of silks, woven or embroidered in many colours, which
are evidently from the East — they are called Sassanid, or Persian — there do not appear to be any specimens
of Phoenician purple garments, which should be linen or cotton. Perhaps the incoming of silk from
Painted specially for this trork.]
CAPTURE OF TYRE BY EVAGORAS OF CYPRUS.
In the course of a war which arose between the Persians and Evagoras, the Cypriot, ruler, after repulsing the invaders
fiom his own kingdom, sent a fleet against Phosnicia, and stormed Tyre, which was at that time held by his enemies, 387 B.C.
the Far East was the main cause of the decay of the old industry of Phoenicia. It is certain that in
the early dark ages Tyre and Sidon did decay, and at last literally fulfil Ezekiel's prophecy.
The other splendid industry which made the country long famous was that of glass, originally
learned from Egypt, but perfected by the help of the peculiarly valuable sand of Sarepta. There were
three sorts : transparent glass, which was not valued very highly, except perhaps for the greenhouses of
Alexandria, where fruit and flowers were forced all the winter ; glass of striped colours, of which many
beautiful vessels are still extant ; and opaque glass, wherewith they imitated various precious stones,
notably emeralds, so as to deceive all but experts
This industry, also, is spoken of by the Romans under the Empire, and seems to have lasted as
long as the purple. But, as has been said, the greatest of all the legacies left by the Phoenicians, and one
which will never grow old, is the alphabet which they carried to the Greeks, probably not later than the
tenth century B.C. We now know that there were earlier scripts even in the JEgea.n. not to speak of
Egypt and Babylonia. We have found two (as yet undeciphered) on clay tablets in Crete and in Etruria ;
ANCIENT CITADEL IN THE SEA AT SIDON.
This fortress mufeC have been practically impregnable in the days of Sidon's greatness,
visited it in Roman times, and in the Middle Ages it was a stronghold of the Crusaders.
I Underwood & Undenrood
The Apostle Paul is said to have
Photo by] U'nilirir-**! <f Unilirinuul.
THE COAST-LINE BETWEEN TYRE AND SIDON.
The coast of Phoenicia was very impracticable for
travellers by reason of spurs extending to the sea from
Mount Lebanon. This was a great protection to the in-
habitants from foreign incursions.
Photo hi/] [Underwood <f* Undfrwood-
RUINS OF ANCIENT TYRE.
A wonderful fulfilment of Ezekiel's prophecy : "And
I will make thee like the top of a rock : thou Shalt be a
place to spread nets upon" (Ezekiel xxvi, 14).
33*
Story of the Nations
Paintca specially tor tftis work']
SIEGE OF TYRE BY ALEXANDER THE GREAT.
The capture of Tyre, which Nebuchadnezzar had failed to effect after a siege of thirteen years, was accomplished by Alexander
In seven months. In the face of active attacks from the Tyrian vessels he built a mole from the mainland, a task previously
thought to be impossible, and made a breach large enough to admit his infantry.
we know a Cypriot syllabary, which seems to be based on the cuneiform script of Mesopotamia, and this kept
alive until late centuries B.C. But as has been explained above the Phoenician alphabetic signs were so vastly
superior that they have been the models of all the present scripts in Europe and in Asia, as far as remotest India.
Yet with all this gigantic advantage, the Phoenicians left no remarkable books. It was not till the
first century B.C. that they produced some Hellenistic philosophers. The genius of the nation was for
trade and manufacture, and to these they confined themselves all through their history.
We now turn to sketch the history of Carthage, the only colony with imperial aspirations Phoenicia
ever sent out, and one which played a great part in European history. It may also be true that both
here and in Cyprus the imperial aspirations were not present to the first settlers, but only grew up in
succeeding generations. But if Phoenicia began in the dim past, and only faded out in the decay of
the Roman Empire, Carthage had a shorter and more brilliant history. Seven centuries completed its
rise and fall, and it died, not a natural, but a violent death at the hands of the Romans.
It is certain that it was not the earliest of Tyrian settlements. The far west Tartessus was confessedly
much older, and so were possibly the settlements or stations along the north coast of the Mediterranean
on the way to Spain. This was the greatest source of revenue to the Tyrian traders. But it has
been observed that the current which sets into the Mediterranean at Gibraltar keeps along the southern
coast, so that the natural way home for eastern traders was along the coast of Africa — at least as far
as Sicily. This, and the caravan trade from inner Africa to Tripoli and Tunis, which has existed from
time immemorial, must have encouraged the building of factories along that coast.
One thing seems certain : except for the Tartessian Empire, the cities and factories of the P hoenicians
on the coast of Africa, and even in Sicily, do not show any artistic development, any first-rate craft, any
sign of creative power. The pottery made at Carthage, to judge from what has been found on the spot,
is very rude and bad, and only fit to exchange with ignorant savages for what the latter possessed. Even
here, then, it was as carriers, as middlemen, that this curious people made their mark on the world, and
when they were destroyed by the Romans, left nothing behind of any interest to the world.
The Phoenicians and the Carthaginians
339
1
According to our scanty information, Tartessus and Utica were founded about noo B.C. Some other
towns soon succeeded these on the African coast, and not till nearly three centuries later did Hiram's last
descendants found Carthage (about 850 B.C.). For a century and a half these western Phoenicians had it
all their own way in trading with Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, and the coasts of Italy and Spain.
But then a fresh tide set in of colonists from the Eastern Mediterranean. How soon the Etruscans who
are now held to be an JEgean nation, who probably came (as Herodotus asserted) from the Asiatic coast,
made their settlement, first in Campania, then north of the Tiber, we can only guess. Possibly the Greeks of
Kyme, who founded Cumse (near Naples) at least as early as the ninth century B.C., came there in
imitation of their neighbours in Asia Minor. Following this example, however, and acting upon the
vague rumours of Phoenician adventures in the western seas, the Greeks began to send out a series of
colonists, who founded city after city on the east coasts of Sicily.
The dates assigned to them, probably on the evidence of the annalist Dionysius of Syracuse, range
from 735 (Naxos) to 685 (Gela) B.C. The Carthaginians and their neighbours, who already had important
marts in Western Sicily, and were on good terms with the natives, seem not to have been awake to
this new danger.
An active war policy against the first founders of Naxos and Syracuse would probably have stayed
the tide and delayed the adventurous competition of the Hellenes. But tradition tells us of no
immediate opposition from the
Phoenicians. It was not till they
saw their trade with Sicily, Italy and
Sardinia seriously impaired that they
•combined with the Etruscans, who had
some naval power, to check the Hellenic
advance. When the Persian stress came
upon Greek Asia Minor, more emigration
to the west ensued, just as the Phceni-
•cian emigration had been largely caused
by Assyrian pressure. There were
many Greek settlements in Corsica of fflf -<*2§ V^IIK" • ' -^W
refugees frcm the cities of Asia Minor.
So Phocaea, in particular, gave the
Carthaginians much annoyance by its
founding of Massilia, apparently already
an old Phoenician mart ; and Massilia
itself soon founded other colonies in
Gaul and down the east coast of
Spain.
About 535 B.C., we read of the
oldest sea-battle in these regions, the
attack on the Phocaean sixty vessels
by a superior fleet of Etruscans and
Carthaginians off Alalia, in Corsica.
The Phocaeaans were obliged to leave
Corsica, and settled at Hyele (Paestum),
in Italy. The Carthaginian defensive
policy was organized by unknown
statesmen, and was directed (a) to
make their settlements defensible cities
with garrisons — such were Panormus,
Lilybaeum and Motya holding the west
end of Sicily ; (b) to promote alliances
with the natives of the inner country,
so as to resist any new settlements ;
fainted specially for this icork.]
PLUNDER FROM TYRE.
At the close of the second century A.D. Septimius Scverus and
PeHcennius Niger were competitors for the empire. Although Niger
commanded in the East, the Tyrians destroyed his insignia and pro-
claimed Severus. Niger sent his Mauritanian light troops against them,
who behaved with great barbarity, plundering and burning the town and
slaughtering most of the inhabitants.
340
Story of the Nations
PHOENICIAN COLONIES
B
Tr»d« Routes
MAP OF PHOENICIAN COLONIES.
(c) to make treaties with such enterprising cities as Massilia, defining the sphere of trade and influence within
fixed limits ; and reserving to themselves when possible a trade monopoly in certain ports of the western
Mediterranean ; (d) to occupy islands like the Balearic (especially Ivi?a) with a force sufficient to sink
any trading vessels that were caught poaching in forbidden waters. The Etruscans lost their sea-power
by their great defeat by Hiero, the Syracusan, in 474 ; but still they remained troublesome as pirates, and
a treaty with them is implied by the importance of Caere, called Agylla (round town) in Phoenician, which
was a Carthaginian mart for a long time.
These things, and many more hints, which can be gathered from the fragments of Timaeus, from
Justin, and others, become clearer when we arrive at the first treaty made between Carthage and Rome
(509 B.C.), just after "the expulsion of the kings from Rome", according to legend, and shortly before
the great Carthaginian invasion of Sicily, which was planned to coincide with the attack of the king of
Persia, on the mainland of Greece. This curious treaty, written in very ancient letters, so Polybius
says, and after much sceptical criticism now accepted by the learned, shows Rome as the head of a Latin
confederation, controlling the coast-line of Latium, and the Carthaginians on their side having similar
sway in parts of Sicily and Africa. The contracting parties are to have freedom to traffic with one
another on condition that they shall not exercise piracy on one another's subjects, and that the Romans
shall not sail south of the Fair promontory near Carthage.
A second treaty (348 B.C.) confirms this treaty with some modifications, though meanwhile great
changes had been made in Carthage. For in view of the encroachments of the Greeks in Sicily, and
along the coast of Gaul and Spain, Carthage found it necessary to become a land-power, as well as a
trading capital, and some time in the fifth or fourth century adopted a new policy, and made the whole
province of Libya, as it was called, a dependency furnishing not only taxes but soldiers, and turning
many Carthaginian commercial grandees into large landowners. This change is ascribed to a certain
noble called Mago. About this time also a treatise on agriculture was written by a Carthaginian called
Mago, so useful in teaching his countrymen how to exploit the rich land of Africa Minor that it was
abridged and translated more than once for Roman use, and known down to the Roman Empire. Whether
Mago the writer was identical with Mago the alleged creator of the territorial empire of Carthage cannot
The Phoenicians and the Carthaginians
341
be determined, on account of the distressing repetitions ol a lew names all through the catalogue ot Punic
statesmen and generals. Hanno, Hamilcar, Himilco, Hasdrubal. and Hannibal are perpetually recurring ;
Mago, Gisgo and Carthalo (the last rarer) complete the list.
It is also during this anxious period, while there were constant wars with the Greeks of Sicily, chequered
by great victories and defeats — Gelo, Hiero, Dionysius, Timoleon and Agathocles are household names
in Grasco-Sicilian histories— that Carthage perfected the constitution of which Aristotle speaks so favourably
in his Politics* He says it was an excellent specimen of an aristocrat ical constitution in which the
people had a voice, but in which, as we know from the accounts of the Barcid family, an individual clan
or group might obtain oligarchical power. If there had ever been royalty (there is no evidence of it)
it was gone, and the leading executive officers were the two suffetes (judges), who were also, but not
necessarily, commanders of the armies. There was a council of 104, chosen on two grounds, property
and ability, which combination Aristotle naturally holds to be the best possible. The permanence of
this constitution through centuries is an excellent proof of its merits. Even when a very great man in war
wins signal victories, he does not set up as a tyrant which he would have done in most Greek democracies.
* A notable feature of the Carthaginian constitution, he says, for which the Spartan and the Cretan constitutions
were also remarkable was the absence of revolutions or the rise of tyrants among them. The court of the 104 corres-
pond to the Spartan ephors, save that the latter may be obscure people, whereas the others are chosen for personal
merits. Suffetes, like the Roman consuls, are not chosen from a single family, and the Gerousia (council) is chosen rather
for wealth than for age (as at Sparta). There are pentarchies (committees of five) which co-opt their members, and
these choose the 104, and as they remain longer than them in office, this is oligarchical. But there must also have
been an assembly of all qualified citizens, especially in a great crisis.
•
Painted specialln for this work.]
SIDONIANS LANDING AT THE SITE OF CARTHAGE.
Long before the founding of the city of Carthage the Sidonians had established a trading station, which they called Cambfi
orCaccabo on that part of the African coast. The station was founded in order that they might compete with the Tyrians.
who bad a similar station at Utica.
342
Story of the Nations
When, by the policy of Mago and his family, Carthage had been turned into an empire, there set in
a century and a half of wars with the Greeks for the possession of Sicily which are fairly well known to
us through Greek historians. So far Carthaginian becomes Sicilian history, and does not require a separ-
ate narrative. There were several Sicilian historians, of whom either fragments or whole works, such
as that of Diodorus, are preserved. At the opening of this period, in the sixth century, the Carthaginians
were not hindered by this conflict from extending their influence to the far west. The extant Periplus of
Hanno, a brief account of an
exploring expedition outside
the Straits of Gibraltar south,
perhaps as far as Guinea,
shows the enterprise of the
period. Hanno's brother
Himilco made a similar expedi-
tion northward round the coast
of Spain ; and if it was as bold
and well supported by the state
as that of Hanno, must have
reached to the coast of Corn-
wall, and possibly Ireland.
Hanno's journey was
not from mere curiosity, but
for the carrying out of settlers
to establish in suitable places,
to trade with the natives from
these fixed points. We long for
more information on such
points rather than the details
of campaigns in Sicily, which
consist of great victories fol-
lowed by great defeats of
armies ruined by pestilence,
the crucifying of unsuccessful
generals by the Carthaginians,
who were indeed stern task-
masters, even to their own aris-
tocracy, when they entrusted
them with fleets and armies.
It may be said generally
that it was only by means of
tyrants who pulled together
the dislocated Greek communi-
ties by force, and made them
obey one leader, that the con-
quest of all Sicily by Carthage
was stayed. Gelo, Hiero,
Dionysius, Agathocles, were all
such men. the episode of
Timoleon being the only exception. Over and over again, even Syracuse, the stronghold of the Greeks,
is on the point of falling into Punic hands. Over and over again their victors are defeated in great
battles, lose great fleets by storms, and are on the point of being driven out of the island The last of
the Greek tyrants in the list made the bold experiment of invading Africa and raising the discontented
subjects of Carthage into a dangerous army, which long held the field with him and plundered the rich
domains of the aristocracy, to the delight of their Libyan dependents But in the end Carthage survived
l'<iinti<l Specialty lor ttrix n
MEETING HETWEKX EARLY CARTHAGINIANS AND I.1HYAN CHIEFS
The Tyrian founders of Carthage quickly end-red into negotiations for purposes
of trade with the Libyan natives of the country. They very soon acquired some
kind of control over the neighbouring nomad chiefs, whose tribes eventually formed
no inconsidcrnhlr portion of the Carthaginian nation.
344
Story of the Nations
even this great danger, and made
peace with Agathocles after a suc-
cessful counter-blow in Sicily, know-
ing well that with the death of the
adventurer his power would fall in
pieces. At this moment there was
a fourth treaty with Rome (306 B.C.)
which shows the Etruscans nowfinal -
ly defeated by Rome, and the latter
gaining a commanding position in
the Samnite wars far down the
west coast of Italy. The contracting
powers again define their respective
spheres of influence, and apparently
Corsica is left under Punic power,
i hough Rome had essayed a colony
there to check the Etruscans.
But now, after centuries of well-
matched rivalry with the Greeks
in the Western Mediterranean,
Carthage was suddenly faced by a
new power which was to prove too
strong for her. Pyrrhus, the red
King of Epirus, as he left Sicily
declared : "What a fair battle-
ground I am leaving for the
Romans and Carthaginians !"
The rapid spread of the Roman
power into Magna Grsecia brought
home to them the growing danger
to the Carthaginians in Sicily. They
now began to give the Greeks some
countenance in their Italian ports,
and so the feeling grew in Rome
that Sicily was too dangerous a seat
for a foreign and hostile power. Al-
though the first excuses were con-
nected with a disreputable band of
Campanian mercenaries at Messana,
it was with the Carthaginian gar-
rison of that town that the quarrel broke out, not without very high-handed and even dishonest conduct
of the Roman tribune C. Claudius. So opened the series of the Punic wars, which are told in every
Roman history, and which we need not here give in any detail. It is only the general aspects of the
struggle that concern us. It was a conflict with a growing empire which had ample supplies of soldiers of
its own, and hired no mercenaries, but also with want of experience of foreign politics and the importance
of the sea-power.
In the long and weary First Punic War (264-241 B.C.) the Romans found it necessary to construct a
fleet, which they did with the help of their Greek subject allies, and contended at first with brilliant success,
by using grappling-irons and loading their ships with excellent legionaries who could board the grappled
enemy vessels ; however, later they suffered such heavy losses, both in battle and from tempests, that
the war was only ended by the exhaustion of both parties, following a Roman victory at the west point
of Sicily.
Then came the shocking civil war ot Carthage with her African subjects and her mercenary
Painted epeciallv for this work.]
' PEACE OR WAR J"
After the fall of Saguntum ambassadors were sent from Rome to remonstrate
with the Carthaginian Senate for breaking the treaty between Rome and Carthage.
Quintus Fabius, the spokesman of the envoys, gathering his robe into folds, said :
"Here we bring you peace and war ; take which you please." In reply they
shouted : "Give us which you please!" Shaking out a fold, the Roman said :
"I give you war" ; to which the reply from all was : "We accept it !" This was
the beginning of the Second Pimic War.
The Phoenicians and the Carthaginians
345
soldiers, who were sent home too fast from Sicily, and were defrauded of their pay. (The great French
novelist, Flaubert, has given a vivid picture of the scene in his novel, Salatnmbo.) But for the genius of
Hamilcar, which he had already shown in Sicily, Carthage might have been ruined. The Romans took
advantage of the crisis to appropriate Sardinia.
Next came the creation of a wide Punic empire by the same Hamilcar in Spain, and the splendid
conception of his son Hannibal to play the game in Italy which Agathocles and Regulus had played in
Africa, but to do it by land and through Gallic country which supplied him with men and resources. The
genius of Hannibal is so unquestioned that he stands as one of the greatest men that ever lived. But
after sixteen years of struggle Rome prevailed and forced a peace upon Carthage which many must have
foreseen could only be the prelude to a complete destruction of her rival. The end came in the so-called
Third Punic War, which was merely the siege and heroic defence of Carthage.
The Romans did what they could by massacre and enslavement to wipe out the population, as well as
the city, of Carthage. They succeeded perfectly in their brutal and cruel purpose. Apart from motives
of commercial jealousy, shown in other cases, such as the ruin of the trade of Rhodes, there was a fear
that the growing power of Masinissa, now the king of a united Numidia, might grow too strong if his
gradual encroachments on Carthage ended in absorbing the great city also. The real cause, however,
of the total disappearance of Carthage from the face of the world was the fact that these Phoenicians had
always remained foreigners in the land of Africa. Their very language disappeared, replaced by the
native Berber and the imposed Latin of the conquerors Nor did they make any addition to the great
ideas which have helped to civilize the world.
The Punic leaders, especially the Barcid family, were far abler men than the Roman ; nevertheless,
when Carthage was destroyed, we can say that there never was a great power that left so little mark on
the language, the arts, the ideas of the nations who occupied its territory.
HANNIBAL SWEARING ETERNAL ENMITY TO ROME.
[by Benjamin West.
Hannibal, the nine-year-old sou of Hamilcar, begged to be allowed to go with his father on the expedition to Spain. The
father consented, but made the boy first repair to the altar and, with hie hand upon the sacrifice, swear eternal hatred to Rome.
2E
DATES IN THE HISTORY OF ASIA MINOR
CHIEF EVENTS OF THE PERIOD.
1390 Foundation of the new Hittite kingdom at Hattushash, which endured for nearly two centuries (see Chapter V).
12*00 Close of the period covered by the Hittite documents recently found at Boghaz Keui, the site of Hattushash (see Chapter V).
1000 Period of the immigration of Phrygian tribes from Thrace into Asia Minor.
800 Establishment of the Phrygian kingdom, whose rulers bore alternately the dynastic titles of Gordius and Midas, and extended their authority
over Lydia and to the Halys.
718 Mita of Mushki, i.e. Midas of Phrygia, in alliance with Urartu, foments rebellion against Sargon of Assyria in Northern Syria and in the region
of the Taurus.
TOO Beginning of the Cimmerian invasion, which shattered the Phrygian kingdom in the course of a generation.
668 Gyges, the founder of the Mermnad Dynasty of Lydia, sends an embassy to Ashur-bani-pal at Nineveh, asking for help in bis struggle with the
Cimmerians, against whom he afterwards fell in battle.
650 Ardys, son of Gyges, aided by the lonians, succeeds in ridding Asia Minor of the Cimmerians.
590 Weakened by the wars of Sadyattes and Alyattes against the lonians, the Lydians enter on their conflict with the Medes.
585 On May 28 a battle on the Halys between Alyattes and Cyaxares of Media was ended by a total eclipse of the sun, which bad been foretold
by the Greek astronomer, Thales.
546 After an indecisive battle in Cappadocia, Croesus of Lydia was defeated by Cyrus of Persia at Sardis ; the city was ta ken , and the Lydian Empire
brought to an end.
333 Overthrow of the Persian Empire by Alexander the Great, followed by the incorporation of Asia Minor in the Seleucid Empire.
276 Invasion of the Gauls and their settlement in the district known thenceforth as Galatia.
130 Incorporation of the kingdom of Pergamum as the Roman province of Asia.
88 Massacre of the Roman and Italian residents in Asia by Mithradates the Great.
63 Death of Mithradates, and incorporation of Pontus with Bithynia as a Roman province.
A.D.
330 Foundation of Constantinople by Cpnstantine the Great as the capital of the Roman Empire; the city continued to be the capital
of the Byzantine Empire until its capture by the Turks.
1071 Defeat of the Greek emperor Romanus Diogenes by the Seljuk Turks, who in 1084 strengthened their hold on Asia Minor by the capture of
Antioch.
1097 Defeat of the Seljuk Turks by the Crusaders at Nicaea, followed by tbe retreat of the Seljuks eastward and the establishment of their capital
at Iconium.
1301 Consolidation of the Ottoman rule in Asia Minor under Osman, who proceeded to wage war against the Byzantine Empire.
1453 Capture of Constantinople by Mahommed II, and complete identification of Asia Minor with the fortunes of tbe Turkish Empire until the present
day.
M Y S I A
CAL
LVDIA/V S I A
"rdi»y PUR YCI A
MEDITERRAiWEAN
MAP OF ASIA MINOR.
348
Story of the Nations
CHAPTER VIII
THE PHRYGIANS, THE LYDIANS, AND OTHER NATIONS OF ASIA MINOR.
Edited by CHAUNCEY P. T. WINCKWORTH. M.A.
THE rugged peninsula of Asia Minor has always been the meeting-place of East and West, a bridge
between Europe and Asia. Cut up as it is by mountain ranges surrounding a central plateau, it offers
natural barriers to the establishment of a single and homogeneous empire. We have already seen how
one great nation of antiquity, the Hittites. did for about two centuries extend their political control
Painted specialty for this work.]
PHRYGIANS CROSSING THE BOSPHORUS FROM EUROPE INTO ASIA.
The Phrygians were a group of Indo-European tribes, akin to the inhabitants of Thrace, from which region they crossed the
Bosphorue into Asia Minor at an early period. The racial movement, of which their migration formed a part, may well have
bad some share in putting an end to the Hittitc domination of Anatolia. They possessed a knowledge of iron, but on their
first settlement in Asia were in a semi-barbaric state of culture.
from the east of the Halys to the western shores of the ^Egean.* But after the fall of the Hittite Empire
no other nation succeeded in playing so striking a part. It was an era of minor states, to a great extent
of separate nationality, and carrying on intermittent war among themselves. The greatest of these,
before the Persian conquest, were the Phrygians and Lydians, each of whom for a time wielded
considerable authority in the peninsula.
During periods of independence the names of foui great despots stand out from the page of
history— Midas of Phrygia, Gyges and Croesus of Lydia, and Mithradates the Great, of Pontus. The
first two are largely legendary figures, but Croesus, before his defeat by Cyrus of Persia, ruled the whole
of Asia Minor west of the Halys except Lycia. Mithradates, too, lived in the full light of history : he
was one of the most formidable foes that Rome encountered, and Cicero called him the greatest of all
kings after Alexander
* See Chapter V.
350
Story of the Nations
Paintfd specially for this ttorfc.]
GYGES OF LYDIA DISPATCHING A
LETTER TO ASHUR-BANI-PAL.
The kingdom of Phrygia had been overthrown by the barbarous Cimmerians,
who preceded the Scythians in their invasion of Western Asia. Gyges of Lydia
at first successfully repulsed them, and he dispatched a message to Ashur-bani-
pal at Nineveh asking him for aid in the struggle. But the Assyrians gave no
help, and later on Gygcs met his death in battle against the barbarians about
R50 B.C.
THE PHRYGIANS
WE know as yet but little of the
tribes and races of Asia Minor
over whom the Hittite kings of
Cappadocia extended their sway
The Mysians are possibly men-
tioned among the forces which
Rameses II* met in Syria ; and
later in the thirteenth century we
perhaps have a record of Lycian
pirates making a descent on the
Egyptian Delta in company with
other seafaring tribes from the
/Egean coasts. It was not until
after the passing of the Hittite
power that a fresh migration took
place of which the historical
results are certain, t We can only
guess the date approximately at
which the Indo-European tribes
known as the Phrygians left their
kindred in Thrace and, crossing the Bosphorus, settled in the district of Anatolia to which thev gave
their name. Their first incursions have been placed as early as the thirteenth century, but we may
probably regard the main movement as having taken place as late as the tenth century B.C. On their
entry into Asia Minor the Phrygians were in a semi-barbarous state of culture, but they found a popu-
lation which still maintained the traditions of the great Hittite civilization, and they in their turn were
profoundly influenced by it. We know nothing of their early relations with the Anatolian population,
but the tradition of their battles with the Amazons on the banks of the River Sangarius may well be
reminiscent of the struggles which
accompanied their first appearance
in Asia Minor.
It was probably not until the
end of the ninth or the beginning
of the eighth century B.C. that the
Phrygian tribes were amalgamated
into a kingdom in the true sense of
the term. The traditional founder
of the kingdom was Gordius, a
peasant, who is said to have been
taken from his wagon and pro-
claimed king in accordance with
the terms of an oracle. In the
fourth century B.C. an ancient
wagon was still preserved on the
acropolis at Gordium, the early
* Ramessu is an alternative spelling.
t We are not here concerned with the
traditions of the Trojan war nor with the
Ionian colonization. For these subjects,
and for the history of the Greek colonies
which eventually ringed the western
and northern shores of Asia Minor, see
Chapter IX.
Painted specially for thin work.]
THE CAPTURE OF SARDIS BY THE CIMMERIANS.
The city of Sardis, the capital of the kingdom of Lydia, lay on the stream
Pactolus, in a fertile plain betwen Mount Tmolus and the River Hermus. In the
reign of Ardys the city was captured by the barbarous Cimmerians, who had
long troubled Asia Minor ; but they were unable to storm the citadel, which
was strongly fortified and built on an almost inaccessible rock.
The Nations of Asia Minor
351
Phrygian capital on the Sangarius, and an oracle declared that whosoever should untie the knot of bark
with which its pole was fastened should rule over Asia ; this was the famous Gordian knot which Alexander
cut in 333 B.C. The name Gordius, as also that of Midas, his son, were probably dynastic titles, and
seem to have been borne alternately by a succession of Phrygian monarchs. It is needless to recount
the stories which gathered in Greek tradition around these royal names, such as the manner in which
Midas earned his ass's ears from Apollo, or his short-sighted petition, granted by Dionysus, that all things
he touched should be turned to gold. But the latter tradition may at least be regarded as evidence of
the wealth accumulated by the kings of Phrygia, who in the course of the eighth century extended their
sway to the Halys and forced the Lydians on their western border to acknowledge their supremacy.
I 'dinted specially for this v:ork.]
A. MIGRATION OF SCYTHIAN TRIBES THROUGH A PASS IN THE MOUNTAINS OF ASIA MINOR.
Soon after their temporary success in Lydia the Cimmerians were driven southward by a fresh influx of barbarian tribes,
the Scythians, who, after invading Media, passed on through the mountains of Asia Minor and by upper valleys of the Euphrates
into Syria as far as the borders of Egypt. They are said to have occupied Asia for twenty-eight years
The Assyrian inscriptions bear witness to the power of Phrygia towards the close of the
eighth century, for Sargon refers to a certain Mita, of Mushki, whom we may identify with one of the
later Phrygian kings who bore the name of Midas. About 718 B.C. this monarch formed an alliance
with the neighbouring state of Urartu, and for some years caused considerable trouble to Assyria by
fomenting rebellions in Northern Syria and in the region of the Taurus. But in the following century
the Phrygian kingdom was overrun by the barbarous Cimmerians, who swept down from the Caucasus
and across the Hellespont into Asia Minor. Weakened by these raids, the rule of the Phrygian monarchs
passed to the hands of their former subjects, the Lydians.
THE LYDIANS
THE Lydians occupy an important place in the history of antiquity. They held the hinterland to the
string of Ionian settlements on the eastern shore of the ^Egean, and controlled the ends to the main
35*
Story of the Nations
caravan-routes which penetrated the interior of Asia Minor. It was probably to the important position
they enjoyed, as commercial intermediaries between Europe and Asia, that we owe their greatest cultural
achievement, the invention of coined money.
Herodotus speaks of three successive dynasties of Lydian rulers, but the first two are mainly legendary
His second dynasty, that of the Heracleidae, is said to have ended with Candaules, known to the Greeks
as Myrsilus ; but the stories told of the manner in which this ruler's favourite officer, Gyges, secured
his kingdom may be relegated to the realms of fable. There is. however ample corroborative evidence,
not only of the historical character
of Gyges himself, but of the
different members of the Mermnad
Dynasty, of which he was the
founder. We have already noted
that the fall of the Phrygian
monarchy is to be traced to the
Cimmerian invasion of Asia Minor.
Lydia, too, began to suffer from
their inroads, and about the year
668 B.C., Gyges sent messengers to
Ashur-bani-pal, at Nineveh, asking
him, unsuccessfully, for help
against their common foes. He
was eventually slain by them in
battle ; but his son Ardys was
assisted in the struggle by the
lonians, whose cities had suffered
equally from the barbarian raids,
and the Lydians and their allies
succeeded in driving the Cim-
merians from Asia Minor.
The political importance of
Lydia rose considerably with the
passing of the Assyrian power, and
under Sadyattes and Alyattes, the
successors of Ardys upon the
Lydian throne, the ravages of the
Cimmerian invasion were repaired
These monarchs also conducted a
long series of attacks upon the
cities and states of Ionia, and
though they were in the main
successful, they used up the re-
sources of the nation without
obtaining material advantages in
return. Handicapped to this ex-
tent, Lydia entered upon a five
years' struggle with the growing
power of the Medes, who, under their king, Cyaxares, the conqueror of Nineveh, pushed back the eastern
frontier of Lydia. Matters came to a head in 585 B.C., when a great battle was fought on the banks of
the HaJys between Cyaxares and Alyattes on May 28. The battle is famous for 'the total eclipse of
the sun, which took place on that day and is said to have been foretold by the Greek astronomer, Thales
of Miletus. Herodotus relates that the Medes and Lydians, when they perceived the day suddenly
changed into night, ceased fighting (evidently taking it as a portent from the gods), and were anxious
for terms of peace. By the subsequent treaty, which, according to Herodotus, was arranged in part
Painted specially for this wvrk. }
CRCESUS LED BEFORE CYRUS ON THE CAPTURE OF SARDIS.
• When Cyrus had defeated Asfyages and had made himself master of the
Median Empire, Croesus of Lydia, relying upon help from Babylon and Egypt
marched across the Halys to oppose him, After the battle of Pteria in 517 B.C.
Croesus retreated to Sardis, which was captured by the Persians in the following
year. Croesus on bis submission was received favourably by Cyrus, who banished
him to Persia.
J
I 'Hinted specially for this work.
THE SURPRISE OF LAODICEA BY THE ARABS
354
Story of the Nations
through the mediation of the
reigning Babylonian king,
Nebuchadnezzar II, the Halys was
fixed as the frontier between Lydia
and the Median Empire.
The last king of Lydia, Croesus,
the successor of Alyattes, raised
the power of Lydia to its greatest
height, and the fame of his wealth
attracted many of the more cul-
tured Greeks to his court at
Sardis. But when Cyrus the
Persian had made himself master
of the Median Empire, Croesus be-
gan to fear his power. In 547 B.C.
he fought an indecisive battle with
the Persians at Pteria in Cappa-
docia, and he then retreated on
Sardis. Here he sent for assis-
tance to Sparta, Egypt, and Baby-
lonia. But Cyrus did not delay
before renewing his attack, and
appeared unexpectedly before the
capital. The Lydian army was now
signally defeated, and Sardis, in
which Croesus had taken refuge,
was captured after a siege and the
Lydian Empire was brought to
an end.
THE LATER HISTORY OF
ASIA MINOR
AFTER the conquest o( Lydia by
Cyrus, Asia Minor became part of
the Persian Empire, and was cut
up into a number of satrapies for
purposes of administration With
the overthrow of the Persian
Empire by Alexander the Great in
333 B.C., Asia Minor again changed masters, and the period of domestic conflict which followed Alexander's
death ended in its inclusion in the dominions of the Seleucid kings of Syria. Perhaps the most notable
event in Asia Minor during the earlier part of the Seleucid period was the invasion of the Gauls, who
in 276 B.C. crossed over from Europe and occupied the district which was named after them, Galatia.
But the change in government inaugurated by Alexander's conquests was followed by a general reaction
throughout Asia against Western rule, and we find a number of independent kingdoms established
throughout Asia Minor, the more important of which arose in Bithynia, Cappadocia, and Pontus, and
in the city of Pergamum in Mysia. It was the fate of all these kingdoms to be incorporated in the Asiatic
provinces of the Roman Empire ; but in the case of Pontus its final subjugation was only brought about
as the result of a fierce struggle.
The protagonist in Asia Minor's struggle with Rome was Mithradates VI, surnamed the Great, who
succeeded his father on the throne of Pontus in 120 B.C. The Pontic Dynasty, which traced its descent
Painted specially for thfs work. \
DEATH OF MITHHADATKS
After the third of his wars with Rome, and when Tigranes, bis son-in-law,
refused to allow him sanctuary in Armenia, Mithradates marched with the remnant
of his forces to Panticapaeum, the capital of the Cimmerian Bosphorus. There
his army, headed by his eon, revolted, and pursued him into a strong tower. In
despair Mithradates took poison, but it had no effect; and one of his Gaulish
mercenaries, nt his command, thereupon slew him with his sword.
The Nations of Asia Minor
355
from a Persian satrap of the district, had intermarried with the house of Seleucus, and had gradually
extended its authority over a great part of Cappadocia and Paphlagonia. Mithradates was a man of
powerful physique and callous cruelty, but was possessed of great mental accomplishments. In 88 B.C.
he came into open opposition to Rome over a dispute concerning the kingdom of Bithynia, and over-
running Galatia and Phrygia, he took advantage of the unpopularity of Roman rule to bring about a
general massacre of the Roman and Italian residents in the province of Asia. It was only after
eighteen years of conflict that his power was broken.
Mithradates was the last great despot that Asia Minor produced, and the incorporation of Pontus
with Bithynia as a Roman province after his death may be regarded as the close of an epoch. It was
typical of the process by which the turbulent kingdoms of the peninsula passed permanently under foreign
domination.
From that time forward Asia Minor became merely part of a greater empire, passing successively
under the rule of Rome, Byzantium and the Turks. Compared with its earlier history, these periods
of foreign rule have been politically uneventful. After the rise of Islam, the Arab armies, though
they repeatedly traversed Asia Minor and twice laid siege to Constantinople, never permanently
occupied the country, which remained a part of the Byzantine Empire until the appearance oi
the Seljuk Turks.
The capture of Nicaa in A.D. 1097 by the First Crusade led to the withdrawal of the Seljuks eastward
and Iconium became for a time the centre of their activity. But the establishment of the Ottoman
Dynasty early in the fourteenth century A.D. completed the work they had begun. The Turkish
occupation and settlement of the country was so thorough, that the history of Asia Minor from this
period may best be treated in a later chapter on the history of the Turks.
Painted sin-finlln lor this work. |
THE ARMY OF MITHRADATES IN ATHENS.
Mithradates ttic Great, of Pontus, sent an army into Greece under his general Archclaus. which occupied Athens in 87 B.C.,
but was soon afterwards defeated by Sulla, who in 84 B.C. concluded a temporary peace.
t-ltiiliiK Ityl
(Undmrood it- Undcrwooa.
RUINS OF ANCIENT PERGAMl'il.
bv A^ZT'"; lik°tmal£ °ftthev ancvient cltiee of A8ia Minor' was of Hellenistic foundation. Legend relates that it was b.iilt
* has J,«.., the scene of extensive excavations by the Herlin Museum since 1878, and some of its
sculptures arc restored and mounted in that city.
University of Toronto
Library
Acme Library Card Pocket
LOWE-MARTIN CO. LIMITED
Live Music Archive
Librivox Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Internet Arcade
Console Living Room
Books to Borrow
Open Library
TV News
Understanding 9/11