Ancient States and Empires Part 1

Ancient States and Empires.

by John Lord.

PREFACE.

This work is designed chiefly for educational purposes, since there is still felt the need of some book, which, within moderate limits, shall give a connected history of the ancient world.

The author lays no claim to original investigation in so broad a field. He simply has aimed to present the salient points-the most important events and characters of four thousand years, in a connected narrative, without theories or comments, and without enc.u.mbering the book with details of comparatively little interest. Most of the ancient histories for schools, have omitted to notice those great movements to which the Scriptures refer; but these are here briefly presented, since their connection with the Oriental world is intimate and impressive, and ought not to be omitted, even on secular grounds. What is history without a Divine Providence?

In the preparation of this work, the author has been contented with the last standard authorities, which he has merely simplified, abridged, and condensed, being most indebted to Rawlinson, Grote, Thirlwall, Niebuhr, Mommsen, and Merivale,-following out the general plan of Philip Smith, whose admirable digest, in three large octavos, is too extensive for schools.

Although the author has felt warranted in making a free use of his materials, it will be seen that the style, arrangement, and reflections are his own. If the book prove useful, his object will be attained.

STAMFORD _October, 1869_.

BOOK I.

ANCIENT ORIENTAL NATIONS.

CHAPTER I.

THE ANTEDILUVIAN WORLD.

(M1) The history of this world begins, according to the chronology of Archbishop Ussher, which is generally received as convenient rather than probable, in the year 4004 before Christ. In six days G.o.d created light and darkness, day and night, the firmament and the continents in the midst of the waters, fruits, grain, and herbs, moon and stars, fowl and fish, living creatures upon the face of the earth, and finally man, with dominion "over the fish of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and cattle, and all the earth, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."

He created man in his own image, and blessed him with universal dominion.

He formed him from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. On the seventh day, G.o.d rested from this vast work of creation, and blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, as we suppose, for a day of solemn observance for all generations.

(M2) He there planted a garden eastward in Eden, with every tree pleasant to the sight and good for food, and there placed man to dress and keep it.

The original occupation of man, and his destined happiness, were thus centered in agricultural labor.

(M3) But man was alone; so G.o.d caused a deep sleep to fall upon him, and took one of his ribs and made a woman. And Adam said, "this woman," which the Lord had brought unto him, "is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh; therefore shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." Thus marriage was inst.i.tuted. We observe three divine inst.i.tutions while man yet remained in a state of innocence and bliss-the Sabbath; agricultural employment; and marriage.

(M4) Adam and his wife lived, we know not how long, in the garden of Eden, with perfect innocence, bliss, and dominion. They did not even know what sin was. There were no other conditions imposed upon them than they were not to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which was in the midst of the garden-a preeminently goodly tree, "pleasant to the eyes, and one to be desired."

(M5) Where was this garden-this paradise-located? This is a mooted question-difficult to be answered. It lay, thus far as we know, at the head waters of four rivers, two of which were the Euphrates and the Tigris. We infer thence, that it was situated among the mountains of Armenia, south of the Caucasus, subsequently the cradle of the n.o.blest races of men,-a temperate region, in the lat.i.tude of Greece and Italy.

(M6) We suppose that the garden was beautiful and fruitful, beyond all subsequent experience-watered by mists from the earth, and not by rains from the clouds, ever fresh and green, while its two n.o.ble occupants lived upon its produce, directly communing with G.o.d, in whose image they were made, moral and spiritual-free from all sin and misery, and, as we may conjecture, conversant with truth in its loftiest forms.

But sin entered into the beautiful world that was made, and death by sin.

This is the first recorded fact in human history, next to primeval innocence and happiness.

(M7) The progenitors of the race were tempted, and did not resist the temptation. The form of it may have been allegorical and symbolic; but, as recorded by Moses, was yet a stupendous reality, especially in view of its consequences.

(M8) The tempter was the devil-the antagonist of G.o.d-the evil power of the world-the principle of evil-a Satanic agency which Scripture, and all nations, in some form, have recognized. When rebellion against G.o.d began, we do not know; but it certainly existed when Adam was placed in Eden.

(M9) The form which Satanic power a.s.sumed was a serpent-then the most subtle of the beasts of the field, and we may reasonably suppose, not merely subtle, but attractive, graceful, beautiful, bewitching.

(M10) The first to feel its evil fascination was the woman, and she was induced to disobey what she knew to be a direct command, by the desire of knowledge as well as enjoyment of the appet.i.te. She put trust in the serpent. She believed a lie. She was beguiled.

(M11) The man was not directly beguiled by the serpent. Why the serpent a.s.sailed woman rather than man, the Scriptures do not say. The man yielded to his wife. "She gave him the fruit, and he did eat."

(M12) Immediately a great change came over both. Their eyes were opened.

They felt shame and remorse, for they had sinned. They hid themselves from the presence of the Lord, and were afraid.

(M13) G.o.d p.r.o.nounced the penalty-unto the woman, the pains and sorrows attending childbirth, and subserviency to her husband; unto the man labor, toil, sorrow-the curse of the ground which he was to till-thorns and thistles-no rest, and food obtained only by the sweat of the brow; and all these pains and labors were inflicted upon both until they should return to the dust from whence they were taken-an eternal decree, never abrogated, to last as long as man should till the earth, or woman bring forth children.

(M14) Thus came sin into the world, through the temptations of introduction Satan and the weakness of man, with the penalty of labour, pain, sorrow, and death.

(M15) Man was expelled from Paradise, and precluded from re-entering it by the flaming sword of cherubim, until the locality of Eden, by thorns and briars, and the deluge, was obliterated forever. And man and woman were sent out into the world to reap the fruit of their folly and sin, and to gain their subsistence in severe toil, and amid, the acc.u.mulated evils which sin introduced.

(M16) The only mitigation of the sentence was the eternal enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the Serpent, in which the final victory should be given to the former. The rite of sacrifice was introduced as a type of the satisfaction for sin by the death of a subst.i.tute for the sinner; and thus a hope of final forgiveness held out for sin, Meanwhile the miseries of life were alleviated by the fruits of labor, by industry.

(M17) Industry, then, became, on the expulsion from Eden, one of the final laws of human happiness on earth, while the sacrifice held out hopes of eternal life by the subst.i.tution which the sacrifice typified-the Saviour who was in due time to appear.

With the expulsion from Eden came the sad conflicts of the race-conflicts with external wickedness-conflicts with the earth-conflicts with evil pa.s.sions in a man's own soul.

(M18) The first conflict was between Cain, the husbandman, and Abel, the shepherd; the representatives of two great divisions of the human family in the early ages. Cain killed Abel because the offering of the latter was preferred to that of the former. The virtue of Abel was faith: the sin of Cain was jealousy, pride, resentment, and despair. The punishment of Cain was expulsion from his father's house, the further curse of the land for _him_, and the hatred of the human family. He relinquished his occupation, became a wanderer, and gained a precarious support, while his descendants invented arts and built cities.

(M19) Eve bear another son-Seth, among whose descendants the worship of G.o.d was preserved for a long time; but the descendants of Seth intermarried finally with the descendants of Cain, from whom sprung a race of lawless men, so that the earth was filled with violence. The material civilization which the descendants of Cain introduced did not preserve them from moral degeneracy. So great was the increasing wickedness, with the growth of the race, that "it repented the Lord that he had made man,"

and he resolved to destroy the whole race, with the exception of one religious family, and change the whole surface of the earth by a mighty flood, which should involve in destruction all animals and fowls of the air-all the antediluvian works of man.

(M20) It is of no consequence to inquire whether the Deluge was universal or partial-whether it covered the whole earth or the existing habitations of men. All were destroyed by it, except Noah, and his wife, and his three sons, with their wives. The authenticity of the fact rests with Moses, and with him we are willing to leave it.

(M21) This dreadful catastrophe took place in the 600th year of Noah's life, and 2349 years before Christ, when world was 1655 years old, according to Usshur, but much older according to Hale and other authorities-when more time had elapsed than from the Deluge to the reign of Solomon. And hence there were more people destroyed, in all probability, than existed on the earth in the time of Solomon. And as men lived longer in those primeval times than subsequently, and were larger and stronger, "for there were giants in those days," and early invented tents, the harp, the organ, and were artificers in bra.s.s and iron, and built cities-as they were full of inventions as well as imaginations, it is not unreasonable to infer, though we can not know with certainty, that the antediluvian world was more splendid and luxurious than the world in the time of Solomon and Homer-the era of the Pyramids of Egypt.

(M22) The art of building was certainly then carried to considerable perfection, for the ark, which Noah built, was four hundred and fifty feet long, seventy-five wide, and forty-five deep; and was constructed so curiously as to hold specimens of all known animals and birds, with provisions for them for more than ten months.

(M23) This sacred ark or ship, built of gopher wood, floated on the world's waves, until, in the seventh month, it rested upon the mountains of Ararat. It was nearly a year before Noah ventured from the ark. His first act, after he issued forth, was to build an altar and offer sacrifice to the G.o.d who had preserved him and his family alone, of the human race. And the Lord was well pleased, and made a covenant with him that he would never again send a like destruction upon the earth, and as a sign and seal of the covenant which he made with all flesh, he set his bow in the cloud. We hence infer that the primeval world was watered by mists from the earth, like the garden of Eden, and not by rains.

(M24) "The memory of the Deluge is preserved in the traditions of nearly all nations, as well as in the narrative of Moses; and most heathen mythologies have some kind of sacred ark." Moreover, there are various geological phenomena in all parts of the world, which can not be accounted for on any other ground than some violent disruption produced by a universal Deluge. The Deluge itself can not be explained, although there are many ingenious theories to show it might be in accordance with natural causes. The Scriptures allude to it as a supernatural event, for an express end. When the supernatural power of G.o.d can be disproved, then it will be time to explain the Deluge by natural causes, or deny it altogether. The Christian world now accepts it as Moses narrates it.

CHAPTER II.

POSTDILUVIAN HISTORY TO THE CALL OF ABRAHAM.-THE PATRIARCHAL CONSt.i.tUTION, AND THE DIVISION OF NATIONS.

(M25) When Noah and his family issued from the ark, they were blessed by G.o.d. They were promised a vast posterity, dominion over nature, and all animals for food, as well as the fruits of the earth. But new laws were imposed, against murder, and against the eating of blood. An authority was given to the magistrate to punish murder. "Whosoever sheddeth man's blood, by man shall _his_ blood be shed." This was not merely a penalty, but a prediction. The sacredness of life, and the punishment for murder are equally a.s.serted, and a.s.serted with peculiar emphasis. This may be said to be the Noachic Code, afterward extended by Moses. From that day to this, murder has been accounted the greatest human crime, and has been the most severely punished. On the whole, this crime has been the rarest in the subsequent history of the world, although committed with awful frequency, but seldom till other crimes are exhausted. The sacredness of life is the greatest of human privileges.

(M26) The government was patriarchal. The head of a family had almost unlimited power. And this government was religious as well as civil. The head of the family was both priest and king. He erected altars and divided inheritances. He ruled his sons, even if they had wives and children. And as the old patriarchs lived to a great age, their authority extended over several generations and great numbers of people.