Early European History Part 10

[Ill.u.s.tration: Map, EGYPTIAN EMPIRE About 1450 B.C.]

THE PYRAMID KINGS, ABOUT 3000-2500 B.C.

Several centuries after Menes we reach the age of the kings who raised the pyramids. Probably no other rulers have ever stamped their memory so indelibly on the pages of history as the builders of these mighty structures. The most celebrated monarch of this line was the Pharaoh whom the Greeks called Cheops. The Great Pyramid near Memphis, erected for his tomb, remains a lasting witness to his power.

[Ill.u.s.tration: TWO FAMOUS PHARAOHS Khufu (Cheops) builder of the Great Pyramid Menephtah the supposed Pharaoh of the Exodus]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE GREAT PYRAMID The pyramid when completed had a height of 481 feet. It is now 451 feet high. Its base covers about thirteen acres. Some of the blocks of white limestone used in construction weigh fifty tons. The facing of polished stone was gradually removed for building purposes by the Arabs. On the northern side of the pyramid a narrow entrance once carefully concealed, opens into tortuous pa.s.sages which lead to the central vault. Here the sarcophagus of the king was placed. This chamber was long since entered and its contents rifled.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE GREAT SPHINX This colossal figure, human headed and lion bodied, is hewn from the natural rock. The body is about 150 feet long, the paws 50 feet, the head 30 feet. The height from the base to the top of the head is 70 feet.

Except for its head and shoulders the figure has been buried for centuries in the desert sand. The eyes, nose and beard have been mutilated by the Arabs. The face is probably that of one of the pyramid kings.]

AFTER THE PYRAMID KINGS

For a long time after the epoch of the pyramid kings the annals of Egypt furnish a record of quiet and peaceful progress. The old city of Memphis gradually declined in importance and Thebes in Upper Egypt became the capital. The vigorous civilization growing up in Egypt was destined, however, to suffer a sudden eclipse. About 1800 B.C. barbarous tribes from western Asia burst into the country, through the isthmus of Suez, and settled in the Delta. The Hyksos, as they are usually called, extended their sway over all Egypt. At first they ruled harshly, plundering the cities and enslaving the inhabitants, but in course of time the invaders adopted Egyptian culture and their kings reigned like native Pharaohs. The Hyksos are said to have introduced the horse and military chariot into Egypt. A successful revolt at length expelled the intruders and set a new line of Theban monarchs on the throne.

THE EGYPTIAN EMPIRE

The overthrow of the Hyksos marked a new era in the history of Egypt. From a home-loving and peaceful people the Egyptians became a warlike race, ambitious for glory. The Pharaohs raised powerful armies and by extensive conquests created an Egyptian Empire, reaching from the Nile to the Euphrates.

IMPERIAL SPLENDOR OF EGYPT

This period of the imperial greatness of Egypt is the most splendid in its history. An extensive trade with Cyprus, Crete, and other Mediterranean Islands introduced many foreign luxuries. The conquered territories in Syria paid a heavy tribute of the precious metals, merchandise, and slaves. The forced labor of thousands of war captives enabled the Pharaohs to build public works in every part on their realm. Even the ruins of these stupendous structures are enough to indicate the majesty and power of ancient Egypt.

RAMESES II, ABOUT 1292-1225 B.C.

Of all the conquering Pharaohs none won more fame than Rameses II, who ruled for nearly seventy years. His campaigns in Syria were mainly against the Hitt.i.tes, a warlike people who had moved southward from their home in Asia Minor and sought to establish themselves in the Syrian lands. Rameses does not appear to have been entirely successful against his foes. We find him at length entering into an alliance with "the great king of the Hitt.i.tes," by which their dominion over northern Syria was recognized. In the arts of peace Rameses achieved a more enduring renown. He erected many statues and temples in various parts of Egypt and made Thebes, his capital, the most magnificent city of the age.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HEAD OF MUMMY OF RAMESES II (Museum of Gizeh) The mummy was discovered in 1881 AD in an underground chamber near the site of Thebes. With it were the coffins and bodies of more than a score of royal personages. Rameses II was over ninety years of age at the time of his death. In spite of the somewhat grotesque disguise of mummification, the face of this famous Pharaoh still wears an aspect of majesty and pride.]

DECLINE OF THE EGYPTIAN POWER

Rameses II was the last of the great Pharaohs. After his death the empire steadily declined in strength. The Asiatic possessions fell away, never to be recovered. By 1100 B.C. Egypt had been restricted to her former boundaries in the Nile valley. The Persians, in the sixth century, brought the country within their own vast empire.

10. THE PHOENICIANS AND THE HEBREWS

THE PHOENICIANS

The Phoenicians were the first Syrian people to a.s.sume importance. Their country was a narrow stretch of coast, about one hundred and twenty miles in length, seldom more than twelve miles in width, between the Lebanon Mountains and the sea. This tiny land could not support a large population. As the Phoenicians increased in numbers, they were obliged to betake themselves to the sea. The Lebanon cedars furnished soft, white wood for shipbuilding, and the deeply indented coast offered excellent harbors. Thus the Phoenicians became preeminently a race of sailors. Their great cities, Sidon and Tyre, established colonies throughout the Mediterranean and had an extensive commerce with every region of the known world.

THE HEBREWS

The Hebrews lived south of Phoenicia in the land of Canaan, west of the Jordan River Their history begins with the emigration of twelve Hebrew tribes (called Israelites) from northern Arabia to Canaan. In their new home the Israelites gave up the life of wandering shepherds and became farmers. They learned from the Canaanites to till the soil and to dwell in towns and cities.

PERIOD OF THE JUDGES

The thorough conquest of Canaan proved to be no easy task. At first the twelve Israelitish tribes formed only a loose and weak confederacy without a common head. "In those days there was no king in Israel, every man did what was right in his own eyes." [10] The sole authority was that held by valiant chieftains and law-givers, such as Samson, Gideon, and Samuel, who served as judges between the tribes and often led them in successful attacks upon their foes. Among these were the warlike Philistines, who occupied the southwestern coast of Canaan. To resist the Philistines with success it was necessary to have a king who could bring all the scattered tribes under his firm, well-ordered rule.

REIGNS OF SAUL AND DAVID

In Saul, "a young man and a goodly," the warriors of Israel found a leader to unite them against their enemies. His reign was pa.s.sed in constant struggles with the Philistines. David, who followed him, utterly destroyed the Philistine power and by further conquests extended the boundaries of the new state. For a capital city he selected the ancient fortress of Jerusalem. Here David built himself a royal palace and here he fixed the Ark, the sanctuary of Jehovah. Jerusalem became to the Israelites their dearest possession and the center of their national life.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Map, CANAAN as Divided among THE TRIBES]

REIGN OF SOLOMON, ABOUT 955-925 B.C.

The reign of Solomon, the son and successor of David, was the most splendid period in Hebrew history. His kingdom stretched from the Red Sea and the peninsula of Sinai northward to the Lebanon Mountains and the Euphrates. With the surrounding peoples Solomon was on terms of friendship and alliance. He married an Egyptian princess, a daughter of the reigning Pharaoh. He joined with Hiram, king of Tyre, in trading expeditions on the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. The same Phoenician monarch supplied him with the "cedars of Lebanon," with which he erected at Jerusalem a famous temple for the worship of Jehovah. A great builder, a wise administrator and governor, Solomon takes his place as a typical Oriental despot, the most powerful monarch of the age.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A PHOENICIAN WAR GALLEY From a slab found at Nineveh in the palace of the a.s.syrian king, Sennacherib. The vessel shown is a bireme with two decks. On the upper deck are soldiers with their shields hanging over the side. The oarsmen sit on the lower deck, eight at each side. The crab catching the fish is a humorous touch.]

SECESSION OF THE TEN TRIBES, ABOUT 925 B.C.

But the political greatness of the Hebrews was not destined to endure. The people were not ready to bear the burdens of empire. They objected to the standing army, to the forced labor on public buildings, and especially to the heavy taxes. The ten northern tribes seceded shortly after Solomon's death and established the independent kingdom of Israel, with its capital at Samaria. The two southern tribes, Judah and Benjamin, formed the kingdom of Judea, and remained loyal to the successors of Solomon.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Map, SOLOMON'S KINGDOM]

DECLINE OF THE HEBREW POWER

The two small Hebrew kingdoms could not resist their powerful neighbors.

About two centuries after the secession of the Ten Tribes, the a.s.syrians overran Israel. Judea was subsequently conquered by the Babylonians. Both countries in the end became a part of the Persian Empire.

11. THE a.s.sYRIANS

GREATNESS OF a.s.sYRIA, 745-626 B.C.

a.s.syria, lying east of the Tigris River, was colonized at an early date by emigrants from Babylonia. After the a.s.syrians freed themselves from Babylonian control, they entered upon a series of sweeping conquests.

Every Asiatic state felt their heavy hand. The a.s.syrian kings created a huge empire stretching from the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf, the Mediterranean, and the Nile. For the first time in Oriental history Mesopotamia and Egypt, with the intervening territory, were brought under one government.

CHARACTER OF a.s.sYRIAN RULE

This unification of the Orient was accomplished only at a fearful cost.

The records of a.s.syria are full of terrible deeds--of towns and cities without number given to the flames, of the devastation of fertile fields and orchards, of the slaughter of men, women, and children, of the enslavement of entire nations. a.s.syrian monarchs, in numerous inscriptions, boast of the wreck and ruin they brought to many flourishing lands.

[Ill.u.s.tration: AN a.s.sYRIAN From a Nineveh bas-relief. The original is colored.]

SARGON II, 722-705 B.C.

The treatment of conquered peoples by the a.s.syrian rulers is well ill.u.s.trated by their dealings with the Hebrews. One of the mightiest monarchs was an usurper, who ascended the throne as Sargon II. Shortly after his succession he turned his attention to the kingdom of Israel, which had revolted. Sargon in punishment took its capital city of Samaria (722 B.C.) and led away many thousands of the leading citizens into a lifelong captivity in distant a.s.syria. The Ten Tribes mingled with the population of that region and henceforth disappeared from history.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ANCIENT ORIENTAL EMPIRES Map, THE a.s.sYRIAN EMPIRE about 660 B.C.

Map, LYDIA, MEDIA, BABYLONIA and EGYPT about 550 B.C.]

SENNACHERIB, 705-681 B.C.

Sargon's son, Sennacherib, though not the greatest, is the best known of a.s.syrian kings. His name is familiar from the many references to him in Old Testament writings. An inscription by Sennacherib describes an expedition against Hezekiah, king of Judea, who was shut up "like a caged bird in his royal city of Jerusalem." Sennacherib, however, did not capture the place. His troops were swept away by a pestilence. The ancient Hebrew writer conceives it as the visitation of a destroying angel: "It came to pa.s.s that night that the angel of Jehovah went forth, and smote in the camp of the a.s.syrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand; and when men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies." [11]

So Sennacherib departed, and returned with a shattered army to Nineveh, his capital.