The Ancient History of the Egyptians, Carthaginians, Assyrians Part 2

Such was the doctrine of the most learned and most enlightened nations, with respect to the different kinds of divination; and it is no wonder that the authors who wrote the history of those nations, thought it inc.u.mbent on them to give an exact detail of such particulars as const.i.tuted part of their religion and worship, and was frequently in a manner the soul of their deliberations, and the standard of their conduct.

I therefore was of opinion, for the same reason, that it would not be proper for me to omit entirely, in the ensuing history, what relates to this subject, though I have however retrenched a great part of it.

Archbishop Usher is my usual guide in chronology. In the history of the Carthaginians I commonly set down four aeras: The year from the creation of the world, which, for brevity's sake, I mark thus, A.M.; those of the foundation of Carthage and Rome; and lastly, the year before the birth of our Saviour, which I suppose to be the 4004th year of the world; wherein I follow Usher and others, though they suppose it to be four years earlier.

We shall now proceed to give the reader the proper preliminary information concerning this Work, according to the order in which it is executed.

To know in what manner the states and kingdoms were founded, that have divided the universe; the steps whereby they rose to that pitch of grandeur related in history; by what ties families and cities were united, in order to const.i.tute one body or society, and to live together under the same laws and a common authority; it will be necessary to trace things back, in a manner, to the infancy of the world, and to those ages in which mankind, being dispersed into different regions, (after the confusion of tongues,) began to people the earth.

In these early ages every father was the supreme head of his family; the arbiter and judge of whatever contests and divisions might arise within it; the natural legislator over his little society; the defender and protector of those, who, by their birth, education, and weakness, were under his protection and safeguard, and whose interests paternal tenderness rendered equally dear to him as his own.

But although these masters enjoyed an independent authority, they made a mild and paternal use of it. So far from being jealous of their power, they neither governed with haughtiness, nor decided with tyranny. As they were obliged by necessity to a.s.sociate their family in their domestic labours, they also summoned them together, and asked their opinion in matters of importance. In this manner all affairs were transacted in concert, and for the common good.

The laws which paternal vigilance established in this little domestic senate, being dictated with no other view than to promote the general welfare; concerted with such children as were come to years of maturity, and accepted by the inferiors with a full and free consent; were religiously kept and preserved in families as an hereditary polity, to which they owed their peace and security.

But different motives gave rise to different laws. One man, overjoyed at the birth of a first-born son, resolved to distinguish him from his future children, by bestowing on him a more considerable share of his possessions, and giving him a greater authority in his family. Another, more attentive to the interest of a beloved wife, or darling daughter whom he wanted to settle in the world, thought it inc.u.mbent on him to secure their rights and increase their advantages. The solitary and cheerless state to which a wife would be reduced in case she should become a widow, affected more intimately another man, and made him provide beforehand, for the subsistence and comfort of a woman who formed his felicity. From these different views, and others of the like nature, arose the different customs of nations, as well as their rights, which are infinitely various.

In proportion as every family increased, by the birth of children, and their marrying into other families, they extended their little domain, and formed, by insensible degrees, towns and cities.

These societies growing, in process of time, very numerous; and the families being divided into various branches, each of which had its head, whose different interests and characters might interrupt the general tranquillity; it was necessary to intrust one person with the government of the whole, in order to unite all these chiefs or heads under a single authority, and to maintain the public peace by an uniform administration.

The idea which men still retained of the paternal government, and the happy effects they had experienced from it, prompted them to choose from among their wisest and most virtuous men, him in whom they had observed the tenderest and most fatherly disposition. Neither ambition nor cabal had the least share in this choice; probity alone, and the reputation of virtue and equity, decided on these occasions, and gave the preference to the most worthy.(49)

To heighten the l.u.s.tre of their newly-acquired dignity, and enable them the better to put the laws in execution, as well as to devote themselves entirely to the public good; to defend the state against the invasions of their neighbours, and the factions of discontented citizens; the t.i.tle of king was bestowed upon them, a throne was erected, and a sceptre put into their hands; homage was paid them, officers were a.s.signed, and guards appointed for the security of their persons; tributes were granted; they were invested with full powers to administer justice, and for this purpose were armed with a sword, in order to restrain injustice, and punish crimes.

At first, every city had its particular king, who being more solicitous to preserve his dominion than to enlarge it, confined his ambition within the limits of his native country.(50) But the almost unavoidable feuds which break out between neighbours; jealousy against a more powerful king; a turbulent and restless spirit; a martial disposition, or thirst of aggrandizement; or the display of abilities; gave rise to wars, which frequently ended in the entire subjection of the vanquished, whose cities were possessed by the victor, and increased insensibly his dominions.

Thus, a first victory paving the way to a second, and making a prince more powerful and enterprising, several cities and provinces were united under one monarch, and formed kingdoms of a greater or less extent, according to the degree of ardour with which the victor had pushed his conquests.(51)

But among these princes were found some, whose ambition being too vast to confine itself within a single kingdom, broke over all bounds, and spread universally like a torrent, or the ocean; swallowed up kingdoms and nations; and fancied that glory consisted in depriving princes of their dominions, who had not done them the least injury; in carrying fire and sword into the most remote countries, and in leaving every where b.l.o.o.d.y traces of their progress! Such was the origin of those famous empires which included a great part of the world.

Princes made a various use of victory, according to the diversity of their dispositions or interests. Some, considering themselves as absolute masters of the conquered, and imagining they were sufficiently indulged in sparing their lives, bereaved them, as well as their children, of their possessions, their country, and their liberty; subjected them to a most severe captivity; employed them in those arts which are necessary for the support of life, in the lowest and most servile offices of the house, in the painful toils of the field; and frequently forced them, by the most inhuman treatment, to dig in mines, and ransack the bowels of the earth, merely to satiate their avarice; and hence mankind were divided into freemen and slaves, masters and bondmen.

Others introduced the custom of transporting whole nations into new countries, where they settled them, and gave them lands to cultivate.

Other princes again, of more gentle dispositions, contented themselves with only obliging the vanquished nations to purchase their liberties, and the enjoyment of their laws and privileges by annual tributes laid on them for that purpose; and sometimes they would suffer kings to sit peaceably on their thrones, upon condition of their paying them some kind of homage.

But such of these monarchs as were the wisest and ablest politicians, thought it glorious to establish a kind of equality betwixt the nations newly conquered and their other subjects; granting the former almost all the rights and privileges which the others enjoyed: and by this means a great number of nations, that were spread over different and far distant countries, const.i.tuted, in some measure, but one city, at least but one people.

Thus I have given a general and concise idea of mankind, from the earliest monuments which history has preserved on this subject; the particulars whereof I shall endeavour to relate, in treating of each empire and nation. I shall not touch upon the history of the Jews, nor that of the Romans.

The history of the Carthaginians, that of the a.s.syrians, and the Lydians, which occurs in the second volume, is supported by the best authorities; but it is highly necessary to review the geography, the manners, and customs of the different nations here treated of; and first with regard to the religion, manners, and inst.i.tutions of the Persians and Grecians; because these show their genius and character, which we may call, in some measure, the soul of history. For to take notice only of facts and dates, and confine our curiosity and researches to them, would be imitating the imprudence of a traveller, who, in visiting many countries, should content himself with knowing their exact distance from each other, and consider only the situation of the several places, their buildings, and the dresses of the people; without giving himself the least trouble to converse with the inhabitants, in order to inform himself of their genius, manners, disposition, laws, and government. Homer, whose design was to give, in the person of Ulysses, a model of a wise and intelligent traveller, tells us, at the very opening of his _Odyssey_, that his hero informed himself very exactly of the manners and customs of the several people whose cities he visited; in which he ought to be imitated by every person who applies himself to the study of history.

As Asia will hereafter be the princ.i.p.al scene of the history we are now entering upon, it may not be improper to give the reader such a general idea of it, as may at least make him acquainted with its most considerable provinces and cities.

The northern and eastern parts of Asia are less known in ancient history.

To the north are ASIATIC SARMATIA and ASIATIC SCYTHIA, which answer to Tartary.

Sarmatia is situated between the river _Tanais_, which separates Europe and Asia, and the river _Rha_, or _Volga_. Scythia is divided into two parts; the one on this, the other on the other side of mount _Imaus_. The nations of Scythia best known to us are the _Sacae_ and the _Ma.s.sagetae_.

The most eastern parts are, SERICA, Cathay; SINARUM REGIO, China; and INDIA. This last country was better known anciently than the two former.

It was divided into two parts; the one on this side the _Ganges_, included between that river and the _Indus_, which now composes the dominions of the Great Mogul; the other part was that on the other side of the Ganges.

The remaining part of Asia, of which much greater mention is made in history, may be divided into five or six parts, taking it from east to west.

I. UPPER ASIA, which begins at the river Indus. The chief provinces are GEDROSIA, CARMANIA, ARACHOSIA, DRANGIANA, BACTRIANA, the capital of which was _Bactra_; SOGDIANA, MARGIANA, HYRCANIA, near the Caspian sea; PARTHIA, MEDIA, its chief city _Ecbatana_; PERSIA, the cities of _Persepolis_ and _Elymais_; SUSIANA, the city of _Susa_; a.s.sYRIA, the city of _Nineveh_, situated on the river _Tigris_; MESOPOTAMIA, between the _Euphrates_ and _Tigris_; BABYLONIA, the city of _Babylon_ on the river Euphrates.

II. ASIA BETWEEN THE PONTUS EUXINUS AND THE CASPIAN SEA. Therein we may distinguish four provinces. 1. COLCHIS, the river _Phasis_, and mount _Caucasus_. 2. IBERIA. 3. ALBANIA; which two last-mentioned provinces now form part of Georgia. 4. The greater ARMENIA. This is separated from the lesser by the Euphrates; from Mesopotamia by mount _Taurus_; and from a.s.syria by mount _Niphates_. Its cities are _Artaxata_ and _Tigranocerta_, and the river _Araxes_ runs through it.

III. ASIA MINOR. This may be divided into four or five parts, according to the different situation of its provinces.

1. _Northward_, on the sh.o.r.e of the Pontus Euxinus; PONTUS, under three different names. Its cities are, _Trapezus_, not far from which are the people called _Chalybes_ or _Chaldaei_; _Themiscyra_, a city on the river _Thermodon_, and famous for having been the abode of the Amazons.

PAPHLAGONIA, BITHYNIA; the cities of which are, _Nicaea_, _Prusa_, _Nicomedia_, _Chalcedon_ opposite to Constantinople, and _Heraclea_.

2. _Westward_, going down by the sh.o.r.es of the aegean sea; MYSIA, of which there are two. The LESSER, in which stood _Cyzicus_, _Lampsacus_, _Parium_, _Abydos_ opposite to Sestos, from which it is separated only by the Dardanelles; _Dardanum_, _Sigaeum_, _Ilion_, or _Troy_; and almost on the opposite side, the little island of _Tenedos_. The rivers are, the _aesepus_, the _Granicus_, and the _Simois_. Mount _Ida_. This region is sometimes called Phrygia Minor, of which _Troas_ is part.

The GREATER MYSIA. _Antandros_, _Trajanopolis_, _Adramyttium_, _Pergamus_.

Opposite to this Mysia is the island of LESBOS; the cities of which are, _Methymna_, where the celebrated _Arion_ was born; and _Mitylene_, which has given to the whole island its modern name Metelin.

aeOLIA. _Elea_, _c.u.mae_, _Phocaea_.

IONIA. _Smyrna_, _Clazomenae_, _Teos_, _Lebedus_, _Colophon_, _Ephesus_, _Priene_, _Miletus_.

CARIA. _Laodicea_, _Antiochia_, _Magnesia_, _Alabanda_. The river _Maeander_.

DORIS. _Halicarna.s.sus_, _Cnidos_.

Opposite to these four last countries, are the islands CHIOS, SAMOS, PATHMOS, COS; and lower, towards the south, RHODES.

3. _Southward_, along the Mediterranean;

LYCIA, the cities of which are, _Telmessus_, _Patara_. The river _Xanthus_. Here begins mount _Taurus_, which runs the whole length of Asia, and a.s.sumes different names, according to the several countries through which it pa.s.ses.

PAMPHYLIA. _Perga_, _Aspendus_, _Sida_.

CILICIA. _Seleucia_, _Corycium_, _Tarsus_, on the river _Cydnus_. Opposite to Cilicia is the island of _Cyprus_. The cities are, _Salamis_, _Amathus_, and _Paphos_.

4. _Along the banks of the Euphrates_, going up northward;

The LESSER ARMENIA. _Comana_, _Arabyza_, _Melitene_, _Satala_. The river _Melas_, which empties itself into the Euphrates.

5. _Inland_:

CAPPADOCIA; the cities whereof are, _Neocaesarea_, _Comana Pontica_, _Sebastia_, _Sebastopolis_, _Diocaesarea_, _Caesarea_, otherwise called _Mazaca_, and _Tyana_.

LYCAONIA and ISAURIA. _Iconium_, _Isauria_.

PISIDIA. _Seleucia_ and _Antiochia_ of _Pisidia_.

LYDIA. Its cities are, _Thyatira_, _Sardis_, _Philadelphia_. The rivers are, _Caystrus_ and _Hermus_, into which the _Pactolus_ empties itself.

Mount _Sipylus_ and _Tmolus_.