The World's Progress Part 45

Led her forth from her presence.

Through first door he led her, gave to her her cincture.

Through second door he led her, her rings he gave to her.

Through third door he led her, gave back her gemmed-girdle.

Through fourth door he led her, gave back her breast-jewels.

Through fifth door he led her, gave to her her necklace.

Through sixth door he led her, gave to her her ear-rings.

Through seventh door he led her, the great crown gave to her.

Here ends the descent of Ishtar. The priest continues:

"If free she'll not free her, return with her to her And for Tammuz, her bridegroom in years that were youthful, Pour water e'en purest, with sweet balm (anoint him) And clothe him with garments, a flute (give unto him), Companions of Ishtar, let them wail with loud (wailing), The G.o.ddess, Belili, her treasure completed, High heaped are the eye-stones, her knees now supporteth, Her brother's complaint she then understanding, The great G.o.ddess Belili her treasures outpouring, She fills with the eye-stones the floor round about her (saying) 'My only one, brother mine, do me no evil.'

When Tammuz with flute of fine lapiz discourseth, Then play with him joyfully flute of fine beryl, And play with him joyfully men mourners and women, The dead may arise the sweet incense inhaling."

NOTE.--See Jastoon, "Religion of Babylonia and a.s.syria," page 563 ff., for a full discussion of this epic.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

GYGES AND a.s.sURBANIPAL.

Gyges, king of Lydia, reigned B.C. 716-678. The Greek historian Herodotus has given an interesting account of him, but still more interesting is the following extract showing how he was regarded by the great king of a.s.syria, a.s.surbanipal (Sardanapalus).

Gyges was the king of Lydia, a country beyond the seas, a distant land, of which the kings, my fathers, had never even heard the name. a.s.sur, my divine generator, revealed my name to him in a dream, saying: "a.s.surbanipal, the king of a.s.syria; place thyself at his feet, and thou shalt conquer thy enemies in his name." The same day that he dreamed this dream, Gyges sent hors.e.m.e.n to salute me, and related to me the dream which he had had, by the mouth of his messengers. When the latter reached the frontiers of my empire and encountered the people of my empire, they said to him, "Who then art thou, stranger, whose land has never yet been visited by one of our couriers?"

They sent him to Nineveh, the seat of my royalty, and brought him before me. The languages of the East and of the West, which a.s.sur had given into my hand, none of those who spoke them could understand his language, and none of those who surrounded me had ever heard speech like unto it. In the s.p.a.ce of my empire at last I found one who understood it, and he told me the dream. The same day that he placed himself at the feet of me, the king a.s.surbanipal, he defeated the Cimmerians, who oppressed the people of his land, who had not feared the kings, my fathers, and had not placed themselves at my feet. By the grace of a.s.sur and Ishtar, the G.o.ds my masters, they took amidst the chiefs of the Cimmerians, whom he had defeated, two chiefs whom he chained heavily with manacles and fetters of iron, and he sent them to me with a rich present.

Nevertheless the hors.e.m.e.n that he at first sent regularly to pay homage to me, he soon ceased to send. He would not obey the commands of a.s.sur, my divine generator, but foolishly trusted in his own strength, and in the wishes of his heart. He sent his troops to the a.s.sistance of Psammetichus, king of Egypt, who had contemptuously thrown off my yoke.

I heard this, and prayed to a.s.sur and Ishtar: "May his body be thrown down before his enemies, and may his bones be dispersed." The Cimmerians, whom he had crushed in my name, reappeared and subjugated his whole land, and his son succeeded him upon the throne. The punishment which the G.o.ds, who are my strength, had drawn upon his father at my request, he told me by his messengers, and he placed himself at my feet, saying: "Thou art a king acknowledged by the G.o.ds.

Thou cursedst my father, and misfortune fell upon him. Send me thy blessing, for I am thy servant, who fears thee, and will wear thy yoke."

[Ill.u.s.tration]

PURITY.

"Purity is the best of all things; purity is the fairest of all things, even as thou hast said, O righteous Zarathustra." With these words the holy Ahura-Mazda rejoiced the holy Zarathustra: "Purity is for man, next to life, the greatest good; that purity which is procured by the law of Mazda to him who cleanses his own self with good thoughts, words and deeds."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! This law, this fiend-destroying law of Zarathustra, by what greatness, goodness, and fairness is it great, good, and fair above all other utterances?

Ahura-Mazda answered: "As much above all other floods as is the sea, so much above all other utterances in greatness, goodness, and fairness is this law, this fiend-destroying law of Zarathustra. As much as a great stream flows swifter than a slender rivulet, so much above all other utterances in greatness, goodness, and fairness is this law, this fiend-destroying law of Zarathustra. As high as the great cypress tree stands above the small plants it overshadows, so high above all other utterances in greatness, goodness, and fairness is this law, this fiend-destroying law of Zarathustra. As high as heaven is above the earth that it compa.s.ses around, so high above all other utterances is this law, this fiend-destroying law of Zarathustra.

"Therefore when the high priest has been applied to by a penitent, when any of the Magi has been applied to, whether for draona-service[A] that has been undertaken or that has not been undertaken, the priest has power to remit one-third of the penalty he had to pay: if he has committed any other evil deed, it is remitted by his repentance; if he has committed no other evil deed, he is absolved by his repentance forever and ever."

[A] A service in honor of spirits or deceased persons in which small cakes (_draona_) are blessed in their name and eaten by those present.

ZOROASTER'S PRAYER.

This Gatha or hymn is supposed to be a prayer prescribed by Zoroaster for the teachers of his religion. The first verse is the prelude always used before reciting or chanting any of the Gathas in the Parsi religious service.

A strengthening blessing is the thought, a blessing is the word, a blessing is the deed of the righteous Zarathustra. May the Bountiful Immortals accept and help on the chants. Homage to you, O sacred Gathas!

With venerating desire for this gift of gracious help, O Mazda, and stretching forth my hands to Thee I pray for the first blessing of Thy bountiful Spirit; that is, I beseech of Thee that my actions toward all may be performed in Righteousness; and with this I implore from Thee the understanding of Thy Good Spirit, in order that I may propitiate the Soul of the Kine.

And therefore, O Great Creator, the Living Lord! inspired by Thy Good Spirit, I approach You, and beseech of Thee to grant me as a bountiful gift for both the worlds, that of the body and that of mind, those attainments which are to be derived from the Divine Righteousness, and by means of which those who receive it may enter into beat.i.tude and glory!

O thou Divine Righteousness, and thou Good Spirit of Deity! I will worship you, and Ahura Mazda the first, for all of whom the pious ready mind within us is causing the imperishable Kingdom to advance. And while I thus utter my supplications to You, come Ye to my calls to help!

Yea, I will approach You with my supplications, I who am delivering up my mind and soul to that heavenly Mount whither all the redeemed at last must pa.s.s, knowing full well the holy characteristics and rewards of the actions prescribed by Ahura Mazda. And so long as I am able and may have the power, so long will I teach Your people concerning these holy deeds to be done by them with faith toward G.o.d, and in the desire for the coming of the Divine Righteousness within their souls.

And, thou Righteousness! when shall I see thee, knowing the Good Mind of G.o.d, and above all the Obedience of our lives which const.i.tutes the way to the most beneficent Ahura Mazda? Asking this, I thus beseech thee, for with this holy word of supplication we best keep off with tongue the flesh-devouring fiends, the very sign and power of all spiritual foulness!

THE HEBREWS AND THEIR NEIGHBORS.

CHAPTER I.

SYRIA.

Syria is the northern extremity of the Arabian peninsula. The word _Syria_ is a shortened form of _a.s.syria_, and was given by the Greeks, at first to the whole a.s.syrian empire, and later restricted to the strip of land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Euphrates valley. Today the name is applied to the region east of Palestine, reaching to the Taurus mountains on the north and on the south and west bounded by deserts.

Its very location determined that this should never become the home of a united, h.o.m.ogeneous people. It has always been a highway connecting Asia and Africa and trade routes have extended through it since the earliest recorded ages. Egyptian armies pressing into Asia in an early day traversed its midst and so did those of somewhat later times pushing westward from Mesopotamia, bound upon foreign conquest.

"Syria lies between two continents--Asia and Africa; between two primeval homes of men--the valleys of the Euphrates and the Nile; between two great centers of empire--Western Asia and Egypt; between all these, representing the Eastern and ancient world, and the Mediterranean, which is the gateway to the Western and modern world.

Syria has been likened to a bridge between Asia and Africa--a bridge with the desert on one side and the sea upon the other; and, in truth, all the great invasions of Syria, with two exceptions, have been delivered across her northern and southern ends.... Syria is not only the bridge between Asia and Africa: she is the refuge of the drifting populations of Arabia. She has not only been the highroad of civilizations and the battle-field of empires, but the pasture and the school of innumerable little tribes. She has been not merely an open channel of war and commerce for nearly the whole world, but the vantage-ground and opportunity of the world's highest religions. In this strange mingling of bridge and harbour, of highroad and field, of battle-ground and sanctuary, of seclusion and opportunity--rendered possible through the striking division of her surface into mountain and plain--lies all the secret of Syria's history, under the religion which has lifted her fame to glory."[1]

The country falls naturally into many small districts in which petty states have arisen but which never developed into strong kingdoms. These have left but scanty remains of their civilizations.

We know nothing of Syria prior to 3500 B.C. There are evidences that this region, like Chaldea, was occupied first by a primitive people, probably belonging to the Turanian race. When a great Semitic outpouring from Arabia caused the ancient Chaldean nation to be engulfed by a vigorous people, Syria as well suffered an invasion.

During years of Babylonian dominance, Syria fell to the share of Babylonian kings. "The land of the setting sun," as they called it, was named with their possessions.

When Thutmose III. led his armies into Asia to avenge the insult done Egyptian honor when the Hyksos kings ruled the valley of the Nile, he established a certain supremacy over Syria which lasted for perhaps two centuries. He established several royal cities, or "halting places"--so called because his majesty tarried in them and directed the construction of fortifications. Tribute was exacted and was paid with some regularity until the time of Amenhotep IV. He was too occupied with religious reformation and the exaltation of the Solar Disk faith to give attention to his foreign possessions. The Tell-el-Amarna letters in many instances portray the condition of Syria when Egypt's name was no longer a protection and incoming tribes were plundering right and left.[2]

The spirit of unrest was again abroad among the nations and the Hitt.i.tes now invaded Western Asia. Who they were and from whence they came has never been satisfactorily settled. Certain it is they were not Semitic.

They belonged to the great white race, but their history is still to be written. Part of the natives sided with them; part remained loyal to Egypt, and the rest attempted to establish their own independence.

Commerce was interrupted, caravans were plundered, and civil strife was general throughout the land. In a brief time the Hitt.i.tes made themselves supreme in Syria, which became known as the Land of the Hitt.i.tes.

About 1200 B.C. a fresh invasion brought several new tribes, among others, the Philistines. They again were probably not Semitics but of the Aryan race. The Hitt.i.te nation was now broken up into several small states, none of which became as powerful as the original nation. With the weakening of Hitt.i.te strength, opportunity arose for petty states to develop. The great powers left the country in peace for three or four hundred years, and Syrian states prospered and grew strong.