The ancient world, from the earliest times to 800 A. D.

Foreword

My Ancient World appeared nine years ago. The generous welcome given to it necessitates new plates ; and I have taken advantage of the opportunity to rewrite the book.

In the nine years, my own interest has shifted from political history to industrial history. This change, I believe, has been general ; and I trust that teachers will approve the corresponding change in the book. Less space is given to "constitutions," and more to industrial and economic development and to home life. Many generalizations, too, are omitted, to make room for more narrative ; and the publication of Dr. Davis' Readings'^ makes it advisable to omit most of the '^illustrative extracts " of the old volume, except where they can be easily woven into the story.

The Readings is accountable for another modification here. That volume presents much of the story of the ancient peoples, as they themselves told it, in so simple and charming a manner as to make the best possible collateral reading. Every high school pupil, I feel, should own the book, or at least have easy access to copies on reference shelves.^ Other library reference in this book has been reduced, accordingly, to a minimum.

In the Ancient World I ventured to present views of the " Mycenaeans " and " Achaeans," which at that time were perhaps somewhat radical for an elementary text. Subsequent discoveries, however, have fully confirmed them, and have also opened up a new and intensely interesting chapter of an earlier Aegean world, besides adding much to our knowledge in other fields of ancient history. These new results I am glad to have a chance to incorporate here.

It is doubtful if a textbook of this sort should give room to

1 William Stearns T)2i,Y\s, Readings in Ancient History. Two volumes: " Greece and the East," and "Rome and the West." Each $ 1.00. Allyn and Bacon.

2 This view, together with the plan of library work for this volume, is ex« plained more fully on page 9.

iii iv FOREWORD

any incident which the student cannot articulate with the life of to-day — or which is not essential to understanding the evolution of important conditions which can be so articulated. This principle has not been adhered to so rigidly as to forbid inclusion of stories of universal human interest, independent of time ; but it has led to the omission of many names and events commonly found in such a textbook, and it also explains the various references to present-day conditions. For allied reasons, too, I have retained the emphasis of the former volume upon the Hellenistic world and the Eoman imperial world — on which our modern life is so directly based — at some cost to the legendary periods of Greece and Rome.

Perhaps the most fundamental change is yet to be mentioned. My first book in this field — the Ancient History, of twelve years ago — was designed avowedly both for high schools and for "more advanced" students. Something of the same sort lingered in the Ayicient World, the successor of that first volume. But in writing the present book I have kept steadily in mind the first-year high-school pupil.

Several new maps have been added ; and the numerous old ones have been made more serviceable for teaching, and have been carefully adapted to the new text. The maps for " general reference," however, still contain a few names not used in the text, to assist the student in his outside reading. Through the generosity of the publishers, the book has been enriched with many new illustrations, which, in numerous cases, give emphasis to industrial and social life.

It is impossible to catalogue here all the friends who have contributed to making this volume better than the author alone could have made it. But I must at least take space to acknowledge my indebtedness to Dr. AVilliam Stearns Davis. Dr. Davis has read the complete book in proof sheets. To his scholarship I owe the avoidance of various errors, and to his fine dramatic sense the inclusion of some striking incidents.

WILLIS MASON WEST.

WiNDAGo Farm, May, 1913,

Part II — The Greeks

VII. The Influence of Geography

VIII. How we know about Prehistoric Hellas

IX. The First (Cretan) Civilization .

X. The Homeric Age ....

XI. From the Achaeans to the Persian Wars

XII. The Persian Wars ....

XIII. Athenian Leadership : The Age of Pericles

XIV. Life in the Age of Pericles .

XV. The Peloponnesian War .

XVI. From the Fall of Athens to the Fall of Hellas, 404-338

Part III — The Graeco-oriental World

XVII. Mingling of East and West — Alexander and his Conquests XVIII. The Widespread Hellenistic World

263 273

VI

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAKT IV — ROME

CHAPTER PAOB

XIX. The Place of Rome in History 297

XX. The Land and the Peoples 300

XXI. Legendary History 307

XXII. Conclusions about Rome under the Kings . . . 311

XXIII. Class Struggles in the Republic, 510-367 . . .323

XXIV. The Unification of Italy, 367-266 333

XXV. United Italy under Roman Rule ..... 339

XXVI. Government of the Republic 347

XXVII. The Army .353

XXVIII. Roman Society, 367-200 b.c. 357

XXIX. The Winning of the West, 264-146 B.C. . . .363

XXX. The West from 200 to 146 b.c 382

XXXI. The Winning of the East, 201-146 b.c. . . .387

XXXII. New Strife of Classes, 146-49 b.c 399

XXXIII. The Gracchi 419

XXXIV. Military Rule : Marius and Sulla 428

XXXV. Pompey and Caesar , 437

XXXVI.

XXXVII.

XXXVIII.

XXXIX.

XL.

XLL

XLII.

Part V — The Roman Empire

Founding the Empire : Julius and Augustus . . 445 The Empire of the First Two Centuries : Story of the

Emperors 465

The Empire of the First Two Centuries : Topical

Survey 481

The Decline in the Third Century . . . .526

The Rise of Christianity 533

Fourth Century : Story of the Emperors . . . 541

Fourth Century : Topical Survey 656

Part Vi— Romano-teutonic Europe

XLIII. The Teutons

XLIV. The Wandering of the Peoples, 376-665 a.d

XLV. The " Dark Ages " ....

XL VI. Western Europe, 600-768 a.d. .

XL VII. The Empire of Charlemagne

570 576 596 608 624

Appendix : A Classified List of Selected Books for a High School

Library in History 637

Index, Pronouncing Vocabulary, and Map References .

ILLUSTRATIONS

'^ PAOB

1. Reindeer, drawn by Cave-men in France and in Switzerland . 2

2. Prehistoric Stone Daggers from Scandinavia

3. Series of Axes ; Old Stone, New Stone, and Bronze Ages

4. Some Stages in Fire-making. From Tylor 6. Portion of tlie Rosetta Stone, containing the hieroglyphs first

deciphered

6. Part of the Rosetta Inscription, on a larger scale

7. Photograph of Modern Egyptian sitting by a Sculptured Head

of an Ancient King ; to show likeness of feature .

8. Boatmen fighting on the Nile. Egyptian relief .

9. A Capital from Karnak. From Lubke

10. Portrait Statue of Amten, a self-made noble of 3200 b.c

11. Egyptian Noble hunting Waterfowl on the Nile. After Maspero

12. Levying the Tax. Egyptian relief, from Maspero

13. Egyptian Plow. From Rawlinson

14. Market Scene. An Egyptian relief .

15. Shoemakers. Egyptian relief, from Maspero

16. Sphinx and Pyramids. From a photograph

17. Vertical Section of the Great Pyramid

18. Ra-Hotep ; perhaps the oldest portrait statue in existence

19. Princess Nefert ; a portrait statue 5000 years old

20. Temple of Edfu

21. A Relief from the Temple of Hathor at Dendera

22. Egyptian Numerals

23. Isis and Horus

24. Sculptured Funeral Couch ; picturing the soul crouching by the

25. A Tomb Painting ; showing offerings to the dead

vii

3 4 6

12 12

39 40

VIU

ILLUSTRATIONS

IS and the later

26. Weighing the Soul before the Judges of the Dead. Egyptian

relief ......

27. Cheops (Khufu). A portrait statue .

28. Sculptors at Work. An Egyptian relief

29. Thutmosis III

30. Rameses II

31. Psammeticlms in Hieroglyphs

32. Neeo in Hieroglyphs ....

33. Nebuchadnezzar in Cuneiform (liaracters

34. Colossal Man-beast, from the Palace of Sargon

35. Assyrian Contract Tablet in Duplicate

36. Assyrian Tablets ; showing the older hierogiypl:

cuneiform equivalents in parallel columns

37. An Assyrian "Book"

38. An Assyrian Dog, A relief on a clay tablet

39. Assyrian " Deluge Tablet "

40. Assyrian Cylinder Seals

41. Impression from a Royal Seal .

42. A Lion Hunt. An Assyrian relief

43. Section of the Temple of the Seven

"restoration" by Rawlinson .

44. Parts of Alphabets

45. Growth of the Letter A

46. Jerusalem To-day, with the road to Bethlehem

47. Impression from a Persian Cylinder Seal .

48. Persian Queen. A fragment of a bronze statue

49. Persian Bronze Lion, at Susa

50. Persian Jewelry

51. Scene in the Vale of Tempe. From a photograph

52. Bronze Dagger from Mycenae, inlaid with gold

53. The Gate of the Lions at Mycenae

54. Mouth of the Palace Sewer at Knossos, 2200 b

cotta drain pipes. From Baikie

55. Head of a Bull. From a relief at Knosso 66. The Vaphio Cups, of 1800 or 2000 b.c.

Spheres ;

.0., with according to a terra

41 43 44

46 47

48 48 58 59 60

61 63 64 65 66 67 68

69 74 74

80 85 87 89 92 99 104 105

106 107 108

ILLUSTRATIONS fx

PAGK

57. Scroll from the Vaphio Cups, showing stages in netting and

taming wild bulls. From Perrot and Chipiez . . . 109

58. Vase from Knossos (about 2200 b.c), with sea-life ornament . 110 69. Cretan Writing Ill

60. " Throne of Minos." From Baikie 112

61. Cooking Utensils ; found in one tomb at Knossos . . . 113

62. Cretan Vase of Late Period (1600 b.c), with conventionaUzed

ornament 114

63. Ruins of the Entrance to the Stadium at Olympia . 129

64. Ruins of Athletic Field at Delphi 133

65. Greek Soldier 144

66. Ground Plan of Temple of Theseus at Athens .... 154

67. Doric Column, with explanations. From the Temple of The-

seus 156

68. Ionic Column 155

69. Corinthian Column 155

70. A Doric Capital. From a photograph of a detail of the Par-

thenon 156

71. West Front of the Parthenon To-day ; to illustrate Doric style 158

72. West Front of Temple of Victory at Athens ; to illustrate Ionic

style 159

73. Marathon To-day. From a photograph ..... 171

74. Thermopylae. From a photograph 178

75. The Bay of Salamis. From a photograph .... 181

76. Pericles, A portrait bust ; now in the Vatican . . . 196

77. Side View of a Trireme. From an Athenian relief . . . 197

78. The Acropolis To-day 210

79. Propylaea of the Acropolis To-day . , . . . 211

80. Erechtheum and Parthenon . 212

81. Figures from the Parthenon Frieze .... . 213

82. Sophocles. A portrait statue, now in the Lateran . . . 214

83. Theater of Dionysus at Athens 215

84. Thucydides. A portrait bust; now in the Capitoline Museum 217

85. The Acropolis as " restored " by Lambert .... 221

86. Women at their Toilet. Two parts of a vase painting . . 224

X ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

87. Greek Women at their Music. From a vase painting . , 225

88. The Disk Thrower. After Myron ; now in the Vatican . . 226

89. A Satyr, by Praxiteles. (Hawthorne's " Marble Faun ") . 227

90. Plan of a Fifth-century Delos House. After Gardiner and

Jevons 231

91. Greek Girls at Play. From a vase painting .... 233

92. A Vase Painting showing Paris enticing away Helen . . 234

93. Greek Women, in various activities. A vase painting . . 236

94. A Barber in Terra-cotta. From Bliimner .... 237

95. The Wrestlers 238

96. School Scenes. A bowl painting 240

97. Route of the Long Walls of Athens. From a recent photo-

graph 248

98. The Hermes of Praxiteles . 254

99. Philip II of Macedon. From a gold medallion struck by Alex-

ander 260

100. Alexander. From a gold medallion of Tarsus . . . 264

101. Alexander in a Lion-hunt. Reverse side of the above . . 264

102. Alexander. The Copenhagen head . . . . . = 265

103. Alexander as Apollo. Now in the Capitoline .... 269

104. The Dying Gaul 274

105. Pylon of Ptolemy 111 at Karnak 276

106. Venus of Melos. Now in the Louvre 288

107. The Laocoon Group 290

108. Julius Caesar, The British Museum bust .... 296

109. Remains of an Etruscan Wall and Arch at Sutri . . . 302

110. Etruscan Tombs at Orvieto 803

111. So-called Wall of Servius 312

112. Cloaca Maxima 313

113. An Early Roman Coin (Janus and a ship's prow) . . . 315

114. Bridge over the Anio . 326

115. A Coin showing the City Seal of Syracuse .... 334

116. A Coin of Syracuse about 400 b.c 334

117. A Coin of Pyrrhus ... 337

ILLUSTRATIONS XI

PAGE

118. A Coin of Pyrrhus struck in Sicily 337

119. The Appian Way, witli the Aqueduct of Claudius in the Back-

ground 344

120. Head of a Javelin . „ . 353

121. A Roman Boxing Match ....... c 361

122. A Coin of Hiero II of Syracuse 366

123. Ruins at Corinth 393

124. The House of M. Olconius at Pompeii ..... 404

125. A Court in a Pompeian House (House of the Vettii) . . 407

126. An Excavated Street in Pompeii ...... 412

127. Temple of Apollo at Pompeii ....... 425

128. A Theater at Pompeii 430

129. A Coin of Mithridates VI . . . . . . . .433

130. Sulla. A portrait bust ........ 434

131. Cicero. A portrait bust ...,..». 440

132. Pompey. The Copenhagen bust ....<.. 448

133. Julius Caesar. The Naples Bust , . . « , . 449

134. The Forum at Pompeii .., ^ .... 450

135. The Roman Forum, looking south . „ « , . . 453

136. The Roman Forum, looking north ....„, 454

137. Marcus Brutus. A bust now in the Capitoline Museum . . 455

138. Octavius Caesar as a Boy 458

139. Augustus. The Vatican statue . . c - . . 461

140. Bridge at Rimini built by Augustus . . ... 462

141. Church of the Nativity . 464

142. A Gold Coin of Augustus 466

143. Ruins of the Claudian Aqueduct. From a photograph . . 468

144. A Bronze Coin of Nero 469

145. Agrippina, Mother of Nero 470

146. The Coliseum To-day 471

147. Detail from the Arch of Titus 472

148. A Coin of Domitian . 474

149. Temple of Zeus at Athens, built by Hadrian . » » .476

150. The Tomb of Hadrian 477 xii ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGjii

151. Marcus Aurelius. An equestrian statue . . o . . 478

152. Head of Commodus. From a coin .... . . 479

153. Interior of the Coliseum To-day 483

154. A German Bodyguard : a detail from the column of Marcus

Aurelius 487

155. Part of the Aqueduct of Claudius, built into a modern wall . 490

156. Aqueduct near Nimes, built by Antoninus Pius . » . 493

157. A City Gate at Pompeii 496

158. Palace of the Roman Emperors at Trier 504

159. The Black Gate at Trier 505

160. The Pantheon 508

161. A Section of the Pantheon ..... c . 508

162. The Coliseum, seen through the Arch of Titus . o . 509

163. Trajan's Column o . 510

164. General Plan of Basilicas » . 511

165. Trajan's Basilica, " restored " by Canina .... 511

166. The Arch of Titus 514

167. Trajan's Arch, at Beneventum 515

168. The Way of Tombs at Pompeii . . . . . .517

169. Detail from Trajan's Column, showing the famous bridge over

the Danube 522

170. Ruins of the Baths of Diocletian 642

171. Hall of the Baths of Diocletian : now the Church of St. Mary

of the Angels 547

172. The Milvian Bridge To-day . . . . . . .549

173. The Arch of Constantine 552

174. Church of San Vitale at Ravenna 587

175. A Gold Coin of Theodosius II, showing Byzantine character-

istics 588

176. The Tomb of Theodoric at Ravenna 600

177. The Mosque of Omar at Jerusalem 613

178. The Damascus Gate at Jerusalem 616

179. A Silver Coin of Charlemagne . 625

180. Throne of Charlemagne at Aachen .... .631

181. Cathedral of Aachen ; the " Carolingian part " . , 633

MAPS AND PLANS

PAGE

L The Field of Ancient History «

2. The First Homes of Civilization. Full page, colored after 12

3. Ancient Egypt ^^

4. Egyptian Empire at its Greatest Extent 45

6. Assyrian and Babylonian Empire ^^

6. Syria, showing Dominion of Solomon and Other Features of

Hebrew History '^'^

^ Lydia, Media, Egypt, and Babylonia, about 660 b.c. Full page,

8. The Persian Empire. Full page, colored . . . after 84

9. Greece and the Adjoining Coasts. Double page, colored after 94

10. The Greek Peninsula. Double page, colored . . after 98

11. The Greek World. (For general reference.) Double page,

12. Peloponnesian League 1^^

13. Plan of Marathon . ^"^^

14. Attica, with reference to Marathon and Salamis . • .180 16. Athens and its Ports, showing the " Long Walls'' . . .189

16. Athenian Empire. Full page, colored . . . after 198

17. Plan of Athens 202

18. The Acropolis at Athens 209

19. Greece at the Beginning of the Peloponnesian War. Full page,

20. Plan of the Battle of Leuctra . . . • • • .256

21. Greece under Theban Supremacy. Full page, colored after 268

22. The Growth of Macedonia ....•••• 261 23 Campaigns and Empire of Alexander the Great. Full page,

24. The Achaean and Aetolian Leagues 283

26, The World according to Eratosthenes 293

xiii xiv MAPS AND PLANS

PAGE

304 305 311

348 355

26. Italy. (For general reference.) Full page, colored after 302

27. The Peoples of Italy ...

28. Rome and Vicinity ...

29. Rome under the Kings

30. Italy about 200 b.c. ; Roads and Colonies

31. Plan of a Roman Camp

32. Rome and Carthage at the Opening of the First Punic War . 364

33. The Mediterranean Lands at the Opening of the Second Punic

War. Double page, colored .... after 372

34. Roman Dominions and Dependencies in 146 b.c. . . . 395

35. Vicinity of the Bay of Naples . 473

36. The Roman Empire at its Greatest Extent, showing Stages of

Growth. Double page, colored .... after 488

37. Rome under the Empire 529

38. The Roman Empire divided into Prefectures and Dioceses.

Double page, colored ...... after 544

39. The Rhine-Danube Frontier before the Great Migrations. Full

40. The Migrations. Double page, colored . . . after 576

41. Europe in the Reign of Theodoric (500 a.d.). Full page,

colored. ........ after 586

42. Europe at the Death of Justinian (565 a.d.). Full page, colored

after 590

43. Germanic Kingdoms on Roman Soil at the Close of the Sixth

Century. Double page, colored .... after 594

44. Kingdom of the Merovingians. Full page, colored . . after 608

45. Europe at the End of the Seventh Century. Full page, colored

after 622

46. Europe in the Time of Charles the Great. Double page, colored

after 630

PART I Greece and the East

THE ANCIENT WORLD

Introduction

THE PART OF MAN'S LIFE TO STUDY

Through the ages one increasing purpose runs, And the thoughts of men are widened with the process of the suns.

— Tennyson.

1. The first men had no history. They lived a savage life, more backward and helpless than the lowest savages in the world to-day. They had not even fire, or knife, or bow and arrow. In thoughts and acts they were primitive; and in brain power they were only a little above the beasts about them. Their chief desires were to satisfy hunger, to keep warm, and to outwit more powerful animals. Through thousands on thousands of years, man has been lifting himself from this earliest savagery to our many-sided civilization.

Civilization is the opposite of savagery. To raise regular food crops, instead of depending upon hunting and fishing or upon nuts and wild rice, was a great step toward civilization. To learn to use oar and sail, to work mines, to build roads and canals, to exchange the products of one region for those of another, to invent tools and machinery — the spinning wheel, the threshing machine, the locomotive, the dynamo — all these things were steps. But civilization includes more than these material gains : it includes all improvements that make men better and happier. It has to do with mental growth, with art, literature, manners, morals, home life, religion, laws, education. The civilization of a people is the sum of its advances in all these lines, material, intellectuals and moral.

I

PREHISTORIC AGES

[§1

The first steps upward were probably the slowest and most stumbling. We know little about them. No people leaves written records until it has advanced a long way from primitive savagery. And so we cannot tell just how men came to invent the bow, or how they came to use stone heads for their arrows, and stone knives, and stone axes ; or how they found a way to make fire, and to bake clay pots in which to cook food ; or how they tamed the dog and cow ; or how they learned to live together in families and tribes. These precious

Reindeer, by Cave-Dwellers (Old Stone Age). On slate, in France. On horn, in Switzerland.

(For some thousands of years, the reindeer has been extinct in these countries. Compare these drawings with modern pictures for accuracy of detail ; and note the remarkable spitit and action depicted by the prehistoric artists.)

beginnings were doubtless found and lost and found again many times in different regions; but before history begins anywhere, they had become the common property of many races.

However, though we shall never know the full story of these gains, we do know something of the order in which they came about. Embedded in the soil, sometimes many feet below the present surface, there are found relics of early man, — tools, weapons, drawings on ivory tusks, and the bones of animals which he ate or by which he was eaten.^ Sometimes such re-

1 Some of these companions of early man are now wholly extinct, like the huge mammoth, the fierce cave-bear, and the terrible saber-toothed tiger. Geologists, however, find skeletons of these animals, corresponding closelj with the drawings of prehistoric artists.

§2]

STEPS IN PROGRESS mains are found in caves, where primitive man made his home; sometimes, in refuse heaps where he cast the remnants from his food; sometimes in the gravel of old river beds where he fished. As a rule in such deposits, the lowest layers of soil contain the rudest sort of tools, while higher layers contain similar remains somewhat less primitive.

By the study of many thousands of these deposits, scholars have learned how one tool developed out of another simpler one, and have been able to trace many of the steps by which man rose from savagery.

This study, then, gives us a series of pictures of the life of primitive man ; but we cannot get a continuous story from it. It is quite apart from history. All this early time, until man begins to leave writteii records of his life, is

Prehistoric Stone Daggers from Scandinavia.

called prehistoric.

2. Prehistoric time is conveniently divided into the Old

Stone Age, the New Stone Age, and the Bronze Age, according

to the material from which tools were made. In the first

period, arrow heads and knives were pieces of flint merely

chipped roughly to give them a sort of edge. The New Stone

Age begins when men learned to give these stone weapons a

truer edge and more polished form by grinding them with

other stones. The men of this age possessed flocks and herds.

They knew how to till the soil, to spin and weave, to make

PREHISTORIC AGES

[§2 pottery and decorate it, and in some places, before the close of the long period, to build cities with immense palaces and temples of stone or sun-baked brick. Commonly they buried their dead with food and tools in the grave. This indicates that they had come to believe in a future life, somewhat like the one on earth.

At last, perhaps by a lucky accident, some Stone Age man found that fire* would separate copper from the ore. Now

better tools were possible, and a more rapid advance began. But copper tools were still clumsy and quickly lost their edge. Soon men learned to mix a little tin with the copper in the fire. This formed a metal we call bronze.

Bronze is easily worked, and after cooling, it is much harder than either of its parts alone.

The men of the Bronze Age equipped themselves with tools and weapons of keener and more lasting edge, and more convenient form, than ever before. With these, they easily conquered the more poorly armed Stone Age men about them, and also added to their own physical comfort. The use of bronze seems to have developed independently in various centers ; and by war and trade, it spread over wide regions.

Finally, men learned to smelt and use iron. This marked a still greater advance, — the most important gain after the discovery of fire. By the opening of the Iron Age, or soon afterward, man has usually invented or adopted an alphabet, and Ms history proper has begun. Sometimes, as with the peoples we shall study first, history begins long before the close of the Bronze Age.

Series of Axes :

1 and 2, Old Stone Age; 3, New Stone; 4, Bronze Age.

§3]

CONTRIBUTIONS TO CIVILIZATION

Men have advanced at different rates in different parts of the earth. When Columbus discovered America, all the natives of the Western Hemisphere were in some part of the Stone Age, — as are still some remote tribes in our Philippines and in parts of South America, Africa, and Australia. But in the valleys of the Nile and Euphrates, the peoples we are first to study had risen out of this stage at least 7000 years ago. Even among the same people, the different "ages" overlapped. Nobles and leaders used bronze weapons, while the poorer classes had still only their stone implements.

3. Our Inheritance from Prehistoric Man. — We are in position now to appreciate dimly how the earliest civilization rested

Some Stages in Fire-making. — From Tylor.

upon the unrecorded strivings of primitive man through uncounted thousands of years. Five prehistoric contributions are so supremely important as to deserve special mention.

a. The use of fire seems to have been the thing that first set man distinctly above other animals. Without fire, he was limited to raw food and to stone implements. Tlie Story of Ah ^ pictures a youth of the Stone Age discovering the use of fire from a burning natural gas (presumably set aflame by lightning). Other scholars have guessed that the first source of fire was volcanic lava, or a tree trunk ablaze from lightning. Certainly, at some early period of the Old Stone Age, man had conquered that dread of flame which all wild animals show and had come to know fire as his truest friend. Charred fragments

1 This little book by Stanley Waterloo is an admirable attempt to portray Eome of the steps in early human progress in the form of a story. It will be enjoyed by any high school boy or girl.

6 PREHISTORIC AGES [§ 3

of bone and wood are common among the earliest human deposits. One of the oldest tools in the world is the " fire-borer," a hard stick of wood with which man started a fire by boring into a more inflammable wood. The methods of making fire which are pictured on the preceding page were all invented by prehistoric man ; and the stick and bow-string was the best way known to any of the great historic nations that we shall study in this book.

b. Most of the domestic animals familiar to us in the barnyard or on the farm had been tamed into useful friends by prehistoric man. The Asiatic lands where civilization began were their native homes. This, no doubt, is one great reason why civilization began in those lands, — just as the almost total lack of animals fit for domestic life is a reason why the American hemisphere remained backward until discovered by the Old World.

c. WJieat, barley, rice, and nearly all our important food grains and garden vegetables were tamed also by the prehistoric man of Asia. Out of the myriads of wild plants, all our marvelous progress in science has failed to reveal even one other in the Old World so useful to man as those which prehistoric man selected for cultivation. Their only rivals are the potato and maize (Indian corn), which the New World aborigines, in the stage of savagery, selected for cultivation.

d. Language is one of the most precious parts of our inheritance from the ages. It is not merely the means by which we exchange ideas with one another: it is also the means by which we do our thinking. No high order of thought is possible without words. Some very primitive savages to-day have only a few words. They can count only by fingers and toes or by bundles of sticks, and they communicate with one another somewhat as the higher animals do. In the dark they can hardly talk at all. The first word-making is slow work ; but through the long prehistoric ages, among the more progressive peoples, there were developed from rude beginnings several rich and copious languages.