XIV. THE FALL OF JERUSALEM…

XIV. THE FALL OF JERUSALEM

[Sidenote: [68-70 A.D.]]

Josephus escaped from the general massacre at Jotapata with much difficulty. His life was threatened not only by the Roman soldiers who found him shut up in a cave and wished to have his life, but also by the forty other inmates of the cave who did not approve of Josephus’ desire to surrender. Josephus had recourse to the pious subterfuge of a divine vision ordering him to surrender to the Romans. But his companions in misery treated him as a contemptible coward, and he was forced to prove his physical valour by holding them all at bay. He finally suggested that they draw lots and kill each other successively. By some strange circumstance, which Josephus does not explain, the Jews in the cave bravely met death at the hands of one another until only two survived, of whom Josephus was one. Josephus easily persuaded this man to resign the privilege of martyrdom and join him in surrendering to the Romans. Josephus is our only authority for the story and he does not shine in particular brilliance even according to his own explanation. Dean Milman heaps contempt upon him for the hypocrisy and trickery of his attitude in this matter, but in the first place it would have been a profitless folly to yield to the fanaticism of his comrades, and in the second place his death would have deprived us of his invaluable history. And even Milman, while confessing the inconsistency of Josephus’ character, admits the glory of his generalship in spite of his lack of previous military instruction, confesses that he held the Roman arms in check for two months on the very frontier of an “insignificant province,” and takes the siege of Jotapata as a type of “the nature of the conflict of the Jews with the Roman supremacy, against which, in the wide circle of the empire, they were the last desperate combatants for freedom.” Josephus was treated as a traitor by the Jews, even as Thucydides had been exiled by the Greeks, but he strove hard to mitigate the horrible extremes to which Roman cruelty was driven by the superb courage of the doomed nation.

Jotapata having fallen, the Roman arms speedily overran the country. The Samaritans, despised by the Jews, entrenched themselves on Mount Gerizim, where they were massacred to the number of eleven thousand and six hundred. The city of Cæsarea was surrendered by the Greeks who had massacred the Jews in the city. Tiberias also opened its gates to the Romans. Tarichea resisted, and received only butchery as the reward of its heroism. Many of the inhabitants fled to the Lake of Galilee in light fishing boats, and yet when they were pursued by the heavy barks of the Romans, they had the courage to attack the Romans with stones. “Feeble warfare,” as Milman says, “which only irritated the pursuers: for if thrown from a distance they did no damage, only splashing the water over the soldiers or falling harmless from their iron cuirasses; if those who threw them approached nearer, they could be hit in their turn by Roman arrows. All the shores were occupied by hostile soldiers, and they were pursued into every inlet and creek; some were transfixed with spears from the high banks of the vessels, some were boarded and put to the sword, the boats of others were crushed or swamped, and the people drowned. If their heads rose as they were swimming, they were hit with an arrow, or by the prow of the bark; if they clung to the side of the enemy’s vessel, their hands and heads were hewn off. The few survivors were driven to the shore, where they met with no more mercy. Either before they landed, or in the act of landing, they were cut down or pierced through. The blue waters of the whole lake were tinged with blood, and its clear surface exhaled for several days a fœtid steam. The shores were strewn with wrecks of boats and swollen bodies that lay rotting in the sun, and infected the air, till the conquerors themselves shrank from the effects of their own barbarities. Here we must add to our bloody catalogue the loss of six thousand lives.”

Those who had remained in the town and surrendered peaceably, trusting in Roman honesty, had even more bitter fate. After long and cold-blooded deliberation, Vespasian had twelve hundred of the aged and weak put to death; six thousand of the strongest were sent to help dig the ditch which Nero was trying to cut through the Isthmus of Corinth; more than thirty thousand others were sold as slaves. This deed of Vespasian, as Milman says, “tarnished his fame forever.” The harshness, however, led to the instant surrender of all the rest of Galilee except the towns of Gamala, Giscala, and Itabyrium. Gamala held out four months, and its fate was as curious as it was terrible. Josephus describes the town as clinging to the side of a mountain with the houses very thick and close to one another. The Romans made a breach in the walls and gradually forced the Jews up to the top of the town, where they made a sudden rally and charged fiercely down upon the Romans, who being able neither to resist the impetus of the Jews nor to press back the Romans in their rear, took refuge in the houses. The houses were so lightly built that they collapsed under the weight of the crowded soldiers and the whole town came tumbling down the cliff-side like a pack of cards. The Romans suffered a great panic with heavy loss and the Jews drove them out of the town, Vespasian himself being saved with great difficulty from slaughter. Gradually, however, the city was overcome and a bloody massacre followed. Hundreds threw themselves over the precipices with their wives and children. Hundreds of others the Romans flung over the cliffs. Nine thousand corpses marked the vain courage of the people of Gamala. Itabyrium had fallen in the meanwhile and Giscala was abandoned by its commander John of Giscala, who took his troops and his ambition into Jerusalem, though hotly pursued by Titus.

“But Jerusalem,” says Milman, “was ill-preparing herself to assume the part which became the metropolis of the nation, in this slow contest; and better had it been for her, if John of Giscala had perished in the trenches of his native town, or been cut off in his flight by the pursuing cavalry. His fame had gone before him to Jerusalem, perhaps not a little enhanced by the defection of his rival Josephus. The multitude poured out to meet him, as well to do him honour, as to receive authentic tidings of the disasters in Galilee. They assumed a lofty demeanour, declared that for Giscala, and such insignificant villages, it was not worth risking the blood of brave men--they had reserved all theirs to be shed in the defence of the capital. Yet to many their retreat was too manifestly a flight, and from the dreadful details of massacre and captivity, they foreboded the fate which awaited themselves. John, however, represented the Roman force as greatly enfeebled, and their engines worn out before Jotapata and Gamala; and urged, that if they were so long in subduing the towns of Galilee, they would inevitably be repulsed with shame from Jerusalem. John was a man of the most insinuating address, and the most plausible and fluent eloquence. The war and the peace factions not only distracted the public councils, but in every family, among the dearest and most intimate friends, this vital question created stern and bloody divisions. Every one assembled a band of adherents, or joined himself to some organised party. The youth were everywhere unanimous in their ardour for war; the older in vain endeavoured to allay the frenzy by calmer and more prudent reasoning. First individuals, afterwards bands of desperate men, began to spread over the whole country, spoiling either by open robbery, or under pretence of chastising those who were traitors to the cause of their country. The unoffending and peaceful who saw their houses burning, and their families plundered, thought they could have nothing worse to apprehend from the conquest of the Romans than from the lawless violence of their own countrymen.”

There is no space here to tell in detail the horrors of the civil war that ensued within Jerusalem. The cruelties inflicted by the Romans themselves hardly rivalled the infamous treacheries, murders, and indignities even to corpses, which the Jews heaped upon their own people. The Roman Empire itself, however, was also undergoing the throes of a civil war, in which the Jews thought they saw the dissolution of the empire and the golden opportunity for the independence of their own country. But the ship of Roman state weathered this tempest as so many another, and by the spring of the year 70 A.D. Titus commenced the siege of the city in earnest. At this time Jerusalem was crowded with something like a million persons who had come in for the Passover, but the aggregate number of fighting men seems to have been less than twenty-four thousand, while the forces of Titus are estimated at about eighty thousand. The Jews expected succour from their kinsmen of Parthia as well as from other quarters of the empire, but before these arrived, if they were ever sent at all, the forces of Titus appeared before the city. Taking six hundred horse with him Titus advanced at once to reconnoitre, but as no one appeared to oppose his progress he incautiously approached so near the wall that he was suddenly surrounded by a multitude of men who rushed out from one of the gates behind him. Bareheaded and without his breastplate as he was, yet he forced his way through this multitude and escaped unharmed to the Roman camp, although many of his followers were slain.

[Sidenote: [70 A.D.]]

Attempts were made at once to take the walls by storm, but these assaults were repulsed by the defenders, the Roman army retired to its entrenchments, and a regular siege began. Battering-rams were brought into play against the walls, while catapults and ballistæ were plied incessantly against the defenders on the walls, and were responded to with similar weapons by them. In the use of these weapons, however, the Jews were very unskilful, while the bolts and stones thrown from the Roman camp did effective work both on the walls and inside them. The enormous thickness of the outer walls resisted the battering-rams for some days, but they gave way at last and the defenders retired within their second line. This second wall was carried five days later and Titus was thus made master of the lower city.

Famine now added to the war within and without the city its ghastly terrors. Never has a more thrilling picture of human misery been painted than that of Josephus.[a]

JOSEPHUS’ ACCOUNT OF THE FAMINE

It was now a miserable case, and a sight that would justly bring tears into our eyes, how men stood as to their food, while the more powerful had more than enough, and the weaker were lamenting (for want of it). But the famine was too hard for all other passions, and it is destructive to nothing so much as to modesty; for what was otherwise worthy of reverence was in this case despised; insomuch that children pulled the very morsels that their fathers were eating out of their very mouths, and what was still more to be pitied, so did the mothers do as to their infants; and when those that were most dear were perishing under their hands, they were not ashamed to take from them the very last drops that might preserve their lives; and while they ate after this manner, yet were they not concealed in so doing; but the seditious everywhere came upon them immediately, and snatched away from them what they had gotten from others; for when they saw any house shut up, this was to them a signal that the people within had gotten some food; whereupon they broke open the doors, and ran in, and took pieces of what they were eating, almost up out of their very throats, and this by force: the old men, who held their food fast, were beaten; and if the women hid what they had within their hands, their hair was torn for so doing; nor was there any commiseration shown either to the aged or to infants, but they lifted up children from the ground as they hung upon the morsels they had gotten, and shook them down upon the floor; but still were they more barbarously cruel to those that had prevented their coming in, and had actually swallowed down what they were going to seize upon, as if they had been unjustly defrauded of their right.

They also invented terrible methods of torment to discover where any food was, and they were these: to stop up the passages of the privy parts of the miserable wretches, and a man was forced to bear what it is terrible even to hear, in order to make him confess that he had but one loaf of bread, or that he might discover a handful of barley-meal that was concealed; and this was done when these tormentors were not themselves hungry; for the thing had been less barbarous had necessity forced them to it; but this was done to keep their madness in exercise, and as making preparation of provisions for themselves for the following days. These men went also to meet those that had crept out of the city by night, as far as the Roman guards, to gather some plants and herbs that grew wild; and when those people thought they had got clear of the enemy, these snatched from them what they had brought with them, even while they had frequently entreated them, and that by calling upon the tremendous name of God, to give them back some part of what they had brought; though these would not give them the least crumb; and they were to be well contented that they were only spoiled, and not slain at the same time.

It is therefore impossible to go distinctly over every instance of these men’s iniquity. I shall therefore speak my mind here at once briefly: That neither did any other city ever suffer such miseries, nor did any age ever breed a generation more fruitful in wickedness than this was, from the beginning of the world. Finally, they brought the Hebrew nation into contempt, that they might themselves appear comparatively less impious with regard to strangers. They confessed what was true, that they were the slaves, the scum, and the spurious and abortive offspring of our nation, while they overthrew the city themselves, and forced the Romans, whether they would or no, to gain a melancholy reputation, by acting gloriously against them, and did almost draw that fire upon the temple, which they seemed to think came too slowly; and, indeed, when they saw that temple burning from the upper city, they were neither troubled at it, nor did they shed any tears on that account, while yet these passions were discovered among the Romans themselves: which circumstances we shall speak of hereafter in their proper place, when we come to treat of such matters.

So now Titus’ banks were advanced a great way, notwithstanding his soldiers had been very much distressed from the wall. He then sent a party of horsemen, and ordered they should lay ambushes for those that went out into the valleys to gather food. Some of these were indeed fighting men, who were not contented with what they got by rapine; but the greater part of them were poor people, who were deterred from deserting by the concern they were under for their own relations: for they could not hope to escape away, together with their wives and children, without the knowledge of the seditious; nor could they think of leaving these relations to be slain by the robbers on their account; nay, the severity of the famine made them bold in thus going out: so nothing remained but that, when they were concealed from the robbers, they should be taken by the enemy; and when they were going to be taken, they were forced to defend themselves, for fear of being punished: as after they had fought, they thought it too late to make any supplications for mercy: so they were first whipped, and then tormented with all sorts of tortures before they died, and were then crucified before the wall of the city. This miserable procedure made Titus greatly to pity them, while they caught every day five hundred Jews; nay, some days they caught more; yet did it not appear to be safe for him to let those that were taken by force go their way; and to set a guard over so many, he saw would be to make such as guarded them useless to him.

The main reason why he did not forbid that cruelty was this, that he hoped the Jews might perhaps yield at that sight, out of fear lest they might themselves afterwards be liable to the same cruel treatment. So the soldiers, out of the wrath and hatred they bore the Jews, nailed those they caught, one after one way, and another after another, to the crosses, by way of jest; when their multitude was so great, that room was wanting for the crosses, and crosses wanting for the bodies.

But so far were the seditious from repenting at this sad sight, that, on the contrary, they made the rest of the multitude believe otherwise; for they brought the relations of those that had deserted upon the wall, with such of the populace as were very eager to go over upon the security offered them, and showed them what miseries those underwent who fled to the Romans; and told them that those who were caught were supplicants to them, and not such as were taken prisoners. This sight kept many of those within the city who were so eager to desert, till the truth was known; yet did some of them run away immediately as unto certain punishment, esteeming death from their enemies to be a quiet departure, if compared with that by famine.

So Titus commanded that the hands of many of those that were caught should be cut off, that they might not be thought deserters, and might be credited on account of the calamity they were under, and sent them in to John and Simon, with this exhortation, that they would now at length leave off (their madness), and not force him to destroy the city, whereby they would have those advantages of repentance, even in their utmost distress, that they would preserve their own lives, and so fine a city of their own, and that temple which was their peculiar pride. He then went round about the banks that were cast up, and hastened them, in order to show that his words should in no long time be followed by his deeds. In answer to which, the seditious cast reproaches upon Cæsar himself, and upon his father also, and cried out with a loud voice, that they contemned death, and did well in preferring it before slavery; that they would do all the mischief to the Romans they could while they had breath in them; and that for their own city, since they were, as he said, to be destroyed, they had no concern about it, and that the world itself was a better temple to God than this. That yet this temple would be preserved by him that inhabited therein, whom they still had for their assistant in this war, and did therefore laugh at all his threatenings, which would come to nothing; because the conclusion of the whole depended upon God only. These words were mixed with reproaches, and with them they made a mighty clamour.

So all hope of escaping was now cut off from the Jews, together with their liberty of going out of the city. Then did the famine widen its progress, and devoured the people by whole houses and families; the upper rooms were full of women and children that were dying by famine; and the lanes of the city were full of the dead bodies of the aged; the children also and the young men wandered about the market-places like shadows, all swelled with the famine, and fell down dead wheresoever their misery seized them. As for burying them, those that were sick themselves were not able to do it; and those that were hearty and well, were deterred from doing it by the great multitude of those dead bodies, and by the uncertainty there was how soon they should die themselves; for many died as they were burying others, and many went to their coffins before that fatal hour was come!

Nor was there any lamentation made under these calamities, nor were heard any mournful complaints; but the famine confounded all natural passions; for those who were just going to die, looked upon those that were gone to their rest before them with dry eyes and open mouths.

A deep silence also, and a kind of deadly night, had seized upon the city; while yet the robbers were still more terrible than these miseries were themselves; for they brake open those houses which were no other than graves of dead bodies, and plundered them of what they had; and carrying off the coverings of their bodies, went out laughing, and tried the points of their swords on their dead bodies; and, in order to prove what mettle they were made of, they thrust some of those through that still lay alive upon the ground; but for those that entreated them to lend them their right hand, and their sword to despatch them, they were too proud to grant their requests, and left them to be consumed by the famine. Now every one of these died with their eyes fixed upon the temple, and left the seditious alive behind them. Now the seditious at first gave orders that the dead should be buried out of the public treasury, as not enduring the stench of their dead bodies. But afterwards, when they could not do that, they had them cast down from the walls into the valleys beneath.

However, when Titus, in going his rounds along those valleys, saw them full of dead bodies, and the thick putrefaction running about them, he gave a groan, and, spreading out his hands to heaven, called God to witness that this was not his doing.

Some of the deserters, having no other way, leaped down from the wall immediately, while others of them went out of the city with stones, as if they would fight them; but thereupon, they fled away to the Romans: but here a worse fate accompanied these than what they had found within the city; and they met with a quicker despatch from the too great abundance they had among the Romans, than they could have done from the famine among the Jews; for when they came first to the Romans, they were puffed up by the famine, and swelled like men in a dropsy; after which they all on the sudden over-filled those bodies that were before empty, and so burst asunder, excepting such only as were skilful enough to restrain their appetites, and, by degrees, took in their food into bodies unaccustomed thereto.

Yet did another plague seize upon those that were thus preserved; for there was found among the Syrian deserters a certain person who was caught gathering pieces of gold out of the excrements of the Jews’ bellies,--for the deserters used to swallow such pieces of gold, when they came out,--and for these did the seditious search them all, for there was a great quantity of gold in the city, insomuch that as much was now sold (in the Roman camp) for twelve Attic drachmæ as was sold before for twenty-five; but when this contrivance was discovered in one instance, the fame of it filled their several camps, that the deserters came to them full of gold. So the multitude of the Arabians, with the Syrians, cut up those that came as supplicants, and searched their bellies. Nor does it seem to me that any misery befell the Jews that was more terrible than this, since in one night’s time about two thousand of these deserters were thus dissected.

But as for John, when he could no longer plunder the people, he betook himself to sacrilege, and melted down many of the sacred utensils which had been given to the temple, as also many of those vessels which were necessary for such as ministered about holy things, the caldrons, the dishes, and the tables; nay, he did not abstain from those pouring-vessels that were sent them by Augustus and his wife; for the Roman emperors did ever both honour and adorn this temple. Whereas this man, who was a Jew, seized upon what were the donations of foreigners, and said to those that were with him that it was proper for them to use divine things while they were fighting for the Divinity, without fear, and that such whose warfare is for the temple, should live of the temple; on which account he emptied the vessels of that sacred wine and oil, which the priests kept to be poured on the burnt-offerings, and which lay in the inner court of the temple, and distributed it among the multitude, who, in their anointing themselves and drinking, used (each of them) above an hin of them. And here I cannot but speak my mind, and what the concern I am under dictates to me, and it is this: I suppose, that had the Romans made any longer delay in coming against these villains, the city would either have been swallowed up by the ground opening upon them, or been overflowed by water, or else been destroyed by such thunder as the country of Sodom perished by, for it had brought forth a generation of men much more atheistical than were those that suffered such punishments, for by their madness it was that all the people came to be destroyed.

And, indeed, why do I relate these particular calamities?--while Manneus, the son of Lazarus, came running to Titus at this very time, and told him that there had been carried out through that one gate, which was entrusted to his care, no fewer than a hundred and fifteen thousand eight hundred and eighty dead bodies, in the interval between the fourteenth day of the month Xanthicus (Nisan), when the Romans pitched their camp by the city, and the first day of the month Panemus (Tammuz). This was itself a prodigious multitude; and though this man was not himself set as a governor at that gate, yet was he appointed to pay the public stipend for carrying these bodies out, and so was obliged of necessity to number them, while the rest were buried by their relations, though all their burial was but this, to bring them away, and cast them out of the city. After this man there ran away to Titus many of the eminent citizens, and told him the entire number of the poor that were dead; and that no fewer than six hundred thousand were thrown out at the gates, though still the number of the rest could not be discovered; and they told him further, that when they were no longer able to carry out the dead bodies of the poor, they laid their corpses on heaps in very large houses, and shut them up therein; as also that a medimnus of wheat was sold for a talent; and that when, a while afterwards, it was not possible to gather herbs, by reason the city was all walled about, some persons were driven to that terrible distress as to search the common sewers and old dunghills of cattle, and to eat the dung which they got there; and what they of old could not endure so much as to see, they now used for food. When the Romans barely heard all this, they commiserated their case; while the seditious, who saw it also, did not repent, but suffered the same distress to come upon themselves; for they were blinded by that fate which was already coming upon the city, and upon themselves also.

Now of those that perished by famine in the city, the number was prodigious, and the miseries they underwent were unspeakable; for if so much as the shadow of any kind of food did anywhere appear, a war was commenced presently; and the dearest friends fell a fighting one with another about it, snatching from each other the most miserable supports of life. Nor would men believe that those who were dying had no food; but the robbers would search them when they were expiring, lest any one should have concealed food in their bosoms, and counterfeited dying: nay, these robbers gaped for want, and ran about stumbling and staggering along like mad dogs, and reeling against the doors of the houses like drunken men; they would also, in the great distress they were in, rush into the very same houses two or three times in one and the same day. Moreover, their hunger was so intolerable, that it obliged them to chew everything, while they gathered such things as the most sordid animals would not touch, and endured to eat them; nor did they at length abstain from girdles and shoes; and the very leather which belonged to their shields they pulled off and gnawed; the very wisps of old hay became food to some; and some gathered up fibres, and sold a very small weight of them for four Attic drachmæ. But why do I describe the shameless impudence that the famine brought on men in their eating inanimate things, while I am going to relate a matter of fact, the like to which no history relates, either among the Greeks or Barbarians! It is horrible to speak of it, and incredible when heard. I had indeed willingly omitted this calamity of ours, that I might not seem to deliver what is so portentous to posterity, but that I have innumerable witnesses to it in my own age; and besides, my country would have had little reason to thank me for suppressing the miseries that she underwent at this time.

There was a certain woman that dwelt beyond Jordan, her name was Mary; her father was Eleazar, of the village Bethezub, which signifies “the House of Hyssop.” She was eminent for her family and her wealth, and had fled away to Jerusalem with the rest of the multitude, and was with them besieged therein at this time. The other effects of this woman had been already seized upon; such, I mean, as she had brought with her out of Peræa, and removed to the city. What she had treasured up besides, as also what food she had contrived to save, had been also carried off by the rapacious guards, who came every day running into her house for that purpose. This put the poor woman into a very great passion, and by the frequent reproaches and imprecations she cast at these rapacious villains, she had provoked them to anger against her; but none of them, either out of the indignation she had raised against herself, or out of the commiseration of her case, would take away her life; and if she found any food, she perceived her labours were for others, and not for herself; and it was now become impossible for her any way to find any more food, while the famine pierced through her very bowels and marrow, when also her passion was fired to a degree beyond the famine itself; nor did she consult with anything but with her passion and the necessity she was in.

She then attempted a most unnatural thing; and snatching up her son, who was a child sucking at her breast, she said: “O thou miserable infant! for whom shall I preserve thee in this war, this famine, and this sedition? As to the war with the Romans, if they preserve our lives, we must be slaves! This famine also will destroy us, even before that slavery comes upon us;--yet are these seditious rogues more terrible than both the other. Come on; be thou my food, and be thou a fury to these seditious varlets and a byword to the world, which is all that is now wanting to complete the calamities of us Jews.”

As soon as she had said this she slew her son; and then roasted him, and ate the one half of him, and kept the other half by her concealed. Upon this the seditious came in presently, and smelling the horrid scent of this food, they threatened her, that they would cut her throat immediately if she did not show them what food she had gotten ready. She replied, that she had saved a very fine portion of it for them; and withal uncovered what was left of her son. Hereupon they were seized with a horror and amazement of mind, and stood astonished at the sight; when she said to them:

“This is mine own son; and what hath been done was mine own doing! Come, eat of this food; for I have eaten of it myself! Do not you pretend to be either more tender than a woman, or more compassionate than a mother; but if you be so scrupulous, and do abominate this my sacrifice, as I have eaten the one half, let the rest be reserved for me also.”

After which, those men went out trembling, being never so much affrighted at anything as they were at this, and with some difficulty they left the rest of that meat to the mother. Upon which the whole city was full of this horrid action immediately; and while everybody laid this miserable case before their own eyes, they trembled, as if this unheard-of action had been done by themselves. So those that were thus distressed by the famine were very desirous to die; and those already dead were esteemed happy, because they had not lived long enough either to hear or to see such miseries.

This sad instance was quickly told to the Romans, some of whom could not believe it, and others pitied the distress which the Jews were under; but there were many of them who were hereby induced to a more bitter hatred than ordinary against our nation;--but for Cæsar, he excused himself before God as to this matter, and said, that he had proposed peace and liberty to the Jews, as well as an oblivion of all their former insolent practices; but that they, instead of concord, had chosen sedition; instead of peace, war; and before satiety and abundance, a famine. That they had begun with their own hands to burn down that temple, which we have preserved hitherto; and that therefore they deserved to eat such food as this was. That, however, this horrid action of eating one’s own child, ought to be covered with the overthrow of their very country itself; and men ought not to leave such a city upon the habitable earth to be seen by the sun, wherein mothers are thus fed, although such food be fitter for the fathers than for the mothers to eat of, since it is they that continue still in a state of war against us, after they have undergone such miseries as these. And at the same time that he said this, he reflected on the desperate condition these men must be in; nor could he expect that such men could be recovered to sobriety of mind after they had endured those very sufferings for the avoiding whereof it only was probable they might have repented.[c]

THE CLOSE OF JEWISH HISTORY

In spite of such gaunt famine, however, the war went on and the resistance continued. Soon the battering-rams made a breach in the wall of Antonia, and Titus called upon his soldiers to mount the breach, but only one soldier, Sibanus, and eleven others responded, and these were overwhelmed at once. Two nights later, however, twenty-four soldiers crept into the breach, and Antonia was taken. Titus at once made offers of clemency and many accepted his offer of mercy, but the rest fled to Zion and the temple. He then called a council of war to decide whether the temple should be saved; many of his generals were in favour of destroying it, but nevertheless Titus ordered the flames to be extinguished, fixing the next day for the final assault. But even Roman discipline could not control the infuriated soldiers and one of them threw a blazing torch into the gilded lattice of the porch. “The flames sprang up at once. The Jews uttered one simultaneous shriek and grasped their swords with a furious determination of revenging and perishing in the ruins of the temple. Titus rushed down with the utmost speed: he shouted, he made signs to his soldiers to quench the fire: his voice was drowned and his signs unnoticed in the blind confusion. The legionaries either could not or would not hear: they rushed on, trampling each other down in their furious haste, or stumbling over the crumbling ruins, and perished with the enemy. Each exhorted the other, and each hurled his blazing brand into the inner part of the edifice, and then hastened to his work of carnage. The unarmed and the defenceless people were slain in thousands; they lay heaped like sacrifices round the altar; the steps of the temple ran with streams of blood, which washed down the bodies which lay upon it.”

Titus himself entered the Holy of Holies before the flames had reached the sanctuary, and with a last effort attempted to save it, but in his very presence his soldiers fired the great door and the building was soon wrapt in flames.

[Sidenote: [70-73 A.D.]]

Thus was Jerusalem destroyed. Josephus reckons that the number of people who perished in this siege was one million one hundred thousand, and while this is probably an exaggeration it is not impossible that such a number may have perished, when we remember that a large proportion of the male population of Judea had gathered in Jerusalem for the Passover. Persecutions of the remaining Jews were soon begun at Antioch, where several Jews were burnt and tortured. It is to Titus’ credit that these persecutions were checked and his soldiers rebuked: “The country of the Jews is destroyed--thither they cannot return: it would be hard to allow them no home to return to--leave them in peace.” The booty taken at Jerusalem was so enormous as to cause an immense depreciation in the value of gold and silver throughout Asia, and this even though the treasures of the temple had been burned and destroyed.

The revolt lasted a little longer in the Dead Sea region. The castle of Herodion soon fell; Macherus surrendered, but the men were slain, the women and children sent to slavery. Masada held out till the year 73, when the garrison, seeing their case hopeless, killed their wives and children, and then themselves after setting fire to the castle. The Jews in other parts of the world suffered many disasters and made a few efforts at revolt under Zealots, but gradually all resistance was crushed out in blood, and the Jews having perished by the hundred thousand, ceased to be a nation. As Munk said, “Almost all Judea became a desert; the wolves and the hyenas entered the cities.”[a]

From that day forward the Jews have no important history. The extremist party of the prophets and Zealots, which was likewise the nationalist party, no longer existed; it had been drowned in blood. As for the priests and rabbis, they had long since withdrawn from the conflict, but it is due to them that the Jews, having completely lost their national existence, have been able to subsist to this day as a religious body. “Renouncing the hope of playing a political rôle,” says Munk, “the Jews directed all their efforts towards a moral aim, and devoted themselves wholly to consolidating their religious unity.” Convinced at last that their mission as a body politic was at an end, and that the sanctuary at Jerusalem, with its priests and sacrifices, could no longer be the symbol about which the scattered remnants of the Jewish nation were to gather, they laid down their arms, and sought by peaceful ways and intellectual methods to strengthen themselves as a religious body. For a while Palestine still remained the chief seat of religious study, the rabbis settling in several cities of Galilee, notably Sephoris and Tiberias. From the school of Tiberias, founded about the year 180, came forth the famous rabbi, Yehudah, surnamed the Holy, who collected the incomplete codes and traditional laws of the schools of the Pharisees, and, in the first quarter of the third century, fashioned them into an immense system of laws known under the name of the Mishnah, or Second Law. This code is divided into six parts, entitled Sedarim, orders. Each of the six is subdivided into several treatises, each treatise into chapters. This code was annotated, discussed, and amplified, first by the Palestinian and then by the Babylonian school, and each school afterwards made a collection of these annotations and discussions. The name of Gemara, Complement, was given to these collections, which were much more voluminous than the Mishnah that serves for their text. The Mishnah and the Gemara together form the Talmud, the Teaching.

The Zealots who had perished in the struggle for independence or in the massacres that followed on their defeat, and the rabbis who laboured in obscurity and silence, constituted but a comparatively small part of the Jewish population, and we may well ask what became of the innumerable slaves who flooded the empire after the fall of Jerusalem. They did not all succumb to the arduous toils of the Coliseum. Under Hadrian there was a fresh influx of Jewish slaves; Dion Cassius, who speaks of five hundred and eighty thousand men killed in the course of the war, says nothing of women or children. We cannot doubt that they were sold, according to the common custom. Renan says that at the yearly fair of the Terebinth, near Hebron, Jews could be bought at the same price as horses. Once bought, they ran no further risk of death from hunger or destitution, for a slave, even if bought at the price of a horse, represented money’s worth, which it was not in his master’s interest to lose. Among their co-religionists, slaves like themselves, or freedmen, these unhappy beings found the pathetic brotherhood of the poor, ingenious in expedients. All the little nameless trades offered resources to this humiliated race, unscrupulous, skilful in exploiting the vices of the ruling classes, armed with good reasons for not loving the human race. Mingled with slaves of other races, they communicated to them the fanaticism of their wrath and their hopes of revenge. This revenge was afterwards relegated to a distant future; but at that time, smarting under the memory of recent disaster, they dreamt of it as complete and in the immediate future. Let the world come to an end, since nothing could reform it; let it go down to the bottomless pit, with all its defilements, and the agonies of the outcasts of life, and oppressions without number, and inexpiable ills! The hour of deliverance is near, and the accursed shall go to everlasting fire, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. The fall of the Jewish nation redounded to the advantage of Christian propaganda. From that time forward we hear less and less of the Jews and more and more of the Christians.

It is an inevitable consequence of military government that after every conquest the conquered impose their ideas on the conquerors. When Rome had subjugated Greece, she herself submitted to the dominion of the Hellenistic spirit, which imposed on the Romans its own forms of art, its literary culture, its mythology, and its philosophy. Rome, mistress of Asia, was invaded by Asiatic luxury, the East opened upon the West the floodgates of its superstitions, sensual, gloomy, frenzied, or ascetic; nothing was talked of save mysteries, funeral feasts, horoscopes, magic, purifications, Isis and Mithras, the passion of Attys, gods dead and risen again. Egypt had deified the Pharaohs, Rome deified the Cæsars. Finally, Judea, the last province conquered by the Romans, was the last to impose its religious thought upon the world. The obscure traditions of a despised people were destined to take the place of the glorious memories of Greece and Rome. A monarchy required a monarchial religion. The republic had vanished from the earth, it could not be left in the heavens. The images of the gods still stood in their temples, but since the time of Augustus the only god of the empire had been the emperor. Since the conscience of the conquerors of the world had not revolted from the apotheosis of tyrants, the conquered were fully entitled to seek among their own ranks for a worthier object. One nation alone had refused its incense to the emperors. That nation was destined to provide a God for the coming centuries. In the arrogant words of a Jew of our own times, this nation said to the world, “Till thou art able to understand me, behold a man of my race, make of him thy god.” Humanity had found its social ideal in servitude; it was just that the gibbet of slaves should become the symbol of the religion of the human race.

Thus in the great Christian synthesis, the worship of the God-man, which sums up the whole of Greek anthropomorphism, took its place by the side of Jewish monotheism. With the principle of universal order, the source and reason of things, was associated, in the unity of the Divine, the moral law in its loftiest form, the sacrifice of self and redemption through suffering. But while other religions, when introduced into the empire, had allowed the traditions and monuments of Græco-Roman civilisation to remain, the monistic religion of the Semitic race was destined to exclude all other religious forms and wipe out the traces of them. Like the wind of the desert that destroys everything in its path, the solitary God of Sinai was to sweep away all the works of the past. Hence, some centuries later, Rutilius Numatianus, the last of pagan poets, exclaimed, in the midst of the ruins of civilisation and the empire, “Would to the gods that Judea had never been conquered! The plague, extirpated there, hath spread abroad, and a vanquished nation oppresses its conquerors.” Had this poet had a little of the living faith of those he despised, had religion been anything to him beyond a literary form, he would have recognised that this conquest of the world by Jewish thought was but a just vengeance for the hideous wars of Titus and Hadrian, and a striking proof of the justice of the gods. The events of human history are neither effects of capricious chance nor phases of necessary evolution, but moral consequences of a great law of equilibrium and expiation which is the nemesis of history.[e]

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XV. HEBREW CIVILISATION

If a nation can be in any sense summed up, the National Idea of the Hebrews as a unit has been stated by Hegel in contrast with the Idea of other peoples. He says: While among the Phœnician people the Spiritual was still limited by Nature, in the case of the Jews we find it entirely purified--the pure product of thought. Self-conception appears in the field of consciousness, and the Spiritual develops itself in sharp contrast to Nature and to union with it. It is true that we observed at an earlier stage the pure conception “Brahma,” but only as the universal being of Nature; and with this limitation, that Brahma is not himself an object of consciousness. Among the Persians we saw this abstract being become an object for consciousness, but it was that of sensuous intuition--as Light. But the idea of Light has at this stage advanced to that of “Jehovah,”--the purely One. This forms the point of separation between the East and the West; Spirit descends into the depths of its own being, and recognises the abstract fundamental principle as the Spiritual. Nature, which in the East is the primary and fundamental existence, is now depressed to the condition of a mere creature; and Spirit now occupies the first place. God is known as the creator of all men, as he is of all nature, and as absolute causality generally. But this great principle, as further conditioned, is exclusive Unity.

This religion must necessarily possess the element of exclusiveness, which consists essentially in this--that only the One People which adopts it, recognizes the One God, and is acknowledged by Him. The God of the Jewish People is the God only of Abraham and of his seed: National individuality and a special local worship are involved in such a conception of deity. Before Him all other gods are false: moreover the distinction between “true” and “false” is quite abstract; for as regards the false gods, not a ray of the Divine is supposed to shine into them. But every form of spiritual force, and a fortiori every religion is of such a nature, that whatever be its peculiar character, an affirmative element is necessarily contained in it.

However erroneous a religion may be, it possesses truth, although in a mutilated phase. In every religion there is a divine presence, a divine relation; and a philosophy of history has to seek out the spiritual element even in the most imperfect forms. But it does not follow that because it is a religion, it is therefore good. We must not fall into the lax conception, that the content is of no importance, but only the form. This latitudinarian tolerance the Jewish religion does not admit, being absolutely exclusive.

The Spiritual speaks itself here absolutely free of the Sensuous, and Nature is reduced to something merely external and undivine. This is the true and proper estimate of Nature at this stage; for only at a more advanced phase can the idea attain a reconciliation (recognise itself) in this its alien form. Its first utterances will be in opposition to Nature; for Spirit, which had been hitherto dishonoured, now first attains its due dignity, while Nature resumes its proper position. Nature is conceived as having the ground of its existence in another--as something posited, created; and this idea, that God is the lord and creator of Nature, leads men to regard God as the Exalted One, while the whole of Nature is only His robe of glory, and is expended in His service.

In contrast with this kind of exaltation, that which the Hindu religion presents is only that of indefinitude. In virtue of the prevailing spirituality the Sensuous and Immoral are no longer privileged, but disparaged as ungodliness. Only the One--Spirit--the Non-sensuous is the truth; Thought exists free for itself, and true morality and righteousness can now make their appearance; for God is honoured by righteousness, and right-doing is “walking in the way of the Lord.”

With this is conjoined happiness, life, and temporal prosperity as its reward; for it is said: “that thou mayest live long in the land.”--Here too, also, we have the possibility of a historical view; for the understanding has become prosaic; putting the limited and circumscribed in its proper place, and comprehending it as the form proper to finite existence: Men are regarded as individuals, not as incarnations of God; Sun as Sun, Mountains as Mountains--not as possessing Spirit and Will.

We observed among this people a severe religious ceremonial, expressing a relation to pure Thought. The individual as concrete does not become free, because the Absolute itself is not comprehended as concrete Spirit, since the Spirit still appears posited as non-spiritual--destitute of its proper characteristics. It is true that subjective feeling is manifest--the pure heart, repentance, devotion; but the particular concrete individuality has not become objective to itself in the Absolute. It therefore remains closely bound to the observance of ceremonies and of the Law, the basis of which latter is pure freedom in its abstract form. The Jews possess that which makes them what they are, through the One: consequently the individual has no freedom for itself. Spinoza regards the code of Moses as having been given by God to the Jews for a punishment--a rod of correction. The individual never comes to the consciousness of independence; on that account we do not find among the Jews any belief in the immortality of the soul; for individuality does not exist in and for itself.

But though in Judaism the Individual is not respected, the Family has inherent value; for the worship of Jehovah is attached to the Family, and it is consequently viewed as a substantial existence. But the State is an institution not consonant with the Judaistic principle, and it is alien to the legislation of Moses. In the idea of the Jews, Jehovah is the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and Jacob; who commanded them to depart out of Egypt, and gave them the land of Canaan. The accounts of the Patriarchs attract our interest. We see in this history the transition from the patriarchal nomad condition to agriculture.

On the whole the Jewish history exhibits grand features of character; but it is disfigured by an exclusive bearing (sanctioned in its religion) towards the genius of other nations (the destruction of the inhabitants of Canaan being even commanded), by want of culture generally, and by the superstition arising from the idea of the high value of their peculiar nationality. Miracles, too, form a disturbing feature in this history--as history; for as far as concrete consciousness is not free, concrete perception is also not free; Nature is undeified, but not yet understood.[b]

THE LIFE AND CUSTOMS OF THE ISRAELITES

The expiatory offerings of the Israelites were governed by precepts which were more numerous than sacrifices. If any one had violated the Laws of the Torah, or Book of the Law, he was obliged at once to offer up a young ox; the fat and kidneys of the ox were burnt before Yahveh, the skin, head, legs, stomach, and flesh were burnt outside the camp. If the whole community sinned, the ancients or heads of families had to offer up this sacrifice. Any one who could not afford an ox could replace it by a goat or a young lamb if he had witnessed a curse without declaring it, or if he had blasphemed himself, or had touched the body of an impure animal or any other impurity. A poor man was only obliged to offer up two doves or pigeons, one as a sin offering, the other as a sacrifice. If he was very poor indeed, he contented himself by bringing the tenth part of an ephah of flour without adding oil or the incense for the sacrifice.

The peace offering was offered up after a vow or a pious act, or after a benefit for which the son of Israel wished to thank Yahveh. The law also ordained a few peace offerings such as the ram brought by the Nazarite, at the same time that he offered up a sacrifice. At the festival of the First Fruit, the Hebrews brought two yearling lambs which belonged to the priests. The priest only had the breast and right shoulder of the other peace offerings, while the remainder of the victim formed part of the grand repast to which the tribe was invited, and from which the Christian feasts must have sprung.

Besides the victims chosen for these three kinds of sacrifices, there were two others, the young cow and the red cow, which were sacrificed on special occasions. When the body of a murdered man was found in the country, the ancients and the chiefs of the families of the surrounding towns assembled together. When the nearest place to where the murder had been committed had been carefully fixed upon, the ancients of that city or borough were obliged to take a young heifer, which had not yet worked, to a rough and uncultivated valley. There, after wringing the neck of the cow, the ancients in the presence of the priests washed their hands over the victims killed in the valley, and sang. The guilty man remaining unknown and not making atonement for his crime, the sacrificed heifer served as an atonement instead.

The red heifer, quite full grown, but which had never been yoked, was killed and burnt whole by the cohene-hakadel, who sprinkled the entrance of the tabernacle, seven times with his finger dipped in the blood of the victim. The cinders of the cow were collected to make lustral water (water of separation), which purified people from the touch of corpses. Perhaps the cow thus sacrificed represented sin and impurity. Amongst the Egyptians, red seems to have been a wicked colour. That was doubtless why the Hebrews had chosen a cow of this colour as victim of sin.

The entire nation was expected to make presents to Yahveh, without counting the private offerings which were added to all these donations. The law decided upon some of them. The poor, who could not offer up two doves or two of their young as sin offerings, could instead offer a tenth part of an ephah of flour without oil or incense. The husband who doubted his wife’s chastity brought her before the priests to try her, but began by presenting some barley, as the offering of jealousy.

The first day the priest exercised his powers he brought the tenth part of an ephah of flour. He offered up half in the morning and half in the evening. According to the Talmud and Josephus, the high priest had every day to offer up sacrifices. This offering had to be consumed whole; as for the other presents, only a handful was burnt and the rest was given to the priests. Voluntary donations and those which were the result of vows have also to be added to those ordained by religion.

Sweet-smelling perfumes were brought by the sons of Israel and burnt upon the altar, Yahveh alone was allowed to smell them. “Whoever makes this perfume for his own use, let him be taken from his people.”

Every first-born belonged to Yahveh; a month after birth, a child had to be presented to the temple and bought back for five shekels at most. As for the first-born of animals, it was offered up as a peace sacrifice, and the flesh went to the priests. If it were an unclean animal, it could be sold or killed for the benefit of the tabernacle.

Besides these sacrifices, which took place, for the most part, at no fixed times, the Hebrews celebrated feasts in honour of Yahveh. Each week they had to observe the Sabbath, by abstaining from work. This was in memory of the repose of Yahveh, the seventh day after he had created the world. Perhaps this number seven, so particularly beloved by the Hebrews, which was the close for them of certain periods of days and years, was also a remembrance of Egypt. The great mourning for the death of Osiris lasted seven days. During the same length of time the death of Adonis, the divine young man slain by the teeth of a wild boar, was mourned in Phœnicia.

On the Sabbath day every occupation was forbidden, even picking up wood or cooking food. No longer journey was allowed than a walk of two thousand steps outside the town. All the religious functions as well as military operations were carried on on that day as on other days. It was only after exile, when a spirit of narrow fanaticism took hold of the people, that Jewish soldiers at certain times preferred to let themselves be killed rather than violate the repose of the Sabbath by fighting. Originally the difference between the Sabbath and other days was only the absence of work and the sacrifice of two lambs, followed by an offering of libation, which had to be made in the middle of the day. Later when there were synagogues throughout Palestine, everybody went there on the Sabbath to pray in common and to hear the Law explained from the mouth of the rabbi. The Sabbath began, like all the days amongst the Hebrews, at sunset, and ended the following evening.

Every seven years the earth also had a Sabbath. During the whole year it rested. People were forbidden to till or sow, or trim the vine or olive trees. Everything the earth produced naturally and unaided went to the land-owner and to the beggars and strangers. That year also all debts and all slavery were cancelled. A Hebrew slave had the right to leave his master after six years; if he preferred to stay with him, he was put against a door and his ear was pierced.

The Egyptians celebrated the feast of the New Moon and the different phases of its course. The Hebrews also celebrated the New Moon; during this feast sacrifice was offered up composed of two bulls, a ram, and seven lambs, to which a he-goat was added as an expiatory offering. Offerings and libation were also added to all this. There was doubtless a solemn repast at the New Moon, when the people were assembled to eat the sacrificed animals.

It was generally the day after the new moon had been seen in the sky that the feast was celebrated.

But the principal feasts of Israel were the feasts of the Passover, of Pentecost, and of Tabernacles, and the day of Atonement. The first three originally had to do with the different phases of the harvest, later souvenirs of national life were associated with them.

The social organisation of the Hebrew people was to a certain degree the outcome of the religious ideas. Yahveh, the master and king of Israel, governed the country through the Law. The chiefs were only the lieutenants of Yahveh, whose business it was to see that the laws were observed which had been transmitted by Moses. All the eldest sons of the Hebrews were equals, there was no aristocracy, no lower class, no plebeians; nothing in Israel resembled Greek or Roman society, divided into castes, whose only objects very often were to crush one another. With this principle of equality among the Hebrews, royalty and its origin did not even enter into the thoughts of the Israelites. If the political and administrative codes of the Hebrews be examined, as they appear in the Pentateuch and in subsequent history, it will be seen that certain great assemblies were called together by the chiefs of Israel, and were composed of ancients, judges, and scribes.

The ancients appear to have been the elders of the family. In each town they formed a kind of local council, and regulated the affairs of the city; they also seem to have had a fairly large judicial power. The Law gave them, in many instances, the right of pronouncing judgments and enforcing the Law. The elders also formed on great occasions a national council, in whose wisdom the chief of the Hebrews could enlighten himself. In general matters they appeared to be often invested with sovereign powers. It was the elders of Israel who invited Samuel to choose a king. Later, they chose David to rule over Israel. It would be a mistake to consider these elders as an aristocratic assembly, full of hatred and bound down to odious privileges; they were the natural representatives of the family, members of different houses who came out of the shade of the fig trees at certain times, to regulate at the gates the affairs of the town, or to give their opinions on the general interests of the Hebrew state.

In each important locality, there was a tribunal composed of judges. The Levites of the city, versed in the knowledge of the Law, doubtless formed part of the tribunals. The judges held very honoured places and formed part of all the great assemblies where the interests of Israel were discussed. They held their office by election.

The scribes, who were also elected, assisted in the great assemblies. They formed the learned part, holding the style like the Egyptian scribes. They were attached to the elders or to the judges, holding the office of genealogists, and in the wars served as heralds to the commanders of the army. At the head of the scribes, there was a chief with certain rights not enjoyed by the others.

In order to assure the equality of rights for the entire Hebrew race, the Law tried to establish, as far as possible, equality of fortune. Every fifty years transferred property had to be returned to the original possessors, but this rule seems hardly to have been observed. Trade and usury, the principal sources of the investment of money, were excluded by the Law from this rule, and thus making Israel an agricultural nation. Israel soon escaped from the obligations. The Hebrew was a most astonishing mixture of idealism and of practical common sense, and this explains many contradictions in his nature. Even to-day the Jew can unite to a prodigious extent, the most terrestrial details with the highest and noblest sentiments. All that was most idealistic in Israel was collected together in the Law; but how far did the lives of the Hebrews resemble their book?

Foreigners and colonists were not ill-treated in Israel. The Law guaranteed protection to Hebrew and colonist alike. But the good will shown towards the Canaanite and the sons of Ammon and Moab was not very great. They were forever excluded from using the title of citizen. Neither they nor the bastard nor the eunuch could take a place in the assembly of Yahveh. But at the third generation the sons of Edom and Mizraim were admitted as Israelites on condition they submitted to the ceremony of circumcision, by which the Hebrew was always distinguished from the Gentile.

Marriage was considered an absolute obligation, from which nobody could be exempt. This idea was certainly one of the causes of the morality and power of Israel. Woman was not according to the Law an inferior being, she was part of man, she bore the same name as man; he was called isch, and she ischa, with the feminine termination. No more in Israel than in Egypt were the young girls and young women shut up from all eyes. Nobody could have enjoyed more liberty than Miriam and Deborah. Woman looked up to and free, as she was imagined in a country where law was respected, has been marvellously described at the end of Proverbs. The more they thought of woman, the more she was punished when she forgot her duties.

The power of fathers over their sons and daughters before marriage was very great. The latter could be sold as slaves, but only for a time. However, the Law forbids the father the right of killing his children. It was necessary for the father, in order to have his son put to death, to appeal to the assembly of the elders assembled at the gates of the town. Brought up with the knowledge of the Law, the son remained for a long time under the authority of his father, for whom he had to work even after marriage, which emancipated the daughters.

How were the inheritances divided, and did the right of the eldest son ever exist in Israel? The eldest son, so long as a daughter had not come before him, had a right to two parts of the paternal succession. The remainder was distributed equally amongst the other children. As for the father, he could not lawfully change his will in favour of a favourite son. What Jacob did for Joseph, the Hebrew legislators wished to spare to future generations. Israel with the proud Josephides suffered too severely from favouritism not to repudiate it energetically. Far inferior to the right of priority of birth, the law of favouritism only feeds hypocrites and stirs up hatred and jealousy in the bosoms of families. When a man died leaving only daughters, they shared the inheritance with the obligation of only marrying members of their tribe. If there were no daughters, the nearest relations inherited. Later, by putting aside the Law, the heads of families commenced leaving a part of their property either to their daughters or sometimes to their slaves.

This short account of the Jewish Law would be incomplete if it were silent on an interesting feature of the society of Israel, the slave. Like all nations of antiquity, Israel had slaves. But the Law softened their lot. Amongst the slaves were Hebrews and foreigners. A man who was much in need could sell his young daughter as a slave. Sometimes the son of her master was obliged to marry her. The Hebrew incapable of paying the fine after a theft was obliged to deliver himself up to the man he had stolen from. When reduced to the last extremity, he could sell himself. These were the principal circumstances of slavery in Israel, but at the end of six years the slave became free, and left his master with a reward in the shape of lambs, kids, and goats. They also received presents of ground and of household linen. But if the slave at the eighth year said to his master, “I will not leave you,” the master would take a bodkin or puncheon, and pierce the ear of the slave leaning against the door of his house: this was a sign of perpetual slavery.

Foreigners became slaves in Israel by selling themselves, or when they were prisoners of war. The Law was lenient towards them. They had the right to take part in the panegyrics and joys of Yahveh, to share the repast of the climes and the natural fruit of the Sabbatic years, and to rest on the Sabbath day. If their masters mutilated them, they were obliged to liberate them; freedom might be the result of a broken tooth. If the slave died from his master’s ill-treatment, the master was terribly punished; how, is not clearly stated. A slave seems once to have enjoyed the office of steward; the management of the whole house was in his hands.

Except in regard to Yahveh, the Hebraic Law appears to have received beneficial influence from Egypt and Assyria; at every moment that beautiful chapter cxxv of The Book of the Dead seemed to be remembered, where the soul justifying itself before Osiris, after stating that the precepts of charity had been fulfilled, dares to add “I have not made tears flow.”[c]

HEBREW ART, ARCHITECTURE: THE TEMPLE, TOMBS, ETC.

During the last three centuries, many scholars have devoted themselves especially to the art of this nation that has played such an extraordinary rôle in the history of the world. These researches have been directed almost entirely upon the temple at Jerusalem and its furniture; for here, where the national life was concentrated, was in fact all the art that the country produced. Moreover, while the remains are no longer in our hands or under our eyes, there is not a single edifice in all oriental or classical antiquity concerning which we possess such numerous and circumstantial records.

The city of Jerusalem occupies to-day the northern extremity of a plateau which is bounded on the east by the valley of the Kidron, and on the south and west by the valley of Hinnom. This plateau is divided from north to south by a ravine called the valley of the Tyropœon (“the cheesemakers”) in such a manner as to form two hills. The eastern hill is Mount Moriah, whose southern extremity, now called Ophel, was Zion, the “city of David.”

When Solomon ascended the throne, Jerusalem occupied only Zion, and did not begin to extend to the western and larger hill until under the kings of Judea. Mount Moriah, on the north, was given up to husbandry, and a rich man of Jerusalem, Araunah, owned there a field with a threshing-floor, where camels and oxen trod out the grain at harvest-time. David had bought the field of Araunah as a site for the temple of the true God, and had erected an altar on the threshing-floor.

The work began in the fourth year of the reign of Solomon. The materials had already been in great part fitted. Architects, workmen, and artists were engaged in Tyre by the aid of King Hiram, and the work progressed rapidly. The summit of Moriah was first levelled, and then around the remaining hillock was constructed an immense retaining wall of extraordinary solidity, extending up to the level of the summit. It was built of enormous blocks held together by cramp-irons, and was supported on the outside by embankments. All the space between the interior face of this wall and the rock was filled in with rubble in such a way as to form a square platform.

Then followed the erection of the temple itself, and so rapidly was it pushed that the dedication feast was celebrated only seven years after the laying of the first stone of the substructure. The temple was to be enclosed by two courts, but Solomon completed only the first or inner one, and the east wall of the second or outer, which was not finished until long after the great king’s death, in the reign of Manasseh.

The Bible gives us a detailed description of the magnificence of the interior of this sanctuary, built and decorated by Phœnician workmen, and of the objects of art accumulated there by the most ostentatious of Hebrew kings.

The architecture and the decorations of the interior were all in Egyptian style, like the temples of the Phœnicians themselves. But of the works of Solomon nothing has remained but the cisterns and the east wall of the outer court. This wall is ornamented with a gate under which Solomon had his throne placed when he assisted at public ceremonies; it was still called Solomon’s gate, even after the time of Herod. Numerous enlargements and restorations were made under the kings of Judea; but in 586 B.C., when the Chaldeans took Jerusalem, the temple was totally destroyed.

Fifty-two years later, the captive Jews in Babylon having been delivered by Cyrus, their leader, Zerubbabel, undertook to rebuild the temple of the true God. Though similar in plan to that of Solomon, the new edifice was less beautiful and of less majestic proportions; the old men who recalled the former one wept. This building stood for nearly five centuries, passing through the domination of the Seleucidæ and the Roman conquest of Pompey without being sacked or demolished.

Then Herod, the Idumæan, made king of the Jews by the Romans, conceived the idea of making himself popular with the people by rebuilding the temple in all the splendour of Solomon. The execution of his plan, which included enlargement,--Josephus says he doubled the original size,--required the complete demolition of the former structure and the rebuilding of the ancient terraces and the gates crowning them. The only portion of the old temple that he seems to have preserved was the eastern gate or gate of Solomon. The ancient plan, however, was apparently not departed from in the main.

The great outer court was surrounded on three sides by a double colonnade of Doric columns twenty-five cubits high. On the south side was a basilica, i.e. “a building with three unequal naves supported by columns.” This enclosure was the Court of the Gentiles, and was open to all visitors. A barrier only three cubits high prevented the ungodly from entering the enclosure reserved for the Israelites, which comprised the Court of Women and the Court of Men, or of Israel. The Court of Women had at its four corners square halls serving for the supplies of the temple, for ablutions, or other pious exercises.

From this court three gates led through a group of buildings to the Court of Israel. The principal one of these gates, celebrated as the Nicanor Gate, had doors of Corinthian bronze, and was of beautiful architectural proportions and rich construction. The Court of Israel, which was reserved for men who had performed certain acts of purification, was eleven cubits wide. The halls surrounding it on three sides, which had façades furnished with porticoes, were appendages of the divine cult. Each was consecrated to a special service. Here the skins of victims were salted and washed; the musical instruments, the salt, the eternal fire, the wood were kept here; and here was the hall of the sanhedrim.

Finally came the Court of the Priests, in the middle of which were the temple proper and the altar of burnt offerings. The temple stood on a terrace six cubits high, so that there was thus a difference of level of eight and a half metres between the platform of the temple and the Court of the Gentiles. Its architectural features were essentially the same as those of Solomon’s temple. This temple of the Jews was one of the most majestic works of architecture that antiquity produced. The succession of enclosed courts rising one above another and crowned by the gigantic white marble pylons of the sanctuary is a conception of genius that was realised only here, and all antiquity had but one voice in praise of its imposing grandeur.

The House of the Eternal was embellished with an unprecedented luxury. Costly woods, gold, silver, ivory, precious stones even--nothing was spared by this people that was so jealous of its God. The accessories of the cult, moreover, sacred vessels, knives, basins, utensils of every kind, were works in which caster and engraver vied with one another in the display of their art.

But it must not be forgotten that the artists who decorated the ancient temple were Phœnicians; and as the Phœnicians always limited themselves to imitation of the Egyptians and the Assyrians, their technique has a hybrid character, which, like Syria itself from a geographical point of view, is a sort of compromise between Asia and Egypt.[d]

The race which had so little influence on the art of the world and so much upon its literature, religion, commerce, and destinies, has had the strangest of all national fates. To the Christian it is as the escape of the soul from the corruption and death of the body. Newman[e] has thus closed his History of the Hebrew Monarchy, in words that may fitly serve as finis here:

“It is not intended here to pursue the later fortunes of the Jewish nation. We have seen its monarchy rise and fall. In its progress, the prophetical and the sacerdotal elements were developed side by side; the former flourished in its native soil for a brief period, but was transplanted over all the world, to impart a lasting glory to Jewish monotheism. The latter, while in union with and subservient to the free spirit of prophecy, had struck its roots into the national heart, and grown up as a constitutional pillar to the monarchy: but when unchecked by prophet or by king, and invested with the supreme temporal and spiritual control of the restored nation, it dwindled to a mere scrubby plant, whose fruit was dry and thorny learning, or apples of Sodom, which are as ashes in the mouth. Such was the unexpansive and literal materialism of the later rabbis, out of which has proceeded nearly all that is unamiable in the Jewish character: but the Roman writers who saw that side only of the nation, little knew how high a value the retrospect of the world’s history would set on the agency of this scattered and despised people.

“For if Greece was born to teach art and philosophy, and Rome to diffuse the processes of law and government, surely Judea has been the wellspring of religious wisdom to a world besotted by frivolous or impure fancies. To these three nations it has been given to cultivate and develop principles characteristic of themselves: to the Greeks, Beauty and Science; to the Romans, Jurisprudence and Municipal Rule; but to the Jews, the Holiness of God and his Sympathy with his chosen servants. That this was the true calling of the nation, the prophets were inwardly conscious at an early period. They discerned that Jerusalem was as a centre of bright light to a dark world; and while groaning over the monstrous fictions which imposed on the nations under the name of religion, they announced that out of Zion should go forth the Law and the word of Jehovah. When they did not see, yet they believed, that the proud and despiteful heathen should at length gladly learn of their wisdom, and rejoice to honour them. In this faith the younger Isaiah closed his magnificent strains, addressing Jerusalem:

‘Behold, darkness covereth the earth, And thick mist the peoples; But Jehovah riseth upon thee, And his glory shall be seen on thee: And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, And kings to the brightness of thy rising.… The Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, And all kings thy glory; And thou shalt be called by a new name, Which the mouth of Jehovah shall name. Thou shalt be a garland of glory in the hand of Jehovah, And a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken, Nor shall thy land any more be termed Desolate; For Jehovah delighteth in thee, And thy land shall be married to him.’”[e]

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

XVI. THE PROPHETS AND THE HISTORY OF SEMITIC STYLE

WRITTEN SPECIALLY FOR THE PRESENT WORK

BY DR. D. H. MÜLLER

Professor in the University of Vienna; Member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, etc.

The Prophets prophesied in a far-off land, many, many hundred years ago. They prophesied to a small nation that dwelt in a small country and established a petty kingdom. The petty kingdom has been crushed under the iron heel of the world’s advance, the nation scattered to every quarter under heaven; but the writings of the prophets remain; they have come down to us in the original text; they have been translated into every language and are read by every nation.

To this day the words of the prophets resound from every pulpit, in admonition and menace, for comfort and salvation. The substance of the prophetic discourses is sufficiently familiar, and these words spoken thousands of years ago do not fail of their effect to-day. From the depths of the heart they welled forth, divine inspiration was their source, they were addressed to men burdened with passions and frailties; and hence they have kept their power through centuries and tens of centuries.

We will not at present concern ourselves with the substance of the prophetic books nor with the development of prophecy; we will consider the form of the prophetic discourses. Men prized the substance so highly that they neglected to examine the form. Are they prose or poetry? Even this question has not been answered. A Greek oration is minutely analysed; we know the rules of rhetoric, and divide each oration into its component parts. A Greek or Latin poem is classed as drama, epic, lyric, etc., and its metre is studied and criticised. What rules govern the composition of the prophetic books?

MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF STYLE

On the basis and in pursuance of my previous researches I advance the thesis that “the main characteristics of the style of the prophetic writings are strophic composition and responsion.” What a strophe is every one knows; nevertheless I will expressly state that by “strophe” I mean a group of lines or verses, standing in relation to other verses, and yet forming in and by themselves a compact whole.

In Semitic poetry or rhetoric, in so far as we may speak of it, the “responsion” has hitherto been an unknown quantity; but we are familiar with it in classical literature, the best examples being the choruses of the Greek dramas. The strophe and antistrophe correspond in metre, in form, and in the division of the periods; they frequently correspond in substance also; and this correspondence is often marked by verbal consonance or assonance. This peculiarity, which seems to be of infrequent occurrence and trifling importance in Greek literature, has been recognised and named by the exact observation and penetrative criticism of classical philology; in Semitic poetry, where the responsion, combined with the strophic structure, to which it serves as the element of crystallisation, must be regarded as of the very essence of the poem or discourse, it has neither been explained nor named.

AN EXAMPLE FROM AMOS

I will take an example of the responsion from Amos, the first prophet who cast his discourses into literary form, Chaps. vii.-viii.

1) Thus the Lord God shewed me: And, behold, he formed locusts in the beginning of the shooting up after the latter growth; And, lo, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings.

2) And it came to pass that when they made an end of eating the grass of the land, Then I said, O Lord God, forgive, I beseech thee: How shall Jacob stand? for he is small.

3) The Lord repented concerning this: It shall not be, saith the Lord.

4) Thus the Lord God shewed me: And, behold, the Lord God called to contend by fire; And it devoured the great deep, And would have devoured up the land.

5) Then said I, O Lord God, cease, I beseech thee: How shall Jacob stand? for he is small.

6) The Lord repented concerning this: This also shall not be, saith the Lord God.

7) Thus he (the Lord God) shewed me: And behold he stood beside a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in his hand.

8) And the Lord said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumbline. Then the Lord said, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel; I will not again pass them by any more:

9) And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste. And I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.

1) Thus the Lord God shewed me: And, behold, [there was] a basket of summer [ripe] fruit.

2) And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer [ripe] fruit.

3) Then said the Lord unto me, The end [ripeness] is come upon my people Israel; I will not again pass by them any more. And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day. The dead bodies shall be many; in every place have they cast them forth: be silent.

This vision of Amos sets forth a series of punishments which have overtaken or threaten to overtake the land. “The first two refer to dangers already past at the time of the discourse, the last two to the future.” In form, again, the first two and the last two exhibit a close affinity with one another. All four strophes have eight lines apiece and begin with the same phrase; in all four the second line begins in the same fashion, but proceeds differently even in the verses of each couple. In the third line the couples diverge entirely, the twin strophes alone remaining in close correspondence.

This method of working on a definite plan was a favourite one with the prophets. The change of picture in the same framework produces a lasting impression, and the repetition of the same form with a different substance fixes the mind on the thing seen, which is in danger of vanishing all too quickly. The responsion in verses apparently different is very noteworthy; as are lines 7 and 8 respectively, where the desolate places of Isaac correspond to the songs of the temple changed into howlings, and the rising with the sword of the third strophe to the many dead bodies of the fourth.

AN EXAMPLE FROM EZEKIEL

I take another example of correspondence between the strophes from the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel, Chap. xxi.

1) _And the word of the Lord came 6) And the word of the Lord unto me, saying, came unto me, saying_, 2) Son of man, 7) Son of man, Set thy face toward the South. Set thy face toward Jerusalem And drop thy word toward the And drop thy word toward the South, Sanctuaries, And prophesy against the forest And prophesy against the land of the field in the South; of Israel;

3) And say to the forest of the 8) And say to the land of Israel: South:

Hear the word of the Lord; Thus saith the Lord God: Thus saith the Lord: Behold I will kindle a fire Behold I am against thee, in thee And will draw forth my sword from its sheath And it shall devour every green And will cut off from thee the tree in thee and every dry tree. righteous and the wicked.

9) Seeing that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked. The flaming fire _shall not be Therefore shall my sword go quenched_, forth out of its sheath And all faces shall be burnt against all flesh thereby. From the north to the south. From the north to the south. 4) And all flesh shall see 10) And all flesh shall know That I, the Lord, have That I the Lord have drawn kindled it: forth my sword out of its sheath; It shall not be quenched. It shall not return any more.

THE SONG OF THE SWORD

One of Ezekiel’s grandest poems is the Song of the Sword. The sword from the North in the hand of Nebuchadrezzar comes forth against Jerusalem and destroys the last remnant of life in the perishing city. The introduction to the Song of the Sword is an allegory such as Ezekiel loves; he looks in prophetic trance towards the south and sees a fire approaching from thence which seizes upon the forest of the south and devours the green tree and the dry. Then he solves the riddle, thus interpreting the vision. By placing the riddle and the interpretation in parallel columns, we obtain a classic example of strict responsion.

As a third example of the responsion I select Matthew vii. 13, 14,

Enter ye in by the narrow gate:

For wide is the gate, For narrow is the gate, And broad is the way, And straitened the way, That leadeth to destruction That leadeth unto life, And many be they that enter in And few be they that find it. thereby.

In order to grasp the fundamental idea, that of the responsion, let us once more clearly define that of the strophe and antistrophe.

STROPHE AND ANTISTROPHE DEFINED

The strophe consists of a number of verses combined so as to form a larger whole; it contains a sheaf of ideas which express a single idea, just as a sheaf of rays unites to form a single light.

The antistrophe represents an analogous or contrasting idea, which is, like the former, the sum or product of another sheaf of ideas, and answers to the former in some or all of its component parts.

Accordingly the responsion, thus conceived of, is the formal expression of this relation of two or more strophes to one another. Where the principle of the responsion is strictly carried out each line of the first strophe corresponds to the corresponding line of the second, either verbally or substantially, and in the latter case either by parallelism or antithesis. The similarity of the majority of lines which thus correspond throws the differences at certain points into strong relief and renders them all the more forcible and impressive.

The highest organic structures have been analysed and found to be built up from a single cell. All the preliminary conditions which enable the cell to form organisms lie dormant in it already, but the germ cannot become an organic being except by a slow process of development. What we now have to do is to find the germ from which the responsion has developed; and the germ of this phenomenon is the parallelismus membrorum which constitutes the vital element of apothegm and verse in the Semitic languages, and more particularly in Hebrew. But two things may be parallel one with another not only by analogy but by contrast. The parallelismus membrorum places side by side two or more ideas, analogous but not identical, and adapted by their slight diversity to give an image of what the poet desires to convey. Such sentences abound in the prophetic discourses, as in Isaiah i. 3,

The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: But Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.

And Amos ix. 2,

Though they dig into hell, thence shall my hand take them; And though they climb up into heaven, thence will I bring them down.

The idea, being presented under a different figure, is repeated without producing an effect of tedium or monotony.

What the parallelismus membrorum is to the verse or sentence, that the responsion is to the strophe or discourse.

By slight variations on the responsion two literary forms were evolved to supply an æsthetic want. When two strophes stand in such a relation that the conclusion of the one answers to the beginning of that which succeeds it, the result is the concatenation, which unites two strophes with one another and leads the way from one field of thought to another. Again, if the beginning of one strophe or group of strophes corresponds with the conclusion of the same, the result is the inclusion, the object of which is to emphasise the logical and æsthetic unity of the said strophe or group of strophes.

An example of concatenation may be cited from Isaiah, Chap. i.

One column begins--

Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken--

and ends--

We should have been as Sodom, we should have been like unto Gomorrah.

The second strophe-column begins--

Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; Give ear unto the Lord our God, ye people of Gomorrah.

Here, as we see, the beginning of the second column answers to the beginning of the first and is linked with its conclusion.

Habakkuk (ii. 11) affords another example,

(end of strophe)

For the stone shall cry out of the wall, And the beam out of the timbers shall answer it.

Herewith the image of a building rises before the prophet as before the reader. A thought flashes through the prophet’s mind, and he proceeds,

(beginning of strophe)

Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood And stablisheth a city by iniquity.

And as an example of the inclusion we may quote Jeremiah xlvi. 20-24:

(beginning of strophe)

Egypt is a very fair heifer; but destruction out of the north is come, it is come.

(end of strophe)

The daughter of Egypt shall be put to shame, she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north.

In the second chapter of Zephaniah, we find an example of the two-lined inclusion:

(beginning of strophe)

8) I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the revilings of the children of Ammon, Wherewith they have reproached my people and magnified themselves against my border.

(end of strophe)

10) This shall they have for their pride, Because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the Lord of hosts.

Thus the three literary forms, besides the strophic measure, which govern the composition of the prophetic books are--the responsion, the concatenation, and the inclusion.

If the responsion is the expression of the outward and inward symmetry--of substance and form--proper to two strophic organisms which, though they may be far apart, show their relation one to another by similarity of character and structure, and correspond to each other more or less, either by analogy or antithesis, the concatenation may be regarded as the complement and counterpart of the responsion, inasmuch as it unites the two strophic organisms by an outward and inward bond--of substance and form. By this means the two are combined to constitute a greater whole. For this reason the concatenation does not run parallel to the responsion, but joins the end of one strophe to the beginning of a second, and leads from one field of thought to another. The inclusion may be regarded as, in a certain sense, the reverse of the concatenation. As the concatenation brings about the conjunction of two strophes, so the inclusion constitutes the boundary line that cuts one strophic organism off from the next. The concatenation obliterates the distinctive character of two separate strophic organisms, the inclusion rounds off and defines a strophe, or group of strophes, and emphasises its distinctive character.

AN EXAMPLE FROM ISAIAH

I cannot refrain from giving at least one example from Isaiah of a strophe-column, which corresponds with a parallel column of similar structure. I select the famous vision of Chapter vi. for the purpose. It may be regarded as one of the earliest prophecies of Isaiah, in conception perhaps the earliest of all. The Tesetes tradition gives the passage as a single whole, without break or paragraph. In dealing with a prophet of Isaiah’s rank, and one so pre-eminent in the composition of these prophetic discourses, we naturally seek to discover a definite plan in the composition of this vision, and such a plan does, as a matter of fact, become manifest to the critical student. The vision begins, “And I saw the Lord,” and the continuation and complement opens with the words (verse 8), “And I heard the voice of the Lord.” The passage, accordingly, falls into two parts, one describing what the prophet saw, the other what he heard. If we examine the two parts more closely we are struck by the phrase, “Then said I,” occurring in the one after he had seen all, and in the other after he had heard all. Hence it appears that the grand vision consists of two images, which correspond with each other exactly.

1) And I saw the Lord 8) _And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying_, Sitting upon a throne, high and Whom shall I send, and who will lifted up, go for us? And his train filled the temple. Then I said, Here am I, send me.

2) Above him stood the Seraphim: Each one had six wings; 9) And he said, Go, and tell this people With twain he covered his face, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; And with twain he covered his And see ye indeed, but perceive feet, not. And with twain he did fly.

3) And one cried unto another, and 10) How fat is the heart of this said, people Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord And their ears how heavy, of hosts. And their eyes as it were shut. The whole earth is full of his Else might they see with their glory. eyes 4) And the foundations of the And hear with their ears thresholds were moved at the And understand with their heart, voice of him that cried, And turn again, and be healed. And the house was filled with smoke.

5) Then said I, Woe is me! 11) Then said I, Lord, how long? Because I am a man of unclean And he answered, Until the lips, etc. cities be waste, without inhabitant, etc.

Besides these two-column discourses, of which we have just seen an example, we find three-column discourses, especially in Micah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. They frequently consist of three parallel parts, each divided into two or three strophes. The strophes of each column correspond on the one hand, the corresponding stanzas of each part on the other, so that we have, if we may so express it, a vertical and a horizontal responsion. The double responsion gives, as it were, the fixed points between which the network of the strophes is outspread. A classic example of this method is the great discourse in the ninth chapter of Jeremiah, which belongs to the best period, and the authenticity of which is unreservedly admitted by Biblical criticism. Lack of space unfortunately forbids me to give it here arranged according to the principles I have laid down.

It is time to observe that the same laws may be shown to prevail in cuneiform inscriptions and the works of the prophet Mohammed.

AN ASSYRIAN EXAMPLE

As an example of responsion I give a passage from the great inscription of Sargon (L. 186-194).

That city and that palace, (But) its ruler, Asshur, the father of the gods, Its royal architect, In the glory of his shining countenance May he attain to old age, May he obtain power Graciously may he look upon it, For ever and ever, To days far hence May its maker grow old. May he proclaim its renewing. With his shining mouth may he decree: _With his sounding lips may he speak_: The protecting genius, He who dwelleth in them, The rescuing God, In health of body, Day and night And joy of heart, Let them rule therein, And gladness of spirit, Nor let their power cease. May he rejoice therein, May he taste the joy of life.

A BABYLONIAN EXAMPLE

A very instructive example of the strophe combined with responsion is afforded by the second Babylonian version of the Creation, which has been for the first time translated and published by T. G. Pinches. It consists of forty lines, and is arranged in four strophes of ten lines each. The responsion is clear and vivid to the last degree, the end harks back to the beginning with manifest intention. The concatenation constitutes, as it were, a rivet between the strophes. I will confine myself at present to quoting the beginning of the first three and the ending of the last two strophes.

Str. I (beginning),

The glorious house, the house of the gods, in a glorious place had not been made, A plant had not been brought forth, a tree had not been created, etc.

Str. I (end),

(As for) the glorious house, the house of the gods, its seat had not been made, The whole of the lands were sea.

Str. II (beginning),

When within the sea there was a stream In that day Eridu was made, Ê-sagila was constructed, etc.

Str. II (end),

The gods were to be caused to sit in a seat of joy of heart, He made mankind.

Str. III (beginning),

Aruru had made the seed of mankind with him. He made the beasts of the field and the living creatures of the desert; etc.

The age of this Babylonian story of the Creation probably goes back to at least the middle of the second millennium of our chronology, and in this very ancient specimen of Semitic poetry we find this poetic form fully developed.

EXAMPLES FROM THE KORAN

It seems hardly possible to believe that the Arab prophet, who regarded it as an insult to be described as a poet, should have employed definite literary forms, and more particularly the strophe combined with the responsion, in his revelations. Yet such is the fact. In most cases the strophes rise and fall in harmony with his abrupt and agitated style (similar strophes occur in the prophetic books), but regular strophes are to be found, and in those that rise and fall we can trace a definite law which altogether excludes the idea of chance. The occurrence of the strophe combined with the responsion in the Koran, is a point of the utmost importance to the hypothesis of strophic composition, because the correctness of the arrangement of the Koran in lines seems to be assured both by the rhyme and by tradition. I will bring to your notice in this place an example of the regular strophe from the Koran. In the thirty-sixth surah we come upon a passage framed, as it were, between two verses, which form the inclusion.

v. 28. There was only one cry (of Gabriel from heaven), and behold, they became utterly extinct. v. 49. They only wait for one sounding (of the trumpet), which shall overtake them while they are disputing together.

Between these two lie five strophes of four lines each.

Str. I, begins (v. 29),

Oh, the misery of men! no apostle cometh unto them but they laugh him to scorn.

Str. II, begins (v. 33),

One sign [of the resurrection] unto them is the dead earth, we quicken the same, etc.

Str. III, begins (v. 37),

The night also is a sign unto them, we withdraw the day from the same, etc.

Str. IV, begins (v. 41),

It is a sign also unto them that they carry off their offspring in the ship filled with merchandise, etc.

Str. V (v. 45), takes up the burden of the first, and begins,

And if it is said unto you, Fear that which is before you and that which is behind, It may be ye shall find mercy, etc.

I will also subjoin an example of the falling strophe combined with the responsion, from sura 56, vv. 57-72.

57) We have created you, will ye not therefore believe.…

58) What think ye? The seed that ye emit. 59) Do ye create the same or are we the creators thereof? 60) We have decreed death unto you all, and we shall not be prevented. 61) We are able to substitute others like you in your stead, and to produce you again in the condition or form which ye know not. 62) Ye know the original production by creation; will ye not therefore consider.…

63) What think ye the grain which ye sow? 64) Do ye cause the same to spring forth, or do we cause it to spring forth? 65) If we pleased, we could render the same dry and fruitless, so that you would not cease to wonder, saying, 66) Verily we have contracted debts for seed and labour, but we are not permitted to reap the fruit thereof.

67) What think ye? The water which ye drink, 68) Do ye send down the same from the clouds, or are we the senders thereof? 69) If we pleased we could render the same brackish: will ye not therefore give thanks?

70) What think ye? The fire which ye strike, 71) Do ye produce the tree whence ye obtain the same, or are we the producers thereof?

72) We have ordained the same for an admonition, and an advantage to those who travel through the deserts.

This passage, which is complete in itself, consists of four stanzas, of 5-4-3-2 verses, all of them diverse presentations of the same idea and alike in construction.

The whole group is enclosed between two single verses which correspond to one another, and form, as it were, a frame to it.

An exact observation of the Koran shows that strophes of the most varied structure occur in it, often combined with the responsion, and held together by all kinds of other literary forms. The principal characteristic of the strophe is still unity of idea, which, being in its nature relative, is subject to great variation. Nor is the strophe the final and greatest unit. As the strophe is formed by the combination of several lines or sentences, so a group is formed of a number of strophes and a great systematically constructed discourse of several groups. The same laws which govern the sentence and the verse prevail in the structure of the strophe and the formation of the group. Parallelism and antithesis are the principal elements of form in sentence and verse; they are likewise the forces that struggle for expression, and assert themselves in the structure of the strophe and the formation of the group.

The question may be raised: How did Mohammed come to adopt this form of composition? For the present, I can only advance a hypothesis in reply. Mohammed received the first impulse to meditate upon matters of religion from various wise and learned men, and through them became acquainted with the principal doctrines of Judaism and Christianity; and in like manner he must have acquired from them the tradition of this form of poetry, a form which, unlike the poetry of the heathen, was not devoted to the delight and joy of life, but to religious meditation and to ancient and pious legend. This form of composition may have been practised and preserved by the old soothsayers (Kahin) after it had been generally superseded by the new-fangled and rigidly metrical poetry. Mohammed may possibly have acquired the secret of this form of composition from such a Kahin, who had meditated upon the nature of religion. He therefore rightly rejected the title of poet, and with equal right called himself the “Seal of the Prophet”; for he spoke and wrote in the style of the prophets of old.

THE PREVALENCE OF STROPHIC FORM AND RESPONSION EXPLAINED

A careful consideration of the laws of strophic form and responsion which can be shown to exist, though in unequal measure, in the three great Semitic literatures, leads us to the conclusion that there are only three possible explanations of their occurrence. Either we have to do with a phenomenon evolved independently in different parts of the world, or these literary forms were invented by one nation and borrowed and imitated by the others, or, lastly, they must all be referred to a common origin.

The three nations among whom we find these literary forms are so widely separated in space and time that there can be no question of borrowing between them. But, again, phenomena so original and complicated could not appear in different places without something of a common origin.

Accordingly, the only possible assumption is that they may all be referred to a common origin, and that even in primitive times religious poetry was governed by these literary forms. They have been preserved in the Bible, the cuneiform inscriptions, and the Koran.

The establishment of the fact that strophic composition combined with responsion is to be found in all three Semitic literatures naturally drew my attention to a similar phenomenon in the choruses of Greek tragedy, a phenomenon noted and recognised by classical philology, though not treated with the consideration it deserves. Too much stress has been laid on the metrical uniformity of the strophes, too little on their substantial correspondence, and more especially on the way in which the latter is interwoven with assonance and verbal responsion. A certain amount of critical acumen is required for the recognition of these subtly concealed and delicate allusions and antitheses, but when once they are recognised, we cannot doubt that in their choruses the Greek tragedians employed the same artistic methods as the prophets. Strophe and antistrophe are modelled on the same pattern, not in rhythm and syntax alone, but in idea. Now and then the correspondence may be seen and shown to exist line for line, but in most cases it is found only in single lines, though almost always in such as occur in the same place, a circumstance that proves that the correspondence is not due to chance, but that a definite artistic intention was at work to create a certain symmetry between the two strophes.

EXAMPLES FROM THE GREEK TRAGEDIES

I subjoin a few examples in support of this assertion. From the Prometheus of Æschylus, 397-414.

Strophe

I mourn thy grievous fate, Prometheus! From my tender eyes pours forth a flood of tears, Wetting my cheeks from the springs of weeping. 400 For thus harshly Zeus, Ruling in the law of his own will, displays An imperious sceptre to the gods of old.

Antistrophe

And now all the earth mourns, And for that grand and ancient sway she weeps, With mourning for the empire thou and thy brothers held. 410 And all who have abodes On holy Asia’s borders, in thy loud mourned woes Those mortals suffer with thee.

The curious responsion of these two strophes is very interesting, interwoven as it is with most of the lines, now by verbal similarity (as in στένω and στονόεν), now by similarity of sense (tears and weeps), now by antithesis (gods and men), and lastly, by an etymological play upon words (νόμος and νέμονται). In addition we have the contrast of ideas in the last lines, in the one strophe Zeus constrains the gods, in the other men mourn complaining. Again in the Œdipus Rex of Sophocles, 1, 863-910:

Strophe I Antistrophe I

Beginning.

863) Be it my lot to keep 873) ’Tis insolence begets the That reverent purity of tyrant, Insolence, word and deed, etc. foolishly puffed up, etc.

Conclusion.

870) Ne’er shall forgetfulness 880) Rivalry that brings lull them to rest: Weal to the state I ask not God to end: A great god in them dwells, Never shall I depart from nor ever waxeth old. God my champion.

Strophe II Antistrophe II

Beginning.

883) But a man who walks in 897) Never shall I more in reverence haughty insolence of go to Delphi’s holy place word or deed, Fearing not the hand of Nor the shrine of Abæ, nor Justice, nor revering Olympia. shrines of gods.

Conclusion.

895) But if such deeds as these 909) No longer in Apollo’s worship are held in honour manifest, What offerings need I bring But honours to the gods go the gods? all unpaid.

This form of strophic construction is worthy of note, because not only do the strophe and antistrophe correspond, but the couples of strophes answer to one another; in other words, besides the vertical responsion we find a horizontal responsion (as in Jeremiah ix.), expressed sometimes by the use of identical words, sometimes by antithesis.

Euripides, Bacchæ.

Strophe. 862-870

All night in choric dances my white foot shall beat The Bacchic rout; my head I will toss in the dewy air, As the fawn that sports among the pleasures of green fields, When in fear it flees the chase, Escaping the trap, overleaping the well-wrought toils.…

Antistrophe. 882-890

Slowly, yet surely moves the power divine, It punisheth mortals who go the way of folly, And madly fail to reverence the gods. But subtly the gods still wait Long time in hiding, and hunt down the impious man.…

In the strophe we have the shy and timid fawn which takes flight from the pasture and rejoices at her escape from the pursuit of the hunters, in the antistrophe the presumptuous man who transgresses the laws of nature and custom. In the one the timid flight, in the other the subtle (ποικίλος) lying in wait of the gods; the fawn escapes the huntsman, man escapes not the gods. The antithesis in lines 4-5 is most striking. The last lines of both strophes are identical.

A careful study of the responsion in all the wonderful variety of form it presents will suffice to show, even from these few examples, that they bear an amazing resemblance to the forms exhibited by Semitic poetry, particularly by the prophetic writings.

SEMITIC INFLUENCE AND THE GREEK CHORUS

Instead of attempting to prove here that the Greek chorus came into being under Semitic influences I will subjoin the opinion of a classical philologist who has studied the question more minutely than any one else. I refer to D. P. Thomas M. Wehofer (Untersuchungen zur altchristlichen Epistolographie, p. 16).

“For the rest, long before the Christian era Greek literature had received a strong admixture of Semitic art-forms. For, as has been convincingly proved, in my opinion, by Dr. D. H. Müller (Die Propheten, p. 244 seq.), the Greek choruses, those splendid productions of Greek poetry, must be referred for their origin to the temple of Apollo at Delphi, whither (according to the tradition preserved by Euripides in the Phœnissæ) ‘chosen Phœnician virgins were sent from Tyre to conduct the service of the god.’ It is evident that the Greek chorus, the germ from which Greek tragedy was destined to be evolved, followed the same path as Greek painting and plastic art.

“The Greek spirit took possession of all the elements of beauty it encountered, not to preserve them in a petrified state, but by its own working to shape and perfect them, and bring them to the highest conceivable pitch of development.”

The genius of Greece recognised the power of Semitic poetry; it gladly left it its soaring flight, but brought into it the noble feeling for form which was its own peculiar gift, and to ideas and responsion added metrical symmetry. The choruses present a happy combination of the Semitic spirit and the Greek sense of beauty.

The assumption that the Greek chorus, with its strophe and antistrophe, is a Semitic invention is not without bearing on the history of the earliest ages of Semitic poetry. If the Greeks borrowed the chorus, it must have been in use in the religious worship of the Phœnicians. If, in connection with this fact, we consider the responsion in the strophes of the prophetic writings, which exhibit precisely the same method of composition and literary form as the Greek choruses, we are forced upon the hypothesis that the earliest form of prophetic composition must be regarded as a chorus with strophes and antistrophes.

AUTHORITIES.--_Die Propheten in ihrer ursprünglichen Form. Die Grundgesetze der ursemitischen Poesie erschlossen und nachgewiesen in Bibel Keilinschriften und Koran und in ihrer Wirkung erkannt in den Chören der griechischen Tragödie_, by D. H. Müller. 2 vols. Vienna, 1896.

Strophen und Responsion. Neue Beiträge. By D. H. Müller. Vienna, 1898. (Cf. also Felix Perles in the Wiener Zeitschrift für Kunde des Morgenlandes, X, 112, 71; and J. Zeenner in the Zeitschrift für Katholische Theologie, XX, p. 378.)

Untersuchungen zur altchristlichen Epistolographie, by D. P. Thomas M. Wehofer. Vienna, 1901.

BRIEF REFERENCE-LIST OF AUTHORITIES BY CHAPTERS

[The letter [a] is reserved for Editorial Matter.]

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

I. LAND AND PEOPLE

[b] L. MÉNARD, Histoire des anciens peuples de l’Orient.

[c] B. STADE, Geschichte des Volkes Israel.

[d] The Holy Bible.

[e] STRABO, Γεωγραφικά.

[f] TACITUS, Annales.

[g] JUSTIN, The History of the World.

[h] AMMIANUS MARCELLINUS, Rerum Gestarum libri.

[i] COMTE DE VOLNEY, Voyage en Égypte et en Syrie.

[j] J. G. EICKHORN, De Antiquis Historiæ Arabum Monumentes.

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

II. ORIGIN AND EARLY HISTORY

[b] A. H. SAYCE, The Early History of the Hebrews.

[c] MAX LÖHR, Geschichte des Volkes Israel.

[d] WOLFGANG VON GOETHE, Dichtung und Wahrheit.

[e] B. STADE, Geschichte des Volkes Israel.

[f] The Holy Bible.

[g] L. MÉNARD, Histoire des anciens peuples de l’Orient.

[h] EDUARD REUSS, Introduction to the Holy Bible.

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

III. THE JUDGES

[b] FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS, Antiquities of the Jews (translated from the Greek by William Whiston).

[c] SALOMON MUNK, La Palestine.

[d] L. MÉNARD, Histoire des anciens peuples de l’Orient.

[e] The Holy Bible.

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

IV. SAMUEL AND SAUL

[b] J. E. RENAN, Histoire du peuple d’Israël.

[c] MAX DUNCKER, Geschichte des Alterthums.

[d] The Holy Bible.

[e] The Talmud.

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

V. DAVID’S REIGN

[b] RUDOLF KITTEL, Geschichte der Hebräer.

[c] J. E. RENAN, Histoire du peuple d’Israël.

[d] The Talmud.

[e] FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS, Antiquities of the Jews (translated from the Greek by William Whiston).

[f] The Holy Bible.

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

VI. SOLOMON IN HIS GLORY

[b] RUDOLF KITTEL, Geschichte der Hebräer.

[c] The Holy Bible.

[d] F. W. NEWMAN, A History of the Hebrew Monarchy.

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

VII. DECAY AND CAPTIVITY

[b] L. MÉNARD, Histoire des anciens peuples de l’Orient.

[c] RUDOLF KITTEL, Geschichte der Hebräer.

[d] The Moabite Stone.

[e] A. H. SAYCE, The Early History of the Hebrews.

[f] Assyrian Inscriptions.

[g] SALOMON MUNK, La Palestine.

[h] FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS, Antiquities of the Jews (translated from the Greek by William Whiston).

[i] The Holy Bible.

[j] The Apocrypha.

[k] GASTON C. C. MASPERO, Histoire ancienne des peuples de l’Orient.

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

VIII. THE RETURN FROM CAPTIVITY

[b] The Holy Bible.

[c] J. E. RENAN, Histoire du peuple d’Israël.

[d] L. MÉNARD, Histoire des anciens peuples de l’Orient.

[e] SALOMON MUNK, La Palestine.

[f] XENOPHON, Cyropædia (translated from the Greek by J. S. Watson and Henry Dale).

[g] The Apocrypha.

[h] FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS, Antiquities of the Jews (translated from the Greek by William Whiston).

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

IX. FROM NEHEMIAH TO ANTIOCHUS

[b] DAVID CASSEL, Lehrbuch der jüdischen Geschichte und Litteratur.

[c] FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS, Antiquities of the Jews (translated from the Greek by William Whiston).

[d] The Talmud (the Mishnah).

[e] J. JAHN, The Hebrew Commonwealth.

[f] The Apocrypha (The Books of the Maccabees).

[g] GEORGE SMITH, The Hebrew People.

[h] ASARIA DE’ ROSSI, Meor Enajim.

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

X. THE MACCABÆAN WAR

[b] F. HITZIG, Geschichte des Volkes Israel.

[c] FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS, Antiquities of the Jews (translated from the Greek by William Whiston).

[d] GEORGE SMITH, The Hebrew People.

[e] J. JAHN, The Hebrew Commonwealth.

[f] The Holy Bible.

[g] The Apocrypha.

[h] POLYBIUS, Καθολικὴ κοινὴ ἱστορία.

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

XI. FROM THE MACCABEES TO THE ROMANS

[b] GEORG WEBER, Allgemeine Weltgeschichte.

[c] The Apocrypha (The Book of Wisdom).

[d] GEORGE SMITH, The Hebrew People.

[e] FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS, Antiquities of the Jews (translated from the Greek by William Whiston).

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

XII. THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY

[b] L. MÉNARD, Histoire des anciens peuples de l’Orient.

[c] FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS, The Antiquities of the Jews and the Wars of the Jews (translated from the Greek by William Whiston).

[d] The Holy Bible.

[e] SALOMON MUNK, La Palestine.

[f] ORIGEN, φιλοσοφούμενα.

[g] CORNELIUS TACITUS, The Works of Cornelius Tacitus (translated from the Latin by A. Murphy).

[h] J. E. RENAN, Histoire du peuple d’Israël.

[i] E. GIBBON, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

[j] SUETONIUS, Vitæ duodecim Cæsarum.

[k] DION CASSIUS, Ῥωμαικὴ ἱστορία.

[l] CLEMENS ROMANUS, Epistolæ.

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

XIII. THE REVOLT AGAINST ROME

[b] FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS, The Wars of the Jews.

[c] L. MÉNARD, Histoire des anciens peuples de l’Orient.

[d] SALOMON MUNK, La Palestine.

[e] THUCYDIDES, Συγγραφή.

[f] F. R. LAMENNAIS, Essai sur l’indifférence en matière de la religion.

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

XIV. THE FALL OF JERUSALEM

[b] H. H. MILMAN, History of the Jews.

[c] FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS, The Wars of the Jews.

[d] SALOMON MUNK, La Palestine.

[e] L. MÉNARD, Histoire des anciens peuples de l’Orient.

[f] DION CASSIUS, Ῥωμαικὴ ἱστορία.

[g] The Talmud (Mishnah and Gemara).

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

XV. HEBREW CIVILISATION

[b] G. W. F. HEGEL, Lectures on the Philosophy of History.

[c] E. LEDRAIN, L’histoire d’Israël.

[d] E. BABELON, Manuel d’archéologie orientale.

[e] F. W. NEWMAN, History of the Hebrew Monarchy.

[f] The Holy Bible.

[g] BARUCH SPINOZA, Opera posthuma.

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

XVI. THE PROPHETS AND THE HISTORY OF SEMITIC STYLE

The Holy Bible.

T. G. PINCHES, “Babylonian Story of the Creation” (in Records of the Past).

THOS. M. WEHOFER, _Untersuchungen zur altchristlichen Epistolographie_.

D. H. MÜLLER, Die Propheten in ihrer ursprünglichen Form.

D. H. MÜLLER, Strophen und Responsion.

FELIX PERLES, article in Wiener Zeitschrift für Kunde des Morgenlandes, X, 112, 71.

J. ZEENNER, article in Zeitschrift für Katholische Theologie, XX, 378.

A GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL

BASED ON THE WORKS QUOTED, CITED, OR EDITORIALLY CONSULTED IN THE PREPARATION OF THE PRESENT HISTORY; WITH CRITICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

=Abbott=, I. K., Essays chiefly on the original texts of the Old and New Testament, London, 1901.--=Adams=, H. C., The History of the Jews, London, 1887.--=Alker=, E., Die vortrojanische ägyptische Chronologie im Einklang mit der biblischen, Leobschütz, 1894.--=Amitai=, L. K., Étude sur les rapports qui ont existé entre les romains et les juifs jusqu’à la prise de Jerusalem, Paris, 1893.--=Andrée=, R., Zur Volkskunde der Juden, Bielefeld and Leipsic, 1881.--=Andrée=, J., L’esclavage chez les anciens Hébreux, Genève, 1892.--=Andrian=, E. von, Höhenkult asiat. und europ. Völker, Wien, 1895.--=Archinard=, Étude d’histoire et d’archéologie d’Israël et ses voisins asiatiques: la Phénicie, l’Aram et l’Assyrie de l’époque de Salomon à celle de Sanherib, Genève, 1890.

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=Babelon=, E., Manuel d’archéologie orientale, Paris, 1888.--=Back=, S., Das Synhedrion unter Napoleon I, Prag, 1879; Die relig. gesch. Litteratur der Juden in dem Zeitraum v. 15-18 Jahrhundert, Trier, 1893.--=Basnage=, T. de Beauval, Histoire des juifs depuis J. C. jusqu’à présent, pour servir de continuation à l’histoire de Josephus, La Haye, 1716.--=Bauer=, G. L., Manual of the History of the Hebrew Nation, Nürnberg and Altdorf, 1880, 3 vols.--=Baxter=, W. L., Sanctuary and Sacrifices, London, 1895.--=Bellange=, C., Le judaïsme de l’histoire du peuple juif, Paris, 1889.--=Bennett=, W. H., Economic conditions of the Hebrew Monarchy (in The Thinker, 8, II, 9, I), New York, 1893.--=Benzinger=, J., Hebräische Archæologie, Freiburg, 1894.--=Bestmann=, H., Entwicklungsgeschichte des Reiches Gottes unter dem Alten und Neuen Bunde, Berlin, 1895.--=Berliner=, A., Geschichte der Juden in Rom, Frankfurt, 1893.--=Bender=, A., Vorträge über die Offenbarung Gottes auf alttest. Boden.--=Bertholet=, Die Stellung der Israeliten und der Juden zu den Fremden, Freiburg, 1896.--=Bettany=, G. T. A., Sketch of Judaism and Christianity in the Light of Modern Research, London, 1892.--=Bible=, The Holy (“authorised version”), London, 1611; (“revised version”), London, 1884.--=Blaikie=, W. G., Heroes of Israel, Gütersloh, 1891.--=Bloch=, J. S., Der nationale Zwist und die Juden in Österreich, Wien, 1886.--=Bois=, H., Essais sur les origines de la philosoph. judéo-alexandrine, Paris, 1895; Alexandre le Grand et les juifs en Palestine, (in Revue de Théol. et Philos., Paris, 1890-91).--=Boralevi=, E., Civiltà e Culto giudaico, Livorno, 1893.--=Borselli=, F., Introduction in libros prophetarum, Neapolis, 1893.--=Boscawen=, W. St. C., The Bible and the Monuments, London, 1895.--=Braun=, M., Geschichte der Juden und ihrer Litteratur, vom Auszug aus Ægypten bis Talmud, Breslau, 1896.--=Brooks=, J. W., The History of the Hebrew Nation from its First Origin to the Present Time, London, 1841.--=Brownlee=, W. C., The History of the Jews, from the Taking of Jerusalem by Titus to the Present Time, New York, 1842.--=Bruce=, W. S., The Ethics of the Old Testament, Edinburgh, 1895.--=Brugsch=, H., Die biblischen sieben Jahre der Hungersnoth, etc., Leipsic, 1891; Steininschrift und Bibelwort, Berlin, 1891.--=Budde=, K., Die Religion des Volkes Israel, Giessen, 1900; Die Ebed-Jahwe-Lieder und die Bedeutung des Knechtes Jahwes (in Jes. 40-55), Giessen, 1900; Der Kanon des Alten Testamentes: Ein Abriss, Giessen, 1900; Israel und Ägypten (in Deutsches Wochenblatt, No. 26).--=Buhl=, F. P. W., Det israelitiskhe Folks historie, Copenhagen, 1893.--=Buhl=, F., Kanon und Text des Alten Testamentes, Leipsic, 1891; Die Geschichte der Edomiter, Leipsic, 1893; Geographie des alten Palästina, Freiburg, 1894; Die socialen Verhältnisse der Israeliten, Berlin, 1898.--=Baudissin=, Count, W. H. F. C., Geschichte des alttestamentlichen Priestertums, Leipsic, 1889; Studien zur semitischen Religionsgeschichte, Leipsic, 1876-78, 2 vols.

* * * * *

=Capefigue=, B. H. R., Histoire philosophique des juifs, Paris, 1833.--=Casabo y Pages=, P., La España Judia, Barcelona, 1891.--=Cassel=, D., Lehrbuch der jüdischen Geschichte und Litteratur, Leipsic, 1879.--=Castelli=, D., Storia degl’ Israeliti dalle origini fino della monarchia, Milano, 1887; Gli ebrei sunto di storia politica e letteraria, Florence, 1899.--=Cavagnaro=, C., Gli ebrei in Egitto, Genova, 1890.--=Cazes=, D., Essai sur l’histoire des Israélites de Tunisie, Paris, 1888.--=Chaikin=, A., Étude historique sur l’état des juifs, etc., Paris, 1887.--=Chastel=, E., Histoire du Christianisme, Paris, 1881, 4 vols.--=Cheyne=, T. K., From Isaiah to Ezra: A Study of Ethanites and Jerahmeelites (in Am. Journ. of Theology, Vol. V., p. 433 et seq.); Founders of Old Testament Criticism: biogr., descript., and critical studies, London, 1893; The Origin and Religious Contents of the Psalter in the Light of Old Test. Criticism and the History of Religions, London, 1894.--=Cheyne=, T. K. and Sutherland, =Black=, J., Encyclopædia Biblica: A Critical Dictionary of the Liter., Polit., and Relig. History, the Archæol., Geography, and Natural History of the Bible, London, 1899, etc.--=Chmerkin=, X., Les juifs en Russie, Paris, 1893.--=Cobb=, W. F., Origines Judaicæ.--=Cohen=, L., Chronologische Beiträge zur jüdischen Geschichte, Breslau, 1892.--=Commilito=, Luther und die Juden, Leipsic, 1881.--=Conder=, C. R., The Hebrew Tragedy, Edinburgh, 1900.--=Cordier=, H., Les juifs en Chine, Paris, 1891.--=Corneilhan=, G., Le Judaïsme en Egypte et en Syrie, Paris, 1889.--=Cornill=, Entstehung des Volkes Israel und seiner nationalen Organisation, Hamburg, 1888 (Virchow, Samml. wissenschaftl. Vorträge, n. F. 3 Serie, Heft 60); Einleitung, C. H., in das Alte Testament, Freiburg, 1896.--=Costa=, I. de, Israel en de volken overzicht van de geschiedenis der Toden tot op owzen tijd, Utrecht, 1876.

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=Daly=, C. P., Settlement of the Jews in North America, New York, 1893.--=Davies=, T. W., Magic Divination and Demonology among the Hebrews and their Neighbors, London, 1898.--=Davis=, M. D., Hebrew Deeds of English Jews before 1290, London, 1888.--=Day=, E., The Social Life of the Hebrews, New York, 1901.--=Deane=, W. I., Pseudepigrapha: An Account of Certain Apocryphal Sacred Writings of the Jews and Early Christians, Edinburgh, 1894.--=Dédié=, M., Les esséniens dans leur rapports avec le judaïsme et christianisme, Montauban, 1894.--=Deissmann=, G. A., Beiträge zur Geschichte der Sprache, etc., des hellenistischen Judenthums, Marburg, 1895; Die sprachliche Erforschung der griechischen Bibel, ihr gegenwärtiger Stand und ihre Aufgaben, Giessen, 1898.--=Delattre=, R. P., Le pays de Chanaan, province de l’ancien empire égyptien (in Revue des questions historiques, Paris, July, 1896, pp. 5-94).--=Delitzsch=, Franz, Geschichte der jüdischen Poesie, Leipsic, 1836; Beiträge zur mittelalterlichen Scholastik unter Juden und Moslemen, Leipsic, 1841; Jesus und Hillel, mit Rücksicht auf Renan und Geiger verglichen, Erlangen, 1879; Jüdisch-arabische Poesien aus vormuhammedanischer Zeit., Leipsic, 1874; Die biblisch-prophetische Theologie, Leipsic, 1845; Die Bücher des Alten Testaments aus dem Griechischen ins Hebräische übersetzt, Berlin, 1885; Das System der biblischen Psychologie, Leipsic, 1861; Physiologie und Musik in ihrer Bedeutung für die Grammatik, besonders die hebräische; Leipsic, 1868.--=Delitzsch=, Friedrich, Wo lag das Paradies? Leipsic, 1881. The Hebrew Language viewed in the Light of Assyrian Research, London, 1883; Prolegomena eines neuen hebräisch-aramäischen Wörterbuchs zum Alten Testament, Leipsic, 1886.--=Dérenbourg=, J., Essai sur l’histoire de la Palestine, Paris, 1867.--=Dessauer=, J. H., Geschichte der Israeliten mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Culturgeschichte derselben, Breslau, 1870.--=Destinon=, J. v., Die Chronologie des Josephus, Kiel, 1880.--=Dillmann=, A., Über die Herkunft der urgesch. Sagen der Hebräer (in Sitz. Ber. d. Berliner Acad. d. Wiss.), Berlin, 1882; Über den Ursprung der alttest. Religion, Giessen, 1865; Über die Propheten des Alten Bundes nach ihrer politischen Wirksamkeit, Giessen, 1868.--=Dion Cassius=, History of Rome, London, 1704.--=Driver=, S. R., Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament, London, 1894.--=Drumont=, E. A., La France juive, Paris, 1886.--=Duncker=, M., Geschichte des Alterthums, Leipsic, 1877, 6 vols.--=Dutt=, A., Old Test. Theology, London, 1900.

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=Edersheim=, A., Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, London, 1884; Law and Policy of the Jews, London, 1880; Sketches of Jewish Social Life in Days of Christ, London, 1876; History of the Jewish Nation after the Destruction of Jerusalem under Titus, London, 1890.--=Emil=, E., Erinnerungen eines alten Pragers, Ghettogeschichten, etc., Leipsic, 1893.--=Errera=, L., Les juifs russes, Brussels, 1893.--=Eusebius=, F., Chronicon.--=Ewald=, G. H. A., Geschichte des Volkes Israel, Göttingen, 1864-1867, 7 vols. Die Altertümer des Volkes Israel, Göttingen, 1866.

Georg Heinrich August Ewald was born at Göttingen, November 16, 1803; died at Göttingen, May 4, 1875. He was professor of oriental languages in Göttingen from 1827 to 1837 and from 1848 to 1867. Professor Ewald was one of the most stalwart figures in that company of great men who took part in reorganising the attitude of nineteenth-century thought toward Hebrew literature. But while delving to the very depths of oriental scholarship, he took no less keen an interest in the politics of the Germany of his own time; and it was this interest, rather than the other, which determined most of the important steps in his personal history. Thus the interruption of his first course as professor at Göttingen was due to his association with that famous company known as the “Göttingen Seven,” who protested so vigorously against what they regarded as a political outrage that it was no longer possible for them to retain their connection with the university there. Subsequently Ewald was recalled to his old post, but again a conflict came, in which he needs must say his mind, with a result much as before. And even later in life, when the world-famed orientalist was past his seventy-first year, he was tried, convicted, and condemned to three weeks’ imprisonment for having expressed his honest opinions of the actions of Prince Bismarck and the Imperial Government which that statesman dominated. With these biographical details in mind it can never be in question that the great orientalist was a man of the firmest convictions, who always stood ready to battle for the faith that was in him, which was the keynote of his very existence. He was a controversialist, a reformer--as has been said--another Luther. A student of oriental literature from his early childhood, he came in after life to be recognised everywhere as one of the greatest authorities upon this subject; and his writings, nearly all of them having to do with Hebrew history, mark an epoch in the progress of the religious and historical thought of his age. The Geschichte des Volkes Israel, especially, must always stand at once as a monument of learning and as a milestone of the intellectual progress of a generation. When it appeared, and for many years afterwards, it seemed to the generality of scholars of the time an iconoclastic work--a work tending to shake the foundations of faith, though written by one whose own faith was of the profoundest character. It was, indeed, a forerunner of that work of biblical exegesis which has since become famous under the popular name of the “The Higher Criticism.” But so swift were the changes during the later decades of the nineteenth century that what seemed iconoclasm--almost scepticism--in 1840 must be classed as conservatism in 1900. Ewald himself would have stood aghast could he have seen whither the road on which he had entered was sure to lead.

* * * * *

=Fenton=, J., Early Hebrew Life: a Study of Sociology, London, 1880.--=Fergusson=, J., The Palaces of Nineveh and Persepolis Restored, London, 1851.--=Fiske=, A. K., The Jewish Scriptures: the Books of the Old Testament in the Light of their Origin and History, New York, 1894.--=Flöckner=, Über den Character der alttest. Poesie; Beuthen, 1898.--=Floigl=, V., Chronologie der Bibel, Leipsic, 1880.--=Fowle=, E., Short Papers on Jewish History, London, 1880.--=Fox=, A., Patriarchs and Leaders of Israel, London, 1890.--=Frederic=, H., The New Exodus: Study of Israel in Russia, London, 1892.--=Fresco=, Hist. des Israélites, Paris, 1898.

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=Garredi=, M., Catholicisme et Judaïsme, Paris, 1888.--=Gautier=, L., La mission du prophète Ezéchiel, Lausanne, 1895.--=Geneste=, Max, Parallel Histories of Judah and Israel, with explanatory notes, London, 1843.--=Geikie=, C., Landmarks of Old Testament History, London, 1893.--=Gibbon=, Edward, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, (ed. by W. Smith), London, 1872, 8 vols.--=Gilbert=, I., Nature, the Supernatural and the Religion of Israel, London, 1893.--=Gindraux=, F., À la suite des Israélites d’Egypte au Sinai, Lausanne, 1895.--=Ginsburg=, C. D., The Moabite Stone, London, 1891 (contains translations by Dermbourg, Gannean, Geiger, Hang, Hayes, Hitzig, Kaempf, Neubauer, Noeldeke, Schlottmann and Wright).--=Girard=, R. de, Études de géologie biblique, Freiburg, 1893.--=Glover=, A. K., Jewish Chinese Papers, 1894.--=Goethe=, Wolfgang von, Dichtung und Wahrheit, Weimar, 1811-1812, 1814.--=Goldschmidt=, S., Geschichte der Juden in England, Berlin, 1890.--=Goodspeed=, G. S., A Sketch of Canaanitish History to about the Year 1000 (in Bibl. World, 7, II, Chicago, 1896).--=Gordon=, R. A., Old Testament History, London, 1890.--=Gourgeot=, E., La Domination juive en Algérie, Alger, 1894.--=Grant=, M., L’Orient et la Bible, Genève, 1897.--=Grätz=, H., Geschichte der Juden von den ältesten Zeiten bis auf die Gegenwart, Leipsic, 1853-1875; Volkstümliche Geschichte der Juden, Leipsic, 1888.--=Green=, General Introduction to the Old Testament: The Canon, London, 1899.--=Grünbaum=, M., Neue Beiträge zur semitischen Sagenkunde, Leiden, 1893.--=Grüneisen=, Der Ahnenkultus und die Urreligion Israels, Halle, 1899.--=Guthe=, Geschichte des Volkes Israel, Freiburg, 1899.

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=Haneberg=, Die religiösen Altertümer, Stuttgart, 1869.--=Harper=, E. J., Important Movements in Israel Prior to the Establishment of the Kingdom (in Bibl. World, 7, II, Chicago, 1896).--=Harris=, M. H., The People of the Bible, New York, 1890.--=Hastings=, F. E., Biblical Chronology, The historical period, kings, judges (in Proc. Soc. of Bibl. Archæol., Vol. XXII, p. 10 et seq., London).--=Havet=, E., Étude d’histoire religieuse, Paris, 1894.--=Heath=, D. J., On the Jewish Exodus, as illustrated by Certain Egyptian Papyri (in Journ. Brit. Archæol. Assoc., Vol. XI, p. 238, London).--=Hegel=, G. W. F., Lectures on the Philosophy of History, London, 1857.--=Henderson=, A., Palestine, its Historical Geography (2nd edition), Edinburgh, 1894.--=Hengstenberg=, E. W., Geschichte des Reiches Gottes unter dem alten Bunde, Berlin, 1870-1871.--=Henne Am Rhyn=, O., Allgemeine Kulturgeschichte, Leipsic, 1877-1879, 6 vols; Kulturgeschichte des jüdischen Volkes von den ältesten Zeiten bis zur Gegenwart, Jena, 1892.

Otto Henne am Rhyn was born August 26, 1828, at Zürich. We have already had occasion to refer to the advantageous point of view of the historian who is also a practical man of affairs. The case of Henne am Rhyn is another illustration in point. In his early days, and even till well on in life, he was a practical journalist, and he abandoned this field for the position of professor in the University of Zürich. As a journalist he attained notable distinction, and the fact of obtaining a professorship speaks for itself as to his scholarship. The briefest glance at his Allgemeine Kulturgeschichte makes it clear that he was a man of a broad sweep of mind, fully conversant with the great subject which he attempted to treat. German scholarship has given us several “culture” histories of the widest type, notably those of Wachsmuth and Osman, but among them all there is perhaps none of higher or more various merit than that of the Swiss journalist-professor.

=Herzfeld=, L., Geschichte des Volkes Israel, Braunschweig, 1847-1857, 3 vols.; Handelsgeschichte der Juden des Altertums, Braunschweig, 1879.--=Hitzig=, F., Geschichte des Volkes Israel, Leipsic, 1869.--=Holtzmann=, V., Religionsgeschichtliche Vorträge, Giessen, 1902.--=Holzinger=, H., Einleitung in den Hexateuch, Freiburg, 1895.--=Hoonacker=, A. van, Nouvelles études sur la restauration juive d’après l’exit de Babylone, Paris-Louvain, 1893.--=Hommel=, F., The Ancient Hebrew Tradition, as illustrated by the Monuments, London, 1897.--=Hosmer=, J. K., Jews in Ancient and Modern Times, London, 1866; The Story of the Jews, Ancient, Mediæval, and Modern, New York, 1891.--=Hudson=, E. H., History of the Jews in Rome, London, 1882-1884.--=Hutton=, L., Literary Landmarks of Jerusalem, New York, 1895.

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=Inman=, Dr. T., Ancient Faiths, Liverpool, 1868-1869, 2 vols.

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=Jacobs=, J., Studies in Biblical Archæology, London, 1894; The Jews of Angevin History, London, 1893; Inquiry into the Sources of the History of the Jews in Spain, London, 1894.--=Jahn=, Johann, The Hebrew Commonwealth, London, 1829.--=Jellinek=, A., Franzosen über Juden, Wien, 1880.--=Johnson=, W. E., Our Debt to the Past, or Chaldean Science, London, 1890.--=Josephus=, F., Περι τοῡ Ἰουδαϊκοῡ πολέμον, Basel, 1554; Ἰουδαϊκὴ ἀρχαιολογία, Oxford, 1720; Κατὰ Ἀπίωνος, Leipsic, 1691; Antiquities of the Jews, Edinburgh, 1843; The Wars of the Jews, Edinburgh, 1843.

Flavius Josephus, a Jew, was born about the year 37 A.D. and died about 95 A.D. He is the one secular historian whose writings had great importance in perpetuating the knowledge of the Jewish history throughout later classical and mediæval times. Indeed, thanks to the subject upon which he wrote, Josephus has continued to be better known to the general public than almost any other classical author. Josephus, though a Jew, spent most of his life in Rome, and he appears to have taken it as his mission to justify his race to his western associates. As is well known, the Jews were not favourably regarded among the Greeks and Romans; hence the character of the narrative of Josephus. His chief work on the history of the Jews is based very manifestly upon the sacred records of his people. It is, in short, in the main a bald transcript, with certain additions and omissions, of the biblical record. It can hardly be maintained that the transcript was made with entire candour and honesty. In the nature of the case, these merits were hardly to be expected of Josephus. He was a Jew, a member of a despised and insignificant race, striving to prove to the most cultured people in the world that the contempt in which they held his compatriots was not merited. His whole effort, therefore, is to magnify the importance of the Jews, to minimise their faults. It is true he introduces into his narrative, here and there, much matter that is not to be found in the Bible records. To a certain extent such matter may be drawn from other Jewish sources that have not come down to us; but it is quite impossible to draw the line between such matter and other matter which the imagination of Josephus may have invented, not indeed as to bald facts, but as to the elaboration of details. The work of Josephus has an added importance in that it brings the history of his race down to his own time; that is to say, to the latter part of the first century A.D. For later events, in some of which the author himself participated as a military leader, the work of Josephus is the highest, if not indeed the sole authority, and we have quoted from him frequently. For the earlier period, Josephus depended upon the traditions of his race.

=Jost=, Israel Marcus, Geschichte der Israeliten, Berlin, 1820-1847, 12 vols.; Allgemeine Geschichte des israelitischen Volkes, Leipsic, 1850; Geschichte des Judentums und seiner Sekten, Leipsic, 1857-1889, 3 vols.--=Justinius=, Historiæ Philippicæ et totius Mundi Origenes et Terræ Situs, Venice, 1470.--=Jungfer=, H., Die Juden unter Friedrich dem Grossen, Leipsic, 1880.--=Justi=, F., Geschichte der altorientalischen Völker im Altertum, St. Petersburg, 1884.

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=Kahn=, L., Histoire de la communauté israélite à Paris, Paris, 1894.--=Kalischer=, E., Parabel und Fabel bei den alten Hebräern, Berlin, 1894.--=Kamphausen=, A., Das Lied Moses, Leipsic, 1862; Das Gebet des Herrn, Elberfeld, 1866; Die Chronologie der hebräischen Könige, Bonn, 1883; Das Buch Daniel und die neuere Geschichtsforschung, Leipsic, 1893; Bleek’s Einleitung ins Alte Testament, Berlin, 1870.--=Karpeles=, G., A Sketch of Jewish History, Philadelphia, 1897; Jewish Literature and Other Essays, Philadelphia, 1895.--=Kautzsch=, An Outline of the History of the Literature of the Old Testament, New York, 1899.--=Keil=, Handbuch der biblischen Archæologie, Frankfurt, 1875.--=Kellner=, Max, The Assyrian Monuments (illustrating the Sermons of Isaiah), Boston, 1900.--=Kellogg=, S. H., The Jews, or Prediction and Fulfilment, New York, 1883.--=Kennard=, H. M., Philistines and Israelites: A New Light on the World’s History, London, 1895.--=Kent=, C. F., A History of the Hebrew People, New York, 1896; A History of the Jewish People during the Babylonian, Persian, and Greek Periods, New York, 1899.--=Kirkpatrick=, A. F., The Doctrine of the Prophets, London, 1897.--=Kittel=, R., Die Anfänge der hebräischen Geschichtsschreibung im Alten Testament, Leipsic, 1895; Geschichte der Hebräer, Gotha, 1884.--=Klostermann=, Geschichte des Volkes Israel bis zur Restauration unter Esra und Nehemia, München, 1896.--=Koehler=, A., Lehrbuch der Geschichte des Alten Bundes, Erlangen, 1875-1881.--=Kohlbauer=, A., Geschichte des alttestamentlichen Bundesvolkes, Regensburg, 1886.--=König=, Ed., Einleitung in das Alte Testament mit Einschluss der Apokryphen und Pseudepigraphen des Alten Testamentes, Bonn, 1893.--=Kosters=, W. H., Die Wiederherstellung Israels (in der Pers. Studie), Heidelberg, 1895.--=Kuehnen=, A., Gottesdienst von Israel, Haarlem, 1869-1870; Hist. critisch onderzoek naar het ontstaan en de verzameling van de boeken des ouden Verbonds. 2 uitgave. Leyden, 1885-1893; Die Profeten und die Profetie in Israel, Leyden, 1875, 2 vols.; Volksreligion und Weltreligion, Berlin, 1883; Skizzen aus der Geschichte Israels, Nimwegen, 1882-1892, 2 vols.; Gesammelte Abhandlungen zur biblischen Wissenschaft, Freiburg, 1894.--=Kurtz=, J. H., Geschichte des alten Bundes, Berlin, 1848-1855, 2 vols.

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=Landau=, R., Geschichte der jüdischen Ärzte, Berlin, 1895.--=Laroche=, E., Chronologie des Israélites, Angers, 1892.--=Latimer=, Judæa: from Cyrus to Titus, 537 B.C.-70 A.D., London, 1894.--=Lazarus=, M., Die Ethik des Judentums, Frankfurt, 1898.--=Leathes=, S., The Law in the Prophets, London, 1894.--=Ledrain=, E., L’histoire d’Israël, avec append. par J. Oppert, Paris, 1879.

Eugène Ledrain was born at St. Suzanne (Mayenne), France, in 1844. Professor Ledrain is a distinguished member of that large coterie of French scholars who have devoted their lives to the study of biblical history. His works have for some reason not been translated, and his name is therefore not very familiar to the English reader. His particular field has been the history of the Jews in all its phases. His industry is illustrated not only by the long list of his writings, but particularly by the fact that these included a new translation of the Bible. So much said, it is clear that his investigations have been of a kind to give him the fullest familiarity with his subject, and it is no surprise to find that he is able to present his knowledge in an acceptable form.

=Leitner=, F., Die prophetische Inspiration, Freiburg, 1894.--=Lidzbarski=, Handbuch der nordsemitischen Epigraphik nebst ausgew. Inschrift., Weimar, 1898.--Lieblein, J., L’exode des hébreux (in Proc. Soc. of Bibl. Archæol., Vol. XX, p. 277; Vol. XXI, p. 53, London, 1898).--=Lincke=, V., Die Entstehung des Judentums (in Ztschr. für Wissenschaftl. Theologie, Jahrg. 44, p. 481 et seq., Leipsic, 1901).--=Linden=, G. v., Der Sieg des Judentums über das Germanentum, Leipsic, 1879.--=Lindo=, E. H., History of the Jews of Spain and Portugal, London, 1848.--=Lippe=, Ch. D., Biblisches Lexicon der gesammten jüd. Litteratur der Gegenwart, Wien, 1881.--=Löhr=, M., Geschichte des Volkes Israel, Strassburg, 1900.--=Lotz=, W., Geschichte und Offenbarung im Alten Testament, Leipsic, 1894.--=Löwenstein=, L., Beiträge zur Geschichte der Juden in Deutschland, Frankfurt, 1895.--=Lury=, I., Geschichte der Edomiter im biblischen Zeitalter, Bern, 1897.--=Lyon=, Sketch of Babylonian and Assyrian History with special reference to Palestine (in Bibl. World, 7, II, Chicago, 1896).

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=McCurdy=, F. F., History, Prophecy, and the Monuments to the Fall of Nineveh, London, 1894; To the Downfall of Samaria, London, 1894.--=MacDonald=, M., Harmony of Ancient History and Chronology of the Egyptians and the Jews, Philadelphia, 1891.--=Magdeleine=, J. de, La France catholique et la France juive, Paris, 1888.--=Magnus=, Lady Philip, Outlines of Jewish History, London, 1892.--=Mally=, J., Historia sacra antiqui Testamenti, Strigonii, 1890.--=Margoliouth=, G., Hebrew-Babylonian Affinities, London, 1899.--=Marquart=, J., Fundamente israelitischer und jüdischer Geschichte, Göttingen, 1896.--=Marti=, K., Geschichte der israelitischen Religion, Strassburg, 1897.--=Masse=, E., La Révolution française et la Rabbinat, Paris, 1890.--=Mayers=, M., The History of the Jews: from their Origin to their Ultimate Dispersion, London, 1824.--=Mears=, J. W., From Exile to Overthrow: a History of the Jews from Babylonian Captivity, Philadelphia, 1881.--=Ménard=, L. N., Histoire des Israélites, Paris, 1883; Histoire des anciens peuples de l’Orient, Paris, 1883.

Louis Nicolas Ménard was born at Paris, October 15, 1822. The celebrated French professor of art is better known to the general public through his historical writings than through those that pertain to his own speciality. But, indeed, it would be perhaps keeping in too narrow a vein to speak of Ménard as pre-eminently a specialist in the field of art, for his interests are cosmopolitan, and he is quite as much at home in the field of history pure and simple as in that of his favourite study. As a writer, Ménard has the merit of comprehensiveness of view and of unusual felicity of presentation. His history of the Israelites is, on some accounts, the best brief popular presentation of the subject that has been written in any language. It is at once free from the idolatrous prejudice which has marred the works of certain historians, and from the iconoclastic prejudice which has disfigured certain others. It is a work, therefore, which every earnest student of ancient history who would wish to view the Israelites in their proper historic perspective, may read with interest and profit.

=Mendelssohn=, M., Jerusalem, Berlin, 1783.--=Merx=, Adalbert, Zur Geschichte des Stammes Levi, 1870.--=Meyer=, Ed., Die Entstehung des Judentums, Halle, 1896; Geschichte des Altertums, Stuttgart, 1884-1902, 5 vols.--=Mills=, A., The ancient Hebrews, New York and Chicago, 1874.--=Milman=, H. H., The History of the Jews from the Earliest Period to the Present Time, London, 1878.--Moabite Stone. (For numerous translations see Christian D. Ginsburg.)--=Moebius=, H., Die Kinder Israel nie in Ägypten, Ilmenau, 1884.--=Monasch=, M., Geschiedenis van het volk Israel, Amsterdam, 1891.--=Montefiore=, C. G., Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion as illustrated by the Religion of the Ancient Hebrews (Hibbert Lectures, 1892), London, 1893 (2nd edition).--=Montet=, J., Le Deutéronome et la question de l’Hexateuque, Paris, 1895.--=Morrison=, W. D., The Jews under Roman rule, London, 1890.--=Moulton=, H. G., The Literary Study of the Bible, London, 1895.--=Munk=, Salomon, La Palestine, Paris, 1845.

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=Naville=, E., The Store City of Pithom, London, 1885.--=Neil=, J., Pictured Palestine, London, 1893.--=Nestle=, E., Marginalien und Materialien, Tübingen, 1893.--=Neteler=, B., Stellung der alttest. Zeitrechnung in der altorientalischen Geschichte, Münster, 1893; Die Zeitstellung des israelitischen Auszugs, Münster, 1895.--=Neubauer=, A., Mediæval Jewish Chronicles, London, 1887.--=Neubauer=, A., and =Stern=, M., Hebräische Berichte über die Judenverfolgungen, Berlin, 1888.--=Newman=, F. W., A History of the Hebrew Monarchy, London, 1847.

Francis William Newman was born at London, June 27, 1805. Professor Newman had the misfortune to be the brother of a man more famous than himself. His name, partly on this account, is comparatively little known to-day, while that of the Cardinal is almost a household word. Nevertheless, he was a man of distinguished scholarship, and traces of that same stalwart character of mind which characterised his brother are manifest everywhere in his writings. His history of the Hebrew monarchy, written about the middle of the century,--when, as we have already noted, the higher criticism was making itself felt,--remains to this day one of the clearest and most interesting and authoritative accounts of that people. To most readers of the time of its first publication it must have seemed a daringly iconoclastic work, and even now there are many who would follow some of its pages with bated breath. Yet neither its fairness, its lack of prejudice, nor its scholarly foundations can be in question, and combined with these traits it has qualities of style which must give it a lasting value for the popular reader.

=Niebuhr=, C., Die Chronologie der Geschichte Israels, Ägyptens, etc., Leipsic, 1894; Geschichte des Hebräischen Zeitalters, Berlin, 1894.--=Nikel=, I., Der Monotheismus Israels in der vorexil. Zeit, Paderborn, 1893.--=Nöldeke=, Th., Die Amalekiter, Göttingen, 1864; Alttestamentliche Litteratur, Leipsic, 1868: Untersuchungen zur Kritik des Alten Testamentes, Kiel, 1869; Inschriften des Königs Mesa von Moab, Kiel, 1870; Die semitischen Sprachen, Leipsic, 1887.--=Novikov=, T., Das jüdische Russland, Berlin, 1892.--=Nowack=, W., Die sozial. Probleme in Israel, Strassburg, 1892; Die Entstehung der israelitischen Religion, Strassburg, 1895.

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=Öhler=, G. F., Theologie des Alten Testamentes; (3 ed.), Stuttgart, 1893.--=Oppert=, J., Salomon et ses successeurs: solution d’un problème chronologique, Paris, 1877.--=Origen=, φιλοσοφουμενα (in Jac. Gronovius’ Theasaurus Antiquitatem Græcorum, Vol. X, p. 349, et seq. Leyden, 1697).--=Ottley=, R. L., A Short History of the Hebrews to the Roman Period, Cambridge, 1901; Hebrew Prophets, London, 1898.--=Oxford=, A. W., Introduction to the History of Ancient Israel, London, 1887.

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=Palmer=, E. H., History of the Jewish Nation, London, 1874.--=Paludan-Muller=, B., Bibelhistorien og den gameltestamentlige Kritik, Copenhagen, 1893.--=Perreau=, P., Gli ebrei in Inghilterra nel secole XI e XII, Trieste, 1887.--=Philipson=, D., Old European Jewries, Philadelphia, 1894.--=Picciotto=, J., Sketches of Anglo-Jewish History, London, 1875.--=Piepenbring=, C., Histoire du peuple d’Israël, Paris, 1898.--=Pomeranz=, B., La Grèce et la Judée dans l’antiquité, Paris, 1891.--=Post=, G. E., Essays on the Sects and Nationalities of Syria and Palestine (in Quart. Statement of Eg. Explor. Fund, London, 1890).--=Prévost-Paradol=, L. A., Essai sur l’histoire universelle, Paris, 1890.

Lucien Anatole Prévost-Paradol was born at Paris, August 8, 1829; died by his own hand, in Washington, U.S.A., July 20, 1870. The celebrated author of the Essay on Universal History was not primarily a historian--certainly not a great historian. He was a professional writer and practical politician. But practical politics is, after all, nothing more or less than contemporary history, and from the earliest times the men who have taken part in the events of their epoch have been regarded as the most competent to describe these; one need but mention the names of Thucydides, Xenophon, and Polybius as cases in point. Not that Prévost-Paradol can be justly compared to these great historians, not that it can in any sense be claimed that he wrote a great history, but that the practices of a professional politician in any age necessarily give him, on some accounts, a better point of view from which to look out upon the events of universal history than can be attained by the mere closet student. The great difficulty with the large mass of modern historical literature is that the men who have produced it have been impractical closet students, who knew next to nothing of the actual life of the practical everyday diplomatist and statesman; hence so much infantile criticism and childish credulity in estimating the motives of the men who in all ages have made history; hence also, on the other hand, the value of the estimate of any man who, having had forced upon him a practical realisation of the motives that control men in modern history, shall attempt to estimate, from the point of view thus gained, the deeds of men of other times. Doubly valuable must be such work if the practical statesman who makes it is also an accomplished writer. Such was the status of Prévost-Paradol. His work has the charm of a polished literary style, and his estimate of peoples and of events is that of one who is at once artist and man of affairs. What he says of the Hebrews or any other people is not to be considered as the estimate of a scholar who has devoted his life to studying the original sources for his history, yet it is the estimate of a littérateur of scholarly habits, who is fully in touch with his subject, at least at second hand, and whose skill as a writer enables him to bring it more vividly before his public than the more scholarly investigator is usually able to do.

=Price=, J. M., Important Movements in Israel Prior to 1000 B.C. (in Bibl. World, 7, II, Chicago, 1896); The Monuments and the Old Testament, Chicago, 1900.--=Prideaux=, H., History of the connection of the Old and New Testaments, London, 1715-1717, 6 vols.

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=Rabelleau=, M., Histoire des Hébreux, Paris, 1825.--=Racah=, L., Gl. Israeliti. Storia politico-litteraria, Roma, 1898.--=Reinach=, T., Histoire des israélites, etc., Paris, 1884.--=Renan=, J. E., Histoire du peuple d’Israël, Paris, 1887-93, 4 vols.

Joseph Ernest Renan was born at Tréguier, Côtes-du-Nord, France, January 27, 1823; died at Paris, October 2, 1892. Doubtless no other name that we have occasion to cite in connection with Hebrew history is so widely known to the general public as that of Renan. The famous ex-priest, who till the end of his life contended that he was still at heart a priest, early gained the ear of the public and maintained it to the end, partly through the eloquence of his discourse, partly through the seemingly startling character of his message. As a stylist, even in the land of stylists, Renan, from the first, took a foremost rank; as a littérateur, his position was assured, whatever subject he might choose to treat. But he also attained a corresponding distinction as a scholar pure and simple. He devoted himself early to the fullest investigation of Hebrew history, and his whole life was bound up with this task. Starting out with the intention of becoming a priest, he found himself presently lacking in sympathy with some of the dearest tenets of the church, and was led to retire from his prospective profession to devote himself purely to his literary pursuits. He became known, and for a time at least it seemingly pleased him to be known, as a sceptic, and his name has been mentioned with opprobrium from many a pulpit. Yet whoever reads his work from the standpoint of our own generation will find in it but little that is startlingly iconoclastic, and will be almost prepared to admit that Renan was right when he said--perhaps half jestingly--that he was still a priest to the end. In his later years, Renan himself came to feel that he had, perhaps, in so far that he had combated ancient beliefs, been doing little more than to fight a man of straw, and at last regretted that he had not turned his attention to some field of science rather than to the narrower channel of the history of an ancient nation. Yet perhaps this regret was ill-advised; for after all, Renan’s cast of mind was essentially theological, and it must be at least an open question whether he could have accomplished more in any field of science than he was able to accomplish in the field of history and of literature. Had he, on the other hand, chosen a purely literary field, without the hampering weight of historical traditions, he might very probably have produced something of more lasting merit than any of his existing histories. Be that as it may, however, his histories remain as a monument of industry and of artistic presentation which the biblical student of our generation cannot neglect.

=Rendu=, A., The Jewish Race in Ancient and Roman History, London, 1895.--=Reville=, A., Herodes der Grosse: Cap. aus der jüdischen Geschichte des l. Halbjahres vor Christus (in Deutsche Revue, Berlin, Mai-Juli, 1892).--=Riehm=, C. A., Handwörterbuch des biblischen Altertums, Bielefeld, 1892-1894; Die Gesetzgebung Mosis im Lande Moab, Gotha, 1854; Die besondere Bedeutung des Alten Testamentes für die religiöse Erkenntniss, Halle, 1864; Die messianische Weissagung, Gotha, 1875; Der Begriff der Sühne im Alten Testament, Gotha, 1877; Der biblische Schöpfungsbericht, Halle, 1881; Einleitung in das Alte Testament (ed. by Brandt), Halle, 1889; Alttestamentliche Theologie (ed. by Pahncke), Halle, 1889.--=Riggs=, T. S., History of the Jewish People during Maccabean and Roman Periods (Incl. New Test. Times), 1900.--=Robert=, U., Les signes d’infamie au moyen age, juifs, etc., Paris, 1817.--=Robertson=, James, The Early Religion of Israel as set forth by Biblical Writers and by Modern Critical Historians, London, 1892; The Poetry and Religion of the Psalms, London, 1899.--=Rodocanachi=, E., Le Ghetto à Rome, Paris, 1891.--=Röhricht=, R., Bibliotheca geographica Palæstinæ Chronolog. (Verzeichniss der auf Palästinas Geographie bezüglichen Litteratur von 338 bis 1878), Berlin, 1890.--=Rosenmüller=, Handbuch der biblischen Altertumskunde, Leipsic, 1823-1827, 2 vols.--=Roskoff=, Die hebräischen Altertümer, Wien, 1857.--=Rothschild=, C. de and R. de, The History and Literature of the Israelites according to the Old Testament and the Apocrypha, London, 1871.--=Rougé=, E. de, Moïse et les hébreux d’après les monuments, Paris, 1869.--=Rupprecht=, E., Beitr. zur richtigen Lösung des Pentateuchrätsels, Gütersloh, 1896.

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=Saalschütz=, J. L., Archæologie der Hebräer, Königsberg, 1855-1856, 2 vols.--=Sack=, I., Israël et Juda (in Revue d’études juives, Vol. XXXVIII, p. 172 et seq. Vol. XXXIX, Paris, 1898).--=Sailer=, F., Die Juden und das Deutsche Reich, Berlin, 1876.--=Sanday=, W., The Oracles of God, London, 1891.--=Sayce=, A. H., The Higher Criticism and the Verdict of the Monuments, London, 1894; Patriarchal Palestine, London, 1895; Early Israel and the Surrounding Nations, London, 1899; The Early History of the Hebrews, London, 1897; Fresh Light from the Ancient Monuments (Religious Tract Society), London, 1893.--=Scaliger=, J. J., Thesaurus Temporum, Leyden, 1606.--=Schäfer=, Die religiösen Altertümer der Bibel, Münster, 1892.--=Schalin=, Z., Der Aufenthalt der Israeliten in Ägypten, Helsingfors, 1894.--=Schall=, E., Staatsverfassung der Juden, Leipsic, 1894.--=Scharling=, H., Hauran, Reisebilder aus Palästina, Bremen, 1890.--=Schenkel=, Bibellexicon für Geistliche und Gemeindeglieder, Leipsic, 1869-1875, 5 vols.--=Schlatter=, Zur Topographie und Geschichte Palästinas, Calw and Stuttgart, 1894.--=Schlosser=, F. C., Weltgeschichte, Frankfurt, 1844-1854, 19 vols.--=Schmidt=, N., Moses, his Age and his Work (in Biblical World, 7, II, Chicago, 1896).--=Scholz=, A., Zeit und Ort der Entstehung der Bücher des Alten Testamentes, Würzburg, 1893.--=Scholz=, P., Die heiligen Altertümer des Volkes Israel, Regensburg, 1869-1870, 2 vols.--=Schrader=, Eberhard, Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament, Berlin, 1872, 2 vols.; 2nd edition, 1883 (English translation, London, 1885-1889, 2 vols.); Studien zur Kritik und Erklärung der biblischen Urgeschichte, Berlin, 1863.

Eberhard Schrader was born at Brunswick, Germany, January 5, 1836. Professor Schrader is known to scholars everywhere as one of the leaders among modern Hebrew scholars. In particular, his investigations have looked to the elucidation of Hebrew history from the Mesopotamian side, so to speak. He early took up the study of the cuneiform writing, and became known as one of the foremost authorities in that new field. From this standpoint he has investigated, as far as might be, the origin of the Hebrew people, and has compared the biblical records with the similar ones which the exhumations at Nineveh and Babylon have revealed. The scholarship of Professor Schrader is essentially of the German type, in the more ponderous meaning of that word. There is little in his writings to appeal to the popular audience, except that the subject has universal interest. Nevertheless, some of them have been translated into English and widely read; in particular, the translations of the so-called Chaldean Genesis have interested a wide public.

=Schultz=, H., The Theology of the Old Testament, London, 1895 (2nd edition).--=Schürer=, Geschichte des jüdischen Volkes im Zeitalter Christi, Leipsic, 1885; Der Kalender und die Æra von Gaza (in Sitz. Ber. d. Berliner Acad. d. Wiss. no. 41).--=Scott=, C. A., The Making of Israel, from Joseph to Joshua, Edinburgh, 1895.--=Seinecke=, L. C., Geschichte des Volkes Israel, Göttingen, 1876-1884.--=Sellin=, Beitr. zur isr. und jüd. Religionsgeschichte, Leipsic, 1895.--=Sharpe=, S., History of the Hebrew Nation and its Literature, London, 1882.--=Shuckford=, S., The Sacred and Profane History of the World, London, 1728-1754.--=Sime=, J., The Kingdom of all Israel: its History, London, 1883.--=Smend=, R., Lehrbuch d. alttest. Religionsgeschichte, Freiburg, 1899.--=Smith=, George, The Hebrew People.--=Smith=, G. A., The Historical Geography of the Holy Land, London, 1901.--=Smith=, W., Illustrated History of the Bible, 1871; Dictionary of the Bible, London, 1860-1863, 3 vols.--=Smith=, W. R., The Prophets of Israel and their Place in History, to the Close of the Eighth Century: with Additional Notes by T. K. Cheyne, London, 1895.--=Soares=, Th. G., Hebrew Historiography (in Bibl. World), Chicago, September, 1893.--=Solly=, H. S., Antiquities of Israel, London, 1876.--=Somerville=, R., The Parallel History of the Jewish Monarchy, Cambridge, 1895.--=Spanier=, M., Quellenbuch für den Unterricht in jüdischer Geschichte, Frankfurt, 1890.--=Spence=, H. D. M., and =Exell=, J. S., Pulpit Commentary, London, 1880.--=Spiro=, S., Étude sur le peuple samaritain, Paris, 1897.--=Stade=, B., Geschichte des Volkes Israel, Berlin, 1887, 2 vols.; Die Entstehung des Volkes Israel, Giessen, 1899.

Bernhard Stade was born at Arnstadt, May 11, 1848; professor of Old Testament history in the University of Giessen. Scholarship is so universally a pre-requisite to the holding of a professorship in German universities that the iteration of the fact becomes tiresome. One might almost say that no German dares to think of writing a book on history or science without having first made himself fully master of his subject. When a book comes from a German press one is usually justified in assuming that it will be found to have all the authority that can come from mere knowledge of the subject of which it treats. The Germans are proverbially linguists and philologists. Scholarship with them is traditional, and the tradition was never more amply sustained than in the present generation. But there is one other question to be asked in taking up a German book, the answer to which is by no means so secure, and that is the question as to the style of the author; for unfortunately German scholarship is not more proverbial among the writers of history than is German lack of literary mastery. The German language peculiarly lends itself to a manner of presentation that seems to the Frenchman or the Englishman obscure; and there is only here and there a writer in the long list of German historians who has achieved that distinction of style which, it must be freely admitted, is almost a national heritage with the Frenchman and which is by no means unusual with the writers of English. Among this select company we at once recall the name of Heeren, and it will be remembered that such men as Curtius and Mommsen have done their full share to create a new standard of literary excellence for their countrymen. It seems clear that the admirable examples thus given have not been lost upon the German historians of the present generation. Among these it will, perhaps, hardly be claimed that Professor Stade has attained in this regard a peculiar distinction, but at least he has secured an honourable place; and there is, perhaps, no other work on the history of Israel which, as a whole, can claim a better average of desirable qualities, at once of knowledge and of style, than the work now before us.

=Staerk=, W., Studien zur Religions- und Sprachgeschichte des Alten Testamentes, Berlin, 1899.--=Stanley=, A. P., Lectures on the History of the Jewish Church, London, 1884, 3 vols.--=Stapfer=, E., La Palestine au temps de Jésus-Christ, (5th edition), Paris, 1892.--=Stave=, Über den Einfluss des Parsismus auf das Judentum, 1898.--=Steinschneider=, M., Die hebräischen Übersetzungen des Mittelalters, Berlin, 1893.--=Stern=, M., Urkundliche Beiträge über die Stellung der Juden, Kiel, 1893; Die israelitische Bevölkerung der deutschen Städte, Frankfurt, 1890-1896.--=Steuernagel=, Der Rahmen des Deuteronomiums, Halle, 1894; Die Entstehung des deuteronom. Gesetzes, Halle, 1895.--=Stosch=, G., Alttest. Studien, Gütersloh, 1895.--=Strange=, Guy de, Palestine under the Moslems. A Description of Syria and the Holy Land from A.D. 650 to 1500, London, 1896.--=Sulzbach=, A., Die religiöse und weltliche Poesie der Juden vom 7, bis zum 16, Jahrhundert, Trier, 1893.--=Sunderland=, I. T., The Bible: its Origin and Growth, New York, 1893.

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=Tacitus=, Cornelius, Historiæ Venice, 1470.--=The Talmud=, Venice, 1520-23.--=Tineo=, H. A., Los Judios en España, Madrid, 1881.--=Tristram=, H. B., Land of Israel, London, 1865.

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=Uhlemann=, M. A., Israeliten und Hyksos in Ägypten: eine histor. kritische Untersuchung, Berlin, 1856.--=Unger=, G. F., Die Seleucidenära der Makkabäerbücher, München, 1895; Die Regierungsjahre der makkab. Fürsten (Abhdl. Acad. München, Heft. 2).

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=Vatke=, W., Die biblische Theologie wissenschaftlich dargestellt, Berlin, 1835.--=Vernes=, M., Du prétendu polythéisme des hébreux, Paris, 1893, 2 vols.--=Visser=, I. Th. de, Hebreeuwsche Archæologie, Utrecht, 1894.

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=Ward=, A., Hebrew Monarchy: its History and Purpose, London, 1900.--=Weber=, G., Allgemeine Weltgeschichte, Leipsic, 1857-1880.--=Weber=, G., and =Holtzmann=, H. J., Geschichte des Volkes Israel und der Entstehung des Christentums, Leipsic, 1867.--=Weber=, J. B., and =Kempter=, W., La Situation des Juifs en Russie, Paris, 1893.--=Wedgwood=, J., The Message of Israel in the Light of Modern Criticism, London, 1894.--=Weill=, A., Les cinq livres (mosaïstes) de Moïse, Paris, 1893; Le centenaire de l’émancipation des Juifs, Paris, 1888.--=Weinstein=, N. I., Beiträge zur Geschichte der Essäer, Bern, 1892.--=Wellhausen=, J., Geschichte Israels, Berlin, 1878; Sketch of the History of Israel and Judah, (3rd edition), London, 1895; Compos. d. Hexateuchs, Berlin, 1889; Skizzen und Vorarbeiten, vol. V., Berlin, 1895; Ansicht über den Gang der Geschichte Israels, Berlin, 1878. (Julius Wellhausen was born in Hameln, Germany, May 17th, 1844. At present, holds a professorial chair at Göttingen. He is one of the best known of the critical investigators of the Bible narratives.)--=Wendland=, P., Die Therapeuten und die philon. Schrift vom beschaulichen Leben: ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des hellen. Judentums, Leipsic, 1894.--=Westphal=, R., Allgemeine Metrik der indogermanischen und semitischen Völker, Berlin, 1893.--=Wete=, Henry Barclay, The Old Testament in Greek according to the Septuaginta, Cambridge, 1898.--=Wiener=, L., The history of Yiddish Literature in the XIXth Century, New York, 1889.--=Wilberforce=, B. F., Heroes of Hebrew History, London, 1895.--=Wildeboer=, G., De Letterkunde des Ouden Verbonds naar de tijdsorde van haar ontstaan, Groningen, 1893; Die Litteratur des Alten Testamentes, Göttingen, 1895; Die Entstehung des alttestamentlichen Kanons, Gotha, 1894.--=Willrich=, H., Judaica: Forschungen zur hellen.-jüdischen Geschichte und Litteratur, Göttingen, 1900; Juden und Griechen vor der makkabäischen Erhebung, Göttingen, 1895.--=Wilson=, A. M., The Wines of the Bible, London, 1877.--=Winckler=, Hugo, Geschichte Israels in Einzeldarstellungen, Leipsic, 1895; Altorientalische Forschungen, Leipsic, 1893; Alttestamentliche Untersuchungen, Leipsic, 1892.--=Winer=, G. B., Biblisches Realwörterbuch, Leipsic, 1847-1848.--=Wright=, G. H. B., Was Israel ever in Egypt? London, 1895.

* * * * *

=Xenophon=, Κυροπαιδεία, Florence, 1516.

* * * * *

=Zahn=, A., Israelitische und jüdische Geschichte; Beurtheilung der Schrift, Gütersloh, 1895.--=Zeller=, P., Biblisches Handwörterbuch (2nd edition), Calw and Stuttgart, 1893.--=Zenos=, A. C., The Elements of the Higher Criticism, New York, 1895.--=Zöckler=, Die Apokryphen des Alten Testamentes, nebst Anhang über Pseudepigraphenlitteratur, München, 1893.--=Zunz=, L., Die gottesdienstlichen Vorträge der Juden, Frankfurt, 1892.

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

V. THE HISTORY OF PHŒNICIA

BASED CHIEFLY UPON THE FOLLOWING AUTHORITIES

A. H. L. HEEREN, JOHN KENRICK, O. MELTZER, T. MOMMSEN, F. C. MOVERS, R. PIETSCHMANN

WITH ADDITIONAL CITATIONS FROM

APPIANUS ALEXANDRINUS, ARISTOTLE, ARRIAN, THE HOLY BIBLE, C. K. J. VON BUNSEN, PHILO BYBLIUS, QUINTUS CURTIUS, W. DEECKE, DIODORUS, MAX DUNCKER, ERATOSTHENES, EUPOLEMUS, ED. GERHARD, E. GIBBON, P. F. J. GOSSELIN, GEORGE GROTE, HANNO, HERODOTUS, F. HOMMEL, ISOCRATES, ST. JEROME (HIERONYMUS), FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS, JUSTIN, MENANDER OF EPHESUS, POMPONIUS MELA, B. G. NIEBUHR, J. P. PETERS, JAS. RENNELL, VICOMTE DE ROUGÉ, SALLUSTIUS, SANCHONIATHON, PLINIUS SECUNDUS, STRABO, THEOPHILUS, THUCYDIDES, GEORG WEBER, WILLIAM OF TYRE, H. WUTTKE, XENOPHON

TOGETHER WITH AN INTRODUCTORY ESSAY ON

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PHŒNICIAN HISTORY AND ORIGIN OF THE NAME

BY

RICHARD PIETSCHMANN

COPYRIGHT, 1904, BY HENRY SMITH WILLIAMS.

All rights reserved.

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V. PHŒNICIA

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

INDIVIDUALITY OF PHŒNICIAN HISTORY AND ORIGIN OF THE NAME 243

PHŒNICIAN HISTORY IN OUTLINE 246

CARTHAGINIAN HISTORY IN OUTLINE 251

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VIII. PHŒNICIAN CIVILISATION 346

APPENDIX A. CLASSICAL TRADITIONS 356

BRIEF REFERENCE-LIST OF AUTHORITIES BY CHAPTERS 361

A GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PHŒNICIAN HISTORY 363

INDIVIDUALITY OF PHŒNICIAN HISTORY AND ORIGIN OF THE NAME

BY RICHARD PIETSCHMANN

Translated for this work from his Geschichte der Phönizier.

The history of both the Egyptian and the Babylonian peoples is closely bound up with the territorial history of a limited tract of land, while with the Phœnicians it is quite otherwise. Their history is in a far less degree the history of their land. Among all civilised nations of antiquity, Phœnicia was the first that, maintaining its national individuality and its form of civilisation, learned to become independent of the clod of earth upon which this individuality had been developed. It was the first that, by means of emigration and the founding of settlements, gained sufficient space to attain to full historical importance.

Upon the determination of the balance of power of the old Orient, upon the political life of their neighbours, the petty states of this district in reality never exerted a positive influence. At the most, their existence and their policy of the moment helped in the decision of some questions of relatively small importance in the course of world-historic events. Would we be more interested in the history of Tyre and Sidon than in that of Gaza and Ashdod, if the first communication of the East with the West had not been opened chiefly by the Phœnicians; and if a Phœnician colony, Carthage, a most dangerous rival first to the Greek towns of Sicily, and afterward to the rising world-power of Rome, had not fought the bitter struggle for supremacy on the coast-lands of the western half of the Mediterranean--a struggle which, after a long past poor in feats of arms, immortalised the name of the Punic race? The fame that illuminates the figures of the generals Hamilcar and Hannibal is reflected on the history of the mother country.

It is no new thing in the history of races for a reorganisation of the national life of an active people to take place in its colonies and emigrant fragments. We may cite the foundation of the states of the Veragri, and of the Normans, and the rise of the United States of America out of the settlements of New England. But, as these examples show, this seldom comes to pass without the evidence of considerable sacrifice of national individuality. Generally such new political formations involve at the same time a more or less complete change of national character, a great portion of which is sacrificed in the adaptation to changed conditions of life; but few traces of such a change can be observed amid the Phœnicians in their colonial cities.

Moreover, we are only now, since excavations in Greece have brought to light considerable quantities of remains from pre-Homeric times, beginning to put a correct estimate upon the sum of fruitful suggestions and finished products which the Phœnician seafarers and traders together with their wares brought to the nations of the West, and above all to Greek art. In this way, the expansion of the Phœnicians exercised an enduring influence upon the whole course of the history of civilisation in all later times.

What fitted them to become, in this sense also, an historically important people was, besides the tenacity of will with which they pursued their aims, a high degree of intellectual receptivity, which enabled them to assimilate with ease the attainments of foreign culture; and also the adaptability and insight with which they could make themselves at home even in entirely foreign surroundings.

Of the favourableness, or unfavourableness of circumstances, they were no more independent than any other people on earth has been. It even appears that, in accordance with some law, they achieved results only when, in the course of their undertakings, they came in contact with nations whose civilisation was still in process of formation, or at least, during the period of contact, did not attain to any importance of its own.

But the skill with which they were able to turn just such circumstances to their own advantage, and to continue a national existence in the midst of such an environment (this highly developed capacity for adaptation was their peculiar inheritance) was something that at least would have been utterly impossible with the cultured races of the Nile and the Euphrates. It was chiefly due to the fact that, not national elements, but those which had been learned and borrowed from foreign races, predominated in Phœnician culture. This made culture a comfortable garment, took from it and its wearers the awkwardness that would have developed in case of a more independent origin, kept it free from many fast chains and immutable faults which come with a uniform national culture and an isolated history of development.

As the scene of the history of the Phœnicians varies in extent with the location of their settlements, Phœnicia is less a fixed geographical idea than a name, which would simply designate in general that portion of the Syrian coast, whose chief population was of Phœnician descent.

Accordingly, the origin of the name “Phœnicia” (Phoinike) which the Greeks gave to this stretch of coast, is to be found in the Greek name of the inhabitants: “Phoinix,” the plural “Phoinix” and not “Phoinikes” from the name of the country.

“Phoinix” is formed like “Cilix,” the “Cilician,” and denotes the Phœnician as a man of reddish-brown complexion, as in Greek “phoinos” is the name of a colour varying from a brownish to a deep red. The same root which is in “phoinos” and “Phoinix” is also found in “Pœnus,” “the Punic,” which was the form given by the Italian races to the name they heard from the mouths of the Greeks of Greece proper (Hellas).

Word formations like that of Phoinix, not being very common in Greek as names of races, the Greeks did not always keep in mind the fundamental meaning of Phoinix, and very early began to devise artificial etymologies for it, which have in part proved to be quite arbitrary and absurd but in part have found approval among modern savants. Nor have the latter, on their side, neglected to increase the number of unsuccessful attempts at interpretation. It is not necessary to enter here into a discussion of the majority of these explanations, upon a refutation of the assertion that the Phœnicians received their name from Phoinix, a brother of Cadmus, or that the word “dyers in red” designates them as “purple merchants,” or even “robbers” and “murderers,” and other such notions, for they are now things of the past. Nevertheless they are in some degree on the right track, inasmuch as in them Phoinike is regarded as the derived, and Phoinix the root word.

As the date-palm and its fruit first became known to the Greeks through the medium of the Phœnicians, this tree was likewise called by them Phoinix, the “Phœnician” palm. So in antiquity it was a widespread interpretation to make Phoinike come, not from Phoinix, “the Phœnician,” but from phoinix, “date palm,” making Phoinike signify the “land of palms,” “the land of the date palm.” Among moderns, Movers in particular has brought forward many reasons for the correctness of this explanation.

Athenæus expressly mentions dates as a valuable article of Phœnician trade; but it is perhaps a great mistake to take them for a product of Phœnicia instead of a mere article of commerce, for the fruit of the Phœnix dactylifera does not reach maturity at all in Phœnicia. Little can be proved from the representation of the palm tree on coins whose origin may be traced solely to Grecian prototypes.

Finally, it is a philological impossibility that after the form Phoinike, as the name of the country, has been derived from phoinix, “date palm,” such a form as Phoinix as a designation of the inhabitants could ever have been in turn the result of derivation from this name of the country.

PHŒNICIAN HISTORY IN OUTLINE

A PRELIMINARY SURVEY COMPRISING A CURSORY VIEW OF THE SOURCES OF PHŒNICIAN HISTORY, THE SWEEP OF EVENTS, AND A TABLE OF CHRONOLOGY

Of the sources for this history it is hardly possible to do more than to say that they hardly exist in any tangible form, and to echo Heeren’s complaint:

“The severest loss which ancient history has to mourn, a loss irreparable, is that of the destruction of the records that should inform us of the affairs, the government, and the enterprises of the Phœnicians. In proportion to the vast influence which this nation had in the civilisation of mankind by its own great inventions and discoveries (the invention of alphabetical writing is alone sufficient to show their importance), by its numerous colonies established in every quarter, and by its commerce extending even beyond these; the more sensibly we feel the gaps which the loss of these records leaves in the history of the human race. It is the conviction of the extent of this loss that gives the few fragments which have been preserved out of the great mass, a peculiar attraction to the historian; and though it may be impossible to compile from them a history of the Phœnicians, yet they will probably enable him to draw a tolerably faithful picture of the general character and genius of this nation in its various undertakings.”

The Phœnicians were a Semitic people, probably an early offshoot, like the Canaanites, from the parent stock; a people of remarkable industry, intelligence, and enterprise. Their country lay in southern Syria, between the Lebanon Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea, a strip of land about two hundred miles in length by thirty-five at its greatest width. Phœnicia was never a united state, but rather a confederacy of cities. At the time of our earliest knowledge Sidon stood at the head, but in the thirteenth century, B.C. Tyre became the most important.

FIRST PERIOD--TO THE SUPREMACY OF TYRE (3800-1100 B.C.)

3800 B.C. The empire of Sargon of Agade is believed to have included Syria and the shores of the Mediterranean.

2750 Foundation of Tyre, according to Herodotus’ account.

1950 One of the Elamite sovereigns of Babylon appears to have reduced a large part of Syria to subservience, which state of affairs does not last long.

1635 Aahmes I visits Zahi (southern Phœnicia) in his invasion of Asia, after the expulsion of the Hyksos.

1590 Tehutimes I appears to have made the Phœnicians pay tribute.

1530 Tehutimes III lays waste the land of Zahi; again in 1516.

1506 Arka (Akko) destroyed by Tehutimes III. Phœnicia is made tributary.

1500 Settlement of the Phœnicians in Cyprus. From this time on colonisation of the shore of the Mediterranean becomes active. Rhodes, the Cyclades, the islands of the Thracian coast, Samothrace, and Thasos are occupied. The stations on the Ægean are early abandoned--but the Phœnicians remain in Cyprus until ousted by the Dorians.

In the twelfth century B.C. the later Ramessides lose their dominion over Phœnicia. Egyptian culture and civilisation left little trace on Phœnicia, whereas the influence of Babylonia was very strong. After the loss of Phœnicia by Egypt, a number of petty feeble states arise.

About this time the colonists have reached the western shore of the Mediterranean, and Gades (Cadiz) and Tarshish in Spain are founded. The Atlantic is discovered, and according to classical accounts tin is brought from the mines of the Cassiterides, which by some authorities is said to mean the Scilly Isles and Cornwall, by others the island near Vigo in Spain.

1110 Tiglathpileser I of Assyria visits Phœnicia in his military campaigns.

SECOND PERIOD (1100-538 B.C.)

Up till now Sidon has stood at the head of the Phœnician cities, but the hegemony is lost to Tyre. The first king of 1020 whom we have any knowledge is =Abibaal.=

980 [or 969] =Hiram I=, his son, succeeds. He fortifies the island of Tyre; makes war against the Cypriotes who have refused tribute, and again subjugates them. Is the friend of Solomon.

936 =Baalbazer=, Hiram’s son, succeeds him.

929 =Abdastarte=, his son, succeeds.

920 Is killed by a conspiracy of his foster-brothers. =Metuastarte=, the eldest of the assassins seizes the throne.

908 =Astarte=, a scion of Hiram’s house, reigns in conjunction with Metuastarte.

896 =Astarym=, brother of Metuastarte, succeeds.

887 Is murdered by another brother, =Phelles=, who takes the throne, but the same year he also is killed by =Ithobaal= or =Ethbaal=, a priest of Astarte, who thereby becomes king.

In after years Jezebel, Ithobaal’s daughter, marries Ahab of Israel.

876 Asshurnazirpal of Assyria invades Phœnicia and erects a stele at the Nahr-el-Kelb, near Berytus. Tyre, Sidon, Tripolis, and Aradus hasten to send presents, and he does not trouble them further. Ithobaal founds Botrys, probably as a means of defence against the Assyrians, also Aoza in Africa.

855 =Baalazar=, Ithobaal’s son, succeeds to the throne of Tyre.

854 Battle of Qarqar. Victory of Shalmaneser II over Ben-Hadad II of Damascus and his allies. King =Mettenbaal= of Aradus takes part with the Syrians in the battle.

849 =Metten I=, Baalazar’s son, succeeds.

842-839 According to Shalmaneser’s record he takes tribute from Tyre, Sidon, and Byblus, but this may mean that voluntary presents are sent.

820 =Pygmalion=, Metten’s son, succeeds at age of nine.

812 He slays his uncle Sicharbas, the regent.

813 Flight of Elissa, Pygmalion’s sister and Sicharbas’ wife. She founds Carthage.

804-803 Adad-nirari III’s armies reach Phœnicia, and exact tribute from Tyre and Sidon.

773 Death of Pygmalion. The list of Phœnician kings given by Menander comes to an end.

738 Tiglathpileser III invades Syria, where a coalition has been formed to evade tribute. He returns to Assyria with rich treasure; amongst it the tribute of =Hiram (II)= of Tyre and =Sibittibi’li= of Byblus.

734 Byblus and Aradus pay tribute. Tyre does so under force. Tyre is still practically an independent state.

728 =Elulæus=, king of Tyre, rules under the name of =Pylas=.

Revolt of the Cittæi in Cyprus subdued.

727 According to Josephus, Shalmaneser IV attacks Elulæus. Sidon, Akko, and Palætyrus submit, and Tyre is captured after a five years’ siege. But there is no mention of this in Shalmaneser’s records, and it is extremely probable that Josephus confuses these events with those that actually took place in the reign of Sennacherib.

In his annals, Sargon II speaks of Tyre as of a town that belongs to him.

701 Sennacherib invades Syria where Hezekiah of Judah and other princes are planning a strong rebellion against Assyria. =Elulæus= (=Luli=), king of Sidon, flees at the Assyrian’s approach. Sennacherib makes the city the capital of a new province, and =Ithobaal= its king. The cities of the coast are ravaged, and Phœnician commerce greatly interfered with.

The colonial power of Tyre now begins to decay. The Assyrians settle themselves in Cyprus, and the Dorian migration has already driven the Phœnicians from the Grecian islands.

695 An independent kingdom is established at Tarshish.

690 The Phœnicians begin to lose their hold on Sicily.

680 =Abd-milkot=, king of Sidon, with Sandurri of Kundu and Sizu, revolts against Assyria. Abd-milkot flees at Esarhaddon’s approach and the latter besieges Sidon.

678 Fall of Sidon after a siege of nearly three years. The city is destroyed, and a new one, Kar-Asshur-akhe-iddin built on its ruins.

Abd-milkot beheaded.

Phœnician and Cypriote kings make submission to Assyria.

671 =Baal I= of Tyre revolts unsuccessfully against Esarhaddon. In submission he sends his own son Yahi-melek to the Assyrian court.

668 Asshurbanapal succeeds Esarhaddon on the Assyrian throne. With the help of Tyre he compels =Yakinlu=, king of Aradus, to submit. Subsequently Yakinlu is deposed and his son =Azebaal= given the throne. After this time the Phœnicians begin to throw off the Assyrian yoke, an achievement made easy by Asshurbanapal’s struggle with Shamash-shum-ukin in Babylonia. The recovery of independence is a peaceable one.

636 Is the last date we possess of an Assyrian governor in Phœnicia.

625 The Scythian tribes invade Phœnicia from the northeast.

610 Africa circumnavigated for Neku II by Phœnician seamen.

608 Battle of Megiddo, and submission of Syria to Neku II. Phœnicia once more under Egyptian dominion.

605 Battle of Carchemish. Defeat of Neku by Nebuchadrezzar. Phœnicia comes under the rule of Babylonia. Phœnicia now remains docile to Nebuchadrezzar until stirred up by Uah-ab-Ra, Pharaoh of Egypt, who enters into an alliance against Babylonia with Tyre and Sidon, after proceeding against them by land and sea.

587 Nebuchadrezzar besieges Tyre, of which =Ithobaal II= is king.

574 Fall of Tyre. Ithobaal removed to Babylon and =Baal II= put in his place.

564 Death of Baal II. The government of Tyre is reorganised, and a suffet is placed over the city.

563 A three months’ interregnum in which the high priest =Abba= is at the head of affairs, then a rule of two suffets--one for the island and one for Palætyrus. A state of anarchy arises.

557 =Balatorus=, an elected king, rules for one year.

556 =Maharbaal= (or =Merbaal=), a member of the exiled royal family is sent from Babylon to be king.

552 =Hiram III= succeeds his brother Maharbaal.

538 Capture of Babylon by Cyrus of Persia. Phœnicia becomes a Persian province. Tyre sinks into insignificance and Sidon becomes the leading city. Aahmes II of Egypt occupies Cyprus.

THIRD PERIOD (538-332 B.C.)

532 Death of Hiram III. Phœnicia, Palestine, and Syria become the fifth Persian satrapy.

530 Carthage becomes an independent power.

525 The Phœnicians furnish a fleet for Cambyses’ war in Egypt.

496 Phœnician fleet shares in the Persian victory off Lade.

480 =Tetranestus=, king of Sidon, =Mapen= of Tyre and =Merbaal= of Aradus accompany Xerxes to Greece. Phœnician fleet takes part in the expedition.

466 Battle of Salamis. Phœnician and Persian fleet defeated by the Greeks at Eurymedon.

455 Phœnician fleet is sent to aid Persians to reconquer Egypt for Artaxerxes I.

449 Defeat of the Phœnician fleet by the Athenians off Cyprus.

405 Battle of Ægospotami. Phœnician fleet aids Athens to defeat the Spartans.

400 =Straton I= comes to the throne of Sidon. He is the son of =Tabnit= (=Tennes I=), and grandson of =Eshmunazer I=, a descendant of Tetranestus, and succeeds his elder brother =Eshmunazer II=, who has died a minor.

394 Phœnician fleet helps the Athenians to defeat the Spartans at Cnidus. Friendly relations between Sidon and Athens.

390 Evagoras of Salamis in Cyprus storms Tyre, which is now in an enfeebled condition.

361 Straton I of Sidon joins Tachus of Egypt against the Persians and is killed by his wife to prevent falling into the hands of the enemy. =Tabnit (Tennes) II= succeeds him.

352 Tennes leads a revolt of Phœnicia against Persia, Cyprus joins him.

345 Tennes betrays Sidon to Artaxerxes III, who afterwards puts the king of Sidon to death. Cyprus subdued. Tyre resumes the leading position in Phœnicia.

333 Battle of Issus. Aradus and Byblus and Sidon join Alexander the Great. Tyre besieged by Alexander.

332 Capture of Tyre by Alexander. =Azemilcus=, the king, is spared, but eight thousand Tyrians are slain, and thirty thousand sold as slaves. End of Tyre’s political existence. The foundation of Alexandria also makes it lose much trade. The Phœnicians cease to be a great nation.

FOURTH PERIOD (332 B.C.-636 A.D.)

331 Alexander forms Phœnicia, Syria, and Cilicia into one province, over which he places Menes.

323 Death of Alexander. Phœnicia occupied alternately by Ptolemy and by Antigonus and his son Demetrius. Ptolemy finally retains possession (287).

315 Siege of Tyre by Antigonus.

246-198 Struggle between the Seleucidæ and Ptolemies for Phœnicia.

The Seleucidæ left in possession of Phœnicia after the surrender of Sidon (198).

The trade of Media and the Red Sea is diverted to Alexandria in Egypt.

125 Tyre and Sidon are practically independent after the Tyrians put Demetrius II to death.

86 Syria, worn out by the civil wars of the Seleucidæ puts itself under the dominion of Tigranes, king of Armenia.

67 Phœnicia and Syria return for a short time to the Seleucidæ after the victories of Lucullus.

63 Pompey reduces Syria to a Roman province.

44-42 Cassius divides Phœnicia into small principalities. Antony gives Phœnicia to Cleopatra, but reserves freedom of Tyre and Sidon.

20 Augustus deprives Tyre and Sidon of their liberties. He founds a Roman colony called Augustana, at Beirut (Berytus), which has a famous law school under the dominion of Rome. Tyre and Sidon have no political importance, but retain their commercial and manufacturing interests. They continue to have no historical importance until

193-194 A.D. Tyre and Laodicea take part in the struggle of Septimius Severus and Pescennius Niger for the emperorship. Niger sends troops to Tyre, which burn and pillage the city.

201 Severus recruits the population of Tyre and gives it a colonial title. Tyre and Berytus enjoy the monopoly of producing that dye known as the imperial purple. As part of the second Syrian province of Rome, their prosperity 616 increases until the Persian king, Chosroes II, subjugates Syria (including Phœnicia) and rules it until 622 when the Byzantine emperor regains control.

636 Battle of the Hieromax. As a result the Emperor Heraclius abandons Syria to the Mohammedans.

FIFTH PERIOD (633-1516 A.D.)

Under the rule of the caliphs Phœnician civilisation suffers no decay. Tyre maintains its commercial importance.

1100-1110 Baldwin and the Crusaders capture all the Phœnician cities except Tyre.

1111 Siege of Tyre begun by Baldwin. He abandons it during the winter.

1124 Siege and capture of Tyre by the Crusaders.

1187 Saladin overthrows the kingdom of Jerusalem.

Tyre begins a heroic defence against him.

1189 Relief of Tyre by Guy de Lusignan. Capture of Acre (Akko) by Philip Augustus and Richard Cœur-de-Lion.

1192 Treaty of peace with the Mohammedans. The Christian territory extends from Joppa to Tyre.

Acre becomes the chief commercial centre of the Phœnician coast and 1291 is taken by the sultan of Egypt, to whom other Syrian towns also submit.

1516 Selim I conquers the whole of Syria, which since then has been included in the Ottoman empire.

CARTHAGINIAN HISTORY IN OUTLINE

FIRST PERIOD (813-410 B.C.)

814-813 B.C. Carthage, according to tradition, is founded by Elissa, sister of King Pygmalion of Tyre, who fled from her brother. The Phœnicians find the land occupied by Libyans whom they dispossess. They also manage to get some kind of control over the nomads in the outlying regions of their new domain. The official heads of the government were the suffets, similar to the Roman consuls. There may have been only two in office at a time, serving for one year, but capable of re-election.

600-550 Malchus, mentioned by Justin, who calls him “king” of Carthage. Successful wars in Africa and Sicily undertaken to extend the city’s commerce. Malchus defeated in Sardinia; he turns against Carthage.

550-500 Decline of Tyre after Persian conquest. Carthage becomes independent (530). Mago, father of Hasdrubal and Hamilcar succeeds Malchus. It is to the efforts of this family that Carthage owed her supremacy. Hasdrubal’s sons are Hannibal, Hasdrubal, and Sappho; Hamilcar’s are Himilco, Hanno, and Gisco. Carthaginian supremacy established over Sardinia, Balearic Isles, parts of Sicily, Liguria, and Gaul; in the course of which conquests there occurred a 536 sea-fight of the Etruscans and Carthaginians against the Phocæans of Aleria, in Corsica. Phocæans victorious, but their losses oblige them to abandon Corsica.

509 Commercial treaty between Carthage and Rome restricting Roman commerce in Punic waters.

500 Expedition of Hanno and Himilco to colonise west African coast, and to explore the Atlantic. Britain discovered.

480 Expedition against Agrigentum and Syracuse in conjunction with Persian invasion of Greece. Battle of Himera. Hamilcar defeated with great loss by Gelo of Syracuse.

SECOND PERIOD (410-264 B.C.)

410 Renewal of attempts of Carthage to reduce Sicily. Hannibal, son of Gisco, storms Selinus. Agrigentum destroyed by Hannibal and Himilco. Death of Hannibal. Himilco attacks Gela.

405 Treaty between Carthage and Dionysius of Syracuse secures Carthaginian conquests in Sicily.

398 Dionysius attempts to expel Carthaginians from Sicily. In the ensuing war all Sicily falls before the Punic arms. Dionysius is besieged in Syracuse, but pestilence breaks out among the Carthaginians, and they are defeated. Himilco starves himself to death.

397 Libyans revolt against Carthage. The city has a narrow escape.

396-392 Mago leads an expedition against Syracuse, which is not successful.

380 Mago’s second Sicilian expedition defeated at Cabala. The whole of Sicily is nearly lost, but Mago’s victory at Corsica restores the Carthaginian power. The Halycus recognised as boundary to Carthaginian possessions in Sicily.

368 Dionysius again tries to expel the Carthaginians. Is unsuccessful and dies. Dionysius II makes peace with Carthage.

345 Timoleon of Corinth, having liberated Syracuse from her tyrants, makes war on Carthage.

340 Battle of the Crimissus. Carthaginians defeated with severe loss. Peace restores the boundary on the Halycus. Greek cities declared free.

333 Carthaginians send help to the Tyrians besieged by Alexander the Great.

310 Agathocles of Agrigentum besieges Carthage, but is recalled by revolt of Agrigentum.

306 Peace between Carthage and Agrigentum. It lasts until Agathocles dies (289). His death encourages the Carthaginians to extend their dominions, until 277 the Syracusans call on Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, for help against Carthage, and he aids them to drive the Carthaginians from the west of Sicily and besieges them in Lilybæum. Carthage and Rome united against him.

276 Pyrrhus quits Sicily.

265 Carthaginians go to the aid of Campanian mercenaries besieged in Messana (Messina) by Hiero of Syracuse. Another party in Messana appeals to Rome.

THIRD PERIOD (264-146 B.C.)

264 First Punic war (for the possession of Sicily). Romans occupy Messana. Retreat of the Carthaginians and Syracusans. Hiero joins the Romans. Roman successes in Sicily.

260 Sea-fight off Mylæ. Carthaginians defeated by Romans.

256 Sea-fight off Ecnomus. Carthaginian fleet defeated. Romans invade Africa.

255 Carthaginians under Xanthippus defeat the Romans under Regulus. Loss of Roman fleet on homeward voyage.

254 Roman victory at Panormus.

253 Roman fleet destroyed in a storm.

249 Battle of Drepanum. Carthaginian victory.

248-243 Success of Carthaginians under Hamilcar Barca on Italian coast and in Sicily.

242 Battle off Ægates islands. Romans under Catulus defeat Carthaginian fleet.

241 Hamilcar Barca makes peace, agreeing to evacuate Sicily and to pay indemnity. Sicily lost to the Carthaginians.

241-237 Civil war in Carthage. Mercenaries rise against the citizens.

238 Sardinia and Corsica lost by Carthage to Rome.

236-219 Carthaginian conquests in Spain under Hamilcar, Hasdrubal, and Hannibal. Attempt to convert Spain into a Carthaginian province. By an understanding with the Romans, the Ebro is recognised as the Carthaginian boundary.

219 Saguntum captured by Hannibal.

218 Second Punic war (for the possession of Italy). Roman army despatched to Africa.

218 Hasdrubal opposes the Scipios in Spain. Hannibal crosses the Alps and wins victories of the Ticinus and the Trebia. Hannibal crosses the Apennines.

217 Battle of Lake Trasimene. Hannibal defeats the Romans and ravages the country as far as Apulia.

216 Battle of Cannæ. Roman army annihilated. Hasdrubal ordered to join Hannibal in Italy. He is prevented by a defeat on the Ebro.

215 Philip of Macedon allies himself with Carthage.

214 Carthaginians land in Sicily.

212 Romans recover their position in Sicily. Carthaginian successes in Spain.

211 Philip of Macedon’s attention occupied by a coalition against him in Greece. Romans besiege Capua. Hannibal fails to relieve Capua. Hannibal at the gates of Rome. Hannibal’s retreat from Rome. Fall of Capua.

209 New Carthage in Spain taken by the Romans. Battle of Bæcula and defeat of Hasdrubal. Hasdrubal crosses the Pyrenees and Gaul, and appears in the north of Italy.

207 Battle of Metaurus. Hasdrubal defeated and slain. The last hope of the Carthaginians is gone.

206 Carthaginians finally expelled from Spain.

204 Scipio invades Africa.

203 Scipio defeats the Carthaginians. Hannibal recalled to Carthage.

202 Battle of Zama. Scipio defeats Hannibal.

201 Peace with Rome. Carthage resigns the right to wage foreign wars and promises to pay a heavy indemnity. The supremacy of the West passes to Rome. Hannibal governs Carthage, and reforms the Constitution. He plans an alliance with Antiochus of Syria against Rome.

195 Hannibal expelled from Carthage.

183 Death of Hannibal.

183-150 Internal dissensions between the Roman and national parties. Encroachments of Masinissa of Numidia.

151 War between Carthage and Masinissa. The Romans claim this a breach of treaty and prepare for a siege of Carthage.

149 Third Punic war. Siege of Carthage.

146 Carthage taken and destroyed. Her territories become Roman provinces, and are organised as such.

FOURTH PERIOD (146 B.C.-697 A.D.)

122 Caius Gracchus leads a colony which founds the city of Junonia on the site of Carthage. The colony is unsuccessful.

29 Augustus sends out a colony which attains to great prosperity.

439 A.D. Genseric captures Carthage and makes it the capital of the Vandal kingdom.

533 Carthage is stormed by Belisarius and incorporated in the eastern Roman empire.

697 Carthage destroyed by the general of caliph Abdul-malik.

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