A Manual of Ancient History. A. H. L. Heeren
political history is usually divided into three parts: ancient history, that of the middle ages, and modern history. The first extends to the fall of the Roman empire in the west, which took place towards the close of the fifth century of the christian era; the second extends to the discovery of America, and of a passage by sea to the East Indies, about the end of the fifteenth century; the third extends from the commencement of the sixteenth century to the present time.
The propriety of the above division is evinced by the nature of the events which form these epochs. The student will easily perceive that the division of history, into that before and after the birth of Christ, is not judicious.
Commencement of political history.
3. From the definition just given, it follows, that political history does not commence till after the first formation of states. Whatever is known, therefore, of the period previous to this, or may be gathered from traditions, respecting individuals or tribes, or their migrations, affinities, or discoveries, forms no part of political history, but must be referred to the general history of man.
It is well known that a great deal of information has been preserved in the sacred writings concerning the early fortunes of the human race. From these materials have been compiled what has been called an Historia Antediluviana, sometimes considered as forming a separate division of history. What has been said above will satisfactorily account for the omission of this portion of history in the present work; although none can deny the high importance of such traditions in the investigation of the origin, dispersion, and civilization of the human race.
Sources of history:
4. The sources of history may be ranged under sources of two general heads; oral traditions, and written documents of various kinds. The history of every nation usually commences with oral tradition, which remains the only source, until the art of writing becomes known, and in some degree adopted by the people.
mythology,
5. Under the name of traditional history or mythology, is comprehended all the general collection of oral traditions preserved by a nation; and some such traditional history or mythology is to be found among every people in the first stage of their existence as a community. This mythology, however, is by no means confined to events strictly historical, but embraces every branch of information which may appear to a nation in its infancy, of sufficient importance to be preserved and handed down to posterity.
Hence the mythology of a people is invariably composed of very heterogeneous materials; it not only preserves the remembrance of various kinds of historical facts, but likewise the pervading ideas of the people with respect to the nature and worship of their deities; as well as the notions they had formed from observations and experience respecting astronomy, morals, the arts, etc. All these are handed down in the form of historical narrative; because man, as yet unpractised in abstract thinking, necessarily represents every thing to his mind under the figure of some physical object. It is just as useless, therefore, to attempt to mould the mythology of any people into a consistent and connected whole, or indeed into any scientific system whatsoever, as it is difficult to draw a strict line between what belongs to mythology, and what to pure history. It follows, therefore, that mythology should be employed by the historian with great caution; and not without judicious criticism, and an accurate knowledge of antiquity.
These correct views of mythology—the key to the whole of earlier antiquity—were first set forth and illustrated by Heyne, in his commentaries upon Virgil and other poets, in his edition of Apollodorus, and in various essays published in the Transactions of the Gottingen Scientific Society. It is principally to the aid of these that the Germans owe their superiority over other nations in the science of antiquity.
poetry,
6. The place of writing among such nations, is generally supplied, in a great measure, by poetry; which being in its origin nothing more than imagery expressed in figurative language, must spontaneously arise among men, as yet wont to represent every thing to their minds under the form of images. Hence the subject matter of the poetry of every nation, while in a state of rudeness, is and can be nothing else but its mythology; and the great variety in the materials of which this is composed very naturally gave rise, at the same early period, to various kinds of poetry; as the lyric, the didactic, the epic. The last of these, inasmuch as it contains the historic songs and the epopee, claims in a more especial manner the attention of the historian.
The mythi (or fables of which this mythology was composed) were in later times frequently collected from the works of the poets, and committed to writing by grammarians; such as Apollodorus and others. This, however, can have had no effect on their original character.
written documents,
7. The second source of history, much more copious and important than the former, are the various kinds of written monuments. These may be arranged according to the order of time at which they were brought into use, into three classes; 1st. Inscriptions on public monuments, under which head are included the coins of later date; 2nd. Chronological records of events, under the form of annals and chronicles; 3rd. Real philosophical works on history.
inscriptions,
8. Inscriptions on public monuments erected to preserve the remembrance of certain events, though perhaps no more than a stone set upright, or even a bare rock, was used for that purpose, were undoubtedly the most ancient written memorials. These rude monuments became fashioned by art into columns, obelisks, and pyramids, as the taste of the nation became formed; and assumed that definite character which local circumstances and the natural features of the country led it to adopt, as architecture arose and attained to perfection among them. The very object, indeed, for which they were erected—the commemoration of remarkable events—must have suggested the practice of inscribing upon them some particulars of the facts they were intended to perpetuate. Of this nature, no doubt, were the oldest monuments, and more particularly those of Egypt. Their use was much more general among nations of a later period, especially Greece and Rome, than among the moderns; yet of the great mass of inscriptions still extant, but few comparatively are of any importance as regards history.
The characters engraved on these monuments were either symbolical (hieroglyphics; see below under Egypt,) or alphabetical. The invention and transmission of alphabetical writing are commonly ascribed to the Phœnicians; although, if we may judge by the shape of the arrow-headed character, it was made, without communication with them, in the interior of Asia.
The general collections of inscriptions are:
Lud. Ant. Muratori, Novus Thesaurus veterum Inscriptionum. Mediolani, 1739, sq. 4 vols. fol. Together with Seb. Donati, Supplementa. Luccæ, 1764. Jan. Gruteri, Inscriptiones antiquæ totius orbis Romani, cura J. G. Grævii. Amstel. 1707, 2 vols. fol.
C. A. Boekhius, Corpus Inscriptionum Græcarum, auctoritate et impensis Academiæ literarum Borussicæ, vol. 1. 1827, folio.
Among the separate monuments, the most important for ancient history is the Parian or Oxford Inscription, Marmora Oxoniensia, Arundeliana, edited by Selden, 1629; by Prideaux, 1677. The best edition is by Rich. Chandler, Oxf. 1763, fol. A useful and portable edition has been published by Fr. Ch. Wagner, containing the Greek text, with a German translation and notes. Gottingen, 1790, 8vo.
coins,
9. Coins may likewise be regarded as a source of ancient history, as by the light they throw upon genealogy and chronology, the events known from other authorities may be better arranged and understood. The importance of coins, therefore, becomes most sensible in those portions of history where our information, in consequence of the loss of the works of the original historians, is reduced to a few insulated facts and fragments.
Ez. Spanhemii, Dissertatio de Usu et Præstantia Numismatum. Londini, 1707 et 1709, 2 vols. fol. The capital work, however, on this subject, and which embraces the whole numismatic science of antiquity is:
Eckhel, De Doctrina Nummorum Veterum. Viennæ, 1792—1798, 8 vols. 4to. And the epitome:
† Eckhel, Brief