Early European History. Hutton Webster
AND HEBREW IDEAS OF THE FUTURE LIFE
Some Oriental peoples kept the primitive belief that after death all men, good and bad alike, suffered the same fate. The Babylonians supposed that the souls of the departed passed a cheerless existence in a gloomy and Hebrew underworld. The early Hebrew idea of Sheol, "the land of darkness and the shadow of death," [16] was very similar. Such thoughts of the future life left nothing for either fear or hope. In later times, however, the Hebrews came to believe in the resurrection of the dead and the last judgment, conceptions afterwards adopted by Christianity.
18. LITERATURE AND ART
THE EGYPTIAN BOOK OF THE DEAD
Religion inspired the largest part of ancient literature. Each Oriental people possessed sacred writings. The Egyptian Book of the Dead was already venerable in 3000 B.C. It was a collection of hymns, prayers, and magical phrases to be recited by the soul on its journey beyond the grave and in the spirit world. A chapter from this work usually covered the inner side of the mummy case.
[Illustration: THE JUDGMENT OF THE DEAD From a papyrus containing the Book of the Dead. The illustration shows a man and his wife (at the left) entering the hall in the spirit world, where sits the god of the dead with forty two jurors (seen above) as his assistants. The heart of the man, symbolized by a jar, is being weighed in balances by a jackal-headed god against a feather, the symbol of truth. The monster in the right hand corner stands ready to devour the soul, if the heart is found lighter than the feather.]
THE BABYLONIAN EPICS
Much more interesting are the two Babylonian epics, fragments of which were found on clay tablets in a royal library at Nineveh. The epic of the Creation tells how the god Marduk overcame a terrible dragon, the symbol of primeval chaos, and thus established order in the universe. Then with half the body of the dead dragon he made a covering for the heavens and set therein the stars. Next he caused the new moon to shine and made it the ruler of the night. His last work was the creation of man, in order that the service and worship of the gods might be established forever. The second epic contains an account of a flood, sent by the gods to punish sinful men. The rain fell for six days and nights and covered the entire earth. All men were drowned except the Babylonian Noah, his family, and his relatives, who safely rode the waters in an ark. This ancient narrative so closely resembles the Bible story in Genesis that we must trace them both to a common source.
[Illustration: THE DELUGE TABLET (British Museum London)
Contains the narrative of the flood as pieced together and published by
George Smith in 1872 A.D. There are sixteen fragments in the restoration.]
[Illustration: AN EGYPTIAN TEMPLE (RESTORED) The building extended along the Nile for nearly eight hundred feet. A double line of sphinxes led to the only entrance, in front of which were two obelisks and four colossal statues of Rameses II. Behind the first gateway, or pylon came an open court surrounded by a portico upheld by pillars. The second and third pylons were connected by a covered passage leading into another open court. Lower rooms at the rear of the temple contained the sanctuary of the god, which only the king and priests could enter.]
THE HEBREW BIBLE
All these writings are so ancient that their very authors are forgotten. The interest they excite is historical rather than literary. From Oriental antiquity only one great work has reached us that still has power to move the hearts of men—the Hebrew Bible.
EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE
Architecture, in Egypt, was the leading art. The Egyptians were the first people who learned to raise buildings with vast halls supported by ponderous columns. Their wealth and skill, however, were not lavished in the erection of fine private mansions or splendid public buildings. The characteristic works of Egyptian architecture are the tombs of the kings and the temples of the gods. The picture of the great structure at Thebes, which Rameses II completed, [17] will give some idea of an Egyptian temple with its gateways, open courts, obelisks, and statues.
[Illustration: AN EGYPTIAN WOODEN STATUE, (Museum of Gizeh) Found in a tomb near Memphis. The statue, which belongs to the age of the pyramid kings, represents a bustling, active, middle-class official.]
ARCHITECTURE IN BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA
The architecture of Babylonia and Assyria was totally unlike that of Egypt, because brick, and not stone, formed the chief building and Assyria material. In Babylonia the temple was a solid, square tower, built on a broad platform. It consisted usually of seven stages, which arose one above the other to the top, where the shrine of the deity was placed. The different stages were connected by an inclined ascent. The four sides of the temple faced the cardinal points, and the several stages were dedicated to the sun, moon, and five planets. In Assyria the characteristic building was the palace. But the sun-dried bricks, of which both temples and palaces were composed, lacked the durability of stone and have long since dissolved into shapeless mounds.
EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE
The surviving examples of Egyptian sculpture consist of bas-reliefs and figures in the round, carved from limestone and granite or cast in bronze. Many of the statues appear to our eyes very stiff and ungraceful. The sculptor never learned how to pose his figures easily or how to arrange them in an artistic group. In spite of these defects some Egyptian statues are wonderfully lifelike. [18]
[Illustration: AN ASSYRIAN PALACE (RESTORED) The royal residence of Sargon II near Nineveh was placed upon a high platform of brick masonry the top of which was gained by stairs and an inclined roadway. The palace consisted of a series of one storied rectangular halls and long corridors surrounding inner courts. They were provided with imposing entrances flanked by colossal human headed bulls representing guardian spirits. The entire building covered more than twenty three acres and contained two hundred apartments. In the rear is seen a temple tower.]
SCULPTURE IN BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA
Few examples have reached us of Babylonian and Assyrian sculpture in the round. As in Egypt, the figures seem rigid and out of proportion. The Assyrian bas-reliefs show a higher development of the artistic sense, especially in the rendering of animals. The sculptures that deal with the exploits of the kings in war and hunting often tell their story in so graphic a way as to make up for the absence of written records.
ORIENTAL PAINTING
Painting in the ancient East did not reach the dignity of an independent art. It was employed solely for decorative purposes. Bas-reliefs and wall surfaces were often brightly colored, The artist had no knowledge of perspective and drew all his figures in profile, without any distinction of light and shade. Indeed, Oriental painting, as well as Oriental sculpture, made small pretense to the beautiful. Beauty was born into the world with the art of the Greeks.
[Illustration: AN ASSYRIAN WINGED HUMAN HEADED BULL]
[Illustration: AN ASSYRIAN HUNTING SCENE (British Museum, London)
A bas relief from a slab found at Nineveh.]
19. SCIENCE AND EDUCATION
ARITHMETIC AND GEOMETRY
Conspicuous advance took place in the exact sciences. The leading operations of arithmetic were known. A Babylonian tablet gives a table of squares and cubes correctly calculated from 1 to 60. The number 12 was the basis of all reckonings. The division of the circle into degrees, minutes, and seconds (360°, 60', 60") was an invention of the Babylonians which illustrates this duodecimal system A start was made in geometry. One of the oldest of Egyptian books contains a dozen geometrical problems. This knowledge was afterwards developed into a true science by the Greeks.
ASTRONOMY