Early European History. Hutton Webster
See I Kings, ix, 26–28. The site of Ophir is not known, though probably it was in southern Arabia.
[10] See Ezekiel, xxvii, 12, 25.
[11] A monument containing the code of Hammurabi was found on the site of Susa in 1901–1902 A.D. See the illustration, page 25.
[12] Chaldea was another name for Babylonia.
[13] See page 148.
[14] The names of four other week days come from the names of old Teutonic deities. Tuesday is the day of Tyr, Wednesday of Woden (Odin), Thursday of Thunor (Thor), and Friday of the goddess Frigga. See page 304.
[15] Zoroastrians are still to be found in the East In Persia, now a Mohammedan country, there is a little band of devoted followers of Zoroaster, who keep up to this day the tenets of their ancient faith. In India the Parsees of Bombay are the descendants of those Persians who fled from Persia at the time of the Mohammedan conquest (page 376), rather than surrender their cherished beliefs and embrace a new religion.
[16] Job, X, 21.
[17] See page 28.
[18] See the illustrations, pages 27, 54, 58, 63.
[19] See page 13.
[20] See page 186, note 2.
[21] See page 48.
[22] See the illustration, page 46.
CHAPTER IV
THE LANDS OF THE WEST AND THE RISE OF GREECE TO ABOUT 500 B.C. [1]
20. PHYSICAL EUROPE
EUROPE A PENINSULA OF ASIA
The continent of Asia, projecting its huge bulk southwestward between the seas, gradually narrows into the smaller continent of Europe. The boundary between the two regions is not well defined. Ancient geographers found a convenient dividing line north of the Black Sea in the course of the river Don. Modern map makers usually place the division at the Ural Mountains, the Caspian Sea, and the Caucasus. Each of these boundaries is more or less arbitrary. In a geographical sense Europe is only the largest of the great Asiatic peninsulas.
PHYSICAL FEATURES OF EUROPE
But in physical features the two continents disclose the most striking contrasts. The sea, which washes only the remote edges of Asia, penetrates deeply into Europe and forms an extremely irregular coast line with numerous bays and harbors. The mountains of Europe, seldom very high and provided with easy passes, present no such barriers to intercourse as the mightier ranges of Asia. We miss in Europe the extensive deserts and barren table-lands which form such a feature of Asiatic geography. With the exception of Russia the surface, generally, is distributed into plains, hills, and valleys of moderate size. Instead of a few large rivers, such as are found in Asia, Europe is well supplied with numerous streams that make it possible to travel readily from one district to another.
CENTRAL AND NORTHERN EUROPE
The almost unbroken mountain chain formed by the Pyrenees, the Alps, and the Balkans, sharply separates the central land mass of Europe from the regions to the south. Central Europe consists, in general, of lowlands, which widen eastward into the vast Russian plain. Northern Europe includes the British Isles, physically an extension of Europe, and the peninsulas of Scandinavia and Finland, between the Baltic Sea and the Arctic Ocean. Twenty centuries ago central and northern Europe was a land of forests and marshes, of desolate steppes and icebound hills. The peoples who inhabited it—Celts in the west, Teutons or Germans in the north, Slavs in the east—were men of Indo-European [2] race and speech. They were still barbarians. During ancient times we hear little of them, except as their occasional migrations southward brought them into contact with the Greeks and the Romans.
SOUTHERN EUROPE
Southern Europe comprises the three peninsulas of Spain, Italy, and the Balkans, which reach far south into the Mediterranean. This great inland sea is divided into two parts near the center, where Africa and the island of Sicily almost touch each other across a narrow strait. The eastern part contains several minor seas, of which the one called the Aegean had most importance in Greek history.
21. GREECE AND THE AEGEAN
THE AEGEAN SEA
The Aegean is an almost landlocked body of water. The Balkan peninsula, narrowing toward the Mediterranean into the smaller peninsula of Greece, confines it on the west. On the east it meets a boundary in Asia Minor. The southern boundary is formed by a chain of islands, while the only opening northward is found in the narrow passage leading to the Black Sea. The coasts and islands of the Aegean thus make up a little world set off by itself.
[Illustration: Map, PHYSICAL MAP OF EUROPE]
CONTINENTAL GREECE
Continental Greece is a tiny country. Its greatest length is scarcely more than two hundred and fifty miles; its greatest breadth is only one hundred and eighty miles. Mountain ridges, offshoots of the Balkans, compose the greater part of its area. Into the valleys and deep gorges of the interior the impetuous sea has everywhere forced a channel. The coast line, accordingly, is most irregular—a constant succession of sharp promontories and curving bays. The mountains, crossing the peninsula in confused masses, break it up into numberless valleys and glens which seldom widen into plains. The rivers are not navigable. The few lakes, hemmed in by the hills, have no outlets except in underground channels. In this land of the Greeks no place is more than fifty miles from a mountain range, or more than forty miles from some long arm of the Mediterranean.
THE AEGEAN ISLANDS
From the Greek mainland to the coast of Asia Minor the traveler follows a route thickly studded with rocky islands. They are near enough together to permit the passage from one to another without losing sight of land. The Aegean islands thus served as "stepping-stones" between Greece and Asia Minor. [3]
WESTERN ASIA MINOR
Western Asia Minor resembles Continental Greece in its deeply indented coast, variety of scenery, and mild climate. The fertile river valleys of this region early attracted Greek colonists. They built here many flourishing cities, especially along the central coast, which came to be known as Ionia.
INFLUENCE OF GEOGRAPHICAL CONDITIONS
Greek history well illustrates the influence of geographical conditions on the life of a people. In the first place, mountain ranges cut up Continental Greece into many small states, separated from one another by natural ramparts. Hence the Greeks loved most of all their own local independence and always refused to unite into one nation under a single government. In the second place, the near presence of the sea made sailors of the Greeks and led them to devote much energy to foreign commerce. They early felt, in consequence, the stimulating effects of intercourse with other peoples. Finally, the location of Greece at the threshold of Asia, with its best harbors and most numerous islands on the eastern coast, enabled the country to receive and profit by all the culture of the Orient. Greece faced the civilized East.
22. THE AEGEAN AGE (TO ABOUT 1100 B.C.)
A PREHISTORIC CIVILIZATION
The Greeks of historic times knew very little about their prehistoric period. Instead of accurate knowledge they had only the beautiful legends preserved in ancient poems, such as the Iliad and the Odyssey. Within our own day, however, remarkable excavations have disclosed the remains of a widespread and flourishing civilization