1 62 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



omy, architecture and various practical arts and manufactures. The 

 Assyrian temples were adjuncts of the palaces, and were also used as 

 observatories where the priestly astrologers consulted the stars and cast 

 horoscopes. Even before Abraham left Ur of the Chaldees, that city 

 possessed a royal observatory and a calendar. In short, action was 

 based upon nature, although interpreted by each race in accordance 

 with its racial characteristics. Thus, with a more esthetic people, out 

 of door life under the clear skies of Judea found expression in the 

 poetic description of the heavens embodied in the Hebrew Psalms, in- 

 stead of in the practical astronomy which the Egyptians and Assyrians 

 associated with their religion. 



" Egypt and Assyria," said Lenormant, " were the birthplaces of 

 material civilization; the Phoenicians were its missionaries." This de- 

 scribes in brief the part taken by the Semitic race occupying the little 

 strip of seacoast, 180 miles long by 12 broad, on the eastern littoral of 

 the Mediterranean in transmitting ancient civilization to Europe. Here 

 again the geographical element was strongly apparent, both subjectively 

 in their national culture and objectively in their relation to history. 

 While the effect of mountain ranges was to shut off such regions as 

 central Africa, eastern Asia and northern Europe from the general 

 course of historical development, and that of the great valley plains was 

 to intensify human activity, the sea formed a bond of union and at the 

 same time stimulated bravery, independence and breadth of vision. To 

 this characteristic difference between coastal and interior regions is 

 due their frequent separation, as, for example, Holland has separated 

 itself from Germany and Portugal from Spain. The influence of the 

 sea was especially apparent in the development of the nations surround- 

 ing the Mediterranean. Here were three continents surrounding a sea 

 of such shape as to afford a long coast line and of such width as to 

 stimulate adventure. The effect was to make the Mediterranean the 

 center of world history. On its shores arose the great centers of civili- 

 zation, Athens, Eome, Carthage and Alexandria, as well as of religious 

 faith, Jerusalem, Mecca and Medina. 



The geographical location of Phoenicia, midway between Egypt, 

 Assyria and Arabia, naturally made it first to develop commercial ac- 

 tivity. From their rich commercial cities of Tyre and Sidon the Phoe- 

 nicians pushed out in all directions, settling Cyprus, Sicily and Sar- 

 dinia, founding Cadiz in Spain, and Utica and Carthage in Africa. As 

 early as 1500 B.C. the Mediterranean was already the great highway of 

 Phoenician commerce, their vessels penetrating the eastern archipelago, 

 the Hellespont and the Black Sea. When these avenues were closed to 

 them by the Greeks in the eleventh century B.C., the Phoenician com- 

 merce turned westward, bringing silver from Tarshish in southern 

 Spain, and even passing the Pillars of Hercules and braving the perils 

 of the Atlantic to bring tin from Britain and amber from the Baltic. 



