56 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[March 1, 1843. 



Israelites " felt as grasshoppers before them," and 

 the height of one of their kings is incidentally 

 noticed. These giants lived along the mountain 

 chains of Canaan, ruling an inferior race known as 

 Amorites. They had military outposts in the val- 

 leys, and dominated over the rich pastoral plains 

 beyond Jordan, especially Bashan, in one part of 

 which— Argob— " sixty great cities fenced with high 

 walls, gates, and bars, besides unwalled towns a 

 great many " were taken by Jair, and are still to be 

 seen in ruins. From these and other facts it will 

 readily be seen that their intellectual capacities 

 were fully equal to their physical development ; 

 and a still further proof of this is, that one of their 

 capitals was called KirjathSepher or "city of 

 archives." Joshua captured and burnt these in 

 his third campaign. It will be seen how eminently 

 appropriate to this great pastoral race was the 

 epithet "Shepherd Kings," and there seems no doubt 

 that these are the " Hyksos " who conquered 

 Egypt, and are commemorated upon the walls of 

 the old temple of Karnak. 



The three celebrated capitals of the giants were 

 Ashtaroth-Karnaim, Kirjath-Sepher, and Kirjath- 

 Arba ; Jebus (Jerusalem) was also a colony of the 

 Rephaim, and thence came Melchisedek, probably a 

 sort of Canaanitish Zoroaster or Confucius. The 

 giants appear to have become very rapidly extinct. 

 As they were talented in war and strong in person, 

 this appears extraordinary, but possibly the same 

 causes which induced the extirpation of the mam- 

 moth and other large mammals may have affected the 

 giant races of antiquity. Sir S. Baker is of opinion 

 that the elephant, rhinoceros, and larger mammals 

 can scarcely survive the present century, at the 

 preseut rate of destruction. Years after, Og, the last 

 survivor of the giants, is found ruling over the old 

 stronghold, Bashan. The remnant took refuge 

 amongst the Philistines, whence issued, in the time 

 of Saul and David, the giant champions — Goliath, 

 Lahmi, and Sippai. 



An interesting question suggests itself : Were 

 the giants confined to Palestine alone ? We have 

 earlier (authentic) records of the history of 

 Palestine than of any other country, and, finding 

 giants there at a very remote period, may we not 

 reasonably premise that, if we had similar informa- 

 tion regarding other countries, we should find 

 gigantic races in them also ? But we are not left 

 nltogether to conjecture, for oral tradition (espe- 

 cially of Celtic nations) and archreology both favour 

 the theory that giants were widely distributed at 

 least over the countries which border the Mediter- 

 ranean. It may be objected — Why are their bones 

 not discovered if they were so widely distributed ? 

 To this it may be replied that until they are found 

 in Palestine, where we know the giants once existed, 

 we cannot logically dispute the existence of gigantic 

 races in other countries, on the ground that no re- 



mains are found. Respecting tkearchaeologicalproofs 

 to which I have adverted, the philosophic Schlegel 

 remarks in his "Philosophy of History" (p. 106) : 

 " There exist also monuments, or rather fragments 

 of edifices, of the most primitive antiquity, which, as 

 they are connected with the subject, are here de- 

 serving of a slight notice. 1 allude to those 

 cyclopean walls which are to be found in several 

 parts of Italy, and which those who have once seen 

 will not easily forget, nor the singular stamp of 

 antiquity they bear. In this very peculiar archi- 

 tecture we see, instead of the stones of the usual 

 cubical or oblong form, huge , fragments of rock 

 rudely cut into the shape of an irregular polygon, 

 and skilfully enough joined together. Even the 

 great and often-admired subterraneous aqueduct or 

 cloaca of ancient Home is considered as belonging 

 to this cyclopean architecture, remains of which 

 exist also near Argos, and in several other parts of 

 Greece. These edifices were certainly not built by 

 the celebrated nations that at a later period occu- 

 pied these countries ; for even they regarded them 

 as the work and production of a primitive and 

 departed race of giants ; and hence the name 

 the monuments received. When we consider how 

 very imperfect must have been the instruments 

 of those remote ages, and that they cannot be sup- 

 posed to have possessed the knowledge in mechanics 

 which the Egyptains, for instance, displayed in the 

 erection of their obelisks, we can easily conceive 

 how men were led to imagine that more vigorous 

 arms, and other powers than those belonging to the 

 present race of men, were necessary to the con- 

 struction of those edifices of rock." The cyclopean 

 remains in Italy and Greece are apparently progres- 

 sive, and yet perfectly distinct from the Etruscan 

 and Latin styles of architecture. The walls of 

 Tiryns, near Nauplia, alluded to by Homer, and 

 those of Lenna, in Italy, are examples of the ruder 

 style ; those of Mycense and Epirus of the more 

 advauced ; in these the blocks are carefully fitted 

 together. And not only are these ruins found over 

 Greece and Italy, for Asia Minor, Phoenicia, Persia, 

 Malabar, Brittany, Great Britain, and even North and 

 South America, afford examples of cyclopean architec- 

 ture. Now, in most of these cases, popular tradition 

 refers theoriginof these relics to giants. In Italy and 

 Greece they are attributed to the Cyclops, a primi- 

 tive race of giants, skilled in architecture, whose 

 leader was said by Homer to be one-eyed, and 

 hence this peculiarity was extended, by subsequent 

 writers, to the whole race. In Malta is a remarkable 

 cyclopean structure, supported ou huge pillars, and 

 popularly called " The Giant's Grave." Some of the 

 blocks of stone are thirty feet long. Stonehenge itself 

 was said by Welsh tradition to have been built by 

 " giants who came from Africa." This is significant, 

 since the Carthaginians, the greatest employers of 

 mercenaries, colonised a portion of England and 



