80 



THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



secret of Phoenician commerce beyond the Pillars of Hercules 

 was jealously guarded by the merchants, who retained it for 

 many ages as a close monopoly. 



Thus was the commerce of the known world in the possession 

 of this enterprising people. They were not only merchants on 

 their own account, but the universal carriers for other nations. 

 Wealth poured into their cities in profusion. Colonies became 

 a necessity with such a people, in order that when ships arrived 

 cargoes might be in readiness at widely distant points, and 

 .interchange be made without delay. As the necessaries and 

 comforts of life accumulated, the population also increased, and 

 colonies were often the outpouring of numbers too cramped in 

 the small territory of the mother-country. Political discontent, 

 too, was an incentive to emigration, and to this cause the rise of 

 Carthage, Tyre's great daughter colony, is said to have been due. 

 Phcenician colonies continued to be established for a period of 

 between 500 and 600 years, from 1100 B.C. to 550 B.C. 



Although the parent state exercised little coercive authority 

 over its colonies, yet commerce and religion formed a bond of 

 union. The temples and deities of Phoenicia were everywhere 

 revered, and offerings from all quarters were transmitted to the 

 mother-country. 



CHAPTER VI. FIRST PERIOD (continued). ETHIOPIA. 



ETHIOPIA is the name given to the region of the Nile, above the 

 first cataract at Assouan, and comprehends Nubia and Abyssinia. 

 The name has also been applied to the whole of Africa south of 

 Egypt, because of the colour of the inhabitants. 



The ancient capital of Ethiopia, near Shendy, was Meroe, the 

 remains of which, in the absence of written records, warrant the 

 inference that the city was of great antiquity. Meroe was 

 situated on a triangular island several hundred miles long, 

 formed by the fork of the Blue and the White Nile. Scattered 

 in profusion over the surface of this tract, are the ruins of 

 pyramids, sepulchres, obelisks, and temples. Built of sand- 

 stone, their appearance shows more of the wear of ages than 

 the syenite structures of Egypt, and but few of the hierogly- 

 phics can be deciphered. These remains lend probability to the 

 opinion held by many that Meroe was the birthplace of the 

 arts and sciences, and the cradle of civilisation. On the 

 other hand, some writers trace the civilisation of Meroe to the 

 emigration of the discontented warrior caste of Egypt in the 

 reign of Psammetichus. Whether Egypt was peopled from 

 Nubia, or Nubia from Egypt, is an unsettled point. It is 

 certain that Ethiopia was a powerful and civilised kingdom in 

 ages very remote, and that no more than a nominal conquest 

 of the kingdom was ever made. Many sovereigns of Ethiopian 

 race, even entire dynasties, ruled over Egypt. While the 

 terrible barrier of its deserts kept Ethiopia secure from invasion 

 without, its capital was open to trade from all parts of the 

 compass. Numerous wells, which might be called artesian, 

 dug in the Libyan sands, attest the existence of a great cara- 

 van trade from the centre of Africa. The Meroese also founded 

 Ammonium in the same desert, and their king was priest of 

 Ammon. The temple at this place was, like that of the Hall 

 of Camels at Palmyra, part of a caravanserai, or encampment for 

 traders. It was in an expedition against this city that the army 

 of Cambyses was overwhelmed with sand. Napata, now Merawe, 

 in Dongola, likewise owed its origin to the Meroese. 



The eastern trade of this great capital reached as far as India. 

 There is a tradition of the existence of a canal which connected 

 the Nile at Meroe with the Red Sea', and formed a great highway 

 of trade. Certainly, camels traversed the space between the 

 city and that part of the coast which Phoenician vessels visited. 

 A caravan route across the Arabian desert connected the Red 

 Sea with the Persian Gulf, where, as we have already seen, was 

 a depot of Indian and Asiatic produce. Caravan communication 

 existed likewise with Carthage by way of Great Leptis, and 

 with Egypt. The traffic was necessarily great. Meroe was 

 therefore one of the chief commercial marts of its day. The 

 kingdom reached its highest prosperity about seven or eight 

 centuries before Christ. 



In Ethiopia the Nile, bordered by high banks which prevent 

 its overflow, consists of a series of rapids and cataracts 

 which for 600 miles render it of very little use for navigation. 

 Mountains approach the river closely on each side, and the 

 width of the valley does not in parts exceed seven miles. The 

 southern territory, at the foot of the Abyssinian high lands, is 



the most humid and fertile. Irrigation in the arid parts was 

 effected by rude canals. Meroe was rich in timber and minerals, 

 and gold mines were worked in the northern hills. The border 

 tribes lived by ostrich and elephant hunting. 



Five different nations have been enumerated as inhabiting 

 Ethiopia, viz., the Meroese, the Troglodytes, the Macrobii, the 

 Nubians, and the Egyptian " Warrior Caste," of whom the first 

 were in every respect the most civilised. They were the husband- 

 men, merchants, philosophers, priests, and seers, and worshipped 

 Tupiter Ammon, to whom was consecrated the city of Ammonium 

 in the Desert. 



CHAPTER VII. ETRURIA. 



ETRURIA (the modern Tuscany), a great and civilised nation 

 before the building of Rome, is an example of a powerful 

 country whose literature is lost, and whose language is extinct, 

 and almost undecipherable. Its history can therefore be gleaned 

 only from occasional references in the writings of its foes ; and 

 its refinement, from its buried works of art. 



By the Romans its people were called Etruscans ; by the 

 Greeks, Tyrrhenians. Amongst themselves they went by the 

 name of Rasanae. The accounts of their origin are speculative, 

 for their language, the surest guide in such inquiries, cannot be 

 employed to help us. There are a few indications of Asiatic 

 origin, mingled, however, with evidences of a mixture of races, 

 in which the Umbrian appears predominant. 



In the infancy of Rome the Etruscans had extended their 

 power from the base of the Alps to the Gulf of Taranto ; and, 

 when pressed back by hostile neighbours, they were still a 

 flourishing and powerful people within Etruria proper. After 

 a long struggle for their independence, they were compelled to 

 yield to the rising power of Rome. In course of time they were 

 enfranchised, when they soon dropped their language, and merged 

 their nationality in the common character of Roman citizens. 



Etruria was remarkable for its fertility. The soil yielded 

 rich harvests of corn, wine, oil, and flax. Its maritime position 

 gave the people the command of a great sweep of the Mediter- 

 ranean, called after them the Tyrrhene Sea. The natural 

 resources of the country provided in abundance materials for 

 ship-building, the Apennines having their slopes clothed with 

 timber, and their flax furnishing textures for sails. These advan- 

 tages made commerce a natural development of Etruscan life. 

 The inhabitants regarded themselves as exclusive masters of the 

 Mediterranean, and were hostile to every nation disputing with 

 them the rights of trade in its waters. The Greek colonists in 

 Sicily, united under command of Gelo, tyrant or ruler of Syra- 

 cuse, met the Etruscan fleet in battle, and defeated it 480 B.C. 

 Enmities thus aroused being not lightly appeased, the Etrus- 

 cans for a century after repeatedly made war against the 

 Syracusans and other Sicilian Greeks. The Etruscans enriched 

 themselves by husbandry and cattle-rearing, as well as by their 

 piracy and trade. Corn was sent to Rome almost as soon as 

 that city was founded. The people grew luxurious. They 

 became fond of high living and sumptuous entertainments, 

 drank out of silver cups, and wore costly embroidered garments. 

 The Roman satirists called them corpulent gluttons, and Virgil 

 charged them with being addicted to all kinds of sensual plea- 

 sures. Nevertheless, the Romans borrowed some of their insti- 

 tutions, and sent the young nobility to them for instruction. 

 Art and science were cultivated, and religion mingled in all 

 affaire, domestic and national. Their mythology comprised the 

 two classes of the Shrouded deities, never revealing themselves 

 to mankind, and the Subject gods of a lower rank. The chief 

 ports were Pisa, Populonium, Csere, Hadria on the coast south 

 of the Po, and Spina. 



To these ports were brought frankincense for use in sacrifice, 

 ivory, and the precious metals for manufactures. The Etrus- 

 cans were noted for all kinds of work in silver, gold, and other 

 metals. Their pottery was in request in every part of Italy. 

 The exquisite vases, found in so many of their tombs, appear, 

 however, to have been the work of Greek colonists. The Etrus- 

 cans, skilled in painting, sculpture, and architecture, were 

 employed upon Roman buildings, and taught the Romans the 

 use of the arch. The still extant figures of the She-Wolf and 

 of the Orator are renowned as masterpieces of their bronze 

 statuary in the opinion of some critics, though others refer these 

 works to Greek artists. Their candelabra, of the same material, 

 were prized by the Athenians as early as the age of Pericles. 



