ASIA MINOR IN THE TIME OF THE SEVEN WISE MEN 



51 



even earlier period of the Seven Wise 

 Men, which was from 650-550 B. C. It 

 was a time of unique interest in history, 

 for much of our present thought-life 

 owes its origin to movements which be- 

 gan in the days of the Wise Men. 



Can we put ourselves back in that far- 

 away time and picture something of the 

 homely, every-day life of the people? 

 Can we find out how they thought and 

 felt? 



What we wish is not the historical facts 

 about that age, nor the translation of the 

 writings that have come down to us from 

 it, but the human living, which was the 

 cause of the history and of the litera- 

 ture, — something which books cannot give 

 us — a comprehension of the throbbing, 

 pulsing life that was strong and vivid 

 enough to make itself felt, even to the 

 present time. 



THE CHARM OF ISLAND LIFE IN THE 

 AEGEAN 



The outward surroundings we can re- 

 produce, for they are still practically the 

 same. The eastern Mediterranean is one 

 of the gardens of the world. The sea is 

 bluer than other seas ; the tints of the 

 skies are softer, the violet and rose blend 

 more marvelously in the sunsets, the 

 mountains have a sensuous attraction, 

 and the sails on the horizon allure. 



There is a wonderful charm also in 

 the island life of the ^Egean, and that 

 charm must be in many ways the same 

 at the present time as it was in the dis- 

 tant age of which we are speaking. 



Other parts of the world have changed 

 under the transforming power of modern 

 enterprise, but the shores and islands of 

 of the 7Egezn have thus far largely es- 

 caped the influence of modern business 

 life. As yet, no sky-scrapers nor com- 

 mercial storehouses, few railroads, auto- 

 mobiles, and electric trolleys mar the ef- 

 fect with their harsh lines and shrill 

 sounds. 



The calm and peace of country scenes 

 have remained, and in their natural fea- 

 tures we may still find the surroundings 

 of the old life, for the environment of 

 the new scenes gives us the probable set- 

 ting of the old. 



The shipping also has not wholly lost 

 its ancient form. It is true that the pic- 



turesque warships, with their banks of 

 oars each side, have disappeared ; but 

 the craft which lazily sail from one port 

 to another today may well remind us 

 of the descriptions of the old merchant 

 vessels. 



ALWAYS THE SEA FOR REFUGE 



A great wave of colonization had 

 passed over that part of the world just 

 before the time of the Wise Men, and 

 the colonies, after the struggle for ex- 

 istence of the early years in new sur- 

 roundings, had emerged into a larger life. 

 In finding larger life the sea always 

 helped them ; for, in political strife within 

 and the need of protection from without, 

 there was always the sea for refuge. 

 People who can sail away from trouble 

 at home always find resources, and the 

 sea was the source of many treasures. 



The growth of the colonies was rapid, 

 for other reasons. How could it be 

 otherwise in such beautiful and fruitful 

 surroundings ! As Herodotus says, "The 

 Ionians built their cities under the finest 

 sky and in the finest climate in the world, 

 for neither the regions above nor below 

 nor the parts to the East or West are at 

 all equal to Ionia." 



IONIA THE CENTER OF THE WORLD'S 

 COMMERCIAL LIFE 



People of the twentieth century look to 

 England and the United States as among 

 the countries where the comforts of liv- 

 ing and opportunities of learning how to 

 do things are very great, but men went 

 to Ionia, in Asia Minor, for these ad- 

 vantages in the age of the Wise Men. 



To be up to date at that time one had 

 to live in Ionia, where life was luxurious. 

 There, things were produced richly with 

 little effort ; grapes were abundant and 

 the wine the best in the world, and ships 

 laden with olives and wine and oil sailed 

 to all ports of the Mediterranean — Egypt 

 and Phoenicia, Italy and Northern Africa, 

 and even as far west as Spain — bringing 

 back the luxuries of other lands. 



Long before Athens joined the circle 

 of commercial cities, the riches of the 

 entire eastern world were represented in 

 Ionia. The market-place in both large 

 and small towns was the central point 

 and constituted a kind of bourse — in fact, 



