EGYPT AND BABYLONIA TO 1580 B.C.

The Cambridge Ancient History is designed as the first part of a continuous history of European peoples. The last part, the Cambridge Modern History, has long since been complete, and the middle section, the Cambridge Medieval History, is in course of publication. Starting with the remote and dim beginnings, upon which some new rays of light fall every year, the Ancient History will go down to the victory of Constantine the Great in AD 324, the point at which the Medieval takes up the story.

The history of Europe begins outside Europe. Its civilization is so deeply indebted to the older civilizations of Egypt and southwestern Asia that for the study of its growth the early history of those lands is more important than the barbarous life which Celts, Germans, and others lived within the limits of Europe. Europeans, who wish to follow the history of their own development from its origins, must first of all become acquainted with the civilizations of Egyptian, Sumerian, Hittite, Semitic and other peoples of northeastern Africa and southwestern Asia, and therefore our first volume is concerned mainly with these peoples.

Behind the civilizations of Babylon and Egypt lies a vast and still little known tract of time during which man was gradually toiling up towards that relatively high stage of civilization he had reached when he first appears to us in his written records. The discoveries which have rewarded the geologists, geographers, and anthropologists of the last few decades have made it feasible to attempt a reconstruction of the story of man in Europe and its environs throughout those prehistoric millenniums. The story of the land-masses prior to the formation of the present continental system can in some measure be written down and its significance apprehended. It is not out of place to recall that the written history of one of the peoples of Palestine, which represents only the unscientific ideas of an early age, was up to very recent times thought by learned men to furnish an authentic account of the beginnings of the earth and the human race.

Today a large though scattered mass of geological and archeological facts supplies us with a little genuine knowledge of what our ancestors were doing and making at a time when land and water and climate differed appreciably from what they are now, a time long anterior to that once commonly thought to be the date of the creation of the universe itself. To ignore what is now known, little as it is and precarious as it may be, about palaeolithic and early neolithic man, would be indefensible in a work which aims at explaining how Europe came to be what it is today. The activities of the palaeolithic age have helped to build modern Europe, and its effects persist; individuals of “Aurignacian” descent, physically true to type, are among us still. The first two chapters of this volume, by Professor Myres, show how the story of primitive man may be read by his latest descendants, and how the darkness before the dawn of history may be illuminated by a brilliant interpreter.

Chapter III, on the history of Exploration and Excavation, is designed to give the reader some notion of the arduous, and sometimes romantic, work of a century which has revolutionized our knowledge of the Near East. In an account, necessarily brief, of archaeological discoveries in Egypt, Mesopotamia, Syria, the Hittite and Aegean areas, and Cyprus, the writer, Professor Macalister, shows how archaeological data have been classified and interrogated, and how unknown scripts have been deciphered and forgotten languages recovered.

It seemed desirable to state the fundamental chronological problems which face the historian in regard to the early history of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Palestine, and Greece; to show how archaeological and historical evidence have been coordinated; and in the case of contacting systems of chronology to explain which has been adopted and why. Chapter IV will help the reader who is not familiar with prehistoric research to understand how it has been possible to frame a definite chronological scheme, especially when the data, as in the case of Crete, are purely archaeological.

Thus the first four chapters are preliminary. In chapter V Dr S. A. Cook gives a general account of the Semitic area, famous as a stepping-stone between three continents and as the home of three great religions. This chapter is a prelude to the later history of the Semites. It describes generally the mind of the Semite as revealed in his beliefs and practices, in his history and his treatment of history, while it tells what is known about the early history of Syria and Palestine down to the close of the Hycsos period, circa 1580 BC, the lower limit of this volume.

In the four chapters (VI to IX) devoted to Egypt, Professor Peet treats the early predynastic age on the basis or the archaeological evidence, and describes Egyptian life and thought under the Old and Middle Kingdoms (chapters VI, IX), while the historical events, and the historical sources, the administration and the social condition of these two kingdoms are dealt with by Dr H. R. Hall (chapters VII and VIII).

Three chapters (X to XII) on the earlier period of Babylonian history, by Professor Langdon, include an account of the interesting culture of ancient Susa and a discussion of the problem of the Sumerian invaders, and portray the history of the notable conquerors Sargon and Naram-Sin, in what may be called the Golden Age of the Sumerians. Mr. Campbell Thompson (chapters XIII to XV) continues the story, and also contributes a full description of the Golden Age of the Semitic Babylonians—the age of Hammurabi and his Code of Laws, the discovery of which (in the winter of 1901—2) threw a brilliant light on the character of society in that part of the Near East, four thousand years ago.

In the chapter (XVI) on early Egyptian and Babylonian Art Dr Hall’s wide knowledge of ancient art and his familiarity with the collections in the British Museum have enabled him to illustrate the aesthetic temperaments of the peoples concerned, to discriminate the periods of artistic freshness and decline, and to throw light on the difficult problems of borrowing and foreign influence. The Editors regret that it was impossible to provide illustrative plates without unduly increasing the price of the volume; but in the Bibliography to this chapter the reader will find references to illustrated books.

Finally, Mr. Wace has contributed the chapter on the early civilization of Aegean lands. Thirty years ago the chapter would have been a blank, because there was absolutely nothing to say. One of the finest triumphs of archaeological research has been the discovery in Crete of a wonderful and unsuspected civilization in contact with Egypt and Asia. This ancient meeting of east and west offers problems which unite the classical and the Semitic scholar, the Egyptologist and the student of “Bible-lands”.

Our first volume, then, while it contains a survey of the early history of a large network of interrelated lands, down to the occupation of Egypt by the Hycsos and of Babylonia by the Kassites (events which may perhaps be associated with sweeping movements in Indo-European lands to the north), may also be regarded as a general introduction to those that will follow it. In the next volume a new age opens up, an age characterized by what we may perhaps call internationalism: Greeks whose names were well remembered in Greek records will come upon the stage and the curtain will rise upon Old Testament history.

Any exposition of the history of early ages down to 3000 years ago and even beyond must be m a very high degree provisional.

This is due to the fortunate circumstance that new evidence is continually and rapidly accumulating. Conclusions historians draw today from the records at their disposal about Babylonia, Egypt, Asia Minor, and the Aegean may be upset, corrected, amplified, or transformed by a new discovery tomorrow. Since the writing of this volume was begun, writers who had completed their contributions have seen cause to change some of their statements in the light of new evidence which happened to be revealed in the meantime. Obviously there is a limit to this and experts must not expect to find a reference in every case to the nouvelles de la dernière heure. Even as we are writing, Sir Arthur Evans publishes the news that his latest excavations at Cnossos (the spring of 1922) have disclosed the fact that the end of the second phase of the Middle Minoan civilization was due to an earth-quake. We may note that this disaster was not contemporaneous with the volcanic eruption which wrought ruin m Thera and Therasia (see below).

The appearance of some new evidence, to enable us to decide finally between conflicting views of the chronologies of Egypt and Babylonia, is much to be desired. In accordance with the opinion of the great majority of scholars we have adopted the “shorter” dates. It is desirable to impress upon the reader that the precision with which the dates are assigned is based partly upon ancient lists and computations assumed to be trustworthy, but partly also upon modern calculations of a few crucial dates as to which there is no definite unanimity. The date adopted here for Hammurabi is not accepted by some high authorities. And as to Egypt, Dr Hall is unable to accept the view of Professor E. Meyer and other historians who follow him, that the XIIth Dynasty ended in 1788 BC; and he puts back the date by more than two centuries. This view affects both the earlier Egyptian dates and the chronology of the early Aegean periods which depend on Egyptian synchronisms. “Early Minoan III”, which the latest investigations of Sir Arthur Evans have shown to extend from the VIth to the XIth Dynasty, is on our chronological scheme 200 years earlier than it is on the scheme which he has adopted.

In a co-operative work of this kind, no editorial pains could avoid a certain measure of overlapping; and in fields, where there is so much uncertainty and such wide room for divergencies of views, as in the first two volumes, overlapping must mean that occasionally different writers will express or imply different opinions. It has not been thought desirable to attempt to eliminate these differences, though they are often indicated or discussed. Such inconsistencies may sometimes be a little inconvenient for the reader’s peace of mind, but it is better that he should learn to take them as characteristic of the ground over which he is being guided than that he should be misled by a dogmatic consistency into accepting one view as authoritative and final.

It will easily be understood that it is not possible to give chapter and verse for every statement or detailed arguments for every opinion, but it is hoped that the work will be found serviceable to professional students as well as to the general reader. The general reader is constantly kept in view throughout, and our aim is to steer a middle course between the opposite dangers, a work which only the expert could read or understand and one so popular that serious students would rightly regard it with indifference.

In this connection, the problem of transliterating occurs, and a quite satisfactory solution has not been found. Conventional and accepted spellings have been retained, but where usage varies the more correct are used (for instance Mohammed, Nebuchadrezzar). For classical Greek names the Latin forms are adopted (as in the Journal of Hellenic Studies). In regard to oriental names, we have thought it reasonable to assume that general readers are indifferent to what experts know; and experts do not always agree as to the precise spelling. We have followed generally Breasted, Hall, and King, and the Encyclopedia Biblica, but attention has been paid to the lists drawn up by the Royal Geographical Society, and to the transliteration of Arabic recommended by the British Academy. The difficulty of transliterating unvocalized Egyptian names and of interpreting names in cuneiform is commented on below. Some modern technical transliterations are as formidable-looking as the hieroglyphs themselves. In Egyptian and in the other languages ch is adopted instead of s or the like; s for ç, ts, etc.; k for q, etc.; and kh for the harder guttural h. But Hatti and Habiru have been written because “Hittite” and “Hebrew” are so familiar; and Hammurabi is now well enough known to dispense even with a diacritical point. Names when they first occur are sometimes written with their proper vowel-lengths, etc.; but as a rule diacritical marks have been avoided (although, Kashshi may be thought clumsier than Kassi), and more or less conventional spellings (e.g. Ashur) have been freely employed. On the other hand, an attempt is made in the Index to register some of the more correct spellings which for one reason or another deserve attention, but could not be introduced into the text without making it unduly technical.

We wish to express our indebtedness to contributors for their readiness in carrying out editorial suggestions, m avoiding archaeological and other technicalities and in restricting the use of footnotes; for advice on questions of transliteration and on other difficult questions which arose from time to time; and for the preparation of the bibliographies and the lists of kings.

Mr. Wace is indebted to Sir Arthur Evans for his kindness in reading the chapter on the Aegean and Early Greece, and the Aegean section of the chapter on Chronology. Professor Myres wishes to express obligations to Professor H. J. Fleure, to Mr Harold Peake, F.S.A., and to Mr L. H, D. Burton. Dr Cook wishes to thank Dr H. R. Hall, Professor Kennett and Dr Nicholson for help in revising chapter V. He is particularly indebted to Professor A. A. Bevan, who read two proofs, and made many valuable criticisms and suggestions. But for the views put forward in that chapter the writer has sole responsibility.

Special thanks are due to Professor Myres. For permission to use Maps we are indebted to the publishers of the Encyclopedia Biblica Messrs A. & C, Black; to Messrs Chatto & Windus for Maps from the first and second volumes of the late Dr Leonard W. King's A History of Babylonia and Assyria front Prehistoric Times to the Persian Conquest, and to Messrs Methuen & Co. for the plan of Babylon from Dr H. R, Hall's The Ancient History of the Near East from the Earliest Times to the Battle of Salamis. The index has been made by Mr W. E. C, Browne, former scholar of Emmanuel College.

The design on the outside cover represents Hammurabi, king of Babylonia, and is from the head of the stone monument on which is inscribed the famous code now known after his name; on the original he is depicted standing in the conventional attitude of adoration before the sun-god, Shamash, the god of righteousness and justice.