Ancient Books

CHAPTER I. DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY. Along the eastern flank of the great Mesopotamian lowland, curving round it on the north, and stretching beyond it to the south and the south-east, lies a vast elevated region, or highland, no portion of which appears to be less than 3000 feet above the sea-level. This region may be divided, broadly, into two tracts, one consisting of lofty mountainous ridges,... more...

BOOK 45, BOSSEVAIN.) [B.C. 44 (a. u.710)] [-1-] This was Antony's course of procedure.—Gaius Octavius Copia,—this was the name of the son of Caesar's niece, Attia,—came from Velitrae in the Volscian country, and having been left without a protector by the death of his father Octavius he was brought up in the house of his mother and her husband, Lucius... more...

CHAPTER I THE FIRST CHALDÆAN EMPIRE AND THE HYKSÔS IN EGYPT Syria: the part played by it in the ancient world—Babylon and the first Chaldæan empire—The dominion of the Hyksôs: Âhmosis. Some countries seem destined from their origin to become the battle-fields of the contending nations which environ them. Into such regions, and to their cost, neighbouring peoples come from century to century to... more...

BOOK IX.B.C. 321-304 23 Titus Veturius and Spurius Postumius, with their army, surrounded by the Samnites at the Caudine forks; enter into a treaty, give six hundred hostages, and are sent under the yoke. The treaty declared invalid; the two generals and the other sureties sent back to the Samnites, but are not accepted. Not long after, Papirius Cursor obliterates this disgrace, by vanquishing the... more...

CHAPTER I—THE EIGHTEENTH THEBAN DYNASTY—(continued) Thutmosis III.: the organisation of the Syrian provinces—Amenothes III.: the royal worshippers of Atonû. In the year XXXIV. the Egyptians reappeared in Zahi. The people of Anaugasa having revolted, two of their towns were taken, a third surrendered, while the chiefs of the Lotanû hastened to meet their lord with their usual tribute. Advantage... more...

THE WANDERINGS ANDHOMES OF MANUSCRIPTSTheWanderings and Homes of Manuscripts is the title of this book. To have called it the survival and transmission of ancient literature would have been pretentious, but not wholly untruthful. Manuscripts, we all know, are the chief means by which the records and imaginings of twenty centuries have been preserved. It is my purpose to tell where manuscripts were... more...

INTRODUCTORY ESSAYHELLENISM AND HEBRÆISM IN EGYPT UNDER THE PTOLEMIESI.When Alexander the Great bridged the gulf dividing Occident and Orient, the Greeks had attained to a state of maturity in the development of their national art and literature. Greek culture and civilisation, passing beyond the boundaries of their national domain, crossed this bridge and spread over the Asiatic world. To perpetuate... more...

Of Ammianus Marcellinus, the writer of the following History, we know very little more than what can be collected from that portion of it which remains to us. From that source we learn that he was a native of Antioch, and a soldier; being one of the prefectores domestici—the body-guard of the emperor, into which none but men of noble birth were admitted. He was on the staff of Ursicinus, whom he... more...

CHAPTER I The period of Roman history on which we now enter is, like so many that had preceded it, a period of revolt, directly aimed against the existing conditions of society and, through the means taken to satisfy the fresh wants and to alleviate the suddenly realised, if not suddenly created, miseries of the time, indirectly affecting the structure of the body politic. The difference between the... more...

CHAPTER I. ~~ THE STORY OF ROMULUS AND OF NUMA. Æneas of Troy, coming to the land of Italy, took to wife Lavinia, daughter of King Latinus, and built him a city, which he called Lavinium, after the name of his wife. And, after thirty years, his son Ascanius went forth from Lavinium with much people, and built him a new city, which he called Alba. In this city reigned kings of the house and lineage of... more...