The Historians' History of the World 02

. Precious metals,

520

. Coinage; precious stones; weaving,

520

. Intoxicants; spices; perfumery,

521

. Commercial routes,

523

.

CHAPTER IV

Brahmanism and Buddhism

525

The origin and development of Brahmanism,

525

. The Vedas,

529

. Soul transmigration,

533

. Buddhism,

535

. Disappearance of Buddhism in India,

538

. New light on Buddhism,

542

. The actual piety of the Hindus and the Hindu separation of religion from fine morals,

545

.

Brief Reference-List of Authorities by Chapters

549

A General Bibliography of Indian History

550

PART VIII. ANCIENT PERSIA

Persian History in Outline

(700-330

B.C.

)

559

CHAPTER I

Land and People

565

Racial and dynastic origins,

567

. The land,

568

. The people,

569

. Character of the empire of the Achæmenides,

570

.

CHAPTER II

The Median or Scythian Empire

(700-550

B.C.

)

573

The rise and fall of the Median Empire according to Herodotus,

573

. The

Median Empire: a modern interpretation,

580

. New light on the Medes,

583

.

CHAPTER III

The Early Achæmenians and the Elamites, Cyrus and Cambyses

(836-522

B.C.

)

587

The death of Cyrus,

593

. Character and influence of Cyrus,

596

. Xenophon’s estimate of Cyrus,

596

. A modern estimate of the character and importance of Cyrus,

597

. Cambyses,

600

.

CHAPTER IV

The Persian Dynasty: Darius I to Darius III

(521-330

B.C.

)

605

Darius I,

605

. Organisation of Darius’ empire,

607

. Later conquests of Darius,

609

. Affairs in Egypt since the Persian conquest,

611

. Xerxes I,

614

. The successors of Xerxes,

615

. Darius II,

618

. Artaxerxes II,

619

. Artaxerxes III,

626

. The fall of the empire,

630

. The old Orient at the end of the Persian Empire,

631

.

CHAPTER V

Persian Civilisation

634

Religion and social orders,

635

. Organisation of the Persian court,

641

. Administration of the provinces; financial system; satraps,

645

. Military methods,

652

. The fine arts,

657

.

Brief Reference-List of Authorities by Chapters

662

A General Bibliography of Persian History

663

PART IV

THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL

BASED CHIEFLY UPON THE FOLLOWING AUTHORITIES

ERNEST BABELON, THE HOLY BIBLE, T. K. CHEYNE, MAX DUNCKER,

G. H. A. EWALD, EDWARD GIBBON, F. HITZIG, J. JAHN,

FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS, RUDOLF KITTEL, E. LEDRAIN,

MAX LÖHR, L. MÉNARD, H. H. MILMAN, D. H.

MÜLLER, SALOMON MUNK, F. W. NEWMAN,

E. RENAN, A. H. SAYCE, GEORGE

SMITH, BERNHARD STADE

TOGETHER WITH AN INTRODUCTORY ESSAY ON

ISRAEL AS A WORLD INFLUENCE

BY

BERNHARD STADE

A CRITICAL SURVEY OF THE SCOPE AND SOURCES OF

ISRAELITIC HISTORY

BY

THOMAS KELLY CHEYNE

AND A STUDY OF

THE PROPHETS AND THE HISTORY OF SEMITIC STYLE

BY

DAVID HEINRICH MÜLLER

AND WITH ADDITIONAL CITATIONS FROM

THE APOCRYPHA, DAVID CASSEL, DION CASSIUS, J. G. EICHHORN, G. W. F.

HEGEL, JUSTIN, F. R. LAMENNAIS, GASTON C. C. MASPERO, FELIX

PERLES, T. G. PINCHES, POLYBIUS, EDUARD REUSS, CLEMENS

ROMANUS, ASARJA DE ROSSI, BARUCH SPINOZA,

STRABO, SUETONIUS, CORNELIUS TACITUS,

COMTE DE VOLNEY, GEORG WEBER,

R. T. M. WEHOFER,

J. ZENNER

Copyright, 1904,

By HENRY SMITH WILLIAMS.

All rights reserved.

PART IV.—ISRAEL

ISRAEL AS A WORLD INFLUENCE

By BERNHARD STADE

Translated for the present work from Geschichte des Volks Israel.

Many a nation has walked God’s earth, has long enjoyed its good things, has come into being and passed away, without our knowing anything of its history, or even whether it had a history at all. For no nation has a history except one that makes history, that is to say, that influences the course of human development. It is with races as with individuals; none is kept in mind by posterity save those who have distinguished themselves by ideas that have modified the life of mankind, or (which comes to the same thing) have been pioneers in fresh fields of action. The greater the spiritual gain a nation has brought to the rest of the world, the longer and more steadily its life has flowed in the channels it was the first to make, the longer is its history told among them. The nations of history are those which have put forward, in one fashion or another, their claim to the dominion of the world.

Thus we may fitly ask what claim it is that is made upon our interest by the history of the Jewish nation. And the answer will be, that nothing which excites our attention, or stirs us to admiration or imitation in the history of other nations, is here present in any large measure. Israel was always a small, nay, a petty nation, settled in a narrow space, never of any considerable importance in the political history of the East; it never brought forth a Ramses II, a Sargon, an Esarhaddon, an Asshurbanapal, a Nebuchadrezzar, or a Cyrus to bear its banner into distant lands. Yet, for all this, the history of Israel has, for us, an interest quite different from that of those other nations of antiquity.