A Manual of Ancient History

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                                A MANUAL
                                   OF
                            ANCIENT HISTORY.

                                   BY
                            M. E. THALHEIMER,
             _FORMERLY TEACHER OF HISTORY AND COMPOSITION IN
            THE PACKER COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE, BROOKLYN, N. Y._

                             [Illustration]

                        VAN ANTWERP, BRAGG & CO.,

                           137 WALNUT STREET,
                               CINCINNATI.

                             28 BOND STREET,
                                NEW YORK.




THALHEIMER’S HISTORICAL SERIES.

    _Eclectic History of the United States._
    _History of England._
    _General History._
    _Ancient History._
    _Eastern Empires (separate)._
    _History of Greece (separate)._
    _History of Rome (separate)._
    _Mediæval and Modern History._




       Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by
                          WILSON, HINKLE & CO.,
    In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.

                             ECLECTIC PRESS:
                        VAN ANTWERP, BRAGG & CO.,
                               CINCINNATI.




PREFACE.


Several causes have lately augmented both the means and the motives for
a more thorough study of History. Modern criticism, no longer accepting
primitive traditions, venal eulogiums, partisan pamphlets, and highly
wrought romances as equal and trustworthy evidence, merely because of
their age, is teaching us to sift the testimony of ancient authors, to
ascertain the sources and relative value of their information, and to
discern those special aims which may determine the light in which their
works should be viewed. The geographical surveys of recent travelers have
thrown a flood of new light upon ancient events; and, above all, the
inscriptions discovered and deciphered within half a century, have set
before us the great actors of old times, speaking in their own persons
from the walls of palaces and tombs.

Nor is the new knowledge of little value. If we look familiarly into
the daily life of our fellow-men thousands of years ago, it is to find
them toiling at the same problems which perplex us; suffering the same
conflict of passion and principle; failing, it may be, for our warning,
or winning for our encouragement; in any case, reaching results which
ought to prevent our repeating their mistakes. The national questions
which fill our newspapers were discussed long ago in the Grove, the
Agora, and the Forum; the relative advantages of government by the many
and the few, were wrought out to a demonstration in the states and
colonies of Greece; and no man whose vote, no woman whose influence,
may sway in ever so small a degree the destinies of our Republic, can
afford to be ignorant of what has already been so wisely and fully
accomplished. Present tasks can only be clearly seen and worthily
performed in the light of long experience; and that liberal acquaintance
with History which, under a monarchical government, might safely be left
as an ornament and privilege to the few, is here the duty of the many.

The present work aims merely to afford a brief though accurate outline of
the results of the labors of NIEBUHR, BUNSEN, ARNOLD, MOMMSEN, RAWLINSON,
and others—results which have never, so far as we know, been embraced
in any American school-book, but which within a few years have greatly
increased the treasures of historical literature. While it may have
been impossible, within our limits, to reproduce the full and life-like
outlines in which they have portrayed the characters of ancient times, we
have sought, with their aid, at least to ascertain the limits of fact and
fable. With but few exceptions, and those clearly stated as such, we have
introduced no narrative which can reasonably be doubted.

The writer is more confident of justice of aim than of completeness of
attainment. No one can so acutely feel the imperfections of a work like
this, as the one who has labored at every point to avoid or to remove
them; to compress the greatest amount of truth into the fewest words, and
while reducing the scale, to preserve a just proportion in the details.
To hundreds of former pupils, who have never been forgotten in this
labor of love, and to the kind judgment of fellow-teachers—some of whom
well know that effort has not been spared, even where ability may have
failed—this Manual is respectfully submitted.

                                          BROOKLYN, N. Y., _April, 1872_.




CONTENTS.


                                                                    PAGE

                              INTRODUCTION.

  Sources of History.