Chapter: 9 in A Comprehensive Outline of World History by Jack E. Maxfield is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. © Nov 30, 2009 Jack E. Maxfield.

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Chapter 9

600 to 501 B.C. 9.1 600 to 501 B.C.1 9.1.1 600 TO 501 B.C. In or close to this 6th century B.C. a number of religious geniuses appeared in the ancient world. Karl Jaspers has called this an "axial age"2 . It was the period of Confucius and perhaps Lao-tz in China, of Gautama, the Buddha in India, of Zoraster in Iran, Pythagoras in Greece and of the greatest of the Hebrew prophets, Deutero-lsaiah (Isaiah 40 to 59). There was a movement towards a belief in a single spiritual reality, and the Greeks were searching for a single principle to explain the material world. One result of this was the development of monotheism. Forward to 500 to 401 B.C. (Section 10.1) Choose Different Region 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Africa (Section 9.2) America (Section 9.4) Central and Northern Asia (Section 9.5) Europe (Section 9.9) The Far East (Section 9.3) The Indian Subcontinent (Section 9.6) The Near East (Section 9.7) Pacific (Section 9.8)

9.2 Africa: 600 to 501 B.C.3 9.2.1 AFRICA Back to Africa: 700 to 601 B.C. (Section 8.8) 9.2.1.1 NORTHEAST AFRICA As the century opened Egypt was again attempting expansion into Asia under native rulers and a punitive expedition was sent south to sack the Kushite Napota (591 B.C.) forcing the movement of this Kushite capital south to Meroe. Another view, however, is that the Kushite rulers simply elected to move their capital 300 miles south because wood 1 This

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for smelting iron ore was becoming scarcer and the land was being overgrazed. At any rate, Meroe then became a major iron center. Kush had a mixed Caucasian and Negro population and thereafter remained independent of the various Egyptian rulers. The nation owed its prosperity to trade in ivory, ebony, gum, hides, ostrich plumes, iron and slaves, all of which were carried either down the Nile to Egypt or across the Red Sea to Arabia and Mesopotamia. They also had great herds of cattle and adequate agriculture4 . Egypt maintained close commercial relations with both the Greeks and Lydians. In the latter part of the century, the Egyptians were pushed back out of the Asiatic mainland again by the rampaging Persians, and by 525 B.C. half of Egypt itself had been conquered by the Persian Cambyses, son of Cyrus. After Cambyses committed suicide in 521 B.C., Darius continued to rule most of this area. (Ref. 175 ([241]), 8 ([14]), 68 ([106]), 28 ([48])) 9.2.1.2 NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHWEST AFRICA By this time Carthage had developed an empire of its own, with settlements in western Sicily and Sardinia and with contacts in Spain and along the African coast. In 520 B.C. Admiral Hanno landed 30,000 settlers from 60 vessels at the mouth of the Rio de Oro in what is now Western Sahara. The colony lasted about fifty years. (Ref. 222 ([296])) Herodotus says that Phoenicians circumnavigated Africa in 600 B.C., starting in the Red Sea and going clockwise. Himilco, sailing from Carthage, touched the shore of Ireland and found it a fertile land. All of this exploration and expansion brought some troubles closer to home. Although they had previously been trading partners, the competition between the Etruscan Caere and Carthage now became so acute that conflict became inevitable. Malchus, of Carthage, consolidated the Punic position in western Sicily and then tried to do the same in Sardinia, although the native Sardinian states fought back viciously and they were soon helped by the maritime Phocaean Greeks. Caere threw in its lot with Carthage on this occasion. Herodotus, writing in the next century, said that the Phocaeans5 won but in so doing lost forty ships and had another twenty severely damaged. They returned to Alalia, got their women and children and resettled in Rhegum in south Italy, leaving Corsica also to the Carthaginians and Caeritans. In 509 B.C. Carthage signed a treaty with the rising Rome, defining respective spheres of influence. (Ref. 84 ([124])) Barry Fell (Ref. 65 ([96])) infers that after the Persian conquest of Egypt and the rise of the Greek and Roman empires, the eastern Mediterranean was closed to Carthaginian shipping, so Carthage retaliated by closing the straits of Gibralter to all European vessels. Then under the guise of supposed Spanish and north African trade, they exploited North American silver, copper, hides and furs, bringing them back for the manufacture of bronze and the marketing of the furs. He feels that this secrecy is the reason Roman annals have no mention of the trans-Atlantic voyages. To date no one has come forth with any direct confirmation of this hypothesis. 9.2.1.3 SUBSAHARAN AFRICA That part of Africa south of the Sahara and the Abyssinian massif was one of the five great remaining reservoirs of savage or barbarian life. The other four areas were the monsoon forests of Southeast Asia with the islands of Indonesia, the steppe and forest zones of northern Eurasia, Australia and finally the Americas. (Ref. 139 ([192])) Forward to Africa: 500 to 401 B.C. (Section 10.2)

9.3 The Far East: 600 to 501 B.C.6 9.3.1 THE FAR EAST Back to The Far East: 700 to 601 B.C. (Section 8.4) 4 Today

this area of ancient Kush is almost completely desert. (Ref. 83 ([123])) described the Phocaeans as plunderers and looters. (Ref. 92 ([136]), Book 1, pp. 89, 90) 6 This content is available online at . 5 Herodotus

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139 9.3.1.1 CHINA AND MANCHURIA (Chou Dynasty, continued) Although China was nominally still under the Chou Dynasty actually it was essentially in a feudalistic age called the Spring and Autumn period. A unique institution of this period was the hegemon (pa) which was rule by a yearly conference of dukes from the three powerful statelets, offsetting the ineffectiveness of the Chou king. From 600 B.C. on the peasants made real progress in farming the flood plain of the Yellow River, by shifting from millet to rice. Vast diking, draining, canalization and engineering control was necessary to create an unbroken carpet of rice paddies. The amount of labor involved in all this is almost unbelievable. Rice, originally a dry land crop, still requires good oxygenation of its roots and the waters of the paddies cannot become stagnant but must be regularly circulated, necessitating constant attendance to pumps and various hydraulic systems. Farther south the Yangste Valley could not be farmed satisfactorily at that time, even though the river was much less wild and geologically less difficult, because the warmer, wetter climate allowed a great variety of parasites. Malaria may have been one of the worst, along with dengue fever and schistosomiasis, which has been definitely identified in a later, second century corpse. (Ref. 101 ([146]), 140 ([190]), 259 ([174])) This was the age of Lao-Tzu, the greatest of the pre-Confucius philosophers. His identity is disputed, but at least the Taoist philosophy became prominent with "Tao" meaning "The Way". Basically this was a way of thinking or refusing to think, for in the view of Taoists thought is a superficial affair, good only for argument and more harmful than beneficial to life. The Way is to be found by rejecting the intellect and all its errors and leading a modest life of retirement, rusticity and quiet contemplation of nature. Knowledge is not a virtue but on the contrary, rascals have increased since education spread. The worst conceivable government, in this philosophy, would be by philosophers themselves, as they botch every natural process with theory. Silence is the beginning of wisdom. Disregard of the Tao led to illness, not so much as punishment for sin as the inevitable result of acting against natural laws. Toaist philosophy became the religion of a considerable sized minority of the Chinese from this century down to our own time. Confucius, of the impoverished but noble K’ung family, was born in 551 B.C. and it is said that he had some contact with and learned from the Old Master, Lao-Tze. His teaching will be discussed under this same heading in the next chapter. The standard of living in China at that time was probably higher than in the contemporary Greece of Solon. (Ref. 46 ([76]), 260 ([29])) 9.3.1.2 JAPAN The Jomon Culture hunting and fishing society of Japan continued through this century. 9.3.1.3 KOREA The Neolithic societies of Korea continued as in the previous centuries. 9.3.1.4 SOUTHEAST ASIA The people who now occupy southeast Asia began at about this time to leave their ancestral homes in southern China and Tibet and start their migrations southward, displacing or absorbing the aborigines of the area. Forward to The Far East: 500 to 401 B.C. (Section 10.7) Choose Different Region 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Intro to Era (Section 9.1) Africa (Section 9.2) America (Section 9.4) Central and Northern Asia (Section 9.5) Europe (Section 9.9) The Indian Subcontinent (Section 9.6) The Near East (Section 9.7) Pacific (Section 9.8)

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9.4 America: 600 to 501 B.C.7 9.4.1 AMERICA Back to America: 700 to 601 B.C. (Section 8.6) 9.4.1.1 NORTH AMERICA 9.4.1.1.1 THE FAR NORTH AND CANADA There was no real change in the human condition in North America at this time. The Arctic Small Tool tradition is usually divided into two stages with what has been called the Dorset Stage emerging at about 600 B.C. This was an harpoon based hunting culture extending all across the far north. 9.4.1.1.2 THE UNITED STATES The Adena Woodlland Culture thrived in the east and the middle west of the United States and the influence of the Adena burial customs, religion and art can be identified over a large area, including Chesapeake Bay and New York state. In the 1880s Professor Cyrus Thomas surveyed over 2,000 mound sites and collected over 4,000 specimens of this and the later Hopewell Culture. The San Pedro phase of the Cochise Culture continued in the southwest. (Ref. 189 ([259]), 215 ([290])) 9.4.1.2 MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, AND THE CARIBBEAN In the Olmec center at La Venta a clay pyramid 103 feet high was erected and surrounded by four colossal stone heads. At Monte Alban, Mexico, one can still see rows of carvings with Olmec features. At Tikal, Quatemala, pottery has been found dating to 600 B.C. similar to south American pottery of the same date, suggesting that trade existed between the two areas. About 500 B.C., however, the Olmec people seem to have collapsed and disappeared, perhaps passing on their knowledge to the Mayas who began to occupy some of the same territory. Archeological finds establish a human presence in Vera Cruz as early as 5,600 B.C. and this may have been from ancient times a thorough-fare for migration of Huastec and Olmecs along the coastal plain. (Ref. 176 ([242]), 155 ([214]), 236 ([314])) The zero point of the Mayan calendar corresponds to our 3,113 B.C. and brings up the interesting questions as to the ultimate origin of those peoples and how they were able to triumph over the jungle to establish a type of civilization. The most likely hypothesis is that they were agriculturalists originally and that they moved in from adjacent riverestuarine lowlands. The bulk of archaeological data points to an original incursion of the lowlands during the first half of this 1st millennium B.C., but the earliest ceramics from Tikal and UJaxactun date to about 600 B.C. There may have been two stages in the development of the Maya society, with the first stage characterized by the dissemination of riverine settlements from the tropical Lowlands of the Pacific and Gulf Coasts in the general area of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and the second stage occurring when Pre-classic groups abandoned the rivers and moved into the interior. This later stage appears to be linked to the beginnings of Mayan civilization. The change to the interior habitat involved many problems not the least of which was the obtaining of drinking water. The solution to this problem was apparently found in the construction of artificial reservoirs in impermeable clays. Fed by artificially constructed drainage systems they allowed for the storage of millions of gallons of water. For carbohydrates, the relatively small crops of maize that could be raised with the slash and burn method, was supplemented by the ramon, a tree of the fig family which produces dense carbohydrate seeds in tremendously large quantities. Storage places for these seeds have also been found. Now shut off from river proteins, deer hunting was of importance, a fact confirmed from the examination of hidden contents from Tikal. As the Pulestons (Ref. 261 ([237])) have pointed out, the necessity of organizing labor to construct the large public reservoirs may well have been a catalyst for the development of social stratification and the developing concept of a state; and the utilization of the ramon would have allowed stable settlements with the release of much male labor for use in various other channels. 7 This

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141 9.4.1.3 SOUTH AMERICA The Chavin civilization continued in Peru throughout this century but then about 500 B.C. their cities were rather suddenly abandoned8 . Some writers say that Paracas developed its own individual type of pottery in the south at this time, but Engel (Ref. 62 ([91])) does not date Paracas I until another 300 years. Marvin Allison (Ref. 3 ([4])) has found multiple mummies from various Peruvian and Chilean coastal burials, some dating to 600 B.C., with tuberculosis, especially of the bones and joints and he believes this must have been a common disease of the western coast. The first known densely populated centers on the north coast of South America date from 600 B.C. to 150 B.C. and have been called the "Salinar phase" by archaeologists. (Ref. 255 ([9])) In the light of Barry Fells ’s hypotheses concerning possible European and Middle East voyagers to the new world in ancient times, it is of interest that a stone inscription in Phoenician script was allegedly discovered in Parahyba Province, Brazil, in 1886 and a translation published in 1939 indicated that it had been written by Canaanites of Sidon who had left the Red Sea area in 536 B.C. (the 19th year of the reign of Hiram) with ten ships, sailing along the coast of Africa for two years, under the orders of Necho, pharoah of Egypt. The writers note that they became separated from their flagship and were carried far away and landed on this unknown (Brazilian) coast. When first put forth this finding and translation was declared a forgery, but more recently it has been accepted as genuine by many authorities. (Ref. 176 ([242])) The south Atlantic ocean currents coming from the African Cape could easily result in this drift. Ornate ceramics decorated with animal and bird figures were characteristic of the Brazilian Barrancoid tradition of this and many adjacent centuries (Ref. 255 ([9])) Forward to America: 500 to 401 B.C. (Section 10.9) Choose Different Region 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Intro to Era (Section 9.1) Africa (Section 9.2) Central and Northern Asia (Section 9.5) Europe (Section 9.9) The Far East (Section 9.3) The Indian Subcontinent (Section 9.6) The Near East (Section 9.7) Pacific (Section 9.8)

9.5 Central and Northern Asia: 600 to 501 B.C.9 9.5.1 CENTRAL AND NORTHERN ASIA Back to Central and Northern Asia: 700 to 601 B.C. (Section 8.7) There was probably very little change from the situation described in the last century. The Tagar culture people continued in the north, the early Mongoloids in the northeast, and the proliferating Iranian tribes, especially the Sakas and the eastern Medes, in the south. Forward to Central and Northern Asia: 500 to 401 B.C. (Section 10.5) 8 The 9 This

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9.6 The Indian Subcontinent: 600 to 501 B.C.10 9.6.1 THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT The Vedic Culture began to decay or at least to stagnate, so that Darius I of Persia had little trouble in seizing Gandhara from the disunited Aryans, and the entire area soon became divided into many small states. Darius’ advance into the Indus Valley marked the introduction of coinage, iron working11 and writing into Pakistan. Although powerful and extensive kingdoms developed in the Ganges Valley at that time, they always remained unstable and were never consolidated into an enduring whole, as in China, and one reason was the heavy micro-parasitism characteristic of the warm, wet Ganges climate. This heavy infestation and infection must have reduced individual vigor and capacity for physical labor, and is probably one reason that Indian empires were fragile and subject to easy conquest by invaders from the north, until the invaders themselves became infested. The transcendentalism that became characteristic of the Indian religions accorded well with the circumstances of poverty-stricken, disease ridden peasants. In Toynbee’s (Ref. 220 ([294])) terminology, it was a "time of troubles" and as usual in such situations, new philosophies and religions began to appear to save man or lift him out of the drudgery of his life. By this time, the caste system was well established at least in northern India. Benares, at the gentle four mile curve of the Ganges, was already the goal of thousands of Hindus who went there to bathe and drink its water and to beseech the favor of some god. (Ref. 136 ([187]), 140 ([190]), 37 ([58]), 220 ([294])) Gautama Buddha, scion of the aristocratic Gautama clan living at the foot of the Himalayas, was born in 563 B.C. He left his family and after an initial withdrawal period with self mortification, he returned to the active world to teach his ideas of ethics. He did not write, but talked, a man of strong will, authoritative and proud, but of gentle manner and speech and of infinite benevolence. His idea of Nirvana was complete annihilation. Later, a legend of divine birth appeared among Buddha’s followers, but he, himself, claimed no divine origin and in fact was in essence an atheist, worshiping no god, having no ritual and interested only in ethics. In the middle of this century there also appeared another religion founded by Mahavira and called "Jains". Mahavira taught that the road to release from the tragedy of life was to be found through ascetic penances and complete "ahimsa". The latter means abstinence from injury to any living thing. Gandhi was later strongly influenced by this sect. Neither Buddhism nor Jainism accepted the caste system, which was Hindu in origin, and both were opposed to violence and to any animal slaughter. The Jains even had to be careful in eating any fruit or vegetable, as it might contain an insect which might be a human soul in re-in- carnation. Finally, the only animal protein food in India was an occasional chicken or, on the coast, fish and seafood. Aryan invaders from north India arrived in Sri Lanka in this or the preceding century and the present day majority Sinhalese ( seven out of ten Sri Lankans) claim descent from them. They are Buddhists and theirs is the official language of the island. (Ref. 136 ([187]), 211 ([284])) (Continue on page 207)

9.7 The Near East: 600 to 501 B.C.12 9.7.1 THE NEAR EAST Back to The Near East: 700 to 601 B.C. (Section 8.3) Three peoples of the Near East had absolute monarchies in this century - the Lydians, Medes and the Babylonians. Please see map this section, last chapter. 10 This

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143 9.7.1.1 THE ARABIAN PENINSULA Incense and myrrh (made from gum resin) were now fashionable as offerings to the gods, and they were produced in south Arabia and sent to the Mediterranean. The Sabeans of Yemen and Hadramaut took over dominance from the Mineans and promoted advanced engineering projects, including a large dam near Marib. Still later the Himyarites became paramount in the area. Northern Arabia was conquered by Darius, the Persian, at the close of the century. Additional Notes (p. 145) 9.7.1.2 MEDITERRANEAN COASTAL AREAS 9.7.1.2.1 ISREAL (JUDEA: PALESTINE) As the century began, internal strife and decay seemed imminent in Palestine. The prophet Jeremiah, writing at about 600 B.C., deplored the status and wrote like an undercover agent of Babylonia, seeming to hope that the Babylonians would conquer the Jews. If so, his hopes were soon fulfilled and Nebuchadrezzar took thousands of Jews as captives, to Babylon. While there, the prophet Ezekial, like Isaiah and Jeremiah before him, made fierce denunciations of idolatry and corruption of Jerusalem, but at the same time tried to keep the Jews from being absorbed by their captors. Even in bondage they stayed more or less intact, and they prospered and multiplied. But they did take over many Babylonian legends, which appeared later in the Old Testament, intermingled and fused with the true Hebrew stories. (See also Syria (p. 143)). The Jews were finally liberated from Babylon by Cyrus, the Persian, in 540-538 B.C. and they migrated back to their homeland. The prophet, the "2nd Isaiah" (actual author unknown), whose writings may actually be a mixture from several men, began to lift the Judaic religion to a lofty state, re-emphasizing the coming of God and the Messiah. The Jewish Temple was rebuilt in Jerusalem. (Ref. 45 ([66])) 9.7.1.2.2 LEBANON: PHOENICIA Phoenicia was ruled from 586 to 538 B.C. by the Chaldean Nebuchadrezzar although the city of Tyre did not fall until 573 B.C. after a thirteen year siege. Later the country was divided into four vassal kindgoms, under the Persians. Extensive sea activity continued, however, and it is possible that a Phoenician ship circumnavigated Africa about this time. (See Israel (p. 143)). (Ref. 222 ([296])) 9.7.1.3 IRAQ AND SYRIA Seeming to foretell the future importance of Iraq as a source of petroleum, even in this 6th century B.C. oil was found on the surface in various parts of the country and was called naphtha. Bitumen was used to calk ships. (Ref. 213 ([288])) An independent Babylonia prospered under the reign of Nebuchadrezzar II, the Chaldean, and Babylon became a famed metropolis, known particularly because of its famed hanging gardens. Ass-drawn wheeled carts, oar driven river boats and camel caravans all brought a mixture of food, precious metals, dyes, glassware and textiles to the city. The traffic also brought an occasional plague. (Ref. 222 ([296])) This second Babylonian Empire was essentially a Semitic civilization. After an initial attack on Judea, Nebuchadrezzar carried about 10,000 Jews back to the capital, but later almost all the population of Jerusalem was brought in bondage to Babylon, with the captivity period running from 586 to 538 B.C. Nebuchadrezzar supposedly built the ziggurat of Etemananki, thought to be the infamous Tower of Babel, which has since been destroyed. The base of this tower measured 300 feet on a side. Near the end of his life he also tried to reconstruct the entire city of Ur, making the reconstructed ziggurat a seven-stage one. Even these ancients did not escape periods of severe inflation, and the wars and building activities of Nebuchadrezzar resulted in a 50% rise in prices between about 560 and 550 B.C. (Ref. 213 ([288])) After the famous king’s death, the empire crumbled rapidly, hastened by the aberration of the priests of Marduk, and subsequently the Achaemenid Persians had no trouble taking control of the area. The contributions of Babylonia to posterity include the legends, carried through the captive Jews, that became a part of Europe’s religious lore, foundations of mathematics, astronomy, medicine, grammar, lexicography archeology, history and philosophy, as well as the design for the ziggurats, leading later to the Moslem towers. The Persian Cyrus became king of Babylon in 539 B.C. and the city lost its importance for evermore, Available for free at Connexions

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as the ruler lived in Persia. Cyrus did complete some reconstruction work in Ur, however, restoring a gate in the great wall and probably working on one of the temples. This was done in spite of the fact that there was then little trade to this city. (Ref. 238 ([318]), 28 ([48]), 46 ([76])) 9.7.1.4 IRAN: PERSIA As Assyria fell, Cyaxares, king of the Medes, extended his rule on west across Iran, but in 550 B.C., Cyrus, prince of Persia, rebelled against the Medes and defeated their then king, Astyages, joining the two peoples together to make Iran a dominant south- west Asian power. They had iron technology and were able to exploit the horse for communication and warfare. The word "Iran" in Persian is the same as the word "Aryan" in English. Cyrus proceeded to capture Babylonia and almost all of Syria and Sardis, in Asia Minor. This Persian Empire became one of the best governed in history. It soon reached the natural limits in size and extent which were set by the condition of the soil and climate restricting peasant agriculture, abutting on the steppe in the north, the desert in the south and limited on the Aegean only by their long supply line as they came up against the Greeks. (Ref. 140 ([190])) Cyrus’ son, Cambyses, extended the empire into Egypt and then went mad and committed suicide. Darius 1, of the junior Achaemenid line, became king in 521, then conquered the sick Scythians in Russia and carried the Persian Empire to the Indus River in Pakistan. The official religion of the Achaemenid Dynasty was Zorastrianism but in the western areas Judaism co-existed as a competing faith, and in some areas this resulted in a complex fusion of both religious themes. Toynbee (Ref. 220 ([294])) considers this empire the beginning of the "Universal State" of the old Syriac Society, but one must realize that the Syriac state was Semitic and the Persian conquest ended the Semitic rule in western Asia for a thousand years. (Ref. 140 ([190]), 220 ([294])) We should mention that still another Iranian tribe, the Parthians, existed at this time around the southern shore of the Caspian Sea. In this century they fell under the control of the Medes and then the Persians, but as we shall see they will be heard from again in the future. 9.7.1.5 ASIA MINOR 9.7.1.5.1 TURKEY Although Greek lonian cities continued to prosper along the coast, the country of Lydia expanded to occupy almost all the remainder of the peninsula. The fabulous wealth of these people and their famous King Croesus (570-546 B.C.) was based on a natural alloy of gold and silver called "electum", and coins were invented to act as a standard measure of this substance. Between these Lydians and the Medes, the Phrygian and Cimmerian peoples of Asia Minor were absorbed, although a fragment of the latter people survived in the Crimea as the "Tauri". By mid-century, just after Croesus had subdued lonia, on the coast, even Lydia was engulfed by Persia and disappeared as a nation. (Ref. 28 ([48]), 136 ([187])) Additional Notes (p. 145) 9.7.1.5.2 ARMENIA The Medes drove the Scythians out of Armenia by 590 B.C. and the newly arrived Armenians of probably Phrygian origin continued to live there as a vigorous race. Although technically under the dominion of the Persian Empire in the last half of the century, they remained essentially independent in action because of their remoteness from the Persian center of government. The Armenians retained the Anatolic or Hittite nose. Forward to The Near East: 500 to 401 B.C. (Section 10.3) Choose Different Region 1. Intro to Era (Section 9.1) 2. Africa (Section 9.2) 3. America (Section 9.4)

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145 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Central and Northern Asia (Section 9.5) Europe (Section 9.9) The Far East (Section 9.3) The Indian Subcontinent (Section 9.6) Pacific (Section 9.8)

NOTE : In the northwest part of the peninsula, nearest the cities of Phoenicia, was the Kingdom of Dedan, where Lihyanites carved lion reliefs above sandstone tombs, in 600 B.C. This was the alleged retreat of Moses, where he met the Biblical Reuel at the well. (Ref. 315 ([125]))

NOTE : Until 600 B.C. Ephesus, on the coast of Turkey, was a world-class lonian city, but thereafter silt began to fill up the harbor and it deteriorated. Now the Aegean is 11 kilometers away. A similar fate overtook Troy. (Ref. 281 ([113]))

9.8 The Pacific: 600 to 501 B.C.13 9.8.1 THE PACIFIC Back to The Pacific: 700 to 601 B.C. (Section 8.5) Most classical histories record that this and adjacent centuries saw continued spread of people from Indonesia through Melanesia and Micronesia eastward into Polynesia but as we have indicated in previous chapters this was probably impossible with the sea technology available at that time because of the strong westward ocean currents. Of interest in this regard is Braudel’s (Ref. 260 ([29]), page 201) statement that even in 1696 a galleon’s trip from Manila to Acapulco took six or seven months and resulted in extreme difficulties in the feeding of the crew. Again, we should reiterate that the Polynesians are not genetically related to either Melanesians or Micronesians and their cultural habits and physical characteristics are entirely different. In contrast, it has been found that the Indians of the northwest American coast and coastal islands at the eastern end of the Japan current across the far northern Pacific used the same adzes that were used centuries before in the northern Philippines. Captain Cook found these also in Tahiti and other Polynesian islands, while others of the l9th century found that the adz-handle and the method of securing the blade to the wooden handle were exactly the same among the Polynesians as among the northwest American Indians. 20th century anthropologists have confirmed these observations and added many other similarities. The inference regarding the origin of the Polynesians is clear. The only contact that the true Polynesians had with the Micronesians was through the Fiji Islands on the border of the two groups of islands where it seems that the pig and the chicken spread from west to east, in a limited area. One must realize, however, that these true, present day Polynesians did not spread down the east Pacific from the North American coastal islands until a much later period than this 6th century B.C. and in the meantime other peoples did inhabit at least many of these islands. The source of these aborigines remains somewhat uncertain, although, as detailed elsewhere in this manuscript, it is possible that they came from Central and/or South America. (Ref. 95 ([140])) Forward to The Pacific: 500 to 401 B.C. (Section 10.8) Choose Different Region 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Intro to Era (Section 9.1) Africa (Section 9.2) America (Section 9.4) Central and Northern Asia (Section 9.5) Europe (Section 9.9)

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CHAPTER 9. 600 TO 501 B.C.

6. The Far East (Section 9.3) 7. The Indian Subcontinent (Section 9.6) 8. The Near East (Section 9.7)

9.9 Europe: 600 to 501 B.C.14 9.9.1 EUROPE Back to Europe 700 to 601 B.C. (Section 8.1) 9.9.1.1 SOUTHERN EUROPE In this and the adjacent centuries there was extensive admixture not only of cultures and materials but of peoples, themselves, throughout all areas of southern Europe and even northern Africa and the eastern Mediterranean. There were migrations of peoples from Greece to the Aegean islands and Asia Minor and to Italy and southern France, while Phoenicians and Carthaginians moved to Italy, Sicily and Sardinia and the various tribes in both peninsulas intermingled, fought, traded, usurped territory and consolidated villages. Peoples of varying races and languages seemed to live side by side at times, only to fight at other times. Just as diverse languages seem to be no impediment to students, business men, teachers and travelers in Europe today, so it seems to have been true throughout the centuries. Thus eastern and Greek influences became prominent in Italy and the western Mediterranean. (Ref. 75 ([115])) 9.9.1.1.1 EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN ISLANDS There was no great political change in this century from the last except that Persia took over Rhodes and its colonies. (Ref. 38 ([59])) 9.9.1.1.2 GREECE The node of Greek trading was at the Peloponnesian isthmus and Greece’s first major city, Corinth, had developed there. About 600 B.C. a paved way allowed ships to be hauled across the isthmus. What Corinth owed to this key position geographically, Athens owed to the discovery of silver at nearby Laurion. It was with this that Athens subsequently financed its navy using a slave work-force running to five figures. (Ref. 249 ([98])) The Ionians attained great naval strength, but Samos, under Polycrates, became a great seapower also, using long-boats with as many as fifty oars. Greece continued to be polyglot with even the Ionians having four different dialects. (Ref. 122 ([170]), 136 ([187]), 216 ([291]), 58 ([86])) As the city-states increased in population subsistence became a problem in view of the poor soil, and various cities solved the potential crisis in various ways. While Corinth and Chalcis established overseas colonies, Sparta attacked and conquered nearby Greek neighbors and thus developed a military state. Athens, on the other hand, developed a specialized agricultural export trade and started manufacturing based on the export of wine and oil from their grapes and olives, in exchange for grain. Miletus and Eretria participated also in this trade. In Attica the tyrant15 Peisistratus started a policy of granting state loans to farmers who planted their land with grapes or olives. Solon forbade the export of any agricultural product except olive oil and this was the final touch as far as Greek soil was concerned, because the deep tap root of the olive tree soaked up the moisture far down in the limestone and did nothing to feed top soil. Even though Athens grew rich on the silver and olive oil, basic food supplies still had to be imported, necessitating continued trade. The unique artistic talents of the Athenians helped as they exported their famous "black-figure" vases with the black shapes standing out from an orange-red base16 . Meat was a rarity except at times of religious sacrifice. There were no palms in Greece, but figs were used, particularly dried, in winter. 14 This

content is available online at . tyrant was a man who gained power through coup d’etat and ruled extra-legally." (Ref. 139 ([192])) page 202 16 In 1970 a list showed that 1,560 of these vases had been found in Etruria, Italy, and many more have been found since then. (Ref. 75 ([115])) 15 "A

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147 A change in warfare technique early in this century was an important factor in changing social relationships in Greece. The horsemen of the battlefield, heretofore chiefly aristocrats because of the cost involved, were now being replaced by heavily armed and armored clusters of infantrymen called "hoplites" which were massed together, shields overlapping, in a "phalanx". The farmers were able to take over this role and the tendency toward the development of an aristocratic primacy was checked. Even then some social struggles developed. Peisistratus (560-527 B.C.) backed the cause of the poorer class of hill men against the aristocracy in one such uprising. It is possible that the psychology of the phalanx helped to promote the democratic ideal of all being equal, but contrary to what one might believe from perusing the classical school textbooks, Greek democracy was far from being total. Great numbers of slaves, which we shall discuss more in detail later, lacked all political rights; women were also disfranchised; and resident aliens were admitted to citizenship only very rarely. Actually, throughout this 6th century Greece citizenry was pretty much a closed and hereditary group united by ties of kinship. NOTE: Insert Maps taken from Reference 97 ANCIENT GREECE, CENTRAL GREECE Aesop, of fable fame, lived in the first half of this century, born as a slave, physically malformed, rough, dogmatic but brilliant. He became the Greek ambassador to Lydia, but later, after challenging the integrity of the priests of Apollo, he was sentenced to die and was thrown from a cliff. Thales, after receiving part of his education in Egypt, founded the Ionian School of Natural Philosophy and set up the first system of abstract geometry and is said to have predicted the eclipse of the sun which occurred in 585 B.C. Coins of small denomination were introduced in Greece at this time. Toynbee (Ref. 220 ([294])) says that 550 B.C. marks the end of the two hundred years of the acme of the Hellenic civilization, but in view of the developments in the latter part of this century and the next, many would disagree. 9.9.1.1.3 UPPER BALKANS Early in the century the Scythians extended their power as far west as present day Hungary, but then they were decimated by a mysterious disease and they drew back to their homeland around the Black Sea. Herodotus mentions a disease of the Scythians which made them sterile, but it is not known if this was one and the same scourge which facilitated their defeat by Darius, when late in the century (513 B.C.) the Persians crossed the Hellespont, conquered the silver and gold rich land of Thrace, making a buffer zone against Greece. The remaining Scythians in the north fled, burning the land behind them. Thrace had been flourishing with an extensive trade and Greek styles and luxuries. Strangely enough, the Persian invasion only seems to have stimulated Thracian art. Macedonia continued its own more or less unmolested development. The Indo-European Illyrians had settled in present day Albania and their mines had attracted Greeks who settled near them on the Adriatic coast. (Ref. 92 ([136]), 171, 28 ([48])) 9.9.1.1.4 ITALY The region between Florence and Rome, now known as Tuscany, was populated by the prosperous Etruscans who capitalized on the rich copper and iron deposits of the area. They had twelve cities in Tuscany, additional settlements in the Po Valley and they controlled western Italy down to Cumae. In the north after 600 B.C. Bononia began to produce a great series of bronze buckets shaped like truncated cones and bearing figured reliefs. These have been found as far away as Austria and Slovenia and the Bononian ones may be copies of the latter. On the Adriatic Sea, in this century, several villages were brought together to form the port of Spina, not far from present day Venice. Spina was centered on a long, wide canal which connected the sea to a lagoon. The city covered over 700 acres, chiefly on peninsulae connected to the mainland only by narrow tongues of land. It was peopled by Etruscans and Greeks as well as the more native Venetii, and some of the latter apparently converted to the Etruscan language. All of the western Etruscan city-states had their individual merchant navies which were active in the Tyrrhenian Sea, trading at the Greek and Cathaginian ports and their trader-pirates were active even in the Aegean, where they may have had a colony on the island of Lemnos. Many elements in their art and religion have been interpreted as Near East in origin, and as previously mentioned, traditionally it has been surmised that at least their rulers were immigrants from Asia Minor, Lydia in particular, but this has now been pretty well disproved. In 1964 there was excavated at Pergi, Italy, a letter written on sheets of gold leaf, in Etruscan, supposedly from Hiram, Lord of Tyre, to the king of Lavinia (near Rome) and Fell (Ref. 65 ([96])) interprets the language as belonging to the Anatolian group and related Available for free at Connexions

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to Hittite and Urartian. This does not, in itself, prove Near East ancestry for the Etruscan people. (Ref. 68 ([106]), 65 ([96])) Originally the people of Rome were ruled by Etruscan kings, who, in turn, appointed or nominated the senate from the patrician families. Throughout most of this century Rome was actually an Etruscan city, even though the common language there was an Indo European one, destined to become Latin. The draining of the marsh for erection of the Roman Forum by construction of the impressive Cloaca Maxima was a typical Etruscan kind of operation. Etruscan metal-work, pottery and armour appeared in Rome, along with Etruscan immigrants. Terracotta friezes are identical in Rome and Veii and the great sculptor, Vulca of Veii, made the statue of Jupiter for a huge temple in Rome. The last of the Roman kings was an Etruscan and when he was overthrown the republic was established. After 510 B.C. the senators were appointed by two elected consuls. One of these, Valerius Poplicola, promoted the Lex Valeria, sometimes called the "Habeas Corpus" of Rome, allowing the plebians to appeal decisions of the magistrates to the general assembly, thus freeing them from the worst class vindictiveness. (Ref. 229 ([307]), 75 ([115])) In the south, Pompeii was an important harbor for Nola and other Etruscan towns in Campania and fragments of their black pottery have been found there. Another Etruscan settlement was near Salerno. This Etruscan activity in Campania did not last long, however, as Etruscan Capua and Greek Cumae clashed violently about 525-524 B.C. when a force of Etruscans invaded the area in what has been called the "long march". Aristodemus, ruler of Cumae, repelled the invaders and later, with the help of adjacent Latin tribes, he further defeated the Etruscans near Aricia, between 506 and 504 B.C. (Ref. 75 ([115])) In a Greek colony in southern Italy, Pythagoras established his brotherhood and incidentally developed his famous proof of C2= A2+ B2 in a triangle. The group placed such emphasis on the theory of numbers that ultimately it involved itself in a world of mystical, mathematical abstractions. Sardinia and the western half of Sicily were conquered and occupied by Carthage in this century and of course there were multiple Greek colonies all along southern Italian coastal areas as well as on the southern and eastern coasts of Sicily. Somewhat replacing the Eubaean influence in the Mediterranean, another Greek city-state, Phocaea, now sent its fleet west to establish trading colonies at Massalia and Alalia (now Aleria) on eastern Corsica. These Greeks were interested mainly in trade for metals, and Etruria was the final resource. The capture of the Phocaean and other Ionian homelands by the Persians actually sent floods of Greek refugees to the west and thus Etruscan art of this period displays many Ionian characteristics. The southern parts of France, Italy, Greece and Turkey are today all very similar genetically in their populations, indicating the probable influence of this early Greek colonization. From about 540 B.C. onwards, the Caeritans, guided by lonian artists who had flooded the area, developed an impressive new school of ceramics which, among other things, produced handsome water jars with rich polychrome paintings of Greek mythological scenes. The new wave of Phocaean settlers who arrived at Alalia in mid-century extensively plundered the surrounding territories with a consequent reaction by Carthaginian and Caeritan navies. As noted earlier in this chapter when discussing Carthage, these allies were actually defeated by the Phocaeans, but the latter also lost 40 ships and soon took their families from Alalia to Rhegum, in southwest Italy. The unfortunate Phocaean sailors of the 40 captured ships were slaughtered on the adjacent shore by the Caeritans. (Ref. 92 ([136]), 75 ([115])) NOTE: Insert Map taken from reference 97, GREEK AND CARTHAGINIAN COLONIZATION OF SICILY AND SOUTHERN ITALY Vetulonia, to the north, seems to have reached the climax of its political power during this century as a walled city with a two mile perimeter. It had commercial relations across the Arno and Apennines and received amber from the Baltic. One of the Vetulonia dominated cities was Populonia on a peninsula projecting into the sea not far from Elba. It participated with the island in iron and copper works and eventually became the real smelting center, as the supply of wood fuel on Elba dwindled. Still north of Vetulonia and bordering on the sea was Volaterrae, noted for its fabrication of bronzes and sculptures of volcanic stone. The central city was surrounded by a wall four and one-half miles long, and its area of influence extended over to present day Florence, where mound tombs have been excavated. Volaterrae’s inland neighbor was Clusium, an area originally occupied by Italic speaking Umbrians, but which eventually became Etruscanized while Available for free at Connexions

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149 yet remaining biracial. King Lars Porsenna of Clusium was considered the most powerful Etruscan of all time, and his tomb has been described as a magnificent edifice, 300 feet square. The primary products of this inland community were agricultural, even though vast irrigation and drainage projects were necessary to limit flood waters. (Ref. 75 ([115])) 9.9.1.2 CENTRAL EUROPE In this century there was a continuing proliferation of the Hallstatt Celtic people throughout central Europe with a thin fringe of Teutons in the north. The Scythian nomads invaded, particularly in the great Hungarian plain, and greatly influenced Celtic art and society in general. From them may have come the war-horse with the bronze bits and harnesses and the head-hunting custom, all of which were later considered a part of the Celtic tradition. Bronze Age Indo-Europeans, Scythians and Greek concepts apparently all coalesced into the new Celtic pattern, with a center at Heuneburg, on the German Danube. (Ref. 116 ([165]), 91 ([135])) 9.9.1.3 WESTERN EUROPE By 500 B.C. the influx of Celts into southwestern Spain (Andalusia) was so great that the local spoken language changed from Phoenician to Celtic, but even so the Tartessian culture persisted with Carthaginians taking over the old Phoenician settlements. The Phocaean colony of Massilia was founded on the Mediterranean coast of France in 600 B.C. and it allowed commercial relations between the Celts and the Mediterranean cultures. Vinyards may have been planted on French soil about this time, after the Greeks started importing their own wine into the Marseilles area. All the Atlantic coast and Britain continued under Celtic domination. (Ref. 65 ([96]), 8 ([14]), 196 ([269])) 9.9.1.4 SCANDINAVIA Although in this century iron was used exclusively for farming and war, the Scandinavian tribes continued to make bronze implements, bibelots and costume jewelry of great excellence and intricacy. The populations were increasing rapidly and people were already beginning to migrate to the European continent, proper. The Finnish people continued to live in widely spread villages throughout the northern regions from northern Scandinavia to and perhaps beyond the Ural Mountains. (Ref. 88 ([131])) 9.9.1.5 EASTERN EUROPE Finns and Lapps lived throughout the northern areas of Russia while Balts inhabited the southern coast of the Baltic Sea and on east to the Don River. South of the Balts were the early Slavs, and now through this area the Scandinavians pushed up the Vistula River as far as the Carpathians. In southern Russia the Scythians were decimated by a mysterious disease, although Darius’ invasion may have had something to do with it also. In the spring of 514 B.C. Darius of Persia crossed the Bosporus with a vast army and moved through Thrace into Scythia, but his 700,000 men were very nearly consumed by the Scythians’ military wizardry as they retreated using a "scorched earth" policy, so that Darius finally had to withdraw the remnants of his starving army. (Ref. 176 ([242])) Forward to 500 to 401 B.C. (Section 10.4) Choose Different Region 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Intro to Era (Section 9.1) Africa (Section 9.2) America (Section 9.4) Central and Northern Asia (Section 9.5) The Far East (Section 9.3) The Indian Subcontinent (Section 9.6) The Near East (Section 9.7) Pacific (Section 9.8)

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CHAPTER 9. 600 TO 501 B.C.

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