Chương Chương 9 · World

The world of Egypt and Babylon and Assyria and Phœnicia had existed

almost thirty centuries and the venerable races of the Fertile Valley

were getting old and tired. Their doom was sealed when a new and

more energetic race appeared upon the horizon. We call this race the

Indo-European race, because it conquered not only Europe but also made

itself the ruling class in the country which is now known as British

India.

These Indo-Europeans were white men like the Semites but they spoke

a different language which is regarded as the common ancestor of all

European tongues with the exception of Hungarian and Finnish and the

Basque dialects of Northern Spain.

When we first hear of them, they had been living along the shores of

the Caspian Sea for many centuries. But one day they had packed their

tents and they had wandered forth in search of a new home. Some of them

had moved into the mountains of Central Asia and for many centuries

they had lived among the peaks which surround the plateau of Iran and

that is why we call them Aryans. Others had followed the setting sun

and they had taken possession of the plains of Europe as I shall tell

you when I give you the story of Greece and Rome.

For the moment we must follow the Aryans. Under the leadership of

Zarathustra (or Zoroaster) who was their great teacher many of them had

left their mountain homes to follow the swiftly flowing Indus river on

its way to the sea.

[Illustration: THE STORY OF A WORD]

Others had preferred to stay among the hills of western Asia and there

they had founded the half-independent communities of the Medes and the

Persians, two peoples whose names we have copied from the old Greek

history-books. In the seventh century before the birth of Christ, the

Medes had established a kingdom of their own called Media, but this

perished when Cyrus, the chief of a clan known as the Anshan, made

himself king of all the Persian tribes and started upon a career of

conquest which soon made him and his children the undisputed masters of

the whole of western Asia and of Egypt.

[Illustration: THE INDO-EUROPEANS AND THEIR NEIGHBOURS]

Indeed, with such energy did these Indo-European Persians push their

triumphant campaigns in the west that they soon found themselves in

serious difficulties with certain other Indo-European tribes which

centuries before had moved into Europe and had taken possession of the

Greek peninsula and the islands of the Ægean Sea.

These difficulties led to the three famous wars between Greece and

Persia during which King Darius and King Xerxes of Persia invaded the

northern part of the peninsula. They ravaged the lands of the Greeks

and tried very hard to get a foothold upon the European continent.

But in this they did not succeed. The navy of Athens proved

unconquerable. By cutting off the lines of supplies of the Persian

armies, the Greek sailors invariably forced the Asiatic rulers to

return to their base.

It was the first encounter between Asia, the ancient teacher, and

Europe, the young and eager pupil. A great many of the other chapters

of this book will tell you how the struggle between east and west has

continued until this very day.

THE ÆGEAN SEA

THE PEOPLE OF THE ÆGEAN SEA CARRIED THE CIVILISATION OF OLD ASIA