History of Art in Chaldaea and Assyria, v. 1

A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria, v. 1

[Pg v] In face of the cordial reception given to the first two volumes of MM. Perrot and Chipiez's History of Ancient Art, any words of introduction from me to this second instalment would be presumptuous. On my own part, however, I may be allowed to express my gratitude for the approval vouchsafed to my humble share in the introduction of the History of Art in Ancient Egypt to a new public, and to hope that nothing may be found in the following pages to change that approval into blame. W. A. October 10, 1883. THE GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF CHALDO-ASSYRIAN CIVILIZATION. 1.Situation and Boundaries of Chalda and Assyria. [Pg 1] The primitive civilization of Chalda, like that of Egypt, was cradled in the lower districts of a great alluvial basin, in which the soil was stolen from the sea by long continued deposits of river mud. In the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates, as in that of the Nile, it was in the great plains near the ocean that the inhabitants first emerged from barbarism and organized a civil life. As the ages passed away, this culture slowly mounted the streams, and, as Memphis was older by many centuries than Thebes, in dignity if not in actual existence, so Ur and Larsam were older than Babylon, and Babylon than Nineveh. The manners and beliefs, the arts and the written characters of Egypt were carried into the farthest recesses of Ethiopia, partly by commerce but still more by military invasion; so too Chaldaic civilization made itself felt at vast distances from its birthplace, even in the cold valleys and snowy plateaux of Armenia, in districts which are separated by ten degrees of latitude from the burning shores where the fish god Oannes showed himself to the rude fathers of the race, and taught them "such things as contribute [Pg 2] to the softening of life."[1] In Egypt progressive development took place from north to south, while in Chalda its direction was reversed. The apparent contrast is, however, but a resemblance the more. The orientation, if such a term may be used, of the two basins, is in opposite directions, but in each the spread of religion with its rites and symbols, of written characters with their adaptation to different languages, and of all those arts and processes which, when taken together, make up what we call civilization, advanced from the seaboard to the river springs. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 28072
Author: Chipiez, Charles
Release Date: Feb 14, 2009
Format: eBook
Language: English

Contributors

Contributor (Author): Perrot, Georges, 1832-1914


Translator: Armstrong, Walter, Sir, 1850-1918