The Story of Mankind [16]
the free and
independent life of a new home but he had also made the Jews
the first of all nations to worship a single God.
THE PHOENICIANS
THE PHOENICIANS WHO GAVE US OUR
ALPHABET
THE Phoenicians, who were the neighbours of the Jews,
were a Semitic tribe which at a very early age had settled along
the shores of the Mediterranean. They had built themselves
two well-fortified towns, Tyre and Sidon, and within a short
time they had gained a monopoly of the trade of the western
seas. Their ships went regularly to Greece and Italy and
Spain and they even ventured beyond the straits of Gibraltar
to visit the Scilly islands where they could buy tin. Wherever
they went, they built themselves small trading stations, which
they called colonies. Many of these were the origin of modern
cities, such as Cadiz and Marseilles.
They bought and sold whatever promised to bring them a
good profit. They were not troubled by a conscience. If we
are to believe all their neighbours they did not know what the
words honesty or integrity meant. They regarded a well-filled
treasure chest the highest ideal of all good citizens. Indeed
they were very unpleasant people and did not have a single
friend. Nevertheless they have rendered all coming generations
one service of the greatest possible value. They gave
us our alphabet.
The Phoenicians had been familiar with the art of writing,
invented by the Sumerians. But they regarded these pothooks
as a clumsy waste of time. They were practical business men
and could not spend hours engraving two or three letters.
They set to work and invented a new system of writing which
was greatly superior to the old one. They borrowed a few
pictures from the Egyptians and they simplified a number of
the wedge-shaped figures of the Sumerians. They sacrificed
the pretty looks of the older system for the advantage of speed
and they reduced the thousands of different images to a short
and handy alphabet of twenty-two letters.
In due course of time, this alphabet travelled across the
AEgean Sea and entered Greece. The Greeks added a few
letters of their own and carried the improved system to Italy.
The Romans modified the figures somewhat and in turn taught
them to the wild barbarians of western Europe. Those wild
barbarians were our own ancestors, and that is the reason why
this book is written in characters that are of Phoenician origin
and not in the hieroglyphics of the Egyptians or in the nail-
script of the Sumerians.
THE INDO-EUROPEANS
THE INDO-EUROPEAN PERSIANS CONQUER
THE SEMITIC AND THE EGYPTIAN
WORLD
THE world of Egypt and Babylon and Assyria and Phoenicia
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
independent life of a new home but he had also made the Jews
the first of all nations to worship a single God.
THE PHOENICIANS
THE PHOENICIANS WHO GAVE US OUR
ALPHABET
THE Phoenicians, who were the neighbours of the Jews,
were a Semitic tribe which at a very early age had settled along
the shores of the Mediterranean. They had built themselves
two well-fortified towns, Tyre and Sidon, and within a short
time they had gained a monopoly of the trade of the western
seas. Their ships went regularly to Greece and Italy and
Spain and they even ventured beyond the straits of Gibraltar
to visit the Scilly islands where they could buy tin. Wherever
they went, they built themselves small trading stations, which
they called colonies. Many of these were the origin of modern
cities, such as Cadiz and Marseilles.
They bought and sold whatever promised to bring them a
good profit. They were not troubled by a conscience. If we
are to believe all their neighbours they did not know what the
words honesty or integrity meant. They regarded a well-filled
treasure chest the highest ideal of all good citizens. Indeed
they were very unpleasant people and did not have a single
friend. Nevertheless they have rendered all coming generations
one service of the greatest possible value. They gave
us our alphabet.
The Phoenicians had been familiar with the art of writing,
invented by the Sumerians. But they regarded these pothooks
as a clumsy waste of time. They were practical business men
and could not spend hours engraving two or three letters.
They set to work and invented a new system of writing which
was greatly superior to the old one. They borrowed a few
pictures from the Egyptians and they simplified a number of
the wedge-shaped figures of the Sumerians. They sacrificed
the pretty looks of the older system for the advantage of speed
and they reduced the thousands of different images to a short
and handy alphabet of twenty-two letters.
In due course of time, this alphabet travelled across the
AEgean Sea and entered Greece. The Greeks added a few
letters of their own and carried the improved system to Italy.
The Romans modified the figures somewhat and in turn taught
them to the wild barbarians of western Europe. Those wild
barbarians were our own ancestors, and that is the reason why
this book is written in characters that are of Phoenician origin
and not in the hieroglyphics of the Egyptians or in the nail-
script of the Sumerians.
THE INDO-EUROPEANS
THE INDO-EUROPEAN PERSIANS CONQUER
THE SEMITIC AND THE EGYPTIAN
WORLD
THE world of Egypt and Babylon and Assyria and Phoenicia
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