to north, Comte dwells on the tendency of pastoral peoples to overrun agriculturists in virtue of their ruder psychology. But neither he, nor any subsequent writer known to the author, deals with the rise of civilisation as being in terms, not only of "climate" but of the less or more nomadism induced thereby; neither has anyone known to the present writer worked out the causes of the supersession of nomadism. In fact, the main object of the present book is to propound these ideas. Peisker's excellent contributions to the Cambridge Mediæval History give the best view of the influence of nomadism in Eurasia, but he does not deal with nomadism in relation to the rise of civilisation, nor to the very striking case of America enlarged on in the text. As to current views of the conditioning forces of civilisation, the reader should consult Flint's Philosophy of History, Buckle's History of Civilisation (Routledge's edition), Robertson's Evolution of States and Buckle and his Critics, Miss Semple's Influences of Geographic Environment and Payne's History of the New World (unfortunately left incomplete). There is no history of "Nomadism" as such, and Howorth's History of the Mongols takes little or no account of causation. Even the chapters in Lavisse and Rambaud's Histoire Générale are about the least satisfactory in that otherwise excellent work. The Highlander in History and The Sea in Civilisation are perhaps treated most systematically in Miss Semple's Influences. The present writer has amplified the former topic, and brought both into organic relation to the other subjects dealt with in the text. Sex in History.-The suffragette movement has called forth a wealth of "feminist" literature. causing really an embarras de richesses. Ward's Pure Sociology should be consulted for its relevant chapters, while Letourneau's La Femme gives perhaps the most cyclopedic view of the subject. The Development and Drift of Civilisation.-The writer knows of no systematic and exhaustive treatment of "Custom" as a social force, the subject being treated incidentally in various branches of literature. A Glasgow professor named Millar wrote a book in 1771 on Observations concerning the Distinction of Ranks in Society, which, however, does not go very deep, and there has been hardly any further penetration since, despite heroic attempts like M. Majewski's Science de la Civilisation, which is so extremely "algebraic" that it has the appearance more of a work on geometry than sociology. The part that religion played in the evolution of kings is treated of in the new edition of Frazer's Golden Bough. The writer had only vague enough hints as to the origin of classical "republicanism," and his theory is to be viewed as mainly tentative. Fustel de Coulanges' Histoire des Institutions Politiques de l'ancienne France contains the completest and most rigorous study of the origins of European feudalism. Letourneau's Property and the late Duke of Argyll's Unseen Foundations of Society take the wider view of feudalism urged in the text. Bryce's Holy Roman Empire and Fisher's later work (The Medieval Empire) should be consulted for the details of this supremely confusing conception. Readers interested in the question of slavery should read Wallon's Histoire and Letourneau's L'Esclavage. As stated in the text, we are very much in the dark as to how slavery merged into serfdom, and serfdom in turn ceased to be feudal bondage-with the end of which came industrialism and parliamentarianism. When we get to Parliaments, all the standard histories of Europe apply, besides innumerable special works, and so no special recommendations need be made except to note Mr. G. P. Goochs' excellent History and Historians in the Nineteenth Century, which should be in every student's library. All the other books mentioned in the text are worth consulting as regards the special bearings for which they are cited. 1 Coulanges incidentally states the same view in his Origines (p. xii): "Il s'est produit chez toutes les races. Il n'est ni romain ni germain; il appartient à la nature humaine." (See also monograph by Guiraud, p. 143.) CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE ("Nomadic " interventions are in Clarendon type, but only the main movements are indicated) B.C. 6000. Civilisation believed to be traceable back as far as this in Babylon, but probably began much earlier both in Egypt and Mesopotamia. Though the material remains found in Babylonia may indicate greater antiquity than anything yet discovered in Egypt, it does not necessarily follow that the Nile valley really lagged behind the Tigris-Euphrates country. Brick tablets may be even more lasting than sculptured granite blocks, and "luck" may simply have favoured longer preservation in one case than the other. In any event, Egypt's apparently completer natural protection from nomadism may really have favoured culture earlier in time and permitted a stabler development in politics. In this connection the reader should note that the ancient Egyptian cities were not walled like those in Mesopotamia. This suggests less liability to disturbance both from barbarism without and irruptions within. Though Mesopotamia probably stood for a broader civilisation, as noted earlier (meaning thereby a larger cultivable area of land, a greater productivity, and denser populations), the land was always much more divided politically than Egypt, and there is a greater impression of historical grandeur in the case of the Pharaohs, whose dynasties recede into slanting majestic solitudes like the mountains of Thibet." 66 5000 (about). Babylon apparently invaded by a warlike "Semitic " race, perhaps from Arabia (the historical Babylonians). 4400 (about). Accession of Menes in Egypt (first dynasty, there being in all over thirty, covering a period of 4000 years). B.C. 3866. Probable date of the “Step Pyramid the Great Sphinx at Gizeh. at Saqqarah and 3766. Egyptian wars against robber tribes, and conquest of 3733. Reign of Cheops, builder of the Great Pyramid. The 3000 Wall built across Isthmus of Suez to keep out 2466. Expedition against the Libyans. 2342. Reign of Hammurabi (see p. 82) in Babylon. 2305. Lake Moeris constructed in Egypt for Nile overflow. 1700. Elamites (mountaineers) invade Babylon. 1600. Expulsion of the Hyksos. 1420. King Amenhotep IV institutes a strictly monotheistic years, being overcome by the resurgent national forms, 1345. Reign of Ramses II, "The Great." The supposed 1193-1184. Traditional date of the Trojan War. Phoenician 1135. Nebuchadrezzar invades Syria. 1123. Chow Dynasty in China, which evolved on lines. 1100. Dorian invasion of Greece. 1075. Priests usurp rule in Egypt. 1025-953. Reigns of David and Solomon in Israel. Zoroaster in Persia. "feudalistic" 936. Predatory raids into China of Tatars, who remain 814. Traditionary foundation of Carthage, and Laws of 753. Traditionary foundation of Rome (Romulus and Remus). |