Civilization of Babylonia and Assyria Author:Morris Jastrow Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III SURVEY OF THE HISTORY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA In any general survey of the history of Babylonia and Assyria there are two facts of fundamental im... more »portance to be borne in mind: first, that the course of civilization in the land of the Euphrates and Tigris proceeds to the north, and second, that the culture is the outcome of a mixture of two diverse elements—of a non-Semitic with a Semitic population. The obvious conclusion from the first fact is that the settlements in the south, in what is known as the Euphrates Valley, are older than those in the north—a conclusion confirmed by the excavations conducted at southern mounds, which have yielded us the documents for tracing the civilization to a very early period, though as yet insufficient for carrying us back to the small beginnings. The second fact prepares us for the distinguishing feature of the oldest period as likewise revealed by the monuments, to wit, the struggle between the non-Semites or the Sumerians, and the Semites or Akkadians for supremacy. This struggle represents the natural process in the assimilation of two apparently incompatible elements. Civilization may be described as the spark that ensues when opposing ethnic elements come into contact. Culture up to a certain grade may develop in any centre spontaneously, but a high order of civilization is always produced through the combination of heterogeneous ethnic elements. There is no more foolish boast than that of purity of race. A pure race, as I have it put elsewhere,1 if it exists at all, is also a sterile race. 1 Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria, p. 5. 120 PLATE XXII FIG. I, 8U1IERIAN TYPE (TELLOH) FIG. 2, SEMITIC TYPE (BISMYA) Whether the Semitic Akkadians were the first settlers in the Euphrat...« less
ISBN-13: 9780405086687 ISBN-10: 0405086687 Pages:500 Edition:Facsimile of 1911 ed Rating: