A MANUAL
OF
Ancient History.
BY
M. E. THALHEIMER,
FORMERLY TEACHER OF HISTORY AND COMPOSITION IN THE PACKER COLLEGIATEINSTITUTE, BROOKLYN, N. Y.
VAN ANTWERP, BRAGG & CO.,
137 WALNUT STREET,
CINCINNATI.
28 BOND STREET,
NEW YORK.
THALHEIMER’S HISTORICAL SERIES.
- Eclectic History of the United States.
- History of England.
- General History.
- Ancient History.
- Eastern Empires (separate).
- History of Greece (separate).
- History of Rome (separate).
- Mediæval and Modern History.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by
WILSON, HINKLE & CO.,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.
ECLECTIC PRESS:
VAN ANTWERP, BRAGG & CO.,
CINCINNATI.
PREFACE.
Several causes have lately augmented both the means and themotives for a more thorough study of History. Modern criticism,no longer accepting primitive traditions, venal eulogiums, partisanpamphlets, and highly wrought romances as equal and trustworthyevidence, merely because of their age, is teaching us to sift thetestimony of ancient authors, to ascertain the sources and relativevalue of their information, and to discern those special aims whichmay determine the light in which their works should be viewed.The geographical surveys of recent travelers have thrown a floodof new light upon ancient events; and, above all, the inscriptionsdiscovered and deciphered within half a century, have set before usthe great actors of old times, speaking in their own persons fromthe walls of palaces and tombs.
Nor is the new knowledge of little value. If we look familiarlyinto the daily life of our fellow-men thousands of years ago, it is tofind them toiling at the same problems which perplex us; sufferingthe same conflict of passion and principle; failing, it may be, forour warning, or winning for our encouragement; in any case, reachingresults which ought to prevent our repeating their mistakes.The national questions which fill our newspapers were discussedlong ago in the Grove, the Agora, and the Forum; the relativeadvantages of government by the many and the few, were wroughtout to a demonstration in the states and colonies of Greece; andno man whose vote, no woman whose influence, may sway in everso small a degree the destinies of our Republic, can afford to beignorant of what has already been so wisely and fully accomplished.[iv]Present tasks can only be clearly seen and worthily performed inthe light of long experience; and that liberal acquaintance withHistory which, under a monarchical government, might safely be leftas an ornament and privilege to the few, is here the duty of themany.
The present work aims merely to afford a brief though