THE UNRIVALED HISTORY OF THE WORLD CONTAINING A FULL AND COMPLETE RECORD OF THE HUMAN RACE FROM THE EARLIEST HISTORICAL PERIOD TO THE PRESENT TIME, EMBRACING A GENERAL SURVEY OF THE PROGRESS OF MANKIND IN COMPLETE IN FIVE VOLUMES. BY- ISRAEL SMITH CLARE, AUTHOR OF ILLUSTRATED UNIVERSAL HISTORY," AND HISTORICAL COMPENDIUM." "6 COMPLETE "Not to know what happened before we were born is to remain always a child; for what were VOLUME I. ANCIENT ORIENTAL NATIONS. ILLUSTRATED WITH MAPS, PORTRAITS AND VIEWS. CHICAGO: PUBLISHED BY UNRIVALED PUBLISHING CO. 130 ADAMS STREET. PREFACE. HIS being the third work on the subject of universal history which the author has given to the public, he has endeavored to make it as comprehensive and as full as space would permit; seeking to make the work take as wide a scope as possible, and endeavoring to dwell in proper proportions on every field of the history of mankind; so as to take in the political, religious, literary and social history of every nation which has had a history during the five thousand years of civilization Formerly, historians, to their utter reproach, dwelt almost wholly on the political and military affairs of nations; ignoring everything, or almost everything, relating to the religion, science, literature, art and social life of the various nations. In recent times there has been a taste for running into the opposite extreme of unduly expanding everything concerning the life of the people, to the exclusion of a large portion of the national or political history of each people. I have sought to avoid extremes in either direction, endeavoring all the time to preserve a proper mean, not dwarfing any one department of history at the expense of the others. It must be remembered that the great movements of mankind and the general progress of the human race are more connected with their national than with their social history, and that any system which subordinates the former to the latter is false. I, of course, refer to the extreme tendency to dwarf the national history below its proper proportions, or keep it wholly out of view. The political history of nations must constitute the groundwork of historical science. On the other hand, I have steadily endeavored to avoid making this work a mere "drum and trumpet history." I have carefully sought to avoid dwelling mainly upon the civil and military annals of nations. The general condition of each nation in social life, in religion, and in intellectual culture, is fully dwelt upon; so as to enable the reader to obtain an intelligent view of the condition and progress of mankind through the ages. The history of every nation which has had a history is here given. The history of all important ancient nations is related; not only the history of the great empires. history of the Hebrews, the Phoenicians, the ancient Syrians, Lydia and other kingdoms of Asia Minor, the ancient Ethiopians, the republic of Carthage, the Parthian and New Persian Empires, the ancient Hindoos and the ancient Chinese, is given; as well as the history of Egypt, Chaldæa, Assyria, Media, Babylonia, Persia, Greece and Rome. The In regard to the general arrangement of the work, the ethnic plan has been followed in giving the ancient history; the history of each ancient nation being fully related. But concerning the medieval and modern history, the synchronistic plan has been adopted; as the relations of the nations of Europe for the last fourteen centuries have been so inti mately connected that were the full history of each to be separately given, a vast deal of frequent repetition would be constantly necessary. The geographical condition of the various countries is briefly noted, and their physical features are described. An important feature of the work are the historical maps, thirty-nine of which were carefully drawn by the author himself. The political geography of the historical portions of the earth is thus placed before the eye of the reader, so as to enable him to obtain at a glance a knowledge of the political changes which have been going on during five thousand years of history. The numerous illustrations in the work are not simply designed for purposes of embellishment, but are intended for instruction as well. With these few prefatory remarks, these volumes are submitted to an intelligent public. I. S. CLARE. |