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Henry M. Sayre
The Challenge To Cultural Identity 439
The Fate of the Native Americans 439
The British in China and India 440
The Rise and Fall of Egypt 441
The Opening of Japan 441
Africa and Empire 442
READINGS
13.1 fromOicl:ens. Sketches8y8ozl1836) 418
132 from Flaubert. Madame Bova,y(t856) 418
13.3 from Narrative of the Ufeof Frederick Douglass (18451 419
13.4 Charles Baudelaire. "Carrion," in Les Fleurs du ma/ (18571
(translation by Richard Howard] 424
13.5 from Charles Baudelaire. "The Painter of Modern Life" 11863] 425
13.6 from Ralph Waldo Emetson. Nature. Chapter I (1836] 438
13.7 from Henry David Thoreau. Waklen. or Ute in the Woods.
Chapter 2(1854) 438
13.8 from Walt Whitman. "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry· (1856) 438
13.9 from Walt Whitman. "Song of Myself: In Leaves of Grass (18671 439
13.10 from Joseph Conrad. Hean of Darkness (1899] 443
FEATURES
CLOSER LOOK Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Pany 434
CONTINUrTY & CHANGE Toward a New Century 445
Ill The Modernist World
Iii THE ARTS IN AN AGE OF GLOBAL
CONFRON TATION 447
The Rise of Modernism in the Arts 448
Post-Impressionist Painting 448
Pablo Picasso's Paris: At the Heart of the Modero 453
The Invention of Cubism: Braque's Partnership with Picasso 455
Futurism: The Cult of Speed 457
A New Color: Matisse and the Expressionists 458
Modernist Music and Dance 459
Early Twentieth-Century Literature 461
The Great Wa r and Its Aftermath 462
Trench Warfare and the Literary Imagination 462
Escape from Despair: Dada 464
The Harlem Renaissance 467
The Blues and Jau 468
Russia: Art and Revolution 470
Freud and the Workings of the Mind 474
The Dreamwork of Surrealist Painting 474
The Stream-of Consciousness Novel 477
READINGS
14.1 from Gertrude Stein. The Autobiography ofAlice 8. Tok/as (1932) 453
142 from Guillaume Apollinaire. ·Lundi. Rue Christine" 11913] 461
14.3 Ezra Pound. · in a Station of the Metro" 11913] 461
14.4 WilliamCarlos Williams. "The Red Wheelbarrow: From Spring And All
(1923) 462
14.5 Wilfred Owen. · oulce et Decorum est" (1918] 463
14.6a from T. S. Eliot. The Waste Land (19211 463
14.6b from T. S. Eliot. The Waste Land (19211 463
14.6c from T. S. Eliot. The Waste Land (19211 464
14.6d from T. S. Eliot. The Waste Land (19211 464
14.7 Tristan Tzara. · oada Manifesto 1918" (1918) 464
14.8 from Hugo Ball. "Gadji beri bimba" (19161 465
14.9 Alain Locke. The New Negro (1925] 467
14.10 from Langston Hughes. · Jazz Band In A Parisian Cabaret" 11925] 468
14.11 from James Joyce. Ulysses (19221 478
14.lZ from Marcel Proust. Swann's Wayl1913] 479
FEATURES
CLOSER LOOK Eisenstein's The Battleship Potemkin. "Odessa Steps
Sequence· 472
CONTINUITY & CHANGE Guernica and the Specter of War 481
IT;il Decades of Change
IIL!I THE PLURAL SELF IN A GLOBAL CULTURE 483
Europe After the War: The Existential Quest 485
The Philosophy of Sartre: Existentialism 485
The Theater of the Absurd 486
America After the War: Triumph and Doubt 486
Action Painting: Pollock and de Kooning 486
Women Abstract Expressionists 488
The Beat Generation 489
Cage and the Aesthetics of Chance 490
Architecture in the 1950s 492
Pop Art 493
The Winds of Change 496
Black Identity 497
The Vietnam War: Rebellion and the Arts 501
Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five 501
Artists Against the War 501
The Feminist Movement 504
The Postmodern Era 506
Pluralism and Diversity in Postmodern Painting 507
Pluralism and Diversity in Postmodern Literature 509
Cross-Fertilization in the Visual Arts 51O
A Multiplicity of Media: New Technology 513
READINGS
15.1 from Jean-Paul Sartre. No Exit119M) 485
15.Za from Samuel Becken. Waiting for Godot. Act I (1953] 486
15.Zb from Samuel Becken. Waiting for Godot. Act 11 (1953] 486
15.3 fromAllen Ginsberg. "Howl" (1956] 490
15.4a from Ralph Ellison. Invisible Man (19521 498
15.4b from Ralph Ellison. Invisible Man (19521 498
15.5 Amiri Baraka. "Ka'ba· (19691 500
15.6 from Gil Scon-Heron. "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" (1970) 500
15.J from Kurt Voonegut. Slaughterhouse-Fivelt969) 501
15.8 Anne Sexton. "Her Kind" (1960) 504
15.9 fromJorge Luis Borges. "The Analytical Language of John Wilkins: in
Other Inquisitions 1937-1952. trans. Ruth L. C. Simms (19641 509
15.10 Jorge Luis Borges. · Borges and r (19671 Translated by J. E I. 510
15.11 Aurora Levins Morales. · child of the Americas" 11986] 510
FEATURES
CLOSER LOOK Basquiat's Charles the First 502
CONTINUITY & CHANGE The Environment and the Humanist Tradition 519
Glossary G-1
Photo and Text Credits C-1
Index 1-1
CONTENTS vii
DEAR READER,
It has been fifteen years si nce I first sat down to write this book. and now. with the publ ication of
this third edition, I'd like to take the opportunity to reflect a moment on this book and the val ue of
the humanities in general.
The great question facing the humanities fifteen years ago was si mple and direct: Do we or do
we not include the cultures of the world, beyond the West, in the text? Many of us teachi ng the
cou rse felt unequipped to take on the arts and cul tures of Asia, Africa. and Central and South
America. Others felt that there was already too m uch to cover in simply addressing the Western
world. But as work on the book proceeded, it beca me evident to me that taking a global perspec-
tive was not only important but essential to the human istic enterprise in general.
And w hat. you might well ask. is the humanistic enterprise in the first place? At the m ost
superficial level, a humanities course is designed to help you identify the significant works of art,
archi tectu re, m usic, theater, ph ilosophy, and literature of distinct
cultures and ti mes, and to recogn ize how these different expres-
sions of the human spi rit respond to and reflect t heir historica l
contexts. More broadly, you should arrive at some understanding of
the creative process and how what we- and others- have made
and continue to val ue reflects w hat we all think it means to be
human. But in studying other cu ltures-entering into w hat the
British-born. Ghanaian-Am erican philosopher and novelist Kwame
Anthony Appiah has described as a "conversation between people
from different ways of life" - we learn even more. We turn to other
cultures because to empathize w ith others, to w illingly engage in
d iscourse wi th ideas strange to o urselves, is perhaps the f unda-
mental goal of the humanities. The humanities are, above all, disci-
pl ines of openness, inclusion. and respectful interaction. What we
see reflected in other cultures is usually something of ourselves.
the objects of bea uty that delight us, the w eapons and the w ars
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
that threaten us, the melodies and harmonies that soothe us. the
sometimes t roubling bu t often penetrating thoughts that w e en- Henry M . Sayre is Distinguished Professor of Art H istory
cou nter in the ether of ou r increasingly digi tal globe. Through the at Oregon State U niversity-Cascades Campus in Bend,
human ities we learn to seek common ground. Orego n . He earned his Ph .D. in Amer ican Literatu re
from the Un iversity of Wash ington. He is producer and
creator of th e I 0-part telev is ion series A World of Art:
Works in Progress, which a ired on PBS in the fall of 1997;
and author of seven books, includ ing A World of Art; The
Visual Text of William Carlos Williams; The Object of Per-
formance: The American Avant-Garde since 1970; and an
art history book for children, Cave Paintings co Picasso.

V I II
WHAT'S NEW
Discovering the Humanities h elps students see co ntex t and
make connections across th e human it ies by tying together
th e entire cultural expe rie nce through a narrative storytell-
ing approach. Writte n around Henry Sayre's belief that
stude nts lea rn best by remember ing sto ries rather t h a n
memor izing facts, it captures the vo ices that have sh aped
a nd influenced h uman thi nking a nd creat ivity th roughout
our history.
For th is new ed ition, we've created an extraordinary n ew
learni ng a rchitectu re: REVEL. Eve ry feature that students
formerly accessed through MyArtsLab is now embedded in
this new cross-platform env ironment-music, architectu ral
panoramas, Closer Looks, studio technique videos, self-tests,
a nd so on. You can zoom in on a piece of a rt, switch on the
ch apter audio, and listen to the text bei ng read to you wh ile
you look at the image. You can begin your day at home,
work ing with a ch apte r o n your laptop, get on th e bus, and
continue working on your iphone, arrive at school, and open
th e chapter on your ipad. REVEL is as fully mobile as you a re,
and you can use it on a ny dev ice, a nywhere, and anyti tne.
We firmly believe that this new learning arch itecture will
help students engage even more mean ingfully in th e critical
thinking process, helping them to understand how cultu res
influe nce one another, how ideas are exchanged and evolve
over ti tne, and how th is collective process has led us to where
we stand today. With several new features, th is th ird edition
helps stude nts to understand context a nd make connections
across time, place, and culture.
To prepare th e third edition, we partnered with ou r cur·
rent users to hear what was successful and wh at needed to be
improved. The feedback we rece ived through focus groups,
o nline surveys, a nd reviews he lped shape and inform th is
new ed ition. For instance, many use rs felt that more lite ra·
ture needed to be included in the book, a nd we have tried to
accotnmodate that des ire by add ing discussion of Chaucer,
Sh akespeare, A lexander Pope, a nd many modern auth ors.
Where some felt that our coverage fell short-on He llen ic
Greece, Mann erism and Postmodernism, for instance-we
have extended our d iscussions. Here are some examples of
these ch anges:
I. Chapter I introduces the new research at <;::atalhoyiik.
2. Chapter 2 expands th e coverage of Hellenic sculptu re,
including a third image of the Pe rgamon frieze and
th e second sculpture from th e "Vanquished Gauls"
grouping.
3. Chapter 6 has sign ificant n ew coverage of the Li tnbourg
brothers, focusing on January and February frotn Les Tres
Riches Heures, and an extended d iscussion of C haucer's
Cancerbury Tales has been added, includi ng a Reading
from the Prologue, the first instance of an effort to
include much more literature in th is edition.
4. C hapter 7 expands on the coverage of women in Italian
humanist society by incorporating Paola Tinagli's
arguments in her book Women in Italian Renaissance Art:
Gender, Represencation, Identity.
5. C hapter 8 now includes a tnuch fuller d iscussion of
Sh akespeare, including th e "O, wh at a rogue and
peasant slave am I" speech from Hamlet Act II, Scene 2,
and the "To be, or not to be" soliloquy from Act III ,
Scene I.
6. C h apte r 9 includes add itional material on African
ritual practice, includ ing two new images.
7. C hapter 10 further clarifies Mannerism with a new
introduction and the addition of Arcimboldo's Summer,
Michelangelo's Pieta, and Parrnigianino's The Madonna
with the Long N eek.
8. C h apter 11 now includes an extended discussio n of
A lexander Pope's An Essay on Man, a nd a new sec·
tion on th e English Garden includi ng Pope's Villa at
Twickenham.
9. C hapter 14 now includes a long section on early
twentieth-century literature, including works by
Apollinai re, Pound, and Will iams. Three long excerpts
from The Waste Lond have been added to the section
on The G reat War and Its Aftennath. Finally a n ew
section on Th e Stream-of-Consciousness Novel has
been added, includ ing a long excerpt from the Molly
Blootn soliloquy at the end of Ulysses and the madeleine
motnent from Proust's Swan n's Way.
10. In Chapter 15, the concludi ng section on The
Postmodern Era has been expanded from 3 to 12 pages
including a d iscussion of Borges (and his story "Borges
and I" in full), pain tings by Gerhard Richter, Pat Steir,
and David P. Bradley, and video works by Bill Viola,
Pipilotti Rist, Isaac Julien, Phil Coll ins, and Janine
Antoni.
These changes reflect what we have learn ed about h ow
h uman ities courses are constantly evolving. We h ave learned
that more courses are be ing taught o n l ine and t h at
instructors are exploring new ways to help their students en-
gage with course mater ial. A n ed it ion ago, we deve loped
MyArtsLab with these needs in m ind. Now, REVEL moves
us in an even more interactive and compelling d irect ion.
With powerful learning tools integrated into the book, the
textbook expe rience is now a seam less env ironme nt in
wh ich all of these tools are available at your fingertips.
All of these changes ca n be see n through the n ew, ex-
panded, or improved featu res shown here.
PREFACE
.IX
NEW!
CONTINUING PRESENCE OF THE PAST
This new feature helps students to understand how th e arts of the past retnain relevant today. Designed to un·
derscore th e book's emphasis on continu ity and change, th e Continu ing Presence of the Past in each chapter,
identified with a special icon, connects an a rtwork frotn that period to a contemporary artwork in a dynamic
d igital feature found in REVEL as well as in MyA rtsLab.
For exatnple, in C h apter 3, Continuing Presence of th e Past focuses on Cai Guo·Qiang's Project to Extend the
Great Wall of China by /0,000 Meters: Project for Extraterrestrials, No. IO in wh ich the artist detonated a se ries of
explosions from the western end of the Great Wall th at slithe red in a red line on th e horizon to fonn an
epheme ral extension of the G reat Wall itself. Gunpowder, originally a force for destructio n, h ad now become
an act of creation.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES AND THINKING BACK QUESTIONS - -1:::=-::=.-:. _.- _

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onluI Discovering the Humanities but also national course outcomes. In ad·
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d itio n , the Thi nking Back features pose c rit ical-thinking questions as
well as rev iewing the material covered in th e ch apter.
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These highly visual features offer an in-depth look at a par·

ticular work from o ne of th e d isciplines of the humanities.
The annotated discussions give students a personal tour of ...,_ a-t.'> a.- <i£..nW,, Dr4p, .. full.,(
the work-with informative captions and labels-to help H ..,......,.....~.. ,.. ......... '-1. ,.. ....
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students understand its mean ing. C ritical-thinking questions, u....,.......i ..... _ .. .....,..__ ••11,-,.....
- i ,i.pt.,.n... - - - i 11.... foh. i.
Something to Think About, prompt students to make connec· ,N ,.., ,._,1. - - ""-<h•, <k•FI" J,..
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tions and further apply this detailed knowledge of the work . _..,.,,_.,.••urn•~ l,y - ·
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CONTINUITY & CHANGE ESSAYS - - -

These fu ll-page essays at th e e nd of each chapter illustrate

th e influence of one cultural period upon another and show
cultural changes over time. _......,o..i, ........,. .. ,.,.,;1,.,..,......__ i...............,....,..._o..l-·--•
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PRIMARY SOURCE EXCERPTS

Each chapter of Discovering the Humanities includes pr imary
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source readi ngs in the form of brief excerpts from importan t
works included with in th e body of the text.
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CONTINUITY & CHANGE ICONS •

These in·text references provide a window
into the past. T h e eye-catch ing icons ena-
ble students to refer to tnaterial in other
chapters that is relevant to the topic at
hand.

_ ,,,

x PREFACE
GIVE YOUR STUDENTS CHOICES
Pearson humanities titles are available in the following formats to
give )'Our studencs more choices--and more tua)'S to save.
E xplore REVEL- dynamic content matched to the ,vay
today's students r ead, think, and learn.
Ideal for Sayre's approach to th e hutnanities, REVEL includes
• spoken aud io,
• pan/zoom and scale markers for nearly every image,
• 360-degree a rchitectu ra l pa noramas and s imulat ions of
major monuments,
• media interactives a nd videos, includi ng "students on site"
videos shot and narrated by profic ient student learners,
and
• quizzing that allows studen ts to ch eck their understand ing
at regular intervals.
Fully mobile, REVEL enables students to interact with course
material on the devices they use, anywhere and anyti tne.
REVEL's assignabi lity and track ing tools help educators
• ensu re t h at students a re completing their reading and
understandi ng core concepts
• establish a clear, detai led schedule that h elps students stay
on task
• monitor both class assignment completion and individual
student ach ievement
Build your o,vn P earson Custom course material.
For enrollmen ts of at least 25, the Pearson Custom Library
allows you to create your o,vn textbook by
• cotnbining chapters from best-selling Pearson textbooks in
the sequence you want
• addi ng your own content, such as a gu ide to a local art mu-
seum, a map of monuments in your area, your syllabus, or a
study guide you've created.
A Pearson Custotn Library book is priced according to the
numbe r of chapters and tnay even save your students money.
To begin building )'Our custom rext, visit www.pearsoncustomli-
brary.com or contact your Pearson representative.
Explore additional cost-sav ing options.
The B ooks a la Carte edition offers a convenient, three-
hole-punched, loose-leaf version of the traditional text at a
d iscounted price-allowing students to take only what they
need to class. Books a la Carte ed itions are available both
with and without access to MyArtsLab. Students save 35%
over the list price of the rraditiona! book. ISBN: 0- 13-387833-3
The CourseSmart eTextbook offe rs t he satne content as
the p rinted text in a convenient on li ne format-with
highl ighting, on li ne search, a nd p rin ting capab ilities.
W ith a CourseSmart eText, students can search t he text,
make notes online, prin t out read ing assignments that in-
corporate lecture notes, and booktnark importan t passages
for later review. Students save 60% over the list price of the
rraditional book. www.coursesmart.com
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Support Students with MyArtsLab-a robust companion
study environment
For those customers wh o prefe r companion study resources,
MyArtsLab offers:
• W riting Space, providing a single place to create and eval-
uate graded writi ng assignments, featuring tools for devel-
oping and assessi ng concept mastery and critical th inking
• media assign ments such as C loser Look tours, panoromas,
videos, and simulations
• study resources such as flashcards
• links to book specific test banks for qu izzes
INSTRUCTOR RESOURCES
Po,verPoints
Instructors who adopt the text may gain access to a robust
collection of Power Points illustrated with itnages from the
text, additional media, and class discussion prompts.
Instructor's Manual and Test Item File
Th is is an invaluable professio nal resource and refe rence for
n ew and experienced faculty. Each chapter contains th e fol-
lowing sections: Chapter Overview, Chapter Objectives, Key
Terms, Lecture a nd D iscussion Topics, Resources, and
Writing Ass ignments and Projects. The test bank inc ludes
tnultiple-choice, short-answer, and essay questions. Ava ilable
for download frotn www.pearsonhighereducation.co1n
MyTest
T h is flexible on li ne test-ge nerat ing software inc ludes
all quest ions found in the Test l te tn File. Instructo rs ca n
quick ly a nd easily c reate customized tests with MyTest at
www.pearsonmytest.com
PREFACE XI
.
DISCOVER/NG THE HUMANITIES
is the result of an extensive development process involving the contributions of over I 00 instructors and th eir students. We are
grateful to all who participated in sh ap ing the conte nt, clarity, a nd design of t his text. Manuscript reviewers a nd focus group
part icipants for t he th ird edi tion include:
l aura Steven!), Northul\?sL Florida College
Cheryl Boots, Boston Unll-'ersity
Margaret Browning, Hampr0t1Uttitrtr$ity
Margaret Chaplin, Richland College
Marilyn Edwards, Athens Techniertl College
BilJie Gateley. Jackson Stare C0rrurumir-, College
liseue Gibson, Capilal Untllersit;y
Karen Guerin. Bossier Parish Community Ccllege
Nat Hard)'. Sat,annah State University
Mike Vanden Heuvel. UniveTsit;y of Wisronsin..Madison
Ira Holmes. College of Central Florida
Richard Kortum, East Tennessee State Univmity
Carol) n Lawrence. Chauahoochee Technical College
1
Parnela Pa.) ne, Palm Beach Atlantic Univenit;y
1
Chad Redwing, Modesto Junior College
Bonnie Smith, Gwinneu Technical College
Gary Zaro, Paradise Valley CommunitJ College
\Ve are also grate(ul to aH who reviewed the earlier editions of thi:> title:
FIRST EDITION,
Mindi Bailey. Collin County Community College
Peggy Brown. Collin County Community College
Terre Burton, Dixie College
Elimbeth Cahaney. Elizabethtolvrt Corrununity and Technical College
Rick Davi>, Brigham Yourlg Untllersity-Idaho
Christa DlMaio Richie, Salem Corruruatity College
Tiffany Engel, Tulsa Community College
Gabrielle Fenrunore, St. Thomas Unil-'t.'l'Sity
Michael Fremont Redfield, Stuldleback College
Nat Hard)', Sal'lurnah State University
Thelma lthier..Sterling, Hostos Community College
Stuart Kendall, E'dsrem Kentucky Unilit>'Sity
Maria Miranda, Hosros Comnumity College
Nathan Pooge, Houston Community College
Aditi S.manh, Richland College
Cheryl Sm.art, Pima Community College
l )'IU\ Spencer, Brel'l.1rd Community Collegt
Alice Ta)'lor, West Los Angeles College
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Discovering the Humanities is a brief version of the la rger text, The
Humanities: Culture, Continuity and Change, Third Edition, and is
inevitably indebted to all who contributed to that revision. No
project of th is scope could ever come into being without the hard
work and perseverance of many more people than its author. In
fact, th is author has been h umbled by a team at Pearson that
never wavered in thei r confidence in my abil ity to finish this
enormous undertaking (or if they did, they had the good sense not
to let me know); never hesitated to cajole, prod, and massage me
to complete the project in someth ing close to on time; and always
gave me the freedom to explore new approaches to the materials
at hand . At the down-and-dirty level, I am especially grateful to
fact-checker Jul ia Moore; to Mary Ellen W ilson for the pronunci-
ation guides; for the more specialized pronunciations offered by
David Atwill (Chinese and Japanese), Jonathan Reynolds
XII PREFACE
Paul Van Heuklom. Lincoln Land Community College
Leila \Veil, , Griffin Technical College
Deborah J. Wickering, Aquinas College
SECOND EDITION,
Paul Beaudoin. Fitchburg State Unil-'t.'l'Sity
Terre Burton, Dixie College
Katherine Harrell, South Fll1Tida Community College
Scott Keeton, Chawihoochee Teclmical College
Sandi Landi>, St. Johns Rfoer Community College
Aditi Samarth. Richland College
Frederick Smith, Florida Ga<eu<ty College
In addition, while this revision was in de\'elopment, I had the chance to learn
from a special group of faculty who attended the Pearson Forum for Humanities:
Natalie Biscali.a, Hillsborough Community College
Joanne Bock, Palm Beach Suue College
Elaine Dale, Sama Fe College
Cristy Furr, Sr. Johns Rtlier State College
AlY'On Gill, Arkansos Su,,e UniversitJ
Steven Godby, Broward College: South Campu,
Eugene Greco. Miami Dade College: Knulall Campus
Bobby Hom, Sama Ft College
Dale Hoover. Edi,on Srare College
Michael Hurlburt, Brou<JTd College: South Campus
Theresa Jame,, Sm,th Florida Suue College
Sandi Landi,, St. Johns Ri,..,. State College
David Luther, Edison Swte College
Brandon Montgomery, Suut College of Florida
Pavel Murdzhev, Santa Fe Collge
Christie Rinck. UnivmitJ of South Florida
Susan R(b.S, St. Johru Rh't.'T State College
Joseph Savage, St. John, Ri<..,. State College
Henry Sayre, Oregon St.a.ct Unfoersity-C~cades Campus
Maira Spelle.i, Sta<e College of Florida
Greg Thomp:~on, Hillslx,rough Community College..Brandon
Krista Ubbels, Sr. Johns Riwr Srare College
Jason \Vhitm.arSh, Sr. Johns Rh't.'T State College
(African), Nayla Muntasser (Greek and Latin), and Mark Watson
(Nat ive American); to Margaret Gorenstein for tracking down
the readings; to Laurel Corona for her extraordinary help with
Africa; to Arnold Bradford for he lp with c ritical thinking q ues-
tions; and to Francelle Carapetyan for her remarkable photo re-
search. The maps and some of the line a rt a rc the work of
cartographer and a rt ist Peter Bull, with Precision Graphic d raft-
ing a large portion of the line art for the book. I find both in every
way extraord inary.
In fact, I couldn't be more pleased with the look of the book,
which is the work of Pat Smythe, sen ior art d irector. Cory Skidds,
senior imaging specialist, worked on image compositing and color
accuracy of the a rtwork. The production of the book was coord i-
nated by Melissa Feimer, managing editor, Barbara Cappuccio, pro-
gram manager and Joe Scordato, project manager, who oversaw
with good humor and patience the day-to-day, hour-to-hour c rises
that a rose. And I want to thank Lindsay Bethoney and the staff at
Lumina Datamatics for working so hard to make the book turn out
the way I envisioned it.
The marketing and editorial teams at Pearson arc beyond com-
pare. On the marketing side, Jonathan Cottrell, vice president of
marketing, and Wendy Albert, exec ut ive marketing manager,
helped us all to understand just what students want and need. On
the editorial side, my thanks to Sarah Touborg, editor-in-chief;
Roth Wilkofsky, publ isher; Helen Ronan, senior editor; my friend,
the late Bud Therien, special projects manager; and Christopher
Fegan, editorial assistant. The combined h uman hours that this
group has put into this project a rc staggering. Th is book was Bud's
idea in the first place, and I know that he would be pleased to sec
how the project is continuing to flourish; Sarah has supported me
every step of the way in making it as good, or even better, than I
envisioned. I need to thank, especially, the extraordinary ream that
has developed the extraordinary new learn ing architecture that is
REVEL. REVEL takes the enti re, innovative set of learn ing tools
that was introduced in MyArrsLab and makes it immediately and
seam lessly available to the student. Over the course of the last
decade, as technology has increasingly encroached on the book as
we know it-with the explosion, that is, of the internet, d igital
media, and new forms of publ ishing, like the iPad and Kindle-I
worried that books like Discouering the Humanities might one day
lose their relevance. I envisioned it being supplanted by some as yet
unforeseen technological wizardry that would transport my readers,
like some machine in a science fiction novel, into a three- or four-
di mcnsional learning space "beyond the book." Well, little did I
know that Pearson Education was developing just such a space, one
firmly embedded in the book, nor beyond it.
Deserving of special mention is the editorial team at Laurence
King Publishers in London, particu larly Kara Hattcrslcy,Smith,
com missioning ed itor; Melissa Danny, senior editor; Simon
Walsh, product ion; and Julia Ruxton, picture editor. A special
thanks to the faculty at Collin County Community College and
St. John's River College. Their feedback over the course of the
book's development was tremendously valuable and helped shape
many of the changes you now sec.
Finally, I want to thank, with all my love, my beautiful wife,
Sandy Brooke, who has supported this project in every way. She has
continued to teach, paint, and write, while urging me on, listening
to my struggles, humoring me when I didn't deserve it, and being a
far better wife than I was a h usband. In some ways, enduring what
she did in the first edition must have been tougher in the second,
since she knew what was coming from the outset. She was, is, and
will continue to be, I trust, the source of my strength.
In memory of Norwell "Bud" Therien, who first envisioned this
project, and for whose friendship I will always be grateful. I con-
tin ue to miss his wisdom and good h umor.
PREFACE XIII
I /
 The Prehistoric Past
and the Earliest Civilizations
The River Cultures of the Ancient World

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1.1 Discuss the rise of culture and how developments in art and architecture reflect the growing
sophistication of prehistoric cultures.

1.2 Describe the role of myth in prehistoric culture.

1.3 Distinguish among the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, and focus on how they
differ from that of the Hebrews.

1.4 Account for the stability of Egyptian culture.

n a cold December afternoon in 1994, Jean-Marie At first, du ring the Paleolithic era, o r "Old Stone Age"

O C hauvet and two friends were exploring the caves in

the steep cliffs along the A rdeche River gorge in south-
ern France. After descending in to a series of narrow passages,
(from the Greek palaios, "old," and lithos, "stone") th e cultures
of the world sustained themselves on game and wi ld plants.
T h e cultures th emselves were small, scattered, and nomadic,
they entered a large chamber. There, beams from th eir head- a lth ough ev ide nce suggests some interaction among th e
lamps lit up a group of drawings that would astonish the three
explorers-and the world (Fig. 1.1). p
Since the late n inetee nth ce ntu ry, we have know n th at • Ma1or Paleolithic caves m FR ANCE Lyons
prehist oric peoples-peoples wh o lived before the t ime of France and Spain
c
writi ng and so of recorded h istory-drew on the walls of caves. B«deaux
Twen ty-seven such caves had already been discovered in th e ATLANTIC
cliffs along the 17 mi les of the Ardeche gorge (Map 1.1 ). But OCEAN
th e cave found by Chauvet and h is friends transformed our Toulouse•
L.t8'~
:
Le Po,
th inking about preh istoric peoples. Where previously discov- I Mars~ les• •
Lies TroiJ F~
Garga,e • • 0t1t.a.M.t
c.._
e red cave painti ngs h ad appeared to modern eyes as child-
like, this cave conta ined d rawings cotnpa rable to those a '-'-...J:::i~·: R
NMw" ~h~""~a,,~w~,-----......:~
ARDECHE REG ION
contemporary artist might have done. We can only speculate N
that other cotnparable artworks were produced in preh istoric SPAIN
times but have not survived, perhaps because they were 1nade
of wood o r oth er per ishable mater ials. It is eve n poss ible
th at a rt 1nay have been made earlier than 30,000 years ago,
perhaps as people began to inhabit the Near East, between
*100 km

100 Mile '""'"

Ln dNl.ll·OU!ferltstN
Ti,N1u-U ot1 e

90,000 and I 00,000 years ago. Map 1.1 Major Paleolithic Caves in France and Spain.

~ Fig. 1.1 Cave pa inting with horses, Chauvet Cave, Vallon-Pont-d'Arc, Ardeche gorge, France.
ca. 30,000 BC£. Ministere de la Culture et de la Communication. Direction Regionale des Alfaires
Culturelles de Rhone-Alpes. Service Regional de l"Archeologie. Paint on limestone. approx. height 6'.
In the center of this wall are four horses. each behind tile other in a startlingly realistic space. Below
them, two rhinoceroses fight.

1
 0
1 " Lake
Baikal

-
Black Sea
I.
Aral
Sea
Lake
Balkhash
• River Valley C1vihzations

GAN SU

Mediterra ~
..
:,. TIGRIS-EUPHRATES
~ /{Ancient Mesopotamia
17ean Sea Al•,•:za1~~'""' and Babylonia) AFGHANISTAN
• Susa
' i,,;cho
~•',•·1
~ Br;, ama utra
East
CHINA China
NILE_.,.- \ Ganges
(Ancient Egypt) /NOUS-GANGES Sea
(Harappan and
Vedic civilizations)

N • PACIFIC
\
,,
•
South OCEAN
Arabian Bay
- China
1.000 km

1.000 tn.1~S
Sea
\ \
of
Bengal
Sea

Map 1.2 The Great River Valley Civilizations, ca. 2000 BCE. Agriculture thrived in the great river valleys throughout the
Neolithic era. but by the end of the period, urban life had developed there as well, and civilization as we know it had emerged.

various groups. As the ice covering the Northern Hem isphere
began to recede, around 10,000 BCE, agr icultu re began to re·
place h unti ng and gathering, and with it, a nomadic lifestyle
gave way to a 1nore sedentary way of life. T h e consequences of
th is shift were enonnous, and ushered in the Neolithic era, or
"New Stone Age."
In the great rive r valleys of the M iddle East a nd As ia
(Map 1.2), distinct centers of people involved in a common
pursuit began to fonn more and 1nore soph isticated civ iliza·
tions. (Th e rise of these civilizations in India and Ch ina is
d iscussed in Chapter 3.) A civilization is a social, economic,
and polit ical e ntity d ist ingu ished by th e ability to express
itself th rough images and written language. C iv ilizat ions
develop wh en the environment of a region can support a
large and productive populat io n. An increas ing populat io n
requ ires inc reased product io n of food a nd other goods, not
only to support itself, but also to trade for other commodities.
Organizing th is level of trade and production also requires an
adm inistrative elite to form a nd to establish prio rities. The
ex iste nce of such an e lite is anoth er characteristic of c ivi·
lization. Finally, as th e h istory of cu ltu res arou nd the world
makes abundant! y c lear, one of the major ways that societies
have acquired th e goods they want and silnultaneously orga·
n ized the1nselves is by 1neans of war.
We begi n th is book , then, with the first inkli ngs of c ivi·
lized cultures in prehistoric times, ev ide nce of wh ich survives
in cave paint ings and in s1nall sculptures dating back 1nore
than 25,000 years. Before the invention of writ ing, so1netime
after I 0,000 BCE, these cultures created myths and legends
that explained thei r origins and relation to the world. Then,
begi nn ing about 4000 BCE, across the ancient world, th e sci·
ence of metallurgy developed. As people learn ed to separate
1netals from the ir ores and then work or treat the1n to create
objects, the stone and bone tools and weapons of th e preh is·
toric world were replaced by 1netal ones, inaugurating the era
archeologists have named the Bronze Age.
THE BEGINNINGS OF CULTURE
How do cultures arise, and how do art
and architecture reflect their growing
sophistication?
A culture encompasses the values and behaviors shared by a
group of people, developed over time, and passed down from
one gen erat ion to the n ext. Cu lture manifests itself in the
laws, customs, ritual behavior, and a rtist ic productio n coin·
man to the group. The cave pa intings at C h auvet suggest
that, as early as 30,000 years ago, the Ardeche gorge was a
center of culture, a focal po int of group living in wh ich the
values of a commu n ity find exp ressio n. There were oth·
ers li ke it: In northern Spain , th e fi rst decorated cave was
d iscovered in 1879 at A ltami ra. In the Dordogne region of
south ern France, to the west of the Ardeche, schoolch ildren
discovered th e famous Lascaux Cave in 1940 when th eir dog
d isappeared down a h ole. And in 199 1, along the Fre nch
Med iterranean coast, a diver d iscovered t h e en t rance to
the beautifully decorated Cosquer Cave below th e waterline
near Marsei lle.

2 CHAPTER 1 The Prehistoric Past and the Earliest Civilizations

Agency and Ritual: Cave Art
Ever since cave painti ngs were first d iscovered, scholars have
been marveling at th e skill of th e people who produced the1n,
but we have been equally fascinated by th eir very existence.
Why were these pai nti ngs 1nade? Most scholars believe that
they possessed some sort of agency-that is, th ey were cre·
ated to exert some powe r or auth or ity over th e world of
those wh o came into contact with the1n . Until recen tly, it
was gen erally accepted th at such works were associated with
th e hunt. Perh aps th e hunter, seeking ga1ne in times of scar·
city, h oped to conjure it up by depicti ng it on cave walls. Or
perhaps such drawi ngs were magic charms meant to ensure a
successful hunt. But at Chauvet, fully 60 percent of the an i·
mals painted on its walls were never, or rarely, hunted-such
animals as lions, rhinoce roses, bears, panth ers, a nd woolly
matnmoths. O ne drawing depicts two rh inoceroses fighting
horn to h orn be neath four horses that appear to be looki ng
on (see Fig. I. I) .
W h at role, then , did these d rawings play in th e daily lives
of the people who created th em? The caves may have served
as some sort of ritua l space. A r itual is a r ite o r cere1nony
habitually practiced by a group, ofte n in re ligious or quasi·
religious contexts. The caves, for instance, m igh t be under·
stood as gateways to the underworld and death , as sy1nbols of
the womb and bi rth, or as pathways to the world of dreams
exper ie nced in the dark of night, a nd r ites connected with
such passage might have been conducted in th em. The gen·
e ral arrangeme nt of the an imals in th e paintings by species
or gender, often in distinct ch ambers of th e caves, suggests to
some that the pai nti ngs may have served as lunar cale ndars
for predicting th e seasonal 1n igration of th e a nimals. W hat-
ever th e case, surviving human footprints indicate that these
Fig. 1.2 Cave painting with bird-headed man, bison, and rhinoceros, Lascaux Cave, Dordogne, France. ca. 15,000-13,000 BCE.
Paint on limestone. length approx. 9'. In 1963, Lascaux was closed to the public so that conservators could fight a fungus attacking the
paintings. Most likely, the fungus was caused by carbon dioxide exhaled by visitors. An exact replica called Lascaux II was built and can
be visited.
caves were ritual gatheri ng places and in some way served the
common good.
At C hauvet, the use of color suggests that the paintings
served some sacred or symbolic function. For instance, almost
all th e pai nti ngs near the e nt rance to the cave are pa inted
with natural red pigments derived from ores rich in iron ox ide.
Deeper inside the cave, in areas more difficult to reach, the
vast majority of the anitnals are painted in black pig1nents de-
rived from ores rich in manganese dioxide. T h is sh ift in color
appears to be intentional, but we can only guess its meaning.
The sk illfully drawn images at Chauvet raise even more
itnportant quest ions. T h e artists seem to h ave understood
and practiced a kind of perspectival dra,ving-that is, they
were able to convey a sense of three-ditnensional space on a
two-d imensio nal surface. In the pa inting reproduced at the
begin n ing of this chapter, several horses appear to stand one
beh ind the other (see Fig. I. I ). The head of the top horse
overlaps a black line, as if peeri ng over a branch or the back
of another animal. In no other cave yet discovered do draw-
ings show th e use of shading, or modeling, so that the horses'
h eads seem to have volu1ne and ditne nsion. A nd yet th ese
cave paintings, rendered more than 30,000 years ago, predate
oth er cave paintings by at least I 0,000 years, and some by as
much as 20,000 years.
O ne of the few cave pai ntings that depict a hu1nan figure
is fou nd at Lascaux, in the Dordogne region of south west·
ern France. What appears to be a male weari ng a bi rd's-h ead
mask lies in front of a d isembowe led bison (Fig. 1.2). Below
him is a b ird-h eaded spear throwe r, a dev ice that enabled
h unters to throw a spea r farthe r an d with greater force.
(Seve ral examples of spear throwers h ave surv ived.) In th e
Lascaux painting, the hunte r's spear h as pierced the b ison's
CHAPTER 1 The Prehistoric Past and the Earliest Civilizations 3
h indquarte rs, and a rhinoce ros charges off to the left. We
have no way of know ing wh ether th is was a n actual eve nt
o r an imagined scene. O ne of the painting's tnost interest-
ing and inexp licable featu res is th e disc repancy between
th e re latively naturalistic represe ntation of th e animals and
th e h igh ly stylized, almost abstract realization of th e human
figu re. Was the sticklike tnan added late r by a different, less
talented artist? Or does th is image suggest that man and beast
are different orders of being?
Before the discovery of Chauvet, h istorians d ivided th e
h istory of cave painting into a series of successive styles, each
progress ively more realistic. But C hauvet's pa intings, by far
th e oldest known , are also th e most advanced in thei r real-
ism, suggesting th e a rt ist's conscious quest for visual natu-
ra lism, th at is, for represe ntations that im itate th e actual
appearance of th e anitnals. Not only were both red and black
an imals ou tl ined, but their sh apes were also mode led by
spreading pa int, eithe r with the hand or with a tool, in grad-
ual gradations of colo r. Such tnodeli ng is extreme ly rare or
unknown elsewhere. In addit io n, th e artists furth er defined
many of the a nimals' contours by scraping th e wall behind
so that the beasts seem to stand out against a deeper white
ground. Three handprints in the cave were ev idently tnade
by spitti ng paint at a hand placed on th e cave wall, resulting
in a stenciled itnage.
Art, the Chauvet drawings suggest, does not necessarily
evolve in a linear progression from awkward begi nn ings to
more sophisticated representations. On the contrary, already
in th e earliest artworks, people obtained a very high degree
of sophistication. Apparen tly, even from the earliest t imes,
human beings could choose to represen t the world natural -
istically or not, and th e choice not to represent the world in
naturalistic terms should be attributed not necessarily to lack
of skill or soph istication but to oth er, more culturally driven
factors.
Paleolithic Culture and Its Artifacts
Footpri nts d iscove red in South Africa in 2000 and fossilized
remai ns uncovered in the forest of Eth iopia in 200 I suggest
that, about 5.7 million years ago, the ea rl iest uprigh t h u-
mans, or hom inins (as distinct from the larger c lassification
of homin ids, which inc ludes great apes and chimpanzees as
well as humans), roatned th e cont inent of Africa. Ethiopian
excavations further indicate th at sometime around 2.5 or 2.6
m ill io n years ago, homi nid populatio ns began to make rudi-
mentary stone tools, a lthough long before, betwee n 14 m il-
lion a nd I 9 m illio n years ago, the Kenyapithecus ("Ke nyan
ape"), a hom inin, made stone tools in east central Africa .
Nevertheless, the earliest evidence of a cu ltu re com ing into
bei ng are the stone artifacts of Homo sa/>iens (Lati n for "one
who knows"). Homo sapiens evolved about I 00,000-120,000
years ago and can be d istinguished from earlier hom inids by
th e l igh ter build of the ir skeletal structure and larger brain.
A 2009 study of ge netic diversity among Africans found the
San people of Zimbabwe to be th e most diverse, suggesting
4 CHAPTER 1 The Prehistoric Past and the Earliest Civilizations
that they a re the most likely o rigin of mode rn humans from
wh ich others gradually spread out of Africa, across Asia, into
Europe, a nd fi nally to Australia a nd the Americas.
Homo sapiens were hunter-gath er ers, whose su rvival de-
pended o n the an imals they cou ld kill and th e foods they
could gather, pritnari ly nuts, berries, roots, and oth er edible
plants. The tools they developed were far tnore soph isticated
than those of thei r ancestors. They included cleavers, ch isels,
grinders, hand axes, and arrow- and spearheads made of flint,
a material that a lso provided th e spark to create an equally
importan t tool-fire. In 2004, Israeli archeologists work ing
at a site on the banks of th e Jordan R iver reported the ear-
liest ev idence yet found of controlled fire created by hom i-
nid~racked and blacken ed flint ch ips, presumably used to
light a fire, a nd b its of charcoal dating from 790,000 years
ago. A lso at the campsite we re th e bones of e leph an ts, rh i-
noceroses, h ippopotamuses, and small species, demonstrati ng
that th ese early homi nids cut th eir meat with flint tools and
ate steaks and marrow. Homo sapiens cooked with fire, wore
an imal skins as clothing, and used tools as a matter of course.
They bur ied the ir dead in ritual ce remon ies, often laying
them to rest accompanied by stone tools and weapons.
The Paleo lith ic e ra is the period of Homo saJ>iens's as-
cen dancy. These people ca rved stone tools a nd weapons
that helped th em surv ive in an inhospitable cl imate. They
carved small sculptural objects as well, wh ich, along with
th e cave pa intings we have a lready see n , appear to be the
first instances of what we have come to call "art." A tnong
the most remarkable of these sculptural a rtifacts a re a large
number of female figures, found at various archeological sites
across Europe. The tnost fa tnous of these is the litnestone
statuette Woman, fou nd at W illendorf, in mode rn Austria
(Fig. 1.3), dating from between about 25,000 to 20,000 BCE
and sotnet imes called the Venus of Willendorf. Markings on
the Woman and other sim ilar figures ind icate that th ey were
or ig inally colored, but wh at these stnall scu lptures meant
and what they were used for remain s unclear. Most are 4 to
5 inches high and fit neatly into a pe rson's ha nd . This sug-
gests that they may have h ad a ritual purpose. Thei r exagger-
ated breasts and bellies and their clearly delineated gen itals
support a connection to fertility and childbearing. We know,
too, that the Woman from W illendorf was origi nally painted
in red och re, suggest ive of me nses. And, h er navel is not
carved; rather, it is a natural indentation in the stone. Who-
ever carved h er seems to have recognized, in th e raw stone,
a connection to the origi ns of life. But such figures tnay h ave
served other purposes as well. Perhaps they were dolls, guard-
ian figures, or itnages of beauty in a cold, hostile world wh ere
having body fat migh t have made the d ifference between sur-
vival a nd death.
Fe tnale figur ines vastly outnumber representat io ns of
tnales in the Paleo lith ic era, which suggests that wo tnen
played a cent ral role in Paleolithic culture. Most l ikely, they
had conside rable rel igious and spiritual in fluence, a nd th eir
preponderance in th e imagery of the era suggests that Paleo-
lith ic cu lture may have been matrilineal (i n wh ich desce nt is

Fig. 1.3 Woman (Venus of Willendorl), found at Willendorf, Austria.
ca. 25,000-20,000 BCE. Limestone. height 4". Naturhistorisches Museum,
Vienna. For many years, modern scholars called this small statue the Venus
of Willendorf. They assumed that its carvers attributed to it an ideal of
female beauty comparable to the Roman ideal of beauty implied by the
name Venus.
determ ined through the female line) and matrilocal ( in which
residence is in the female's tribe or household). Such trad i-
t ions ex ist in many primal societies today.
The Rise of Agriculture
For 2,000 years, from 10,000 to 8000 BCE, the ice covering the
Northern Hemisphere receded farther and farther northward .
As temperatures warmed, life gradually changed. Duri ng this
period of transition, areas once covered by vast regions of ice
and snow deve loped into grassy plains and abundant forests.
Hu nters developed th e bow and arrow, wh ich were easier to
use than the spear at longe r range on the open pla ins. They
fash ioned dugout boats out of logs to facilitate fish ing, which
becatne a major food source. They domesticated dogs to help
with the h unt as early as 11,000 BCE, and soon othe r an i-
mals as well-goats and cattle particularly. Perhaps most im-
portant, people began to cu lt ivate th e more edible grasses.
A long the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, they ha r-
vested wheat; in Asia, they cult ivated m illet and rice; and in
th e Americas, they grew squash , beans, and corn . G radually,
farm ing replaced hunti ng as the pritnary 1neans of sustai ning
life . A culture of the fields developed-an agriculture, from
the Latin ager, "farm," "field," or "productive land."
The rise of agr icu ltural soc iety defines the Neol ith ic
era. Begi n ni ng in about 8000 BCE, Neol ith ic cultu re
concentrated in th e great r ive r valleys of the Midd le East
and Asia, and gradually, as th e c limate warmed, Neolithic
cultu re spread across Europe. By about 5000 BCE, th e val -
leys of Spai n and southern France supported agriculture, but
not until about 4000 BCE is th ere evidence of farm ing in the
north ern reach es of the European conti nent and England.
Meanwhile, th e great rivers of the Middle East and Asia
prov ided a consistent and pred ictable source of water, and
people soon developed irrigat ion tech niques that fostered
o rga nized agr icul tu re and an ima l husband ry. As produc-
tion outgrew necess ity, me1nbers of the communi ty were
freed to occupy themselves in othe r endeavors-complex
food preparation (bread, cheese, and so on), construction,
re lig ion, even mi li tary affairs. Soon, perman en t villages
began to appear, an d villages began to look more a nd more
like cities.
Neolithic Catalhoyiik
Sometime around 7400 BCE, at <;:atalh oytik (also known as
C hatal Huyuk) in central Turkey, a permanent village began
to take shape that would flou rish for nearly 1,200 years. At
one po int or anoth er, as many as 3,000 people lived in close
proxitnity to one anoth er in rectangular houses made of mud
br icks h eld togeth er with plaster. These houses stood side
by side, one wall abutting the next, with entrances through
the roof and down a ladder. T h ere were no windows, and th e
only n atural light in the inte rior came from the entryway.
The roof appears to have served as th e primary social space,
especially in th e su1nmer months. Do1ned ovens were placed
both on the roof and in the interior.
The people of <;:atalhoyiik were apparen tly traders, prin-
cipally of obsidian, a black, volcanic, and glasslike stone that
can be carved into sharp blades and arrowh eads, which they
mined at Hasan Dag, a volcano visible from th e vi llage. The
rows of window less houses that cotnposed the v illage, the
walls of which rose to as h igh as 16 feet, must h ave served a
defensive purpose, but they also contained what archeologists
have come to view as an extraord inary sense of communal
h istory. T h eir interio r walls and floors were plastered a nd re-
plastered, then painted and repainted with a wh ite lime-based
paint, again and agai n ove r hundreds of years. Beneath th e
floors of some-but not all~f the houses were burials, av-
eraging about six per house, but sometitnes rising to between
30 and 62 bodies. For reasons that are not entirely clear, from
t ime to time, these bodies were exhumed, and the skulls of
long-deceased ancestors we re removed. The skulls were then
reburied in new graves or in the foundations of new houses as
they were bu ilt and rebu ilt. Whatever th e rationa le for such
ceremonies, they could not have h elped but create a sense of
h istorical conti nuity in the co1n 1nunity.
CHAPTER 1 The Prehistoric Past and the Earliest Civilizations 5

Fig. 1.4 Woman seated between two felines, Catalhoyiik, Turkey. ca.
685~300 BCE. Terra cotta. height 4%... Museum of Anatolian Civilizatioos,
Ankara. The woman's head in this sculpture is a modern additioo.
<::atalhoyuk was fi rst extensively excavated from 1958 by
S ir James Mellaart, wh o concluded that t he vi llage's cult ure
was matri lineal , based in no stnall part on his d iscove ry of
a numbe r of female figuri nes including a clay sculpture of a
sea ted woman (Fig. 1.4 ) , wh o represented, h e be lieved, a
Ferti lity or Moth er Goddess. Found in a grain bin-ev idence
of the community's growing agricultural soph istication- she
sits en throned between two fe lines, perhaps in t he process
of giv ing birth . But Ian Hodder of Ca mbridge Univers ity,
who took up th e excavation of th e si te in 1993, after a nearly
30-year h iatus, has recently concluded that sh e is so1neth ing
oth er than a Fe rtility Goddess. "There a re full breasts on
which the hands rest," he wrote in 2005,
and the stomach is extended in the central part. There is a
hole in the top for the head which is missing. As one turns
the figurine around one notices that the arms arc very chin,
and then on chc back of the figurine one sees a depiction of
e ither a skeleton or the bones of a very thin and depleted
human. The ribs and vertebrae arc clear, as are the scapulae
and chc main pelvic bones. The figurine can be interpreted
in a nurnbcr of ways-as a woman turning into an anccs~
tor, as a woman associated with death, or as death and life
conjoined.. . . Perhaps the importance of female imagery
6 CHAPTER 1 The Prehistoric Past and the Earliest Civilizations
Fig. 1.5 Reconstruction of a "shrine," Catalhoyiik, Turkey. ca.
685D-6300 BCE. Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, Ankara. The relief sculpture
below the arch in the center of the room appears to be a decapitated animal or
even, possibly, human form.
was related co some special role of the female in relation co
death as much as to the roles of mother and nurturer.
Support ing Hodder's th eories is a burial of a deceased wo1nan
who holds in her a rms the plastered a nd painted sku ll of a
1nale. S imi larly, Mellaart believed that 1nany of the rooms t hat
contained large numbers of bod ies were sh ri nes or te tnples
(Fig. 1.5 ). T h e walls of these rootns were decorated wi th the
skulls of cows and the heads and horns of bulls. Found unde r
th e floors of some h ouses we re boar t usks , vulture skulls,
and fox and wease I teeth. But H odder has fou nd ev ide nce
th at th ese houses- he calls th em "h istory houses"- were
n ot sh rines at all , but more or less continuously occup ied,
suggesting that art and decoration were in tegral to t he d aily
lives of t he c.01nmunity's residents.
Neolithic Pottery Across Cultures
T h e transi tion from cultures based on hunting and fish ing to
cultures based on agriculture led to the increased use of pottery
vessels. Ceramic vessels are fragile, so hunter-gath erers would
not have found them practical for carrying food, but people liv-
ing in the more permanent Neolith ic. settle1nents could have
used th em to carry and store water, and to prepare a nd store
certain types of food.
Some of th e most remarkable Neol it hic. painted potte ry
comes from Susa, on the Iran ian plateau. The patterns on one
particu lar beaker (Fig. 1.6 ) from a roun d 5000 to 4000 BC E
are h ighly stylized a nitnals. T h e largest of t hese is an ibex, a
popular decorative feature of prehistoric. ceram ics from Iran .
Associated with the h unt, th e ibex 1nay have been a symbol
of plenty. The front and hind legs of the ibex are rendered by
two triangles, t he tail hangs beh ind it like a feather, the head

Fig. 1.6 Beaker with ibex, dogs, and long-necked birds, from Susa,
southwestern Iran. ca. 5000-4000 BCE. Baked clay with painted decoration,
height 11 !-I". Musee du Louvre. Paris. The ibex was the most widely hunted
game in the ancient Middle East, a fact that probably accounts for its centrality
in this design.
is only marginally connected to the body, and th e horns rise in
a large, exaggerated arc to encircle a decorative circular fonn.
Hou nds race arou nd th e band above th e ibex, and wading
birds form a decorative band across the beaker's top.
In Europe, th e production of pottery apparently deve l-
oped some ti tne later, around 3000 BCE. By this time, the pot·
te r's wh eel was in use in th e M iddle East as we ll as Ch ina .
A machi ne created expressly to produce goods, th e potte r's
wh eel represents the first tnechan ica l and tech nological
breakth rough in history. As skilled ind ividuals specialized
in tnaking and decorating pottery, and traded th eir wares for
other goods and serv ices, the first elemental fonns of tnanu·
factoring began to etnerge.
Neolithic Ceramic Figures
It is a si tnple step from fanning c lay pots and firing them to
modeling clay sculptural figures and subm itting them to the
same fi ring process. Examples of clay tnodeling can be found in
some of the earliest Paleolithic cave sites, where, at Altamira,
for instan ce, in Spain, an artist added clay to an ex ist ing
rock outcropp ing in orde r to underscore th e rock's n atural
resemblance to an animal form. At Le Tue d'Audoubert,
south of Lascaux, in France, an artist shaped two c lay bison ,
each 2 feet long, as if th ey we re lean ing agai nst a rock ridge.
But these Paleol ithic scu lptures were never fired. One
of the most inte resting exa tnples of Neol ithic fired c lay
figu ri nes was th e work of th e so-called Nok peoples who
lived in modern Nigeria. We do not know what they called
th emse lves-th ey are ident ified instead by the na tne of
the place where the ir artifacts we re d iscove red. In fact, we
know almost nothing about the Nok. We do not know how
th e ir cultu re was organized, what the ir lives we re like, or
what they bel ieved. But while most Neolith ic peoples in
Africa worked in tnate ria ls th at we re n ot permane nt, the
Nok fired clay figures of animals and huma ns t h at were
approximate ly life-size.
These figu res were first unearthed early in the twentieth
century by m iners over an area of about 40 square m iles.
Carbon- 14 and other fonns of dati ng revealed that sotne of
th ese objects had been made as early as 800 BCE and oth·
e rs as late as 600 CE. Little tnore than the h ollow heads
h as surv ived intact, revealing an artistry based on abstract
geometric sh apes (Fig. 1. 7). In some cases, the h eads are
represe nted as ovals; in others they are cones, cylinde rs, or
spheres. Facial features are combinations of ovals, triangles,
graceful arch es, a nd straight l ines. These heads we re prob-
ably shaped w it h wet clay a nd then, after firing, fin ish ed
by carv ing deta ils into the h ardened clay. Some scho la rs
Fig. 1.7 Head, Nok. ca. 500 BCE-200 CE. Terracotta. height 14,ls". This
slightly larger-than-life-size head was probably part of a complete body, and
shows the Nok people's interest in abstract geometric representations of facial
features and head shape. Holes in the eyes and nose were pmbably used to
cootrol temperature during firing.
ii V iew the Closer Look for the Nok head on MyArtsl ab
CHAPTER1 The Prehistoric Past and the Earliest Civilizations 7
Fig. 1.8 Neolitllic menhir alignments at Menec, Carnac, Brittany, France. ca. 4250-3750 BCE. According to an ancient
legend, the Carnac menhirs came into being when a retreating army was driven to the sea. Finding no ships to aid their escape,
they turned to face their enemy and were transformed into stone.
have a rgued that the tech nical a nd artistic sophist ication
of works by the Nok a nd oth er roughly contemporaneous
groups suggests that it is like ly the re are olde r art istic tra-
ditions in West Africa that have not yet been discove red.
Certa inly, farther to the east, in the sub-Saharan regions
of the Sudan, Egypt ian culture h ad exerted cons iderable
influence for centuries, and it tnay we ll be that Egyptian
technological sophist icat io n had worked its way westward .
The Neolithic Megaliths of Northern Europe
A d ist inctive kind of monumental stone architecture ap-
pears late in the Neol ith ic per iod, particularly in what
is now Br ita in and France. Known as megaliths, or "big
stones," these wo rks were constructed without the use of
mortar a nd represent the tnost basic form of architectural
construction. Sometimes, they consisted tnerely of posts-
upright stones stuck into t h e ground-called menhirs,
from the Celt ic words men, "stone," and hir, " long." These
single stones occur in isolation or in groups. The largest of
the groups is at Carnac, in Brittany (Fig. 1.8), whe re some
3,000 menhirs arranged east to west in 13 straight rows,
called al igntnents, cove r a 2- tn ile stretch of pla in. The
stones stand about 3 feet tall at the east end, and gradually
get larger and large r until, at the west e nd , they attain a
8 CHAPTER 1 The Prehistoric Past and the Earliest Civilizations
h eight of 13 feet. This east-west a lignment suggests a con-
n ection to the ris ing and setting of the su n a nd to fe rt ility
rites. Schola rs d isagree about th e stones' significance: sotne
speculate that they may have marked out a ritual procession
rou te, wh ile oth ers th in k they symbolized th e h utnan body
and the process of growth and maturation. But there can
be no doubt that megaliths were designed to be permanent
structures, where domestic a rchitecture was not. Quite pos-
sibly the megal iths stood in tribute to the strength of the
leade rs respons ible for assembli ng and mai ntaining the con-
siderable labor force requi red to construct th em.
Perh aps the best-known type of tnegalith ic structure is the
cromlech, from the Ce ltic crom, "circle," and Lech, "place."
W ithout doubt, the most famous megalith ic structure in the
world is th e crotnlech known as Stoneh enge (Fig. 1.9), on
Salisbury Plain, about I 00 mi les west of Lo ndon. A h enge
is a special type of cromlech, a c ircle surrounded by a ditch
with bui lt-up embankments, presumably for fortification.
The site at Stoneh enge reflects four tnajor bu ild ing pe-
riods, exte nd ing frotn about 27 50 to 1500 BCE. By about
2100 BCE, most of t h e e lemen ts v is ible today we re in
p lace. In t h e middle was a U-shaped arrangement of ten
posts grouped in pa irs, each pair topped by a capstone-
what we today call post-and-lintel construction. The one
at the botto tn of the U stands talle r than the rest, rising
Fig. 1.9 Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England. ca. 2750-1500 BCE. like most Neolithic sites.
Stonehenge invites speculation about its significance. Of this, however, we are certain: At the summe< solstice. the
longest day of the year. the sun rises directly over the Heel Stone, visible at the bottom right of this photograph. This
suggests that the site was intimately connected to the movement of the sun.

I) View the Closer l ook for Stonehenge on MyArtslab

to a h eigh t o f 24 feet, with a 15-foot lintel 3 feet t hick.

A contin uous circle of sandstone poses, each weighing up
B U R y
co 50 tons an d all standing 20 feet h igh , surrounded the
five trilit hons. Across th ei r top was a continuous lintel 106 DOMAIN OF THE
LIVING
feet in dia tneter. This is th e Sarsen Circle. Just inside the Newly discovered avenue
Sarsen Circle was once another ci rcle, made of bluestone-
a bluish dolerite- fou nd o nly in the mountains of south ern
Ourrington Walls LJ
Wales, some 120 m iles away. Stonehenge CurSuS Woodhenge
• '
W hy Stonehenge was constructed remains something of c
a mystery, although a recent d iscovery at nearby Durrington
Journey from)
Walls has sh ed new light o n the problem. Durring ton Walls lies Stonehenge fife to death
about 2 miles northeast of Stonehenge itself (see Map 1.3). le DOMAIN OF THE =~ -
consists of a circular ditch surround ing a ring of poscholes out ANCESTORS

of which very large ti tn ber posts would have risen. T h e ci rcle

was t he cen ter of a village of as many as 300 houses. The site is
comparable in scale to Stonehenge itself. T hese discoveries-
togethe r with th e ability to carbon-date human re ma ins
found at Stoneh enge with increased accuracy- suggest that
S toneh enge was itself a bu rial ground . A rcheologist Mike
Pa rke r Pearson of th e U n ive rsity of Sheffie ld speculates
chat v illagers would have transported thei r dead down a n On>I

avenue lead ing to th e R iver Avon, th en journ eyed down- O k,n l

stream in a ri tual symbolizi ng the passage to th e afte rl ife,

finall y arr iv ing at an avenue leading up to Stonehenge Map 1.3 Durrington Walls in relation to Stonehenge. Courtesy of National
from th e river. "Stonehenge wasn't set in isolation," Parker Geographic.

CHAPTER1 The Prehistoric Past and the Earliest Civilizations 9

Pearson says, "but was actually one-half of th is monumental
complex. We are looking at a pairing-one in timber to rep-
rese nt the transience of life, the oth er in stone marking the
eten1ity of the ancestral dead."
MYTH IN PREHISTORIC CULTURAL LIFE
What role does myth play in prehistoric
cultures?
Much of our understand ing of preh istoric cultures c01nes fro1n
stories that have survived in cultu res a round the world that
developed without writing-that is, oral cu ltures-such as
the San cu ltures of Zimbabwe and the Oceanic peoples of
Tah iti in the South Pacific. T hese peoples passed down their
myth s a nd h istories ove r the ce ntu ries, from generation to
gen eration, by word of mouth . A lthough , chronologically
speaking, many of these cultures are contemporaneous with
th e medieval, Ren aissance, and even modem cultures of the
West, they are actually c loser to the Neolithic cultures in
tenns of social practice and organization. Especially in terms
of myths and the rituals associated with them, th ey can help
us to understand the outlook of actual Neolithic peoples.
A myth is a story that a culture assumes is true. It also em-
bodies th e cu lture's views and beliefs about its world, often
serv ing to explai n otherwise mysterious natural phenomena.
Myths stand apart from scient ific explanations of the nature
of reality, but as a mode of understandi ng and explanation,
myth has been one of the most important forces driving th e
Fig. 1.10 Cave painting with giraffes, zebra, eland, and abstract shapes, San people, lnanke, Matobo
National Park, Zimbabwe. Before 1000 CE. Photo: Christopher and Sally Gable© Darling Kindersley. The animals
across the bottom are elands, the largest species of antelope, resembling cattle.
10 CHAPTER1 The Prehistoric Past and the Earliest Civilizations
development of culture. A lthough myths are speculative, they
are not pure fantasy. T h ey are grounded in obse rved experi-
ence. T h ey se rve to rationalize the unknown and to expla in
to people the nature of th e universe and their place withi n it.
Boch ni neteenth -century and more recent anthropological
work atnong the San people suggests that their belief systetns
can be traced back for thousands of years. As a result, the mean-
ing of th eir rock art that survives in open-air caves below the
overhanging stone cl iffs atop the h ills of what is now Matobo
National Park in Zimbabwe (Fig. 1.10), some of which dates
back as far as 5,000 co 10,000 years ago, is not e nt ire ly lost.
A giraffe stands above a group of smaller giraffes crossi ng a
series of large, wh ite, loze nge-shaped forms with bro,vn rect-
angu lar centers, many of them ove rlapping one another. To
the right, six humanlike figures are joined hand in hand, prob-
ably in a trance dance. For the San people, prolonged dancing
activates num, a concept of personal energy o r potency th at
the entire commun ity can acquire. Led by a sham an , a person
though t to have special ability to communicate with the spirit
world, the dance encourages th e num to heat up until it boils
over and rises up th rough the sp ine to explode, causing the
dancers to enter a trance. Sweating and trembling, the dancers
variously convulse or become rigid. T h ey migh t run, jump, or
fall. The San believe that in many instances, the dancer's spirit
leaves the body, t raveling far away, where it migh t enter into
battle with supernatural forces. At any event, the trance im-
bues the dancer with almost supernatural agency. T he dancers'
num is capable of curing illnesses, managing game, or control-
ling the weather.
Another random document with
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with swelling heart. He hesitated. Was it his imagination? He gazed a
moment. The bush bent again, and the head of the little wanderer
was seen! He rushed forward, and found the little girl seated upon a
log, and breaking the twigs she had plucked from the bush which so
providentially led to her discovery. She did not appear to be
frightened; said she had lain in the woods three nights, and had not
seen or heard any wild beasts, and that she thought she should get
to Mr. Howard’s for the flour before night! At first she did not appear
hungry or weak, but after eating a piece of bread her cries for more
were very piteous. She was found about three miles from where she
entered the woods. Her clothing was very thin, and the large shawl
she had on when she left home she had carefully folded and placed
in the pillowcase, not even putting it over her during the night, as she
innocently said, ‘to keep from dirtying it, or her mother would whip
her.’ Our informant states that she is now as well and happy as the
other children.”

The Sun.—If the sun were inhabited as thickly as some parts of

our earth, with human beings, it would contain 850,000 times as
many as the earth.
 AUTUMN.
words and music written for merry’s museum; the latter by
geo. j. webb.
Andante.

The summer departed,

So gentle and brief—
Pale autumn is come,
With its sere yellow leaf.
Its breath in the vale,
Its voice in the breeze,
A many hued garment
Is over the trees.

In red and in purple

The leaves seem to bloom,—
The stern slayer comes—
It hath spoken their doom;
And those that may seem
With rubies to vie,—
They tell us that beauty
Blooms only to die.

Yet sad as the whispers

Of sorrow its breath,
And touching its hues
As the garment of death,—
Still autumn, though sad
And mournful it be,
Is sweetest and dearest
Of seasons to me.
THE HYÆNA.
MERRY’S MUSEUM.
VOLUME II.—No. 3.
 Merry’s Life and Adventures.

CHAPTER XI.

Raymond’s story of the school of misfortune.

I shall now proceed to repeat, as accurately as I am able,

Raymond’s story promised in the last chapter. It was as follows.
“There once lived in a village near London, a youth whom we will
call R. His parents died when he was young, leaving him an ample
estate. He was educated at one of the universities, travelled for two
years on the continent, and, at the age of twenty-four, returned to the
paternal mansion, and established himself there. Being the richest
person in the village, and the descendant and representative of a
family of some antiquity, he became the chief personage of the
place. Beside all this, he was esteemed remarkably handsome,
possessed various accomplishments, and had powers of pleasing
almost amounting to fascination. He was, therefore, courted and
flattered by the whole neighborhood, and even lords and ladies of
rank and fashion did not disdain to visit him. The common people
around, of course, looked up to him; for in England, where
distinctions in society are established by government, and where all
are taught to consider such distinctions as right and best, the great,
as they are called, are usually almost worshipped by the little.
“Surrounded by luxuries, and flattered by everybody, it would
seem that R. might have been happy; but he was of a discontented
turn, and though, for a time, these things pleased him, he grew tired
of them at last, and wished for some other sources of pleasure and
excitement. At the university he had imbibed a taste for reading; but
he could not now sit down to its quiet and gentle pleasures. He had
been in the gay society of London and Paris, and had drank the cup
of pleasure so deeply, that nothing but its dregs remained.
“R. was therefore restless, discontented and miserable, while in
the possession of all that usually excites the envy of mankind. He
was rich beyond his utmost wishes; he was endowed with manly
beauty and the most perfect health; he was admired, flattered,
cherished and sought after; yet he was unhappy. The reason of this
he did not know; indeed, he did not look very deeply into the matter,
but went on from one scene to another, seeking enjoyment, but
turning with distaste and disappointment from everything. He was,
however, too proud to let the world see his real condition; he kept up
a fair outside, sustained his establishment with magnificence, and
dressed himself, when he went abroad, with elegance and care; he
affected gayety in company, often led in the dance, was ever
foremost in the chase, and was usually the life of the circle wherever
he went.
“There were few, perhaps none, who imagined that, under this
aspect of prosperity, the canker of discontent was gnawing at the
heart. Yet such was the fact: of all the people of the village, R. was
esteemed the most happy and fortunate; but he was in truth the
veriest wretch in the place. And though this may doubtless seem a
rare instance, yet we have good reason to believe that often, very
often, there is deep misery, untold and unsuspected, in the great
house, where only elegance and luxury are seen by the world at
large; very often the beggar at the door would not exchange
conditions with the lord of the lofty hall, if he could know his real
condition.
“R. had now reached the age of thirty years, and instead of finding
his condition or the state of his feelings to grow better, they seemed
rather to grow worse. He became more and more unhappy. Every
morning when he rose, it was with a kind of dread as to how he
should contrive to kill time, to get through the day, to endure his own
listlessness, or dissatisfaction, or disgust. The idea of setting about
some useful or honorable employment, that would occupy his
thoughts, give excitement to his faculties, and bring satisfaction to
his conscience, never entered his head. He had never been taught
that no one has a right to lead an idle or useless life, and that no
man can be happy who attempts to live only for himself.
“It is indeed a common opinion among rich people that they are
under no obligation to engage in the active duties of life; that they
are not bound to labor, or toil, or make sacrifices for society; that
they are in fact privileged classes, and may spend their time and
money with an exclusive regard to themselves. R. was educated in
this foolish and narrow-minded opinion; and here was the real
foundation of all his misery. Could he only have discovered that
happiness is to be found in exercising our faculties; in using the
means, and employing the power, that Providence has placed in our
hands, in some useful pursuit, and in this way alone, he might have
been saved from a gulf of misery, into which he was soon plunged.
“At this period, which was soon after the revolutionary war,
America was attracting great attention, and R. having met with one
of his college mates who had been there, and who gave him glowing
accounts of it, he suddenly took the determination to sell his estates
and set out for America, with the view of spending the remainder of
his days there. He knew little of the country, but supposed it to be the
contrast in everything to that in which he had lived, and thinking that
any change must bring enjoyment, he sold his property, and taking
the amount in gold and silver, set out with it in a ship bound for New
York.
“The vessel had a prosperous voyage till she arrived in sight of
the highlands near the entrance of the harbor of New York. It was
then that, just at evening, smart gusts began to blow off the land,
and the captain showed signs of anxiety, lest he should not be able
to get in before the storm, which he feared was coming, should arise.
The passengers had dressed themselves to go on shore, and most
of them, anxious to see friends, or tired of the sea, were anticipating
their arrival with delight. R., however, was an exception to all this. He
went upon the deck, looked a few moments gloomily at the land that
was visible low down in the horizon, and then retired to the cabin,
where he gave himself up to his accustomed train of discontented
and bitter thoughts.
 “‘I alone,’ said he to himself, ‘of all this company, seem to be
miserable; all are looking forward with pleasant anticipations of some
happiness, some enjoyment in store for them. But for me—what
have I to hope? I have no friends here; this is a land of strangers to
me. It is true, I have wealth; but how worthless is it! I have tried its
virtues in England, and found that it could not give me pleasure.
Wealth cannot bestow happiness upon me; and I should not mourn if
every farthing of it were lost in the sea. Life is indeed to me a
burthen. Why is it that everything is happy but myself? Why do I see
all these people rejoicing at the sight of land, while I am distressed at
the idea of once more mingling with mankind? Alas! life is to me a
burthen, and the sooner I part with it the better.’
“While R. was pursuing this train of reflections in the cabin, the
heaving of the vessel increased; the creaking of the timbers grew
louder, and there was a good deal of noise on the deck, occasioned
by running to and fro, the rattling of cordage, and the clanking of
heavy irons. The commands of the captain became rapid and stern,
and the thumping of the billows against the sides of the ship made
her shiver from the rudder to the bowsprit.
“R. was so buried in his own gloomy reflections that he did not for
some time notice these events; but at last the din became so
tremendous, that he started to his feet and ran upon deck. The
scene that now met his eyes was indeed fearful. It was dark, but not
so much so as to prevent the land from being visible at a little
distance; the wind was blowing with the force of a hurricane, and
urging the vessel, now perfectly at its mercy, into the boiling waves
that fretted and foamed along its edge. The captain had given up all
hope of saving the ship, and the passengers were kneeling and
throwing up their hands in wildness and despair.
“R. was perfectly calm. The thought of losing his wealth crossed
his mind, but it cost him not a struggle to be reconciled to its
destruction. He then thought of sinking down in the waves to rise no
more. To this, too, he yielded, saying briefly to himself, ‘It is best it
should be so.’ Having thus made up his mind and prepared himself
for the worst, as he fancied, he stood surveying the scene. The force
of the gale was fearful; as it marched along the waters, it lashed their
surface into foam, and burst upon the ship with a fury that seemed
every moment on the point of carrying away her masts. At last, the
vessel struck; a moment after, her masts fell, with their whole
burthen of spars, sails, and rigging; the waves then rose over the
stern of the helpless hulk, and swept the whole length of it. Several
of the passengers were hurried into the tide, there to find a watery
grave; some clung to the bulwarks, and others saved themselves in
various ways.
“R. was himself plunged into the waves. His first idea was to yield
himself to his fate without an effort; but the love of life revived, as he
saw it placed in danger. He was an expert swimmer, and exerting
himself, he soon approached the masts, which were still floating,
though entangled with the wreck. It was in vain, however, to reach
them, owing to the rolling of the surf. Several times he nearly laid his
hand upon them, when he was beaten back by the dashing waves.
His strength gradually gave way, and he was floating farther and
farther from the wreck, when he chanced to see a spar near him;
with a desperate effort, he swam to this, and was thus able to
sustain himself upon the water.
“The night now grew dark apace, and R., being driven out to sea,
was parted from the wreck, and could distinguish nothing but the
flashing waves around him. His limbs began to grow cold, and he
feared that his strength would be insufficient to enable him to keep
upon the spar. His anxiety increased; an awe of death which he had
never felt before sprung up in his bosom, and an intense desire of
life, that thing which he had so recently spurned as worthless,
burned in his bosom. So little do we know ourselves until adversity
has taught us reflection, that R., a few hours before fancying that he
was willing and prepared to die, now yearned for safety, for
deliverance, for life, with an agony he could not control. His feelings,
however, did not overpower him. Using every effort of strength and
skill, and rubbing his chilled limbs from time to time, he was able to
sustain himself till morning. He could then perceive that the vessel
had become a complete wreck, and that the fragments were floating
on the waves; he could not discern a single human being, and was
left to infer that all beside himself had perished.
 “In this situation, benumbed with the cold, faint and exhausted
with exertion, he was on the point of yielding himself a prey to the
waves, when a pilot-boat came into view. It gradually approached the
place where he was, and at last seemed so near him as almost to be
within the reach of his voice. At this critical moment she made
preparations to tack, and thus change her direction. R. noticed these
movements with indescribable anxiety: if she were to advance a few
rods more, he should be discovered and saved; if she were to
change her route ever so little, she would pass by, and he,
unobserved and helpless, would perish. The experience of years
seemed now crowded into one moment of agony. Weary, cold,
exhausted, the poor sufferer wished not now to die, but to live. ‘Help,
help!’ cried he with all his strength. ‘O God, send me deliverance
from these waves!’ This earnest and agonizing petition was the first
prayer he had uttered for years, and it was in behalf of that existence
which, in the days of luxury and splendor, he had thought a burden
and a curse.
“Watching the pilot-boat with the keenest interest, poor R. now sat
upon the spar, almost incapable of moving, on account of his
sufferings and his weakness. He saw at last the helm put down; he
saw the vessel obey the impulse; he saw her swing round, the sail
flapping in the wind, and then filling again; he then saw her shoot off
in another direction, thus leaving him destitute of hope. His heart
sank within him, a sickness came over his bosom, his senses
departed, and he fell forward into the waves. It was at this moment
that he was discovered by the pilot. The vessel immediately steered
towards him, and he was taken on board. In a few hours, he was at
New York, and put under the care of persons who rendered him
every assistance which he needed for his immediate comfort.”

Do as you would be done unto.—The horse of a pious man

living in Massachusetts, happening to stray into the road, a neighbor
of the man who owned the horse put him into the pound. Meeting the
owner soon after, he told him what he had done; “and if I catch him
in the road again,” said he, “I’ll do it again.” “Neighbor,” replied the
other, “not long since I looked out of my window in the night and saw
your cattle in my meadow, and I drove them out and shut them in
your yard, and I’ll do it again.” Struck with the reply, the man
liberated the horse from the pound, and paid the charges himself. “A
soft answer turneth away wrath.”
Money.—He who expends money properly, is its master; he who
lays it up, its keeper; he who loves it, a fool; he who fears it, a slave;
and he who adores it, an idolater.
Country of the Samoides.—​Aurora Borealis.
 The Siberian Sable-Hunter.

CHAPTER III.

For several days the adventurers continued their journey, without

encountering anything worthy of being recorded. It is true that an
hour seldom passed in which thoughts, feelings, or incidents, did not
occur to Alexis, of some interest; and if we could transfer them here
with the same vividness that they touched his mind and heart, it
would be well to put them down. But, after all, the pen can give but a
poor idea of what is going on in the brain and bosom of a lively and
sanguine youth, separated from home and going forth to hunt sables
in the wilds of Siberia.
In about three weeks after their departure, the travellers reached
Yeniseisk, a considerable place, situated on the Yenisei. The town is
built chiefly of wood, the houses being low. Leaving this place, they
proceeded in a northeasterly direction, usually travelling about
twenty-five miles a day.
It was now the month of September, and already the weather
began to grow severe, and the snow to fall. The country also
became more and more desolate, and the inhabitants were more
scattered. They met with no villages, and frequently travelled a
whole day without seeing a single human habitation. There were
extensive marshy plains, upon which a few groups of stunted willows
were to be seen; but this was almost the only vegetation that the soil
produced.
The journey was not only uninteresting and depressing, but it
was, in some
respects, laborious and severe. Old Linsk, however, kept up the
spirits of the party by his incessant prattle; and, as he had seen a
good deal of life and possessed a retentive memory, he not only
enlivened his companions, but he communicated a large amount of
useful information. It is true that all his opinions were not just or wise,
but among some chaff there was a good deal of wheat.
After crossing the river Yenisei, and leaving the town of Yeniseisk,
he had a good deal to say about these things, particularly the former.
“I once went down that river,” said he, “entered the Arctic Ocean,
passed into the sea of Obi, and up the river Obi to Tobolsk. The
whole distance was more than twenty-five hundred miles, and we
were gone four months.
“The purpose of our trip was to get elephants’ teeth, which are
found on the banks of the rivers, and along the shores of the Arctic
sea. There are no elephants living in these regions now, nor are
there any in all Siberia; the country is so cold that these creatures
cannot dwell there. It appears that Siberia must have had a warmer
climate once than it has now, for not only do we find elephants’
bones, but those of the buffalo, and other animals, which can only
subsist in warm countries. It was interesting to see the bones of
buffaloes and elephants along the shore of the ocean; but teeth were
scarce; for, cold and desolate as the country is, many people had
been there before us, and gathered up most of them. We made out
pretty well, however; for we entered the forests as winter
approached, and shot some bears, and sables, and ermines; and
what we lacked in elephants’ teeth we made up in furs. Beside what
we gained in the way of trade, I got a good deal of information and
enjoyed some fun; my plan being to make the best of everything.
“Along the banks of the Yenisei, the inhabitants are Ostiacks, and
are chiefly fishermen; and a sad set they are. I don’t know how it
happens, but it seems to me that those who live on fish have the
most thirsty throats of any persons in the world. All the people were
addicted to drinking brandy, and never did I see so much
drunkenness and riot. It is bad enough all over Siberia; the people
generally believe in evil spirits, but brandy is the worst of them all.
The man that invented brandy has done more mischief to the human
race than it is possible to conceive; and those who contrive to sell it
and diffuse it, are only aiding in brutifying the human species. But it
is a thrifty trade, and many rich men are engaged in it. They flourish
in this world; and so did the rich man we read of in Scripture; but he
did not fare very well in another world. I can’t say how it was, but I
have always thought that Dives was a brandy dealer, and that was
the reason he was so tormented.”
“This is very strange,” said Alexis, “for you drink brandy yourself,
Linsk.”
“That’s all true,” was the reply. “I can’t help it. I’ve got into the
habit of it, and I can’t get out of it. It’s one of the worst parts of the
story, that when brandy has got its clutches upon you, you can’t pull
them off. It’s with brandy as with the evil spirit—when you’ve once
made a bargain with him, you must go through with it. So it is with
those Ostiacks along the Yenisei; they whip their wooden gods
because they don’t send them good luck in hunting and fishing; but
they should whip their own backs, for if they fail in anything, it is
generally because they get drunk, and are incapable of using their
skill and strength to advantage. They know that brandy is at the
bottom of all the mischief, but still they drink, and lay all to the gods
that they do not like to impute to themselves.
“To the north of the Ostiacks are the Samoides, who live along the
shore of the Arctic Ocean the whole extent of Siberia. They are few
in number, for the country is so cold and barren, that it is impossible
they should greatly increase. They are very short, and I believe are
the smallest people in the world. They eat a great deal of fish, and,
what is very odd, they seem to like it best when it is a little tainted.
They have many reindeer, and in the autumn hunt white foxes, with
the skins of which they buy brandy.
“The country inhabited by the Samoides is the most cold and
dreary that can be imagined. The snow lasts for nine months of the
year; the storms are almost incessant for a great part of the time,
and in winter the cold is so intense as to freeze brandy, though the
people contrive to thaw it again. But the most wonderful thing is this:
the sun sets in November, and does not rise again till the next May;
so the night is six months long! The moon, however, shines a great
part of the time, and it is never dark during that period. The northern
lights, sometimes called aurora borealis, are very brilliant, and it is
easy to read by them. The Samoides, however, have no books; they
spend most of their time in winter in sitting in their huts and telling
long stories. I will tell you one, which an old fisherman said he had
heard repeated in one of their dwellings while he was staying with
them.
“There was once upon a time an old Samoide fisherman that had
the most beautiful daughter that ever was seen. She was very short
and very fat, and her skin shone like blubber oil; her eyes were small
and black; her teeth were large, and of a beautiful yellow hue. Her
hair, also, was yellow, and being matted together, hung down in a
thick mass upon her shoulders.
“This fair girl was of an olive color, and such were her charms that
all the young men who saw her fell desperately in love with her, save
one. This latter was a fisherman, and famous for his skill in every
species of adventurous sport. He was very dexterous in spearing the
seal and sea otter, in managing the seal-skin boat, and in driving the
reindeer sledge over the snow.
“Now, although the beautiful lady, whose name was Lis, enslaved
all others, this hero of the fishhook and spear set her charms at
nought; and, as the fates are very whimsical, the beautiful girl,
disdaining the addresses of all besides, became desperately
enamored of him. She took every opportunity in her power to please
and fascinate him, but all to no purpose. Loord, for that was the
name of the fisherman, resisted her advances, and in fact treated
her with marked neglect, if not disdain.
“This appeared very wonderful to everybody, and especially to Lis,
who made up her mind that some evil-minded spirit had bewitched
Loord, and thus enabled and disposed him to resist her charms. She
therefore determined to go to an island at some distance in the
ocean, where she had an uncle living, and, under pretence of visiting
him, to consult a famous sorcerer, or magician, who dwelt there, and,
if possible, to obtain his counsel in the matter.
“Now Lis was well skilled in the arts of managing a boat; so she
determined to go alone. She got into a boat made of seal-skins, and
set forth upon the sea, having bade her friends farewell, who were at
the landing to take leave of her. It was expected that she would
return the next day—but she came not; the second day, the third,
and the fourth, passed away, but the beautiful Lis did not return. At
length some anxiety existed among her friends as to her welfare,
and even the interest of Loord was roused. He determined to set
forth in search of her; and that very day, entering his seal-skin boat,
he departed for the magician’s island.
“It is important to observe that, previous to starting, Loord, who
generally avoided brandy, took a large draught, by the advice of an
aged fisherman, not so much to exclude the cold as to keep out
witchcraft.
“Things went pretty well with Loord in the first part of his voyage,
but after a while, according to his account of the matter on his return,
as he began to approach the magician’s island, he caught a glimpse
of it, but it was bobbing up and down like a porpoise before a squall.
He kept his eye upon it steadily for some time, when at last it sunk,
and did not rise again. Loord used all his strength to reach the place,
and finally came to it, and the water was whirling and boiling round;
but not a bit of an island was to be seen. Loord sailed over and over
the place, and waited a long time to see if he could not pick up
somebody, and particularly the beautiful Lis, but he found no one.
“Loord at last returned; he had been gone all day, and it was late
at night when he reached his home. He was in a bewildered state,
but told his story as I have related it. It was intimated to him that
perhaps the brandy got into his head, and that the island’s being
sunk was all a mistake; but he laughed at the idea. In a few days,
however, a boat came from the magician’s isle, and behold the
beautiful Lis was in it, as well and as charming as ever. Her friends
came to see her, and her lovers returned, and all congratulated her
upon her good looks, and upon her escape from being carried to the
bottom of the sea with the magician’s island. This made her stare,
upon which they told her the adventure of Loord.
“It being now ascertained that the island of the magician was still
standing in its place, Loord became an object of general ridicule; and
as he was no longer a hero in the estimation of the people, Lis
began to think she could live without him. Accordingly, when she met
him she tossed up her head, and passed him by with disdain. This
brought Loord to his senses, and he began to see that Lis was very
beautiful, and pretty soon he found out that he could not live without
her. So he wooed her, but at first she would not listen to him; after a
great deal of teazing, however, she consented, and they were
married; but ever after, if anything went wrong, Lis would jeer him
about the magician’s island, that bobbed up and down like a
porpoise before a storm, and at last went down to the bottom! This
would always bring Loord to terms; and, in short, by means of this
affair, Lis not only got her husband, but she used the story ever after
to manage him; for it gave her a power over him like that of a strong
bit in the mouth of a headstrong horse.
“Nor was this all. The people in those parts found out that Lis
went to the island to consult the magician, and they imputed Loord’s
conduct entirely to his interference in behalf of the beautiful girl. But
the only real magician in the case was the brandy, for Lis did not find
the magician at home; and, though she waited some days, she did
not see him. However, when people are superstitious common things
always grow mighty wonderful in their eyes. Superstition is like a pair
of spectacles that I heard of once; they happened to have a
musquito on one of the glasses when the owner put them on; so he
thought he saw a flying bear skipping over the distant hills, when it
was only the musquito upon his spectacles!”