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39 Rome: “Cupid and Psyche” 695
Apuleius
40 Applying Theory: Highlighting Different Aspects of the Same Tale Using Multiple
Analyses 714
PART 7 Contemporary Myth 723

41 Daniel Boone: Building the Myth around the Man 727
Richard Slotkin
42 Stagecoach and Firefly : The Journey into the Unknown in Westerns
and Science Fiction 743
Fred Erisman
43 Harry Potter: A Rankian Analysis of the Hero of Hogwarts 757
M. Katherine Grimes
44 The Vampire as Hero: The Undead in Contemporary Tales 771
Eva M. Thury
PART 8 Literature and Myth 787

45 Poetry and Myth 793
46 “Yellow Woman”: Native-American Oral Myth in a Contemporary Context 819
Leslie Marmon Silko
47 Narrative and Myth 831
Glossary of Gods, Heroes, and Antiheroes G–1

Additional Works Cited B–1
Credits C–1
Index I–1
Preface
T
his fourth edition of our text incorporates into its cover design motifs that
illustrate some of the ways we find mythology interesting: it represents a time-
less tradition, and yet one that is ever being remade and reformulated to be
completely fresh.
This edition includes a new chapter on Arthurian legend, focusing on the story of the
Holy Grail throughout its history. The chapter on Native American mythology has been
expanded to include not only southwestern tribes, but also those of the Northeastern
Woodlands. Comparing the experiences and belief systems of these geographically widely
separated groups provides interesting insights into the power of myth in a culture. Also
in this edition, we have added the story of Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, to the chapter
on Chinese creation myths, emphasizing the creative aspects of this trickster figure who
is the source of the popular manga series Dragon Ball Z. We delight in continuing and
expanding the multiple perspectives we have been able to provide in this book for tradi-
tional stories, suggesting that they are in some ways eternal and immutable, while show-
ing how we see them differently because of the world we live in and the particular kinds
of insights that have become available to us as a result.
From the beginning of our work on developing a mythology textbook, we felt we
could not produce a work on mythology that did not recognize contemporary perspec-
tives and beliefs as the cultural context for any study of mythological texts. In our view,
this mitigates against the view that mythology is to be viewed as ridiculous stories told
by uneducated peoples as they struggled to make sense of their world—a perspective we
often hear from our students at the start of a mythology course. Rather, we wanted our
book to show the kinds of meanings that scholars, artists, and thinkers of all sorts find
in mythological texts today. And that meant presenting the original texts of myths along
with twentieth-century interpretations of them by scholars in a variety of academic fields.
It has, over the years we have worked on this book, been a challenge to shape and struc-
ture the material we wanted to include into a coherent and meaningful whole. In various
forms, the text you see today has been through many stages of scholarly review. At every
stage of this review process, there were readers who suggested trimming the contents,
while at the same time proposing additions to what was already here. It took fortitude
and patience to consider and reconsider the suggestions of competing claimants, and in
this edition we are continuing to hone the material we have, as well as adding sections
that have been requested by students and instructors. We hope that our final choices will
be useful to most students of mythology, although we understand that some will note the
absence of stories and traditions that fire their imagination and their enthusiasm. Later in
this preface, we will attempt to trace a series of what we hope will be interesting paths of
discovery through the ensuing variety of mythological material.
HOW TO READ THIS BOOK
The organization of this book is based on the assumption that various readers have
varied interests, so we include a variety of paths you may want to take. See the section
below titled “Paths of Discovery through this Book.” If you are reading the book as a
text in a course, you may also want to pay attention to the course guidelines concerning
areas to prioritize.
WHAT EVERYBODY SHOULD READ

We intend the first two chapters for all readers. Even if you already know what mythol-
ogy is, you probably will want to read how we explain it, because that will help guide
your thinking about the rest of the material in the book. In addition, if you are reading
a chapter in any new part of the book, we suggest that you start with the introduction to
that part, to provide a general orientation to why we grouped together the stories and
mythological themes found there.
For the rest, we have tried to design the book so that individual chapters are self-
contained and can be read as separate modules, so there is no need, after Part 1, to read
the chapters in sequence. The “What to Expect” modules at the start of each chapter serve
as advance organizers, designed to make suggestions about how to structure your explo-
ration of the chapter. The “Paths of Discovery” section of the Preface could be considered
a kind of wide-ranging “What to Expect” segment spanning the book as a whole.
You will see that the book’s text is divided into a main column and marginal notes. The
main column may contain two kinds of material: the texts of myths (“primary sources”)
and contemporary interpretations of them (“secondary sources”). Additional synthe-
sized or interpretive material from us, the authors of this book, can also be thought of
as “secondary source” material. The primary and secondary texts from other authors are
given in a font that looks like this while the material from your authors comes in a font
that looks like this. From time to time, the main column also contains tables, boxes, and
illustrations to help you understand and appreciate the other material in the book.
The marginalia along each page feature notes, definitions, cross-references, headings,
examples, and illustrations to guide and expand your appreciation of the main text. Since
the book contains many different kinds of texts, the marginalia in some chapters are
denser or more varied than in others. These marginal comments are intended to help you:
• highlight the structure of the discussion and thus make the argument easier to
follow
• explain and expand concepts and expressions in the main text and thus make the
complex material of mythology more accessible
• review the material by making skimming and navigating the text easier
• show links between parts of the book, allowing you to pinpoint connections that
may have been lurking unspoken in your own thinking, or to notice relationships
that may not have been obvious to you
• spell out connections between the material in the book and other aspects of con-
temporary life, like television; the movies; and other subjects, including other aca-
demic disciplines
• inspire further study by noting the sources of the ideas and perspectives in the text
to give you access to concepts and ideas beyond the scope of the text
There is no right order in which to read the material in the main column, or even the
chapters themselves. For example, we have chapters with primary sources like the Epic of
Gilgamesh and secondary sources like J. S. Kirk’s analysis of the Epic of Gilgamesh (Chap-
ters 16 and 17, respectively). Many literature teachers will tell you that it’s best to read
the literary text first and have your own thoughts about it, before you even consult the
marginalia and especially before you read a secondary source about it. We don’t disagree
with this view: we are, after all, literature teachers ourselves. However, we recognize that,
for some readers, the secondary material makes the stories more meaningful, and such
readers who maintain their own views are not compromised by reading it first. So, if the
choice is yours, try different approaches and select the one that results in the greatest en-
joyment of the stories we include in the book.
Many readers will want to read the main column of text and jump to the margins only
when they encounter material they have questions about. However, when you are look-
ing at a chapter for the first time, you may want to skim through the marginalia to get an
idea of the structure of what you are going to be reading. When you are studying for a
test, you can use the marginalia as a guide as you skim the material you have read before.
Sometimes the marginalia also contain definitions and concepts you may want to review,
or to learn, depending on the guidance of your instructor.
PATHS OF DISCOVERY THROUGH THIS BOOK

The realm of “world myth” is vast, and the possibilities for exploration in it are many. As
noted above, we suggest that, no matter where in the book your journey takes you, you
start with the first two chapters, as providing a useful overview of the kind of material you
will be reading. In addition, any use of material in an as-yet-unfamiliar part of the book
is, we believe, best preceded by reading the introduction to that part.
Here are some possible paths you may take in reading this book:
Classical Myth
Chapter 3 Greece: Hesiod
Chapter 4 Rome: Ovid (Creation)
Chapter 12 Rome: Ovid (Flood)
Chapter 15 Theory: Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces—Dave
Whomsley
Chapter 22 Greece: Oedipus the King—Sophocles
Chapter 23 Theory: The Structural Study of Myth—Claude Lévi-Strauss
Chapter 26 Greece: Prometheus
Chapter 27 Applying Theory: Different Versions of Myths
Chapter 29 Greece: Demeter and Persephone
Chapter 30 Egypt: Isis and Osiris
(the second half of this chapter deals with Isis’ role in the Roman
Empire)
Chapter 33 Greece: Heracles and Dionysus
Chapter 39 Rome: “Cupid and Psyche”—Apuleius
Chapter 45 Poetry and Myth
Chapter 47 Narrative and Myth
World Myth. In some sense, every chapter in this book is relevant to world myth: hence
the title. However, it may be useful to point out the chapters in the book that deal with
stories from parts of the world other than the United States, or ancient Greece or Rome.
These are, grouped according to their cultures:
Chapter 5 The Bible: Genesis (Creation)
Chapter 13 The Bible: Genesis (Flood)
Chapter 31 Applying Theory: Meals in the Bible—Mary Douglas
Chapter 7 Icelandic/Norse: Prose Edda (Creation)
Chapter 14 Icelandic/Norse: Prose Edda (Ragnarok)
Chapter 19 Icelandic/Norse: Prose Edda (Heroes)
Chapter 32 Icelandic/Norse: The Rituals of Iceland—H. R. Ellis Davidson
Chapter 16 Mesopotamia: The Epic of Gilgamesh
Chapter 17 Applying Theory: A Lévi-Straussian Analysis of the Epic of Gilgamesh—
G. S. Kirk
Chapter 18 India: The Ramayana
Chapter 10 China: Nü Kwa, Kuan Yin, and Monkey
Chapter 9 Africa: Uganda and Nigeria
Chapter 25 African and African-American Trickster Stories
Chapter 11 Mesoamerica: Popol Vuh
Chapter 15 Theory: Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces—Dave
Whomsley
Chapter 20 Arthurian Legend: The Holy Grail—Donna Lynne Rondolone
Literature and Myth. Most of the stories in this book come from literary works, and this
certainly includes most of the chapters listed above as “Classical Myth” and “World Myth”
(except Chapters 15, 17, 23, 31, and 32). Thus, we do not re-list these chapters here. Be-
yond this, what is included here depends on the definition each person accords to literary
works. Some consider fairy tales, for example, to be “literary works,” while others focus
more on works of “high” culture. However, of particular interest in relation to this theme
may be:
Chapter 18 India: The Ramayana
Chapter 20 Arthurian Legend: The Holy Grail—Donna Lynne Rondolone
Chapter 21 Africa: The Mwindo Epic
Chapter 22 Greece: Oedipus the King—Sophocles
Chapter 45 Poetry and Myth
Chapter 46 “Yellow Woman”: Native American Oral Myth in a Contemporary
Context—Leslie Marmon Silko
Oral Storytelling. Although the first two chapters below treat literary stories, these sto-
ries derive from an oral tradition, and we try to elucidate that tradition in our account.
Chapter 3 Greece: Hesiod
Chapter 5 The Bible: Genesis (Creation)
Chapter 8 North America: Stories from the Zuni, Hopi, and Navajo (Southwest);
and from the Iroquois League (Northeastern Woodlands)
Chapter 21 Africa: The Mwindo Epic
Chapter 24 North America: Raven
American Myth
Chapter 8 North America: Stories from the Zuni, Hopi, and Navajo (Southwest);
and from the Iroquois League (Northeastern Woodlands)
Chapter 11 Mesoamerica: Popol Vuh
Chapter 24 North America: Raven
Chapter 28 Theory: The Forest of Symbols —Victor Turner (Victor Turner bases his
theories on the study of the Ndembu people of Africa but applies his
theories beyond this culture to talk about postindustrial society.)
Chapter 37 Applying Theory: A Proppian Analysis of The Wizard of Oz
Chapter 41 Daniel Boone: Building the Myth around the Man—Richard Slotkin
Chapter 42 Stagecoach and Firefly : The Journey into the Unknown in Westerns and
Science Fiction—Fred Erisman
Chapter 44 The Vampire as Hero: The Undead in Contemporary Tales—Eva M.
Thury
African Myth
Chapter 28 Theory: The Forest of Symbols —Victor Turner (Turner bases his theo-
ries on the study of the Ndembu people of Africa, but applies them be-
yond this culture to talk about postindustrial society.)
Chapter 45 Poetry and Myth (Audre Lorde’s poetry is steeped in West African/
Caribbean myth-based religion.)
Contemporary Myth
Chapter 28 Theory: The Forest of Symbols —Victor Turner
Chapter 34 Theory: Man and His Symbols —C. G. Jung
Chapter 35 Applying Theory: How to Perform a Jungian Analysis
Chapter 42 Stagecoach and Firefly: The Journey into the Unknown in Westerns and
Science Fiction—Fred Erisman (This chapter raises the issue of the role of
mythology in popular entertainment. Are such myths just “mindless en-
tertainment” or do they tell us something about our culture and values?)
Chapter 43 Harry Potter: A Rankian Analysis of the Hero of Hogwarts—M. Kather-
ine Grimes
Thury
Fairy Tales and Myth
Chapter 34 Theory: Man and His Symbols —C. G. Jung
Chapter 35 Applying Theory: How to Perform a Jungian Analysis
Chapter 36 Theory: The Morphology of the Folktale—Vladimir Propp
Chapter 38 Germany: Grimms’ Household Tales
Chapter 40 Applying Theory: Highlighting Different Aspects of the Same Tale Using
Multiple Analyses
Chapter 47 Narrative and Myth (Angela Carter’s “The Tiger’s Bride”)
Myth and Ritual

Chapter 30 Egypt: Isis and Osiris (The second half of this chapter deals with a ritual
of Isis in the Roman Empire.)
Chapter 32 Icelandic/Norse: The Rituals of Iceland—H. R. Ellis Davidson
Chapter 33 Greece: Heracles and Dionysus
Chapter 27 Applying Theory: Different Versions of Myths (This chapter contrasts
the “working version” of a myth that is used in a ritual with other forms
of myth.)
Theoretical Approaches to Myth

Chapter 10 China: Nü Kwa, Kuan Yin, and Monkey (This chapter uses Chinese
myth as an example to show how myths are constructed and applies
feminist theory to show how they function in society.)
Chapter 15 Theory: Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces —Dave
Whomsley
Chapter 17 Applying Theory: A Lévi-Straussian Analysis of the Epic of Gilgamesh—
G. S. Kirk)
Chapter 23 Theory: The Structural Study of Myth—Claude Lévi-Strauss
Chapter 36 Theory: The Morphology of the Folktale—Vladimir Propp
Multiple Analyses
The four chapters of Part 7, “Contemporary Myth,” may be seen as theoretical: the first
is a historical analysis with some application of Campbell’s ideas about myth; the second
uses literary theory to study mythic concepts; the third and fourth apply psychological
concepts to contemporary stories. These chapters are:
ine Grimes
Thury
Myth from a Feminine Perspective. The Graeco-Roman culture is highly patriarchal,

but the stories it tells often represent the strength and resilience of women. Of particular
interest in this respect is the discussion of the Greek gender gap in Chapter 3, p. 32, and
in Chapter 29, p. 523. The Homeric Hymn to Demeter and the rituals involving it show
the important role that the feminine force can have, even in a society where sexual equal-
ity is unheard of. “Cupid and Psyche” features the coming-of-age story of Psyche and her
development as a significant force in Graeco-Roman society (Chapter 39).
The Egyptian goddess Isis is a power in her own right, as are the Chinese mother
goddess Nü Kwa and Kuan Yin, the Chinese goddess of compassion. Chapter 10 also
has methodological importance as it traces the ways scholars of mythology can identify
feminine perspectives even in societies that have developed away from the espousal of
these figures.
Modern psychological theories, including those of C. G. Jung (Chs. 34 and 35) and
Otto Rank (Ch. 43) have made significant contributions to our understanding of the
importance of women in mythology. The analysis of Harry Potter in Chapter 43, in
particular, updates conventional Rankian theory to give more emphasis to the role of
women.
In modern Western society, greater emphasis is placed on the contribution of women,
and this is reflected in the stories that come from these cultures, including Harry Potter
(Ch. 43), Firefly (Ch. 42), and “The Tiger’s Bride” (Ch. 47). In particular, in Chapter 47,
Angela Carter’s tale serves as a tongue-in-cheek repudiation of societal norms subjugat-
ing women to the will of their fathers. In addition, fairy tales often feature strong hero-
ines, including Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz (Ch. 37) and the Goose Girl (Chs. 38 and
40). In particular, Chapter 40 describes Marina Warner’s analysis linking Mother Goose
tales and the legendary figure of the Queen of Sheba as causing the “feminine disruption”
of patriarchal society. In contemporary popular fiction, association with vampires often
provides women with the power and the incentive to become heroic (Ch. 44). And finally,
contemporary literature represents the importance of women’s mythological insights, as
shown in the work of Leslie Marmon Silko (Ch. 46), as well as Anne Sexton, Hilda Doo-
little, and Audre Lorde (Ch. 45).
A comprehensive list of chapters involving women’s influence includes:
Chapter 3 Greece: Hesiod (Creation)
Chapter 4 Rome: Ovid (Creation)
Chapter 6 Mesopotamia: Enuma Elish
Chapter 10 China: Nü Kwa, Kuan Yin, and Monkey
Chapter 12 Rome: Ovid (Flood)
Chapter 16 Mesopotamia: The Epic of Gilgamesh
Chapter 26 Greece: Prometheus
Chapter 38 Germany: Grimms’ Household Tales
Multiple Analyses
ine Grimes
Thury
Chapter 45 Poetry and Myth (Anne Sexton, Hilda Doolittle, and Audre Lorde)
Chapter 47 Narrative and Myth (“The Tiger’s Bride”)
SUPPORT MATERIALS TO
ACCOMPANY INTRODUCTION TO MYTHOLOGY
Students and instructors may visit the Companion Website at www.oup.com/us/thury.
Chapter objectives and summaries, study questions, suggested essay topics, self-correcting
review quizzes, and glossary term flashcards are available here. There are also web links to
sites relevant to chapter content. Finally, instructors may access several sample syllabi and
a PowerPoint®-based Lecture Guide.
An Instructor’s Manual and Testbank accompanies this book. Here, instructors will
find summaries, discussion questions, pedagogical suggestions, suggested essay ques-
tions, and sentence-completion and multiple-choice tests for each chapter. Also in-
cluded is additional material: three more stories from the Household Tales by the Grimm
Brothers (Supplement to Chapter 38: The Frog Prince, Aschenputtel or Cinderella, and
Rumpelstiltskin), with marginal annotations and a theoretical reading (Supplement
to Chapter 31: “I Gave Him a Cake: Two Italian-American Weddings”) discussing the
mythological significance of the design of rituals by individuals. This last piece also has
marginal annotations. A computerized test bank is also available.
Designed specifically to accompany Introduction to Mythology, Fourth Edition, the
second edition of Now Playing: Learning Mythology Through Film illustrates the ways
mythological concepts play out in a variety of situations by showcasing mass media that
are familiar and easily accessible to readers and teachers.
Integrating clips and descriptions from thirty-four films and four television episodes,
this vibrant resource includes both classics and newly released material. For example,
The Wizard of Oz (1939) provides an enjoyable and interesting way for you to discuss the
rationalization of myths, changing audiences, and gender roles with your students, while
Clash of the Titans (2010) addresses the complex relationship between the Greek gods
and man, the role of fate, and the ancient Greeks’ view of free will. Each entry includes
details about the mythological concepts featured within the film or TV episode, a brief
synopsis, and questions for discussions or written homework assignments. Both student
and instructor editions are available.
Now Playing can be packaged with every new copy of Introduction to Mythology,
Fourth Edition, at no additional cost to students. Qualified adopters will also receive a
Netflix subscription that allows them to show students the films discussed in the book.
Please contact your local Oxford University Press sales representative or call 800-280-0280
for more information.
Introduction to Mythology, Fourth Edition, is also available as a CourseSmart Ebook:
978-0-19-986280-1. Please contact your Oxford University Press sales representative at
800-280-0280 for more information.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work has been in progress for such a long time that particular mention of all those
colleagues, friends, and family who helped us on the journey is very difficult.
We do wish to note our appreciation to our very generous colleagues, who lent their
professional expertise to commentary and suggestions on particular subjects: Amy Slaton
on the relationship of science and myth, Seydev Kumar on the Ramayana, Keith Knapp
on Chinese myth, Daniel Biebuyck and Abioseh Porter on the Mwindo epic, G. Ronald
Murphy on the Grimm Brothers’ tales, Michael O’Shea on Joyce’s Ulysses, Mary Schmel-
zer on structuralism, Paul Zolbrod on Native American literature, Éva Liptay and István
Nagy on Egyptian myth, and Crista Nuzinger of the Galerie Calumet-Nuzinger in Heidel-
berg, Germany for providing the Kabotie Kachina artwork.
A special note of thanks goes to Joseph Russo, who helped Eva Thury develop her first-
ever syllabus on mythology when she was teaching at Wheaton College in 1976. Eva dates
aspects of her approach to myth to Joe’s insights and the bibliography he recommended.
Also formative of Eva’s appreciation for myth in that era were Jennifer T. Roberts, her
colleague at Wheaton, and Dorothea Wender, whose translation of Hesiod appears in
this book. We also would like to offer special thanks to Roger Abrahams, who generously
shared his sources of inspiration on tricksters and ritual as well as suggesting primary
and secondary material, and to Daniel Biebuyck, whose unfailing generosity with respect
to the Mwindo epic extended to careful textual editing and to supplying us with photo-
graphs from his collection to illustrate the culture and performance of the Mwindo epic.
We also thank all who read the manuscript and offered helpful advice: Eileen Devin-
ney, M. Carl Drott, Jeff Drott, and Marianne Henderson. And we would like to thank the
many reviewers of the third edition for Oxford University Press who made detailed and
thoughtful suggestions for revisions and additions to this new one.
We particularly appreciate the artistic work of Mickey Drott, who created the final il-
lustrations we could get nowhere else; and we laud our editors at Oxford University Press,
especially Robert Miller, who first saw the potential in our approach to mythology, as well
as Charles Cavaliere, Lynn Luecken, and Theresa Stockton for their valuable direction in
helping us develop the current edition and prepare the manuscript for publication.
Saving the best for last, we thank our husbands, M. Carl Drott and Edward Devinney,
for their astute reading, their technical assistance, and most important of all—for their
encouragement and support during the long gestation period of this labor.
We dedicate this book to Martha B. Montgomery, who hired each of us in her time as
Head of what was then the Department of Humanities and Communications at Drexel
University. Martha was an outstanding educator, a terrific boss, and an inspiring friend;
we hope the work we do today carries on her vision of rigorous scholarship and dedi-
cated teaching.
Eva Thury and Margaret Devinney
NEW TO THIS EDITION
• Chapter 8: “North America: Stories from the Zuni, Hopi, and Navajo (Southwest);
and from the Iroquois League (Northeastern Woodlands)” now includes creation
myths from the Woodlands tribes (Iroquois League) of the northeastern United
States in addition to the southwestern Hopi, Navajo, and Zuni.
• Chapter 10: “China: Nü Kwa, Kuan Yin, and Monkey” now includes an excerpt
from Journey to the West describing some of the adventures of the Monkey King.
• Chapter 18: “The Ramayana” contains an expanded introduction, with emphasis
on Hinduism in its historical and contemporary contexts.
• Chapter 20 (new): “Arthurian Legend: The Holy Grail” is an extensive addition
focusing on the story of the Holy Grail in its medieval as well as its contemporary
emanations.
• Chapter 45, “Poetry and Myth,” now includes works by Audre Lorde, which en-
riches the African/African-American mythological experience because of Lorde’s
American Afro-Caribbean base.
• Full-color design and many maps, photographs, and charts in color make the text
easier to read and its illustrations more powerful and meaningful.
REVIEWERS
Janet Amirtharaj, Rowan Cabarrus Community College
Marjorie Berman, Red Rocks Community College
Philip Freeman, Luther College
Micaela Janan, Duke University
Heather Kroger, Front Range Community College
Marvin D. L. Lansverk, Montana State University
Angelica McMillan, Front Range Community College
Elizabeth Meehan, San Diego City College
Yvonne J Milspaw, Harrisburg Area Community College
Boyd J. Petersen, Utah Valley University
Roberta Sabbath, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Robin Satterwhite, Rowan Cabarrus Community College
Nicholas Schevera, College of Lake County
Rakesh Swamy, Ohlone College
Jeannine Diddle Uzzi, University of Southern Maine, Portland
Paula J. Vaughn, Harrisburg Area Community College
Karen T. Wagner, Pikes Peak Community College
Bob G. Warren, Valencia College
Genevieve Winters, Phoenix College
8000 B.C.E. TO 2000 B.C.E.
8000 B.C.E. 7500 B.C.E. Early Egyptians live in what are today desert areas,
which are green at this time.
7000 B.C.E. 7000 B.C.E. Mesopotamians begin living in towns.
ca. 7000 B.C.E. First farmers settle in Greece.
6000 B.C.E. ca. 5400–4400 B.C.E. Farmers start to grow forms of wheat and
barley and to keep animals nearer the Nile River in Egypt.
5000 B.C.E. Native Americans are living in areas as far east as southern
Maine.
4000 B.C.E. ca. 3400–3200 B.C.E. Earliest known use of hieroglyphics in Egypt.
ca. 3200 B.C.E. The Bronze Age: name given to the time when this
metal first begins to be used.
ca. 3200 B.C.E. Sumeria falls to the Akkadians.
3000 B.C.E. ca. 3000 B.C.E. Writing system called cuneiform is invented in
lower Mesopotamia.
2800–2500 B.C.E. Gilgamesh is King of Uruk.
2375–2345 B.C.E. Pyramid texts at Saqqara.
2350–2150 B.C.E. Akkadian Empire
ca. 2300 B.C.E. Sargon’s birth, according to an inscription.
2125–2016 B.C.E. Thebes becomes an important city. Rulers from

the 11th dynasty become strong and start to control large parts
of Egypt.
ca. 2100 B.C.E. Earliest written versions of the Epic of Gilgamesh.
2000 B.C.E. TO 1000 B.C.E.
2000 B.C.E. 1831–1786 B.C.E. Egyptian art reaches a high point during the reign of
Amenemhat III.
1792–1750 B.C.E. Reign of Hammurabi, a Babylonian king who developed
a code of laws.
ca. 1700 B.C.E. A form of writing known today as Linear A is developed
on the island of Crete.
1550 B.C.E. The Theban god Amun becomes one of the most important
deities in Egypt.
ca. 1530 B.C.E. Volcanic explosion on the island of Thera. Today, some
people believe this huge eruption may be the origin of the legend of
Atlantis.
1500 B.C.E. ca. 1500–1000 B.C.E. The Iroquois Confederacy is established under
the Great Law of Peace agreed to by the Iroquois, Seneca, Oneida,
Onandaga, Cayuga, and Mohawk tribes.
1352–1336 B.C.E. Reign of Amenhotep IV / Akhenaten, who closes the
old temples and makes Aten the most important god in Egypt.
1336 B.C.E. Tutankhamun becomes king and restores the cults of the old
gods.
ca. 1200 B.C.E. The version of the Epic of Gilgamesh found in this book.
ca. 1200 B.C.E. Mycenean (Greek) civilization.
1183 B.C.E. Traditional date for the Trojan War. This legendary war was
fought between an alliance of Greek cities and the Anatolian city of Troy.
1100–900 The Greek Dark Age: The skills of reading and writing are
lost. Trade between Greece and other countries goes into decline. The
population becomes much smaller.
1099 B.C.E. Ramses XI becomes king—the last of the New Kingdom.
1069–715 B.C.E. The south of Egypt is controlled by the High Priests of

Amun.
1000 B.C.E. ca. 950 B.C.E. Yahwist or Jehovist version of Genesis, the first book of the
Hebrew Bible.
900 B.C.E. TO 700 B.C.E.
900 B.C.E. ca. 850 B.C.E. Elohist version of Genesis.
800–480 B.C.E. Greek settlements, known as colonies, are set up in Asia

Minor, Italy, Sicily, North Africa, Egypt, and around the Black Sea.
800 B.C.E. 776 B.C.E. The first Olympic games are held in honor of the god Zeus.
ca. 750 B.C.E. Traditional date for the Greek poet Homer, who composed
the Iliad and the Odyssey.
ca. 750 B.C.E. Supposed earliest version of the Oedipus myth. (Homer
referred to it in his Odyssey.)
750–700 B.C.E. First temple of Pallas Athena is built in Athens.
ca. 740 B.C.E. The Greek alphabet, based on the Phoenician writing
system, is created.
ca. 721 B.C.E. J-E version of Genesis.
700 B.C.E. Shabaka Stone placed in the Temple of Ptah in Memphis.
700–480 B.C.E. The Archaic Period in Greece: Greek cities increase

trade with each other and with other cultures. Arts and crafts flourish.
Great temples are built to honor the gods.
ca. 700–650 B.C.E. Hesiod the poet writes Works and Days and
Theogony.
7th c. B.C.E. Composition of the Hymn to Demeter.
7th c. B.C.E. Ashurbanipal rules; creates a comprehensive library.
7th c. B.C.E. Earliest versions of the Ramayana are surmised to have

originated at this time.
700 B.C.E. 671 B.C.E. The Assyrians capture the city of Memphis.
663 B.C.E. The Assyrians capture Thebes and control all of Egypt.
621–620 B.C.E. Drako issues the first written law code in Athens.
620–580 B.C.E. The Greek poet Sappho of Lesbos writes nine books of
poetry.
600 B.C.E. TO 500 B.C.E.
600 B.C.E. 600–221 B.C.E. Classical/Pre-Han era in China

597 B.C.E. Start of the Babylonian captivity. Nebuchadnezzar II captures
Jerusalem, takes the king and many other prominent citizens back to Babylon.
590 B.C.E. First Pythian Games held in Delphi in honor of the god Apollo.
587 B.C.E. Jerusalem destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar II, more Jewish prisoners
are taken to Babylon.
ca. 560–480 B.C.E. Life of Pythagoras, Greek mathematician and philosopher.
ca. 550 B.C.E. Priestly version of Genesis.
550 B.C.E. Persian king Cyrus the Great conquers Media.
539 B.C.E. After the fall of Babylon to the Persian king Cyrus the Great, exiled
Jews are allowed to return to the land of Judah.
534 B.C.E. The first tragedy is performed in Athens at a festival dedicated to
the god Dionysos.
525–456 B.C.E. Life of the Greek playwright Aeschylus.
500–428 B.C.E. Life of the Greek philosopher Anaxagoras.
500 B.C.E. 495–405 B.C.E. Life of the Greek playwright Sophocles.

492–432 B.C.E. Life of the Greek philosopher Empedocles.
490 B.C.E. The Battle of Marathon, at which the Athenian army defeats the
invading Persian Empire.
487 B.C.E. The first comedy (play) is performed in Athens at a festival
dedicated to the god Dionysos.
ca. 485–425 B.C.E. Life of the Greek historian Herodotus.
480–323 B.C.E. The Greek Classical Period: artists begin to portray humans
and animals in a more natural and realistic way.
ca. 480–407 B.C.E. Life of the Greek playwright Euripides.
ca. 456 B.C.E. Aeschylus’s Prometheus Bound.
447 B.C.E. The building of the Parthenon begins in Athens.
432–404 B.C.E. Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta and their
allies. Athens is defeated, and the city never fully recovers its military
strength and power.
429–425 B.C.E. Sophocles’ Oedipus the King.
427–347 B.C.E. Life of the Greek philosopher Plato.
425 B.C.E. Great plague in Athens.
400 B.C.E. TO 300 B.C.E.
400 B.C.E. 399 B.C.E. Socrates is sentenced to death.
387 B.C.E. Plato founds his school at the Academy in Athens.
384–322 B.C.E. Life of the Greek philosopher Aristotle.
341–270 B.C.E. Life of the Greek philosopher Epicurus.
335 B.C.E. Aristotle founds his school at the Lyceum in Athens.
335–263 B.C.E. Life of the Greek philosopher Zeno, who begins the Stoic
movement.
332 B.C.E. Alexander the Great becomes the new ruler of Egypt.
331 B.C.E. New city of Alexandria is founded.
323–31 B.C.E. The Hellenistic Period: Greek ideas and styles of art
spread throughout Alexander’s former empire.
323 B.C.E. Death of Alexander the Great. His generals divide his empire
among them. For the next 40 years, these generals fight to expand
their territory.
300 B.C.E. ca. 300 B.C.E. Euclid founds a mathematical school in Athens.
300–200 B.C.E. The Lenape people continue moving eastward, meet and
become friends with the Iroquois.
290 B.C.E. The Library in Alexandria is founded. It holds half a million
scrolls and conserves many of the great works of ancient Greek
literature.
287–212 B.C.E. Life of Archimedes, Greek mathematician and
philosopher.
279 B.C.E. Celtic tribes from the north invade Greece and reach as
far as Delphi.
270 B.C.E. Greek astronomer Aristarchus announces that the earth
revolves around the sun each year and rotates on its own axis each day.
264–241 B.C.E. Rome’s First Punic War with the city of Carthage. Rome
gains control of Sicily as its first overseas province.
254–184 B.C.E. Life of the Roman playwright Plautus, the author of over
130 comic plays.
221–220 B.C.E. Han Dynasty rules China.
300 B.C.E. TO 100 B.C.E.
300 B.C.E. 218–202 B.C.E. Rome’s Second Punic War. Hannibal of Carthage
continued crosses the Alps and invades Italy, but is unable to take control of
the city of Rome and eventually withdraws to Africa.
200 B.C.E. 200–100 B.C.E. Songs of Ch’u, earliest known Chinese sacred
mythological texts.
ca. 170 B.C.E. Romans begin to interfere in the government of Egypt.
ca. 150 B.C.E. The Venus de Milo, one of the most famous
sculptures in the world, is created.
ca. 150 B.C.E. Valmiki writes the version of the Ramayana found in
this book.
149–146 B.C.E. Rome’s Third Punic War. Rome destroys and takes
control of Carthage, along with much of North Africa.
146 B.C.E. The Romans conquer Corinth. The Greek mainland
becomes a Roman province.
146 B.C.E. Temple of Jupiter Stator is rebuilt. It is the first marble
temple built in Rome and demonstrates the enormous wealth
pouring into the city.
100 B.C.E. 59 B.C.E. Julius Caesar becomes a consul in Rome and is appointed
governor of two Gallic provinces.
58–50 B.C.E. Gallic War. Julius Caesar greatly extends the territory
that Rome controls in western Europe.
51 B.C.E. Cleopatra VII becomes the queen of Egypt.
48 B.C.E. Cleopatra VII’s brother, Ptolemy XIII, tries to remove her

from power, but the Roman leader, Julius Caesar, helps her to
regain the throne.
44 B.C.E. Julius Caesar proclaims himself permanent ruler of Rome.
He is assassinated a month later on 15 March. Civil war follows,
leading to the end of the Republic.
43 B.C.E.–17 B.C.E. Life of the Roman poet Ovid, who writes the
Metamorphoses, a long poem about people who change into
plants and animals.
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discipline among the soldiery, made him everywhere unpopular. The
pliant Viceroy of Africa was once more appealed to, and such was
his subserviency to the clamors of the discontented chieftains that
not only was Yahya-Ibn-Salmah removed, but within a few months
his two successors, Othman-Ibn-Abu-Nesa and Hodheyfa-Ibn-al-
Ahwass, were appointed and deposed. Finally the Khalif himself sent
to Al-Haytham-Ibn-Obeyd the royal commission as his
representative. This official was a Syrian by birth, and inherited all
the bitter prejudices of his faction which had been fostered by the
pride and insolence of the triumphant Ommeyades. Merciless by
nature, fierce and rapacious, Al-Haytham spared neither Moslem nor
Christian. Especially was his animosity directed towards the
descendants of the Companions of Mohammed, and their proselytes
and adherents, the Berbers. The complaints now lodged with the
Viceroy of Africa were unheeded, as the offensive governor had
received his appointment directly from the hands of the Commander
of the Faithful. In their extremity, the victims of Al-Haytham preferred
charges before the Divan of Damascus; and the Khalif Hischem,
convinced that the Emir was exceeding his authority, appointed one
of the most distinguished personages of his court, Mohammed-Ibn-
Abdallah, as special envoy to investigate the administration of Al-
Haytham, and to depose and punish him if, in his judgment, the well-
being of Islam and the interests of good government demanded it.
Arriving incognito at Cordova, the plenipotentiary of the Khalif,
without difficulty or delay, obtained the necessary evidence of the
guilt of the unworthy official. Then, exhibiting his commission, he
publicly stripped the latter of the insignia of his rank, and, having
shaved his head, had him paraded through the city upon an ass,
amidst the jeers and insults of the people he had robbed and
persecuted. All his property was confiscated, and Mohammed made
amends as far as possible by bestowing upon the surviving victims
of the disgraced Emir the immense treasures he had amassed
during a reign of indiscriminate extortion. Then placing Al-Haytham
in irons he sent him under guard to Africa. Two months sufficed to
redress the grievances which had threatened a revolution—to
recompense the plundered, to liberate the imprisoned, to console the
tortured, to expel from their places the cruel subordinates of the
oppressor; and, having elicited the approbation and received the
blessings of all classes, including the hereditary enemies of his tribe,
Mohammed departed for Syria, after conferring the viceregal
authority upon the renowned captain Abd-al-Rahman, who thus a
second time ascended the throne of the Emirate of the West.
Of noble birth and distinguished reputation, Abd-al-Rahman
united to the eminent qualities of a successful ruler and general all
the insufferable arrogance of the Arab race. Connected by ties of the
closest friendship with one of the sons of the Khalif, Omar-al-
Khattah, he had received from him many particulars regarding the
life and habits of Mohammed, and this intimacy contributed to
increase the feeling of superiority, not unmingled with contempt, with
which he regarded the horde of barbarian proselytes attracted to his
banner rather by thirst for plunder than from religious zeal. His
generosity endeared him to the soldiery, but his inflexible sense of
right alienated the powerful officials of the Divan enriched by years of
unmolested peculation. The knowledge of his Syrian origin,
constantly evinced by a marked partiality for his countrymen, at once
aroused the secret hostility of the crowd of turbulent adventurers
who, collected from every district of Africa and Asia, composed his
subjects, and who, destitute of loyalty, religion, principle, or gratitude,
regarded an Arab as their natural enemy, an heterogeneous
assemblage wherein the Berber element, dominated by the rankling
prejudices of the Yemenites, their spiritual guides, greatly
preponderated.
Visiting, in turn, the different provinces subject to his rule, Abd-al-
Rahman confirmed the good dispositions of his predecessor, the
plenipotentiary Mohammed-Ibn-Abdallah, and corrected such
abuses as had escaped the attention of the latter. In some instances,
the injustice of the walis had wantonly deprived the Christians of
their houses of worship, in defiance of the agreement permitting
them to celebrate their rites without molestation; in others, their
rapacity had connived at the erection of new churches, prohibited by
the provisions of former treaties, and in absolute contravention of
Mohammedan law. This evil of late years had become so general
that scarcely a community in the Peninsula was exempt from it.
Through the care and firmness of the Emir the confiscated churches
were restored to their congregations; the new edifices were razed to
the ground; the bribes which had purchased the indulgence of the
walis were surrendered to the public treasury; and the corrupt
officials paid the penalty of their malfeasance with scourging and
imprisonment.
His reforms completed, and secure in the apparent submission
and attachment of his subjects, Abd-al-Rahman now turned his
attention to the prosecution of a design which, in spite of fearful
reverses in the past and of unknown dangers impending in the
future, had long been the cherished object of his ambition—the
conquest of France. As the representative of the Khalif, and
consequently vested with both spiritual and temporal power, he had
caused to be proclaimed from the pulpit of every mosque visited by
him in his progress, the obligation of all faithful Moslems to avenge
the deaths of the martyrs fallen in former invasions, and to add to the
empire of Islam the rich and productive territory of Europe.
Fully aware of the vast difficulties which would necessarily attend
such an undertaking, and enlightened by his former experience, Abd-
al-Rahman resolved to provide, as far as possible, against any
contingency that might arise from too hasty preparation, or an
inferiority in numbers, sent messengers to almost every country
acknowledging the authority of the Khalif, to proclaim the Djihad, or
Holy War, and to solicit the pecuniary aid of all devout and liberal
believers. The call was promptly answered. The riches of the East
and West poured in a constant stream into the treasury of Cordova.
Wealthy merchants sent their gold; female devotees their jewels;
even the beggar was anxious to contribute his pittance for the
advancement of the Faith and the confusion of the infidel. From
neighboring lands, and from the remotest confines of the
Mohammedan world alike, from Syria, Egypt, Arabia, Palestine, Al-
Maghreb, and Persia, military adventurers, soldiers of fortune,
desperate fanatics, half-naked savages from Mauritania, the proud
and ferocious tribesmen of the Desert, astonished the inhabitants of
the cities of Andalusia with their multitudes, their tumultuous and
unintelligible cries, and their fierce enthusiasm. The entire force of
the Hispano-Arab army, disciplined by many a scene of foreign and
internecine conflict, was marshalled for the coming crusade, which,
unlike those expeditions which had preceded it, aimed not merely at
the spoliation of cities and the enslavement of their inhabitants, but
at the permanent occupation and settlement of the country from the
Pyrenees to the frontier of Germany, from the Rhætian Alps to the
ocean.
The several walis had been ordered to assemble with their forces
at a designated rendezvous on the northern border of the Peninsula.
This district, which included the mountain passes and the fortresses
defending them, was then under the command of Othman-Ibn-Abu-
Nesa, a native of Africa, who had, for a few months, enjoyed and
abused the power of the emirate, and whom the generous policy of
Abd-al-Rahman had retained in this important post, bestowed upon
the African chieftain after his deposition. A man of violent passions
and without principle, Othman was, however, not deficient in those
talents which confer distinction upon soldiers of fortune. Of obscure
birth and low associations, he had, by sheer force of character and
daring, won the confidence of the Viceroy of Africa, who had
conferred upon him the government of Spain; a position from which
he was barred by the unwritten law of the Conquest, which
discouraged the aspirations of individuals of his nationality. Deeply
chagrined that he had not been reinstated in the office whose
delights he had scarcely tasted, and devoured by envy, whose
bitterness was increased by the antipathies of a party of which he
was the acknowledged head, Othman determined to revenge his
fancied wrongs, and to secure for himself the advantages of
independent sovereignty. His influence extended even to the Ebro, to
the north and east of which stream the Berbers, who were devoted
to him, had established themselves in great numbers. At that time
the condition of the redoubtable Eudes, Duke of Aquitaine, had
become desperate. He had long waged a doubtful war with the
Franks, whose superior strength rendered his ultimate subjection
certain. Upon the south, he was menaced by the encroachments of
the marauding Arabs, whose expeditions kept his dominions in
perpetual turmoil. Thus placed between two fires, he readily
hearkened to the overtures of Othman, who proposed an alliance to
be cemented by the marriage of the wali with the daughter of the
Gothic noble. A treaty was made and ratified; the damsel—who was
not compelled to renounce her faith—was delivered to her father’s
new ally; and the latter returned to his government, resolving to
baffle by diplomacy the design of his master, and, if that were found
impossible, confident that the strength of his mountain defences was
sufficient to defy all the power of the emirate. To the orders of Abd-
al-Rahman to attend him with his troops he returned evasive replies,
pleading the engagement he had entered into, and his obligation to
observe it. His repeated commands being ignored, and the patience
of the army to advance growing uncontrollable, Abd-al-Rahman
secretly despatched a squadron of light horsemen, under Gedhi-Ibn-
Zeyan, a Syrian officer, with directions to bring in the refractory wali
dead or alive. Pressing forward with the utmost diligence, the
troopers came suddenly upon Othman, at Castrum Liviæ, before he
was even aware of the intentions of the Emir. He had barely time to
take refuge with a few attendants and his bride in the neighboring
mountains, before his enemies entered the town and, without halting,
spurred on through the rugged defiles in hot pursuit. Overtaken near
a brook where the party had stopped from fatigue, the rebel escort
was killed or put to flight; the Gothic princess was taken; and
Othman paid the forfeit of his treason with his life. The enterprising
Gedhi cast at the feet of Abd-al-Rahman the head of the traitor as
the proof of his success; and the captive, whose wondrous beauty
charmed the eyes of all who saw her, was sent to grace the royal
harem at Damascus.
And now, the gateways of the Pyrenees being open, the mighty
host of Moslems poured through, like an inundation, upon the sunny
fields of France. No reliable basis is available by which we can even
approach to an accurate estimate of its numbers. Considering the
publicity given to the crusade, the different sources whence the
foreign recruits were drawn, the regular army of the Emir, and the
bodies of cavalry furnished by the Viceroys of Africa and Egypt, it
would seem that the invading army must have amounted to at least a
hundred thousand men. Assembled without order, and wholly
intolerant of discipline, the mutual jealousy and haughty
independence of its unruly elements greatly impaired its efficiency.
The members of each tribe mustered around their chieftain, who
enjoyed but a precarious authority; while the obedience which all
professed to the representative of the majesty of the Khalif was
observed only so long as his commands did not clash with their
wishes or run counter to the indulgence of their passions and
inherited prejudices.
Meanwhile, the rumor of the approaching peril, exaggerated by
distance, had spread consternation through every Christian
community. It recalled the disastrous times of barbarian conquest,
when the ferocious hordes of Goths and Huns swept with ruin and
death the fairest provinces of the Roman Empire. Throughout the
Orient, in the lands which acknowledged the supremacy of the
Successor of Mohammed, the pious Moslem awaited, with
confidence not unmingled with a feeling of exultation, tidings of the
anticipated triumph of his brethren. The eyes of the entire world were
turned in expectancy to the spot where must speedily be tested the
respective prowess of the North and South; to the struggle which
would forever determine the future of Europe, and decide without
appeal the fate of Christianity. Onward, resistlessly, pitilessly, rolled
the devastating flood of invasion. The Duke of Aquitaine had bravely
met his enemies on the very slopes of the mountain barrier, but all
his efforts were powerless to stay their progress. Cities were
reduced to ashes and their inhabitants driven into slavery. The
pastures were swept clean of their flocks; the blooming hill-sides and
fertile valleys of the Garonne were transformed into scenes of
desolation. Bordeaux, the populous and wealthy emporium of
Aquitaine, paid for a short and ineffectual resistance with the plunder
of its treasures, the massacre of its citizens, and its total destruction
by fire. The Moorish army, encumbered with thousands of captives
and the booty of an entire province, crossed the Garonne with
difficulty, and resumed its slow and straggling march towards the
interior. Upon the banks of the Dordogne Eudes had marshalled his
followers to contest its passage. A fierce battle ensued; the
Christians, overwhelmed by numbers, were surrounded and cut to
pieces; and the carnage was so horrible as to excite the pity of the
rude historians of an age prolific in violence and bloodshed. The
conquest of Aquitaine achieved, the Emir moved on to Poitiers, and
after ravaging the suburbs of that city, where stood the famous
Church of St. Hilary, which was utterly destroyed, planted the white
standard of the Ommeyades before its walls. That country, whose
hostile factions were subsequently reconciled and consolidated by
the genius of Charlemagne, and which is known to us as France,
was, during the seventh century, in a state of frightful anarchy. In the
South, the important province of Septimania had formerly
acknowledged the supremacy of the Visigoths, and after the
overthrow of their empire had enjoyed a nominal independence.
Aquitaine was subject to its dukes, who maintained an unequal
contest with the growing powers of the North and the insatiable
ambition of the Saracens. Towards the East, the petty lord of
Austrasia was involved in perpetual intrigues and hostilities with his
turbulent neighbors, the princes of Neustria and Burgundy. In the
year 638, with the death of the renowned Dagobert, whose
dominions extended to the Danube, disappeared the last vestige of
independence and authority possessed by the monarchs of the
Merovingian dynasty. Henceforth the regal power was vested in, and
practically exercised by, the bold and able mayors of the palace, the
prime ministers of the rois fainéants, who, through indifference or
compulsion, were apparently contented with the titles and glittering
baubles of royalty. The superior talents of the priest were
industriously employed in enriching his church or his abbey, and the
zeal and fears of the devout co-operating with the avarice of the
clergy, the sacred edifices became depositories of treasures which
dazzled the eyes of the greedy freebooters of Abd-al-Rahman with
their magnificence and value. No sovereign in Europe could boast of
such wealth as had been accumulated through the lavish generosity
of pilgrims and penitents by the shrines of St. Hilary of Poitiers and
St. Martin of Tours. The ecclesiastics habitually represented
themselves as the treasurers of heaven, the chosen intermediaries
with the saints; and the most costly gift was scarcely considered an
equivalent for a hasty blessing or a relic of more than doubtful
authenticity, graciously bestowed upon the humble and delighted
contributor to clerical rapacity and monkish imposture.
The manly vigor inherited from a barbarian ancestry, developed
and strengthened by military exercises, had formed of the Franks a
nation of heroes. Their gigantic forms, encased in mail, enabled
them to resist assaults which must have overwhelmed mortals of
less ponderous build. A phlegmatic temperament, joined to a
devotion to their lords which never questioned the justice of their
commands, imparted to them steadiness and inflexible constancy in
the field. Their naturally ferocious aspect was increased by
grotesque helmets of towering height, and by the skins of wild beasts
which draped their massive shoulders, while their weapons were of a
size and weight that the demigods of old alone might wield. Such
were the warriors to whose valor were now committed the destinies
of the Christian world. The throne of the Franks was then occupied
by Thierry IV., one of a series of royal phantoms, who had been
exalted to this nominal dignity by a certain mayor of the palace
named Charles, the natural son of Pepin d’Heristal, Duke of
Austrasia. It was the policy of these officials, necessarily men of
talent, whose abilities had raised them to prominence, and who
controlled the empire of the state, to bestow the crown upon princely
youths purposely familiarized with vice, that every noble aspiration
might be stifled and every patriotic impulse repressed in the
indulgence of the most wanton and effeminate luxury. The profligate
habits of these sovereigns, which shortened their reigns, account for
their number and rapid succession in the annals of France.
The chroniclers of the eighth and ninth centuries, garrulous upon
the martyrdom of saints and the performance of miracles, have
scarcely mentioned the achievements of the most remarkable
personage of his time. Their well-known enmity to his name,
associated with the appropriation of church property, although
employed for the preservation of Christendom, has had, no doubt,
much to do with this contemptuous silence. Pepin, using the privilege
sanctioned by the depraved manners of the age, lived in
concubinage with Alpäide, the mother of Charles, whose social
position was yet so little inferior to that of a matrimonial alliance that
she is often spoken of as a second wife. An austere prelate, Lambert
by name, who occupied the See of Maestricht, with a boldness and
zeal unusual in the complaisant churchmen of the eighth century,
saw fit to publicly rebuke Pepin for this unlawful connection, and,
with studied insult, rejected the hospitality which the kindness of the
Mayor of the Palace had tendered him. Offended by this exhibition of
ill-breeding and independence, the brother of the lady procured the
murder of the bishop, who was forthwith canonized, and is still
prominent among the most efficient intercessors of the Roman
Catholic calendar. The murderers, careless alike of the anathemas of
the Church and of the process of the law, remained unpunished;
while the populace of Liege, where the bishop was a favorite,
erected a chapel to the memory of the fearless ecclesiastic. The
whole occurrence affords a curious and striking commentary on the
immorality, lawlessness, and peculiar domestic habits of the Middle
Ages in France.
Tradition has ascribed to Charles the assassination of his brother
Grimwald, with whom he was to have shared his paternal
inheritance; and the absence of any other known motive, the avowed
hostility of his father, who imprisoned him, as well as the significant
silence of the historians—evidently trembling under the stern rule of
the Mayor of the Palace—give considerable probability to this
hypothesis. Although disinherited, the attachment of the people was
such that he was, immediately after the death of Pepin, rescued from
a dungeon and raised to the dukedom. Succeeding events justified
the wisdom of this measure. The address of Charles allayed the civil
dissensions of the Franks; his valor and military genius awed and
restrained the restless barbarians of Germany. Although
unquestionably the preserver of Christianity, he is more than
suspected of having been an idolater, his title, Martel, having been
traced by antiquaries to the hammer of Thor, the emblem of the war-
god of Scandinavia. He had no reverence for the Church, no belief in
its doctrines, no consideration for its possessions, no regard for its
ministers. He seized reliquaries and sacred vessels destined for
communion with God, and coined them into money to pay the
expenses of his campaigns. He despoiled the clergy of their lands
and partitioned them among his followers. The most eminent of his
captains he invested with the offices of bishops, after expelling the
rightful incumbents in order to the better retain control of their
confiscated estates. This sacrilegious policy, while it exasperated the
priesthood, endeared him to his soldiers who were the recipients of
his bounty; but the wrath of the ecclesiastical order was not
appeased even by his inestimable services to its cause.
Anathematized by popes and councils, legends inspired by monkish
credulity and hatred have solemnly asserted that his soul had been
repeatedly seen by holy men surrounded by demons in the depths of
hell.
Of the personal characteristics, habits, and domestic life of
Charles Martel we know absolutely nothing. Equally silent is history
as to the regulations of his capital, the constitution of his court, the
rules of his military tactics, the principles of his government, the
names of his councillors. The bitterness of ecclesiastical prejudice
while it has cursed his memory has not been able to tarnish his
renown. Historical justice has given him the full measure of credit
due to his exploits, whose importance was not appreciated by his
contemporaries, and has accorded him a high rank among the great
military commanders of the world. Accustomed to arms from
childhood, Charles had passed the greater portion of his life in
camps. He had conquered Neustria, intimidated Burgundy, and had,
in many successful expeditions against the formidable barbarians of
the Rhine, left bloody evidences of his prowess as far as the banks
of the Elbe and the Danube. He had laid claim to the suzerainty of
Aquitaine in the name of the royal figure-head under whose authority
he prosecuted his conquests; and Eudes had hitherto regarded his
demonstrations with even greater fear and aversion than the
periodical forays of the Saracens. Now, however, the crestfallen
Duke of Aquitaine sought the presence of his ancient foe, did
homage to him, and implored his aid. The practised eye and keen
intellect of Charles discerned at once the serious nature of the
impending danger, and with characteristic promptitude sought to
avert it. His soldiers, living only in camps and always under arms,
were ready to march at a moment’s notice. Soon a great army was
assembled, and, amidst the deafening shouts of the soldiery, the
general of the Franks, confident of the superiority of his followers in
endurance and discipline, advanced to meet the enemy. The latter,
discouraged by the bold front presented by the inhabitants of
Poitiers, who had been nerved to desperation by the memorable
example of Bordeaux, had, in the mean time, raised the siege, and
were marching towards Tours, attracted by the fame of the vast
wealth of the Church and Abbey of St. Martin. Upon an immense
plain between the two cities the rival hosts confronted each other.
This same region, the centre of France, still cherished the
remembrance of a former contest in which, centuries before, the
Goths and Burgundians under command of Ætius had avenged the
wrongs of Europe upon the innumerable hordes of Attila. Of good
augury and a harbinger of success was this former victory regarded
by the stalwart warriors of the North, now summoned a second time
to check the progress of the barbarian flood of the Orient. Widely
different in race, in language, in personal appearance, in religion, in
military evolutions and in arms, each secretly dreading the result of
the inevitable conflict and each unwilling to retire, for seven days the
two armies remained without engaging, but constantly drawn up in
battle array. Finally, unable to longer restrain the impetuosity of the
Arabs, Abd-al-Rahman gave orders for the attack. With loud cries
the light squadrons of Moorish cavalry, followed pell-mell by the vast
mob of foot soldiers, hurled themselves upon the solid, steel-clad
files of the Franks. But the latter stood firm—like a “wall of ice,” in the
quaint language of the ancient chronicler—the darts and arrows of
the Saracens struck harmlessly upon helmet and cuirass, while the
heavy swords and maces of the men-at-arms of Charles made
frightful havoc among the half-naked bodies of their assailants. Night
put an end to the battle, and the Franks, for the moment relieved
from an ordeal which they had sustained with a courage worthy of
their reputation, invoking the aid of their saints, yet not without
misgivings for the morrow, slept upon their arms. At dawn the conflict
was renewed with equal ardor and varying success until the
afternoon, when a division of cavalry under the Duke of Aquitaine
succeeded in turning the flank of the enemy, and began to pillage his
camp. As the tidings of this misfortune spread through the ranks of
the Moslems, large numbers deserted their standards and turned
back to recover their booty, far more valuable in their estimation than
even their own safety or the triumph of their cause. Great confusion
resulted; the retreat became general; the Franks redoubled their
efforts; and Abd-al-Rahman, endeavoring to rally his disheartened
followers, fell pierced with a hundred wounds. That night, aided by
the darkness, the Saracens silently withdrew, leaving their tents and
heavy baggage behind. Charles, fearful of ambuscades, and having
acquired great respect for the prowess of his adversaries, whose
overwhelming numbers, enabling them to attack him in both front
and rear, had seriously thinned his ranks, declined the pursuit, and
with the spoils abandoned by the Saracens returned to his capital.
The Arabs have left us no account of the losses sustained in this
battle. The mendacious monks, however, to whom by reason of their
knowledge of letters was necessarily entrusted the task of recording
the events of the time, have computed the loss of the invaders at
three hundred and seventy-five thousand, probably thrice the
number of all the combatants engaged; while that of the Franks is
regarded as too insignificant to be mentioned. The very fact that
Charles was disinclined to take advantage of the condition of his
enemies loaded with plunder, deprived of their commander, and
dejected by defeat, shows of itself that his army must have greatly
suffered. The principal accounts that we possess of this battle,
whose transcendent importance is recognized by every student of
history, bear unmistakable evidence of the ecclesiastical partiality
under whose influence they were composed. Monkish writers have
exhausted their prolific imagination in recounting the miraculous
intervention of the saints and the prowess of the champions of the
Cross, which insured the preservation of Christianity. The Arabs,
however, usually accurate and minute even in the relation of their
misfortunes, have not paid the attention to this great event which its
effect upon their fortunes would seem to warrant. Many ignore it
altogether. Others pass it by with a few words. Some refer to it, not
as a stubbornly contested engagement, but as a rout provoked by
the disorders of an unwieldy multitude, inflamed with fanaticism,
divided by faction, impatient of discipline. From such meagre and
discordant materials must be constructed the narrative of one of the
most momentous occurrences in the history of the world.
An account of the crushing defeat of Poitiers having been
communicated to the Viceroy of Africa, he appointed Abd-al-Melik-
Ibn-Kattan, an officer of the African army, Emir of Spain, and,
presenting him with his commission, urgently exhorted him to
avenge the reverse which had befallen the Moslem arms. The
martial spirit of this commander, in whom the lapse of fourscore and
ten years had not sensibly impaired the vigor of his mind or the
activity of his body, was roused to enthusiasm by the prospect of an
encounter with the idolaters of the North. Detained for a time in
Cordova by the disturbances resulting from the disorganization of all
branches of the government, he attempted, at the head of the
remains of the defeated army and a reinforcement which had
accompanied him from Africa, to thread the dangerous passes of the
Pyrenees. But the time was ill-chosen; the rainy season was at hand;
and the Saracens, hemmed in by impassable torrents, fell an easy
prey to the missiles of an enterprising enemy. The march became a
series of harassing skirmishes; and it was with the greatest difficulty
that the Emir was enabled to extricate the remainder of his troops
from the snare into which his want of caution had conducted them.
Disgusted with the miscarriage of the expedition from whose results
so much had been expected, Obeydallah, Viceroy of Africa, promptly
deposed Abd-al-Melik, and nominated his own brother, Okbah-Ibn-
al-Hejaj, to the vacant position. A martinet in severity and routine,
Okbah enjoyed also a well-founded reputation for justice and
integrity. He soon became the terror of the corrupt and tyrannical
officials who infested the administration. He removed such as had
been prominent for cruelty, fraud, or incompetency. To all who were
guilty of peculation, or of even indirectly reflecting upon the honor
and dignity of the Khalif, he was inexorable. With a view to insuring
the safety of the highways, he formed a mounted police, the
Kaschefs, in which may be traced the germ of the Hermandad of the
fifteenth century and the modern Gendarmes and Civil Guards of
France and Spain. From this institution, extended to the frontiers of
Moslem territory as far as the Rhone, was derived the military
organization of the Ribat—the prototype of the knightly orders of
Calatrava, Alcantara, and Santiago, which played so conspicuous a
part in the Reconquest. Okbah established a court in every village,
so that all honest citizens might enjoy the protection of the law. His
fostering care also provided each community with a school sustained
by a special tax levied for that purpose. Devout to an almost fanatical
degree, he erected a mosque whenever the necessities of the
people seemed to demand it, and, thoroughly alive to the
advantages of a religious education, he attached to every place of
worship a minister who might instruct the ignorant in the doctrines of
the Koran and the duties of a faithful Mussulman. He repressed with
an iron hand the ferocious spirit of the vagrant tribes of Berbers,
whose kinsmen in Africa had, in many battles, formerly experienced
the effects of his valor and discipline. By equalizing the taxation
borne by different communities, he secured the gratitude of districts
which had hitherto been oppressed by grievous impositions,
rendered still more intolerable by the rapacity of unprincipled
governors. No period in the history of the emirate was distinguished
by such important and radical reforms as that included in the
administration of Okbah-Ibn-al-Hejaj.
The Berbers, having engaged in one of their periodical revolts in
Africa, Obeydallah, unable to make headway against them, sent a
despatch requiring the immediate attendance of Okbah. The latter, at
the head of a body of cavalry, crossed the strait, and, after a decisive
battle, put the rebels to flight. His services were found so
indispensable by the Viceroy that he kept him near his person in the
capacity of councillor for four years, while he still enjoyed the title
and emoluments of governor of Spain. In the meantime, the greatest
disorders prevailed in the Peninsula. The salutary reforms which had
employed the leisure and exercised the abilities of the prudent
Viceroy were swept away; the old order of things was renewed; and
the provinces of the emirate were disgraced by the revival of feuds,
by the oppression of the weak, by the neglect of agriculture, by
unchecked indulgence in peculation, and by the universal prevalence
of anarchy and bloodshed.
The dread of Charles Martel and the ruthless barbarians under his
command was wide-spread throughout the provinces of Southern
France. Their excesses appeared the more horrible when contrasted
with the tolerant and equitable rule of the Saracens who garrisoned
the towns of Septimania. The Provençal, whose voluptuous habits
led him to avoid the hardships of the camp, and whose religious
ideas, little infected with bigotry, saw nothing repulsive in the law of
Islam, determined to seek the aid of his swarthy neighbors of the
South. As Charles had already ravaged the estates of Maurontius,
Duke of Marseilles, only desisting when recalled by a revolt of the
Saxons, that powerful noble, whose authority extended over the
greater part of Provence, in anticipation of his return, entered into
negotiations with Yusuf-Ibn-Abd-al-Rahman, wali of Narbonne; a
treaty was concluded, by the terms of which the Arabs were invited
to assume the suzerainty of Provence, many towns were ceded to
them, and the counts rendered homage to the Moslem governor,
who, in order to discharge his portion of the obligation and afford
protection to his new subjects, assembled his forces upon the line of
the northern frontier. It was at this time that Okbah was summoned
to quell the rebellion of the Berbers just as he was upon the point of
advancing to secure, by a powerful reinforcement, this valuable
addition to his dominions.
Early in the year 737, Charles, having intimidated his enemies
and secured a temporary peace, made preparations for an active
campaign in Provence. Driving the Arabs out of Lyons, he advanced
to the city of Avignon, whose natural position was recognized by
both Franks and Saracens not only as a place of extraordinary
strength but as the key of the valley of the Rhone. Experience and
contact with their more civilized neighbors, the Italians, had
instructed the Franks in the use of military engines; and,
notwithstanding the desperate resistance of the Arab garrison, ably
seconded by the inhabitants, Avignon was taken by storm. The
population was butchered without mercy, and Charles, having
completely glutted his vengeance by burning the city, left it a heap of
smoking ruins.
Having been delayed by the stubborn opposition of Avignon, and
urged by the clamors of his followers who thirsted for the rich spoils
of Septimania, the Frankish general, leaving the fortified town of
Arles in his rear, marched directly upon Narbonne. Thoroughly
appreciating the political and military importance of this stronghold,
the capital of their possessions in France, the Arabs had spared
neither labor nor expense to render it impregnable. The city was
invested and the siege pressed with vigor, but the fortifications defied
the efforts of the besiegers and little progress was made towards its
reduction. An expedition sent to reinforce it, making the approach by
sea and attempting to ascend the river Aude, was foiled by the
vigilance of Charles; the boats were stopped by palisades planted in
the bed of the stream; the Saracens, harassed by the enemy’s
archers, were despatched with arrows or drowned in the swamps;
and, of a considerable force, a small detachment alone succeeded in
cutting its way through the lines of the besiegers and entering the
city. The temper of the Franks was not proof, however, against the
undaunted resolution of the Arab garrison. Unable to restrain the
growing impatience of his undisciplined levies, Charles reluctantly
abandoned the siege and endeavored to indemnify himself for his
disappointment by the infliction of all the unspeakable atrocities of
barbarian warfare upon the territory accessible to his arms. Over the
beautiful plains of Provence and Languedoc, adorned with structures
which recalled the palmiest days of Athenian and Roman genius,
and whose population was the most polished of Western Europe,
swept the fierce cavalry of the Alps and the Rhine. Agde,
Maguelonne, and Béziers were sacked. The city of Nîmes, whose
marvellous relics of antiquity are still the delight of the student and
the antiquary, provoked the indignation of the invader by these
marks of her intellectual superiority and former greatness. Her walls
were razed; her churches plundered; her most eminent citizens
carried away as hostages; her most splendid architectural
monuments delivered to the flames. The massive arches of the
Roman amphitheatre defied, however, the puny efforts of the
enraged barbarian; but their blackened stones still exhibit the traces
of fire, an enduring seal of the impotent malice of Charles Martel
impressed in the middle of the eighth century.
In this memorable invasion the Arab colonists do not seem to
have suffered so much as the indigenous population, which had long
before incurred the enmity of the Franks. The ecclesiastical order
met with scant courtesy at the hands of the idolaters. Despising the
terrors of anathema and excommunication, Charles did not hesitate
to appropriate the wealth of the Church wherever he could find it.
Having inflicted all the damage possible upon the subjects and allies
of the Khalif in Provence, the Franks, loaded with booty and driving
before them a vast multitude of captives chained together in couples,
returned in triumph to their homes.
This occupation of the Franks proved to be but temporary. The
garrisons left in the towns whose walls were intact were insufficient
to overawe the populace exasperated by the outrages it had just
sustained. The Duke of Marseilles, seconded by the wali of Arles,
easily regained control of the country around Avignon. But the return
of Charles during the following year with his ally Liutprand, King of
the Lombards, and a large army, not only recovered the lost territory
but took Arles, hitherto exempt from capture, and drove the
Saracens beyond the Rhone, which river for the future became their
eastern boundary, a limit they were destined never again to pass.
The absence of Okbah encouraged the spirit of rebellion, ever rife
in the Peninsula. He had hardly returned before the arts of intrigue
and the discontent of the populace raised up a formidable rival to his
authority. Abd-al-Melik-Ibn-Kattan, who had formerly been Emir, now
usurped that office. In the civil war which followed, the fortunes of
Abd-al-Melik soon received a powerful impulse by the death of his
competitor at Carcassonne.
We now turn to the coast of Africa, a region which from first to last
has exerted an extraordinary and always sinister influence over the
destinies of the Mohammedan empire in Europe. The intractable
character of the Berbers, and their aversion to the restraints of law
and the habits of civilized life, had defied the efforts of the ablest
soldiers and negotiators to control them. In consequence, the
dominant Arab element was not disposed to conciliate savages who
recognized no authority but that of force, and imposed upon them
the most oppressive exactions, prompted partly by avarice and partly
by tribal hatred. The impetus of Berber insurrection was
communicated by contact and sympathy to the settlements of their
kindred in Spain, where the spirit of insubordination under a less
severe government made its outbreaks more secure, and, at the
same time, more formidable. Obeydallah, the present Viceroy, was
influenced by these feelings of scorn even more than a majority of
his countrymen. A true Arab, educated in the best schools of Syria,
of energetic character and bigoted impulses, he regarded the
untamable tribesmen of Africa as below the rank of slaves. While
collector of the revenue in Egypt he had provoked a rebellion of the
Copts on account of an arbitrary increase of taxes, levied solely
because the tributaries were infidels. Under his rule the lot of the
Berbers became harder than ever. Their flocks, which constituted
their principal wealth, were wantonly slaughtered to provide wool for
the couches of the luxurious nobility of Damascus. Their women
were seized, to be exposed in the slave-markets of Cairo and
Antioch. Their tributes were doubled at the caprice of the governor,
in whose eyes the life of a misbeliever was of no more consideration
than that of a wild beast, for, being enjoyed under protest, it could be
forfeited at the will of his superior. Day by day the grievances of the
Berbers became more unendurable, and the thirst for liberty and
vengeance kept pace with the ever-increasing abuses which had
provoked it. At first the tribes, while professedly Mussulman, in
reality remained idolaters, fetich-worshippers, the pliant tools of
conjurers and charlatans. Over the whole nation a priesthood—by
snake-charming, by the interpretation of omens, by spurious
miracles, by the arts of sorcery—had acquired unbounded influence;
and the names of these impostors, canonized after death, were
believed to have more power to avert misfortune than the invocation
of the Almighty. In time, however, the zealous labors of exiled
Medinese and Persian non-conformists had supplanted the grosser
forms of this superstition by a religion whose fervor was hardly
equalled by that displayed by the most fanatical Companion of
Mohammed. The scoffing and polished Arabs of Syria, of whom the
Viceroy was a prominent example, Pagan by birth and infidel in
belief and practice, were sedulously represented as the enemies of
Heaven and the hereditary revilers of the Prophet, whom it was a
duty to destroy. These revolutionary sentiments, received in Africa
with applause, were diffused through Spain by the tide of
immigration, in which country, as elsewhere, they were destined
soon to produce the most important political results. The Berbers,
wrought up to a pitch of ungovernable fury, now only awaited a
suitable opportunity to inaugurate the most formidable revolt which
had ever menaced the Mohammedan government of Africa. In the
year 740 an increased contribution was demanded of the inhabitants
of Tangier, whose relations with the savages of the neighboring
mountains had prevented the conversion of the former to Islam. A
division of the army was absent in Sicily, and the Berbers, perceiving
their advantage, rose everywhere against their oppressors. They
stormed Tangier, expelled the garrisons of the sea-coast cities,
elected a sovereign, and defeated in rapid succession every force
sent against them. The pride and resentment of the Khalif Hischem
at last impelled him to despatch a great army against his rebellious
subjects. It numbered seventy thousand, and was commanded by a
distinguished Syrian officer, Balj-Ibn-Beshr, who was ordered to put
to death without mercy every rebel who might fall into his hands and
to indulge the troops in all the license of indiscriminate pillage.
Marching towards the west, the Syrian general encountered the
Berbers on the plain of Mulwiyah. The naked bodies and inferior
weapons of the insurgents provoked the contempt of the soldiers of
the Khalif, who expected an easy victory; but the resistless impulse
of the barbarians supplied the want of arms and discipline, and the
Syrians were routed with the loss of two-thirds of their number. Some
ten thousand horsemen, under command of Balj, cut their way
through the enemy and took refuge in Ceuta. The Berbers, aware of
the impossibility of reducing that place, ravaged the neighborhood
for miles around, and, having blockaded the town on all sides, the
Syrians, unable to escape or to obtain provisions, were threatened
with a lingering death by famine.
Abd-al-Melik, Emir of Spain, was a native of Medina. Half a
century before he had been prominent in the Arab army at the battle
of Harra, the bloody prelude to the sack of the Holy City and the
enslavement and exile of its citizens. To him, in vain, did the Syrian
general apply for vessels in which to cross the strait. The Arab
chieftain, bearing upon his body many scars inflicted by the spears
of Yezid’s troopers and who had seen his family and his neighbors
massacred before his face, now exulted in the prospect of an
unhoped-for revenge; and, for the complete accomplishment of his
purpose, he issued stringent orders against supplying the
unfortunate Syrians with supplies. The sympathy of Zeyad-Ibn-Amru,
a wealthy resident of Cordova, was aroused by the account of their
sufferings, and he imprudently fitted out two vessels for their relief;
which act of insubordination having been communicated to the Emir,
he ordered Zeyad to be imprisoned, and, having put out his eyes,
impaled him, in company with a dog, a mark of ignominy inflicted
only on the worst of criminals.
The news of the decisive victory obtained by the Berbers over the
army of the Khalif was received with pride and rejoicing by all of their
countrymen in Spain. The efforts of the missionaries, aided by the
fiery zeal of their proselytes, had infused into the population of the
North, composed largely of African colonists, a spirit of fanaticism
which threatened to carry everything before it. In a moment the
Berbers of Aragon, Galicia, and Estremadura sprang to arms.
Uniting their forces they elected officers; then, organized in three
divisions, they prepared to dispute the authority of the Emir in the
strongholds of his power. One body marched upon Cordova, another
invested Toledo, and the third directed its course towards Algeziras,
with designs upon the fleet, by whose aid they expected to massacre
the Syrians in Ceuta and to collect a body of colonists sufficient to
destroy the haughty Arab aristocracy of the Peninsula and found an
independent kingdom, Berber in nationality, schismatic and precisian
in religion.
And now were again exhibited the singular inconsistencies and
remarkable effects of the fatal antagonism of race. The critical
condition of Abd-al-Melik compelled him to implore the support of his
Syrian foes, whom he hated with far more bitterness than he did his
rebellious subjects, and who were also thoroughly cognizant of his
feelings towards them as well as of the political necessity which
prompted his advances. A treaty was executed, by whose terms the
Syrians were to be transported into Spain and pledged their
assistance to crush the rebellion, and, after this had been
accomplished, the Emir agreed to land them in Africa upon a territory
which acknowledged the jurisdiction of the Khalif. Hostages selected
from their principal officers were delivered by the half-famished
refugees, and they embarked for Andalusia, where the policy of the
government and the sympathy of the people supplied them with
food, clothing, and arms, and their drooping spirits soon revived.
These experienced soldiers, united with the forces of Abd-al-Melik,
attacked and routed with ease, one after another, the three Berber
armies. All of the plunder which the latter had collected fell into their

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PART 7 Contemporary Myth 723

PART 8 Literature and Myth 787

Glossary of Gods, Heroes, and Antiheroes G–1

WHAT EVERYBODY SHOULD READ

PATHS OF DISCOVERY THROUGH THIS BOOK

Myth and Ritual

Theoretical Approaches to Myth

Myth from a Feminine Perspective. The Graeco-Roman culture is highly patriarchal,

7000 B.C.E. 7000 B.C.E. Mesopotamians begin living in towns.

ca. 7000 B.C.E. First farmers settle in Greece.

2375–2345 B.C.E. Pyramid texts at Saqqara.

2350–2150 B.C.E. Akkadian Empire

ca. 2300 B.C.E. Sargon’s birth, according to an inscription.

2125–2016 B.C.E. Thebes becomes an important city. Rulers from

ca. 1200 B.C.E. Mycenean (Greek) civilization.

1069–715 B.C.E. The south of Egypt is controlled by the High Priests of

900 B.C.E. ca. 850 B.C.E. Elohist version of Genesis.

800–480 B.C.E. Greek settlements, known as colonies, are set up in Asia

700 B.C.E. Shabaka Stone placed in the Temple of Ptah in Memphis.

700–480 B.C.E. The Archaic Period in Greece: Greek cities increase

7th c. B.C.E. Ashurbanipal rules; creates a comprehensive library.

7th c. B.C.E. Earliest versions of the Ramayana are surmised to have

600 B.C.E. 600–221 B.C.E. Classical/Pre-Han era in China

500 B.C.E. 495–405 B.C.E. Life of the Greek playwright Sophocles.

400 B.C.E. 399 B.C.E. Socrates is sentenced to death.

387 B.C.E. Plato founds his school at the Academy in Athens.

384–322 B.C.E. Life of the Greek philosopher Aristotle.

341–270 B.C.E. Life of the Greek philosopher Epicurus.

335 B.C.E. Aristotle founds his school at the Lyceum in Athens.

331 B.C.E. New city of Alexandria is founded.

48 B.C.E. Cleopatra VII’s brother, Ptolemy XIII, tries to remove her

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