 Chapter 1 of On the Shores of the Great Sea. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Jonathan R. Jackson. On the Shores of the Great Sea by M.B. Singh. Chapter 1. The Home of Abraham. In the faith of little children, we went on our ways. Kipling. It is strange to think of a very old world, when men knew nothing of the great salt sea that washed their shores, and nothing of the wonderful lands that lay beyond. Each day the sun rose and set as it does today, but they did not know the reason why. The rivers flowed through the land, but they did not know whence they came, or whither they went. These men of old knew one great fact. They knew that they must live in a land where there was plenty of water. How else could their sheep and oxen stay there thirst? How else should they and their children get food and drink? And how should the grain grow to save the land from famine? So wherever a man settled down with his family in the old days, he chose some place near a river or spring. Perhaps others would wander over the land till they came to the same river, and there they would settle too, until there would be quite a little colony of families all attracted to the same spot by the fact that fresh, clean water was flowing through the land. And so it was that, long ago, the old stories tell us of a group of men, women, and children who came and settled around a great river called the Euphrates, away in the Far East. It was one of the four rivers that watered the Garden of Eden, a very beautiful and fertile spot. This little group of settlers, known as the Chaldeans, grew corn in their rich country and became very prosperous, while other men were wandering about the trackless land with no fix to bode or calling. These Chaldeans taught themselves many things. They made bricks and built houses to live in. They looked at the deep blue sky over their heads and learned about the sun. They wandered about by night and learned about the moon and the stars. They divided their time into seven days and called the days after seven stars. They taught themselves arithmetic and geometry. Of course they had no paper and pens to write with, but they scratched simple pictures on stones and tablets. For instance, a little drawing of one nail meant the figure I, two nails meant I-I, three nails in a row meant I-I-I, and so on. Even today, men go out to this old country, which has long since ceased to take any part in the world's history, and they find the old stones and tablets scratched by the Chaldeans and learn more about these industrious people. The Chaldeans knew a great deal, but they knew nothing beyond their own country. For how should they? There were no carts, no trains, no bridges over the rivers, no ships in those early days. Traveling was very slow and difficult. On the backs of camels or asses the journeys must be made, under the burning sun and over the trackless desert land. Food must be carried, and even water. For how could they tell where rivers ran in those unknown, unexplored regions? But the day was at hand when one man, with his whole family, traveled from this land beyond the Euphrates. Travel away from the busy life of the Chaldean cities into a new and unknown country. That man was known as Abraham. He was a great man in the Far East. He was well-read in the stars and had learned much about the rising and setting of the sun and moon. Why he was called to leave his native land is not known. Get thee out of thine own country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house unto a land that I will show thee. These were Abraham's orders. And one day he rose up and taking his old father Tira, his wife Seirai, and his fatherless young nephew Lot, with camels and asses bearing all his possessions, he left Chaldea. The little party journeyed for a day, perhaps more, until they came to the frontier fortress of their own country. And here the old father Tira died before ever he had crossed that river that bounded the land of his birth. And Abraham started off again to travel into the unknown land. The great river Euphrates rolled its vast volume of waters between him and the country to which his steps were bent. Two days' journey would bring him to the high-chock cliffs from which he could overlook the wide western desert. Broad and strong lay the great stream below. He crossed it, probably near the same point where it is still forted. He crossed it and became known as the Hebrew, the man who had crossed the river flood, the man who came from beyond the Euphrates. End of chapter 1 Chapter 2 of On the Shores of the Great Sea This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Adele Bussinger On the Shores of the Great Sea by M.B. Singh Chapter 2, Into Africa And Abraham went down into Egypt to Sojourn there. Genesis 12-10 The land of Canaan was now before him. It was a low-lying country, now marked on modern maps as Syria, the old highway between the tract of land known as Asia and that known now as Africa. Its coast was washed by the Blue Sea, known to men of old time as the Great Sea. On the waters of which no one had as yet ventured to trust themselves. As pilgrims travel now in the East, so would Abraham have traveled then through this land of Canaan with his wife and young lot. With all his possessions, he'd tie on the backs of camels and asses, with his slaves running along by his side, with his flocks of sheep and goats moving under the towering forms of the camels. He would start slowly into the new country. Abraham himself, in a scarlet robe as chief of the tribe, would guide the march, settling where the nightly tent should be pitched and arranging pasture and water for the flocks and herds. On and on under the fiercely blazing sun, the long caravan would slowly travel, ever journeying southwards. He was the first explorer of a new land, of whom there is a full account. But while he yet journeyed, there came on one of those droughts to which the land of Canaan was always subject. When day after day the sky was blue and cloudless, when no rains fell to water the thirsty land, and Abraham went on still farther south till he reached Africa. Now while the great colony on the banks of the river Euphrates was growing and thriving away in Asia, another colony was growing along the banks of the Nile, the greatest river in Africa. Here family after family had come, attracted by the fertile land watered by the Nile, in just the same way as the Chaldeans had settled by the Euphrates. And this country was known as Egypt, the gift of the Nile. So out of the shadow land of early history were these two settlements, the Chaldeans on the Euphrates in Asia and the Egyptians on the Nile in Africa. They were hundreds of miles apart and though men may have journeyed from one to the other before, yet Abraham is the first traveler of whom we have any record. It must have been with feelings of awe that he approached the land of Egypt. He might be denied the corn he had come hither to obtain. He might be slain. The dangers and difficulties might lie before him. He must have been surprised at what he found in Egypt after all. He found a very old settlement, as old as, perhaps older than, that from which he had come. The Egyptians could tell him stories of a king that had ruled over them thousands of years ago, called Minis, a king who had built their wonderful city of Memphis on the Nile, where the modern town of Cairo stands today. They could point to their thirty pyramids, the tombs of their kings and the great temple of the Sphinx, standing round about their old city, even as some of them stand round about Cairo today. They could tell Abraham the story of how those pyramids were built, of the immense granite blocks which were brought five hundred miles, of the great causeway which took ten years to construct, along which these blocks could be carried, of the twenty years it took to build one pyramid, and the thousands and thousands of men employed in the work. And under these massive structures, the old eastern kings slept their last sleep, while today we still wonder at the industry and patience of the ancient Egyptians. Soldiers, said the great Napoleon, as he led the French army through the heart of Egypt years ago. Soldiers, forty centuries looked down upon you from the top of the pyramids. Indeed, later on, when roads cut up the countries of the earth and ships sailed on the seas, these old pyramids of Egypt were ranked among the seven wonders of the world. This strange land to which Abraham had come was a land of plenty. There was corn growing along the fertile valley, for the mighty Nile depended not on local rains to water the earth, and the great king, or Pharaoh, as he was called, treated Abraham well. It is said that the Chaldean explorer taught the Egyptians astronomy. He certainly did well in the strange land, and when he left, Pharaoh gave him sheep and oxen, men servants and maid servants, and Abraham was a very rich man. End of chapter two, recording by Adele in Kansas. It was a much larger caravan which passed out of Egypt when the time came at last for Abraham to go back to Canaan. There were more flocks and herds, sheep and cattle, camels and asses. They returned by the same way they came, till they reached one of their old camping grounds near Bethel. But Abraham and Lot were no longer wandering explorers in search of pasture for their flocks. They were rich men now, with numerous attendants, and their old days was no longer enough for both. And there was some quarreling between the herdmen of Abraham's cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle. Together the two men stood on a piece of rising ground from which they could look over the surrounding country. Is not the whole land before thee, said the older man, who had already made up his mind as to the future. Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me. If thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the left. And Lot, knowing the value of the river Jordan which flowed through the midst of the land, chose its fertile plain, which was well watered everywhere, like the land of Egypt from which he had just come. So he took his servants, his cattle, and his sheep, and there he made his new home. Abraham lived in Canaan, right away from Lot, but he did not forget the little colony that had settled in the plains of Jordan, like a branch where Lot was in difficulties with his foes. Abraham was the first to go to his help. It was the same in those old days as it is now. The mother country helps her colonies when they are in trouble. After a time, Abraham's descendants possessed the whole land of Canaan, which reached from his old home beyond the river Euphrates to the river Nile in Egypt. But the love of the old country was still strong within him, and when it was time to choose a wife for the families that he turned. Then came Rebekah, who became the grandmother of Joseph, the story of whose life in Egypt is at once so pathetic and interesting. As time went on, there was more and more traffic between the two settlements in Asia and Africa, through the land of Canaan. More than one route was discovered by which the long lines of camels and caravans could pass with safety from one country to the other, and why should they want to go to the mountains of trade? If one settlement could make and produce what another settlement could not, it was natural that an exchange should take place. And so it came to pass that long lines of camels were constantly journeying across Canaan, bearing spices, balm, and myrrh into Egypt, and taking back with them silk and ivory from that country. It was to one of these parties of merchant men that Joseph was sold, merchants on their way down into Egypt. They knew how he was loved by his father Jacob, and how he lived with his parents in the land of Canaan, inherited from his grandfather Abraham. How his elder brothers had gone south to pasture their flocks, like the Arabs of the present day, wherever the wild country was unowned. How by and by Jacob, growing uneasy about his elder sons, sent Joseph, then a boy of 17, clad in his coat of many colors, to see how they were getting on. How the elder brothers hated Joseph because he was his father's favorite, and how, when they saw him coming, they whispered among themselves, come now therefore, and let us slay him. Finally, they sold him to the party of merchants passing with their camels laden with spices for Egypt. So the boy Joseph, now robbed of his coat of many colors, was carried off to Egypt, and there sold to one pontifer a courtier of the great pharaoh of the country. And while Joseph was serving in Egypt, his old father was weeping for him away in Canaan. All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. Little did Jacob think, as he mourned for Joseph as dead, that someday he too should travel down to Egypt, where he should find his son again, governor over all the land. On the shores of the great sea, by M. B. Sing, Chapter 4, Joseph in Egypt, governor over all the land of Egypt, Genesis, Chapter 45, Verse 26. It was during the reign of one of these shepherd kings that Joseph was sold into Egypt. There had been a great deal of fighting too in the country, and now the tract of land belonging to the Egyptians was much larger than of old, and a wonderful new city, called Thebes, had been built on the Nile, some distance above Memphis. Now these pharaohs ruling over Egypt were held to be very great men, and they were treated with great pomp and dignity. The old tablets and monuments tell us, in their quaint picture stories, how splendid were the courts of these kings, and how all men bowed down to them. They tell us stories of the king's household, of his many servants, the royal barbers and perfumers, shoemakers, tailors, of those who presided over the royal linen, of the laundresses who washed it in the river Nile. They tell us of the troops of musicians, singers, dancers, cooks, butlers, bakers, and magicians. The Egyptians of old drew pictures showing how the pharaohs received taxes from the people, not in money, for they did not use money in those days, but in fruit, oxen, or grain. And there were buildings connected with the royal palace at Memphis. There was the storehouse for grain, the storehouse for fruit, and the white storehouse where stuffs and jewels were kept. So the pharaohs were very rich and powerful, and they did as they pleased with their kingdoms. Joseph would have heard all about the ruler of Egypt from his master, but being a slave himself, he would have had no chance of seeing him. Now, since he had been in Egypt, he had shown himself very clever at explaining dreams, and this fact came to the ears of the great pharaoh who was puzzling sorely over a strange dream he had lately had. So he sent for the young Hebrew servant, and Joseph stood before pharaoh, I have dreamed a dream, said the great king, and there is none that can interpret it, and I have heard say of thee that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it. It must have been a great moment for the young stranger from Canaan whose fame had not gone abroad in vain. He understood the dream, and he said to pharaoh, Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, and there shall arise after them seven years of famine, and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt, and the famine shall consume the land, and the plenty shall not be known in the land by reason of that famine following, for it shall be very grievous. Then, unbidden, Joseph went on to tell the king what had better be done to save the land. Let pharaoh look out a man discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt, and let him appoint officers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt in the seven plentious years, and let them gather all the food of those good years that come, and lay up corn under the hand of pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities, that the land perish not through the famine. The words of the young stranger showed great foresight at which the king must have marveled, surely such wisdom was no common thing. Can we find such a one as this is? He said to his servants around him. Then, turning to Joseph, he said, Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled. Only in the throne will I be greater than thou. See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. And so, while his father mourned for him as dead in the land of Canaan, Joseph was governor over all the land of Egypt, second only to the king. Instead of the little coat of many colors, he now wore the white robe of state, the king's own ring was on his finger, the king's own gold chain was about his neck. He rode in the royal chariot, and before him the Egyptians ran shouting as they do in the streets of Cairo today when any great person is driving through the crowded masses of men and beasts. It was thirteen years since he had left his home, a shepherd boy in Canaan. Now he traveled all over the country, seeing that the grain was stored up city of Egypt, and so the seven years of plenty passed by, and the granaries of Egypt were full to overflowing. The story of the Nile overflow, by which years of plenty and famine were decided, is a world-famous story, dating from the very dawn of history to the present day. Let it be told yet once again. End of Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Of On the Shores of the Great Sea This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Patty Cunningham. On the Shores of the Great Sea by M.B. Singh. Chapter 5 The Story of the Nile Flood The higher Nile-less swells, the more it promises. As it ebbs, the seedsmen upon the slime and ooze scatters his grain, and shortly comes to harvest. Shakespeare. Let it be told once again. The story of how this great river, sometimes so shallow and sluggish that a child might safely walk across, becomes a mighty rushing sea pouring itself into the ocean with a force that no man can stem. The source of the Nile was as great a mystery to the men of old, as was the reason of its yearly flood. So, as they could not find out where this great river rose, they said it must rise in paradise, that it must flow through burning regions, pass through a sea, and finally make its way through Egypt. The annual flood they explained to themselves by saying that it was caused by Isis, the Egyptian goddess, mourning for her brother Osiris. Every year toward the middle of June she let fall a tear for the great Nile god, and at once the river swelled and descended upon earth. This quaint old story has lasted down through all the ages and to this very day the people in Egypt say that a drop from heaven falls during the night of the 18th of June and brings about the rise of the Nile. That night is known as the night of the drop. During the months of April, May, and June the river Nile falls and falls. The fields on either side are parched and dry. The air is full of dust. The trees are leafless. The plains are cracked. Man and beast alike languish. And all day long the fiery sun, undimmed by the lightest cloud, marches on its pitiless way through a sky of the deepest blue. As the season advances anxiety becomes intense. Will the river rise well this year? Ask the bronzed-faced men of one another. Is it not late already? A year of plenty or a year of famine used to hang on this mysterious rise. At last the day dawns when news comes flashing along the river banks the Nile is rising a little away up near its source. Slowly, very slowly at first and then with ever increasing speed the water creeps up its banks. Gradually the current quickens and the water becomes a deepened color. They now become a rushing mighty stream against which no man could swim as it swirls and roars along to the sea. And yet not a drop of rain has fallen. No cloud has crossed the sky. No storm has broken over the land. It is to tropical rain some two thousand miles away that this tumult of waters is due. By September the country is a huge lake. The whole land is a land of rivers as it once was a land of dust. Men's spirits rise with the rising waters. The animals rejoice in this first necessity of life. Brown-skinned men and boys plunge with delight into the life-giving stream. All are happy and content for it will be a year of plenty for Egypt. As September wears on the river begins to fall. Its work is done. Before long it is flowing between its banks as usual winding through the long hot land to the Great Sea. The very green, as the men of Egypt called it. We know a great deal about the sources of the Nile now, though it was many centuries before the discoveries were made. At Khartoum, known to history for Gordon's famous defense and death, the Great River divides into two branches. One called the Blue Nile, the other known as the White Nile. It was in 1770 that a scotch explorer named James Bruce reached the source lakes of the Blue Nile high up on the plains which crowned the mountains of Abyssinia. He told such wonderful stories on his return home of all he had seen and heard that people did not believe him. But now we know all he said was perfectly true. It was not till 1858 that two Englishmen discovered the source of the White Nile in Lake Victoria. But it happened years ago that the tropical rains sometimes failed. The rise of the Nile was very poor. The dry earth remained parched and cracked, and famine was the result. So it was a very important matter to the old kings of Egypt whether the Nile rose well or not. Today famine is impossible, owing to the dykes, canals, and dams, which have been arranged to hold the water should the Nile fail to rise well. End of Chapter 5 Recording by Patti Cunningham Chapter 6 of On the Shores of the Great Sea This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Adele Bussinger On the Shores of the Great Sea This is a LibriVox recording. Chapter 6 In a Strange Land My sons and ye the children of my sons, Jacob your father goes upon his way. Clow For the first seven years after Joseph had been made governor of Egypt, the Nile rose well, and every fifth part of the country's produce was stored up in the granaries of Egypt, and in all the land of Egypt there was bread. The bad years came. The Nile did not rise. The corn did not grow, and the famished people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Go unto Joseph. What he saith to you do was Pharaoh's answer to all the clamoring people. And Joseph opened the storehouses of grain and sold to the Egyptians. Not only was there famine in Egypt, but the famine was over all the face of the earth. This included the land of Canaan, where Joseph's father and brothers still lived. There came a day as the famine grew worse and worse when Jacob called his sons. Behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt, he said to them. Get you down thither and buy for us from thence that we may live and not die. The ten brothers started off for Egypt to buy corn. They found that the governor was selling the corn in person. He was the great man of the land, and they bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth. They little thought that this man to whom everyone bowed down was their young brother Joseph, but Joseph recognized his brothers at once. The sight of their familiar faces moved him strangely, and he turned from them in tears. He behaved generously towards them, but he did not tell them who he was, and when they had filled their sacks with corn, they went home. But the famine went on, and again they came bringing Benjamin, the youngest son with them this time. They brought Joseph presents too, honey and spices, nuts and almonds. Again they bowed low before him. Is your father well, of whom you spake? Is he yet alive? Were Joseph's eager words when he saw them again? Yet again he turned from them in tears, which they could not understand. At last he told them who he was, told them simply, weeping and alone, I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. Then he informed them that he was Lord of Pharaoh's house and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. And ye shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that ye have seen, and ye shall haste and bring down my father hither. So the brothers journeyed back into Canaan, laden with good things from Egypt to tell their father the good news. It is enough said the old man, Joseph my son is yet alive, I will go and see him before I die. And Jacob left his old home, and he took his sons and his grandsons, and all their wives and children, his cattle and all his goods. It must have been a long line of camels and asses, together with the wagons that Pharaoh had sent from Egypt, that crossed the burning desert to go down into Egypt. And Joseph drove out in his chariot to meet his father, and he fell on his neck and wept a good while. Joseph brought his father into the presence of the great Pharaoh, and the king treated the old man well, giving him a portion of land to dwell in Goshen, between Memphis and the great sea, at the delta of the Nile. It was one of the best pieces of land in Egypt, and there Jacob settled down with his sons and his grandsons, their wives and children, to live in peace and plenty. Now Jacob was already old when he came down into the land of Egypt. And when the time came for him to die, his one yearning was to get back to his old home. He could not rest in the land of the pyramids. The Egyptians were kind, but they were not his own kin. He felt he must lie in the land of his fathers. Bury me not, I pray thee in Egypt, he pleaded with Joseph, but I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying place. So Jacob died, and the Egyptians mourned for him, as if he had been one of themselves, after which his whole family carried him home to the land of his birth. It was a very great company that bore him to Canaan, the camels and asses of the house of Jacob, mingling strangely with the chariots and horses of the Egyptians. So they buried him in the land of Canaan, as he had desired them, and then Joseph and all his brethren returned to their new home in Egypt. On the Shores of the Great Sea by M. B. Singh, Chapter 7 The Children of Israel Unto a Land Flowing with Milk and Honey, Exodus The children of Jacob or Israel lived long in the land of Egypt, on the plot of land given to them by Pharaoh, fifty-four years after his father Joseph died. Like Jacob he earned to be buried in the land of his fathers, and for the present this was impossible. The years rolled on, and king after king reigned and died in Egypt, until the memory of Joseph was forgotten. Meanwhile the children of Israel were rejoicing in the good pasture land watered by the Nile, the land of Goshan as it was called, between Memphis and the Great Sea, and their families increased till they had become quite a large colony of the land of Egypt. In course of time there arose a Pharaoh who no longer cared to have all Joseph's descendants settled in the land. This great colony of foreigners would be a danger in case of war. So he set taskmasters over them, and oppressed them. He took them away from their quiet shepherd lives to service in the field, such as we still see along the banks of the Nile. There to-day the peasants worked under the burning sun, filling up buckets of water from the level of the river to pour on the fields above. The children of Israel were made to build the high brick walls too, which surrounded the old cities of the land of Goshan. They were treated as slaves and beaten by the Egyptians in authority over them, until we seemed to hear their bitter cries for deliverance from this bondage. At last, as more and more children were born to the children of Israel, Pharaoh ordered that all of the sons born to these strangers should henceforth be thrown into the Nile. But a son was born soon after this order to a great grandson of Jacob's, and he was so beautiful that his mother hid him in the house for three months. Then, fearing for his life, she put him in a little boat or basket made of reeds and laid him away among the rushes by the riverside. The story of Moses is well known, and every child has heard how the royal princess, one of the Pharaoh's daughters, came down with her maidens to bathe in the river, how she found the little basket and the crying child within, and how she had not the heart to let the baby drown, how he was nursed by his own mother, brought up in the house of the Egyptian princess and named Moses. I drew him out of the water. Now, though Moses was brought up as an Egyptian child, he was yet an Israelite at heart. When he grew old enough, he resented seeing his own people badly treated and even beaten in the land of their adoption. And this was the man chosen to lead his own people from the land of Egypt back to their own land, the land given to their forefathers, Abraham and Jacob, The story of their start for home is very picturesque. One can see the shepherd-tribes of Goshan snatching their last hasty meal. Their feet, usually bare, now shod for their long journey. Men, women and children with staffs in their hands, their long eastern garments skirt up around their waists for walking over the sandy desert. It was night, too, probably one of those glorious African nights with stars shining out brightly, even as they shine today over stretches of belt while the moon lit up the country round. Get yon forth from among my people. Also, take your flocks and herds, as ye have said, and be gone, where the words rung at last from the reluctant Pharaoh who had so long refused to let them go. So in that quiet starlit night the children of Israel like a huge army with their camels and asses stole forth from Egypt on their way back to their fatherland. Very soon the green pasture land of the Nile was left behind, the scorching desert track lay before. Encamped by the shores of the Red Sea, suddenly a cry of alarm would run through the vast multitude as across the ridges of the desert hills came the terrible Egyptian chariots pursuing after them. In the midst of their terror the sun sank down and darkness fell over the waves of the Red Sea which cut them off from the land of Canaan. The story of their crossing over is too well known to repeat. When morning broke over the hills of Arabia they stood in safety on the father's shore but the chariots and horsemen of Egypt had perished in the waters. End of Chapter 7 Recording by Dorelean Kaplan Chapter 8 Of On the Shores of the Great Sea This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Dorelean Kaplan On the Shores of the Great Sea by M. B. Singe Chapter 8 Back to the Fatherland Shout Israel! Let the joyful cry pour forth the notes of victory. High let it swell across the sea where Jacob's weary tribes are free. Ruskin aged 13 For 215 years the Israelites had lived in Egypt. Now they had passed from Africa into Asia. Not one of them could remember Jacob now or his long journey down into Egypt. Behind, right across the waters lay the strange land of their exile, the land of Egypt with its life-giving river, its pyramids, its stone statues, its tyrant kings. Behind lay the endless stir and life of the busy Egyptians with their trained armies marching through their walled cities, their vast processions with drums and cymbals, the rumble of their horses and chariots. Before them lay mile after mile of burning desert land through the deep silence of which they must march day after day, week after week, month after month. Now and then they might rest by some spring of water to refresh themselves in their little ones, their camels and their asses, but onward and ever onward they press towards the land of Canaan. For months they wandered thus, deeper and deeper into the mountains, struggling over rugged passes till they reached the desolate range of the hills of Sinai. From these heights their leader Moses brought to them the code of laws by which they were to live, the code of laws by which we live today, the Ten Commandments. After a long stay in the desert land of Sinai the 600,000 exiles set forth once more on their weary march north to Canaan. It must have been a great day when they first caught sight of the river Jordan across which lay their new country, even though across that river their leader Moses was not to lead them. The story of his death is perhaps one of the saddest in history. And camping his people in the plain below he went up into a high mountain from which he could see the land he was never to reach. Beneath him lay the black tents and the lights. Behind him the weary waste of hot sand and the bitter waters. While away across the river Jordan he could see the land of Canaan stretching away to the sea, the good land flowing with milk and honey, the land for which he had gladly borne toils and dangers for which he too had hungered and thirsted. It was his last view from that mountain top he came down no more in that strange land he died and another man was chosen to lead on the people. Joshua was a simple, straightforward, undaunted soldier, strong and of good courage. He turned neither to the right hand nor to the left hand. At the head of the hosts of Israel he went right forward from Jordan to Jericho, from Jericho to I, onwards and onwards till his work was done and his children of Israel had conquered the promised land. It stretched from the river Euphrates from the banks of which Abraham had wandered long ago right away to the river of Egypt, the Nile, while its shores were washed by the Great Sea, the value of which as yet they knew not. It was the highway between the two great rivals of the old world, the only road by which they could approach each other, by which alone the Chaldeans could get to Egypt and the Egyptians to Chaldea, lay along the broad, flat strip of coast belonging to Canaan. What a land this was to possess! After the weary march of 40 years, through the lonely desert, after the daily struggle for existence, after the hunger, the thirst, the anxiety, and long delayed hope, the new fatherland must have been very welcome, very welcome the shade of palm tree and olives, of vineyards and fruit trees, welcome the hills and ravines, the gushing springs and green plains. There were cattle, sheep, and goats on the hillsides. There were waving cornfields in the sunny plains. There were flowers blooming in the early summer when they first arrived and bees swarming round their combs in rock and wood. No wonder, then, the way-worn travelers should love to dwell on the words that had sheared them through the weariness of the way. To them it was indeed a land flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Adele Bussinger. On the shores of the Great Sea by M.B. Singh, Chapter 9, The First Merchant Fleet. They that go down to the sea in ships that do business in great waters. Psalm 107, 23. Now it has been said that the waters of the Great Sea washed the shores of the land of Canaan into which the Israelites had just entered. Let us see what this Great Sea is and how the people who lived on the coast of Canaan found out how to sail on its calm surface. Seeing branches of trees and leaves floating down the river, they first got the idea of floating down themselves on a log. Then followed the notion of guiding themselves by means of a pole or paddle. Sometimes the log was hollowed out, sometimes covered by an inflated skin. By and by a number of logs placed together suggested the idea of a raft for carrying a number of persons and animals across a river. These were the rude beginnings of shipbuilding in the olden days. They soon added the idea of oars for propelling the rafts, using them in the same way that a duck uses its legs to swim. Then they found that sometimes the wind helped them, so they made sails. That is to say they spread sheets of linen to catch the wind and blow the ship forwards. They were ever thinking of something fresh, until at last they gathered up enough courage to trust themselves on the sea itself. The Egyptians first tried the red sea which washes the east coast of Africa. It was a narrow arm of the sea more like a very broad river, save that it was salt and there were no large waves. While the Israelites were yet groaning under their bondage in the land of Egypt, there reigned a queen called Hatasu or queen of the south and north as she was more often called. She caused a great fleet to be built on the shores of the red sea. Each ship was built with oars and sails, each capable of holding 60 passengers. Of these 30 were the rowers who were to plow the waves and bring the ships to land whether the wind were favorable or not. The object of the expedition was to trade with another part of East Africa that could not well be reached by land. There were men at arms in each ship in case hostile tribes hindered them in their trade dealings. Away started the ships, five of them, favorable winds bore them southwards to the land of Punt or Somali land as we call that tract of country today. The voyagers were well received by the natives who were trustful people. The Egyptians soon found the chief of the country. He had a dwarf wife who was very distressing to behold but the royal couple proved very friendly. They were charmed with the presence from Egypt and allowed the newcomers to trade freely. They had leave to enter the forests, cut down the trees, and carry them to the ships. They dug up 31 of these trees and placed them on the ships' decks screening them from the sun's rays by an awning. Other things were brought to the beach by the natives who were ready to exchange gold, silver, ivory, ebony, and other woods for the gifts brought to them from Egypt. Monkeys, dogs, leopard skins, and slaves were also put on board and the queen of Punt herself insisted on accompanying the ships back to Egypt. The Egyptians seemed to have been much amused by the antics of the monkeys on the voyage home as they sprang about the sails and rigging of the ships. While the ships returned to the harbor in the Red Sea from which they had sailed, some of the cargo including the trees were taken across the desert, shipped on Nile boats and so carried to Thebes. The day of the return of the expedition was kept as a gala day in the city of Thebes. A large number of the townspeople came out to meet the returning travelers, and the poor little queen of Punt did homage to the queen of Egypt. The complete success which had attended this first sea adventure pleased Hitatsu immensely, and she celebrated the event by building a new temple at Thebes on the walls of which were painted the chief scenes of the expedition. Here may be seen, even today, the most ancient pictures of sea-going ships that the world contains. Pictures of the queen of Punt and the chiefs, the crews of the ships, the arrival of the expedition at Thebes in twelve large Nile boats and the grand festival held in honor of the safe return of the fleet. End of Chapter 9 Recording by Adele in Kansas Chapter 10 of On the Shores of the Great Sea This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Adele Bussinger On the Shores of the Great Sea by M.B. Singh Chapter 10 Conquerors of the Sea My purpose holds to sail beyond the sunset and the baths of all the western seas until I die. Now, when the 600,000 children of Israel came trooping into the land of Canaan there were a great many tribes already living there. Amongst others, there was a large tribe known as the Phoenicians living in the extreme north. They occupied a narrow strip of coast land between the high snow-capped mountains of Lebanon and the Great Sea. It was simpler for them to trade by sea than to reach the inland country over the mountains of Lebanon a journey which had to be accomplished on mules. The smiling sea which lay in front of them invited them to trust themselves to its calm surface. The island of Cyprus was plainly visible across the waters offering them safe harbors in case of sudden storms. So the Phoenicians learnt the value of the sea and by reason of this they rose to fame and played a large part in the history of the world. It must have required some courage to sail even on the tideless waters of the Great Sea in those early days for as we have already seen the ships were very untrustworthy. They were not like the magnificent steamships that put to sea in all weathers from every navigable port in these days. Here is the story of a shipwreck that took place before Joseph was sold into Egypt and which shows how terrified the eastern people were of venturing into the sea. I set sail says the shipwrecked sailor in a vessel 150 cubits long and 40 wide with 150 of the best sailors of Egypt whose hearts were more resolute than lions. They had foretold that the wind would not be contrary or that there would be none at all. But a squall came on unexpectedly while we were in the open and as we approached land the wind freshened and raised waves to the height of 8 cubits. As for me I clung to a beam but those who were on the vessel perished without one escaping. A wave cast me on an island after having spent three days alone with no other companion than my own heart. I slept there in the shade of a thicket then I sent my legs in motion in quest of something for my mouth. Now when the new Israelite tribes began to sweep over the country tribes already in the land were pushed towards the coast and the little strip known as Phoenicia became very much overcrowded. This gave a new life to their enterprise. Up to this time they had sailed from Hedland to Hedland along their coast under the friendly shelter of their tall mountains. Sailed in their homemade boats handling with skill their sea horses as they called them from shore to shore. Their one idea had been to trade to exchange the products of their own country for the products of those beyond the seas. Now their own country was too full they must go in search of settlement where some of their people could go and live. They must find ports and harbors points for good trade where their kinsmen might barter and sell the products of the old country. The island of Cyprus had long ago attracted the Phoenicians. They could see its clear outline on fine summer evenings in the glow of the western sky. They could sail with ease and safety keeping land in sight all the way. Thither it was natural that their eye should turn when in search of a colony. Beyond Cyprus too to the smaller island of roads they ventured and steering through unknown seas they discovered Sicily. Farther and yet farther they ventured. Cutting down cedars for which the mountains of Lebanon were famous they built more and more ships they added a greater number of oars they made better sails. Westward and ever westward they fought their way battling with the wind and waves of the great sea right along the coast of North Africa. They would pass not a single town they would meet not a single ship unless it was one of their own. They did not know the currents of the sea they had no means of knowing the force of the wind they had no compass to guide them. The sun overhead was their only guide the stars and the moon by night their only light. They were indeed a brave people and their success was richly deserved. End of Chapter 10 Recording by Adele in Kansas. Chapter 11 Conquering Holding Daring Venturing as we go the unknown ways pioneers old pioneers W. Whitman Along the northern coast of Africa they kept till they reached the spot known to the people of old as the pillars of Hercules. These were lofty rocks which were supposed to mark the limit of the world in this direction. It was according to their ideas the farthest point reached by the god Hercules beyond this point was the home of the gods so they said and heaven and earth met together. If they could please the gods then the Phoenician sailors might pass this point and discover the truth of their belief but either the sea was too rough for them or the sailors were too timid for twice they returned home without having passed the pillars and again they tried and again they failed. At last a third fleet of Phoenician ships was fitted out and this time they managed to pass through the narrow straits and to penetrate the mysteries beyond. There were no gods. The pillars of Hercules were not the ends of the world. The rocky gates opened a path from the great sea to the boundless waters of the Atlantic Ocean which were to play such a great part in the history of the new world. There was a well known voyage that they founded the city of Gades a port on the coast of Spain here they built a beautiful temple to the god Hercules who had allowed them to pass the narrow straits. This city is our modern Cadiz the most ancient town in all Europe the surrounding country they called Tarshish here they found a quantity of silver The ships of Tarshish says the prophet Ezekiel to Phoenicia were thy caravans now replenished and very glorious in the midst of the sea so much silver indeed the Phoenicians get at Tarshish that in order to carry home as much as they could they made anchors of silver for their ships leaving the old iron anchors behind rivers of the liquid metal mountains of solid ore forests and meadows covered with silver silver silver silver everywhere in the land beyond the pillars of Hercules saying the old poets there is an old story that says when the Phoenicians had passed through the straits of Gibraltar they took their course along the coast of Africa but they were carried away far into the ocean by a strong wind after being driven about many days by the storm they came to a large island which was so fertile and possessed such a glorious climate that they thought it must be a dwelling for the gods rather than of men they called them the Isle of the Blessed today we know these islands as Canary and Madeira islands and they are coaling stations for the great steamships which ply between England and South Africa every week in all weathers throughout the year there is little doubt that the old Phoenician ships got as far as the English Channel in their search for wealth braving the high seas of the Bay of Biscay to do this coasting along the shores of Spain and France they reached the skilly isles the tin islands as they called them in order to carry tin back to Phoenicia thus Phoenicia became the mistress of the Great Sea backwards and forwards went the Phoenicians between their own country and foreign lands collecting wealth planting colonies taking possession of whole islands undisputed they improved their ships they grew more and more adventurous until their country that narrow strip of land shut in between the mountains of Lebanon the Great Sea became very rich they were conquerors of the sea indeed merchants of the people of many isles strong to do and dare the first naval power in the old world end of chapter 11 recording by Stephen Carney Chapter 12 of on the shores of the Great Sea this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Stephen Carney on the shores of the Great Sea by M.B. Singh Chapter 12 Hiram, King of Tyre for Hiram was ever a lover of David first Kings verse 1 so the Phoenicians were already a great seafaring people when the Israelites finally conquered Canaan and were united under their first King Saul though they had not reached the full height of their fame till Solomon became King of Israel now a great friendship had existed between David the poet king of Israel Solomon's father and Hiram the young king of Phoenicia and when Hiram heard that King David was going to build himself a palace in his new capital of Jerusalem Hiram sent him a present of newly felled cedar trees from Lebanon together with an offer of carpenters and masons to help in the building David accepted both Solomon from Phoenicia came with their tools to Jerusalem and worked there Hiram was ever a lover of David but he was yet a greater friend of Solomon a treaty of trade was soon established between the two kingdoms of Israel and Phoenicia here is a well known story and King Hiram King of Tyre sent his servants unto Solomon for he had heard that they had anointed him king in the room of his father for Hiram was ever a lover of David and Solomon sent to Hiram King, command thou that they hew me cedar trees out of Lebanon and my servant shall be with thy servant and unto thee will I give hire for thy servants according to all that thou shalt appoint for thou knowest that there is none among us any that can skill to hew timber like unto the Sidonians and Hiram sent to Solomon saying I have considered the things which thou sentest to me for and I will do all thy desire concerning timber of cedar and concerning timber of fir my servants shall bring them down from Lebanon unto the sea and I will convey them by sea in floats unto the place that thou shalt appoint me and will cause them to be discharged there and thou shalt receive them and thou shalt accomplish my desire in giving food for my household so Phoenicia supplied Israel with wood and craftsmen and Israel supplied Phoenicia with corn and oil year by year Phoenicia was growing richer and richer and Hiram set to work to enlarge adorn and fortify his capital Tyre until it became one of the most beautiful and renowned cities in the ancient world Tyre and Sidon were already of worldwide fame when Hiram came to the throne of Phoenicia but much was needed in the way of harbors for the ever increasing shipping and to this task he set himself Old Tyre lay on the seashore but with the rapid growth of trade the sailors of the Old Town began to use the island which lay close by and afforded excellent shelter to their ships King Hiram had this island enlarged and surrounded by strong walls which ran out sharply into the sea then he built two harbors one to the north looking towards Sidon the other to the south looking towards Egypt so that in bad weather when the waves rose high and the winds blew the merchants of Tyre could reach a safe port above the city itself rose babelments and towers pleasant houses lay amid gardens and orchards shaded by vines and olives with ivory and ebony with gold and silver with precious stones and jewels Tyre was beautified the king of Tyre sits like a god in the seat of God sings Ezekiel in the midst of the seas he dwells as in Eden precious stones are the covering of his palaces the wonderful mixture of land is picturesquely described by an old poet the sailor furrows the sea with his oar as the plowman the soil the lowing of oxen and the song of birds enter the deep roar of the mane the breeze from Lebanon while it cools the rustic at his midday labor speeds the sailor seaword end of chapter 12 recording by Stephen Carney when Nash of Wisconsin chapter 13 of On the Shores of the Great Sea this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information nor to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Stephen Carney On the Shores of the Great Sea by M.B. Singh chapter 13 King Solomon's Fleet and King Solomon made a navy of ships on the shore of the Red Sea in 1926 now when Solomon had finished building the wonderful temple at Jerusalem he turned his attention to other parts of his dominions he had learned much from the Phoenicians he saw the wealth had poured yearly into Tyre and he felt that a navy for his own people would greatly tend to improve foreign trade and commerce true he had by his marriage with a daughter of Pharaoh king of Egypt improved the trade routes between the Red Sea was beginning to make itself felt through the eastern world and Solomon appealed to Hyrum for help now the Phoenicians had no port on the shores of the Red Sea and very gladly Hyrum seems to have thrown himself into the scheme for building a new navy for Solomon to the chosen port King Solomon traveled himself to arrange about the making of the fleet the giant speck bone as the port was called was soon teeming with life and activity shipbuilders from Tyre had worked preparing the new ships until at last the great fleet was ready to sail forth guided by Phoenician pilots manned by Phoenician sailors Phoenicians and Israelites sailed forth together on their mysterious voyages into the southern seas they sailed to India to Arabia and Somaliland and they returned with their ships laden with gold and silver with ivory and precious stones with apes and peacocks the amount of gold brought to Solomon by his navy was enormous they thought nothing of in those days and all the kings drinking cups and vessels were of wrought gold and every three years his fleet returned with yet more and more gold and silver for the first time too we can see the beginning of contact between the west and east the kings of Tarshish and of the Isles shall bring presents sang the solemnist this was from the west from the Tarshish in Spain already discovered by the Phoenician sailors the Tarshish from whence pure silver flowed in glowing streams the kings of Sheba and Siba shall offer gifts sang the solemnist again this was from the east from the shores of Arabia from the yet more distant coasts of India now opened up for the first time in history yea all kings shall fall down before him all nations shall serve him so it was the Phoenicians that taught the Israelites how to attain all the splendor and riches in so much as they taught them the value of the sea now though the Phoenicians were the first pioneers of the sea yet they did not neglect their homework they excelled in bronze work and ivory carving there are two bronze gates now to be seen in England carved by these old Phoenicians they are covered with groups of figures busy with all the occupations of a seaport Terinian dies too were renowned throughout the ancient world here is the old story of how they discovered the purple die it was in the old old days so they said that one day the nymph Tyrus was walking by the shore with Hercules her beloved suddenly her dog broke a small shell with his teeth and his mouth immediately became dyed with a brilliant red color Tyrus claimed that unless Hercules would procure for her a robe of the same tint he should see her face no more Hercules gathered a number of shells and having dipped the garment into the blood of the shellfish he presented it to Tyrus who was henceforth adorned with the royal purple which throughout all ages has remained the royal color for British kings and princes in mining too the Phoenicians were experts they dug mines in Lebanon their own mountains then in the country now known as Rhodesia in South Africa while Phoenicia was still at the height of her fame Hyrum king of Tyre died and still today in far away Syria a grey weather beaten tomb of unknown age raised aloft on three rocky pillars looks down from the hills above Tyre looks over the city and over the sea beyond it is pointed out by the natives to those who visit the once famous land of Phoenicia as the tomb of Hyrum End of Chapter 13 Recording by Stephen Carney Monashia Wisconsin Chapter 14 of On the Shores of the Great Sea This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org On the Shores of the Great Sea by M. B. Singh Chapter 14 The Story of Carthage Attempt not to acquire that which may not be retained One of the largest of the Phoenician settlements was called Carthage which was on the northern coast of Africa. There is an old legend about the founding of this ancient city which is very quaint One of the kings of Tyre died leaving a son called Pygmalion and a daughter Dido who was very beautiful Though Pygmalion was but a boy when his father died the Phoenicians made him king His sister Dido married a very rich man of whose wealth Pygmalion was very jealous After a time he slew his brother-in-law hoping to get the wealth he owned But Dido hid the treasure She was very sad and troubled for she loved her husband and she made up her mind to escape from the country Taking many nobles of the city with her she put all her riches on board one of her brothers' ships and set sail for Cyprus secretly Now when Pygmalion found that his sister had fled taking some of his citizens with her he was very angry and would have pursued her but he was hindered by the prophets who said It will go ill with thee if thou hinder the founding of that which shall be the most world Then Dido sailed from Cyprus to the coast of Africa landing some 15 miles from Utica which had long been a Phoenician colony She found the natives on the coast friendly and bought a piece of land so much as could be covered with the height of an ox that she might refresh her companions who were now greatly wearied with their voyage Thither came many natives bringing merchandise for sale and very soon they grew up a large town The people of Utica claimed kindred with the newcomers for were they not all from the old country Phoenicia and they built up their beautiful city and called it Carthage The site was well chosen the promontory on which it stood afforded excellent harbors for shipping and the Phoenician settlers anchoring in this haven were not slow to see its advantages Midway in the Great Sea in an easy reach of Spain and Sicily this new African town was indeed to be the most fortunate city in the whole world Phoenicia was at the height of her power Greece was not yet great Rome had not risen the great empires of the east Egypt and Babylon were slowly dying Carthage was yet to rule the great sea and overshadow the mother country The city grew more and more flourishing Beauty and fame of Dido were noised abroad until it reached the ears of the king of the Moors he sent for the men of Carthage Go back to the queen and say that I demand her hand in marriage said the king and if she be not willing then I will make war upon her and her city But these men fearing to give Dido the king's message knowing the love she bore her husband invented a crafty device the Moors they said desireth to find someone who shall teach his people a more gentle manner of life but who shall be found who will leave his own kinsfolk and go to a barbarous people that are as the beasts of the field Dido reproved them no man should refuse to endure hardness of life if it be for his own country's sake nay he must give his very life to it if need be she answered with a patriotism rare in those early days then the men of Carthage answered thou art judged out of thine own mouth oh queen what therefore thou counselest to others do thyself if thou wouldst serve thy country Dido had fallen into her own trap she was very unhappy give me the space of three months she said that I may lament my former estate then she went to the farthest part of the city the city of her own founding destined to such great things she had built a great funeral pile and one day she herself mounted it to the top having a drawn sword in her hand looking down upon the Carthaginians who were gathered round she cried aloud with a resolution born of despair ye bid me go to my husband see then I go thereupon she drove the sword to her heart and fell down dead such is the legend of the founding of Carthage End of Chapter 14 Chapter 15 of On the Shores of the Great Sea This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org On the Shores of the Great Sea by M. B. Singh Chapter 15 Out of the Shadow Land Worlds on Worlds are rolling ever from creation to decay. Shelly Meanwhile the Phoenicians were still masters of the Great Sea though their colony of Carthage was destined to outshine them in course of time Under Neco, King of Egypt it is said they attempted to sail right around Africa Neco with a view to commerce wished the coast of Africa explored as far as possible so he applied to the Phoenicians as the first sailors of their day for help. Had they not braved the terrors of the Atlantic outside the pillars of Hercules had they not manned Solomon's Navy with their finest navigators the Phoenicians as usual seemed ready to go and Neco started them off from a port in the Red Sea with orders to sail southwards keeping the coast of Africa on their right and to return to Egypt if possible by way of the Great Sea there is some doubt among the old historians as to whether they succeeded or not coasting along the shores of the Red Sea they would pass through the narrow straits of Bob El Mandeb and enter the Indian Ocean so much they had already done but instead of going off to India they would hug the coast of East Africa past Somaliland Zanzibar and Zululand till they reached South Africa how the Phoenician boats with their many sails and oars rounded the Cape of Storms which defied the Portuguese sailor 2000 years later is not related but according to the old story they coasted up the west side of Africa entered the Great Sea by the straits of Gibraltar and reached Egypt it took them three years to perform the voyage and Neco the king must have given them up as lost long ago for he knew they had no food to last them so long but the Phoenicians had been equal to the occasion every autumn they had landed on the coast plowed up attractive land sewed it with grain and awaited the ripening of the corn the following spring and so if this story be true Africa was circumnavigated 600 years BC it seems strange to think that such a nation of adventurers should so completely have died out before relating the story of the fall of Phoenicia from her high pedestal of fame and glory let us just glance at some of the quaint old stories of the childhood of Greece that nation that should play such a large part in the history of the world while Moses was leading the children of Israel from Egypt to Canaan and the men of Tyre were conquering the seas Greece was beginning to awake their legendary shadow land and to take her part in the world's struggles these people dwelt on the opposite shores of the great sea their broken coast faced north Africa a little to the west of where the river Nile empties itself into the sea of course it was much too far to see across to the other side so they imagined all sorts of things first these old Greeks thought that there were 12 gods and goddesses they looked at the top of a real mountain called Olympus they had not yet learned as the children of Israel had that there was but one god over all their chief god they called Zeus and he had a brother Neptune who was the god of the ocean the goddess of the moon was called by them Diana the god of the sun Apollo in the far east lived Aurora the Don who opened the gates of the flat world with her rosy fingers and out came the golden car of the sun with its glorious white horses then there was Venus the goddess of beauty Mars the god of victory Hercules the god of strength and a great many more it was this god Hercules who came to the end of the great sea and set up the two pillars on each side of the straits of Gibraltar which cost the Phoenicians so much trouble to pass they had an old story and a very strange one which told of the peopeling of their country a fair lady they said named Europa was playing in the meadows on the coast of Phoenicia between the mountains of Lebanon and the great sea one day a great white bull came to her he let her wreath his horns with flowers lay down and invited her to mount his back no sooner had she done so than he rose trotted down with her to the sea and swam out of sight he took her first to the island of Crete or Candia not far from the coast of Greece and as settlers came over there from the east they called the name of the country after Europa and it is known to this day by the name of Europe but this like the story of Dito and the founding of Carthage is but a legend made up by the old Greeks when they were creeping out of their shadow land End of Chapter 15 Chapter 16 of On the Shores of the Great Sea This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org On the Shores of the Great Sea by M. B. Singh Chapter 16 The Story of the Argonauts The life of the Greeks is mirrored in their legends These old Greek stories which were handed down from father to son are a curious mixture of truth and romance and no one knows which is which Let us take their story of the Argonauts when fifty of their heroes under the guidance of Jason went off in search of the Golden Fleece Here is the account of how they built their ship an account which they must have taken from the Phoenicians Then they felled their pines and shaped them with an axe and Argus the famed shipbuilder taught them to build a galley the first long ship that ever sailed the seas They pierced her for fifty ores an ore for each hero of the crew and pitched her with coal black pitch and painted her bows with vermilion and they named her Argo after Argus and worked at her all day long And at last the ship was finished and they tried to launch her down the beach but she was too heavy for them to move her and her keel sank deep into the sand Then all the heroes looked at each other blushing but Jason spoke and said let us ask the magic bow perhaps it can help us in our need Then a voice came from the bow and bade Orpheus play upon the harp while the heroes waited round holding the pine trunks to help her towards the sea Orpheus took his harp and began his magic song How sweet it is to ride upon the surges and to leap from wave to wave while the wind sings in the cheerful cordage and the ores flash fast among the foam How sweet it is to roam across the ocean and see new towns and wondrous lands and to come home laden with treasure and to win undying fame And the good ship Argo heard him and longed to be away and out at sea till she stirred in every timber and heaved from stem to stern and leaped up from the sand upon the rollers and plunged onward like a gallant horse and the heroes fed her path with pine trunks till she rushed into the whispering sea Then they stored her well with food and water and pulled the ladder up on board and settled themselves each man to his oar and kept time to Orpheus's harp and away across the bay they rode southward while the people lined the cliffs and the women wept while the men shouted at the starting of that gallant crew Jason was chosen captain and each hero vowed to stand by their captain faithfully in the adventure of the golden fleas and they rode away over the long swell of the sea past Olympus and past the wooded bays of Athos through the narrow straits which led into the sea of Marmora Up the Bosphorus they went to that land of bitter blasts that land of cold and misery and there was a battle of the winds and the heroes trembled in silence as they heard the shrieking of the blasts for the forest pines were hurled earthward north and south and east and west and the Bosphorus boiled white with foam and the clouds were dashed against the cliffs and these dark storms and whirlwinds haunt the Bosphorus until this day then the Argonauts went out into the open sea which we now call the Black Sea no Greek had ever crossed it and all feared that dreadful sea and its rocks and shoals and fogs and bitter freezing storms so the heroes trembled for all their courage as they came into that wild Black Sea and saw it stretching out before them without a shore as far as the eye could see but after a time they looked eastward and right between the sea and the sky they saw white snow peaks hanging glittering sharp and bright above the clouds and they knew that they were come to Caucasus at the end of all the earth Caucasus the highest of all mountains the father of the rivers of the east it was near here amid the dark stems of the mighty beaches that they saw the golden fleece it would take too long to tell how Jason at last tore the fleece from off the tree trunk how holding it on high he cried go now good Argo swift and steady if ever you would see Olympus more and she went as the heroes drove her grim and silent all with muffled oars till the pinewood bent like willow in their hands and stout Argo groaned beneath their strokes on and on beneath the dewy darkness till they heard the merry music of the surge upon the bar as it tumbled in the moonlight alone the surge they rushed and Argo left the breakers like a horse for she knew the time was come to show her medal and win honor for the heroes and herself into the surge they rushed and Argo left the breakers like a horse till the heroes stopped all panting each man upon his oar as she slid into the still broad sea and the heroes hearts rose high and they rode on stoutly and steadfastly away into the darkness of the west after many adventures in unknown seas they returned home again but they were weary and spent with years of voyage they had no strength to haul their boat onto the beach so they sat and wept till they could weep no more for the houses were all altered the faces they saw were strange and their joy was swallowed up in sorrow while they thought of their youth and toil and the gallant comrades they had lost who are you that you sit weeping here asked the people at last we are the sons of your princes who sailed out many a year ago to fetch the golden fleece and we have brought it and grief therewith give us news of our fathers and mothers if any of them be left alive then there was shouting and laughing and weeping and all the kings came to the shore and they led the heroes to their homes and Jason found his old father but the old man would not believe it was his son who had returned do not mock me young hero he cried my son Jason is dead at sea long ago but I am your son Jason cried the hero and I have brought home the golden fleece give me now the kingdom so all the heroes went there several ways and that was the end of the story of the Argonauts End of Chapter 16 Chapter 17 of On the Shores of the Great Sea This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Chris Caron On the Shores of the Great Sea by M. B. Singe Chapter 17 The Siege of Troy Far on the Ringing Plains of Windy Troy by Tennyson Here is another story of these old heroic days before the dawn of history in Greece and yet there is some truth in it as there is in all these old stories The city of Troy stood in the northwest corner of the land we now know as Asia Minor It was therefore quite close to Greece The Siege of Troy is supposed to have taken place about the time that the children of Israel were settling down under the first king Saul Long long ago then, so the story runs there was a king of Troy called Briam He had 19 children of whom Paris was the second When Paris was old enough he built a ship and sailed away to visit the great kings He made great friends with the king of Sparta but he repaid his kindness by stealing away his wife the beautiful Helen As soon as the king of Sparta found how his hospitality had been misused he called upon all the Greek heroes to help him to recover his wife and to revenge himself on Paris Everyone replied to the call and for many years the Greeks collected their forces together At last they were ready and the king of Sparta's brother, a Gemnon took command of them all with over a thousand ships and a hundred thousand men the Greeks landed on the Trohan coast They hauled their ships on shore fastened them with ropes to large stones which served as anchors and surrounded the fleet with fortifications to protect it against the enemy They fought the Trohans with swords and spears The chiefs generally went to battle in Chariot which was an open car drawn by two horses and driven by some trusty friend who held the horses while the chief stood up and spent spear after spear among the enemy The Greeks soon showed themselves to be superior to the Trohans who shut themselves up within the huge walls of their city leaving an opening on one side only from which they might receive corn cattle and the other supplies Nine summers and nine winters went by and still the siege of Troy went on The Greek heroes lost many of their finest men but neither side would give in The great hero among the Greeks was Achilles among the men of Troy, Hector the eldest son of the old Priam Both these were killed at last and not very long after Paris himself was slain Still the king of Sparta could not get Helen back Priam used to make her come and sit beside him on the battlements over the gateway at Troy to tell him the names of all the great chiefs but the king of Sparta grew desperate at last and a means was devised for getting into Troy Together with a number of Greek heroes he hid himself in a monstrous wooden horse which was found on the sea shore Someone told the Trohans if they would drag this wooden horse into Troy their luck would turn and it would bring them good fortune So the Trohans harnessed themselves to the horse and began to drag it into Troy little thinking it was full of the enemy night came on and suddenly at a given signal the wooden horses opened and out tumbled the king of Sparta and his men while outside the other Greeks had seen the signal and rushed in Troy was set on fire the king of Sparta rescued his beautiful wife and carried her down to his ship Old Priam tried to put on his armor and defend his wife and daughters but he was killed in the court of his palace and all the rest of the men of Troy were either killed or made slaves Only one great man of Troy escaped that was Aeneas who was seeing all that was lost took his old father on his back and leading his little son by the hand while his wife followed escaped from the burning city he found a ship on the coast and sailed away in safety After long years and marvelous adventures he arrived on the shores of Italy landing near the spot where Rome now stands it is said that on the side of one of the mountains he built a city known as the Long White City and here for 300 years the descendants of Troy reigned so ended the great siege of Troy it was first sung of by the great poet Homer in his wonderful poem called the Iliad but the acts of the heroes have inspired me and many a poet since that time until it has become one of the best known scenes of the world's great history End of Chapter 17 Chapter 18 of On the Shores of the Great Sea This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Patrick W. Kachurik On the Shores of the Great Sea by M. B. Singh Chapter 18 The Adventures of Ulysses Come, my friends Tis not too late to seek a newer world push off and sitting well in order smite the sounding furrows Tennyson When the great city of Troy was taken all the chiefs who had fought against it set sail for their homes though few of them returned in safety one who wandered farthest and suffered most was Ulysses He had brought twelve ships to Troy and any ship were fifty men but that was ten years ago and half his men slept their last sleep on the plains of Troy This is some of his story as the Greek poet Homer tells it Now Zeus, gatherer of the clouds aroused the north wind against our ships with a terrible tempest and covered land and sea alike with clouds and downsped night from heaven Thus the ships were driven headlong and their sails were torn to shreds by the might of the wind So we lowered the sails into the hold in fear of death but rode the ships landward apace There for two nights and two days we lay continually consuming our hearts with weariness and sorrow But when the fair trust dawn had at last brought the full light of the third day we set up the masts and hoisted the white sails and sat us down while the wind and the homesmen guided the ships And now I should have come to my own country all unhurt but the waves and the stream of the sea and the north wind swept me from my course as I was doubling Cape Malia and drove me wandering past Sithera Thence for nine whole days was I borne by ruinous winds over the teeming deep But on the tenth day we set foot on the land of the lotus eaters and the lotus eaters gave them of the lotus to taste Now whosoever of them did eat the honey sweet fruit of the lotus had no more wish to bring tidings nor to come back But there he took to the land and the lotus ate it and the lotus ate it and the lotus ate it and the lotus ate it And now I should have come to my own country all unhurt but the wind and the wind swept me from my course nor to come back But there he chose to abide with the lotus eating men ever feeding on the lotus and forgetful of his homeward way Therefore I led them back to the ships weeping and sore against their will and dragged them beneath the benches and bound them in the hollow barks So they embarked and sat upon the benches and sitting orderly they smote the grey sea with their oars Thence we sailed onward stricken at heart and we came to the land of the Cyclopes Sicily These lawless folk dwell in hollow caves on the crests of the hills Now there is a waist isle stretching without the harbor of the land of the Cyclopes wherein our wild goats unnumbered for no path of man scares them nor do hunters resort thither Moreover the soil lies ever more unsown and untilled desolate of men and feeds the bleeding goats Yet it is in no wise a sorry land but would bear all things in their season for therein are soft water meadows by the shores of the grey salt sea and there the fines know no decay and the land is level to plow Also there is a fair haven where is no need of moorings but men may run the ship on the beach and tarry until such time as the sailors are minded to be gone and favorable breezes blow Leaving Sicily Ulysses came to the isle of the winds which floated about in the ocean and still he wandered on and on in the unknown seas Here is his account of how his ship was struck by lightning But now when we left that isle nor any other land appeared but sea and sky even then a dark cloud stayed above the hollow ship and beneath it the deep darkened and the ship ran on her way for no long while came the shrilling west with the rushing of a great tempest and the blast of winds snapped the two four stays of the mast and the mast fell backward and all the gear dropped into the bottom of the ship and behold the mast struck the head of the pilot and break all the bones of his skull together and like a diver he dropped down from the deck and his brave spirit left his bones In that same hour Zeus thundered and cast his bolt upon the ship like a diver being stricken by the bolt of Zeus and was filled with sulfur and lo my company fell out of the vessel Like seagulls they were born round the black ship upon the billows and never returned I kept pacing through my ship till the surge loosened the sides from the keel and the waves swept her along stripped of her tackle and break her mast clean off at the keel then I lashed together both keel and mast and sitting thereon born by the ruinous winds all night he drifted rowing with his hands until he was cast on to an island where he had to remain for the next eight years Homer, the blind old poet gives a touching account of his homecoming at last Ulysses returned as a beggar broken down weary and foot sore none knew him again neither his old father nor his son Telemachus nor his wife Penelope only his poor old dog Argus knew him and he just licked his tired feet and died of joy End of Chapter 18 Chapter 19 of On the Shores of the Great Sea This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Patrick W. Kitchurg On the Shores of the Great Sea by M. B. Singh Chapter 19 The Dawn of History The Isles of Greece The Isles of Greece Byron While the heroic age of Greece is passing with its memories of the Argonauts the Siege of Troy and the Adventures of Ulysses let us take a look at the country which was destined to become so great a power in the world One glance at the map will show that Greece was cut up into little states Why was this? Greece is naturally cut up into little pieces by its mountains and deeply indented by its sea One part is entirely divided from another part by deep ravines with steep sides and across these ravines no man could walk intercourse therefore between such a people was very difficult often impossible See how different Greece is from Egypt Egypt is a rich flat land stretching away on either side of the river Nile The Egyptians could sail up the Nile with the wind and drop down it with the current so that it was always quite easy to go from one part to another and so it was that from the very earliest times Egypt was one country under one king like the pharaohs of Bible history In Greece it was all different there is no one flat tract of land anywhere The great ranges of mountains divided into a number of small districts and each of these districts must have its own chief or king These old Greeks were a free and hearty race full of imagination and adventure loving their old stories loving their mountains their sea their freedom Further than this they enjoyed a climate which would breathe life into the dullest race a climate that clothed their mountains and islands with a beauty of which their poets have ever loved to sing which has raised them to that keen sense of beauty and art famous throughout all ages To such a people shipping became a necessity they would learn the art of shipbuilding from the Phoenicians who had long since made a settlement on the rocky crag rising from out the plain known as the Acropolis or Rock City thither came the Phoenicians when the Greeks were but mere farmers until very soon on the Greek coast too a new and busy life began the Greeks had much to learn from the seafaring men from Tyre and Sidon who came more and more to the Greek coast exchanging their own goods for greekian products in time the Greeks on the coast came to know all the Phoenicians knew they took their alphabet their weights and measures they made ships like those used by the Phoenicians and began to sail along their own shores it was therefore somewhat natural that after a time the Greeks should turn their eyes eastwards across the blue waters now known as the shores of Asia Minor vast fields of rich grain and orchards of fruit tempted to new settlers until shipload after shipload had left the mother country and scattered themselves along the opposite shores of Asia Minor known as Ionia there is an old story of this Ionian migration which says that a certain king in Greece died and his sons not caring to live on in a country where they could not live as princes decided they assembled at the Acropolis while their ships were preparing and after a tedious voyage across the archipelago they landed on the coast of Asia Minor they soon began to build cities and before long there were no less than 12 beautiful seaport towns on the Ionian coast belonging to Greece the chief of these were Miletus and Ephesus both of which we shall hear of again Miletus was stoutly defended by the natives already living there which so enraged the Greeks that they slew every man they found and made the widowed women their wives legend relates that the women were so heartbroken at this conduct that they refused to sit at meet with their new husbands or to call them by their names Ephesus rose to great importance as a seaport and was also famous for the wonderful temple built to the goddess Diana a worship which filled St. Paul with such sorrow when he spent three years among these towns had their day they rose and fell and nothing remains of them today save reedy swamps and fever-stricken haunts where once arose a perfect forest of masts belonging to the ships trading with all parts of the then known world end of chapter 19 chapter 20 of on the shores of the great sea this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Patrick W. Kachurik on the shores of the great sea by M. B. Singh chapter 20 the fall of Tyre is this your joyous city whose antiquity is of ancient days Isaiah chapter 23 verse 7 so the Greek nation slowly arose on the shores of the great sea and by and by the colonies founded by Phoenicia in Greece had to be given up one by one no longer were the Phoenicians free to come and go to buy and sell along the opposite shores Greek cities rose, Greek ships put to sea, Phoenician colonies became Greek colonies but if a dangerous rival had appeared by sea a yet more dangerous one had appeared by land Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon and Babylon was growing very powerful and strong and this great king came down from the north with chariots and horses and much people he captured Sidon, laid low Jerusalem and then came to reduce the renowned old city of Tyre for the last time through the piercing eyes of Ezekiel we seemed to see Tyre the old queen of commerce in all her ancient glory the ships of Tarshish were thy caravans for thy merchandise were plenished and made very glorious in the heart of the sea thy rowers have brought thee into great waters the east wind hath broken thee in the heart of the sea and all that handle the ore the mariners and all the pilots of the sea they shall come down from their ships they shall stand upon the land and shall cause their voice to be heard over thee and shall cry bitterly and they shall weep for thee in bitterness of soul with bitter morning and then their wailing they shall take up a lamentation for thee and lament over thee saying who is there like Tyre like her that is brought to silence in the midst of the seas and Nebuchadnezzar made forts against Tyre he set his battering engines against her walls those walls that Hyrem had built so strong he broke down her towers her walls shook at the noise of his horsemen when he entered into her gates with the hoofs of his horses he slew her people with the sword he took her gold and silver broke down her walls destroyed her pleasant houses while her timber from Lebanon he cast into the waters well indeed might the prophet Isaiah cry hallow ye ships of Tarshish for your strong place is laid waste Phoenicia fell in the year 574 BC so busy had they been with the vast expansion of their trade on the seas that they had neglected home defense when invasion came they were powerless again they had collected great wealth but they had no worthy use for it they did not understand that wealth if used to write is but means to nobler ends to the Phoenicians it was an end in itself the old Egyptian civilization had not affected them the wondrous new beginnings of Greek art did not appeal to them they were the conquerors of the sea colonizers in the old world and as such will always be remembered they have been compared to a flower that has bloomed too much and withered at its root but the work was done the seed had fallen in many places they vanished from the pages of history leaving but memories behind and now the tideless waters of the Mediterranean Sea lap peacefully over the old cities of Tyre and Sidon while the world famed Phoenicia of ancient days plays no part in the busy world of commerce which has shifted westwards End of Chapter 20 Chapter 21 of On the Shores of the Great Sea This is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Daniel Watkins On the Shores of the Great Sea by M. B. Singh Chapter 21 The Rise of Carthage Because you're sons of the blood and call me mother still Kipling While the mother country, Phoenicia was falling by reason of Nebuchadnezzar's siege of Tyre her young colony of Carthage was rapidly springing into fame she was destined to eclipse even the glories of Tyre once indeed not long after the fall of Tyre while Carthage was busy extending her dominions she had a narrow escape from destruction King of Persia had conquered Egypt with such ease that he was looking about for another country to lay low Carthage was great enough to prove a danger so he determined to march against that city but it was two thousand miles away by land and by sea alone could he hope to reach it his fleet was made up of Phoenician ships and manned by Phoenician sailors these refused to take part in the expedition against their own Kith and Kin we are bound to the Carthaginians they said by solemn oaths they would have killed their children and it would be wicked to make war against them and Cambyses had to be content with this answer and gave up his cherished plan of reducing Carthage like the Phoenicians the Carthaginians soon established colonies across the seas but they took care to protect them the Great Sea was no longer free to them to come and go as they liked Greek ships sailed the seas Greek colonies had sprung up along the coasts nevertheless they owned colonies on the coast of Africa the islands of Sardinia, Malta and Corsica were theirs they owned the group of Balearic islands while a great part of southern Spain was under their rule they had inherited a spirit of commerce from the parent state so the colony of Carthage had all the energy and trade instincts of the mother country she held her own on the Great Sea at a time when rival ships were sailing the sea and Greece and Rome were clamouring for ports and colonies around the coast she held her own till greed of conquest seized her and in trying to get more than she could keep she fell the story of her fall will be told later End of Chapter 21 Chapter 22 of On the Shores of the Great Sea this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Stephen Carney On the Shores of the Great Sea by M. B. Singh Chapter 22 Hanno's Adventures Tides duly ebbed and flowed stars rose and set and new horizons glowed Tennyson Now Carthage can boast of having produced the first real explorer who has written an account of his doings his name was Hanno this Hanno was given command of a fleet of ships to go and found a chain of colonies on the Atlantic seaboard of Africa he took 60 ships and some 30,000 men and women who were to settle along the coast when he came back to Carthage he wrote an account of the voyage which was inscribed on a marble tablet and placed in the temple of the city this is what he said It was decreed by the Carthaginians that Hanno should sail beyond the pillars of Hercules and found cities accordingly he sailed with 60 ships of 50 oars each and a multitude of men and women to the number of 30,000 and provisions and other equipment when we had set sail and passed the pillars after two days' voyage we founded the first city below this city lay a great plain sailing dense westward we came to Cape Canton a promontory of Africa thickly covered with trees here we built a temple and proceeded dense half a day's journey eastward till we reached a lake lying not far from the sea and filled with abundance of great reeds here elephants were feeding other wild animals after we had gone a day's sail beyond the lakes we founded cities near to the sea sailing dense we came to a great river which flows from Africa on its banks wandering tribes were feeding their flocks with these we made friendship and remained among them certain days beyond these dwell the inhospitable Ethiopians inhabiting a country that abounds in wild beasts and is divided by high mountains sailing up a great river the Senegal we came to a lake proceeding dense a day's sail we came to the farthest shore of the lake here it is overhung by great mountains in which dwell savagemen clothed with the skins of beasts these drove us away pelting us with stones so that we could not land sailing dense we came to another river great and broad and full of crocodiles and river horses dense returning we came back again to Herne and from Herne we sailed again towards the south for twelve days coasting along the land the whole of this land is inhabited by Ethiopians on the last day we came near to certain large mountains covered with trees and the wood of these trees was sweet scented and of diverse colors sailing by these mountains for the space of two days we came to a great opening of the sea and on either side of this sea was a great plain from which at night we saw fire and directions here we watered and afterwards sailed for five days until we came to a great bay which the interpreters told us was called the western horn in this bay was a large island here we landed and in the daytime we could find nothing but saw wood ashes but in the night we saw many fires burning and heard the sound of flutes and cymbals and drums and the noise of confused shouts great fear then came upon us we sailed therefore quickly thence being much terrified and passing on for four days found at night a country full of fire in the middle was a lofty fire greater than all the rest so that it seemed to touch the stars when day came we found that this was a great mountain which I called the chariot of the gods on the third of our departure thence having sailed by streams of fire we came to a bay which is called the southern horn close to Sierra Leone at the end of this bay lay an island with a lake and full of savage people of whom the greater part were women their bodies were covered with hair and our interpreters called them gorillas we pursued them but the men were not able to catch for being able to climb the precipices and defending themselves with stones these all escaped but we caught three women but when these biting and tearing those that led them would not follow us we slew them and flaying off their skins with these to Carthage father we did not sail for our food failed us end of chapter 22 recording by Stephen Carney Monashia, Wisconsin chapter 23 of On the Shores of the Great Sea this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Stephen Carney On the Shores of the Great Sea by M.B. Singh chapter 23 some more about Greece two voices are there one is of the sea one of the mountains each a mighty voice in each from age to age thou didst rejoice they were thy chosen music liberty while Carthage is growing day by day and year by year to take her place among the peoples let us return to Greece now taking a far larger part in the world's history than Carthage would ever take a little inland on the western coast of southern Greece was a wide and beautiful plain it was watered by a flowing stream and shaded by well-wooded mountains the spot was called Olympia and it was dedicated to the worship of the great gods use to this place every fourth year flocked the men of Greece in olden times to take part in the great festival held in the gods honor games were the chief feature of the festival there was an old story saying that Hercules, when a little boy had here won a foot race with his brothers so some of the Greeks in the south founded this feast with foot races for all the people to take part in there were chariot races and horse races as well as foot races boxing matches, wrestling throwing weights, singing and reciting of poetry the only prize given to the winners was a garland of wild olive cut from a sacred tree in the grove the victors were thus crowned before the people each holding a palm branch in his hand while the heralds proclaimed his name and that of his father and country from north and south and east and west the men of Greece flocked to Olympia it was a bond of union for all the scattered tribes of Greece it helped the colonies to keep in touch with the mother country so all the parts could meet and discuss matters of importance and it gave a feeling of brotherhood to those who were separated by the natural barriers of their divided country now, amongst the chief people who attended these games every four years at Olympia were the Spartans they lived in the south of Greece and they were supposed to be the descendants of Hercules and to have settled there after their return from the siege of Troy these Spartans were very strict people every citizen was a soldier if a child were born weak or unhealthy a citizen said it was laid out on the wild slopes of the mountainside to die only the strong and healthy were allowed to live so the Spartans became a very strong people when seven years old a boy was taken from his home he was taught to endure hardships and trained to love his country at twenty he became a soldier and lived under stern discipline the one aim of his life was to become a good soldier he existed for the state alone his food was of the plainest he had to wear the same garments in winter no complaints were tolerated indeed there are stories telling how the Spartans would die under the lash of the whip rather than utter a murmur of complaint women were proud of their sons and urged them to acts of heroism return either with your shield or upon it they would cry to the young soldiers going forth to battle so the Spartans became a well trained body of soldiers at a time when military training was little thought about in Greece they grew very powerful and subdued the lesser states around them another important spot in Greece at this time was Athens and the men of Athens traveled far to be present at the games of Olympia every four years they had a lovely city built on a rocky height jutting out into the sea there was an old story that the gods Neptune and Athene had a strife as to which should be the patron of the city and that it was to be given to whichever should produce the most precious gift for it Neptune struck the earth and there appeared but Athene's touch brought forth an olive tree and this was judged the most useful gift so the city bore her name and the olive tree grew in the court of the old Acropolis a sacred citadel on a rock above the city the king of Athens was called Solon he was supposed to have been one of the seven wisest men of Greece at this time he drew up a very clever code of laws for the men of Athens laws which are spoken of to the present day Corinth was another important center from which the Greeks flocked to Olympia this city stood on the rocky isthmus that connects north and south Greece together an isthmus called by one of the old poets the bridge of the untiring sea and these three states Sparta, Athens and Corinth played a large part in the history of Greece