Art of Writing Very Old

1910

New Discoveries Carry Back Existence of Written Documents Centuries Beyond Phoenician Record

The revelations made at the remains of a great prehistoric palace at Knossos, in Crete, which is believed to be the original of the fabled "Labyrinth," would seem to carry back the existence of written documents on Greek soil some eight centuries beyond the earliest known monuments of Greek writing and five centuries beyond the earliest dated Phoenician record as seen on the Moabite stone.

These discoveries, therefore, place the whole question of the origin of writing on a new basis. It is thought that the Cretan hieroglyphs exactly correspond with what, in virtue of their names, we must suppose to have been the pictorial originals of the Phoenician letters on which the alphabet is based.

Among these are Aleph, the ox's head; Beth, the house; Daleth, the door, and so forth. This contravenes the old theory of De Rouge that the Phoenician letters were derived from early Egyptian forms signifying quite different objects.

The Leather of the Egyptians

1910

The ancient Egyptians were skilled in the art of tanning leather and manufactured it in various ways and for various purposes besides that of furnishing covering for the feet. Indeed, it is to those builders of the pyramids that we are indebted for the first artistic forms of footwear, and, so far as can be ascertained from history and the researches of archaeologists, the Egyptians were the first shoemakers who were worthy of that name.

It is a fact, too, that tanners of today employ very much the same methods as did the ancients. About the same materials are used, and the processes are almost precisely similar to those in vogue hundreds of years ago. It is true that tanners of the present day have found a means of greatly shortening the time required to convert a hide into leather and that steam power and modern machinery have done much to expedite and improve the processes of finishing the leather; but, after all. the principals of tanning remain the same as they have been from the first. — London Globe.

The Old Suez Canal

1907

Few people are aware that there had been a canal across the isthmus of Suez before De Lesseps ever conceived the idea of his monumental enterprise.

A canal across the isthmus was actually constructed 600 years before the Christian era and served as a waterway for small vessels until about 1,000 years ago, when it was allowed to fall into disuse. Napoleon revived the idea and instructed one of the great engineers of his day to investigate the matter, but though a favorable report was presented to him, in which M. Lepere recommended the restoration of the canal, the work itself was never touched.

When M. de Lesseps undertook the task of cutting the canal he thought at first to follow the idea of Napoleon and restore the ancient waterway, but this plan was abandoned and the present plan determined upon.

Hannibal In Italy

1910

Hannibal entered northern Italy in the year 218 B. C., and gained during that year the two victories of Ticinus and Trebia, both in Cisalpine Gaul. The next year he advanced farther south and defeated the Romans at Trasymenus, and the year following, having proceeded farther south, he inflicted upon them the terrible defeat of Cannae, at which time his ascendancy attained its maximum. He remained for 13 years longer, but gained no more decisive victories. He was finally recalled by the authorities at Carthage, which had never given him anything like a decent support.

Beginning of Use of Iron

1910

Origin Thought to Have Been in Central Europe

It is commonly believed that the use of iron commenced in either Africa or Asia. The latest investigations prove that it was not worked in Egypt until the ninth century before the Christian era, or in Libya until 450 B. C., that the Semites adopted its use still later, and that it has been known in Uganda only within the last five or six centuries.

In China iron is first mentioned in 400 B. C. Bronze weapons were employed in China until 100 A.D., and in Japan until 700 A.D. According to a Mr. Ridgeway, who has investigated this subject, the metallurgy of iron must have originated in central Europe, especially in Noricum, which approximately represented modern Austria and Bavaria.

Only at Hallstatt and in Bosnia and Transylvania, from which countries the Achaians and Dorians are supposed to have migrated to Greece, are found evidences of a gradual introduction of iron, at first as an ornament applied to the bronze which it ultimately displaced.

Everywhere also iron was introduced suddenly — a fact which implies a foreign origin. He says that meteoric iron was known in Egypt in remote antiquity, but no doubt it was worked as flints are worked, by cutting or chipping, and was not smelted. In other words, it was metallurgy, not the knowledge, of iron that originated in central Europe.

Art of the Etruscans

1907

Mysterious People Who Left Traces of a Remarkable Civilization

Why did the Etruscans devote their whole lives to the incessant making of pottery until it accumulated in such quantities that they were compelled to bury it in order to keep room for themselves in their streets and houses?

Then, again, there is the mystery of the Etruscan inscriptions. These inscriptions are fairly numerous, but hitherto they have proved to be utterly undecipherable. The Etruscan is the only dead language that has defied investigation. Considered as a language, nothing could seem more improbable than the hieroglyphics of the Egyptians, but Egyptologists can read them with such ease that almost any given series of hieroglyphics can be read in three or four ways by an equal number of rival Egyptologists. Any language more utterly impossible at first glance than the Assyrian arrowhead language could not well be imagined, but there are many learned men who can read, write and speak arrowhead with facility. And yet no man can make the least sense of the writings left by the Etruscans, although they are written in Roman characters.

All that we know of the Etruscans seems unreasonable and preposterous. Naturally this makes them fascinating to every one who delights in mystery and the solution of puzzles. — Putnam's Magazine.

Poisoning as a Profession

1916

Use of Deadly Gases Recalls Politics of the Dark Age Statemen and Diplomats

It is interesting today, when the opposing armies are "removing" their opponents en bloc by the use of poisonous vapors, to recall the horror evoked by the deeds of poisoners in the past. The names of the Borgias and the Medici are to this day held up to the detestation of mankind. Yet these and their like only poisoned individuals; the fighting forces today are compelled to endeavor to poison entire armies!

Their wholesale methods will doubtless go to enrich the annals of historical poisoning. For poison has played a great part in history. The employment of poison by the ancients is graphically and terribly illustrated in the deaths of Socrates, Demosthenes, Hannibal and Cleopatra, while in the reign of Artaxerxes II. (Memnon), B.C. 405-350, Phrysa poisoned the Queen Statira by cutting food with a knife poisoned on one side.

In the early part of the Christian era numberless professional poisoners arose, and for a long time exercised their trade with impunity. "Poisoning," says a well known authority, "was so much in use as a political engine that Agrippina (A.D. 26) refused to eat of some apples offered her at table by her father-in-law, Tiberius." It is a curious fact that Agrippina, while refusing to partake of these apples from her fear of being poisoned, was herself guilty of the poisoning of Claudius; but poetic justice was meted out to her in the death (by poison) of her son, Britannicus.

It was at this time, too, that the infamous Locusta flourished. She is said to have supplied, with suitable directions, the poison by which Agrippina got rid of Claudius; and she was also the principal agent in the preparation of the poison that was administered to Britannicus by order of his brother Nero.

"It was the custom of the Romans to drink hot water," says Mr. Wynter Blythe, "a draught nauseous enough to us, but, from fashion or habit, considered by them a luxury. And as no two men's tastes are alike, great skill was shown by the slaves in bringing the water to exactly that degree of heat which their respective masters found agreeable.

"A slave brings water to Britannicus; it is too hot; Britannicus refuses it. The slave adds cold water, and it is this cold water that is supposed to have been poisoned. In any case, Britannicus died, and extraordinary lividity spread over the corpse, which they attempted to conceal by painting the face."

There has come down to us a curious document, said to have been drawn out by Charles de Mauvais, King of Navarre, which shows how arsenic was much favored as a political weapon by crowned heads in the fourteenth century. It is a commission of murder given to a certain Wouderton.

"Go thou to Paris. Thou canst do great service if thou wilt. Do what I tell thee. I will reward thee well. Thou shall do thus: There is a thing which is called sublime arsenic. If a man eat a bit the size of a pea he will never survive. Thou wilt find it in Pampeluna, Bordeaux, Bayonne, and in all good towns through which thou will pass, at the apothecaries' shops.

"Take it and powder it; and when thou shalt be in the house of the king, and of Valois, his brother, the Dukes of Berry, Burgundy and Bourbon, draw near and betake this to the kitchen, to the larder, to the cellar, and in other places where thy point can be best gained. Put the powder in the soups, meats or wines, provided that thou canst do it secretly. Otherwise do it not."

Wouderton, failing to accomplish his task, was detected and executed in 1384.

No better example of this dread in which poisoners were held can be quoted than the fact that at so late a period as the reign of Henry VII extraordinary precautions were thought necessary for preserving the life of the infant heir. It was ordained that no person, of whatsoever rank, except the regular attendants in the nursery, were to approach the cradle, except with an order from the king's hand. Moreover, everything intended for the royal infant was boiled, to prevent all risk of poison as far as possible.

One of the more recent instances of political poisoning is that of the Sultan Abdul-Aziz, who died May 30, 1876. By reason of his advanced ideas he was forced to abdicate the throne, and four days later the unhappy sultan was found dead, it is almost certain by foul play. — From London Answers.

Ancient Gold Mining in Tubal-Cain

1915

From Their Method Originated the Legend of the Golden Fleece

Country Still Rich in Most Valuable Ores

In the legend of the Golden Fleece lies hidden the record of an ancient method of the Tibareni, the sons of Tubal, for the collection of gold.

The north coast of Asia Minor produced large quantities of the precious metals, as well as copper and iron. Gold was found in the gravel, as often happens still in streams draining from copper regions. The gold in copper ores, originally containing insignificant amounts of the precious metals, accumulates in the course of ages, and sometimes forms placers of astonishing richness.

The ancient Tibareni washed the gold-bearing gravel, first by booming, which concentrated the gold into relatively small amounts of sand. This was then collected and washed through sluices having the bottoms lined with sheepskins. The gold would sink into the wool, while the sand would be washed away in the swift current, writes Courtenay de Kalk in the Mining Age. The skins were removed from the sluices, the coarser gold shaken out, and the fleeces, still glittering with the yellow metal, were hung upon boughs to dry so that the rest of the gold might be beaten from them and saved.

The early Greek mariners, witnessing this process, carried home tales of the wonderful riches of a land where a warlike race of miners hung golden fleeces upon the trees in the grove of Ares. After so many millenniums the metalliferous country of Tubal-Cain is once more coming into prominence. The natives still cull the high-grade copper ore, and break it into smalls, which they cover with wood and roast to matte; they still work the matte in forge-like furnaces to black copper, which they ship to Alexandretta and to Euxine ports. They still make the famous carbonized iron that was celebrated as Damascus steel because it was distributed through this mart to the rest of the world after receiving a finish by local Damascene workmen.

These decadent methods, that give a hint of the approved practice of the father of metallurgy, will soon became wholly extinct, for the modern miner is studying the disseminated copper ores of the Black sea coast, and threatening to rekindle on a magnificent scale the smoldering fires of Tubal-Cain.

The Greek Myrmex — Deadly Weapon in a Fight

1907

It Was the Deadliest Weapon of the Ancient Pugilist

The four ounce glove was unknown to the ancient pugilist. When the boxers and fighters came together in the old days of Greece they wore upon their hands the cestus, which was in itself a terrible adjunct to any fighter. But Dr. Daniel G. Briton discovered that there was sometimes attached to the cestus a deadlier weapon, consisting of a three pronged fork of bronze.

This was known as the myrmex, and Dr. Brinton, who found this specimen, gave it to the museum of archaeology in the University of Pennsylvania. Classical literature has frequent references to the myrmex, which is described as the deadliest weapon of the ancient pugilist. The right hand was swathed in tough hide, bound in place with thongs and supplemented by small knobs of lead or iron, to which was affixed the myrmex. Dr. Brinton made his discovery in Paris by examining the Greek and Roman marbles in the Louvre. One of these groups represented a fighter bearing on his right fist the cestus and myrmex.

Combats in those days were much more brutal and dangerous than those of the modern prize ring. It is easily seen that a single blow of the myrmex might cause death or permanent injury.

A Humorous Sketch of Pompeii's Troubles with Vesuvius

1886

A Brief Sketch of Pompeii

Pompeii was founded by Pompey II, hence its name. It was built at the foot of Mount Vesuvius to catch the tourist traffic in lemonade, peanuts, palm leaf fans and other articles necessary for those who came to Mount Vesuvius.

One day when this frolicsome mountain was in a state of violent eruption, like a boy taken down with the measles, it became sick at the stomach and threw up such a quantity of ashes that Pompeii with all its pomp was buried quite out of sight. A prohibition candidate in a distillery district could not be more completely snowed under.

Never was there such a tumble in ashes as was observed that day. They were absolutely a drug in the market. Folks wouldn't cart them away as a gift.

And still ashes continued to fall. Everybody was panic stricken. They began to wail and put on sackcloth, but the disparity between the limited amount of sackcloth and the illimitable quantity of ashes was ludicrous in the extreme. People demanded with ashen faces, when is this to end? But it came to an end after a while, and Pompeii too.

You have heard of ashes of roses? Well, nobody ever rose from those ashes.

For nearly eighteen hundred years Pompeii lay asleep, and it would have been an ash-heap to this day had not some scientific explorers come scratching around the base of Mount Vesuvius — for to such base uses do they come at last — and discovered surface indications of the lost city. They continued digging, and it was not long before the Phenix arose from its ashes.

This was the Phenix Hotel, the most popular in Pompeii. The guests were all in their rooms; although many of them had left orders with the porter to be called for the early morning train. Eighteen hundred years waiting to be called! Many hotel porters are that way now.

The head clerk of the Phenix had disappeared, but they found his mammoth diamond pin, by the illumination of which they were enabled to continue their explorations.

They kept on digging and pretty soon they unearthed a theatre with a whole minstrel band seated in a row on the stage. The audience were in their seats, too, entirely petrified — an end man had gotten off a new joke. The stage was thickly covered with chestnuts, all of which were carefully collected and shipped to America, where they were eagerly bought up by the minstrels, who continue to use them, encrusted, as they are, with the ashes of Pompeii.

And still they dug and dug.

A newspaper office was the next thing that came to light. The editor was discovered in the attitude of holding up his right hand before a notary, swearing that his circulation exceeded that of all the other papers combined. "Old Subscriber" was sitting in the editor's chair writing a communication for the wastebasket, too much absorbed in his work to notice the fall in ashes. "Veteran Observer" was at another desk preparing an article on the subject of "Strikes." On the bulletin board in front of the office was an announcement that Susan B. Anthony would speak that evening on the subject of "Woman's Rights."

We hare not space to enumerate all the curious things that were brought to light by the excavations at Pompeii. The spade revealed the ovens where those venerable but athletic pics were baked that now adorn so many of our railroad lunch counters. The genuine have the letter P fly-blown on the crust.

The number of skeletons actually found among the ashes of Pompeii was small when compared with the census of the city, and this was a mystery until posters were found on the dead walls announcing a lecture by "Eli Perkins," when all was explained. It was the day before the fatal tempest of ashes when these posters were discovered, and on reading them thousands of the panic-stricken inhabitants broke for the woods, and in this way their lives were miraculously preserved. — Texas Siftings.

Here's a Question for Anglers

1914

What Sort of Fish Hooks Did Our Remote Ancestors Use? Is Up for Discussion

What sort of hooks did our ancestors, our really remote ancestors, use "when wild in wood the noble savage ran?"

I am inclined to agree with the American view that the earliest type of hook, if hook it can be called, was a straight bit of flint buried in the bait. When the fish had swallowed the bit of meat, or whatever the bait was, the tightening of the line pulled the flint across its throat, and, as it stuck there, the fish could be hauled ashore without more ado.

Perhaps some bright innovator of that misty past one day tried a bit of flint which had a double curve like a pair of buffalo horns, and found it effective, and perhaps out of that developed the genuine double hook, which seems to have been a very early form. And perhaps the single hook that came into being because it was realized that one bend was as efficient as two for most purposes. — London Telegraph.


Another "Limit"

The stingiest man in Jamestown, the Optimist says, loafs around the drug store in the hope that the odor of the drugs will cure his cold. — Kansas City Times.


Quite So

The man who never laughs at himself misses many a chance for a good giggle.

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

1879

The Seven Wonders of the world have justly called forth admiration for many ages, and as many of our readers may not be acquainted with them, we take this opportunity of giving a short description of them.

First, the enormous Colossus, of Rhodes, claims our attention. It was built by Cares, of Lindus, a pupil of Lysippus, in the year 288, A. D., and twelve years were spent in its construction. It was an enormous statue of Apollo, and was one hundred and twenty feet high. It stood across the harbor of Rhodes for sixty-six years, when it was prostrated by an earthquake. It was afterward bought by a Jew from the Saracens, who loaded nine hundred camels with the brass.

Next in order are the Pyramids of Egypt, those wondrous monuments of wealth and grandeur of the ancient kings of that country. The largest of the structures employed three hundred and sixty thousand workmen for thirty years in its construction. The general opinion is that it was designed for the tomb of Cheops, the supposed founder of the pyramids.

Next comes the aqueducts of Rome. Little is known about them except that they were constructed by Appius Claudius, the Roman censor.

Fourth, the Labyrinth of Psammetichus, on the banks of the Nile, containing within one continued wall, one thousand houses and twelve royal palaces, all covered with marble, and having only one entrance. One building was said to contain three thousand chambers and a hall built of marble, adorned with statues of the gods.

Fifth, the Pharos of Alexandria, a tower built by order of Ptolemy Philadelphos, in the year 252, B. C. It was erected as a lighthouse and contained magnificent galleries of marble, a large lantern at the top, the light of which was seen a hundred miles distant. Mirrors of enormous size were fixed around the galleries, which reflected everything on the sea. A common tower now stands in its place.

Sixth, the Walls of Babylon, built by order of Semiramis, or Nebuchadnezzar, and finished in one year by two hundred thousand workmen. These walls were of sufficient thickness to allow six chariots to run abreast upon them. They were further furnished with one hundred gates of solid brass.

The last of the Seven Wonders is the Temple of Diana, at Ephesus, completed in the reign of Sevius, the sixth king of Rome. It was four hundred and fifty feet long, two hundred feet broad, and was supported by one hundred and twenty-six marble pillars seventy feet high. The beams and doors were of cedar, the rest of the timber was cypress wood. It was destroyed by fire in the year 365 B. C.

Changes in Weddings — Fewer Vows Made "To Obey"

1910

OMISSIONS AT THE ALTAR

Many Brides Who Now Refuse Make the Verbal Promise of Obedience

This year, as usual, some of the June brides got into the newspapers by refusing to make the verbal promise of obedience "till death us do part," as required by "The Form of Solemnization of Matrimony," specified in the Book of Common Prayer.

The full ceremony includes the exaction of a vow to "serve him," likewise, "so long as ye both shall live;" and it furthermore comprises several admonitions quoted from St. Paul and St. Peter, all to the one effect, wifely subjection. Any other point of view could hardly have been expected from spokesmen of the first century oriental community, particularly not from St. Peter, who himself was married, and who would, therefore, probably not have wished to upset an ancient, popular tradition no less convenient for his sex — than venerable.

Despite the eastern origin of its faith, the Christian world has managed to de-orientalize itself a good deal in nineteen hundred years, and the flavor of orientalism, which, quite naturally, attaches to the "Solemnization of Matrimony," is not now entirely to the taste of all western women — or men. But aren't the fair modern occidental Protestants rather illogical? They refuse to promise "to obey" a man for a single minute, although obedience is purely an act of volition, not requiring the smallest regard or respect for the person obeyed, or even acquaintance with him. On the other hand, the brides find it easy to swear "to love" a man forever, although love is a thing completely beyond control of the will!

Deign, if you please, Mesdames les Divorcees and others, to acknowledge that the great fundamental reason of marital discord, infelicity and wreck is the cessation of that feeling "to love," whose perpetual continuance it appears so very easy to pledge. Moreover, nobody ever alleges post-nuptial disinclination or even refusal "to obey" as a sufficient provocation for divorce. Of those two covenants, why object to the lightest? — Collier's.

Dishwasher Runs Amuck With a Bread Knife

California, 1921

History states that the Battle of Thermopylae Pass in ancient days was not such an exciting affair, and if so, it faded into oblivion, alongside of the affair of late yesterday afternoon in which Denny Zanatos, proprietor of the restaurant on Main street above Third, known as Guidi's, did a Marathon down Main street to avoid the wild charge of a Greek dishwasher in the same restaurant, who took after the fleet restauranteur armed with a butcher knife.

The assailant began arguing with Zanatos over wages. Then the battle began, resulting in the knife wielder being arrested by the fire chief and is facing a charge of assault with intent to murder. It is claimed that the prisoner chased Zanatos about the Guidi restaurant a dozen times, not giving the fleeing Athenian a chance to open the door to make escape. Finally a waitress came to the man's rescue and when the door was opened he made one grand leap for the street and would have made Atlanta in her race of the Golden Apple look like a novice had he been her opponent on the mythical cinder path.

—Woodland Daily Democrat, Woodland, California, Dec. 17, 1921, p. 1.

The First Dolls, Beautifully Carved in Babylon

1920

First Dolls

The first dolls of which there is any knowledge were found among the treasures unearthed from the ruins of Babylon. They were small figures in terra cotta and ivory, beautifully carved and must have been fascinating playthings for little Assyrian children. The little girls of Syria had mechanical dolls. The dolls the classic children played with were made of wax and clay, decorated with bright colors. As these children married very young, they played with their dolls until just before their wedding day.


Artesian Wells

The Chinese have obtained water through means of artesian wells for over 1,000 years. One of the most famous wells in existence is that at Grenelle, in the outskirts of Paris, where the water is brought from a depth of 1,508 feet. It yields 516½ gallons of water a minute. Many years ago a well in Petsh was sunk to the depth of 3,100 feet.


Eliminated

Marie and Helen were playing house one day, when Ruth joined them. They were not particularly anxious to see her that day, and finally said, "Well, you can be the maid and this is your day out."—Nebraska Awgwan.

—Bedford Gazette, Bedford, Pennsylvania, January 9, 1920, page 10.

The Elevator, as Far Back as Archimedes

1920

Ancient Elevator

The earliest mention of a device in any way resembling the modern elevator may be read in Vitruvius, who describes a hoisting machine invented by Archimedes. The elevator of the second century B. C. was worked by ropes coiled upon a winding drum by a capstan and levers.


Antiquity of the Emerald

The emerald has been known since early times both in Europe and in certain parts of the Orient, where its attractive color and rarity have endowed it with the highest rank. Its name may be traced back to an old word which appeared in Greek as smaragdos, mentioned in Greek by Theoprastus 300 B. C.


Values

Mrs. Peavish says that, although she would be the last to knock Mr. Peavish, sometimes she feels as if she would give twenty years of married life for ten years in widow's weeds.— Dallas News.


On Life's Journey

We should rather be life's good comrades than its passionate lovers, neither easily offended, nor imagining evil, yet not taking its affairs too lightly. Let us hold Life faithfully by the hand, loving it through fair and ill repute; as good travelers, grumbling little, praising much, and sharing sun and shadow and wayside inns. — Exchange.

—Bedford Gazette, Bedford, Pennsylvania, January 2, 1920, page 3.

The Romans Liked Red Hair, Nobody Else

1912

RED HAIR ALWAYS DISLIKED

With the Exception of the Romans, Ancient Peoples Had Strong Aversion to It

Red is the fashionable color of woman's hair just now, but in many periods and countries to have red hair meant to test the depths of misfortune, even of death.

Prejudice against red hair runs back even to Egyptian times, for in that land of decided opinions and strong prejudices it was the custom to burn alive some unfortunate individual cursed with red hair, so it was decidedly uncomfortable to have red hair in Egypt, as no one knew whose turn would come next.

That the Chinese shared this prejudice against red hair is proved by their epithet for the English, whom they called "red-haired barbarians" or "red-haired devils."

The great exception to this rule among ancient nations is the Romans, for since the time of Nero they have praised red hair in the highest terms. They preferred a dark red, almost brown, such as we term auburn, and modern Romans share this liking. It is said that among the patrician families of Rome and Florence there is an abnormally large number of red-haired women. Modern Greeks share this predilection with the Romans and they heighten the reddish effect of the hair by wearing dull gold ornaments.

One of the most frequent causes of the prejudice against red hair in Christian countries undoubtedly goes back to the tradition that Judas, the betrayer of Jesus, had red hair, and most of the artists paint him thus. Shakespeare refers to this in "As You Like It," when Rosalind says of Orlando, "His very hair is of the dissembling color," and Celia answers: "Something browner than Judas."

The Brahmins were forbidden to marry red-haired women and as has been said: "The populace of most countries, confounding moral with aesthetic impressions, accuse red-haired people of various shortcomings."

Besides the old tradition of Judas having been red-haired aiding to create the prejudice existing in many lands the fact of the feeling against red hair in England is set down to the red-haired Danes, who could not be regarded save as invaders and barbarians.

—The Daily Commonwealth, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, December 17, 1912, page 3.