Chaldea: From the Earliest Times to the Rise of AssyriaRagozin, Zénaïde A. (Zénaïde Alexeïevna)
History
Chaldea: From the Earliest Times to the Rise of Assyria
Ragozin, Zénaïde A. (Zénaïde Alexeïevna)
Babylonia -- History
6. Migrating races do not traverse continents with the same rapidity as
marching armies. The progress is slow, the stations are many. Every
station becomes a settlement, sometimes the beginning of a new
nation--so many landmarks along the way. And the distance between the
starting-point and the furthest point reached by the race is measured
not only by thousands of miles, but also by hundreds and hundreds of
years; only the space can be actually measured; while the time can be
computed merely by conjecture. The route from the south of India, along
the shore of Malabar, the Persian Gulf, across the Arabian deserts, then
down along the Red Sea and across the straits into Africa, is of such
tremendous length that the settlements which the Cushite race left
scattered along it must have been more than usually numerous. According
to the upholders of a Cushite colonization of Chaldea, one important
detachment appears to have taken possession of the small islands along
the eastern shore of the Persian Gulf and to have stayed there for
several centuries, probably choosing these island homes on account of
their seclusion and safety from invasion. There, unmolested and
undisturbed, they could develop a certain spirit of abstract speculation
to which their natural bent inclined them. They were great star-gazers
and calculators--two tastes which go well together, for Astronomy cannot
exist without Mathematics. But star-gazing is also favorable to
dreaming, and the Cushite islanders had time for dreams. Thoughts of
heavenly things occupied them much; they worked out a religion beautiful
in many ways and full of deep sense; their priests dwelt in communities
or colleges, probably one on every island, and spent their time not only
in scientific study and religious contemplation, but also in the more
practical art of government, for there do not appear as yet to have
been any kings among them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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