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Modern History Courses

Wolfson's Ancient Civilization

By ARTHUR MAYER WOLFSON, Ph.D., Principal, Julia Richman High School, New York. 137 pages. With maps and illustrations. $0.60.

Since this book is intended for use in the first or second year of the high school course, where an abridged treatment is needed, the story is written in simple language with vivid pictures of the life of the ancient peoples. It is the economic, social and cultural aspects of history that receive the chief emphasis.

Harding's New Medieval and
Modern History

By SAMUEL BANNISTER HARDING, Ph.D., Professor
of European History, Indiana University.
798 pages.
Illustrated. $1.50.

In this book which extends from Charlemagne to the present day, the aim has been to lay particular emphasis on social, industrial and cultural topics, and to enable the student to understand modern conditions and tendencies. The richness of the course is increased by the variety and extent of the teaching apparatus, the frequent quotations from the sources and the profusion of illustrations and maps.

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CHICAGO

Cornell University

SUMMER SESSION

July 6 to August 16, 1916

In addition to other courses of instruction covering nearly all branches taught in the high school, and arranged with special reference to the needs of Teachers, the following courses will be offered in History, Government, Economics, and Social Problems.

"American Government and Politics;" "American History, 1815-1816;" PROFESSOR J. P. BRETZ.

"Greek and Roman History;" 'European History since 1814;" PROFESSOR H. A. SILL.

"Mediaeval History of Europe;" "English History to 1485;" ". 'Seminary in English History;" PROFESSOR

W. E. LUNT.

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University of Wisconsin

SUMMER SESSION, 1916

June 26 to August 5

346 Courses. 190 Instructors. Graduate and undergraduate work in all departments leading to all academic degrees. Letters and Science (including Medicine), Engineering, Law, and Agriculture (including Home Economics).

Teachers' Courses in high-school subjects. Strong programs in all academic departments. Exceptional research facilities.

Newer Features: Agricultural Extension, Athletic Coaching, Aesthetic and Folk Dancing, Community and Public School Music, Co-operation and Marketing, Festivals, Geology and Geography, German House, Journalism, Manual Arts, Moral Education, Physical Education and Play, Psychology of Public Speaking, Rural Sociology, School Administration, Speech Clinic, Zoology Field Course.

Favorable Climate. Lakeside Advantages One fee for all courses, $15, except Law (10 weeks), $25. For illustrated bulletin, address REGISTRAR, UNIVERSITY, Madison, Wisconsin

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Volume VII. Number 5.

PHILADELPHIA, MAY, 1916.

$2.00 a year. 20 cents a copy.

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Some Relations between Archaeology and History

BY PROFESSOR IDA CARLETON THALLON, VASSAR COLLEGE.

The following suggestions on the relation of archæology to history discuss only a small part of the material at our disposal and also consider the question entirely from one point of view. No attempt is made to touch upon the question of the value of archæological studies in general, but merely their relation to history, with the artistic value of archæology introduced in a most incidental way. Even with such a limitation, the subject is almost boundless.

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Fortunately the day is past when the enthusiastic archæologist in the flush of his newly discovered science proclaims that the smallest material remains are worth pages of literature in helping one to comprehend the life of the ancients, or when the student of literature or history with the text of the classic authors before him feels nothing but lofty scorn for the battered fragments, often most insignificant in appearance, which excavations have brought to light. The archeologist who would define his subject in the broadest terms as "showing man as a rational human being in reference to others of his own race or other races would by the very breadth of his definition include history as a part of archeology, but he would set before himself a task so great that he might well despair even before he began, and of late archæ ology has wisely confined itself to "the science of the treatment of the material remains of the human past." Of all people the archeologist must realize that he cannot be sufficient unto himself and that without the vivifying power of literature and history his discoveries have the value only of disconnected facts. Archæology supplies us with the material remains, but history supplies the vital spark. To take a classical analogy: we might build up out of archæology a structure as beautiful as the statue of Galatea, but it would still be a statue, cold and lifeless, until history breathed into it the breath of life. Truth compels us to admit that the reconstructed statue would not always be beautiful, not always complete, and that we might often be sorry we ever made it live; it might spoil some of our pet theories or destroy some cherished hypothesis, but it at least would have reality. And surely our whole aim in the study of antiquity, be it literature, art, archæology or history is to make the ancient world live again and give up to us as many as she will of those secrets which made her what she was.

In discussing the subject of archæological material at the disposal of the historian, we may consider first the kinds of materials available, second, the appli

cation of this material, and third, the results of this combination; or to put it in another way, how historical methods applied to the interpretation of archæological material add to our knowledge of antiquity.

In the bewildering mass of objects at our disposal we must bear in mind that nothing is too great, nothing too trivial to deserve attention. The obvious importance of such remains as the great Roman Wall built across the boundary of Britain, that Wall which Kipling in "Puck of Pook's Hill" has pictured so vividly to us as keeping out the Picts and beyond them the Winged-Hats," may blind us to the fact that they differ in extent but not in kind from the humble potsherd or the broken statue. Sometimes the most unpromising objects or the most ugly battered fragments, discarded and thrown into the rubbish heap, may give exactly the information we need on some point, while a beautiful statue, perfectly preserved and delighting our eyes as it did those of the Greeks, may be of value only to the special history of art. In other words, the artistic and the archæological value of an ancient monument by no means coincide in all instances, and the very fact that a thing has been broken, sometimes by accident, sometimes by design, and afterwards discarded, is of the greatest help in indicating a change of dynasty, government, or race. To take a specific instance of the last case, in the cave at Vari on Mount Hymettus many fragments of bas-reliefs representing a dance of Hermes and the Nymphs were found with the heads missing. The condition of the rest of the reliefs shows that these heads have been broken off on purpose by the blow of a hammer or some such instrument and gave clear indications of the iconoclastic tendencies of the early Christians whose occupations of the cave were shown also by numbers of terra-cotta lamps stamped with Christian symbols. It is obvious that archæological evidence is distinctly first-hand and contemporary. Occasionally an archaising wave rather like the pre-Raphaelite movement in painting came in, as for example in the first century B. C.; or there was a revival of antiquarian research such as occurred in the time of Hadrian, but the finds generally bear on themselves the marks of identification. The occurrence on an

inscription of certain letter forms which were known to have been in vogue during certain years, the stamp of a certain magistrate upon the surface of a coin, all allow us to date within narrow limits the time at which these objects were made.

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The evidence of archæology is usually genuine as well as contemporary. Sometimes a forgery will be put forth of so skilful a kind as to deceive for a long time, so skilful that even specialists will not always agree as to its authenticity, but it is in the minor arts like jewelry and gems that forgeries are most likely to escape notice. Few false inscriptions escape the keen eye of the epigraphist, false coins are recognized by the student of numismatics, and it is practically impossible to foist a spurious vase upon one whose experience extends beyond the most superficial knowledge. As for the difficulty of passing off a copy of a Greek statue for an original, we need only recall the much advertised "Aphrodite of Praxiteles exhibited in New York a few years ago, and the consequent amount of comment and discussion on both sides of the matter.

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These few examples which have been chosen to show two very important qualities of the nature of our archæological evidence have also suggested the kinds of material at hand. Chief among them are the remains of architecture, sculpture, inscriptions, coins, vases, with the incidental knowledge of painting inferred from them, and the so-called minor arts including jewelry, gems and small bronzes. There have purposely been omitted from this list the manuscripts of ancient authors, works in which the style is as important as the substance, and which, therefore, may be classed as literature, although it is true that many of these have become known to us through the results of excavations.

Now, just as we found that the archæological and the artistic value of a monument was not always the same and that the most unpromising object often proved to be the most valuable, so we find that the relative value of these kinds of evidence varies in different periods. In fact, some are not found in certain periods at all. The earliest Attic inscription to which a date can be assigned belongs in the seventh century B. C. It is true, however, that an elaborate system of writing prevailed in Crete in the second or third millennium B. C., but as yet these inscriptions have not been read. Remarks about inscriptions will be confined to those in the Greek or Latin language. The coins form another body of evidence which in Greece go back no earlier than the seventh century B. C. It was not until recently that we knew much about the sculpture and paintings of the early periods. Our knowledge was confined rather to the smaller objects found in the graves. This is still true to a great extent for the early history of Italy as we Ishall see later.

now when an ignorant peasant stumbles upon some tomb or grave, but the model archæologist is careful to note the position and level of each find, nothing is unconsidered and no detail is regarded as unimportant. In archæology as in history the collection of material is thorough, exact, suppressing nothing and adding nothing. We are able to relate finds in one excavation to those of another and by inductive reasoning to arrive at a general conclusion based on these facts. The importance of comparative methods and the value of cumulative evidence for archæology cannot be exaggerated. It is rarely safe to draw a definite conclusion from one single piece of evidence. The archæologist must not be too eager to jump at conclusions. It is only through constant practice in the weighing of evidence, in reconciling apparent discrepancies and above all in maintaining an impartial and judicial attitude of mind that the best results can be obtained. But added to this there must be imagination, that instinctive insight which enables us to rise beyond the mere facts themselves and to infer from them general truths.

If we apply this spirit, critical and at the same time sympathetic, to the interpretation of the material we found was at hand, the results appear to be of two kinds, first, where archæological evidence supplements our knowledge of history, second, where archæology supplies the chief evidence. Certain examples will make this clear.

Perhaps it is as well to begin with the inscriptions since they are written documents and thus closely akin to the written documents we know as history and literature.

Even from the form of an inscription we learn a good deal about history. We know that certain cities of Greece used alphabets which included letters distinctly characteristic of those cities alone, so that on the basis of the alphabet used on an inscription we can generally tell its origin. Moreover, the use of the same dialect in inscriptions of different peoples often proclaims their kinship. In general a colony as might be expected carries over both the alphabet and the dialect of the mother city.

The great mass of Attic inscriptions has made it possible to date any inscription to within a few years, chiefly by means of the forms of the letters which changed little by little until in 403 B. C. the Ionic alphabet was officially adopted by the Athenians.

As to the external form of the inscriptions, we should mention the recurrence again and again of certain formulaic phraseology found in inscriptions from all parts of the Greek world. This shows that in spite of the isolation of the different states there were many ideas and customs common to all, they were all Greeks, differ as they might among themselves. The converging of their worship into great centers is simply another illustration of this.

With material remains of these kinds at our disposal we should next see in what way historical methods will aid us in their interpretations. The systematic study of archæology is a comparatively new science. Earlier excavations were generally the result of lucky chance and were conducted in the When we pass from the form to the contents of spirit of the spoiler looking for loot. The best things the inscriptions the difficulty of selection becomes were carried off, the others were left to disappear still greater, but they may be divided roughly into gradually or were thrown into confused disorder. those which deal with domestic or with foreign afPerhaps such excavations happen occasionally even fairs and administration. Most of the illustrations

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