Authors and their public in ancient times

by George Haven Putnam

It seems probable that the manuscripts were in the main prepared in the monasteries or temples, and that they were exchanged between the temples. The teachings of the writers were brought before the people by preaching or recitations. Certain of the princes also attached to their courts poets and philosophers, and practically the only libraries or collections of manuscripts outside of those in the temples, must have been those contained in the palaces of the few princes who possessed literary tastes.

There could have been no other way of securing for an author compensation for his work excepting through princely favors or from the treasuries of the temples.

Persia.

—The first name that comes down to us connected with the literature of Persia is that of Zoroaster. The Persian form of his name is Zarathustra, meaning the gold-star. The date of his birth is said to be more uncertain than that of Homer, but he is supposed to have lived about 1000 B.C.

He is credited with the authorship of the Gâthas, hymns partly religious, partly political. To Zoroaster were also revealed the teachings which later took shape in the sacred scriptures of the Persians, the Zend-Avesta (commentary-lore). Of these scriptures, only one division, the Vendidad, has been preserved complete. Of the other parts only fragments remain. It is estimated that the Vendidad (which means the regulations against demons) represents about one twentieth of the original collection.

The oldest portion of the Avesta is the Yasna, or sacrificial liturgy. This is a grouping together of the commentaries surrounding the Gâthas. A third division is the Visparad, or the Seasons, in which are set forth the lists of the objects sacred to each season. A fourth division is the Yescht-Sade, or little Avesta, comprising prayers and hymns.

The monotheistic or dualistic nature of the faith as originally taught by Zoroaster has, in the later religious writings and practices, been overlaid and obscured by the different phases of nature worship. Fire is accepted as the symbol of holiness, but, according to the views of the educated Parsees, is not itself the thing worshipped.

The existing canon of the Avesta was compiled and published under the direction of King Sapor II., who reigned 309-330 A.D. Among the poems of the Avesta we find the legend of which the hero is Rustem, who stands as the representative of Iran in its long contest with Turan.

The literature of Persia prior to the fourth century of the Christian era was probably controlled in great part by the priests. The exceptions would have been in the case of the court poets or court historians, writing under the incentive of royal remuneration. It is probable that songs and recitations were to some extent given to the public by minstrels or rhapsodists. There is some evidence also of the development in later centuries of the story-teller or improvisatore, who made a business of exchanging, for the pence of the public, stories partly original, but chiefly borrowed from older sources. The Oriental capacity for story-telling, and the Oriental readiness to devote an abundance of leisure time to listening to stories, is clearly indicated not only by modern practices, but also by the history of such collections as the Arabian Nights. Of this famous series of tales, neither the nationality nor the date of origin has been fixed with any degree of certainty. It is probable, however, that the collection first took shape in Bagdad about 1450 A.D., the date of the invention of printing. Von Hammer is of opinion that the Bagdad Tales are based upon a Persian collection called Hezar Afsaneh, The Thousand Fanciful Stories. From a passage in the Golden Meadows of El-Mesoudee (quoted by von Hammer) this Persian collection is known to have been in existence as early as 987 A.D.

It seems probable, as suggested, that the practice of publicly reciting poems or of narrating stories prevailed in Persia from a very early date, and constituted here, as in Greece, the first method for the distribution or the publication of literary compositions. The material employed for manuscripts was first diphtherai, or skins, and later papyrus and parchment.