The old world and its ways

by William Jennings Bryan

While Baalbek contains the largest and most famous ruins, it is not the only place that attracts the archæologist. There are hundreds of sites of ancient cities which abundantly repay the excavator. Specimens of Greek and Roman art have been found on both sides of the Jordan as well as along the Mediterranean coast. The tombs also have yielded up their treasures and the museums of the world have been supplied with tear bottles, perfumery jars, vases, bowls, scarabs, ancient coins, etc.

The Phœnicians are credited with having invented the making of glass in the days when Tyre and Sidon were their chief cities. It is said that the art owes its discovery to the use of saltpeter in the place of stones by some sailors who landed at the mouth of the river Belos, near Akka. Finding no stones upon which to put their kettles, they used blocks of saltpeter and were surprised to find that the fire had fused the sand and saltpeter into a transparent substance. The industry was inaugurated at Tyre and Sidon, and for some time the Phœnicians supplied the world with glass. The bottles and vases found from time to time in the tombs of Syria and Egypt are more beautiful than when they left the hand of the manufacturer; the outer surface has decayed, and beneath are revealed all the colors of the rainbow. It was the custom to fill the tear bottles with tears of the mourners and to bury them with the dead.

The scarab, which is found so often in the ancient tombs in Syria and in Egypt, is the old fashioned tumble-bug or dung beetle with which every boy, or at least every country or village boy, is familiar. I little thought, when I used to see the tumble-bug rolling his little globe of manure along the dusty road, that he was considered a sacred insect several thousand years ago or that he was ever used as a symbol of the Creator; and yet his likeness adorns temples and tombs while his image, cut in stone and bearing the seal of rulers, has been found by the thousands. Often the heart of a dead person was removed and a scarab inserted in its place. The scarab, rolling its ball, typified to the ancient an unseen power guiding the sun while the bursting of the young bug from its egg in the ball symbolized the resurrection—to what classical uses this commonplace little insect was put!

CEDARS OF LEBANON

Among those who have been instrumental in bringing the hidden treasures of Syria to the attention of the world, Mr. Azeez Khayat, a native of Tyre, but now an American citizen, deserves special mention. Many American museums are indebted to him for their collections.

Speaking of Tyre and Sidon reminds me that in the study of Syria and Palestine, I ran across an early instance of monopoly. Josephus accuses John of Gischala of monopolizing the oil business on the Mediterranean coast. It was early in the Christian era that the aforesaid John, according to Josephus, convinced the Jews who dwelt in Syria that they were obliged to use oil made by others, and the historian adds: "So he (John) bought four amphoræ with such Syrian money as was of the value of four Attic drachmæ and sold every half amphor at the same price; and as Galilee was very fruitful in oil and was peculiarly so at this time, by sending away great quantities and having the sole privilege so to do, he gathered an immense sum of money together."

This is interesting and instructive. It shows, first, that monopoly is an ancient evil and, second, that the monopolist in his inclination to take advantage of the consumer by raising the price was much the same then as now—but I have been afraid, ever since I read of John of Gischala, that some American named John might try to imitate him and establish a monopoly in our country—possibly in oil.

But on to Damascus—and we reached it all too soon, for the ride across the Anti-Lebanon range is also picturesque. The route down the east side of the mountain follows the valley of the Abana, a splendid stream, worthy of the compliment paid it by Naaman. It leaps from the mountain side a full grown river and plunges down into the plain only to be lost in the sands, but not until it has brought verdure to many square miles that would otherwise be barren. It is easy to understand why Damascus is among the oldest, if not actually the oldest, of all the cities still standing. It occupies the one green spot in all that section and is the outpost of the Mediterranean coast. The Arabian desert stretches to the east and southeast for hundreds of miles, and the caravans from Persia and Arabia pass through Damascus on their way to Egypt even now, as they did when Babylon and Ninevah were young; it is also on the road between the great East and Tyre and Sidon.