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VOLUME I. THE OLD PAGAN CIVILIZATIONS.

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Table of Contents

ANCIENT RELIGIONS:

EGYPTIAN, ASSYRIAN, BABYLONIAN, AND PERSIAN.

Ancient religions

Christianity not progressive

Jewish monotheism

Religion of Egypt

Its great antiquity

Its essential features

Complexity of Egyptian polytheism

Egyptian deities

The worship of the sun

The priestly caste of Egypt

Power of the priests

Future rewards and punishments

Morals of the Egyptians

Functions of the priests

Egyptian ritual of worship

Transmigration of souls

Animal worship

Effect of Egyptian polytheism on the Jews

Assyrian deities

Phoenician deities

Worship of the sun

Oblations and sacrifices

Idolatry the sequence of polytheism

Religion of the Persians

Character of the early Iranians

Comparative purity of the Persian religion

Zoroaster

Magism

Zend-Avesta

Dualism

Authorities


RELIGIONS OF INDIA.

BRAHMANISM AND BUDDHISM.

Religions of India

Antiquity of Brahmanism

Sanskrit literature

The Aryan races

Original religion of the Aryans

Aryan migrations

The Vedas

Ancient deities of India

Laws of Menu

Hindu pantheism

Corruption of Brahmanism

The Brahmanical caste

Character of the Brahmans

Rise of Buddhism

Gautama

Experiences of Gautama

Travels of Buddha

His religious system

Spread of his doctrine

Buddhism a reaction against Brahmanism

Nirvana

Gloominess of Buddhism

Buddhism as a reform of morals

Sayings of Siddârtha

His rules

Failure of Buddhism in India

Authorities


RELIGION OF THE GREEKS AND ROMANS.

CLASSIC MYTHOLOGY.

Religion of the Greeks and Romans

Greek myths

Greek priests

Greek divinities

Greek polytheism

Greek mythology

Adoption of Oriental fables

Greek deities the creation of poets

Peculiarities of the Greek gods

The Olympian deities

The minor deities

The Greeks indifferent to a future state

Augustine view of heathen deities

Artists vie with poets in conceptions of divine

Temple of Zeus in Olympia

Greek festivals

No sacred books among the Greeks

A religion without deities

Roman divinities

Peculiarities of Roman worship

Ritualism and hypocrisy

Character of the Roman

Authorities


CONFUCIUS.

SAGE AND MORALIST.

Early condition of China

Youth of Confucius

His public life

His reforms

His fame

His wanderings

His old age

His writings

His philosophy

His definition of a superior man

His ethics

His views of government

His veneration for antiquity

His beautiful character

His encouragement of learning

His character as statesman

His exaltation of filial piety

His exaltation of friendship

The supremacy of the State

Necessity of good men in office

Peaceful policy of Confucius

Veneration for his writings

His posthumous influence

Lao-tse

Authorities


ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY.

SEEKING AFTER TRUTH.

Intellectual superiority of the Greeks

Early progress of philosophy

The Greek philosophy

The Ionian Sophoi

Thales and his principles

Anaximenes

Diogenes of Apollonia

Heraclitus of Ephesus

Anaxagoras

Anaximander

Pythagoras and his school

Xenophanes

Zeno of Elea

Empedocles and the Eleatics

Loftiness of the Greek philosopher

Progress of scepticism

The Sophists

Socrates

His exposure of error

Socrates as moralist

The method of Socrates

His services to philosophy

His disciples

Plato

Ideas of Plato

Archer Butler on Plato

Aristotle

His services

The syllogism

The Epicureans

Sir James Mackintosh on Epicurus

The Stoics

Zeno

Principles of the Stoical philosophy

Philosophy among the Romans

Cicero

Epictetus

Authorities


SOCRATES.

GREEK PHILOSOPHY.

Mission of Socrates

Era of his birth; view of his times

His personal appearance and peculiarities

His lofty moral character

His sarcasm and ridicule of opponents

The Sophists

Neglect of his family

His friendship with distinguished people

His philosophic method

His questions and definitions

His contempt of theories

Imperfection of contemporaneous physical science

The Ionian philosophers

Socrates bases truth on consciousness

Uncertainty of physical inquiries in his day

Superiority of moral truth

Happiness, Virtue, Knowledge,--the Socratic trinity

The "daemon" of Socrates

His idea of God and Immortality

Socrates a witness and agent of God

Socrates compared with Buddha and Marcus Aurelius

His resemblance to Christ in life and teachings

Unjust charges of his enemies

His unpopularity

His trial and defence

His audacity

His condemnation

The dignity of his last hours

His easy death

Tardy repentance of the Athenians; statue by Lysippus

Posthumous influence

Authorities


PHIDIAS.

GREEK ART.

General popular interest in Art

Principles on which it is based

Phidias taken merely as a text

Not much known of his personal history

His most famous statues; Minerva and Olympian Jove

His peculiar excellences as a sculptor

Definitions of the word "Art"

Its representation of ideas of beauty and grace

The glory and dignity of art

The connection of plastic with literary art

Architecture, the first expression of art

Peculiarities of Egyptian and Assyrian architecture

Ancient temples, tombs, pyramids, and palaces

General features of Grecian architecture

The Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders

Simplicity and beauty of their proportions...

The horizontal lines of Greek and the vertical lines of Gothic architecture

Assyrian, Egyptian, and Indian sculpture

Superiority of Greek sculpture

Ornamentation of temples with statues of gods, heroes, and distinguished men

The great sculptors of antiquity

Their ideal excellence

Antiquity of painting in Babylon and Egypt

Its gradual development in Greece

Famous Grecian painters

Decline of art among the Romans

Art as seen in literature

Literature not permanent without art

Artists as a class

Art a refining influence rather than a moral power

Authorities


LITERARY GENIUS.

THE GREEK AND ROMAN CLASSICS.

Richness of Greek classic poetry

Homer

Greek lyrical poetry

Pindar

Dramatic poetry

Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides

Greek comedy: Aristophanes

Roman poetry

Naevius, Plautus, Terence

Roman epic poetry: Virgil

Lyrical poetry: Horace, Catullus

Didactic poetry: Lucretius

Elegiac poetry: Ovid, Tibullus

Satire: Horace, Martial, Juvenal

Perfection of Greek prose writers

History: Herodotus

Thucydides, Xenophon

Roman historians

Julius Caesar

Livy

Tacitus

Orators

Pericles

Demosthenes

Aeschines

Cicero

Learned men: Varro

Seneca

Quintilian

Lucian

Authorities

Beacon Lights of History (Vol.1-14)

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