Encyclopaedia of Great Ancient Civilizations

This reference work is not just a study of profane history which little deserve to have a serious attention, and a considerable length of time bestowed upon it, if it were confined to the bare knowledge of ancient transactions, and an uninteresting enquiry into the eras when each of them happened. It little concerns us to know, that there were once great men, and that they lived in this or that period ; that the empire of the Assyrians made way for that of the Babylonians, and the latter for the empire of the Medes and Persians, who were themselves subjected by the Macedonians, as these were afterwards by the Romans. This book tells us by what methods those empires were founded; by what steps they rose to that exalted pitch of grandeur which we so much admire ; what it was that constituted their true glory and felicity ; and what were the causes of their declension and fall. It is of no less importance to study attentively the manners of these great nations; their genius, laws, and customs; and especially to acquaint ourselves with the character and disposition, the talents, virtues, and even vices of those by whom they were governed; and whose good or bad qualities contributed to the grandeur or decay of the states over which they presided. Such are the great objects which this master work concern itself, and for these reasons alone it becomes unique for a comprehensive under-standing of these great civilisations, the kingdoms and empires of this part of the world; and at the same time, all the great men who were any ways conspicuous; thereby instructing us, by example rather than precept, in the arts of empire and war, the principles of government, the rules of policy, the maxims of civil society, and the conduct of life that suits all ages and conditions.