Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 13.djvu/775

 SEMITES

707

SEMITES

das Alte Testament" (Leipzig, 1787), I, p. 45. In his "Gesch. der neuen Sprachenkunde", pt. I (Gottin- gen, 1807) it had akeady become a fixed technical term. Since then the name has been generally adopted, except that modern science uses it in a some- what wider sense to include all those peoples who are either demonstrably of Semitic origin, or who appear in history as completely Semitized.

Classification. — In historic times all Western Asia (see below), with the exception of the peninsula of Asia Minor, was Semitic. From the philological point of view the Semitic peoples are divided into four chief groups: Babylonian- Assyrian Semites (East Semites), Chanaanitic Semites (West Semites), Aramaic Semites (North Semites), and Arabian Semites (South Se- mites). The last-named group is divided into North and South Arabians, of which last the Abyssinians are a branch. The first three groups are usually termed North Semites, in contrast to the Arabian group, or South Semites. But the classification of the Babylonian with the Aramaic and Chanaanitic Se- mites is not permissible from the philological point of view.

Territory. — The great mountain-chains which begin at the Syro-Cilician boundary, and then curving to- wards the south-west extend to the Persian Gulf, sepa- rate on the north and east the territory of the Semites from that of the other peoples of Western Asia. It includes the Syro-Arabian plain with the civilized countries extending to the east and west and the Arabian Peninsula which joins it on the south. The lowlands to the east are formed by the Euphrates and the Tigris, and include the homes of two very ancient civilizations, in the north the rather undulating Meso- potamia, in the south the low Babylonian plain; the land extending to the west from the lower Euphrates is called Chaldea. These are the territories of the East Semitic tribes and states. On the west lies Northern Syria, then the Lebanon Mountains with the intervening Coelo-Syria, the oasis of Damascus, the seat of an ancient culture, the Hauran, and in the the midst of the desert the oasis of Palmyra (Tadmor). These territories were at a later period occupied prin- cipally by Aramaic tribes. The territory on the coast extending westwards from Lebanon, and Palestine, which joins it on the south, are the principal seats of the Chanaanitic Semites. The mountainous country to the east of Arabia and the Sinaitic peninsula extend- ing to the west of Arabia, belong to Arabia proper, the territory of the South Semites.

Original Home. — The tribes which inhabited these territories, and to some extent still inhabit them, show in language, traits, and character a sharply characterized individuality which separates them dis- tinctly from other peoples. Their languages are closely related to one another, not being almost inde- pendent branches of language, like the great groups of Indo-Germanic languages, but rather dialects of a single linguistic group. Physically, also, the Semitic type is a uniform one. In its purest form it is found in Arabia. Here also the phonetics and partly also the grammatical structure of the Semitic language, are most purely, as the vocabulary is most completely, preserved. From these as well as from other circum- cumstances the conclusion has been drawn that Arabia should be considered the original home of the Semitic peoples. All the racial peculiarities of the Semites are best explained from the character of a desert people. All Semites settled in civilized lands are, therefore, to be considered offshoots of the desert tribes, which were detached one after the other from the parent stem. This pressing forward towards civilized lands was a continuous movement, often in a slow development lasting through centuries, but often also in mighty and sudden invasions, the last of which appears in that of the Arabs of Is- lam. The further question as to how the original an-

cestors of the Semites came to Arabia, is for the pres- ent beyond historical knowledge.

East Semites. — The first emigrants from Arabia who succeeded in acquiring new landed possessions were the Semitic Babylonians. In Babylonia the in- vaders proceeded to adopt the highly-developed civ- ilization of an ancient non-Semitic people, the Sume- rians, and with it the cuneiform alphabet, which the latter had invented. When this invasion occurred is not known; but that it was accomplished in several stages, and after temporary settlements on the bor- ders, is unquestionable. By 3000 b. c. the dominion of the Semites in Babylonia was an accomplished fact.

Ethnologically considered, the Babylonians are a mixed people, composed partly of the Sumerian and the most ancient Semitic emigrants, partly also of the continuously invading West Semites, and further- more of Kassites and other people, all of whom were amalgamated. The principal seat of the Semitic ele- ment was in the north, in the land of Accad, while in the south the Sumerians were most numerous. Un- der Sargon and Naram-Sin was completed the amal- gamation of the Sumerian and the Accadian (Semitic) civilization, which in the age of Hammurabi appears as an accomplished fact. The mighty expansion of the kingdom to the Mediterranean naturally resulted in the wide extension of the Sumerian-Accadian civili- zation, and for a millennium and a half Babel was the intellectual centre of Western Asia. As is proved by the Tel-el-Amarna letters, the Babylonian language and script were known in Western Asia as well as in Egj^pt and C>T)rus, at least at the courts of the rulers. At an early period the Semites must have invaded the mountainous territory to the east of Babylonia. Not until about 2300 b. c. do we find a foreign element in Elam. Before this time, according to inscriptions which have been found, Babylonian Semites lived there.

On the Accadian border dwelt the Semitic tribes of Mesopotamia, which are included under the general term Subari. The centre of this region is desert, but on the banks of the Euphrates, Chaboras, and Tigris are strips of land capable of cultivation, upon which at an early period Semitic settlements were established, for the most part probably under local dynasties. The Subari include also the Ass>Tians, who founded on the right bank of the Tigris between the mouths of the two Zab rivers a city which bore the same name as the race and its god. All these tribes and states were under the influence of Babylonia and its civilization, and Babylonian-Semitic was their official and literary language. But while in Babylonia the Semitic ele- ment was amalgamated with different strata of the original population, in Mesopotamia the Semitic type was more purely preserved.

Briefly recapitulating the political history of the Eastern Semites, we may distinguish four periods. The first includes essentially the fortunes of the an- cient Babylonian realm; the second witnesses the pre- dominance of Assur, involved in constant struggles with Babylonia, which still maintained its inde- pendence. During the third period Assur, after the overthrow of Babylonia, achieves the summit of its power ; this is followed, after the destruction of Nineveh, by the short prosperity of the new Babylonian King- dom under the rule of the Chaldeans. This power, and with it the entire dominion of the Semites in south-western Asia, was overthrown by the Persians. Chanaanitic Semites. — This designation was chosen because the races belonging to this group can best be studied in the land of Chanaan. They represent a second wave of emigration into civilized territory. About the middle of the third millennium before Christ they were a race of nomads in a state of transition to settled life, whose invasions were directed against the East as well as the West. About this time there con-