Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 1.djvu/132

 ii4 A History of Art in Sardinia and Jud.i.a. as we did for Phœnicia, it will be the exception, not the rule ; when applying the same methods, we shall demand of more recent works points for elucidation and comparison, in reconstructing a past that has for ever perished. A similar procedure will necessitate calling to our aid the persistent and special workings of tradition ; which in some countries are known to have lived on for long generations, even when the conditions that had given them birth had passed away ; and religion, language, customs, and even the native race, had been substituted by a sudden catastrophe or gradual trans- formation. In the case of Palestine, however, the captives of Ephraim and Judah, who, like sheep, were driven to the plains of the Chebar, Tigris, and Euphrates, represented but the better classes of the population ; the common people were suffered to remain. But granted that it had been otherwise ; the edict enacted by Darius and Cyrus was to favour the return of the Israelites to Judaea, that they might rebuild their temple and their cities, and reconstitute themselves anew into a nation acknowledging Baby- lonian supremacy. Matters stood thus down to the battle of Issus, when Uarius was crushed by Alexander ; nor was their political situation other than it had been under their last kings. As of old, they were confined to Phoenicia on the south-east ; whose territory they traversed and whose harbours they entered on their way to Egypt and the west generally ; whilst Syria formed their boundary to the north, and Aramaean tribes separated them from the Semites of Mesopotamia. At the time of their national disaster, numbers found permanent shelter in the delta, where they have remained unto this day. Through the vicissitudes of war the Israelites were scattered over the vast area extending from the Persic Gulf to the foot of the Taurus and the mountain range of Armenia, where they struck deep roots, whether as agriculturists or industrials in the great centres, notably Babylon ; so that when their country was once more opened to them, not all availed themselves of the opportunity, albeit intercourse with their brethren of Judaea was constant and lasting. How far they were affected in their ideas and religious beliefs by their new surroundings, or to what degree they influenced the nations in whose midst they dwelt, will form no part of our programme ; we will confine ourselves to notice that in the time covered by the Achemenides and Asmonaean princes their architecture preserved a strictly oriental character. Post exillic edifices must have been identical with those im-