DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6552#0406
APPENDIX.
367
migrated (in number, 240,000) to Syria, and built in that country
Jerusalem and many other fenced cities, as a protection against the
Assyrians, who at that time were masters of Asia. I have already
mentioned Bryant's conjecture, that these shepherds were the
descendants of Ham ; and in support of that suggestion, I refer to
his "Antient History," and to his "Observations on the Dis-
persion of Mankind," wherein he endeavours to prove that the
first part of the 11th chapter of Genesis relates exclusively to the
race of Ham, who appear to have founded large cities, and to have
established a great empire on the plains of Shinar, from which,
in defiance of Divine authority, they had dispossessed the descend-
ants of Shem. Having been driven thence by the rightful owners,
it seems that part of them invaded Egypt, and afterwards Syria; and
that they were subsequently, under the titles of Philistines, Amalek-
ites,3 and other denominations, objects of Divine justice, and suc-
cessively driven from every city and colony, which, for especial
purposes, they were for a time permitted to occupy. These circum-
stances will account for the apprehensions which they are said by
Manetho to have entertained of the Assyrians, and also for the
abomination4 in which every shepherd was held in Egypt; and
which is the more remarkable, as the Egyptians had flocks and
herds, and were of course, therefore, accustomed to attend to
them. Their prowess and skill are recounted in the Bible ;5 and
I have already alluded to the concurrent testimony of profane
history, in which, notwithstanding various fables and exaggerations,
(the effects of poetical license, of national prejudice, or of perverted
tradition), their power and wisdom, and also their incessant wan-
derings and misfortunes, are forcibly described. In adverting to
the early records of antient history, it is likewise remarkable that
the author and precise object of those most sublime productions of
human genius, the "Iliad" and " Odyssey," are involved in the
same doubt and mystery, which attend the origin of the stu-
pendous monuments assumed to be erected by a people of the
same race as those to whom the poems in question are supposed
to allude. The whole, however, in fact, at present, only admits
of conjecture; but it is to be hoped will appear in a clearer
light, when a more intimate knowledge is attained of the numerous
1 Exodus, cliap. xvii. v. 14-1G. Numbers, cliap. xxiv. v. 20.
4 Genesis, cliap. xlvi. v. 34.
5 Numbers, cliap. xiii. v. 23, &c. Deuteronomy, chap. i. v. 28.
367
migrated (in number, 240,000) to Syria, and built in that country
Jerusalem and many other fenced cities, as a protection against the
Assyrians, who at that time were masters of Asia. I have already
mentioned Bryant's conjecture, that these shepherds were the
descendants of Ham ; and in support of that suggestion, I refer to
his "Antient History," and to his "Observations on the Dis-
persion of Mankind," wherein he endeavours to prove that the
first part of the 11th chapter of Genesis relates exclusively to the
race of Ham, who appear to have founded large cities, and to have
established a great empire on the plains of Shinar, from which,
in defiance of Divine authority, they had dispossessed the descend-
ants of Shem. Having been driven thence by the rightful owners,
it seems that part of them invaded Egypt, and afterwards Syria; and
that they were subsequently, under the titles of Philistines, Amalek-
ites,3 and other denominations, objects of Divine justice, and suc-
cessively driven from every city and colony, which, for especial
purposes, they were for a time permitted to occupy. These circum-
stances will account for the apprehensions which they are said by
Manetho to have entertained of the Assyrians, and also for the
abomination4 in which every shepherd was held in Egypt; and
which is the more remarkable, as the Egyptians had flocks and
herds, and were of course, therefore, accustomed to attend to
them. Their prowess and skill are recounted in the Bible ;5 and
I have already alluded to the concurrent testimony of profane
history, in which, notwithstanding various fables and exaggerations,
(the effects of poetical license, of national prejudice, or of perverted
tradition), their power and wisdom, and also their incessant wan-
derings and misfortunes, are forcibly described. In adverting to
the early records of antient history, it is likewise remarkable that
the author and precise object of those most sublime productions of
human genius, the "Iliad" and " Odyssey," are involved in the
same doubt and mystery, which attend the origin of the stu-
pendous monuments assumed to be erected by a people of the
same race as those to whom the poems in question are supposed
to allude. The whole, however, in fact, at present, only admits
of conjecture; but it is to be hoped will appear in a clearer
light, when a more intimate knowledge is attained of the numerous
1 Exodus, cliap. xvii. v. 14-1G. Numbers, cliap. xxiv. v. 20.
4 Genesis, cliap. xlvi. v. 34.
5 Numbers, cliap. xiii. v. 23, &c. Deuteronomy, chap. i. v. 28.