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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (July 8, 1906)
unday Bee. HALF TOliE SECTION Psgis 1 to 8 No Filthy Sensation THE OMAHA DEC Best A". West VOL.. XXXVI-NO. 3. OMAIIA, SUNDAY MORNING, JULY 8, 190G. SINGLE COrY FIVE CENTS. GREAT SHARE OF THE JEW IN THE HISTORY OF ROftE Edward Rose water Describes the Situation at the Time of the Triumph of Titos, the Horrors of the Middle Ages and the Conditions That Exist in Rome Today The Omaha EOME, June 1. (Editorial Correspondence of The Bee.) Under the shadow of the Colosseum and within a stone's throw of the Forum stands the Arch of Titus, erected to commemorate the deeds of valor and glory of the Roman legions under command of the Emperor Titus, who achieved imperishable renown by the conquest and final subjugation of Palestine. Although erected nearly 1100 years ago the Arch of Titus has successfully withstood the destructive raids of the vandals of all ages and the disintegration of the elements. The most strik ing and Impressive feature of this monument Is the artistically chis eled bas relief representing in strong outlines the triumphal entry of Titus into Rome, leading in his train the captive Jewish princes and nobles, and the priests bearing aloft the seven-branched sacred golden candlestick that had lighted the temple at Jerusalem. What a chapter of history this arch and the ruins of the Colosseum in voluntarily recall. It is a well founded tradition that several of tho largest pyramids monuments of the Pharaohs were erected, wita bricks without straw by Jews held in involuntary servitude under Egyptian taskmasters, and it is a matter of history that 60,000 Jewish captives brought from Palestine by Titus were compelled to assist In the construction of the Colosseum for several years. It Is faiily well established, also, that the Jewish colony in Rome, goaded ' on by bloody persecution, burrowed Into the rocks below old Rom and as a matter of self-preservation excavated subterranean pas sages denominated catacombs. In these they lived and worshiped, and in niches cut into the solid rock they burled their dead. The catacombs begun by the Jews to escape persecution were extended by the early Christians, who, for the most part, were of Jewish or Igln or descent Jews Early Settlers in Rome The Jews brought to Rome by Titus were, however, not tho first Jews that inhabited Rome. There are few living communities of Jews whose authentic history stretches back into ancient times as does that of the Roman Jews. A Jewish colony had established Itself in Rome during the era of the Maccabees. It is a matter of history, also, that the cruel and inhuman treatment accorded to the Jews by their pagan rulers was, if anything, more cruel and oppressive than in' the middle ages and up to the middle of the nineteenth century. For example, under Pope Paul IV severe bulls were issued which condemned the Jews to most abject misery, de prived them of the means of sustenance by denying them the right to exercise any mechanical calling or learned profession. They were finally forced to labor at the restoration of the walls of Rome with out any compensation whatever. Plus V banished all Jews from his dominions and about 1,000 families were actually expelled. When these edicts were revoked' by his successor the Jews were compelled to live in an enclosed ghetto which was subject to periods of in undation by the overflowing Tiber, and as a natural sequence to periodic deadly epidemics. Under 'Napoleon I the Jews of Italy were emancipated, but the privileges acquired under Napoleon were of short duration. ' Pius VII reinstated the Inquisition, deprived the Jews of every vestige of- liberty and again, confined them in the dismal and deadly J ghetto. .It; was only in 1871, after Rome had become the capital of Italy, that complete emancipation and equal ity before the law. political and religious, was accorded to them. Within the third of . a century that' has since elapsed a mar- i " (I V 6 Mr I . . v 'r-- ;; -?,:.-.-.....i TRIUMPHAL PROCESSION, REIJF ON TTDB . AROT OF TITU3, ROMS velous change has taken place in the condition of the Jews in Rome, of about fifteen acres adjacent to the left bank of the murky Tiber. Here in the city that witnessed their greatest humiliation and most This section of darkest Rome was a network of undralned, crooked, abject degradation, the Jews enjoy not merely absolute freedom of narrow alleys and lanes from five to ten feet in width, lined by political equality, but fill many of the highest positions of honor and ' dingy, ramshackle buildings with low ceilings, small windows and responsibility in public life. A number have distinguished them- dark recesses, not 'only unfit for human habitation but even domestic selves In the military service, others hold seats in the Italian Par- animals. Most of the old shacks. and the greater part of the wall llament, while not small number rank high as professors in col- that surrounded the ancient ghetto have been demolished and only leges and universities and in the medical and legal professions. A a few of the old buildings that formerly constituted the Jewish stroll through what remains of the Roman ghetto doubtless the quarter remain intact. The entire neighborhood still retains a pov- flrst of all the ghettos of Europe Is a revelation. As originally laid erty-Btrlcken appearance. Most of the so-called streets In that quar- out the ghetto of Rome covered an irregular tract of marshy -land ter are so narrow that a loaded donkey would find the passage dif ficult. The whirligig of time brings its revenges. This adago finds striking illustration in the proximity of the Roman ghetto. In their days of tribulation the Jews of Ronio had much to suffer from the caprice of tyrannical lords. Directly opposite the ghetto nnd facing a narrow street leading to it is tho Palazzo Ceucl, nuule famous through the career of Deatrlce Cencl. This anclont home of a pow erful family that has given its name to tho wholo neighborhood was formerly a terror for tho Jews. Among' the eccentricities of one of the Cencl was the erection of a church right against the fhetto entrance. To this church the Jews wero required to reimlr every Friday night to participate In worship and listen to sermons designed to bring about their conversion to Christianity. Over the portals of that church, which still remains Intact, is an inscription In large Hebrew letters, "Come All Ye Sinners and Worship .the Lord." It may be Imagined that tho Jews were deeply Incensed at this attempt to proselyte them, but they were compelled to en dure patiently.- But the wheel of Fate has revolved to its full circle. The noble Cencls have long since lost their power and prestige and the palace on the Island opposite the ghetto Is no longer a source of terror to the Jews of Rome. Shorn of Its past grandeur and glory, the time-worn castle covered with mortgages which its lordly proprietors could not lift, has become the property of the Jews, who have converted it Into a seminary for boys. Great Pride in Their Temple The pride of the Roman Jews of today is their temple, erected en a spacious plot of ground along the boulevard that skirts the banks of the Tiber which was formerly wkhln the precincts of the ghetto. This edifice, completed In 1904, will stand favorable com parison with any Jewish temple or synagogue In Europe In point of architectural design. Its exterior walls of granite and marble are surmounted by a cupola-shaped metal roof while the Roman arched Interior is supported by majestic pillars of polished marble supple mented by a line of marble and onyx columns that enhance the beauty of the richly decorated auditorium and furnish support for the galleries. The vaulted celling is artistically frescoed, the floors tiled with marble and the entire structure strictly fireproof. In Its ritual this templo is as rigidly orthodox as the ancient synagogue that has for many centuries been the center of worship and the harbor of refuge of the Jews in the ghetto and still divides the honors with its modern rival as a place of worship. ' In the new temple, as In the old synagogue, the men keep their hats on during service and the women are seated , in the galleries behind bronze screens that completely hide their faces from the men be low. The choir Is composed of boys and the prayers are recited in the oriental dialect. The grand rabbi, Cavaliere Victor Castiglione, is a very profound scholar in oriental languages who has been dec orated and knighted by the king of Italy. Incidentally it may not be out of place to remark that the Italian Jews, of whom more than 18,000 reside in the Eternal City, are intensely patriotic and glory ' in their Italian citizenship, which means so much for them under the changed conditions that enable them to enjoy liberty, civil and religious, a thing not dreamed of by their ancestors of the early Christian era, the darker middle ages or even the more enlightened and liberal administrations that preceded the unification of Italy. EDWARD ROSEWATER. THE WORLD 4 WITH WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN i i Ancient Egypt, Where Centuries Do Not Count, Affords a Series of Wonders that Never Cease to Surprise the Tourist Accustomed to the Infantile Days of Modern Civilization AROUND W HAVE been moving among the oldest monuments reared by man, and 'they make the rest of the world seem young. In Japan, a Buddhist temple built 1,200 years ago. Impressed us with the youthf ulnesa of Amer ican Institutions; in cmna we were snown tempies mai had stood for twenty centuries, and were told of customs and laws even older; In India we found a pagoda some 2,600 years old, and visited the site of a city whose foundations were probably laid more than 3,000 years ago; but here we Bee the mummied forma of hu man beings who lived 2,000 years before Christ was born, inspect the handiwork of men who laid down the chisel before Abraham appeared upon the earth, look upon colors that have withstood the changes and defied the elements for forty centuries, and handle wheat that grew upon the banks of the Nile long before Joseph built the granaries for Pharaoh. The guides count centuries as trippingly on the tongue as a treasury expert, or an Insurance magnate, handles millions. They discuss dynasties that rose and fell when Europe was shrouded in darkness, before the light of history dawned upon the Oanges and the Tangtse; they decipher hieroglyphics that kept their secrets for ages, and lead one among ruins that astoplsh by the immensity as well as by the artistic skill which they reveal. Back In the misty past in tho prehistoric period there wero two Egyptian kingdoms, one occupying upper, and the other lower Egypt. ; This was prior to 2600 B. C, and from the stirring scenes engraved upon stone, one can Imagine the conflicts which took place along the fertile valley of the Nile before Menes, the earliest known ruler, united the two kingdoms, assumed the title of Lord of Both Lands, fashioned a double crown for himself and adopted the Illy, or lotus, and the papyrus as symbols of his consolidated empire. We are probably indebted to certain natural peculiarities of Egypt for the preservation of the unique evidences of ancient civilization found here. First, there is but a small area of tillable land stretched along the most wonderful of rivers and guarded on either side Ty a barren waste that offers greater protection than a wall. Second, the climate of Egpyt Is dry, and there are no drenching rains to deface and no violent changes of temperature to disintegrate. Third, the tem ples and tombs are so massively built as to discourage the vandal; and, fourth, the sands of the desert have drifted In and concealed for a hundred' generations many of the most valuable of these relics of a bygone age. Treasure House of Archaeology The double, it was supposed, never left the place where the mummy rested, and the soul, while it went away to commune with the gods, returned from time to time, and for this reason rooms were made for the reception of the. soul and for the habitation of the double One can hardly believe as he looks upon the shriveled forms that they "were interred so long ago. I will Inclose with this article a photograph of the mummy of Egypt's greatest builder, and known as "the Pharaoh of the Oppression," who died more than 3,000 years ago. The hand no longer sways the scepter; the eyes look no more upop the gigantic statues which he scattered along the Kile, and the voice does not now demand the making of "bricks without straw," but the mortal remains of this famous ruler vividly recall the days of Israel's bondage. Collections From Ravished Tombs With the mummies are many mummy cases, some covered with hieroglyphics, some ornamented with pictures in colors, and most of them covered with a lid upon which are a face mask and an out line of the form of the occupant. The process by which these bodies have been preserved Is still a mystery, but the fact that they have outlived dynasties and survived the countless changes of bo many centuries gives to them a lasting interest. The collection of statues and images of gods, human beings, beasts and birds runs up into the thousands. Some of these are heroic In size, others are not more than an inch in height; some are strong, some beautiful and some grotesque. Granite, both red and black, alabaster, stone, iron, bronze and clay all have been brought into requisition for this work. , Borne of the! bronze has, upon analysis, been found to contain practically the same combi nation of metals as the bronze now used. - There are even statues in wood, and one of these a photograph of which I secured attracted my attention because the head and face bear a resemblance to the late Senator Hanna. It is called "Sheikh el Beled," or village chief; that It should have resisted decay for more than forty cen turies is little less than marvelous. While the excavators have been searching for historical rec ords, they have occasionally found treasures of great pecuniary value. A considerable quantity of gold and silver in the form of Jewelry has been unearthed, and the museum contains specimens of exquisite workmanship which not only display the skill of the artificers, but portray the habits and customs of the early Egyptians. The museum also contains enough of cloth, found with the mummies, and of pictures of looms, to show that weaving was an Industry with which the people of those days were familiar. French Control Awkward for Tourists But we must leave the museum and proceed' to those master pieces which are too large for any roof save that formed by the vaulted skies. I am, however, constrained to offer one'crltlcism of the museum in passing. It Is under the control of a French society, and the only catalougue obtainable is printed in French. While most of the exhibits bear a brief description la both French and v - . 7 - There Is such a wealth of archaeological treasures here that one scarcely knows where to begin or how to condense the most important things Into the space allotted to a newspaper article. I shall not attempt to describe things chronologically, because some of the temples have been added by different kings and dynasties until they represent the art and life of many hundred years. The temple at Rarnak, for Instance, bears the impress of Egypt's rulers from Thutmosis to the Raraeses, and from the Rameses to the Ptolemies, a period of some 1,200 years, and the building of the numerous pyramids covered even a longer period. As the tourist usually begins a trip thcough Egypt with a visit to Cairo, he is likely to find the great Egyptian museum, the Mu seum of Olzeh, a fitting introduction to his subsequent investiga tions. Here one finds samples of all the antiquities of the country, excepting the pyramids and the temples, and there are mummies, sarcophagi, statues, carvings and hieroglyphics from these. A con siderable space is devoted to mummies, some from the tombs of kings, but many of more humble rank. The early Egyptians be lieved that man was composed of several different entitles. First, there was the body, and second, the double a sort of invisible form reproducing the features of the body. Next came the soul, repre sented as a human-headed bird, and then a spark of the divine fire, called Khu, which has been translated as "the Luminous." It was to prevent the departure of these attending forms that embalming was resorted to. i By suspending the decomposition of the 'body, they thought that they could" preserve theeohnectlon between It and the double, the soul and the Luminous, and by prayers and offerings these could be saved from the second death This Is the explanation of the mummy given by archaeologists. --V ia'.:-": :'-:'' :.v -v-;r ' -. ' -. , ' -1 v- i : ; . . ' V .... . ,- . . . - v r" :' a ; : r . . " " ; . .' f j,.v-X;;:;''-'v:.';-.':;,.,:r -... ; ; ' i - ' " - v V-. '"! s. : - -r ...; s - 4 . - -'-;v ; y -r.i , -' :: 's .! 9.- V- y-y-v . . . . , x-v .y;r- , - r:.':-"- .'..-: -yyai-'-i ';y.,;:,v iV .yA .":'. y y -v: . i y -y ; : ., y . .. .. .. . -v 1 -.v -i, -y y .: .-;.' y.? -j ' ..- j.v- -,: ; ,:. ,:;y-x . ;-; y ,y ) y ;-y y'y-V&.p ;?jcfci " ; i-'y .'...-. y-y . ' ; . ' yi' i.y -'w. yyyt;''--ay , .-. y ii.,. ,M -i Civ-:. y 'y - yn y .- v .y :. ; - y y:v ,.. -yy -;- y-- . , . . .. :. . : . .. ! i.F .. 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We selected the most famous, those of the two ancient cities, Thebes and Mem phis, and they alone would repay a visit to Egypt. The present city of Luxor, 420 miles from Cairo, covers a small part of the vast area once occupied by "Hundred-gated Thebes." In the very heart of the city a mammoth temple has been found where kings worshiped through many reigns. It was built during the eighteenth dynasty (B. C. 1600) on the site of a still older sanctuary and dedicated to Ammon, his wife, Mut, and their son, Khons, the moon-god. Some of the columns are twelve feet In di ameter, more than forty feet in height and support great blocks of red granite twenty feet long and four feet in width and thickness. Some of the columns represent clustered papyrus and have capitals shaped like the lotus bud. In the temple are a number of statues of Rameses IL some Bitting, some standing. One of these statues Is forty-five feet in height, and another of less, dimensions was un earthed only about' a year ago. When excavations were begun houses were serenely resting on the tpp of the temple, and it is be lieved that further excavations will disclose an avenue leading to other temples two miles away. . In front of the Luxor temple Is an obelisk of pink granite, a part of which is still under ground. Obelisks were always erected in pairs, and the companion of this one was removed some years ago to Paris. These great monoliths come down to us from the period when the Egyptians worshiped the sun, and they were in tended to represent his rays. The oldest Egyptian obelisk is at Ilellopolls, not far from Cairo, and Is Blxty-slx feet In height. It Is supposed to have been erected 2000 to 2200 B. C, but it is in an excellent state of preservation and bids fair to bear testimony for aces yet to the reverence felt by the ancients for the sun. At one time Ilellopolls was a thriving city, and is referred to in the Bible as "On," but today the obelisk stands alone in the midst of culti vated fields, all of the buildings having disappeared. Age and Height of Obelisks While the obelisk at Ilellopolls outranks all others in age, the one at Karnak, in the suburbs of Luxor, has the distinction of be ing the tallest one yet remaining. It Is eight and one-half feet in diameter at the base and ninety-seven and a half feet In height (eight and one-half feet less than the obelisk at Home). The ob elisks were cut in a single shaft, most of them from granite quar ries near Assuan. These Quarries are more than 600 miles south of Cairo, and it is supposed that the obelisks were transported on the Nile to the places where they Lave since been found,-but how thoy were handled or placed in position no one knows. The temple of Ammon, at Karnak, is generally regarded as the most Interesting of temple ruins in Egypt. It is the work of many kings, one adding a sanctuary, another a pylou. aaother a court, otc. each placing his cartouche, or . seal upon . his . work.' This temple, which was officially styled the Throne of the -World, covers an Immense area. One p)!on, or gateway, is more than 300 feet wide, nearly 150, feet high an' has . walls slxteeu feet thick. One court covers almost 1,000 square yards, and one alnle leads between pillars sixty-nine feet in height, about twelve fuel in diameter and supporting capitals of eleven feet. The stones used In thlu temple i are of enormous size, and they were probably raised to their po sitions on scaffolding of earth this being also the method employed where attempts have recently been made to restore fallen columus. The hieroglyphics upon the walls, the columns, the obeliaks and the statues, after remaining a puzzle for ages, have been de- ' ciphered and woven into a consecutive history. This was made pos- . alble by the discovery in, 17 89 of what is known as the Hosetta clone (now in the British museum), at the mouth of the Roaetta arm of the Nile, by a French engineer named Bouchard. This stone t