Preliminary Remarks: Ancient Oriental Philosophy
The dispersion of the sons of Noe and the division of Oriental philosophy into Semitic and Aryan.
Glenn opens the study of Ancient Oriental thought with the scriptural account of the peopling of the earth. Noe, rescued with his children from the Deluge, became the second father of the human race; and after the attempt to build the Tower of Babel and the confusion of tongues, the families of his sons separated — the children of Sem remaining in the ancestral territory, the family of Japheth moving north and east into Asia, and the children of Cham going south into Africa. A close affinity in religion and philosophy links the descendants of Cham and of Sem, due in some measure to the invasion of Chamitic Egypt by the Hyksos. The Book accordingly treats the Semites and the Aryans in separate Chapters.
Preliminary Remarks
Noe, rescued with his children from the Deluge, became the second father of the human race. The families of his sons, Sem, Cham, and Japheth, multiplied rapidly, and at first all lived together in one place. But after the attempt to build the Tower of Babel to the height of heaven and the consequent confusion of tongues, these families separated. The children of Sem remained in the ancestral territory. The family of Japheth moved north and east into Asia. The children of Cham went south into Africa.
There is a close affinity in religion and philosophy between the descendants of Cham and of Sem. This may be due, in some measure, to the invasion of Chamitic Egypt by the Hyksos, who were of Sem, in the 20 century b. c. Because of this affinity the History of Philosophy includes the Chamitic peoples in the class called Semites.
This Book deals with the philosophy of the Semites—Hebrews, Chaldeans, Egyptians—and with that of the Japhethites or Aryans—Chinese, Hindus, Persians. The Book is therefore divided into two chapters of three articles each, as follows: