James Henry Breasted (1865-1935) was an American whose life and interests placed him at the forefront of the study of ancient languages and cultures, so much so that his exploits seem similar to the popular, fictional character “Indiana Jones”. Proficient in Hebrew and Egyptology, he received his PhD in 1894 “writing a Latin dissertation on certain hymns of Akhenaton, the Egyptian heretic pharaoh.” He taught Egyptian at the University of Chicago from 1894 until 1925.
The reason for providing such a sketchy summary of the life of James Breasted is to mention a book he authored in 1916. Ancient Times – A History of the Early World was used as a high school textbook.
Breasted told his story in simple and vivid terms and gave a great deal of attention
to the illustrations. Nearly 300 illustrations and 50 maps and plans help to explain
the popularity of the book. It received the accolade of an enthusiastic review by Theodore Roosevelt in the Outlook and was soon in extensive use in schools
throughout the country. It is difficult to measure the influence of such a book,…
Included in this high school history book is the following:
Among all these faiths of the East, the common people were more and more inclining toward one, whose teachers told how their Master, Jesus, a Hebrew, was born in Palestine, the land of the Jews, in the days of Augustus. Everywhere they told the people of his vision of human brotherhood and of divine fatherhood, surpassing even that which the Hebrew prophets had once discerned. This faith he had preached for a few years in the Aramaic language of his countrymen – till he incurred their hatred, and in the reign of Tiberius, they had him put to death.
A Jewish tentmaker of Tarsus named Paul, a man of passionate eloquence and unquenchable love for his Master, passed far and wide through the cities of Asia Minor and Greece, and even to Rome, proclaiming his Master’s teaching. He left behind him a line of devoted communities stretching from Palestine to Rome. Certain letters which he wrote in Greek to his followers were circulating widely among them and were read with eagerness.
He goes on to state that, concerning the life of Jesus:
There were finally four leading biographies of Jesus in Greek, which came to be
regarded as authoritative, and these we call the Four Gospels. Along with the letters
of Paul and some other writings they were later put together in a Greek book now known in the English translation as the New Testament.
Such was the information to which high school students were exposed at the beginning of the twentieth century. My how times have changed, and not always for the better.
John A. Wilson, “Biographical Memoir of James Henry Breasted – 1865-1935” National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Biographical Memoirs, vol. XVIII – Fifth Memoir. (p. 98)
(p. 101, 102)
James Henry Breasted, PhD. Ancient Times – A History of the Early World (New York: Ginn and Company, 1916) 661, 662.