A first book in American history with European beginnings . and peopleof his day, and let us see what has come down to us fromthose far-off times and how it came. In the days when Alexander the Great ruled Greeceonly a fragment of the world was civilized. The coun-tries of Greece, Italy, Asia Minor, and Egypt, borderingon the Mediterranean Sea, were the important centersof civilization. Tribes of barbarians lived on the out- 1 A FIRST BOOK IN AMERICAN HISTORY skirts of these lands. Of other lands and peoples littlewas known. The Greeks were the most cultured of the ancientnations. The natural
A first book in American history with European beginnings . and peopleof his day, and let us see what has come down to us fromthose far-off times and how it came. In the days when Alexander the Great ruled Greeceonly a fragment of the world was civilized. The coun-tries of Greece, Italy, Asia Minor, and Egypt, borderingon the Mediterranean Sea, were the important centersof civilization. Tribes of barbarians lived on the out- 1 A FIRST BOOK IN AMERICAN HISTORY skirts of these lands. Of other lands and peoples littlewas known. The Greeks were the most cultured of the ancientnations. The natural beauty of their country madethem love beautiful things. They erected wonderfultemples and public buildings, and filled them with statuesof marble and gold. They built huge amphitheatres,where thousands of people assembled to hear and seedramas and to witness athletic games and chariot built beautiful monuments in memory of theirheroes, and carved works of art from stone. Yet theylived in simple houses, only the nobility having Greek Costumes and Furniture. Believing that a beautiful body was the sign of abeautiful soul, the boys of Greece were trained in wrestling,jumping, running, and many other sports. Once in everyfour years a great festival was held at Olympia, and fromdaylight to dark, youths from all parts of Greece viedwith each other in running, wrestling, boxing, throwingthe discus and in four-horse chariot races. To win atthe Olympian games was to be honored for life. GREECE AND ALEXANDER THE GREAT Always a graceful people, the Greeks wore loose flow-ing garments which added to the grace and dignity oftheir movements whether they were performing solemnreligious rites or merely walking about the market-place. In early, early times people who wanted to write hadto express their ideas by drawing pictures. Then, longbefore the days of Alexander, an Eastern people, calledthe Phoenicians, brought to the Greeks an alphabet the Gree
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, bookidfirstbookina, bookyear1921
