Ancient society; or, Researches in the lines of human progress from savagery, through barbarism to civilization

1877·26.6 MB·English

by  Morgan, Lewis Henry, 1818-1881

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ANCIENT SOCIETY
RESEARCHES IN THE LINES OF HUMAN PROGRESS
FROM SAVAGERY, THROUGH BARBARISM
TO CIVILIZATION
BY
LEWIS H. MORGAN, LL.D
MemberoftheNationalAcademyofSciences, Authorof"TheLeagueofthe Iroquois^''
"'TheAmericanBeaverandhis Works,'''' ^''SystemsofConsanguinityand
AffinityoftheHumanFamily,''''Etc.
Nescitvoxmissareverti,
HORACE.
NEW YORK
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
1877
91022
Copyright, 1877,
By HENRY HOLT.
TO THE REVEREND
McILVAINE,
H. D. D.,
J.
LATE PROFESSOR OF BELLES-LETTRES IN PRINCETON COLLEGE,
THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED,
IN RECOGNITION OF HIS GENIUS AND LEARNING,
AND IN APPRECIATION OF HIS FRIENDSHIP.
Cumprorepseruntprimisanimaliaterris,
Mutumetturpepecus,glandematquecubiliapropter
Unguibusetpugnis,deinfustibus,atqueitaporro
Pugnabantarmis,quaepostfabncaveratusus:
Doneeverba,quibusvocessensusquenotarent,
Nominaqueinvenere: dehincabsisterebelle,
Oppidacoeperuntmunire,etponereleges,
Nequisfuresset,neulatro,neuquisadulter.
—
Horace,Sat.,I,iii,99.
"Modernscienceclaimstobeproving,by the most careful and exhaustive study ofman
andhisworks,thatourracebeganitsexistenceonearthatthebottomofthescale,insteadofat
thetop,andhasbeengraduallyworkingupwar—d; that human powers have had a history of
development; t—hatalltheelements ofculture asthearts oflife,art,science,language,relig-
ion,philosophy havebeenwroughtoutbyslowandpainfulefforts,intheconflictbetweenthe
soulandthe mind ofman on the one hand,and external nature on the other."—Whitney's
OrientalandLing^uisticStudies,p.341.
"These communities reflect the spiritual conduct of our ancestors thousands oftimes
removed. Wehavepassedthroughthesamestages ofdevelopment, physical and moral,and
arewhatweareto-daybecausetheylived,toiled,andendeavored. Ourwondrouscivilization
istheresultofthesilenteffortsofmillionsofunknown—men,as thechalk cliffs ofEnglandare
formed by contributions ofmyriads offoraminifera." Dr. J. Kaines, Anihropologia,vol.i.
No.2,p.233.
PREFACE.
' The great antiquity ofmankind upon the earth has been
conclusively established. It seems singular that the proofs
should have been discovered as recently as within the last
thirty years, and that the present generation should be the
first called upon to recognize so important a fact.
I
Mankind are now known to have existed in E^urope in the
glacial period, and even back of its commencement, with
every probability of their origination in a prior geological
age. They have survived many races ofanimals with whom
they were contemporaneous, and passed through a process
ofdevelopment, in the several branches ofthe human fam-
ily, as remarkable in its courses as in its progress.
Since the probable length of their career is connected with
geological periods, a limited measure of time is excluded.
One hundred or two hundred thousand years would be an
unextravagant estimate of the period from the disappear-
ance ofthe glaciers in the northern hemisphere to the pres-
ent time. Whatever doubts may attend any estimate ofa
period, the actual duration of which is unknown/the exist- 1
ence ofmankind extends backward immeasurably, and loses
itself in a vast and profound antiquity.
This knowledge changes materialfy the views which have
prevailed respecting the relations ofsavages to barbarians,
and ofbarbarians to civilized men. It can now be asserted
U£on convincing evidence that savagery preceded barbar-
ism in all the tribes of mankind, as barbarism is known to
—
PREFACE.
vi
.
have preceded civilization. The history of the human race
is one in source, one in experience, and one in progress^/
It is both a natural and a proper desire to learn, if possi-
ble, how all these ages upon ages of past time have been
expended by mankind how savages, advancing by slow,
;
almost imperceptible steps, attained the higher condition of
barbarians how barbarians, by similarprogressive advance-
;
ment, finally attained to civilization and why other tribes
;
and nations have been left behind in the race ofprogress
some in civilization, some in barbarism, and others in sav-
agery. It is not too much to expect that ultimately these
several questions will be answered.
Inveiitigns and discoveries stand -in serial relations along
the lines of human progress, and register its successive
stages while social and civil institutions, in virtue of their
;
connection with perpetual human wants, have been devel-
oped from a few primary germs of thought. They exhibit
a similar register of progress. These institutions, inven-
tions and discoveries have embodied and preserved the
principal facts now remaining illustrative of this experi-
ence. When collated and compared they tend to show the
unity of origin of mankind, the similarity of human wants
in the same stage of advancement, and the uniformity of
the operations of the human mind in similar conditions of
society.
Throughout the latter part ofthe period ofsavagery, and
the entire period of barbarism, mankind in general were
organized in gentes, phratries and tribes. These organiza-
tions prevailed throughout the entire ancient world upon
all the continents, and were the instrumentalities by means
of which ancient society was organized and held together.
Their structure, and relations as members of an organic
series, and the rights, privileges and obligations of the mem-
bers of the gens, and of the members of the phratry and
tribe, illustrate thegrowth ofthe idea ofgovernment in the
human mind. The principal institutions of mankind origi-
nated in savagery, were developed in barbarism, and are
maturing in civilization.