ISM, ANTI-SEMITISM, etc. (H. M. J. L.) Racial racial composition of the Jews has given rise to considerable controversy. Most observers profess to see in the Jewish type one of the most persistent varieties of the human race, others, including Ripley and Boas, believe that they take on the physical traits of the people among whom they live. Recent observations, which, however, by no means include Jews from all over the world, tend to show that in the majority of cases the Jews tend to have rather a round head, and show to an unusual degree the same amount of variation. They also tend to preserve other characters, the most noticeable being the form of the nose. There is a marked resemblance between Jews and Armenians, and though the Armenoid type predominates there are other fea tures in their composition. Weissenberg suggests that there was within historic times a mixture, not in Palestine but in the Cau casus, between the Armenoid and a blond type, and that there are two types of Jews—the Semitic, dark with a fine nose, and Armenoid, with a coarser nose and an appearance of blondness.
See W. Z. Ripley, The Races of Europe (1899, bibl.) ; F. Boas, Descendants of Immigrants (1912) ; L. H. D. Buxton, The Peoples of Asia (1925, bibl.). (L. H. D. B.) I. Early History.—For the first two periods the history of the Jews is mainly that of Palestine. It begins among those peoples occupying the area between the Nile on the one side and the Tigris and the Euphrates on the other. Surrounded by ancient seats of culture in Egypt and Babylonia, by the deserts of Arabia, and by the highlands of Asia Minor, Palestine, with Syria on the north, was the high road of civilization, trade and warlike enterprise, and the meeting-place of religions. Its small principalities were domi nated by the great Powers, whose weakness or acquiescence alone enabled them to rise above dependence or vassalage. The land was traversed by old-established trade routes and possessed impor tant harbours on the Gulf of 'Akaba and on the Mediterranean coast, the latter exposing it to the influence of the Levant. It was
"the physical centre of those movements of history from which the world has grown." The portion of this district abutting upon the Mediterranean may be divided into two main parts : Syria (from the Taurus to Hermon) and Palestine (southward to the desert bordering upon Egypt). The latter is about 15o m. from north to south (the proverbial "Dan to Beersheba"), with a breadth varying from 25 to 8o m., i.e., about 6,040 sq. miles. This excludes the land east of the Jordan. (See further, PALESTINE.) Already, in the 15th century s.c., Palestine was inhabited by a settled people whose language, thought and religion were not rad ically different several centuries later. Petty princes ruled as vas sals of Egypt which, after expelling the Hyksos from its borders, had entered upon a series of conquests as far as the Euphrates. Some centuries previously, however, Babylonia had held sway to the west, and the Akkadian script and language were now used, not merely in the diplomatic correspondence between Egypt and Asia, but also among the Palestinian princes themselves. Canaan (Pales tine and the south Phoenician coast land) and Amor (Lebanon dis trict and beyond) were under the constant supervision of Egypt, and Egyptian officials journeyed round to collect tribute, to attend to complaints, and to assure themselves of the allegiance of the vassals. The Amarna tablets and those found at Taannek (bibl. Taanach) and at Boghaz-keui (see HITTITES) combine with ar chaeological evidence (Lachish, Gezer, Megiddo, Beth-shan, etc.) to reflect advanced conditions of life and culture, the chronological limits of which cannot be determined. This, the "Amarna age," with regular maritime intercourse between the Aegean settlements, Phoenicia and the Delta, and with lines of caravans connecting Babylonia, North Syria, Arabia and Egypt, presents a vivid pic ture of life and activity, in the centre of which lies Palestine, with here and there Egyptian colonies and traces of Egyptian cults.