11)1 1] T}ie Revolutions of Civilization. 149 



WEEKLY EVENING MEETING, 



Friday, April 2«, 1911. 



His Grace The Duke of Northumberland, K.G. P.C. D.C.L. 

 LL.D. F.R.S., President, in the Chair. 



, Professor \Y. M. Flinders Petrie, D.C.L. Litt.D. LL.D. 

 F.R.S. F.B.A. 



The Revolutions of Civilization. 

 [Abstract.] 

 The meaning of life has in all ages Ijeen the goal of human thought ; 

 and the great extension of our knowledge of the past, by the researches 

 of recent years, enables us now to view the course of human changes 

 with more completeness than has been the case before. In place of 

 looking on the fall of the Roman Empire as a monstrous and inexplic- 

 able fact, we now see that civilisation is not only intermittent, but 

 is a regularly recurrent phenomenon. 



Of all the activities of man, that which can be compared over the 

 greatest range is carving and sculpture. It is also one of the most 

 definite, and can be estimated at a definite stage— that of the close of 

 archaism and acquirement of freedom. Hence this stage is the best 

 defined point for study. 



In Egypt we can trace eight civilisations : the first pre-historic, 

 the second pre-historic, the early dynastic, the pyramid builders, the 

 Middle Kingdom (Xllth dynasty)", the Empire "(XVIIIth dynasty), 

 the Greek, and tiie Arab. The rise and fall of art in each of these 

 periods can be w^ell illustrated. 



Similar periods are found in Europe, the Early, Middle, and Late 

 Cretan, the Classical and the Medifeval These periods are contem- 

 porary with those in Egypt, so far as we can ascertain. Hence the 

 Mediterranean civilisation seems a distinct unit, rising and falling 

 together as one body. The Mesopotamian civilization is in a different 

 phase to that of the Mediterranean, but its period is about the same. 

 The sculpture stage is in : — 



Hence Mesopotamia always has the lead of Europe in a rising 

 civilization, but is subordinate to Europe in the later stages. 



