Introduction 



A century ago little was known about the ancient Near 

 East, and that little had been transmitted by unreliable hands; 

 moreover, most of it came from a time which itself w^as much 

 later than the period in which the ancient Oriental nations 

 pla>'ed an all-important role. Only a few decades ago the 

 whole of Western Asia and Egypt were like an immense field 

 of ruins !>'ing in impenetrable silence, and the little we knew 

 about it came from the pen of a few Greek and Roman 

 writers, who on account of their foreign way of thinking, lack 

 of familiaritN- with the ps}'chology of the Oriental and their 

 inability to master the Oriental languages were little fitted to 

 become absolutely safe guides. They understood only that 

 which was similar to their own culture. The treasures of 

 Bab\-lonia, Assyria, Asia Minor, Syria and Arabia had been 

 hidden awa>' by fate; and Egypt had alread>' undergone a 

 process of decay when the Greeks entered that country and 

 wrote down their cursory notices about the land and its people. 

 There were onh' fragments miserable fragments by which 

 posterity could behold the ancient world. 



The darkness has been lifted, thanks to untiring work of 

 Oriental scholars in Europe and America, who have worked 

 feverishlv during the last few decades. The daN' has dawned 

 over the Orient, but though the morning-sun has appeared, it 

 very often hides itself behind dark clouds. Some of these 

 clouds will undoubtedl)' be dispelled b\' later researches and 

 it will depend on the results of future excavations whether 

 the sun will reach its zenith at least in so far as the culture- 

 land of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers is concerned. Egypt, 

 it seems, has now yielded up most of its treasures. 



