304 GEOLOGIES AND DELUGES 



ago by the investigations commenced by Mr. Rich, and 

 followed up with such wonderful results by Botta, Place, 

 Layard, George Smith, and others. Their discoveries 

 have revealed to us in unexpected fulness the details of 

 a complex and advanced civilisation almost, if not quite, 

 as ancient as the Egyptian, and far more profoundly 

 interesting, for the ancient nations of Mesopotamia are 



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FIG. 93. Mound of Mugheir (Ancient Ur). From " Chaldea," 

 Story of the Nations. 



the intellectual forefathers of the modern world. The 

 learning of the Chaldees was the heritage of the Jews 

 and Greeks, from these the torch was handed on to the 

 Romans, and Jew and Greek and Roman inspired, and 

 still inspire, for good and evil, the civilisation of the 

 present century. There is much more of the Chal- 

 dean in every one of us than we are given to imagine. 



