.THEORY OF THE EARTH. 175 



the 35,000 years which lie places between the de- 

 luge and Semiramis, than in the registers of 

 150,000 years, which he boasts of having consult- 

 ed*. 



Structures raised in remote provinces, and bear- 

 ing the name of Semiramis, have been spoken of ; 

 and columns erected by Sesostrisf have been pre- 

 tended to have been seen in Asia Minor, in 

 Thrace. But, in the same way, in Persia, at the 

 present day, the ancient monuments, perhaps even 

 some of the above, bear the name of Roustan ; 

 and in Egypt or Arabia, they bear the names of 

 Joseph or Solomon. This is an ancient custom 

 among the eastern nations, and probably among 

 all ignorant people. The peasants of our own 

 country give the name of Caesar's Camp to all the 

 remains of Roman entrenchments. 



In a word, the more I consider the subject, the 

 more I am persuaded that there existed no an- 

 cient history at Babylon or Ecbatan, more than 

 in Egypt and India. And, in place of reducing 



* Syncellus, p. 38 and 39. 



t N. B. It is very remarkable that Herodotus does not 

 mention having seen monuments of Sesostris, except in Pales- 

 tine, and does not speak of those of Ionia, but upon the au- 

 thority of others, adding, at the same time, that Sesostris is 

 not named in the inscriptions, and that those who had seen 

 these monuments attributed them to Memnon. See Eu- 

 terpe, chap. cvi. 3 



