180 THE SHEPHERD KINGS OF EGYPT. 



Palestine and neiglibouring i-egions as the earliest home of the nations 

 among whom they are found ; that the recent discoveries in Nineveh, 

 Babylon and parts of Chaldea have established the historical character 

 of many so-called myths ; that the monuments of Asia Minor, 

 Greece, Italy, India, &c., are more recent by many ages than those of 

 Egypt, Assyria and the intervening countries, which, however, they 

 more or less resemble, not because the civilization of the former was 

 later in developing itself, but because the home of the peoples who 

 afterwards occupied these lands was for those many ages within the 

 latter area, and their national existence was during that time merged 

 in that of these eastern empires ; that, however, the geographical 

 names and ethnical designations of these peoples are found upon the 

 ancient monuments of Egypt, Assyria, &c., not referring to tribes 

 dwelling at a great distance but within an area bounded by Taurus 

 and Anti-Taurus on the north, a line drawn from the Caspian to the 

 Persian Gulf on the east, the Mediterranean and Libya on the west. 

 As to my mode of procedure in making and stating the discovery 

 ■with which this paper is concerned, it may be tei-med philological, 

 inasmuch as it is based upon a comparison of names of men and 

 places mentioned in different histories and mythologies and found in 

 different parts of the world. Sxxch a comparison of names has 

 always been lawful for the student of history. More than that, it 

 has often been the only process possible, both in regard to ancient 

 documentary evidence and the comparison of it with that which is 

 monumental. In pursuing such a plan I simply tread in the foot- 

 steps of the most distinguished and safe of ancient and modern 

 historians. If, how^ever, it be objected that I treat mythological 

 records as historical, I call for proof, which has never yet been given, 

 that they do not contain historical fact, and marshal as authorities 

 for the opinion I hold of them almost every historian, ancient and 

 modern, who. deserves the name. Bournouf was permitted to estab- 

 lish the original unity of Aryan Persia and India in his proof that 

 Djemschid and Yama are one and the same. This connection of 

 the Yeda and Zendavesta in these and related names has been fitly 

 termed a most brilliant discovery. Yet it was of the same character 

 as that which I have already published in my essay on " the Horites," 

 and as that to which I now direct attention. The value of his 

 identification lay in this, that not one but several related names 

 were found by him in the same order and sustaining the same" 



