THE EFFECTS OF GEOGRAPHIC ENVIRONMENT 173 



About a thousand years later Sennacheril) ruled, juid ahout 

 six hundred years before Christ Nebuchadnezzer lived, under 

 whom the Jews were taken captive, " when by the rivers of 

 Babylon they hung their harps." Bricks from the palace of 

 Nebuchadnezzar, with his name and title still inscribed, now 

 grace the walls of tiie most lowly Arab and Turkish dwellings. 

 The names of all these kings have been recently found on some 

 of the Babylonian tablets. The great rich valley of the Euphrates 

 was filled witii cities, some of them, such as Babylon and Nine- 

 veh, then and now the wonder of the world. 



Here, 8,000 years ago, ruled Ensagana, " Lord of Kengi," '' the 

 land of canals and reeds." From tbe remains of the city and 

 palaces he built, pieces of pottery have been recently taken of 

 fine shape and as beautifully worked as the ancient pottery of 

 Greece. Two thousand years later, or 3,800 years before Christ, 

 flourished Sargon the First, founder of anew dynasty. On one 

 of the statues the following inscription is found: "She placed 

 me in a basket of rushes, with bitumen, the door of my ark she 

 closed. She launched me on the river, which drowned me not. 

 The river bore me along; to Akki the water-carrier it brought 

 me. Akki the water-carrier in the tenderness of his heart lifted 

 me up. Akki the water-carrier made me his gardener. And in 

 my gardenership the goddess Ishtar loved me." 



In Eg3'^pt, enclosed by the sea and desert, there was no need of 

 large armies. Walled cities were not required, for there were few 

 inhabitants in the desert, and for man}' centuries no hostile army 

 appeared on its border. The geographic environment of Meso- 

 potamia was different. On one side were mountains and valleys 

 inhabited by numerous warlike wandering tribes, and beyond 

 them the Nomads of Central Asia. The inhabitants of the valley 

 must be ever ready to meet attacks, and this required an army 

 and people accustomed to arms. Thus a different environment 

 made peoples of different character. Their rulers were often 

 great warriors, who led their armies in different directions, sub- 

 duing countries fiir and near. As the mountains inhabited by 

 these warlike tribes were near the plain, they were compelled 

 to surround their cities with high and broad walls. Witliin 

 these walls were large and populous cities ; temples and jial- 

 aces crowned the heights ; the hanging gardens of Babylon were 

 built; bridges connected the cities on either side of the Eu- 

 phrates; cuneiform writing was largely used; libraries, filled 

 with tablets, were founded, and civilization rose to tiie highest 



