352 NO ROD—CLOSE INTERCOURSE WITH EGYPT 
that country was only established by Tiglathpileser III., 
C. 730 B.C. 
Passing now to the dates of the connection between this 
Empire and Egypt, the first assigned is : 
(2) Early dynastic, say about 4400 B.c., which would 
probably correspond to the early Sumerian periods. Some 
authorities indeed hold that Egypt was invaded by Babylonians, 
or was culturally permeated by the ‘ proto-Babylonians,” 
or Sumerians. Of invasion we possess no proof, or even 
strong suggestion ; of cultural permeation, to which Hommel, 
in especial, attributes the whole primeval culture of Egypt, 
some elements and some signs are possibly noticeable, but 
even these are Semitic, not Sumerian,! while their total com- 
pares insignificantly with those of native origin.2 
Of these signs, the use by the Egyptians of the cylinder seal, 
of which the Royal tombs of the first Dynasty afford examples, 
stands out as the most important. As this characterised 
Sumer and Babylonia at all times, while it fell into disuse in 
the country of the Pharaohs, the seal was inferred to be an 
original product of Sumer, whence it reached Egypt in late 
pre-dynastic or early dynastic times. 
But (as King? continues) “‘ Recent research—such as 
Naville’s at Abydos, and Reisner’s at Naga-ed-Dér—leaves 
small room for the theory that early Egyptian culture was 
subjected to any strong foreign influence in early dynastic 
times; thus the theory of the invasion by Semitic tribes 
must be given up.” Maspero maintains that as far back as 
1 The carved ivory handle of a flint knife in the Louvre proves (according 
to Petrie) that the art of slate-palettes in Egypt originated from Elamite 
civilisation, which flourished before its rise. It must be of pre-historic age, 
yet shows a well-developed art with Mesopotamian or Elamite affinities 
earlier than the sculptured slate-palettes and maceheads. M. G. Bénédite 
(Monuments Pict.) holds that in this knife-handle we have the most tangible 
evidence yet found of a connection in very early times between the Egyptian 
and Mesopotamian civilisations. King (Jour. Egypt. Archeology, vol. IV. 
Pp. 64) suggests that there was a connection with abylonian-Elamite seals 
from Susa. 
? Thus the general conception of pictographic writing might perhaps be 
borrowed from the Euphrates valley, but not a single sign taken from the 
Babylonian script can be found (W. Max Muller, Encly. Bibi., p. 1233). Dr. 
Alan Gardiner, on the origin of the Semitic and Greek alphabets, concludes 
that the evidence does point to the alphabet being Semitic in origin and based 
upon acrophonic picture signs (Journal of Egyptian Archeology, vol. III., p. 1). 
3 History of Sumer and Akkad (London, 1910), p. 322. 
