PREFACE v
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xi
I. THE STUDY OF ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS 1
II. THE PREHISTORY OF THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST 25
III. THE CITIES OF MESOPOTAMIA 49
IV. EGYPT, THE KINGDOM OF THE TWO LANDS 90
APPENDIX. The Influence of Mesopotamia on Egypt Towards the End
of the Fourth Millennium B.C. 121
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 138
INDEX 139
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
_Following page 64_
1A. Bone sickle haft with end carved in form of animal’s (goat’s)
head, and groove for inserting flints, 38 cm. long, from
Mugharet el-Kebarah, Natufian (_Journal of the Royal
Anthropological Institute_, LXII [1932], Plate XXVII, 1)
1B. Upper part of bone sickle haft with carving of a young deer, about
11 cm. long, from Mugharet el-Wad, Lower Natufian (D. A. E.
Garrod and D. M. A. Bate, _The Stone Age of Mount Carmel_,
Vol. I [Oxford, 1937], Plate XIII, 3)
1C. Upper part of bone sickle haft with end carved in form of human
figure and groove, 12.8 cm. long, from Sialk in Persia (R.
Ghirshman, _Fouilles de Sialk_, Vol. I [Paris, 1938], Plate
LIV, 1)
1D. Sickle of wood with cutting edge of flints, 51.5 cm. long, from
the Fayum (G. Caton-Thompson and E. W. Gardner, _The Desert
Fayum_ [London, 1934], Plate XXX)
1E. Wooden sickle of the First Dynasty with cutting edge of flints, 45
cm. long, from Saqqara (Walter B. Emery, _The Tomb of Hemaka_
[Cairo, 1938], Plate XV, D)
2. Camp site at Hassuna (_Journal of Near Eastern Studies_, IV [1945],
Fig. 27)
3. Papyrus swamp on the Upper Nile (Courtesy of Natural History
Museum, New York)
4. Chart of the sequence of predynastic and protodynastic remains, by
Dr. Helene J. Kantor, Oriental Institute, University of
Chicago
5. Sculptured trough in the British Museum (W. Andrae, _Das Gotteshaus
and die Urformen des Bauens im alten Orient_ [Berlin, 1930],
Plate II)
6. Marsh Arabs in Southern Iraq (Photo Underwood)
7. Clay objects of the Al Ubaid period, from Tell Uqair, in the Iraq
Museum, Baghdad (_Journal of Near Eastern Studies_, II [1943],
Plate XVI)
8. The “White Temple” on its ziggurat at Erech (_Achter vorläufiger
Bericht, Abhandlungen der Preussischen Akademie der
Wissenschaften_, 1937, Phil.-Hist. Klasse, Plate 40_b_)
9. Semi-engaged columns covered with cone mosaic (_Dritter vorläufiger
Bericht, Abhandlungen der Preussischen Akademie der
Wissenschaften_, 1932, Phil.-Hist. Klasse, Plate I)
10. Colonnade on platform at Erech (_ibid._, Plate 8)
11. The Ishtar ziggurat at Erech in Assyrian times (W. Andrae, in
Otto, _Handbuch der Archaeologie_, Plate 144)
12. Cult relief, from Assur (W. Andrae, _Kultrelief aus dem Brunnen
des Assurtempels zu Assur_ [1931], Plate I)
13. The development of Mesopotamian writing (J. H. Breasted, _Ancient
Times_, 2nd ed. [Boston, 1935], Fig. 86)
14. Impression of a cylinder seal of the Protoliterate period showing
bulls and ears of barley (Frankfort, _Cylinder Seals_ [London,
1939], Plate V_b_)
15. Impression of a cylinder seal of the Protoliterate period showing
offerings of fruit, vases, etc., being made to the
mother-goddess (_ibid._, Plate V_c_)
16. Impression of a cylinder seal of the Protoliterate period showing
frieze of monsters (_ibid._, Plate V_h_)
17-18. Front and back of the stone figure of a ram in the Babylonian
Collection, Yale University (Courtesy of Yale University Art
Gallery), length 21.8 cm., height 15.8 cm.
19. Early Dynastic temple at Khafajah (P. Delougaz, _The Temple Oval
at Khafajah_ [Chicago, 1940], Frontispiece)
20. Copper model of primitive chariot, from Tell Agrab (Courtesy,
Oriental Institute, University of Chicago), height 7.2 cm.
21. Alabaster figure of the Early Dynastic period, from Khafajah
(Frankfort, _More Sculpture from the Diyala Region_ [Chicago,
1943], Frontispiece), height 7.2 cm.
22. Head of an Akkadian ruler, from Nineveh (Courtesy of Department of
Antiquities, Baghdad)
23-24. The Gebel el Arak knife-handle (Louvre: _Journal of Egyptian
Archaeology_, V [1919], Plate XXXII)
25. The Hunters’ palette (British Museum and Louvre; Capart,
_Primitive Art in Egypt_, 231, Fig. 170)
26. Macehead of king “Scorpion” (Courtesy of Ashmolean Museum, Oxford)
27-28. Palette of King Narmer (Cairo Museum; photographs of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
29. Harvesting scenes, from the tomb of Ti, Old Kingdom, about 2400
B.C. (Wreszinski, _Atlas zur Altaegyptischen
Kulturgeschichte_, III, Plate 49)
30. Agricultural scenes, from the tomb of Menna, New Kingdom, about
1400 B.C. (Wreszinski, _Atlas zur Altaegyptischen
Kulturgeschichte_, I, Plate 231)
31. Plan of workmen’s village at Tell el Amarna, about 1360 B.C. (Peet
and Woolley, _The City of Akhenaten_, I, Plate 16)
32. Impression of a Mesopotamian cylinder seal, from Egypt (Berlin;
Scharff, _Altertümer der Vor- und Frühzeit Aegyptens_, 1929,
Plate 25, No. 135)
33-34. Impressions of two cylinder seals of the second half of the
Protoliterate period, from Khafajah (Courtesy of Oriental
Institute, University of Chicago)
35. Wooden cylinder seal of the First Dynasty, from Abydos (Berlin;
Scharff, _op. cit._, Plate 27, No. 48)
36. Impression of Fig. 35
37. Cylindrical funerary amulet (Berlin; Scharff, _op. cit._, Plate
26, No. 145)
38. Impression of Fig. 37, showing long-haired man seated at offering
table
39. Cylindrical funerary amulet showing seated man (Berlin; Scharff,
_op. cit._, Plate 26, No. 146)
40-41. Flint knife with gold-foil handle, from Gebel et Tarif (Cairo;
J. E. Quibell, _Archaic Objects_ [Cairo, 1905], p. 237)
42. Two buildings, with recesses and towers, of the First Dynasty in
Egypt, and a seal impression of the second half of the
Protoliterate period, from Khafajah (_American Journal of
Semitic Languages and Literatures_, LVIII [1941], Plate I,
_a_, _b_)
43. Stela of King Djet of the First Dynasty (Louvre)
44. Three buildings with recesses, rendered on monuments of the First
Dynasty in Egypt, and three Mesopotamian cylinder-seal
impressions of the Protoliterate period (_American Journal of
Semitic Languages and Literatures_, LVIII [1941], Plate 341,
Fig. 7)
45. Plan of the “White Temple” on the archaic ziggurat at Erech
(_Achter vorläufiger Bericht_, 1937, Plate 19_b_)
46. Plan of the Tomb of Hemaka at Saqqara (W. B. Emery, _The Tomb of
Hemaka_, Plate I)
47. Tomb ornamented with recesses, at Abu Roash (_Kemi_, VII [1938],
Plate XI_a_)
48. Recesses of the “White Temple” at Erech (Drawn after _Achter
vorläufiger Bericht_, 1937, Plate 14_b_)
49. Wooden coffin imitating a recessed building with round wooden
beams, from Tarkhan (Petrie, _Tarkhan_, I, Plate XXVIII)
50. Recessed tomb with round wooden beams, of the First Dynasty, at
Abu Roash (_Kemi_, VII [1938], p. 40, Fig. 9)
51. Map of the Ancient Near East, from the _Westminster Historical
Atlas to the Bible_ (The Westminster Press, [Philadelphia,
1945], 22)