"The oldest civilizations known are oriental. So remote are they to our gaze that they seem to blend into one, but study reveals many distinct ideas and cultures. To speak of only two of these, there were such different civilizations as the Egyptian and the Babylonian. Upon the two countries represented by those names there falls the strongest light of discovery. But that light, diffused by the widening of exploration and made clearer by the interpreters of the results, is showing a large ancient world instead of a small one. There were, in fact, many oriental peoples, each contributing to the richly diversified intellectual and material development of the early oriental world. They worked at life's problems and had wrought out many principles of civilization centuries before the peoples came into historical view. Certain of their institutions still serve us to this day." - Elihu Grant
Contents: Relationships between the Ancient World and Later Times. The Peoples of the Early Orient. Different Ways of Looking at Life. Where Does the East Begin? The Union of Three Continents. The Comparative Isolation of the Early Egyptians. The Greater Openness of Early Babylonia. The Early Assyrians. Ancient Egypt up to the Time of the Expulsion of the Hyksos. The Land of the Nile. The People of Egypt, Classes and Customs. Primitive Life. Religion of the Egyptians. The Memphite Age. The Development of the Pyramid. Early Invasion. The Pyramid-Building Age. The Thebaic Age. The Hyksos Invasion. The Imperial Age. Egypt and Palestine. The Treaty Between Egyptians and Hittites. Invasion by Sea and Land. The Fall of Thebes. The Greeks in Egypt. Babylonians Followed by Persians. The Continuing Importance of the Near East. Sumer and Akkad. Fertility of Old Sumer. Who Were the Assyrians? The Babylonian Age. Intellectual Achievements. The great Law-Code of Hammurabi. Barbarians from the East. Building the Assyrian Nation. The Return of Babylon to Power. The Heirs of Assyria. The Conquest of the East and of Babylon. Cyrus and the Jewish Captives. The Conquest of Egypt. Cambysese in Egypt. Darius and the Greeks. Alexander the Great. The Conquest of the East by the West. Mediterranean Influences Mingle with Arabian. The Phenicians. Palestine, the Southern Part of Syria. The Egyptian Control in the Thirteenth Century. The Philistines. Hebrews or Israelites. Samson. Saul the First True King. The disaffected South and David. The rise of Hebrew prophecy. The Social and Religious Condition of Israel in the Time of Amos. Jerusalem the Place Where Men are to Worship. Jeremiah and the Great Reform. In the Years of Exile. The Difficulties of Reconstruction.
Contents: Relationships between the Ancient World and Later Times. The Peoples of the Early Orient. Different Ways of Looking at Life. Where Does the East Begin? The Union of Three Continents. The Comparative Isolation of the Early Egyptians. The Greater Openness of Early Babylonia. The Early Assyrians. Ancient Egypt up to the Time of the Expulsion of the Hyksos. The Land of the Nile. The People of Egypt, Classes and Customs. Primitive Life. Religion of the Egyptians. The Memphite Age. The Development of the Pyramid. Early Invasion. The Pyramid-Building Age. The Thebaic Age. The Hyksos Invasion. The Imperial Age. Egypt and Palestine. The Treaty Between Egyptians and Hittites. Invasion by Sea and Land. The Fall of Thebes. The Greeks in Egypt. Babylonians Followed by Persians. The Continuing Importance of the Near East. Sumer and Akkad. Fertility of Old Sumer. Who Were the Assyrians? The Babylonian Age. Intellectual Achievements. The great Law-Code of Hammurabi. Barbarians from the East. Building the Assyrian Nation. The Return of Babylon to Power. The Heirs of Assyria. The Conquest of the East and of Babylon. Cyrus and the Jewish Captives. The Conquest of Egypt. Cambysese in Egypt. Darius and the Greeks. Alexander the Great. The Conquest of the East by the West. Mediterranean Influences Mingle with Arabian. The Phenicians. Palestine, the Southern Part of Syria. The Egyptian Control in the Thirteenth Century. The Philistines. Hebrews or Israelites. Samson. Saul the First True King. The disaffected South and David. The rise of Hebrew prophecy. The Social and Religious Condition of Israel in the Time of Amos. Jerusalem the Place Where Men are to Worship. Jeremiah and the Great Reform. In the Years of Exile. The Difficulties of Reconstruction.
