. The dawn of civilization: Egypt and Chaldaea . pread into Elam andtook possession of the inhabitants of the shores of the Persian Gulf, and then,since its course was impeded on the south by the sea, on the west by the desert,and on the east by the mountains, it turned in the direction of the great northernplains and proceeded up the two rivers, beside whose lower waters it had beencradled. It was at this very time that the Pharaohs of the XIII1 dynasty hadjust completed the conquest of Nubia. Greater Egypt, made what she was bythe efforts of twenty generations, had become an African power. T
. The dawn of civilization: Egypt and Chaldaea . pread into Elam andtook possession of the inhabitants of the shores of the Persian Gulf, and then,since its course was impeded on the south by the sea, on the west by the desert,and on the east by the mountains, it turned in the direction of the great northernplains and proceeded up the two rivers, beside whose lower waters it had beencradled. It was at this very time that the Pharaohs of the XIII1 dynasty hadjust completed the conquest of Nubia. Greater Egypt, made what she was bythe efforts of twenty generations, had become an African power. The seaformed her northern boundary, the desert and the mountains enclosed her onall sides, and the Nile appeared the only natural outlet into a new world :she followed it indefatigably from one cataract to another, colonizing as shepassed all the lands fertilized by its waters. Every step which she made in this 1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a sketch by Loptus, Travels and Researches in Chaldsea andSwiana. The original is in the British 784 CHALDjEAN civilization. direction increased the distance between her capitals and the Mediterranean, andbrought her armies further south. Asia would have practically ceased to exist,as far as Egypt was concerned, had not the repeated incursions of the Bedouinobliged her to make advances from time to time in that direction; still shecrossed the frontier as seldom as possible, and recalled her troops as soon as theyhad reduced the marauders to order : Ethiopia alone attracted her, and it wasthere that she firmly established her empire. The two great civilized peoplesof the ancient world, therefore, had each their field of action clearly markedout, and neither of them had ever ventured into that of the other. Therehad been no lack of intercourse between them, and the encounter of theirarmies, if it ever really had taken place, had been accidental, had merelyproduced passing results, and up till then had terminated without bringing toei
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookidd, booksubjectcivilization
