times. No doubt,
the Phoenicians deserve great credit for advancing shipbuilding, trade,
and commerce, and in extending their explorations over a wide range of
the known earth. To them, also, we give credit for the perfection of
the alphabet and the manufacture of glass, precious stones, and dyes;
but their prominence in history appears in the long struggle between
the Carthaginians and the Romans.

_A Comparison of the Egyptian and Babylonian Civilizations_.--Taken as
a whole, there is a similarity in some respects between the Egyptian
and the Babylonian civilizations. Coming from different racial groups,
from different centres, there must necessarily be contrasts in many of
the arts of life. Egypt was an isolated country with a long river
flowing through its entire length, which brought from the mountains the
detritus which kept its valleys fertile. Communication was established
through the whole length by boats, which had a tendency to promote
social intercourse and establish national life. With the Mediterranean
on the north, the Red Sea on the east, and the Libyan Desert to the
west, it was tolerably well protected even though not shut in by high
mountain ranges. Yet it was open at all times for the hardy invaders
who sought food for {163} flocks and herds and people. There was
always "corn in Egypt" to those people suffering from drought in the
semi-arid districts of Africa and Arabia.

Nevertheless, while Egypt suffered many invasions, she maintained with
considerable constancy the ancient racial traits, and had a continuity
of development through the passing centuries which retained many of the
primitive characteristics. The valley of the Euphrates was kept
fertile by the flow of the great rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates,
which, having a large watershed in the mountains, brought floods down
through the valleys bearing the silt which made the land fertile. But
in both countries at an early period the population encroached upon the
natural supply of food, and methods of irrigation were introduced to
increase the food supply. The attempts to build palaces, monuments,
and tombs were characteristic of both peoples. On account of the
dryness of the climate, these great monuments have been preserved with
a freshness through thousands of years. In the valley of the Euphrates
many of the cities that were reduced to ruin were covered with the
drifting sands and floods until they are buried beneath the surf