the southern desert is, like the valley of the Nile, a quite recent
formation. The rivers have gradually formed it with their deposit in the
course of the last ten thousand years. As this rich soil became covered
with vegetation, it attracted the mountaineers from the north. As I
said, the earliest centre of the civilisation which was to culminate in
Babylon and Nineveh is traced at Susa, on the hills to the north, about
6000 B.C. The Akkadians (highlanders) or Sumerians, the Turanian people
who established this civilisation, descended upon the rivers, and, about
5000 B.C., set up the early cities of Mesopotamia. As in the case of
Egypt, again, more tribes were attracted to the fertile region, and
by about 4000 B.C. we find that Semitic tribes from the north have
superseded the Sumerians, and taken over their civilisation.

In these ancient civilisations, developing in touch with each other, and
surrounded by great numbers of peoples at the high Neolithic level from
which they had themselves started, culture advanced rapidly. Not
only science, art, literature, commerce, law, and social forms were
developed, but moral idealism reached a height that compares well
even with that of modern times. The recovery in our time of the actual
remains of Egypt and Babylon has corrected much of the libellous legend,
which found its way into Greek and European literature, concerning
those ancient civilisations. But, as culture advances, human development
becomes so complex that we must refrain from attempting to pursue, even
in summary, its many outgrowths. The evolution of morality, of art, of
religion, of polity, and of literature would each require a whole volume
for satisfactory treatment. All that we can do here is to show how the
modern world and its progressive culture are related to these ancient
empires.

The aphorism that "all light comes from the east" may at times be
pressed too literally. To suggest that western peoples have done no more
than receive and develop the culture of the older east would be at once
unscientific and unhistorical. By the close of the Neolithic age a great
number of peoples had reached the threshold of civilisation, and it
would be extremely improbable that in only two parts of the world the
conditions would be found of further progress. That the culture of
these older empires has enriched Europe and had a great share in its
civilisation, is one of the most obvious of historical truths. But we
mus