Recent antiquarian research, in the hands of a greatly expanded scholarship, has completely revolutionized ancient Oriental history. The last 150 years have been prolific of discoveries going to enlarge our knowledge of the pre-Hellenic world. First came the original memoirs of the discoverers and decipherers; then great works combining their fruits into connected history and rehandling the old narratives in their light; and now we are having all that condensed and separated from critical apparatus and presented in forms for popular reading and instruction. Among works of the latter class this of Lenormant is positively one of the best we have yet seen. Its clear and brief narrative contains the latest results of the most advanced Orientalists, in their respective fields, and the whole is woven together by a scholar whose own life has been devoted successfully to the same round of subjects. This is volume one out of two covering the histories of the Israelites, Egyptians, Assyrians and Babylonians.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1874.