XX. The Last Days of Assyria and Babylonia




PREFACE


This volume deals with the myths and legends of Babylonia and Assyria,
and as these reflect the civilization in which they developed, a
historical narrative has been provided, beginning with the early
Sumerian Age and concluding with the periods of the Persian and
Grecian Empires. Over thirty centuries of human progress are thus
passed under review.

During this vast interval of time the cultural influences emanating
from the Tigro-Euphrates valley reached far-distant shores along the
intersecting avenues of trade, and in consequence of the periodic and
widespread migrations of peoples who had acquired directly or
indirectly the leavening elements of Mesopotamian civilization. Even
at the present day traces survive in Europe of the early cultural
impress of the East; our "Signs of the Zodiac", for instance, as well
as the system of measuring time and space by using 60 as a basic
numeral for calculation, are inheritances from ancient Babylonia.

As in the Nile Valley, however, it is impossible to trace in
Mesopotamia the initiatory stages of prehistoric culture based on the
agricultural mode of life. What is generally called the "Dawn of
History" is really the beginning of a later age of progress; it is
necessary to account for the degree of civilization attained at the