really a solar myth, which recounts the twelve labors of the sun in his
yearly passage through the twelve signs of the Chaldaean zodiac.

This epic was carried to the West, by the way of Phoenicia and Asia Minor,
and played a great part in the mythology of the Greeks and Romans. "The
twelve labors of Heracles may be traced back to the adventures of
Gisdhubar [Izdubar] as recorded in the twelve books of the great epic of
Chaldaea." (Sayce.)

SCIENCE.--In astronomy and arithmetic the Chaldaeans made substantial
progress. The clear sky and unbroken horizon of the Chaldaean plains,
lending an unusually brilliant aspect to the heavens, naturally led the
Chaldaeans to the study of the stars. They early divided the zodiac into
twelve signs, and named the zodiacal constellations, a memorial of their
astronomical attainments which will remain forever inscribed upon the
great circle of the heavens; they foretold eclipses, constructed sun-dials
of various patterns, divided the year into twelve months, and the day and
night into twelve hours each, and invented or devised the week of seven
days, the number of days in the week being determined by the course of the
moon. "The 7th, 14th, 19th, 21st, and 28th days of the lunar month were
kept like the Jewish Sabbath, and were actually so named in Assyria."

In arithmetic, also, the Chaldaeans made considerable advance. A tablet has
been found which contains the squares and cubes of the numbers from one to
sixty.

CONCLUSION.-This hasty glance at the beginnings of civilization among the
primitive peoples of the Euphrates valley, will serve to give us at least
some little idea of how much modern culture owes to the old Chaldaeans. We
may say that Chaldaea was one of the main sources--Egypt was the other--of