When
Cleopatra heard of this plan, she killed herself by taking poison.
And Egypt became a Roman province.
MESOPOTAMIA
MESOPOTAMIA--THE SECOND CENTRE OF
EASTERN CIVILISATION
I AM going to take you to the top of the highest pyramid
and I am going to ask that you imagine yourself possessed
of the eyes of a hawk. Way, way off, in the distance, far
beyond the yellow sands of the desert, you will see something
green and shimmering. It is a valley situated between two
rivers. It is the Paradise of the Old Testament. It is the
land of mystery and wonder which the Greeks called Mesopotamia--
the ``country between the rivers.''
The names of the two rivers are the Euphrates (which the
Babylonians called the Purattu) and the Tigris (which was
known as the Diklat). They begin their course amidst the
snows of the mountains of Armenia where Noah's Ark found
a resting place and slowly they flow through the southern
plain until they reach the muddy banks of the Persian gulf.
They perform a very useful service. They turn the arid
regions of western Asia into a fertile garden.
The valley of the Nile had attracted people because it had
offered them food upon fairly easy terms. The ``land between
the rivers'' was popular for the same reason. It was a
country full of promise and both the inhabitants of the northern
mountains and the tribes which roamed through the
southern deserts tried to claim this territory as their own and
most exclusive possession.
Pages:
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55