=6.= Our First Book treats of the Hamitic and Semitic empires. With the rise of the Medo-Persian monarchy, the Aryan race came upon the scene, and it has ever since occupied the largest place in History. The _Hamitic_ nations were distinguished by their material grandeur, as exemplified by the enormous masses of stone employed in their architecture, and even in their sculpture; the _Semitic_, by their religious enthusiasm; the _Indo-Germanic_, by their intellectual activity, as exhibited in the highest forms of art, literature, and political organization. =7.= History is divided into three great portions or periods: Ancient, Mediæval, and Modern. Ancient History narrates the succession of empires which ruled Asia, Africa, and Europe, until the Roman dominion in Italy was overthrown by northern barbarians, A. D. 476. Mediæval History begins with the establishment of a German kingdom in Gaul, and ends with the close of the fifteenth century, when the revival of ancient learning, the multiplication of printed books, and the expansion of ideas by the discovery of a new continent, occasioned great mental activity, and led to the Modern Era, in which we live. =8.= Ancient History may be divided into five books: I. History of the Asiatic and African nations, from the earliest times to the foundation of the Persian Empire, B. C. 558. II. History of the Persian Empire, from the accession of Cyrus the Great to the death of Darius Codomannus, B. C. 558-330. III. History of the States and Colonies of Greece, from their earliest period to the accession of Alexander of Macedon, B. C. 336. IV. History of the Macedonian Empire, and the kingdoms formed from it, until their conquest by the Romans. V. History of Rome from its foundation to the fall of the Western Empire, A. D. 476. =9.= In the study of events, the two circumstances of time and place constantly demand our attention. Accordingly, CHRONOLOGY and GEOGRAPHY have been called the two eyes of History. It is only by the use of both that we can gain a complete and life-like impression of events. =10.= For the want of the former, a large portion of the life of man upon the globe can be but imperfectly known. There is no detailed record of the ages that preceded the Deluge and Dispersion; and even after those great crises, long periods are covered only by vague traditions. We have no complete chronology for the Hebrews before the building of Solomon’s Temple, B. C. 1004; for the Babylonians before Nabonassar, B. C. 748; or for the Greeks before the first Olympiad, B. C. 776. When its system of computation was settled, each nation selected its own era from which to date events; but we reduce all to our common reckoning of time before and after the Birth of Christ.