=Painting.=--The Egyptians used very solid colors; after 5,000 years they are still fresh and bright. But they were ignorant of coloring designs; they knew neither tints, shadows, nor perspective. Painting, like sculpture, was subject to religious rules and was therefore monotonous. If fifty persons were to be represented, the artist made them all alike. =Literature.=--The literature of the Egyptians is found in the tombs--not only books of medicine, of magic and of piety, but also poems, letters, accounts of travels, and even romances. =Destiny of the Egyptian Civilization.=--The Egyptians conserved their customs, religion, and arts even after the fall of their empire. Subjects of the Persians, then the Greeks, and at last of the Romans, they kept their old usages, their hieroglyphics, their mummies and sacred animals. At last between the third and second centuries A.D., Egyptian civilization was slowly extinguished. FOOTNOTES: [6] Following the curves of the stream.--ED. [7] In some localities, _e.g._ Thebes, the flood is even higher.--ED. [8] An enclosing case. [9] 525 B.C.--ED. [10] The chronology of early Egyptian history is uncertain. Civilization existed in this land much earlier than was formerly supposed.--ED. [11] According to Petrie ("History of Egypt," New York, 1895, i., 40) _twenty years_ were consumed.--ED. [12] Perrot and Chipiez ("History of Ancient Egyptian Art," London. 1883, i., 365) give 340 feet by 170.--ED. [13] Probably much earlier than this.--ED. [14] The Louvre Museum in Paris has an excellent collection of Egyptian subjects. CHAPTER IV ASSYRIANS AND BABYLONIANS CHALDEA =The Land.=--From the high and snowy mountains of Armenia flow two deep and rapid rivers, the Tigris to the east, the Euphrates to the west. At first in close proximity, they separate as they reach the plain. The Tigris makes a straight course, the Euphrates a great détour towards the sandy deserts; then they unite before emptying into the sea. The country which they embrace is Chaldea. It is an immense plain of extraordinarily fertile soil; rain is rare and the heat is overwhelming. But the streams furnish water and this clayey soil when irrigated by canals becomes the most fertile in the world. Wheat and barley produce 200-fold; in good years the returns are 300-fold. Palms constitute the forests and from these the people make their wine, meal and flour.[15] =The People.=--For many centuries, perhaps as long as Egypt, Chaldea has been the abode of civilized peoples. Many races from various lands have met and mingled in these great plains. There were Turanians of the yellow race, similar to the Chinese, who came from the north-east; Cushites, deep brown in color, related to the Egyptians, came from the east; Semites, of the white race, of the same stock as the Arabs, descended from the north.[16] The Chaldean people had its origin in this mixture of races.