These and similar problems, however, will doubtless be cleared up by the progress of excavation and research. Perhaps M. de Morgan's excavations at Susa may throw some light on them, but it is to the work of the German expedition, which has recently begun the systematic exploration of the site of Babylon, that we must chiefly look for help. The Babylon of Nabopolassar and Nebuchadrezzar rose on the ruins of Nineveh, and the story of downfall of the Assyrian empire must still be lying buried under its mounds. A. H. SAYCE. TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE In completing the translation of this great work, I have to thank Professor Maspero for kindly permitting me to appeal to him on various questions which arose while preparing the translation. His patience and courtesy have alike been unfailing in every matter submitted for his decision. I am indebted to Miss Bradbury for kindly supplying, in the midst of much other literary work for the Egypt Exploration Fund, the translation of the chapter on the gods, and also of the earlier parts of some of the first chapters. She has, moreover, helped me in my own share of the work with many suggestions and hints, which her intimate connection with the late Miss Amelia B. Edwards fully qualified her to give. As in the original there is a lack of uniformity in the transcription and accentuation of Arabic names, I have ventured to alter them in several cases to the form most familiar to English readers. The spelling of the ancient Egyptian words has, at Professor Maspero's request, been retained throughout, with the exception that the French _ou_ has been invariably represented by u, e.g. Khnoumou by Khnumu. By an act of international courtesy, the director of the _Imprimerie Nationale_ has allowed the beautifully cut hieroglyphic and cuneiform type used in the original to be employed in the English edition, and I take advantage of this opportunity to express to him our thanks and appreciation of his graceful act. M. L. McClure. CONTENTS CHAPTER I.--THE NILE AND EGYPT The River and its Influence upon the Formation of the Country--The Oldest Inhabitants of the Valley and its First Political Organization CHAPTER II.--THE GODS OF EGYPT Their Number and their Nature--The Feudal Gods, Living and Dead--The Triads--Temples and Priests--The Cosmogonies of the Delta--The Enneads of Heliopolis and of Hermopolis CHAPTER III.--THE LEGENDARY HISTORY OF EGYPT The Divine Dynasties: Ra, Shu, Osiris, Sit, Horus-Thot, and the Invention of Sciences and Writing-Menes, and the Three First Human Dynasties [Illustration: 001.jpg PAGE ONE] [Illustration: 002.jpg PAGE TWO] CHAPTER I.--THE NILE AND EGYPT _THE RIVER AND ITS INFLUENCE UPON THE FORMATION AND CHARACTER OF THE COUNTRY--THE OLDEST INHABITANTS OF THE LAND--THE FIRST POLITICAL ORGANIZATION OF THE VALLEY._