The Early History of the Hebrews _BY THE SAME AUTHOR_ _Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 7s. 6d._ THE EGYPT OF THE HEBREWS AND HERODOTOS CONTENTS.—The Patriarchal Age—The Age of Moses—The Exodus—-The Hebrew Settlement in Canaan—The Age of the Israelitish Monarchies—The Age of the Ptolemies—Herodotos in Egypt—In the Steps of Herodotos—Memphis and the Fayyûm—Appendices—Index. ‘Professor Sayce has written a charming work, which every lover of Egypt will fly to. He makes the old Egypt live again with all the vitality of accurate research and of sympathetic explanation; he has produced one of the most readable, useful, and instructive books we have ever read.’—=Church Bells.= ‘Professor Sayce has a story of singular fascination to tell. Every person interested intelligently in Holy Scripture should make it a matter of duty to read this book.’—=Yorkshire Post.= ‘Truly a valuable addition to existing works on Egypt.’—=Western Morning News.= ‘On the whole, we know of no more useful handbook to Egyptian history, summing up in a popular form in a short compass the results of Egyptian research down to the present time.’—=Church Times.= LONDON: RIVINGTONS THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE HEBREWS BY The Rev. A. H. SAYCE PROFESSOR OF ASSYRIOLOGY AT OXFORD AUTHOR OF ‘EGYPT OF THE HEBREWS AND HERODOTOS’ RIVINGTONS _KING STREET, COVENT GARDEN_ LONDON 1897 _All rights reserved_ PREFACE There are many histories of Israel, but this is the first attempt to write one from a purely archæological point of view. During the last few years discovery after discovery has come crowding upon us from the ancient East, revolutionising all our past conceptions of early Oriental history, and opening out a new and unexpected world of culture and civilisation. For the Oriental archæologist Hebrew history has ceased to stand alone; it has taken its place in that great stream of human life and action which the excavator and decipherer are revealing to us, and it can at last be studied like the history of Greece or Rome. The age of the Patriarchs is being brought close to us; our museums are filled with written documents which are centuries older than Abraham; and we are beginning to understand the politics which underlie the story of the Pentateuch and the causes of the events which are narrated in it.