Signs which tell men where to dig—Egypt’s wonderful climate, which preserves things almost for ever—Why the Nile was worshipped—The annual floods and how they were watched by the people of old—The strange adventures of Cleopatra’s Needle—Pagans who anticipated Christian teachings 32 CHAPTER V Graves which make history—The great age of Egyptian civilization—Mud that tells a story—The first king of Egypt—The romance of the tombs—The Book of the Dead which contains some Christian commandments—The sleight of hand of ancient scribes 42 CHAPTER VI Wonders of the Pyramids—The mystery surrounding them and a simple explanation—How the Pyramids were built—Amazing accuracy of architects who lived 6000 years ago—The secret entrance found at last by thieves—Why the Pyramids were one of the plagues of Egypt—The problem of the Great Sphinx—The Colossi of Memnon that guard a vanished temple 54 CHAPTER VII Thebes, the one-time capital of Egypt, then and now—Armies to transport stones—Handling the gigantic obelisks—Controlling the floods thousands of years ago—An endless battle of wits between the Pharaohs and the tomb robbers—The greatest discovery of Royal mummies ever made—Romantic lives of two famous men—The appalling desolation of the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings 71 CHAPTER VIII A despised statue that realised £10,000—Some American discoveries—Finding treasure valued at £3,000,000—How chance led Professor Flinders Petrie to a long-lost city—His weird adventure with a mummy—The tablets of Tell-el-Amarna—Dramatic moments at the opening of Tutankhamen’s tomb—The mummy that vanished—How relics are preserved—Ancient ladies who painted their faces in modern fashion—A marvellous knife made of stone 91 CHAPTER IX The mystery of cuneiform writing—A young English soldier who solved an age-old puzzle—Rawlinson’s work on the Rock at Behistun—Perched on the verge of a precipice—His thrilling escape from death—How he read the unknown Persian writing that revealed the civilizations of Babylonia and Assyria 105 CHAPTER X Hills which are buried cities—Romance of Sir Austin Henry Layard—The young English lawyer who went into the desert and dug up Nineveh of old—The Arab who laughed at the men who hunted broken bricks, and the remarkable result 119 CHAPTER XI