There were carved ivories, Egyptian cartouches, sculptured sphinxes, to link Babylon and Assyria with ancient Egypt, to show that intercourse existed between the two peoples, just as the monuments of Egypt indicated. Three thousand years ago letters written in cuneiform characters on clay tablets were regularly passing to and fro between the two countries. Apparently at that time the cuneiform characters could be read equally well by Egyptians and Babylonians and Assyrians, as is proved by the Tell el Amarna tablets discovered in Egypt. Some of the clay letters of those days are very similar to puppy biscuits in colour, shape and size; others might easily be mistaken for oblong tablets of toilet soap. Whether the civilization of Egypt and that of Mesopotamia developed simultaneously independent of each other is a question that is still unsettled. The general opinion is that the beginnings of all civilization are to be found in Mesopotamia, but men who have spent their lives studying ancient Egypt give precedence to the civilization of the Nile. These are things which may never be solved. [Illustration: _By courtesy of the British Museum_ THIS CLAY SPELLING BOOK OF BABYLON WAS THE FORERUNNER OF THE MODERN SPELLING BOOK] [Illustration: IN OLDEN DAYS LEGAL DOCUMENTS WERE GRAVED IN STONE AND WRITTEN IN CLAY. THIS CLAY TABLET WITH ITS QUAINT CUNEIFORM CHARACTERS IS A DEED RECORDING THE SALE OF A PIECE OF LAND] [Illustration: MODERN ENVELOPES FOR LETTERS WERE ANTICIPATED BY THIS RARE BABYLONIAN ENVELOPE OF CLAY WHICH ENCLOSED THE DEED] The evidence seems to indicate that the original inhabitants of Babylonia were the Sumerians, who were already possessed of a fair culture. They were able to read and write, and their writing, in archaic cuneiform characters, was the writing out of which the Babylonian cuneiform characters in the course of time developed. Later variants of it were the Persian and the Median cuneiform, which were carved by order of Darius on the rock at Behistun. A peaceful, pastoral people, the Sumerians lived by agriculture and not by war, and they were swamped by invading Semites, who adopted the culture of the Sumerians they had conquered. The conquerors made Babylon the first city of the world. The same people left their impress on Egypt, and their characteristics—dark eyes, big lips and hook noses—are well preserved for us in the sculptures of Assyria. The power of Babylon waxed and waned. The Assyrians, seizing their opportunity, threw off their bondage, and, sweeping across country, conquered the walled city of mighty Babylon itself. Sennacherib razed the city to the ground. For a time Nineveh blossomed as the first city of the East. Then came the Babylonians with fire and sword, and utterly destroyed Assyria and its civilization.