We are, therefore, quite prepared to find exceptions to the general rule that, as races civilise and pass into the light of history, woman will be found subordinate. At the same time, we must, for the purpose of this inquiry, bear clearly in mind the distinction between power and respect in the home, or in social life generally, and influence in the political administration. Even in works that profess to deal with woman's political development this is not always done. Possibly, if we bear that distinction in mind, we may find it necessary to modify a prevailing impression in regard to ancient Egypt. The golden age of the women of Egypt comes comparatively late (about 1500 B.C.) in the history of that remarkable nation; but all the records tend to show that her position was one of relative ease and dignity from the beginning of the dynastic race. Between 8000 and 5000 B.C. we find broken traces of a long struggle for the Nile delta between tribes (apparently) from the African east and the Asiatic west. About 5000 B.C. a powerful, civilised race enters the arena, conquers the land, and founds the Egyptian people that we know so well. Where they came from is still a matter of conjecture, but there is good reason to believe that they brought their early civilisation from some part of southern Arabia. We must suppose that they came from one of those tribes, still plentiful enough in the north of Africa and the south of Asia, in which women held a good position. Even to-day we find tribes side by side in the African desert (such as the Tuaregs and the Bedouins) who hold a radically different attitude towards their women. This must have been the case with the great variety of tribes that were found in the region of Persia, Syria, and Arabia thousands of years before Christ. From one tribe came the Jews, whose attitude to woman has had so baneful an influence on her history. From another came the ancestors of the Egyptians of the historic period.