The Story of Extinct Civilizations of the East

and adaptability than all the white races who were their neighbours. CHAPTER II. CHALDEA AND BABYLONIA. In the map of Western Asia there is a long valley seen, separating the deserts of Northern Arabia from the Median Mountains on the western frontier of Persia. During all modern history, and as far back as the time of ancient Greece and Rome, this well-watered region has been a scene of desolation and waste, yet it was once one of the most important centres of population and wealth, crowded for countless centuries with various races, and the seat of perhaps the oldest of extinct civilizations. This great country, the " Land of the Chaldees " in the Old Testament, had been named Babilu, "the Gate of God," by the Assyrians,?Babilu, or " Babel," meaning the same as Kadi-mirra, which was the name given to the capital of the monarchy in the original language. The obvious cause of the early population here was the alluvial soil spread over a wide, flat plain by the Euphratesand Tigris. The fertility and ease of tillage attracted generations of squatters, settlers, and cultivators from the first beginning of human life on our planet. The southern part of this region, according to geologists, has been won from the sea; the twin rivers having brought down from the Armenian mountains so abundant and constant a supply of deposits, as not only to fertilize the whole valley, but gradually convert the head of the Persian Gulf into splendid farms and gardens. About the y...