The existence of this extra-Egyptian imperial possession meant that the
eyes of the Egyptians were now permanently turned in the direction of
Western Asia, with which they were henceforth in constant and intimate
communication. The first Theban period and the Hyksos invasion,
therefore, mark a turning-point in Egyptian history, at which we may
fitly leave it for a time in order to turn our attention to those
peoples of Western Asia with whom the Egyptians had now come into
permanent contact.
Just as new discoveries have been made in Egypt, which have modified our
previous conception of her history, so also have the excavators of
the ancient sites in the Mesopotamian valley made, during the last few
years, far-reaching discoveries, which have enabled us to add to and
revise much of our knowledge of the history of Babylonia and Assyria. In
Palestine and the Sinaitic peninsula also the spade has been used with
effect, but a detailed account of work in Sinai and Palestine falls
within the limits of a description of Biblical discoveries rather than
of this book. The following chapters will therefore deal chiefly with
modern discoveries which have told us new facts with regard to the
history of the ancient Sumerians themselves, and of the Babylonians,
Elamites, Kassites, and Assyrians, the inheritors of the ancient
Sumerian civilization, which was older than that of Egypt, and which, as
we have seen, probably contributed somewhat to its formation.
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