Eastern Excavations

Abstract

TWO Eastern questions occupy the attention of Europe at the present time—one relating to the present, and, it is to be feared greatly, to the future; the other has reference to the past, and to the bridging over of that little-known protohistoric period which connects the civilisation of the far east, that is, Egypt and Assyria, with the culture of ancient Greece, to which we western Europeans are so much indebted. Different conditions of thought are engaged in the study of these two questions, yet both are connected, for the present crisis in the East represents the returning current of that same stream of culture which was flowing westward towards the dawn of our era, What Egypt and Assyria lent to Greece she passed on to Etruria and Rome, and the Romans carried to the shores of the Atlantic, there developing and fructifying, it has passed back eastward in a return wave, reviving the ancient monarchies in its path. Rome has regained its ancient landmarks. Germany has consolidated. Austria has been pushed, and is still pushing eastward. Greece is proclaiming the revival of its ancient nationality, and this will doubtless be followed in times to come by the resuscitation of Egypt and Palestine. The Turk, representing the last wave of the western flow, has been met and swamped by the returning ebb.

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By Dr. Henry Schliemann. (London: Murray, 1878.)

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By Dr. Henry Schliemann. (London: Murray, 1875.)

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By General Louis Palma di Cesnola. (London: Murray, 1877.)