Excerpt from The Land of the Two RiversThis little book does not aim at setting down anything new or serving purposes of reference, like a textbook or an encyclopaedia article. My object has been rather to do in writing what one might do in conversation, if anyone casually put the question: What as a matter of fact has Meso potamia stood for in the past The country which we incorrectly call Mesopotamia and the countries connected with it - Armenia, Asia Minor, Palestine, Persia - have recently become associated with living interests of the hour and immediate questions of practical politics; that may seem a reason for trying to give a fresh rapid survey of what their significance has been in former ages. Their past stretches out through a long procession of centuries; if these are to be ashed before the mind of a reader in the space of an hour or so, one is obviously confronted with the dilemma of either so crowding together details that the Whole becomes a dry rehearsal of unfamiliar facts and names, or, on the other hand, of dropping.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy.

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