Page:The Science of History and the Hope of Mankind.djvu/37



habitable tracts, as well as the physical and natural means of defence from foreign inroads. These social and physical conditions of the surrounding universe are responsible for the wars and alliances, inter-mixtures and inter-marriages, religious rapprochements and territorial expansions, industrial developments and ethnical assimilations that make up the Drama of Ancient History.

Such inter-racial connections and mutual intercourse between peoples of various origins have left their stamp on the culture and civilisation of the Egyptians and Babylonians. So also Hellenic civilisation was not an isolated growth, but was the product of the world-influences of the classic age. The little city-states of Greece developed their peculiar type of life