f the periodic and
widespread migrations of peoples who had acquired directly or
indirectly the leavening elements of Mesopotamian civilization. Even
at the present day traces survive in Europe of the early cultural
impress of the East; our "Signs of the Zodiac", for instance, as well
as the system of measuring time and space by using 60 as a basic
numeral for calculation, are inheritances from ancient Babylonia.

As in the Nile Valley, however, it is impossible to trace in
Mesopotamia the initiatory stages of prehistoric culture based on the
agricultural mode of life. What is generally called the "Dawn of
History" is really the beginning of a later age of progress; it is
necessary to account for the degree of civilization attained at the
earliest period of which we have knowledge by postulating a remoter
age of culture of much longer duration than that which separates the
"Dawn" from the age in which we now live. Although Sumerian (early
Babylonian) civilization presents distinctively local features which
justify the application of the term "indigenous" in the broad sense,
it is found, like that of Egypt, to be possessed of certain elements
which suggest exceedingly remote influences and connections at present
obscure. Of special interest in this regard is Professor Budge's
mature and well-deliberated conclusion that "both the Sumerians and
early Egyptians derived their primeval gods from some common but
exceedingly ancient source". The prehistoric burial customs of these
separate peoples are also remarkably similar and they resemble closely
in turn those of the Neolithic Europeans. The cumulative effect of
such evidence forces us to regard as not wholly satisfactory and
conclusive the hypothesis of cultural influence. A remote racial
connection is possible, and is certainly worthy of consideration when
so high an authority as Professor Frazer, author of _The Golden
Bough_, is found prepared to admit that the widespread "homogeneity of
beliefs" may have been due to "homogeneity of race". It is shown
(Chapter 1) that certain ethnologists have accumulated data which
establish a racial kinship between the Neolithic Europeans, the
proto-Egyptians, the Sumerians, the southern Persians, and the
Aryo-Indians.

Throughout this volume comparative notes have been compiled in dealing
with Mesopotamian beliefs with purpose to assist the reader towards
the study of linking myths and legends. Interesting parallels have
been glean