PREFACE

In the first part of this volume the peoples discussed were classified either according to the physical or cultural stage in evolution which they had reached or according to the locality in which their material remains had first been found by archaeologists. Such terms as Neanderthal man, the Palaeolithic age, Badarians and the Tell Halaf culture are definitions with a limited application which are useful for scientific purposes, but they are nevertheless a cloak for anonymity. It was the invention of writing which enabled man to record his existence as an individual and thus to provide later generations with a means of determining his identity.

At the time when the events which are described in the opening chapters of this second part were taking place, writing had come into use in Mesopotamia and Egypt, and in Elam too, but its early script has only recently been deciphered. Elsewhere, with the possible exception of the Indus Valley, man seems to have been illiterate. Very early records, however, offer the historian but limited assistance; they generally refer to isolated incidents without giving much indication of the background. Chronicles compiled in later times supplement this sketchy information to a significant degree, but. they are not always reliable. Biographical texts in narrative form do not seem to have been written before the middle of the Third Millennium b. c., the earliest known being inscriptions in the tomb of an Egyptian official named Metjen, who died in the reign of Sneferu (r. 2600 B. C.). Fortunately, both in Egypt and in Mesopotamia the value of the written document, for secular and for religious purposes, was soon recognized and long before the end of the period covered by this volume a varied, but unevenly distributed, body of literature is available to provide a framework to which the evidence of the monuments and of the very considerable quantity of uninscribed material can be attached.

Meanwhile on the islands of the Aegean Sea and on the Greek mainland Neolithic civilizations reached their maturity and attained high levels of artistic achievement. They were largely swept away by the waves of immigrants from the Near East which inaugurated the beginning of the Bronze Age in Aegean lands. As the Early Bronze Age drew towards its close, two develop-

Merits began to which names may be given: on the northern confines of the Greek peninsula the appearance of speakers of an Indo-European language, which we label ‘Greek’, and in Crete the beginning of a Palace-centred civilization, with which the name of ‘Minos’ is associated.

Mention has already been made in the Preface to the first part of this volume of the code employed in the footnotes for reference to the bibliographies. It will be noticed that in some chapters additions have been made to the bibliographies which were printed in the separate fascicles. These additions, arranged in alphabetical order, are appended to the relevant bibliographies and the letter A is prefixed in the footnotes to the sequence number of the book or article. The plates, to which reference is made in the footnotes, will be published as a separate volume after the completion of Volume ii of the text.

The Editors are grateful to the. Syndics of the Cambridge University Press for allowing authors to revise their chapters and to include information which was not available when the chapters were first published. In two instances (Chapters xvi and xxi) line-drawings have been introduced as illustrations to the text. Maps and synchronistic tables, which were not included in the fascicles, have been added in accordance with the original plan for the bound volumes.

It is a matter of deep regret to record the deaths of no fewer than four of the contributors: Professor H. Frankfort, Dr W. S. Smith, Dr W. C. Hayes and Professor Hildegard Lewy. The revision of Professor Frankfort’s chapter was undertaken by Mrs Leri Davies before it was printed as a fascicle. Dr W. S. Smith had already revised chapter xiv before his death. Dr H. Fischer, Curator of the Department of Egyptian Art at the Metropolitan Museum, greatly assisted the Editors by supplying a number of additions to chapter xx which had been written nearly ten years ago by Dr W. C. Hayes.

Acknowledgment of assistance from several sources has already been recorded in the Preface to the first part of this volume. In addition to those whose names are mentioned there the Editors owe a particular debt of gratitude to Dr E. Sollberger, Deputy Keeper of the Department of Western Asiatic Antiquities at the British Museum, for much editorial help in the final stages of the preparation of this part. Professor J. L. Caskey wishes to thank the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, the University of Cincinnati and the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton for their support and assistance. Professor W. Hinz

Acknowledges his debt to Professor R. Borger of Gottingen for his advice on Assyriological problems in connexion with his chapter on Persia c. 2400—800 b. c. For the care and skill which the staff of the Cambridge University Press have devoted to the production of this book, and for their patience and helpfulness during its preparation, both the Editors and the contributors are deeply grateful. I. E.S. E.

We must record, with sadness and a deep sense of personal loss, the death of Professor C. J. Gadd on 2 December 1969. Not only did he write the largest number of chapters by any single contributor to this History, but, as the Editor principally responsible for all the chapters relating to Western Asia, he also bore the heaviest editorial burden. This is not the place to write of his immense scholarship, but we must express our lasting feeling of gratitude for the readiness with which he always placed his wealth of knowledge and his wisdom at our disposal. At the time of his death this volume was already with the printer. In the final stages of its preparation for publication we received much assistance from Dr E. Sollberger and we wish to thank him.

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