Page:American Historical Review, Volume 12.djvu/868

REVIEWS OF BOOKS BOOKS OF ANCIENT HISTORY Ancient Records of Egypt. Historic Documents, from the Earliest Times to the Persian Conquest. Collected, edited and translated, with commentary, by James Henry Breasted, Ph.D., Pro- fessor of Egyptology and Oriental History in the University of Chicago. Four volumes. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press. igo6. Pp. xlii, 344: xxviii, 428: xxviii, 279; xxviii, 520; and index volume.) While the historical records of Babylonia and Assyria have long been accessible, in handy form, in Schrader's well known Kcilinschrift- lichc Bibliothct:, it is somewhat remarkable that up to the present time there has been no similar provision for the study of the records of ancient Egypt. Scattered as they are through a large number of publications, many of them diiiRcult of access, it has been no easy matter even for the trained Egyptologist to obtain a comprehensive survey of the field, while for those students who must consult the sources of Egyptian history through the medium of translations the difficulties have been well-nigh insuperable. A considerable number of important inscrip- tions are translated in Records of the Past, but they are merely selec- tions, made upon no very definite plan, from the great mass of existing material, and with the rapid progress of Egyptology the translations in that series are now, with few exceptions, completely antiquated. For more recent translations, where they e.xist, search must be made through a wide range of Egyptological literature, and in any case, until the appearance of Professor Breasted's Ancient Records, prolonged study was necessary before the student could assure himself that his material approached completeness. It may be questioned whether any student of Egyptian history can ever carry on independent investigation of the subject without a competent knowledge of the Egyptian language, just as no one would attempt to investigate French history without a knowledge of French, or Roman history without a knowledge of Latin. Yet by the aid of reliable translations, and such other help as can be furnished by the Egyptological specialist, much can be accomplished, and it must be admitted that Professor Breasted's work has made the conditions as favorable as possible. In its four volumes he has given practically everything of importance for Egyptian history that is to be found in the whole range of Egyptian literature, as at present known, from the earliest period down to the Persian conquest. The plan of 85s