There is no other branch oi history taught in our High Schools in which so much new material lias come to light during the past forty years as in ancient history. No other of the larger divisions of historical study has been so rarely presented in our Universities by men well acquainted with the primary sources of information and abreast of the changes which each years excavations have brought. Much of the best source material is not yet available, in translated form, to the teacher. As a result the High School teacher of ancient history is, to an unusual degree, at the mercy of his text-book and the more scholarly histories which may boat his command. This text-book has been written with the desire to put into the hands of High School teachers and pupils, in simple and concrete form, the story of the development of ancient civilization as it appears in the light of the historical material recently discovered. It is the outcome of more than a decade of teaching, both inH igh School and University classes, during which the writers respect for the spirit of the Greek andR oman world and his interest in its achievement have continually ripened with increased acquaintance. The attempt has been made to present the progress of ancient civilization as a continuous and unified process. The writer has felt it necessary to give, in simple terms, as much of the business and social background as the limited space afforded by the crowded High School curriculum might permit. The pupil must, above all, become acquainted with the great historic figures of antiquity and their place in the worlds work; but these historic personalities must be seen as moving in an atmosphere of real life. Otherwise they move as puppets without background or scenery and no amount of clever and epigrammatic characterization can vitalize them.
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)

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