Maps on lining papers. Includes index.

Pioneers -- Layard and Rawlinson: reconnaissance and the translation of the cuneiform -- Nineveh revealed -- The riddle of Greece: Schliemann at Troy and Mycenae -- Egypt and the pharaohs: Mariette and Petrie in the Nile Valley -- The promised land: Palestine under Egypt and Israel -- Lands of the twin rivers -- Egypt and the Israelites -- Mycenae, Troy and Knossos: Evans in Crete -- The Gates of Ishtar: Babylon and its neighbors -- Gods, kings and legends: Woolley at Ur and Carter in the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings.