EARLY EUROPEAN HISTORY

MATTER O

ial groups called states and nations. Just as biography describes the life of in

IPTS AN

ay, on which signs were impressed with a metal instrument. The tablets were then baked hard in an oven. The Egyptians made a kind of paper out of the papyrus, a plant native to the Nile valley. The Greeks and Romans at f

amped in relief with punches. Both sides of the disk are covered with characters. The side seen in the illustration contains 31 sign groups (123

the paper sheets thus formed were glued together at their edges to form a roll. From papyros and byblos, the two Greek names of this plant, have come our own words, "paper" and "Bible

IONS AND

a wall, stamped on coins, or impressed upon metal tablets. The historian also makes use of remains, such as statues, ornaments, weapons, tools, and

NGS OF

fore Christ. The annals of Babylonia are scarcely less ancient. Trustworthy records in China and India do not extend beyond 1000 B.C. For the Greeks and Romans the commenceme