This wide-ranging work examines the more notable achievements of the pre-classical peoples of the world. Drawing on archeological discoveries in Egypt, Mesopotamia, Crete, Syria, Anatolia, Iran and the Indus Valley, the author shows how much the infrastructure of late Greco-Roman and subsequent European civilizations owes to the peoples of the Near and Middle East. The text highlights the mastery of materials these people achieved, from the vast works of stone created by the Egyptians to the development of technology in bronze and iron and the introduction of useful plants. A final chapter on religion explains how, alongside many superstitious beliefs and practices, there was a striving towards eternal values and elements that foreshadowed Christianity.