Some Sources of Human History. By W. Flinders Petrie. (S.P.C.K.
55. net.)—This stimulating little book takes a wide survey of the history of man from the post-glacial period, showing why the civilizations of the Tigris and the Nile are regarded as the oldest, and emphasizing the importance for history of srt, architecture, law, place-names, coins, and so on. Pro- fessor Flinders Petrie incidentally pleads for the study of neglected Greek and Roman historians. But when he says that " Thucydides has all the honour which should belong to the more clear-sighted and important narrative of Polybius," he vainly challenges the literary verdict of many centuries. Whether the Peloponnesian War was so trivial an affair as Professor Flinders Petrie thinks is open to question. But Thucydides has always been and will always be read by a hundred people for every one that reads Polybius because he was a great writer whereas Polybius was not.
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