CHAPTER IV WESTERN ASIA: THE MEDO-PERSIAN EMPIRE, THE HEBREWS Section i6. The Indo-European Peoples and THEIR Dispersion ^ The northern grasslands We have seen that the Arabian desert has been a great reser- voir of unsettled population, which was continually leaving the grasslands on the margin of the desert and shifting over into the towns to begin a settled life (pp. 57 f.). Corresponding to these grasslands of the souf/i, there are similar grasslands in the norf/i (Fig. 49), behind the mountains of western Asia and southern Europe (see map, p. 80). These northern grasslands stretch from central Europe, behind the Balkans, eastward along the north side of the Black Sea through southern Russia and far into Asia north and east of the Caspian. They have always had a wandering shepherd population, and time after time, for 1 Section i6 deals with a series of racial movements which anticipate a large part of ancient history. They are at first not easy for a young student to visual- ize. They should therefore be carefully worked over by the teacher with the class before the class is permitted to study this section alone. The diagram (Fig. 49) should be put on the blackboard and explained in detail by the teacher, and the class should then be prepared to put the diagram on the board from memory. This should be done again when the study of the Greeks is begun (P- 123), and a third time when Italy and the Romans are taken up. 86
