The convex lens found at Nimroud shows that they were not unacquainted with magnifying instruments.

In arithmetic they had detected the value of position in the digits, though they missed the grand Indian invention of the cipher.
What a spectacle for the conquering Greeks, who, up to this time, had neither experimented nor observed! They had contented themselves with mere meditation and useless speculation.
ITS RELIGIOUS CONDITION.

But Greek intellectual development, due thus in part to a more extended view of Nature, was powerfully aided by the knowledge then acquired of the religion of the conquered country.

The idolatry of Greece had always been a horror to Persia, who, in her invasions, had never failed to destroy the temples and insult the fanes of the bestial gods.

The impunity with which these sacrileges had been perpetrated had made a profound impression, and did no little to undermine Hellenic faith.