History Of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria is the masterwork of one of the fathers of modern egyptology. This work, in twelve volumes, was translated from the French original by M. L. McClure (d1918), "Histoire ancienne des peuples de l'Orient classique" and published in 1903-1904. Maspero was a largely self-taught master of hieroglyphic translation. In November 1880, he was placed at the head of a French archeological mission, which developed later into the Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale. Maspero then succeeded Mariette as director-general of excavations and of the antiquities of Egypt.