ASIA. damsels to stand up in a similar manner, but offered to give a sum of money with each. Accordingly the CHAP. III. poorer Babylonians began to bid against each other to see who would marry an ill-favoured wife for the smallest sum, the money having been already obtained by the sale of the more beautiful. Thus the handsome girls helped the plainer ones to husbands, and fathers were not allowed to give away their daughters in marriage to whom they pleased. If a purchaser and his newly bought partner could not agree, the money was repaid. Men were permitted to come from one village to another to this matrimonial auction; but in the time of Herodotus the custom was discontinued, for after the Persians had taken the city, the people had been harshly treated and ruined in fortune, and the lower classes were driven to prostitute their daughters for a livelihood.' cians. Sick market for The Babylonians also had another custom, which No physiHerodotus considered to be only inferior in wisdom persons carto the foregoing. They had no physicians, but used ried into the to bring their sick people into the market-place, and advice. every passer-by was obliged to ask the nature of the disease; and then, if the latter had ever had it himself or seen it in others, he advised the patient to follow the treatment which he knew to have effected a cure.2 The Babylonians embalmed their dead in honey, and Embalming performed their funeral lamentations in a similar mentations manner to the Aegyptians. Husbands and wives like those of after intercourse sat over burning incense in differ- ians. ent places, and at break of day washed themselves incense after before they touched any vessel. The same practice tercourse. was also observed by the Arabians.3 Funeral la the Aegypt Burning of sexual in practices worship of The most disgraceful of all the Babylonian cus- Disgraceful toms was connected with the worship of Aphrodite, connected whom they called Mylitta. Every native woman with the was obliged once in her life to repair to the precinct Aphrodite. of this goddess, and submit to the embraces of a stranger. Some of the richer sort went in covered carriages, and took up their station in the temenus, 1 i. 196. 2 Ibid. 3 i. 198. Comp. Leviticus xv. 16—18. ASIA. attended by a numerous train of servants; but the CHAP. III. majority sat down in the temenus with a crown of cord about their heads, and in straight rows, so that they might be easily seen. When a stranger selected a female, he threw a piece of silver into her lap, saying, "I beseech the goddess Mylitta to favour thee." The silver, however small, was accounted sacred, and might not be refused, and the woman was obliged to follow the man out of the sacred precinct and fulfil the law, and then, after absolving herself to the goddess, she might return home. Many of the deformed women were obliged to stop three or four years from inability to satisfy the law, but after the goddess had been once propitiated no money could purchase fresh favours." Three tribes of Baby Amongst the Babylonians were three tribes who lonian Ich lived solely upon fish, which they dried in the sun thyophagi. and pounded in a mortar, and then, after sifting them through a fine cloth, either kneaded them into Chaldacans, a cake or baked them like bread.2 The Chaldaeans are mentioned both as being the priests of Belus,3 and as serving in the army of Xerxes. It was from Babylonian the Babylonians that the Greeks learnt the sun-dial sun-dial. 1i. 199. The prevalence of this custom is confirmed by Jeremiah, who evidently alludes to it in the letter which he writes to the Jews who were about to be led captive to Babylon.-"The women also with cords about them, sitting in the ways, burn bran for perfume: but if any of them, drawn by some that passeth by, lie with him, she reproacheth her fellow, that she was not thought as worthy as herself, nor her cord broken." Baruch vi. 42, 43. Idolatry is always revolting, but in Babylon it was of the vilest and foulest character. The riches and luxury of the people, consequent upon their extended commerce, brought on a total degeneracy of manners, which was above all conspicuous in the other sex, amongst whom were no traces of that reserve which usually prevails in an eastern harem. Babylon has thus become a by-word for harlotry. Her moral and social state is but too vividly described by Curtius. "Nihil urbis ejus corruptius moribus; nec ad irritandas inliciendasque immodicas voluptates instructius. Liberos conjugesque cum hospitibus stupro coire, modo pretium flagitii detur, parentes maritique patiuntur. Convivales ludi tota Perside regibus purpuratisque cordi sunt; Babylonii maxime in vinum et quae ebrietatem sequuntur, perfusi sunt. Feminarum convivia ineuntium principio modestus est habitus; dein summa quaeque amicula exuunt; paulatimque pudorem profanant; ad ultimun (horror auribis sit) ima corporum velamenta projiciunt. Nec meretricum hoc dedecus est, sed matronarum virginumque, apud quas comitas habetur vulgati corporis vilitas." Cf. Heeren, Asiat. Res. vol. i.; Quint. Curtius, lib. v. c. i. 4 vii. 63. 2 i. 200. 3 i. 181. and the division of the day into twelve parts. The ASIA. Babylonian talent was equal to seventy Euboic CHAP. III. minas.2 3 Gnomon. VIII. CIS PERSIS, an and Farsis VIII. CISSIA, or the eighth satrapy, comprised Susa Talent. and the rest of the Cissians. It paid 300 talents. SIA and Bordering it on the east was PERSIS, or the territory swering to of Persia Proper; and though the Persians belonged Khuzistan to no satrapy, and brought gifts instead of tribute, tan. yet for the sake of geographical order and clearness we shall include Herodotus's description of them in the present section. 5 4 scription of plains along The Cissia of Herodotus answers to the Susiana of General deStrabo and the modern territory of Khuzistan. Persia the country. Proper, or Persis, is represented by the modern Pars, Fars, or Farsistan. "The Persians," says Herodotus, occupy the country between Media and the Erythraean Sea." The southern frontier bordering on Sandy the Erythraean or Persian Gulf is a sandy plain, which, the coast. during the summer, is rendered almost uninhabitable by the heat, and by the pestilential winds from the deserts of Carmania. Hence we find no mention of the maritime districts in Herodotus, and indeed the flat shore, unindented by any inlet, is generally inaccessible from the sea, and only offers in one or two places the shelter of a harbour. At a short dis- Rising of tance from the coast the land rises in terraces, and here the excessive heat becomes mitigated, and rich pastures are watered by a number of rivulets, and covered with villages and numerous herds. Further Mountains towards the north these agreeable districts are the fatherchanged for lofty and sterile mountains, a continua- land of the tion of the great chain of Zagros; and the climate here becomes so inclement that even in the summer season the elevated summits are not unfrequently covered with snow. This ungenial region was however the cradle of the conquerors of Asia. Inured from their childhood to a rough clime and unproductive soil, 2 iii. 89. 3 iii. 91. 1 ii. 109. Pars is the Persian, Fars the Arabic pronunciation of the word: the Persian termination stan denoting country. Thus Farsistan the country of the Persians: Hindustan, of the Hindus: Kurdistan, of the Kurds. Cf. Heeren. 5 vii. 61. the land in terraces. in the north Persians. ASIA. Great city of Susa on the Cho aspes. these hardy mountaineers conquered without diffiCHAP. III. culty the effeminate inhabitants of the low-lands; but although it was the policy of their rulers to attach them as much as possible to their barren country, they but too quickly adopted the luxurious habits of the vanquished nations, and themselves prepared the way for the destruction of their empire. Herodotus says but very little concerning the topography of either Cissia or Persis. The great city of Susa was situated in Cissia on the river Choaspes, which could only be crossed in boats, and the Persian king drank no other water but what was taken The Mem- from its stream. Susa contained the royal palace called Memnonia, which was surrounded by walls, and had a tower from whence Prexaspes harangued the people and cast himself headlong. It was here that the king of Persia resided, and his treasures were deposited. The suburbs of the city are also mentioned. We may take it for granted that it was Stone figure in Susa that Darius erected a stone figure representhorseback. ing a man on horseback, and bearing the following inscription: nonium. of Darius on Identifica tion of Susa the river Kerkhah. 3 "Darius, son of Hystaspes, by the sagacity of his horse, (giving his name,) and by the address of Oebares his groom, became king of the Persians.” 7 The site of Susa has been a disputed point. Ciswith Sus on sia is watered in the west by the Kerkhah, in the east by the Karoon. On the Kerkhah is the city of Sus, and on the Karoon, about 55 miles due east of Sus, is the city of Shuster. Each of these cities have been supposed to represent the ancient Susa. Shuster, however, is of comparatively modern date, and contains no ruins which can be referred to a period anterior to the Sassanian dynasty. On the other hand, recent travellers have discovered remains at Sus which unquestionably belong to the Persico-Babylonian period. We have therefore no 3 1 ix. 122. Cf. also Heeren, Asiat. Res. 4 iii. 75. 5 v. 49. 2 i. 188; v. 49, 52. 6 iii. 86. 7 iii. 88. 8 The great mound of Sus forms the north-western extremity of a large irregular platform or tumuli. It appears to represent the site of the inner citadel, whilst the platform constituted the fort of the city. The plat ASIA. hesitation in identifying the site of ancient Susa with that of Sus, and the river Choaspes with the Kerk- CHAP. III. hah, which discharges itself into the united streams of the Tigris and Euphrates. How far Susa may be identified with the Shushan of Daniel seems to be questioned by Major Rawlinson; but the adjacent district is still celebrated for a sanctuary reported to be the tomb of that prophet.' 2 seat of the ans. ducing as At a distance of 210 stadia from Susa was situ- Ardericca, ated the royal station of Ardericca in the Cissian transplantterritory. To this spot Darius transplanted the ed Eretricaptured Eretrians, and they continued to occupy this country and retain their ancient language down to the time of Herodotus. Forty stadia from Ar- Well prodericca was a well which produced three different phalt, salt, substances, namely, asphalt, salt, and oil. These and oil. were drawn up by a kind of crane, having half a wine-skin attached to it instead of a bucket. The contents were thrown into a receiver, which was again emptied into another, upon which the asphalt and salt immediately became solid, and the oil was collected. The Persians called this oil rhadinace. It was black, and emitted a strong smell. Persia was a bleak and barren country, and a tract is mentioned, though in a somewhat traditionary narrative, as being overgrown with briers; but as this tract 4 form is square, and is estimated by Col. Rawlinson to be about two miles and a half in extent, and between 80 and 90 feet high. The great mound is 165 feet high, and about 1100 yards round the base, and 850 round the summit. The slope is very steep, and can only be ascended by two pathways. Col. Rawlinson saw on the mound a slab with a cuneiform inscription of thirty-three lines, three Babylonian sepulchral urns imbedded in the soil, and in another place there was exposed to view, a few feet below the surface, a flooring of brickwork. The summit of the mound was thickly strewn with broken pottery, glazed tiles, and kilndried bricks. Beyond the platform extend the ruins of the city, probably six or seven miles in circumference, presenting the same appearance of irregular mounds, covered with bricks and broken pottery, and here and there a fragment of a shaft is seen projecting from the soil. Rawlinson, Notes on a March from Zohab to Khuzistan. It is worthy of remark that Herodotus makes no mention of Persepolis. Neither indeed do Ctesias, Xenophon, or the Hebrew writers. To attempt to account for this circumstance would only be to write a disquisition upon Persepolis, which would in no way illustrate the geography of Herodotus. 2 vi. 119. 3 Ibid. 4 i. 71. |