The Historians' History of the World 01 [Prolegomena; Egypt, Mesopotamia]

Among the various sovereigns of Babylon, who contributed to the strength of its walls, and the decoration of its temples, and of whom I shall make mention when I treat of the Assyrians, there were two females; the former of these was named Semiramis, who preceded the other by an interval of five generations. This queen raised certain mounds, which are indeed admirable works. Till then the whole plain was subject to violent inundations from the river. The other queen was called Nitocris. She being a woman of superior understanding, not only left many permanent works, which I shall hereafter describe, but also having observed the increasing power and restless spirit of the Medes, and that Nineveh, with other cities, had fallen a prey to their ambition, put her dominions in the strongest posture of defence. To effect this she sunk a number of canals above Babylon, which by their disposition rendered the Euphrates, which before flowed to the sea in an almost even line, so complicated by its windings that in its passage to Babylon it arrives three times at Ardericca, an Assyrian village; and to this hour they who wish to go from the sea up the Euphrates to Babylon are compelled to touch at Ardericca three times on three different days. The banks also, which she raised to restrain the river on each side, are really wonderful from their enormous height and substance. At a considerable distance above Babylon, turning aside a little from the stream, she ordered an immense lake to be dug, sinking it till they came to the water. Its circumference was no less than four hundred and twenty furlongs. The earth of this was applied to the embankments of the river, and the sides of the trench or lake were strengthened and lined with stones brought thither for that purpose. She had in view by these works, first of all to break the violence of the current by the number of circumflexions and also to render the navigation to Babylon as difficult and tedious as possible. These things were done in that part of her dominions which was most accessible to the Medes, and with the further view of keeping them in ignorance of her affairs by giving them no commercial encouragement. Having rendered both of these works strong and secure, she proceeded to execute the following project. The city being divided by the river into two distinct parts, whoever wanted to go from one side to the other was obliged in the time of the former kings to pass the water in a boat. For this, which was a matter of general inconvenience, she provided this remedy, and the immense lake which she had before sunk became the further means of extending her fame. Having procured a number of large stones, she changed the course of the river, directing it into the canal prepared for its reception. When this was full the natural bed of the river became dry, and the embankments on each side, near those smaller gates which led to the water, were lined with bricks hardened by fire, similar to those which had been used in the construction of the wall. She afterwards, nearly in the centre of the city, with the stones above-mentioned, strongly compacted with iron and with lead, erected a bridge. Over this the inhabitants passed in the daytime by a square platform, which was removed in the evening to prevent acts of mutual depredation. When the above canal was thoroughly filled with water, and the bridge completely finished and adorned, the Euphrates was suffered to return to its original bed; thus both the canal and the bridge were confessedly of the greatest utility to the public. The above queen was also celebrated for another instance of ingenuity. She caused her tomb to be erected over one of the principal gates of the city, and so situated as to be obvious to universal inspection. It was thus inscribed: “If any of the sovereigns, my successors, shall be in extreme want of money let him open my tomb and take what money he may think proper; if his necessity be not great, let him forbear; the experiment will perhaps be dangerous.” The tomb remained without injury till the time and reign of Darius. He was equally offended at the gate’s being rendered useless, and that the invitation thus held out to become affluent should have been so long neglected. The gate, it is to be observed, was of no use, from the general aversion to pass through a place over which a dead body was laid. Darius opened the tomb; but instead of finding riches, he saw only a dead body, with a label of this import: “If your avarice had not been equally base and insatiable, you would not have disturbed the repose of the dead.” Such are the traditions concerning this queen.

The following exists amongst many other proofs which I shall hereafter produce of the power and greatness of Babylon. Independent of those subsidies which are paid monthly to the Persian monarch, the whole of his dominions are obliged throughout the year to provide subsistence for him and for his army. Babylon alone raises a supply for four months, eight being proportioned to all the rest of Asia, so that the resources of this region are considered as adequate to a third part of Asia. The government also of this country, which the Persians call a satrapy, is deemed by much the noblest in the empire. When Tritantæchmes, son of Artabazus, was appointed to this principality by the king, he received every day an artaby of silver. The artaby is a Persian measure which exceeds the Attic medimnus by about three chænices. Besides his horses for military service this province maintained for the sovereign’s use a stud of eight hundred stallions and sixteen thousand mares, one horse being allotted to twenty mares. He had, moreover, so immense a number of Indian dogs that four great towns in the vicinity of Babylon were exempted from every other tax but that of maintaining them.