Page:Herodotus and the Empires of the East.djvu/18

 TOPOGRAPHY.

Herodotus visited Babylonia it was one of the richest grain-producing regions of the Persian empire. (I., 192.) Babylonia and Assyria, besides contributing one thousand talents of silver, furnished also one-third of the taxes levied by the Persian kings throughout the whole empire. (III., 92.) The soil of Babylonia brought forth all kinds of grain, especially wheat, barley, sesame, and millet, in such abundance that Herodotus speaks of two hundred and even three hundred fold increase. The millet and sesame stock grew as high as trees, while the blades of wheat and barley were oftentimes the breadth of four fingers. The date palm was the only fruit tree which flourished extensively. It supplied all the needs of life, since, according to Strabo (XVI., i.,§ 14)} it produced bread, wine, vinegar, meal, and fiber. The fruit stones furnished food for the oxen and sheep, and served also as fuel. According to Herodotus the vine, the olive, and the fig tree are wanting in Babylonia proper, but they flourish luxuriantly in Aramaic Mesopotamia. The accounts of later writers corroborate Herodotus. Even as late as the golden age of the caliphs of Bagdad—i. e., the eighth and ninth centuries of our era— (12)