Page:Herodotus and the Empires of the East.djvu/98

92 These were intended, generally, for the harem of the chief, but many also became lawful wives.

We know from Herodotus (I., 194) that Babylon was the central point of an extensive commerce. Armenian traders brought their wares to Babylon, on the Euphrates, and returned home by land. The manner of shipbuilding seemed strange to Herodotus. The ships were made out of woven willow twigs, covered with skins. "In every boat," says Herodotus, "is a living ass, and in the greater ones more. After the traders have arrived at Babylon and sold their cargo, they immediately offer the ribs and reeds of their boat for sale, pack the skins on the ass, and go back to Armenia." (I., 194.) The swift current of the Euphrates made such shipbuilding especially advantageous. Layard found in a palace at Nimrud representations of boats which correspond to the description of Herodotus. To-day the traffic on the Tigris is carried on by means of rafts consisting of inflated skins of sheep or goats. The Assyrian reliefs from Khorsabad show that this kind of raft has been in vogue for more than two thousand years. That the commerce of Babylon and Nineveh, before the time of Herodotus, possessed great significance is shown by several places in the Old Testament. Ezekiel (xvii. 4) calls Babylonia a land of traffic. Nahum (iii. 16) says of Nineveh: " Thy traders are more numerous than the stars of heaven."

Herodotus observes (I., 195) that each Babylonian possessed a seal. As the inscriptions show, these seals were constructed of a conical stone or piece of metal, or