71
                              
                                                                                                                                              
These, too, would be carted off when the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem in 587
B.C.
12. Herodotus, The Histories, trans. Aubrey de Selincourt, Penguin Books,
Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England, 1972, p. 115.
13. "Prowess in fighting," says Herodotus, was the Persians' "chief proof of
manliness." (Herodotus, The Histories, p. 98.)  I base the statement that the
Persians, in the days before their conquests, were unlettered on Herodotus'
claim--paraphrased by many modern scholars-- that the Persians taught their sons
"three things only: to ride, to use the bow, and to speak the truth."  (Herodotus, The
Histories, p. 98.)    Reading, writing and arithmetic are conspicuously absent from
this list.   Other sources for this portrait of the Persians include: G.B. Gray and M.
Cary, "The Reign of Darius," in J.B. Bury, S.A. Cook and F.E. Adcock, The
Cambridge Ancient History--Volume IV, The Persian Empire and the West,
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, 1969, pp. 189-191; G.
Buchanan, "The Foundation and Extension of the Persian Empire,"  in J.B. Bury,
S.A. Cook and F.E. Adcock, The Cambridge Ancient History--Volume IV, The
Persian Empire and the West, pp. 3-4; Edward Farmer, Gavin Hambly, David Kopf,
Byron Marshall and Romeyn Taylor, Comparative History of Civilizations in Asia:
Volume I--10,000 B.C. to 1850, Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado, 1986, p. 136;
and Chester G. Starr, A History of the Ancient World,  pp. 277-280.
14. For an account of how "the Medes, who had been masters of Asia beyond the
Halys for a hundred and twenty-eight years... were forced to bow before the power
of Persia" see Herodotus, The Histories, pp. 95-6.
15. In an unforeseen twist of fate, Queen Nitocris' massive defense apparatus
helped undo the Babylonians.  The Persians diverted the Euphrates river into the
Queen's massive lake--which by now had degenerated into a swamp.  This lowered
the river's water to such a level  that the Persian army was able to march across the
normally mighty stream, clamber up the banks, and rush into Babylon's back gates,
catching the inhabitants by surprise.  (Herodotus, The Histories, pp. 117-8.)
16. A wealthy nobleman once came to the Persian ruler Cyrus the Great to petition
that Persia's common folk be allowed to move from their barren homes in the
mountains down into the rich valleys they and their leaders had conquered.  Cyrus
replied contemptuously that "Soft countries breed soft men.  It is not the property of
any one soil to produce fine fruits and good soldiers too."  In other words, the
Persian people were ordered to stay on their rocky hillsides.  (Ernle Bradford, The
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