The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1897-10-13
WEALTH OF ANCIENTS
THE ENORMOUS SUMS THEY ACCu-
Mu,.TED AND SPENT.
Potcntates who Disposed OF Annual Tn
comes Reaching Into tho Millions I'm
mense Works Of Art and sisiii Carried
out by These Rulers.

comes Reaching Into the mtiifons I'm
mense Works Of Art and sisiii Carried
Out by These Rulers.
Il would bo polite fiction to assert
that everybody who looks upon the
great monuments of antiquity-the
pyramids or the Coliseum, for example
thinks of the cost and wonders where
the money came from. But when. by
chance, a learned person suggests the
for moment. IL is so curious that
while modern states, with all the nc
cumulated wealth of the antique world
at their back, and the treasures Of Mexi-
%. California, Australia. the Transvanl
i'm addition, have to consider ways and
means with anxious care before build
ing n government Office, the early mon
archs raised palaces and temples by the
hundred at will The thoughtless have
a ready explanation-slave labor did it
oil. But, in the first place, the slaves
had to be procured somehow--by war or
purchase-and either means was exren-
sive. There is reply to that objection
equally facile-tbe war paid its own
cost in loot But this only leads us n
step backward The loot must have been
enormous. and where did IL come from?
In the second place, those slaves had to
be fed. and. however cheap their ra-
tions. the sum total must have been im-
mense when such vast numbers were
e.hployed.
But captives Of war could only do
rough work. They might build the Col
iseum or the pyramids, directed by an
army of skilled craftsmen. But the
sculpture of Assyrian palaces, the paint
ing Of Egyptian temples and tombs, must
have been effected by artists, probably
free, or, If slaves, trained at great ex
pense.
When we read that the city of Dur
Sargunu was created on an empty plain,
by order Of the king, In eight years,
standing on a mound Of brick 700 acres
i'm area, its walls 60 feet high, broad
enough for seven chariots to run abreast,
and faced with stone, all the evidence
is needed to make us credit the story,
but the marvel becomes far greater
when we observe the miles of sculptured
stone that decorated Snrgon's palace
with colossal bulls on each side of every
doorway No unpracticed hand carved
those reliefs They are the work Of art
lists. We're all the sculptors of the EN-.
pire summoned to this task, to be fin.
ished in eight years2 But the tombs of
private individuals in Egypt must have
been painted, ut the cost Of the family,
h~,s .,Az - At.., A,xs, Iu ,,,I
birds show skill not to be surpassed.
We may be quito sure that work like
this was highly paid-by comparison,
that is, with slave labor.
So the question recurs. How much
gold and silver did these ancients pos
sess2 In the Roman time men appear to
have been struck with the evidence Of
vast wealth displayed by their predeces-
sors, such as the Caesars could not equal.
But they escaped the difficulty with
ease by granting them riches literally
beyond the dreams of avarice. DIR. Ar
buthnot, for example. has patiently
reckoned up the amount Of treasure
heaped upon the pile Of Sardanapalus
by Atheneus, and he finds that 1t came
to e16, ,963, 100. 600 in our money at the
least, for il computation which Athe-
n9us himself suggests be admitted the
total would be about twice as large.
After this the statement of Diodorus-
that the Pharaohs counted upon a reve-
nue. Of G138, 900, 600 annually from gold
mines In the Bishari desert and drew
an equal sum by taxation-is very mod
crate. But when the same most valua-
BILE writer-who talked nonsense only
when he repeated the words of other
men-comes to deal with Babylon he
lets himself CO. There was gold statue
Of Zeus (the Greek assigned his own
gods to Babylon as usually 40 feet high;
Of Rhea equally tall, with lion of
gold at each knee and silver serpents to
correspond; Juno weighed 500 talents
in front of her was a golden table. 500
talents, upon which stood two cups,
300 talents each, and three bowls,
1900, 600 and 600 talents. These orna-
ments Of a single temple represented
about Ell 100000 and the building
was covered with gold plates
It has been calculated that the statue
OF Nebuchadnezzar mentioned in Daniel
would he worth G8, 500. 900; that the
treasure left by David amounted ia
G160, 900. 900 In gold. g200, 900. 900 in
silver. but the value Of the Hebrew tai
ent is doubtful. We are told that Pyth.
eus, seemingly private gentleman Of
Phrygia, entertained Xerxes and all hii
army, with most sumptuous feasts, u
too--and then had ca, roo left. or,
az some compute, $780, 70. The tale
Of Alexander's loot is most wonderful
Of all. and that is historic. II we enter,
tain doubts, it ia futile to express them
when the statements are SO clear anG
the means Of disproving them absent
In the Persian camp. then, and at Baby
Ion Alexander secured something lik,
$40. 600. 900; at Persepolis. Els 600,
900; at Pasagurda, trifie of 60, 900,
900; at Ecbatana, e270, 900. OO0-say
1850. 900. 900. And Darius carried of
1000, 900, which his murderers seized
London Standard.