The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1897-09-08
WEALTH OF ANCIENTS
THE ENORMOUS SUMS THEY AccU-
INFLATED AND SPENT.

Potentates Who Disposed OF Annual In
comes Reaching Into the Millions
mense Works OF Art and SIKH Carried
Out by These Rulers.
1t would be polite fiction to assert
that everybody who looks4uponl tho
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
inquiry only an idiot fails TO be struck
for moment. 1t is SO curious that
whilo modern states, with all ethe ac-
cumulated wealth of the antique world
Mt their back, and tho treasures of Mexi-
co, California, Australia, tho Transvaal
i'll addition, have to consider ways and
means with anxious care before build
ing government office, the early mon-
archs raised palaces and temples by tho
hundred Mt will. The thoughtless have
a ready explanation-slavo labor did it
all. But. i'll the first place, the tslaves
had to be procured somohow-by war or
purchase-and either means was expen-
sive. There is reply to that objection
equally faeilo-tho war paid its 'own
cost i'll loot. But this only leads us IL
step backward. The loot must have been
enormous, and where did it come from?
In the second place, those slaves had to
be fed, and, however cheap their ra-
tions, tho sum total must have been im-
mense when such vast numbers were
employed.
But eaptives of war could only do
rough work. They might build the Col
iseum or the pyramids, directed by an
army of skilled craftsmen. But tho
sculpture of Assyrian palaces, tho 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 tho city of Dur
Sargunu was created OH IN empty plain,
by order of tho king, i'll eight years,
standing on mound of brick 700 acres
i'll area, its walls 60 feet high, broad
enough for seven chariots to run abreast,
and faced with stone, all tho evidence
is needed to mako us credit tho story,
but tho marvel becomes far greater
whom we observe tho miles Of soulptured
stone that decorated Sargon's palace
with colossal bulls on each side of every
doorway. No Impractical hand carved
those roliefs. They are tho work of art
lists. Were all tho sculptors of tho en-
piro summoned to this task, to be fin.
ished i'll eight yearsp But tho tombs of
private individuals in Egypt must have
been painted, Mt tho cost of tho family,
by masters of tho craft. Animals and
birds show skill not TO BIO surpassed
We may be quite sure that work like
this was highly paddy comparison,
that is, with slave labor
So the question rccurs, How much
gold and silver did these ancionts pos
sossP In tho Roman time men appear to
have beon struck with tho evidence of
vast wealth displayed by their predeees-
sors, such as tho Caesars could not equal
But they escaped tho difficulty with
ease by granting them riches literally
beyond tho dreams of avaricc. DIR. Ar
buthnot, for example. has patiently
reckoned up tho amount of treasure
heaped upon tho pilo of Snrdanapalus
by Athenmus, and ho finds that it oamo
to G16, 0b3, 1870, 600 i'll our money Mt the
least, for If a computation which Athc-
Nous himself suggests DO admitted the
total would DO about twice as large.
After this tho statement of Diodorus-
that tho Pharaohs counted upon II reve-
nuo of 9183, 600, 600 annually from gold
mines in the Bishari desert and drew
an equal sum by taxation-is very mod
crate. But when tho same most valua-
bio writer-who talked nonsense only
when no repeated tho words of other
men--comes to deal with Babylon no
let's himself go. There was "A gold statue
Of Zous (tho Greek assigned his own
gods to Babylon AZ usual 40 feet hight
of Rhea equally tall, with lion of
gold at each kneo and silver serponts to
correspond; Juno weighed 500 talents;
In front of her was golden table, 900
talents, upon which stood two cups.
300 talents each, and three bowls,
1900, GOO and 600 talents. These orna-
ments Of single temple represented
about Eli 900, 900, and tho building
was covered with gold plates.
1t has been calculated that the statue
Of Nebuohadnezzar mentioned in Daniel
would DO worth G3. 800. 600; that the
treasure left by David amounted to
El60, 900, 600 in gold, G200. 900. 900 in
silver, but tho value of tho Hebrew tai
ent is doubtful. Wo arc told that Pyth-
Gus. seemingly private gentleman Of
Phrygia, entertained Xorxe5 and all his
army, with most sumptuous feasts."
too-and then had ALTO. 900 left. or.
AZ some compute. e3. 600. go. Tho talo
Of Aloxander's loot is most wonderful
OF all, and that Is historic. IL We enter
tain doubts. it is futile to express them
when tho statements arc 30 clear and
tho means Of disproving them absent.
In the Persian camp. then, and Mt Baby
lon Alexander secured something like
$40, 000, 600; at Persepolis, G18 000,-
900; at Pasagurda, u triflo Of go. 000,-
900; Mt Ecbatana. caro-, 900. 000-say
$3.50, 600, 600. And Darius carried off
60, 900, 600, which his murderers seized.
London Standard.