    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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