NOTICES IN EZEKIEL.
il
of the person. Herodotus tells us that " every Babylonian "* and the remains tend to confirm his testicarried a seal mony, since Babylonian seals, either in the shape of signet rings or of cylinders, exist by thousands in European museums, and are still found in large numbers by explorers. They are chiefly made of onyx, jasper, serpentine, meteoric stone, lapis lazuli, and chalcedony, all substances that must have been introduced from abroad, since no one of them is ;
produced by Babylonia. Babylonia must also have imported or else carried off from foreign countries, the whole of its metals. Neither gold, nor silver, nor copper, nor tin, nor lead, nor iron are among the gifts which Nature has vouchsafed to the southern Mesopotamiaii region. No doubt her military successes enabled her to obtain from foreign lands, not by exchange but by plunder, considerable supplies of these commodities but besides this accidental and irregular mode of acquisition, there must have been some normal and unceasing source of supply, to prevent disastrous fluctuations, and secure a due ;
provision for the constant needs of the country. Every implement used in agriculture or in the mechanical trades had to be made of bronze, f the materials of which came from
copper perhaps from Armenia, which still produces it from Further India, or from Cornwall, through the medium of the Phoenicians.}: Every weapon of war had all the gold and silver lavished on to be supplied similarly on images of the gods or the doors and walls of temples, on temple the dresses in which the images were clothed, ** on tables, altars, or couches, IF on palace walls and roofs, r on thrones, sceptres, parasols, chariots, and the like, ft bracelets, armlets, and other articles of personal adornment, had to be procured from some foreign land and to be conveyed hundred or thousands of miles before the Babylonians could make use of them. Another whole class of commodities which the Babylonians are believed to have obtained from foreign countries afar
;
largely, tin
;
|j
*
Herod., i. 195. Iron was not absolutely unknown in ancient Babylonia; but almost all the weapons and implements found are of bronze, t Heroh.. iii. 115. "Records of the Past," vol. v.. pp. 117-120; vol. vii., p. 75. Herod., i. 181, 183; Diod. Sic. li. 9. i Ibid., vol. 'vii.. pp. 5, 0. " * Records of the Past," vol. v., pp. 131, I'M. ft Ibid, vol. ix., p. 15. t
II