front to the foe.

[11] =Irrigation=: during the long dry summer the crops in this region
would have perished from drought if the fields had not been watered.
This was done by a system of canals, in which the supply of water, drawn
from the overflow of the Tigris and Euphrates during the spring floods,
was stored up to be used when needed. So abundant was the growth of
grain on this rich soil that Herodotus did not dare state the amount for
fear that he would be thought guilty of exaggeration.

[12] =Corn=: any kind of grain used for food.

[13] =Satrap=: the governor of a Persian province.

[14] =Cyreian Greeks=: those Greeks who had engaged in the expedition of
Cyrus in his attempt to seize the throne of Persia. See Introduction.

[15] =Covenant=: a solemn agreement or treaty which both parties bound
themselves to keep by oath, calling on their respective gods to punish
them if they violated the compact.

[16] =Convention=: treaty or agreement.

[17] See note on p. 38.

[18] =Tribute=: this was an annual tax so heavy and so cruelly extorted
that it kept the great body of the people in a state little better than
that of slavery.

[19] =Cyreian Persians=: those Persians who had espoused the cause of
Cyrus in his attempt to seize the throne.

[20] =Amnesty=: pardon.

[21] =Strike our tents=: take down our tents.

[22] =Barbarians=: the Greeks called all foreigners "barbarians." This
word, however, did not generally express contempt, or necessarily imply
lack of civilization, but was used to designate those who spoke another
language than Greek.

[23] =Ionia=: see note on p. 21.

[24] =Wall of Media=: a wall supposed to have extended from the
Euphrates to the Tigris. It cannot now be traced with certainty.

[25] =Bitumen=: mineral pitch or asphalt. It is now much used for
cement, for making pavements, and for covering flat roofs.

[26] =Pontoons=: light framework or floats on which a platform or
roadway is laid for a temporary bridge. Boats or canoes, placed side by
side, and covered with planks, are not infrequently so used.

[27] =Inflated skins=: bags or vessels made of the skins of sheep and
other animals. They are quite commonly used in the East for carrying
wine and other liquids. When inflated they are also employed as above
mentioned.

[28] =Mysians and Pisidians=: see note on p. 35.

[29] =Ionia=: the central part of the western coast of Asia Minor. Here,
at a very early period, flourishin