was regarded by the Greeks
as their "bread." It was perhaps pressed into cakes, as is the common
practice in the country at the present day. On this and goat's milk,
which we know to have been in use, the poorer class, it is probable,
almost entirely subsisted. Palm-wine, the fermented sap of the tree, was
an esteemed, but no doubt only an occasional beverage. It was pleasant
to the taste, but apt to leave a headache behind it. Such vegetables
as gourds, melons, and cucumbers, must have been cheap, and may have
entered into the diet of the common people. They were also probably the
consumers of the "pickled bats," which (according to Strabo) were eaten
by the Babylonians.

In the marshy regions of the south there were certain tribes whose
sole, or at any rate whose chief, food was fish. Fish abound in these
districts, and are readily taken either with the hook or in nets. The
mode of preparing this food was to dry it in the sun, to pound it fine,
strain it through a sieve, and then make it up into cakes, or into a
kind of bread.

The diet of the richer classes was no doubt varied and luxurious.
Wheaten bread, meats of various kinds, luscious fruits, fish, game,
loaded the board; and wine, imported from abroad was the usual beverage.
The wealthy Babylonians were fond of drinking to excess; their banquets
were magnificent, but generally ended in drunkenness; they were not,
however, mere scenes of coarse indulgence, but had a certain refinement,
which distinguishes them from the riotous drinking-bouts of the less
civilized Modes. Music was in Babylonia a recognized accompaniment of
the feast; and bands of performers, entering with the wine, entertained
the guests with concerted pieces. A rich odor of perfume floated around,
for the Babylonians were connoisseurs in unguents. The eye was delighted
with a display of gold and silver plate. The splendid dresses of the
guests, the exquisite carpets and hangings, the numerous attendants,
gave an air of grandeur to the scene, and seemed half to excuse the
excess of which too many were guilty.

A love of music appears to have characterized both the Babylonians and
their near neighbors and kinsmen, the Susianians. In the sculptured
representations of Assyria, the Susianians are shown to have possessed
numerous instruments, and to have organized large bands of performers.
The Prophet Daniel and the historian Ctesias similarly witness to the
musical taste of the Babylonians, which