useless to any man to contemplate the glories of the past. For this purpose we shall from time to time put down, as they occur to us, extracts from the several authors, who have left materials for the subject of our enquiries.

Our present paper will principally be devoted to the works of the Persians and the Babylonians, which belong to one of the first schools of which we have authentic records. The history of this period forms the first chapter in the annals of engineering, as now taught in this country; for the rudiments of the science, laid down by the Persians, have, by successive nations, been transmitted to us. Persia being, like Egypt, a country traversed by a large river, and requiring extensive hydraulic works, naturally led to considerable proficiency in this branch; which would doubtless be later of introduction among the continental Greeks, to whom it was taught by the Ionians in the Persian service. The Persian monarchs, independently of their own engineers, also became masters of the services of those of Egypt, Babylon, and Phonicia, each of which, as we shall see, had also peculiar opportunities of study. From the Greeks engineering passed to the Romans, and so through the middle ages down to the present time; affording an example, paralleled in few professions, of rules of practice being transmitted uninterruptedly for more than twenty-five centuries, and illustrated from the earliest period by specimens now existing.

The materials for the ensuing descriptions are principally derived from Herodotus, who had authentic sources of information as to most of the works which be described. They are, as before stated, chiefly hydraulic works, and illustrate much of the antiquities of that important department of engineering.

CANAL OF MOUNT ATHOS.

CUTTING.

THE GOD OF THE ENGINEERS.

In the course of the war of the Persians against the Greeks about the year 484 B. C., Herodotus (1) relates that, in order to avoid shipwreck on the dangerous coast of Mount Athos, Xerxes determined on cutting through the isthmus by which () Polyhymnia 7.

it is joined to the main-land, and so making a canal for the passage of his fleet. Herodotus says that three years were spent upon this work, the Persian fleet having been ordered to the port of Eleus in the Chersonese, and all the forces on board being compelled by turns to dig, and open a passage through the mountain. In this they were assisted by the adjoining inhabitants; and the direction of the works was confided to Bubaris, the son of Megabyzus, and to Artachæus, the son of Artæus, both Persians.

Athos is described as a mountain of considerable magnitude, leaning upon the sea, and well inhabited, (now, we may observe, by monks). It terminates to the landward in the form of a peninsula, and makes an isthmus of about twelve stades (a mile and a half) in length. The peninsula so formed consists of a plain with a mixture of little hills, from the coast of Acanthus to that of Torone. On the mountain and other parts were the towns of Dion, Olophyxus, Acrothoon, Thysus, and Cleone; and on the isthmus stood Sana. The Persians having drawn a line before the town of Sana, divided the ground among the several nations; and when the trench was considerably sunk, those who were in the bottom stages contrived to dig, and delivered the earth to men standing on ladders, who handed the same again to such as were placed in a higher station, till at last others who waited to receive the burthen at the edge of the canal, carried it away to another place. But by digging in a perpendicular manner, and making the bottom of equal breadth with the top, all the workmen, except the Phoenicians, drew a double labour upon themselves; because the earth, as it is natural, fell down continually in great quantities from the upper parts. The Phoenicians alone, continues Herodotus, showed that ability on this occasion, of which they are so much masters at all times; for they opened the part which was assigned to their care twice as large as the others had done; and sloped the ground gradually till they came to the bottom: they then found the measure, equal with the rest. So much for the mode of cutting pursued two thousand three hundred years ago. We are thus enabled to ascertain the origin of the slope, and the

period at which its recognized introduction into the art took place. The number of workmen employed, says our author, was so great, that in a meadow adjoining they had a market furnished with great abundance of corn, brought even from Asia; and there was also a temporary court of justice, formed perhaps on the the piepoudre system. Herodotus is by no means disposed to approve of the necessity of the work, for he rather ascribes it to ostentation, being of opinion that it would have been much easier for Xerxes to have had his fleet carried over the land. The canal was of a sufficient breadth to carry two ships sailing in front; and at each end were deep trenches to prevent the sea from filling it up. It was completed by the time the Persian army arrived at Acanthus, in the neighbourhood (about 481 B. C.).—At this time died Artachæus, one of the engineers: who appears by all accounts to have been one of the greatest men of the day; for he was in stature the tallest of the Persians, and wanted only the breadth of four fingers to complete the full height of five regal cubits; his voice also was stronger than that of any. other man. By descent he derived, his blood from the noble family of Achæmenes; and was mnch esteemed by Xerxes, who greatly lamented his death, and caused him to be interred with great pomp. All the army was employed in erecting a monument to his memory; and the Acanthians, admonished by an oracle, honoured him as a hero with sacrifices and invocations. Such," says Herodotus, "were the demonstrations which Xerxes gave of his concern for the loss of Artachæus ;" and thus did the profession obtain the patronage of a demigod from their own body; to whom, if they like, they may build temples at this day. In the meanwhile we may suggest to our antiquarian friends, whether any devout modern would be justified in using the same ancient form.

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The fleet, it seems, according to orders from Xerxes, passed through the canal of Mount Athos, and so into the bay on the other side. Our author further adds, that the people of Acanthus, in consideration of the great attention they paid in making the canal, were rewarded by the king with vests of honour.

In the Babylonian district, the people were, as in Egypt,

well supplied with canals, principally for the purposes of irrigation; the water being distributed from them by manual labour, or by hydraulic engines. The largest of these canals (') continued with a south-east course from the Euphrates to that part of the Tigris where Nineveh stands, and was capable of receiving vessels of burthen. These canals and the river were navigated by a peculiar kind of skin-boat or coracle, to which Herodotus devotes particular attention.

PASSAGE OF RIVERS.THE HALYS-THE GYNDES-THE EUPHRATES

THE DANUBE-THE STRYMON.

In the course of the war of the Lydians against the Persians, Cræsus found it necessary to cross the river Halys (2); when, by the advice of Thales the Milesian, it is said, he caused the river to be divided into two branches, as if he were going to make a bridge—the diversion of streams being a resource well known to the ancient engineers both of the east and the west. He sank a deep trench; which, commencing above the camp, from the river, was conducted round it in the form of a semicircle, till it again met the ancient bed. It thus became easily fordable on either side.

Cyrus, in his war with the Babylonians, made use of a similar expedient, with regard to the river Gyndes; but from other motives. The Gyndes is described by Herodotus (Clio) as rising in the mountains of Matiene; and passing through the country of the Darmeans, it loses itself in the Tigris. Whilst Cyrus was endeavouring to pass this river, which could not be performed without boats, one of the white consecrated horses boldly entering the stream, in his attempts to cross it, was borne away by the rapidity of the current, and totally lost. Cyrus, exasperated by the accident, made a vow, that he would render this stream so very insignificant, that women should hereafter be able to cross it, without so much as wetting their knees. He accordingly put off his designs against

(') Herodotus, Clio,

(*) Herodotus, Clio.

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Babylon, and divided his forces into two parts he then marked out with a line on each side of the river, one hundred and eighty trenches; these were dug according to his orders; and so great a number of men were employed, that he accomplished his purpose, but thus wasted the whole of that summer. It is supposed however that he was induced to undertake this work for the purpose of averting some omen.

On his arrival at Babylon, however, he had to carry on hydraulic works with a more important end. Finding the city strong and well provided, and that its reduction by force or famine seemed impracticable, he had to take other measures. He placed one detachment of his forces where the river first enters the city, and another where it leaves it, directing them to enter the channel and attack the town wherever a passage could be effected. After this disposal of his men, he withdrew with the less effective of his army to a marshy part of the river, near which there was a kind of reservoir, said to have been constructed by Nitooris, Queen of Babylon, not long before. Cyrus here pierced the bank, and introduced the river into the lake, by which means the bed of the Euphrates became sufficiently shallow for the object he had in view. The Persians in their station watched the proper moment, and when the stream had so far drawn off as to be no higher than their thighs, they entered Babylon without difficulty.

Darius Hystaspes ('), in his expedition against the Scythians, ordered a bridge to be thrown over the Ister or Danube by the Ionians. It was placed two days' passage from the sea, at that part of the river, where it begins to branch off, but of its mode of construction nothing is said, although it may be inferred that it was of boats. Darius, when he arrived at the Ister, passed the river with his army; he then commanded the Ionians to break down the bridge, and to follow him with all the men of their fleet but by the advice of Coes, a Mitylenian officer, he allowed it to remain, leaving it under the guard of the Ionians, with orders, if he did not

(') Herodotus-Melpomene.

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