[401] Strabo, XVI. ii. § 5.--Pausanias, VI. ii. § 7. [402] John Malalas, _Chronicle_, VIII. 200 and 202, ed. Dindorf. [403] Strabo, XVI. ii. § 4. [404] Strabo, XVI. ii. § 6. [405] Strabo, XVI. ii. § 10. [406] It was raised on a terrace a thousand feet long by three hundred feet broad, and was built with stones 70 feet long. [407] The empire of Seleucus comprised seventy-two satrapies. (Appian, _Wars of Syria_, lxii. 630.) [408] Polybius, X. 27. Ecbatana paid to Antiochus III. a tribute of 4,000 talents (Attic talents = 23,284,000 francs [£931,360]), the produce of the casting of silver tiles which roofed one of its temples. Alexander the Great had already carried away those of the roof of the palace of the kings. [409] The country of Gerra, among the Arabians, paid 500 talents to Antiochus (Attic talents = 2,910,500 francs [£116,420]). (Polybius, XIII. 9.)--There was formerly a great quantity of gold in Arabia. (Job xxviii. 1, 2.--Diodorus Siculus, II. 50.) [410] Strabo, XVI. iii. § 3. [411] Strabo, XI. ii. 426 _et seq._ [412] Pliny, _Natural History_, VI. 11. [413] Polybius, V. 54. If, as is probable, Babylonian talents are intended, this would make about 7,426,000 francs [£297,040], Seleucia, on the Tigris, was very populous. Pliny (_Natural History_, VI. 26) estimates the number of its inhabitants at 600,000. Strabo (XVI. ii. § 5) tells us that Seleucia was even greater than Antioch. This town, which had succeeded Babylon, appears to have inherited a part of its population. [414] In 565, Antiochus III. gives 15,000 talents (Euboic talents = 87,315,000 francs [£3,492,600]). (Polybius, XXI. 14.--Titus Livius, XXXVIII. 37.) In the treaty of the following year, the Romans stipulated for a tribute of 12,000 Attic talents of the purest gold, payable in twelve years, each talent of 80 pounds Roman (69,852,000 francs [£2,794,080]). (Polybius, XXII. 26, § 19.) In addition to this, Eumenes was to receive 359 talents (2,089,739 francs [£83,589]), payable in five years (Polybius, XXII. 26, § 20).--Titus Livius (XXXVIII. 38) says only 350 talents. [415] The father of Antiochus, Seleucus Callinicus, sent to the Rhodians 200,000 medimni of wheat (104,000 hectolitres). (Polybius, V. 89.) In 556, Antiochus gave 540,000 measures of wheat to the Romans. (Polybius, XXII. 26, § 19.) [416] According to Strabo (XV. 3), wheat and barley produced there a hundredfold, and even twice as much, which is hardly probable. [417] Strabo, XVI. 2. [418] Athenæus, XII. 35, p. 460, ed. Schweighæuser. [419] Polybius, XXXI. 3.--There were seen in these festivals a thousand slaves carrying silver vases, the least of which weighed 1,000 drachmas; a thousand slaves carrying golden vases and a profusion of plate of extraordinary richness. Antiochus received every day at his table a crowd of guests whom he allowed to carry away with them in chariots innumerable provisions of all sorts. (Athenæus, V. 46, p. 311, ed. Schweighæuser.) [420] Polybius, V. 79.