It is believed to have been a strong factor in trade between Ancient Judea and Persia, which latter country has again in the twentieth century become a factor in oil production. It played its part in the worship not only of the Hebrews but of other Eastern nations, and to the primitive minds of those peoples assumed miraculous characteristics. The burning wells of Baku were the objective of religious pilgrimages among the prehistoric peoples; and despite the colossal waste of past ages these wells still flow and are a factor in commerce. The Zoroastrians, or Fire Worshippers, a sect of Persian origin, which gained many adherents in ancient India also, regarded these wells as the manifestations of a great imprisoned spirit, who was supposed to breathe inflammable vapour from his nostrils. Zoroaster has a temple at Baku, and students of folk-lore hold that these burning wells helped to confirm the belief in a literal Hell of fire, common to races of Semitic origin. The Macedonian conqueror of Asia, Alexander the Great, witnessed the burning lake of Ectabana in his march to the east, centuries before the Christian era. Marco Polo, the Italian explorer of the middle ages, among many fables, revealed to Europe the truth about the oil resources in Baku, and had sufficient of the instincts of a trader to discern their commercial value. Well-founded belief in the medicinal properties of petroleum, common to all countries where it is found, was also prevalent among the ancient peoples. The reference to its use in the construction of Noah’s ark shows that the utility of pitch, as a binding material in building operations, was recognized. It is clearly this material that is meant by the “slime” which is stated to have been used as mortar for the erection of the Tower of Babel; and it is supposed to have played its part in more definitely authenticated structures like the palaces of Babylon and Nineveh, and the Temple of King Solomon. Less familiar are the Greek legends relative to petroleum. Plutarch, in his life of Alexander the Great, after recording some experiments of the Macedonian conqueror with petroleum, in the course of which he nearly burned a favorite slave to death, suggests that it was the fluid signified in one of the legends of Medea. The story ran that Medea, wishing to destroy a successful rival in love, the daughter of King Creon, gave her a wreath and crown anointed with some inflammable liquid. As her victim approached the altar flame during a religious festival, the wreath and veil became ignited and the unfortunate princess was burned to ashes.