CHAPTER II
THE ANCIENT HAREM
I. BABYLON
Among the ruins of the noble palaces of Assyria were carvings depicting the leading of men and women captives into the cities. At Khorsabad one of these interesting relics showed plainly the figures of women and eunuchs. "For lo! our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity."
That the harem existed in Nineveh is proved by the testimony of its mural sculpture and the inscriptions deciphered by Colonel Rawlinson and other investigators. This earliest recorded empire came to an end with the great Sardanapalus, probably in 820 B.C., who, upon the sacking of the city by Arbaces, concealed himself in his palace, and set fire to it. With his concubines, eunuchs and slaves he perished; and the Assyrian Empire of Babylon and Nineveh were formed after his death.
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