. History of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia and Assyria . looked like an army on the march. The women ofthe royal harem lived in seclusion in a separate wing of thepalace, or in isolated buildings erected in the centre of thegardens. The legitimate wives of the sovereign wereselected from the ladies of the royal house, the sisters orcousins of the king, and from the six princely Persianfamilies; but their number were never very large, usuallythree or four at most.^ The concubines, on the other hand, > Cambyses had had three wives, including his two sisters Atossa and THE ACH^MBNIAN KING A
. History of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia and Assyria . looked like an army on the march. The women ofthe royal harem lived in seclusion in a separate wing of thepalace, or in isolated buildings erected in the centre of thegardens. The legitimate wives of the sovereign wereselected from the ladies of the royal house, the sisters orcousins of the king, and from the six princely Persianfamilies; but their number were never very large, usuallythree or four at most.^ The concubines, on the other hand, > Cambyses had had three wives, including his two sisters Atossa and THE ACH^MBNIAN KING AND HIS HAREM 273 were chosen from all classes of society, and were countedby hundreds. They sang or-played on musical instrumentsat the state banquets of the court, they accompanied theirmaster to the battle-field or the chase, and probablyperformed the various inferior domestic duties in theinterior of the harem, such as spinning, weaving, makingperfumes, and attending to the confectionery and of the kings wives had her own separate suite of. PEOCESSIONilL DISPLAY OF TKIBUTE BROUGHT TO THE KING OP PEKSIA.^ apartments and special attendants, and occupied a muchhigher position than a mere concubine ; but only one wasactually queen and had the right to wear the crown, andthis position belonged of right to a princess of Achse-menian race. Thus Atossa, daughter of Cyrus, wasqueen successively to Cambyses, GraumAta, and Darius ;Amestris to Xerxes; and Damaspia to the influence naturally exerted by the queen Roxana. Darius had four wives—two daughters of Cyrus, Atossa andArtystdn^, Parmys daughter of Smerdis, and a daughter of Otanes. Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from plates in Flandin and Coste. T 274 THE LAST DAYS OP THE OLD EASTERN WORLD over the mind of lier husband, she often acquired bound-less authority in the empire, in spite of her secluded power was still further increased when she became awidow, if the new king happened to be o
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