You might have heard of Cresus, the Lydian king of Asia Minor who was beaten after improperly interpreting a Delphic oracle. Well, he had a father, and of course, this father built himself a tomb fit for a king:
Of marvels to be recorded the land of Lydia has no great store [but there is] the sepulchral monument of Alyattes the father of Crœsus, of which the base is made of larger stones and the rest of the monument is of earth piled up.
Just to give you an idea to put that tumulus into context, which can still be seen today (cf.photo):
With a diameter of 230 m and a height of 53 m on the south, its footprint is as large as the Great Pyramid of Cheops at Giza. [1]
Of course, Alyattes needed a lot of money and workforce to pull this off and all parts of his people contributed, more or less voluntarily, but Herodotus stresses that there is one special part of the people who punched way above its weight to respond to the king's demand:
And this was built by contributions of those who practised trade and of the artisans and the girls who plied their traffic there; and still there existed to my own time boundary-stones five in number erected upon the monument above, on which were carved inscriptions telling how much of the work was done by each class; and upon measurement it was found that the work of the girls was the greatest in amount.
And who were these girls? Prostitutes.
For the daughters of the common people in Lydia practice prostitution one and all, to gather for themselves dowries, continuing this until the time when they marry; and the girls give themselves away in marriage.
In one word, the prostitutes of Lydia punched way above their weight when it came to show their devotion to their king, just like today it's the common people who bear the brunt of the taxes, while the rich and famous make due with proportionally far inferior rates.
***
Source: The Histories of Herodotus, Oxford University Press.[1] http://www.sardisexpedition.org/en/essays/about-bin-tepe
Interesting stuff, love Ancient History
Me too! Thx!
very informative post upvoted!!
I've never heard of it. But I know it now)
Good :) thx for the comment
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