Murūj al-dhahab (Meadows of Gold), by Abū l-Ḥasan ‘Alī ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Mas‘ūdī (ca. 282/896–345/956), one of the most entertaining works in Arabic, is a combination of geography and history. A large part of the work is devoted to people other than the Arabs; the historical part begins at the creation of the world and runs to al-Mas‘ūdī’s own time. It is enlivened by many anecdotes and stories.
Azūr and Khalinjās368 became kings [of the Syrians]; it is said that they were brothers. Their conduct was excellent and they mutually supported each other in reigning. One of these two kings was sitting one day, it is said, when suddenly he saw on the highest part of his palace a bird with a nest and young birds in it; it was beating its wings and screeching. The king looked more closely and saw a snake creeping up toward the nest, in order to eat the chicks. The king called for a bow and shot the snake, killing it, and the young birds were saved. After a short while, the bird came, flapping its wings, with one seed in its beak and two more seeds in its claws. It stood before the king and cast down what it had in its beak and claws, while the king looked on. The seeds fell in front of the king. He looked at them and said, “The bird must have thrown down these things for some reason. Surely it wants to reward us for what we did.”
He picked up the seeds and began to look at them closely, but they were not of a kind known in his country. A wise man from his entourage, who saw the king’s perplexity regarding the seeds, said to him, “Sire, this plant ought to be entrusted to the womb of the earth; only then will it show its true nature, will its utility be found out, and the purpose of its stored treasure and hidden nature be fulfilled.”
So the king called for some ploughmen and ordered them to sow the seeds and to observe what became of them. They were sown and began to grow, twisting themselves round trees, then producing unripe grapes, then ripe grapes, while the men watched them and the king, too, observed them. Finally they were fully grown. The men did not dare taste them, fearing they might be lethal. The king ordered to have the fruits pressed, the juice put in a container and the seeds separated from it, while leaving some of it intact. When it reached the container as pressed juice, it began to bubble and produce foam, as fragrant odors wafted from it. The king said, “Fetch me an old decrepit man!”369
A man was brought and was given some of the substance in a vessel. What he saw was a ruby color, a luminous radiance, and a wonderful and perfect sight. They made him drink it and he had not had three glasses before he became aggressive, partly loosened his loincloth, clapped his hands, moved his head, stamped his feet on the ground, became elated, raised his voice, and began to sing. Thereupon the king said, “This is a drink that takes away one’s reason. As likely as not it will be lethal. See how that old man has reverted to his childhood, when sanguinity reigns with the force of growth and youth!”
Then the king ordered that he be given yet more; the old man got drunk and fell asleep. The king said, “He has died!”
But then the old man awoke and asked for more, saying, “When I had drunk it all distress was dispelled; it removed all my sorrows and worries. The bird wanted only to reward you with this noble drink.”
Then the king exclaimed, “This is the noblest drink for men!”
This was because he saw that the man had a healthy color and was relaxed and elated in a situation that would normally be dominated by sorrow and by phlegm. His digestion was good; he slept and a joyful feeling overcame him. Then the king ordered the planting of many vines, and many vines were planted. He gave orders for it to be forbidden to the masses, saying: “This is the drink of kings. I was the cause of its coming into being, so let nobody else drink it!”
The king used it for the rest of his life. Then it got into the hands of the people, who used it too. It is also said that Noah (peace be upon him) was the first to sow it. The story of how the Devil stole it when Noah came out of the ark and the ark had settled on Mount Jūdī370 can be found in my book The Beginning and in other books too.
Then, after Ptolemy (Baṭlīmūs), reigned his daughter Cleopatra (Qilābaṭrah), ruling for twenty-two years. She was a wise woman, a philosopher, who favored scholars and honored sages. She wrote books on medicine and magic and other topics relating to wisdom,371 which bore her name, were attributed to her, and were well known among physicians. This queen was the last of the Greek monarchs, who reigned until their rule ended; their days fell into oblivion, their traces were obliterated, and their sciences disappeared, apart from what remained in the hands of their sages.
There is a curious story about this queen and how she died, killing herself. She had a spouse called Anthony (Anṭūniyūs), who shared with her the rule of Macedonia, i.e. the land of Egypt including Alexandria and other parts.372 Then the second king of Rome, Augustus (Aghusṭus), came to her; he was the first to be called Caesar (Qayṣar), and all the subsequent Caesars are traced to him. We shall mention his story in the chapter on the kings of Rome, below.373 He fought wars in Syria and Egypt with Cleopatra and her husband Anthony, until he killed him and Cleopatra was no longer able to prevent Augustus, the king of Rome, from taking over the rule of Egypt. Augustus intended to capture her by means of a ruse, because he knew about her knowledge and wanted to learn from her, since she was the only remaining sage of the Greeks. His plan was then to torture her and kill her. So he wrote her a letter, but she knew what his intentions were regarding her and the wrong he had done her by killing her husband and her soldiers.
She asked for a snake found in the Hijaz, Egypt, and Syria, a kind of snake that watches a human being closely until, when it is able to reach a part of his body, it leaps up several cubits’ distance, swift as the wind, not missing this very part of the body, spitting poison on it and thereby killing him. The cause would not be known because the person would turn into a lifeless corpse on the spot, so that people would imagine that he had died suddenly of a natural cause. I have seen a similar kind of snake in the water, in Khūzistān, in the regions of al-Ahwāz, which one reaches when traveling to Persia from Basra. It is a place known as Khān Mardawayh, between Dawraq and the land of al-Bāsiyān and al-Fandam. The snakes are a span in circumference, and are called fitriyyah there.374 They have two heads and live in the sand or in the earth. When they detect a human being or an animal they leap up many cubits from their place and strike any part of the body of that animal with one of their heads, so that it is overtaken instantaneously and immediately by lifelessness and demise.375
This queen, Cleopatra, sent for a snake as described above and which is found in the Hijaz. On the day that she knew Augustus would enter her royal palace, she ordered one of her servants to touch it in its vessel; she wanted her to die before herself so that she would not be subjected to torture after her own death. The woman fell instantaneously lifeless. The queen then sat on her royal throne, placed her crown on her head, and put on her regal clothes and jewels. She had all kinds of aromatic plants, flowers, fruits, and scents spread out in the room where she sat and before her throne were all the combined marvelous aromatic herbs and plants of Egypt such as we have mentioned. She attended to all her affairs as much as was necessary and dismissed the servants around her; they looked after themselves rather than their queen after the enemy arrived and entered the royal palace. She brought her hand near the glass vessel that contained the snake, putting her hand close to its opening. The snake spat on it and it withered on the spot. The snake slid out of the vessel and, not finding a hole or a passage to leave through, since the rooms were built solidly of marble and various paints, hid amidst these plants.
Augustus entered and finally came to that room. He looked at her where she was sitting, with her crown upon her head, and did not doubt but that she would speak. But when he came near her he saw that she was dead. He wondered about the plants, reaching out his hand to each kind, feeling and smelling, and expressing his admiration to those of his retinue that accompanied him, but without knowing the cause of her death and regretting what now escaped him regarding her. While he was thus occupied in picking up and smelling these aromatic plants, suddenly the snake leapt on him and struck him with its poison. The right half of his body withered immediately, he lost sight in his right eye and hearing in his right ear. He was amazed at what she had done, that she had killed herself, preferring death to a life of humiliation, and at her ruse of placing the snake among the plants. He composed a poem on this in Latin, mentioning what had happened to him and also her story. He remained, after what had happened to him as we have recounted, for one day and then died. If the snake had not used some of its poison on the servant girl and subsequently on Queen Cleopatra, Augustus would have died immediately, rather than after this interval. His poem is extremely well known among the Romans, who recite it in their laments and elegize their kings and their dead with it. Sometimes they quote it in their songs; it is very well known and renowned among them.