hat "the veil
of the Temple, which was rent in twain" sixteen centuries later, was
that dedicated by Herod, and was Babylonian work, representing heaven
and earth[443] (see p. 23 _ante_). Its colouring was scarlet, white,
and blue. Scarlet and white hangings seem indeed to have been an
Oriental fashion; and fashion then was not ephemeral, but lasted
hundreds of years. The embroidered curtains of the Tabernacle are
repeated in the hangings of Alexander's wedding tent, after 1500
years; and a thousand years later still they reappear in the seventh
century, when Pope Sergius gave curtains to the high altar
(baldachino) in the basilica of St. Peter's at Rome of this same
scarlet and white embroidery.

In early Oriental art, the enormous expenditure of work is appalling
to think of. Abulfeda describes the palace of the Caliph Moctader, on
the banks of the Tigris, as being adorned with 38,000 pieces of
tapestry, and of these 12,000 were of silk worked in gold. What a
wealth of women had to be wasted in creating such a wealth of
embroideries![444]

There is a Bedouin romance which describes the tent of Antar, and
shows the taste for large works. Five thousand horsemen could skirmish
under its embroidered shade; and Akbar's largest tent held 10,000
persons.

Nadir Shah's gorgeous tent, which was of the end of the seventeenth
and the beginning of the eighteenth century, was of scarlet cloth on
the outside, lined with violet satin embroidered with gold and
precious stones. The peacock throne was placed within it, and was kept
there during the remainder of Nadir Shah's reign.

Sir John Chardin says that "The Khan of Persia caused a tent to be
made which cost two millions: they called it the house of gold;" and
it was resplendent with embroideries.[445] These are comparatively
modern works, and sound commonplace and vulgar compared to those of
Greece and Egypt.

The Greeks imitated the tents and temporary buildings of the Eastern
monarchs. This phase of Oriental luxury was imported by Alexander the
Great, and we have the description of two of his gorgeous creations at
Alexandria, where he outrivalled the ancient traditional glories of
Assyria and Persia. His own tent was supported by fifty golden
pillars, carrying a roof of woven gold, embroidered in shimmering
colours, and divided from the surrounding court, filled with guards
and retainers, by scarlet and white curtains of splendid material and
design.

But more gorgeou