s is the account of the tent in which he entertained
ninety-one of his companions-in-arms on the occasion of his marriage.
This tent was supported by columns twenty cubits high, plated with
silver and gold, and inlaid with precious stones. The walls of the
court were formed by curtains adorned with figures worked in gold, and
were hung from beams plated with the precious metals, to match the
columns. The outer court was half a mile in circumference.[446]

Yet Alexander's wedding-tent was exceeded in splendour by that erected
by Ptolemy Philadelphus for his great pomp at Alexandria, described by
Kallixenos, as cited by Athenaeus.[447] This tent, crowned with golden
eagles, was supported by pillars fifty cubits high. They upheld an
architrave with cross-beams covered with linen, on which were painted
coffers, to imitate the structure of a solid roof. From the centre was
suspended a veil of scarlet bordered with white. The pillars in the
four angles represented palm-trees of gold, and the intermediate
columns were fashioned as thursi, and were probably wreathed with
golden vines and bunches of grapes made of amethysts, as we know of a
Persian tent so adorned, and the whole idea of the erection was
evidently fresh from the East.[448] A frieze eight cubits high was
composed of niches containing groups of tragic, comic, and Satyric
figures "in their natural garb;" and nymphs and golden tripods from
Delphi. The tent was separated from the outer peristyle by scarlet
hangings, covered with choice skins of wild beasts. Upon these were
hung the celebrated Sikyonian pictures, the heritage of the Ptolemaic
dynasty, alternating with portraits and rich hangings, on which were
embroidered the likenesses of kings, and likewise mythological
subjects. Between these and the frieze hung gold and silver shields.
Opposite the entrance, vessels of the most costly materials and
workmanship, valued at 10,000 talents of silver, were ranged, so as to
strike the eye of all who entered there. Golden couches supported by
Sphinxes were placed along the sides of the tent, furnished with soft
purple woollen mattresses, and coverings gaily and exquisitely
embroidered. The floor was strewn with fresh blossoms, except where a
most costly Persian carpet covered the centre. In the doorways and
against the pillars stood a hundred precious statues by the greatest
artists.

This description dazzles the imagination! To be an upholsterer (a
vestiarius) in those