Babylon's Littlest Lion

Babylon’s Littlest Lion

It was a normal day in Babylon. Hot. Dry. Dusty. The sun had just peeped over the horizon but the palace already felt like an oven.

I jumped up on a window ledge and searched for signs of smoke. From here, I could see all of Babylon and the plain that stretched to the far horizon.

Babylon! The greatest city in the world. It was the capital of Babylonia and was square, four miles wide by four miles long, and surrounded by tall brick walls. The Euphrates River flowed through it.

Every morning, I sat here and waited to see smoke rise from the temple. The people of Babylon believed that a god named Bel lived there. Three times a day, priests roasted lamb, pig, or cow and gave it to Bel as an offering. They served him wine or beer to wash it down.

Leftovers went to the King and anyone else who lived in the palace. That included me.

Just then, the lions in the King’s zoo roared.

I flinched. I stay away from the lions. They scare me. They are cats too but they are much bigger than I am.

The lions roared again. They were hungry for breakfast. My stomach rumbled too.

So far, there wasn’t any smoke from Bel’s temple, but far away, on the distant horizon, there was a big cloud of dust. Maybe it was a sand storm. Maybe it was a caravan of merchants. Or maybe it was an enemy army.

I had seen a cloud like that once before—when King Nebuchadnezzar and his army attacked my home in Egypt. He conquered it and sent wagons loaded with treasure to Babylon. Part of that treasure included me—a kitten that was all black except for one white whisker and two white toes on my back left paw. He gave me to his mother as a birthday present because black cats are special. They bring good luck. The Queen Mother named me Aniki, although I had a perfectly good Egyptian name.

Egyptians worship cats as gods. There are lots of gods in Egypt. There are lots of gods in Babylon, too. Bel, Ishtar, Tammuz, and . . . and . . . There are so many! I can’t remember them all.

None of them are cats.

It was time for my first nap of the day, so I curled into a ball and went to sleep.

When I woke up, I lifted my nose and tested the air. I didn’t smell anything, but I could see a wisp of smoke curling from the top of Bel’s temple.

Yes! The temple priests were finally preparing breakfast. That was progress.

The dusty cloud on the horizon had made progress, too. It was much bigger now, but it was still a long way off. And it was coming down the road that led to Babylon.

Didn’t the guards on the city walls see it? All day long and all night long, they protected the city from attack and scanned the plain for any sign of danger. At dawn, they opened the city gates. At dusk, they closed them.

They didn’t seem to care about the growing dust cloud.

But I did. Something big was coming this way.

What was stirring up so much dust? At first, I thought it was a merchant’s caravan from Ur or Jerusalem. People usually traveled at night because it was too hot and dusty during the day.

No. It was far too big to be a caravan. What could it be?

A delicious aroma rode the wind. I lifted my head and breathed deep. Beef! My favorite. Whatever was heading to Babylon was still a long way off, so I had time to grab breakfast.

Sometimes, the men who carried food trays from the temple to the palace were sloppy and dropped food. I liked to be there to help them clean up the mess.

I ran to Bel’s temple and scrambled up the long ramp that led to the fourth floor. I took the stairs that wound around the outside and came out at the top. I peeped around a corner.

Priests were cooking Bel’s food on a giant altar. I hid behind a barrel and watched them load gold plates with bread, fruit, honey, and meat. One priest carried a tray of cups while another one carried flasks of wine. They all went into Bel’s room.

Before they could close the door, I slipped in. They locked the door and put plates of food before a giant gold statue sitting on a throne. They bowed low, over and over, like their waists were on hinges.

Bel didn’t move. He didn’t eat the food.

But the priests did. They ate off the golden plates. And ate. And ate. And ate.

They drank cup after cup of wine.

I had discovered their secret! Now I understood why they didn’t let anyone in Bel’s room.

It was a scam. Bel didn’t eat or drink. The priests did. They had fooled everyone. Even the King.

Watching them eat made my stomach growl.

The priests turned toward me. Their faces were red with anger. They chased me around the room. I had never been so afraid. As I darted past, one of them made a lucky grab. He held me by the scruff of the neck and headed to an open window.

“I know that cat,” one of the priests said. “That’s Aniki, the Queen Mother’s cat.”

The priest came to a dead stop. His face lost all color.

The priests looked at each other. Their anger melted into fear. What would happen to them if they harmed the Queen Mother’s cat?

The priest carried me to the door, opened it, and put me outside.

I strolled off with my tail up and my head held high. But I had learned an important lesson, one I would not soon forget. I could go anywhere I wanted in Babylon, even though I had been brought here as a prisoner.

Bel’s room was the only exception. No one except priests could enter.

After I was thrown out of Bel’s room, I hid behind a big barrel that smelled like barley flour and waited. The priests were inside for a long time. When they came out, the gold plates and the wine flasks were empty.

Servants loaded leftover food from the altar onto giant trays.

A bit of beef slipped off. Yes! It was small. Mouse-sized. The perfect breakfast.

I saw my chance and took it. I grabbed the meat and ran off before anyone could take it away from me.

I carried it down to the courtyard and darted across the street.

Babylon was just beginning to come to life. People headed to the marketplace to sell their wares. Others went to the fields beyond the city walls. Men began shoveling charcoal into a giant furnace. When it was hot enough, they would melt gold, silver, and other metals in it.

I ran across a plaza. I knew exactly where to go to eat breakfast. I climbed to my favorite spot at the top of the western wall.

The temple meat tasted delicious. I no longer ate mice or rats. I had my standards. One night, I got hungry and caught a big, fat rat for a midnight snack.

Never again. The mice of Babylon tasted bad. The rats tasted even worse, like they had been swimming in a vat of old beer.

I finished breakfast and licked my paws.

The dust cloud was closer now. l could see horse-drawn chariots and men riding camels. There were lots and lots of people on foot. They looked tired and very, very sad.

Just then, I noticed they were all chained together. They were prisoners.

Behind them, oxen pulled canvas-covered wagons that were loaded to the top.

What was under the canvas? It must have been something very valuable. Armed guards on horseback rode beside the wagons.

Last of all came soldiers on foot. Their swords, helmets, and armor flashed in the sun.

I suddenly knew what I was seeing.

It was King Nebuchadnezzar’s army! I remembered watching it leave Babylon. It had set out to attack Jerusalem, the capital of Judah. Now, it was back and had brought hundreds of Hebrew prisoners.

Babylon had won.