ty, but it was probably either Berosus or Ctesias. The
      execution of the mock king is not noticed in the passage of Berosus
      cited by Athenaeus, probably because the mention of it was not
      germane to Athenaeus's purpose, which was simply to give a list of
      festivals at which masters waited on their servants. A passage of
      Macrobius (_Saturn._ iii. 7. 6) which has sometimes been interpreted
      as referring to this Babylonian custom (F. Liebrecht, in
      _Philologus_, xxii. 710; J. J. Bachofen, _Die Sage von Tanaquil_, p.
      52, note 16) has in fact nothing to do with it. See A. B. Cook, in
      _Classical Review_, xvii. (1903) p. 412; _id._ in _Folk-lore_, xv.
      (1904) pp. 304, 384. In the passage of Dio Chrysostom {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}
      should strictly mean "hanged," but the verb was applied by the
      Greeks to the Roman punishment of crucifixion (Plutarch, _Caesar_,
      2). It may have been extended to include impalement, which was often
      inflicted by the Assyrians, as we may see by the representations of
      it on the Assyrian monuments in the British Museum. See also R. F.
      Harper, _Assyrian and Babylonian Literature_, p. 41, with the plate
      facing p. 54. The proper word for impalement in Greek is
      {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ZETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} (Herodotus, iv. 202). Hanging was also an Oriental as
      well as Roman mode of punishment. The Heb