People of the Inner Sea (The Age of Bronze)

People of the Inner Sea (The Age of Bronze) Read Free Page A

Book: People of the Inner Sea (The Age of Bronze) Read Free
Author: Diana Gainer
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work a little easier.  As the crews progressed, the boys periodically exchanged empty water jars for full ones, borne on the heads of an accompanying line of women.  A brisk wind tossed the women's ankle-length skirts and their long hair, braided to keep it out of their eyes.  They had to use their hands to balance the jugs on their heads because of that wind.  As each woman delivered her full jar and took up the empty one, she walked quickly back toward where the procession had begun at dawn.  There, a small collection of two-wheeled carts waited, loaded down with filled jars.  The oxen harnessed to these little wagons were thin, their ribs and backbones protruding.  They hung their heads listlessly as they waited to be driven forward.  Beneath the watchful eyes of two aging warriors, the women took up fresh burdens.  Without pausing, the workers turned again toward the great stones being dragged up an earthen ramp.
     
    The foreman of the work crew chanted in a loud sing-song from where he stood, alone, at the foot of the ramp that led from the road to the top of low wall.  When the massive blocks reached the edge of the wall, the foreman directed the workers with a great deal of shouting and arm-waving, as they levered the stones from the sledge to the wall.  He nodded in satisfaction at the progress of the workers, as each stone was added to the slowly rising wall that crossed the land.  The lower courses of the great barrier completely crossed the narrow isthmus that kept the eastern sea from meeting the western.  This day or the next would see the completion of a second course of stones.  Barely visible in the distance, masons were at their work on top of the previous day's section of wall.  There they smoothed the upper surface of the second row of blocks with chisels of bronze and flint.  When one of the stone-workers seemed to turn in his direction, the foreman waved, beckoning them to come.
     
    The foreman called for the rope-pullers to stop for a moment, as he waited for the masons to arrive.  Gratefully, the men released the stout ropes and stood, panting, their hands on their knees.  The foreman's long hair was repeatedly swept into his eyes by the breeze, as he stood waiting.  His sole garment, a kilt of striped linen, was lifted again and again.  In irritation, the man cursed, "To 'Aidé with this wind!"  But even as he said the words, he glanced nervously to the east, over the nearby sea.  The waters were calm and the sky above, clear.  Still his forehead was furrowed with concern.
     
    Two of the kilted masons walked toward the men, across the top of the completed section of the wall.  With more shouts and gestures, they had the men lever the massive blocks still closer together, filling any gaps with smaller rocks.  When completed, the wall would not allow even a flat knife blade to pass between the stones.
     
    On the other side of the anxious foreman, additional women were at work, carrying baskets of earth, raising the ramp that would allow the men to work on the next section of the wall, closest to the sea.  Following the slow and steady rhythm of their work songs, the women bent down in the surrounding empty fields.  Barefoot, dressed only in linen skirts, they scraped dirt into wide-rimmed baskets, and bore them on their heads toward the shore.  Others carried long, flat boards to press into the loose earth of the ramp.
     
    The women had their own foreman, who stood at the foot of the new section of the growing ramp, urging on the slackers with shouts and an occasional blow from his walking staff.  Like the men's overseer, he sported long hair and a patterned kilt.  The wind troubled him as well and he struggled against it to keep a wool cloak around his shoulders.
     
    As the day wore on, the work songs that had rung out from early morning fell into silence.  The only sounds from men and women alike were grunts of effort and labored breathing.  Blocks of stone inched

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