The Blood of Belshazzar

The Blood of Belshazzar is an adventure story by Robert E. Howard. Howard was an American writer of pulp fiction and sword and sorcery tales. Excerpt: "Here luxury and nakedness met, the riches of degenerate civilizations and the stark savagery of utter barbarism. Men clad in stenching sheepskins lolled on silken cushions, exquisitely brocaded, and guzzled from solid golden goblets, fragile as the stem of a desert flower. They wiped their bearded lips and hairy hands on velvet tapestries worthy of a shah's palace."