I have just been reading Hammurabi’s code of laws.

Just take a look at that law number 2: “If any one bring an accusation

against a man, and the accused go to the river and leap into the river, if

he sink in the river his accuser shall take possession of his house. But if

the river prove that the accused is not guilty, and he escape unhurt, then

he who had brought the accusation shall be put to death, while he who leaped

into the river shall take possession of the house that had belonged to his

accuser.”

I wonder if the ancient Babylonians knew about… swimming?

(I recall that in Arthur Koestler’s THE LOTUS AND THE ROBOT there is an

Indian holy man whose most admired miracle is his power to float in deep

water without drowning.)