<P> Four thousand years ago, according to Herodotus and confirmed by Diodorus Siculus, asphalt was used in the construction of the walls and towers of Babylon; there were oil pits near Ardericca (near Babylon), and a pitch spring on Zacynthus (Ionian islands, Greece). Great quantities of it were found on the banks of the river Issus, one of the tributaries of the Euphrates . Ancient Persian tablets indicate the medicinal and lighting uses of petroleum in the upper levels of their society . </P> <P> Oil was exploited in the Roman province of Dacia, now in Romania, where it was called picula . </P> <P> The use of petroleum dates back to ancient China more than 2000 years ago . In I Ching, one of the earliest Chinese writings cites the use of oil in its raw state without refining was first discovered, extracted, and used in China in the first century BCE . In addition, the Chinese were the first to use petroleum as fuel as the early as the fourth century BCE . </P> <P> The earliest known oil wells were drilled in China in 347 AD or earlier . They had depths of up to about 800 feet (240 m) and were drilled using bits attached to bamboo poles . The oil was burned to evaporate brine and produce salt . By the 10th century, extensive bamboo pipelines connected oil wells with salt springs . The ancient records of China and Japan are said to contain many allusions to the use of natural gas for lighting and heating . Petroleum was known as burning water in Japan in the 7th century . In his book Dream Pool Essays written in 1088, the polymathic scientist and statesman Shen Kuo of the Song Dynasty coined the word 石油 (Shíyóu, literally "rock oil") for petroleum, which remains the term used in contemporary Chinese and Japanese (Sekiyū). </P>

When was oil first used as an energy source