Chapter II (3)

Additional evidence that this was actually the form of the Tower of Babylon has been deduced from a tablet, drawn up in the Seleucid era, and purporting to give a detailed description and measurements of E-sagila and its temple-tower. A hurried description of the text and its contents was published by George Smith[173] before he started on his last journey to the east, and from that time the tablet was lost sight of. But some three years ago it was found in Paris, and it has now been made fully available for study.[174] It must be admitted that it is almost impossible at present to reconcile the descriptions on the tablet with the actual remains of E-sagila and the Peribolos that have been recovered by excavation. The "Great Terrace (or Court)," and the "Terrace (or Court) of Ishtar and Zamama," which, according to the tablet, were the largest and most important subdivisions in the sacred area, have not been satisfactorily identified. Dr. Koldewey was inclined to regard the former as corresponding to the Great Court[175] of the Peribolos, including the buildings surrounding it, and the latter he would identify with the northern court of the enclosure;[176] while the third great sub-division he suggested might be the inner space of the Great Court, which he thus had to count twice over. Scarcely more satisfactory is M. Marcel Dieulafoy's reconstruction, since he makes the two main areas, or "terraces," extend to the east of the Sacred Way, over ground which, as the excavations have shown, was covered by the houses of the town, and thus lay beyond the limits of the sacred area. It is possible that the apparent discrepancies may be traced to an extensive reconstruction of the Peribolos between the Neo-Babylonian and the Seleucid periods. But, whatever explanation be adopted, a number of detailed measurements given by the tablet are best explained on the hypothesis that they refer to receding stages of a temple-tower. The tablet may thus be cited as affording additional support to the current conception of the Tower of Babylon, and there is no reason to reject the interpretation that has so long been accepted of the famous description of the tower that is given by Herodotus.[177]

There is one other structure in Babylon that deserves mention, and that is the bridge over the Euphrates, since its remains are those of the earliest permanent bridge of which we have any record in antiquity. It will be noted from the ground-plan of E-temen-anki[178] that the procession-street leads past the corner of the Peribolos to a great gate-way in the river-wall, guarding the head of the bridge which crossed the Euphrates on stone piers. The river at this point appears to have been one hundred and twenty-three metres in breadth. The piers are built in the shape of boats with their bows pointing up-stream, and their form was no doubt suggested by the earlier bridge-of-boats which they displaced. The roadway, as in boat-bridges in Mesopotamia at the present day, was laid across the boatpiers, and must have been very much narrower than the length of the piers themselves. The bridge, which is mentioned by Herodotus[179] and Diodorus,[180] was the work of Nabopolassar, as we learn from the East India House Inscription, in which Nebuchadnezzar states that his father "had built piers of burnt brick for the crossing of the Euphrates."[181] The stone used in its construction, which is referred to by Herodotus, was no doubt laid above the brick-piers, as a foundation for the flat wooden structure of the bridge itself. The later river-wall was the work of Nabonidus and it marks an extension of the bank westwards, which was rendered possible by the building of Nebuchadnezzar's fortification in the bed of the river to the west of the Southern Citadel.[182] The old line of the left bank is marked by the ruins of earlier river-walls, traces of which have been uncovered below the north-west angle of the Peribolos.[183] It was doubtless to protect the Peribolos and E-sagila from flood that the bank was extended in this way.

The buildings that have hitherto been described all date from the later Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian periods, and during their first years of work at Babylon the excavators found nothing that could be assigned to the earlier epochs in the history of the capital. It was assumed that the destruction of Babylon by Sennacherib had been so thorough that very little of the earlier city had survived. But later on it was realized that the remains of the older Babylon lay largely below the present water-level. The continual deposit of silt in the bed of the river has raised the level at which water is reached when digging on the site of the city, and it is clear that at the time of the First Dynasty the general level of the town was considerably lower than in later periods. During recent years a comparatively small body of water has flowed along the Euphrates bed, so that it has been possible on the Merkes Mound to uncover one quarter in the ancient city. There trenches have been cut to a depth of twelve metres, when water-level was reached and further progress was rendered impossible, although the remains of buildings continued still lower.

PLAN OF THE MERKES MOUND, SHOWING PART OF THE STREET NET-WORK OF BABYLON.

A: The Sacred Way or Procession-Street of Babylon. B: E-makh, the temple of the goddess Ninmakh. C: South-east corner of the Southern Citadel with the Palace of Nebuchadnezzar. D: Canal and basin. E: Northern Court of the Peribolos of E-temen-anki. P: Main Court of the Peribolos. G: The mound Merkes. H: Temple of Ishtar of Akkad. J: Greek Theatre. K: Old canal.

(After Koldewey.)]

From the accompanying plan it will be seen that the street net-work has been recovered over a considerable area. The entire structure of the mound consists of the dwellings of private citizens, rising layer above layer from below water-level to the surface of the soil. The upper strata date from the Parthian period, and here the houses are scattered with wide spaces of garden or waste land between them. In striking contrast to these scanty remains are the streets of the Greek, Persian and Neo-Babylonian periods, where the houses are crowded together, and open spaces, which were at one time courts or gardens, have later on been surrendered to the builder. We here have striking proof of the value of house-property in Babylon during the city's period of greatest prosperity. Still deeper in the mound a level can be dated to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, for in the houses were found tablets inscribed in the reigns of Merodach-baladan I., Meli-Shipak II., and Enlil-nadin-shum. In the northern part of the mound, in the lowest stratum of all and lying partly above and partly below water-level, contract-tablets of the First Dynasty were uncovered, bearing date-formulæ of Samsu-iluna, Ammi-ditana and Samsu-ditana. Here the mud-brick walls of the houses, though not very thick, all rest upon burnt-brick foundations, a method of building which, as we have seen,[184] survived into the Neo-Babylonian period. This is the earliest city of which traces have been recovered, and a thick layer of ashes testifies to its destruction by fire. There can be no doubt that the town so destroyed was that of Hammurabi and his immediate successors, for the dated tablets were found lying in the layer of ashes undisturbed. We here have additional proof that Babylon's First Dynasty ended in disaster. It is possible that the conflagration, in which the city then perished, was the work of the Hittite raiders whose onslaught we know took place in Samsu-ditana's reign.

This portion of the town would appear to have been entirely residential, as it contains no open space such as would have served as a market. Even the temples were without a space in front of them, and in this respect resemble the churches in many modern cities. It will be noted that the temple of Ishtar of Akkad in the north of the Merkes Mound, though not actually built in, is approached on every side by private houses, though on its southern face the road is rather broader than elsewhere. Still more shut in were the temple of Ninib and the unidentified temple known as "Z," both of which lie in the mound Ishin-aswad.[185] Here trenches cut across the mound have uncovered the ruins of Babylonian houses in crude brick, the remains of different periods lying one above the other as in Merkes, and they surround the temples on all sides. The only other spot in Babylon where the same strata of streets and private houses have been found is in a low range of mounds between the Ḳaṣr and Tell 'Amrân, where the dwellings appear to be of an inferior character such as we might expect in a poorer quarter of the town. It is only in the rather higher ground that satisfactory results have yet been obtained, as in the plain the earlier strata descend below water-level. It is possible that further digging may lay bare the business-quarters of ancient Babylon, and that we may identify the markets and bazaars which formed one of the great centres of distribution in the ancient world.

Meanwhile, the Merkes Mound has yielded sufficient evidence to form a general conclusion as to the lines on which the city was built. The street net-work shown in the plan is mainly that of the Neo-Babylonian period, but, wherever the earlier levels were preserved, it was noted that the old streets followed the same lines with but slight variations. The main arteries run roughly north and south, parallel to the course of the Sacred Way, while others cross them at right angles.[186] It would appear that, in spite of the absence of open spaces, we here have a deliberate attempt at town-planning on a scientific basis, the original idea of which may be traced back to the First Dynasty. It is true that the streets are not entirely regular, but the main thoroughfares all run through, and the island-plots are all approximately rectangular. We may probably place this achievement to the credit of the Semitic element in the population, as in the two Sumerian towns, in which private house-property has been uncovered, there is no trace of town-planning. Both at Fâra and at Abû Hatab, the sites of the early Sumerian cities of Shuruppak and Kisurra, the streets that have been followed out are crooked and far more irregular than those of Babylon. It has long been known that Hammurabi did much to codify the laws of his country and render their administration effective. It would now appear that similar system and method were introduced at the same period into the more material side of the national life.

The excavations at Babylon have thus thrown some direct light upon the condition of the city during the period at which it first became the capital. It is true that no portion of a royal or sacred building as yet identified antedates the later Assyrian Empire, and that, as the result of extensive reconstruction, the ruins of temples, palaces and city-walls are mainly those of the Neo-Babylonian period. But there was no great break in continuity between that epoch and its predecessors, so that, when due allowance has been made for certain innovations, the buildings of the later period may be treated as typical of Babylonian civilization as a whole. We have seen how the streets of Babylon followed the same lines throughout the whole of her dynastic period, and a similar spirit of conservatism no doubt characterized her architectural development. Temples were rebuilt again and again on the old sites, and even in the Neo-Babylonian period they retained the mud-brick walls and primitive decoration of their remote predecessors. Indeed, the conditions of life in Babylonia precluded any possibility of drastic change. The increased use of burnt brick in the upper structure of the royal palaces rendered possible the brilliant enamelling of the Neo-Babylonian craftsmen. But, even as late as Nabopolassar's reign, the thick mud-brick walls of the king's dwelling must have resembled those of Hammurabi himself: it was mainly in point of size that the earlier palace and city differed from those of later monarchs. And when we examine the successive periods of the country's history, we shall find that tradition exerted an equally powerful influence in retaining unaltered the essential features of the national life. It was under her earliest dynasty that Babylon worked out in detail a social organization that suited her agricultural and commercial activities; and it is a remarkable tribute to its founders that it should have survived the shock of foreign domination and have imposed its mould upon later generations.

[Footnote 1: Rogers points out that the rabbi's account of Babylon seems to lack the little touches which betray the record of an eye-witness, and he compares it with the same traveller's descriptions of Mosul and Baghdad. By far the best and fullest account of the early explorers of Babylonia is that given by Rogers in his "History of Babylonia and Assyria," Vol. 1., pp. 84 ff.]

[Footnote 2: See Hakluyt, "The Principall navigations voiages and discoveries of the English nation," ed. 1589, p. 232; ed. Goldsmid, Vol. X., "Asia," Pt. III. (1889), p. 63.]

[Footnote 3: He states that "the heavenly fire which struck the tower split it to its very foundation," a description which is thoroughly applicable to the present appearance of Borsippa's temple-tower at El-Birs; see the photograph reproduced on Plate II. Other travellers, such as Anthony Shirley in 1599 or 1600, appear to have made the same identification. A few years later Pietro della Valle was nearer the mark in identifying the tower with the mound Babil, from which he carried away to Home some of Nebuchadnezzar's stamped bricks, probably the first collection of Babylonian antiquities to reach Europe (cf. Rogers, _op. cit.,_ p. 98).]

[Footnote 4: See p. 10, Fig. 2.]

[Footnote 5: In addition to his incomplete plan (cf. C. J. Rich, "Narrative of a Journey to the site of Babylon in 1811," edited by his widow, London, 1839; opposite p. 43), and the smaller-scale plan of Major Rennet based upon it (published originally in "Archæologia," Vol. 18, and reprinted with Rich's memoir), we possess another sketch-plan, more accurate in certain details, by Sir Robert Ker Porter (cf. "Travels in Georgia, Persia, Armenia, Ancient Babylonia, etc., during the years 1817, 1818, 1819, and 1820," Vol II., 1822, opposite p. 349). Accurate surveys of large districts in Babylonia were made by Captain J. Felix Jones of the Indian Navy, who did such excellent work on Nineveh and its neighbourhood (see his "Memoirs," issued as a volume in "Bombay Government Records," No. XLIII., New Series, Bombay, 1857; and for the Nineveh survey, cf. "Journ. Roy. Asiat. Soc.," Vol. XV., 1853, pp. 352 ff.). The material collected by Felix Jones in Babylonia, was incorporated in the India Office Map, which was compiled by Trelawney Saunders on the basis of the surveys made between 1860 and 1865 by Commander W. Beaumont Selby, Lieut. W. Collingwood and Lieut. J. B. Bewsher, all of the Indian Navy. This was issued in 1885 under the title "Surveys of Ancient Babylon and the surrounding ruins with part of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, the Hindiyeh Canal, the Sea of Nejf and the Shat Atshar," etc., London, 1885. It takes in the area from Baghdad to the junction of the Shatt Atshar with the Euphrates and is by far the best map, and the only one on a large scale, hitherto produced of Babylon and its neighbourhood. All plans of the mounds covering the ruins of the city itself are of course superseded by those issued by the German expedition.]

[Footnote 6: See "Nineveh and Babylon," London, 1853.]

[Footnote 7: The results of the expedition were published in two volumes under the title "Expédition scientifique en Mésopotamie," Paris, 1863.]

[Footnote 8: Cf. "Asshur and the Land of Nimrod," New York, 1897.]

[Footnote 9: "Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft zu Berlin," Nos. 1-54 (March, 1899--June, 1914).]

[Footnote 10: See Koldewey, "Die Tempel von Babylon und Borsippa," Leipzig, 1911.]

[Footnote 11: Cf. "Das wieder erstehende Babylon," Leipzig, 1912. A careful English translation of the work, from the pen of Mrs. Johns, has been issued under the title "The Excavations at Babylon," London, 1914.]

[Footnote 12: Recent discoveries at Shergât prove that a Sumerian occupation of the site of Ashur preceded the first settlement of the Semitic Assyrians. In a stratum below the first Ishtar-temple (the earliest Assyrian temple yet recovered, dating as it does from the close of the third millennium B.C.), several examples of Sumerian sculpture were found which bear an unmistakably close relationship to the earliest Sumerian work at Tello and Bismâya. The racial type represented by the sculptures is also that of the south, and suggests a Sumerian occupation of Assyria before the advent of the Semites. The termination of their settlement at Ashur was probably not the work of the Semitic conquerors of Assyria, but of another non-Semitic race akin to the Mitannian people of Northern Mesopotamia (on this subject see further Chap. IV., pp. 137 ff.). But the Semites were at least indirect heirs of the Sumerian inhabitants and derived their culture in part from them; and the growth of such elements in their acquired civilization would have been fostered as intercourse with the south increased. For a summary account of the new discoveries at Ashur, see the "Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft," No. 54 (June, 1914).]

[Footnote 13: See further, p. 72 f.]

[Footnote 14: I., 178.]

[Footnote 15: For references to other estimates, see How and Wells, "Commentary on Herodotus," _sub I._, 178.]

[Footnote 16: Cf. "Das wieder erstehende Babylon," p. 5.]

[Footnote 17: Cf. Haverfield, "Ancient Town Planning," p. 22.]

[Footnote 18: See above, p. 10, Fig. 2.]

[Footnote 19: See the general plan of Babylon on p. 23, Fig. 3, B.]

[Footnote 20: Fig. 3, T.]

[Footnote 21: A. D. and E. on plan.]

[Footnote 22: Some traces of walls still remain near the village of Sinjar (see Fig. 3, 4), and Weissbach has attempted to use them for a reconstruction of the city plan. As a result he makes the western portion of the city considerably smaller than that on the eastern bank, his north-west wall meeting the Euphrates opposite the Ḳaṣr, and being continued by the elaborate fortification-walls to the north of the Southern Citadel; cf. "Das Stadtbild von Babylon," in "Der alte Orient," V., Heft 4. This represents quite a possible arrangement. We shall see that these remains of western walls may possibly date from a still earlier period, and may also have defended the western extension of the earlier city-area (see below, p. 35). But even so they may have remained the only fortifications on the western bank; for the tendency to expansion would have been more marked to the east where the main citadel offered increased possibilities of defence. The fact that Nebuchadnezzar's northern citadel should also have been built on the left bank points in the same direction. But the question can only be settled definitely when the traces of these western walls have been examined by excavation and their relationship to the eastern fortifications determined.]

[Footnote 23: The line of mounds now marking in places the position of the city-wall is formed, oddly enough, by the core of the mud-brick portion, which still stands above the level of the surrounding soil. The far stronger outer wall has completely disappeared, for its fine burnt-bricks have tempted plunderers in search of building material. It is only after excavation that the lower courses of its foundation are detected when still in place. It is possible that deep excavation may settle the position of the whole line of walls, even where no trace of them now remains upon the surface.]

[Footnote 24: This has been deduced from the fact that a ditch, or moat, once ran immediately in front of it, of which traces only have been found. The old ditch was filled in when Nebuchadnezzar's burnt-brick wall broadened and strengthened the whole line of fortification.]

[Footnote 25: It has been reckoned that there were not less than ninety towers along the north-east wall of the city, though only fifteen of these have as yet been completely excavated.]

[Footnote 26: I., 179.]

[Footnote 27: Cf. Koldewey, "Babylon," p. 2.]

[Footnote 28: He tells us that in the circuit of the wall there were a hundred gates, all of brass, with brazen lintels and side-posts; cf. I., 179. As yet the excavations have not determined the site of any of the gates in the outer wall; but the manner in which bronze may have been used to strengthen and decorate the doors and gateways is illustrated by the bronze lintel, or step, from E-zida, the temple of Nabû at Borsippa, now in the British Museum: cf. Plate XXVI., opposite p. 278, and see further, p. 77, n. 4.]

[Footnote 29: See Fig. 3, A.]

[Footnote 30: Indeed during the Neo-Babylonian period it appears to have been known as "the City of the Dwelling" of "the King of Babylon;" see further, p. 41.]

[Footnote 31: Cf. "East India House Inscription," Col. VII., 1. 40, Rawlinson, "Cun. Inscr. West. Asia," Vol. 1., pl. 57, and Langdon, "Die neubabylonischen Königsinschriften," p. 13 (5 f.).]

[Footnote 32: See below, pp. 71 ff. Traces of a very ancient settlement, with much pottery (still unpublished), have been found by deep trenching in the fillings below the south-east corner of the citadel; cf. Koldewey, "Babylon," p. 82. Some flints and stone-implements found elsewhere are also evidence of a still earlier prehistoric settlement.]

[Footnote 33: See above, p. 23, Fig. 3, J.]

[Footnote 34: See further, pp. 82 ff.]

[Footnote 35: See Fig. 3, C.]

[Footnote 36: Fig. 3, R.]

[Footnote 37: See below, p. 30, Fig. 6, where the space between the crude brick walls is labelled K K. The walls are distinguished, by cross-hatching, from the structure of the palace which is of burnt-brick. When the Ishtar Gate (H) was built by Nebuchadnezzar, the northern of the two walls received a facing on both sides of brick-rubble laid in mud and bitumen, indicated by a heavy surrounding line upon the plan; but originally this wall too was of crude brick.]

[Footnote 38: Fig. 6, V; and see further, p. 58, n. 1.]

[Footnote 39: The present crude brick walls of the Ḳaṣr fortifications date from his reign or from that of his father.]

[Footnote 40: The meaning of _nimitti_ is not quite certain.]

[Footnote 41: In 648 B.C.; see further, Chap. VIII.]

[Footnote 42: Figs. 7 and 8, A and 1-3. Fig. 7 gives the ground-plan of this corner of the citadel. In Fig. 8 the quay walls and fortification-walls are given in section along the north front, looking from W. to E. In Fig. 8 the quay-wall "2" cannot be shown, as it is practically a westward extension of "I."]

[Footnote 43: A.]

[Footnote 44: It was built by Sargon within the last five years of his reign, when, after his signal defeat of Alerodach-baladan in 710 B.C., he ruled Babylonia as an Assyrian province. He did not ascend the throne, but contented himself with the title "Governor (_shakkanuku_) of Babylon," though he claimed the older title of "King of Sumer and Akkad." See further, Chap. VIII.]

[Footnote 45: Cf. Delitzsch's translation in Koldewey, "Babylon," p. 139; Engl. ed. p. 138. Elsewhere in the building-inscriptions the Ishtar Gate is named as belonging to Imgur-Bêl and Nimitti-Bêl.]

[Footnote 46: E and F in Figs. 7 and 8. In Fig. 7 it will be seen that there are remains of a building (I) at the western end of the two walls, between them and the quay-wall B. This may have been the quarters occupied by the Captain of the Wall.]

[Footnote 47: Nos. 1-3 in Fig. 7.]

[Footnote 48: On the meaning of the name, see below, p. 36.]

[Footnote 49: E and F in Figs. 7 and 8.]

[Footnote 50: See above, p. 23, Fig. 3, Z; cf. also, p. 24, n. 1.]

[Footnote 51: Cf. Delitzsch's translation in "Babylon," p. 135 f.]

[Footnote 52: See above, p. 33.]

[Footnote 53: See above, p. 34.]

[Footnote 54: Its employment with the determinative _nâru,_ "river" or "canal," does not prove that it was at this time a canal in the strict sense. According to the explanation offered in the text, it would have been a section of the river, including an open basin and probably a canal. In earlier periods it may have been simply a canal, which led off from the river at this point.]

[Footnote 55: See above, p. 28.]

[Footnote 56: See above, p. 30, Fig. 6, N.]

[Footnote 57: On a foundation-cylinder from Sippar in the British Museum (No. 91114; A. H. 82--7--14, 1042) Nebuchadnezzar writes: "For the protection of E-sagila and Babylon, that sandbanks _(pu-ri-im)_ should not form in the bed of the Euphrates, I caused a great fortification to be made in the river, of bitumen and burnt-brick. Its foundation I laid in the abyss, and its head I raised mountain-high"; cf. Ball, "Troc. Soc. Bibl. Arch.", X., May 1888, Pl. IV., Col. ii., ll. 19-24, and Langdon, "Neubabylonischen Königsinschriften," p. 106 f.]

[Footnote 58: See p. 30, Fig. 6, T, and p. 32, Fig. 7, N.]

[Footnote 59: Fig. 6, P, R. It re-entered the river close under the citadel-wall, for its outlet has been found in the later river-wall of Nabonidus. It was perhaps the canal called in the inscriptions Libil-khegalla, "May it bring abundance." It will be seen from the plan that the remains of the canal to the south-east show a narrow channel (P), less than three metres in breadth, but widening westward of the Sacred Road (G) into a broad basin (R). This represents a reconstruction, probably of the time of Neriglissar, who built a bridge for the road across the canal. Formerly the road crossed the canal by a dam with walled embankments, of which traces have been found below the canal-walls. Beneath the embankment the water probably flowed through grated sluices like these spanning Nebuchadnezzar's narrow channel between his river-fortification and the citadel.]

[Footnote 60: See above, p. 30, and cf. Fig. 6, V.]

[Footnote 61: I., 181.]

[Footnote 62: If we except the foundations of the Ishtar Gate, this door is the only structure recovered on the site of Babylon which gives us an idea of what a building looked like above ground-level. Elsewhere the ground-plan is our only guide.]

[Footnote 63: See p. 30, Fig. 6, D.]

[Footnote 64: Fig. 6, C.]

[Footnote 65: Col. vii., 1. 34.]

[Footnote 66: Fig. 6, A--C.]

[Footnote 67: Fig. 6, e and f. The hatched wall, which runs between them (g), was a temporary containing wall, also of crude brick.]

[Footnote 68: See above, p. 30, Fig. 6, E.]

[Footnote 69: East India House Inscription, Col. vii., 1. 61--Col. viii., 1. 18; cf. Rawlinson, "Cun. Inscr. West. Asia," Vol. I., pl. 57, and Langdon, "Neubabylonischen Königsinschriften," p. 130 f.]

[Footnote 70: Fig. 6, _a._]

[Footnote 71: A, B and C.]

[Footnote 72: Fig. 6, J.]

[Footnote 73: Marked _b_ and _c_ on the plan.]

[Footnote 74: See further, Chap. V.]

[Footnote 75: Fig. 6, B.]

[Footnote 76: Such jars, or alabastra, were highly esteemed; and the royal factory need not surprise us, since the king not only employed them for his own use, but sent the larger sort away as presents. In the Persian period we know that Xerxes despatched some as royal gifts, inscribed with his own name and titles, as far afield as Egypt and the western coast of Asia Minor.]

[Footnote 77: See above, p. 28, Fig. 5.]

[Footnote 78: See Fig. 6, F; this portion of the ground-plan of the palace is given on a larger scale in Fig. 9.]

[Footnote 79: Fig. 9, _b, c_ and _d_.]

[Footnote 80: Fig. 9, _f_ and _g._ The courts (numbered on the plan 1-3) are square like the small courts or light-wells in the rest of the palace, and like them were evidently left open in order to give light and air to the chambers round them. In the Persian period one of them (No 1) was roofed over wholly or in part, as the bases for two pillars, formed of palm-trunks, are still in place, which were clearly intended to support roof-beams. These are indicated by solid circles on the plan.]

[Footnote 81: See above, p. 30, Fig. 6, _d._]

[Footnote 82: See p. 42, Fig. 9, _e._]

[Footnote 83: Fig. 9, 1. This is the court roofed in during the Persian period (see p. 44, n. 1), evidently to secure the king a second covered passage-way when passing from the Throne Room or from some of its adjoining chambers to the private palace.]

[Footnote 84: See below, p. 62 f.]

[Footnote 85: Fig. 11, I.]

[Footnote 86: B. in Fig. 6 and 11.]

[Footnote 87: Marked _h_ on the plans.]

[Footnote 88: Fig. 11, _m_ and _n_.]

[Footnote 89: In Fig. 11 the reference letter _l._, to indicate the building, is marked along the gangway.]

[Footnote 90: It is marked on the plan, and lies between the entrance _m_ and the south-east corner of the building.]

[Footnote 91: The _κρεμαστὸς παράδεισος_ of Berossus, the _κρεμαστὸς κῆπος_ of Ctesias and Strabo, the _pensiles horti_ of Curtius Rufus; their descriptions are quoted at length by Koldewey, "Babylon," pp. 95 ff., Engl, ed., pp. 90 ff.]

[Footnote 92: Koldewey's explanation, that the total circuit of the building has been confused with the length of a single side, need not be invoked, in view of the natural tendency of ancient writers to exaggeration in such matters, especially when reproducing measurements at second or third hand.]

[Footnote 93: This objection seems to me to outweigh any correspondence in details between the architectural structure of the Vaulted Building and the texts of Curtius Rufus or Diodorus.]

[Footnote 94: For the probable reason for this practice in temple-construction, see below, p. 63.]

[Footnote 95: See above, pp. 31 ff.]

[Footnote 96: Nebuchadnezzar has left us a description of his building of the gateway in the "East India House Inscription," Col. v., 1. 55, Col. vi., 1. 21 (see Rawlinson, "Cun. Inscr. West. Asia," I., pl. 56, and cf. Langdon, "Neubab. Königsinschriften," p. 132 f.). He records how he decorated the building with wild oxen and dragons in enamelled brick, roofed it with cedar, and set up in it doors which he sheathed in copper and fitted with thresholds and hinges of bronze. He also set bronze oxen and dragons beside the entrances; bases for some of these appear to have been found by the excavators.]

[Footnote 97: Fig. 14, B and D. In the plan the structure of the gateway, built of burnt brick, is indicated in black. The adjacent fortification-walls, of unburnt brick, are hatched; so too are the areas covered by parts of the temple of Ninmakh and the palace.]

[Footnote 98: The outer gate-house (B) has doors 1 and 2; the doors of the inner gatehouse (D) are numbered 3 and 4.]

[Footnote 99: C.]

[Footnote 100: Fig. 15.]

[Footnote 101: Figs. 14 and 15, Nos. 3 and 4.]

[Footnote 102: See above, p. 28, Fig. 5.]

[Footnote 103: Nos. 1 and 2.]

[Footnote 104: Fig. 16.]

[Footnote 105: Fig. 15, _a_ and _b._]

[Footnote 106: Fig. 15, _c._]

[Footnote 107: The adornment of the gate's foundations, as well as its upper structure, with reliefs, may in part be explained by their temporary use in flanking the roadway during construction. But the decoration of sacred buildings was not intended merely for the purpose of artistic display. It had a deeper significance, based on the belief that the use of sacred emblems ensured the protection of their tutelary deities. And this perhaps offers the best explanation of the presence of the Weather-god's Bull, and of Marduk's Dragon, upon the foundation-walls of the building. The lion, Ishtar's own emblem in her character as the goddess of war, was employed, as we shall see (cf. p. 58), upon the two walls leading to her gate.]

[Footnote 108: See Fig. 15; its position is indicated in the southern doorway (2) of the outer gate-house. This was the first part of the gateway to be discovered, as it stands higher than the rest.]

[Footnote 109: See Fig. 17.]

[Footnote 110: The same process was employed for the Lion Frieze to the north of the gateway; see below, p. 59.]

[Footnote 111: See Fig. 18, B, B. The fortified areas to the west of the roadway, which Nebuchadnezzar built out as direct extensions of the Southern Citadel upon its north side, are still in course of excavation. They have been christened the "Principal Citadel" and the "Northern Citadel" of the Ḳaṣr. The most interesting construction yet recovered there is a broad canal (Fig. 18, J), to the north of the palace-area of the Principal Citadel; this was evidently left uncovered, and it must have drawn its water-supply from the Euphrates through grated openings in the western wall. To the east of the roadway lines of defence were thrown out corresponding to those of the two later citadels. The foundations of their eastern wall, approximately parallel to the roadway, have been uncovered; but the whole of this area was destroyed by the Euphrates when it changed its course, and only the main fortification-walls can now be traced below the deposit of silt.]

[Footnote 112: The red enamel has decomposed and is now green. All the lions, like the enamelled beasts of the Ishtar Gate, were found in fragments.]

[Footnote 113: Compare the plan on p. 30, Fig. 6, where the Procession Street, in its course past the Citadel, is lettered G.]

[Footnote 114: Cf. Koldewey, "Die Pflastersteine von Aiburschabu in Babylon," pp. 4 ff. The limestone is termed _shadâ,_ or "mountain-stone," and Koldewey suggests that it was quarried in the neighbourhood of Hit on the Euphrates. The quarries from which the _turmina-banda,_ or breccia, was obtained have not yet been identified.]

[Footnote 115: The course of the Procession Street may be followed in the plan on p. 83, Fig. 31; it is there marked A. The Temple of Ishtar of Akkad is lettered H.]

[Footnote 116: Fig. 30, G.]

[Footnote 117: Fig. 30, E, F; compare also Fig. 27 on p. 74, with the same lettering.]

[Footnote 118: Fig. 27, the gate numbered 2.]

[Footnote 119: See Fig. 27, where the course of the road is lettered A, as in Fig. 30.]

[Footnote 120: Fig. 27, B and C.]

[Footnote 121: See above, p. 23, Fig. 3, where the position of the two temples is indicated by the letters N and M. The line of the city-wall along part of the south side is indicated by the mounds lettered B.]

[Footnote 122: For the position of the temple in relation to the Ishtar Gate, see above, p. 30, Fig. 6, where the temple is lettered J, and the Ishtar Gate H.]

[Footnote 123: See p. 64, Fig. 20, _d._ Compare also the reconstruction in Fig. 21.]

[Footnote 124: See below, p. 71.]

[Footnote 125: See below, p. 69.]

[Footnote 126: I., 183.]

[Footnote 127: Cf. Exodus, xx., 24-26.]

[Footnote 128: Cf. I. Kings, viii., 64.]

[Footnote 129: See I. Kings, vi., 20.]

[Footnote 130: Ezekiel, xli., 22.]

[Footnote 131: Cf. I. Samuel, 6 [7]. For a discussion of the evidence relating to the Hebrew practices, see especially the article "Altar," by W. E. Addis, in the "Encyclopædia Biblica," I., Cols. 123 ff.]

[Footnote 132: See below, p. 69 f.]

[Footnote 133: See p. 65, Fig. 21.]

[Footnote 134: In some temples, as in E-zida, the temple of Nabû at Borsippa, and in the earliest remains of E-sagila (see below, pp. 71 ff.), semicircular fillets take the place of sunken grooves.]

[Footnote 135: Fig. 20, A. The description may be followed by means of the index letters and figures on the plan, which are explained below it.]

[Footnote 136: In Fig. 20 the passage is numbered 11 and 12.]

[Footnote 137: They are so narrow that they can hardly have served as store-chambers.]

[Footnote 138: See Fig. 21.]

[Footnote 139: The grave was hollowed out of the massive brickwork of the outer wall, in the extreme north-west corner of the palace.]

[Footnote 140: Cf. "Babylon," p. 118 f.; Engl. ed., p. 110 f.]

[Footnote 141: In the ground-plans, which are here reproduced, the same lettering is employed, as far as they correspond, for the principal features of each building.]

[Footnote 142: It will be noticed that this orientation is least apparent in E-sagila (see below, p. 74, Fig. 27), and in the temple of Ishtar of Akkad (Fig. 25).]

[Footnote 143: Cf. Weissbach, "Babylonische Miscellen," p. 20 f., II. 17-21.]

[Footnote 144: See above, p. 23, Fig. 3, E.]

[Footnote 145: See p. 74, Fig. 27, C.]

[Footnote 146: See Rawlinson, "Cim. Inscr. West. Asia," I., pl. 67, Col. I., 11. 21 ff., and cf. Bezold in Schrader's "Keilins. Bibl.," III., ii., p. 72 f., and Langdon, "Neubab. Königsinschriften," p. 210 f.]

[Footnote 147: The main entrance to the temple was approached through an annex on the east (Fig. 27, D), of which the external walls only have been traced by tunnelling, while its interior remains still unexplored. It will be noted in the plan that the main entrance to the annex is again on the east side, marked by a recess in the enclosing wall, almost opposite the main entrance to the temple. The approach to the annex was doubtless by a branch of the Procession Street, which must have left the principal roadway opposite entrance No. 4 of the Peribolos (see Fig. 27).]

[Footnote 148: Cf. "East India House Inscr.," Col. II., 11. 43 ff., and Col. III., 11. 21 ff.]

[Footnote 149: The κἀτω νηός, to distinguish it from that on the temple-tower.]

[Footnote 150: I., 183.]

[Footnote 151: Cf. Koldewey, "Babylon," p. 202 f.; Engl, ed., p. 207.]

[Footnote 152: Cf. Koldewey, "Die Tempel von Babylon und Borsippa," p. 43.]

[Footnote 153: See above, p. 23, Fig. 3, Q.]

[Footnote 154: Marked A, A, A in Fig. 27.]

[Footnote 155: Cf. Koldewey, "Babylon," p. 185; Engl, ed., p. 190. Some idea of the probable appearance of the immense enclosure may be gathered from the reconstruction in Fig. 28.]

[Footnote 156: Fig. 27, F.]

[Footnote 157: Fig. 27, B.]

[Footnote 158: During the recent excavation of the tower the outer facing of burnt brick has been uncovered along the north side, and it was seen to have been decorated with twelve tower-like projections. A considerable fragment was also found on the west side; and the exterior measurement of both these sides of the tower was ascertained to be ninety-one metres. The crude-brick core measures about sixty-one metres along its north front. See "Mitteil. der Deutsch. Orient-Gesellschaft," No. 53 (April, 1914), p. 18.]

[Footnote 159: The outer stairways were eight metres in breadth, and sixteen steps are still preserved of the one in the south-west corner; cf. "Mitteil. d. Deutsch. Or.-Gesells.," No. 53, p. 19.]

[Footnote 160: Fig. 27, II and J.]

[Footnote 161: Fig. 27, E.]

[Footnote 162: Fig. 27, G.]

[Footnote 163: Fig. 27, Entrance No. 2.]

[Footnote 164: This arrangement is suggested in Fig. 28.]

[Footnote 165: I., 181.]

[Footnote 166: See above, p. 75.]

[Footnote 167: See Fig. 29, G.]

[Footnote 168: C and D.]

[Footnote 169: The bronze step of Nebuchadnezzar, preserved in the British Museum (see above, p. 27, n. 1), seems to have come from the temple entrance in the south-west front, facing the temple-tower.]

[Footnote 170: Fig. 29, A.]

[Footnote 171: Fig. 29, B.]

[Footnote 172: In the engraving, in order that the wedge and the dragon should stand out in relief, the surface of the stone has been cut away round them. This gives the lowest story of the tower an appearance of having arched openings in it. It should, of course, be solid, like the other stages of the tower, the apparent openings being merely due to the exigencies of the engraver; cf. King, "Boundary-Stones and Memorial-Tablets in the British Museum." p. 25, n. 1. A photographic reproduction of this portion of the stone is given, _op. cit.,_ Pl. xli.]

[Footnote 173: In the "Athenæum," Feb. 12th, 1876.]

[Footnote 174: See Scheil, "Esagil ou le temple de Bêl-Marduk," in the "Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres," vol. xxxix. (1914), pp. 293 ff.; and cp. the "Étude arithmétique et architectonique du texte," by Dieulafoy, _ibid.,_ pp. 309 ff.]

[Footnote 175: See above, p. 74, Fig. 27, F.]

[Footnote 176: Fig. 27, E.]

[Footnote 177: According to M. Dieulafoy's theory, the tower itself was built in five stages, standing on a massive base (_kigullu,_) which in turn rested on a plinth, or terrace, extending over a great part of the temple-court; thus, including the temple at the summit of the tower, the eight stages of Herodotus would be explained.]

[Footnote 178: See above, p. 74, Fig. 27, and cp. Fig. 28.]

[Footnote 179: I., 186.]

[Footnote 180: II., 8.]

[Footnote 181: Col. IV., 1. 66--Col. V., 1. 4.]

[Footnote 182: See above, p. 37.]

[Footnote 183: See p. 74, Fig. 27, K and L.]

[Footnote 184: See above, p. 39.]

[Footnote 185: See above, p. 68 ff.]

[Footnote 186: It maybe noted that this fully corroborates the statement of Herodotus (I., 180) that the streets of Babylon were straight, particularly those that ran at right angles and led to the river. As little more than the foundations of the houses are preserved, it is not possible to control his further statement that the houses were three or four stories high.]