BABYLON
596
BABYLON
rrobably, but for his death, have restored. Under Seleucus Nicator the city began to sink speedily, after that monarch built Seleucia on the Tigris, and made it his place of abode. In the time of Strabo and Di- odorus Siculus the place lay in ruins. Jerome, in the fourtli century of the Christian era, learned that the site of Babylon had been converted into a park or hunting-ground for the recreation of the Persian mon- arch*, and that, in order to preserve the game, the walls had been from time to time repaired. If the following extract from Rich (p. 30) is compared with these historical facts, the prophecy of Isaiah (xiii, 19) will appear to have been strikingly fulfilled to the let- ter: "I had always imagined the belief of the exist- ence of satyrs was confined to the mythology of the West ; but a choadar who was with me when I exam- ined this ruin (the Mujelibeh) mentioned that in this desert an animal is found resembling a man from the head to the waist, but having the thighs and legs of a sheep or goat ; he also said that the Arabs hunt it with dogs, and eat the lower parts, abstaining from the upper, on account of their resemblance to those of the human species." More thorough destruction than that which has overtaken Babylon cannot well be conceived. Rich was unable to discover any traces of its vast walls, and even its site has been a subject of dispute. " On its ruins," says he, " there is not a single tree growing, except an old one," which only serves to make the desolation more apparent. Ruins like those of Baby- lon, composed of rubbish impregnated with nitre, can- not be cultivated. For a more detailed account of the history of Babylon, see the article Babylonia. — Kitto.
4. Ancient Descriptions. — The statements respecting the topograph}- and appearance of Babylon which have come down to us in classical writers are derived chiefly from two sources, the works of Herodotus and of Ctesias. These authors were both of them eye- witnesses of the glories of Babylon — not, indeed, at their highest point, but before the}* had greatly de- clined— and left accounts of the city and its chief buildings, which the historians and geographers of later times were, for the most part, content to copy. To these accounts are to be added various other details by Quintus Curtius, and Pliny, and a few notices by other ancient visitors.
According to the account of Herodotus (i, 178-18G) the walls of Babylon were double, the outer line being 56 miles in circumference, built of large bricks cement- ed together with bitumen, and raised round the city in the form of an exact square; hence they measured 14 miles along each face. They were 87 feet thick and 350 feet high (Quintus Curtius says four horse-chariots could pass each other on them without danger), pro- tected on the outside by a vast ditch lined with the same material, and proportioned in depth and width to ation of the walls. The city was entered by twenty-five gates on each side, made of solid brass, and additionally strengthened by 250 towers, so placed thai between every two gates were four towers, and four additional ones at the four corners. From all I is proceeded streets running in straight lines,
each Btreet being nearly fifteen miles in length, fifty in number, ami crossing each other at right angles. Other minor divisions occurred, and the whole city ' 676 squares, each about two miles and a quarter in circumference. Herodotus appears to im- ply that this whole space was covered with houses, which, lie observes, were frequently three or four sto- The river ran through the city from north to -"lib, and on each side w;ls a quay of the same thickness as the walls of the city, and 100 stadia in length. In these quays wen- gates of brass, and from each of them steps descending into the river. A bridge was tlirown across the river, of great beauty and admirable contrivance, a furlong in length and 30 feet in breadth. As the Euphrates overflows during the summer months, through the melting of the snows
on the mountains of Armenia, two canals were cut to turn the course of the waters into the Tigris, and vast artificial embankments were raised on each side of the river. On the western side of the city an immense lake, forty miles square, was excavated to the depth, according to Herodotus, of 35 feet, and into this lake the river was turned till the work was completed. At each end of the bridge was a palace, and these had a subterraneous communication. In each division of the town, Herodotus says, there was a fortress or strong- hold, consisting in the one case of the royal palace, in the other of the great temple of Belus. This last was a species of pyramid, composed of eight square towers placed one above the other, the dimensions of the base- ment tower being a stade — or above 200 yards — each way. The height of the temple is not mentioned by Herodotus. A winding ascent, which passed round all the towers, led to the summit, on which was placed a spacious ark or chapel, containing no statue, but re- garded by the natives as the habitation of the god. The temple stood in a sacred precinct, two stades (or 400 yards) square, which contained two altars for burnt- ofi'erings and a sacred ark or chapel, wherein was the golden image of Bel. — Kitto; Smith.