The Euphrates ran through the city, dividing it into two parts, and in the wall lining the river there were smaller gates, also of brass, from which steps led down to the stream. Between every two of the great gates there were three watch-towers ten feet higher than the walls, with four such towers at each of the four angles of the wall, and three more between each of those angles and the next adjoining gate on either side. There were, however, but 250 towers in all, as they were omitted on that side where the morasses rendered the protection they offered unnecessary. The grand square was divided into twenty-five grand streets, which intersected each other, thus parting the city into 626 squares. Each of the streets went quite across the city in a straight line, extending from a principal gate on each side to another on the opposite side. The vast squares formed by the intersection of the streets were not built upon, but were laid out in gardens and pleasure-grounds, and the houses that lined the streets stood considerably apart from each other, and they were of three and four stories high, and adorned with all the splendour and gorgeousness of ancient oriental

taste.

The wonders of Babylon which seem most to have attracted the attention of Herodotus and other ancient writers, were the Temple of Belus, the walls, and the king's palace, with the hanging gardens.

The Temple of Belus, or rather the pile on which it stood, from the descriptions given of it, most probably was the famous Tower of Babel or Confusion, which may have been repaired, or the temple built thereon by Nebuchadnezzar. This tower was in the midst of a large inclosure, with gates of brass, which were in

existence when Herodotus wrote. The sacred inclosure was a regular square, each side being two stadia in length: in the centre rose the massive tower; above this tower rose another, above that, others, until in the whole there were eight. A winding stair went round the towers on the outside; midway in the ascent was a spacious place with seats, where those who ascended might rest themselves. In the uppermost tower was a large chamber expressly sacred to Belus, furnished with a huge magnificent couch, and by it a table of solid gold; but there was no image of the god, as he was supposed to occupy it himself. The temple was adorned with colossal statues of pure gold, the value of which, according to Herodotus, was 5000 talents, or £21,000,000 sterling. Jewish writers no doubt exaggerate its height, but Strabo's account makes it to have been 600 English feet.

We have already stated that the Euphrates ran through the city; the banks of it were faced with brick, and a continuous quay was formed the whole length of the town. The river was crossed by a bridge, which was more than a furlong in length, and built on some admired principle, to supply the defect in the bottom of the river, which was sandy. At the western end of the bridge stood the palace which Nebuchadnezzar is said to have built to supersede another which stood on the other side of the stream. The palace was inclosed by a triple wall, and with its parks and gardens was included in a circle of little less than eight miles.

Dean Prideaux, with considerable care and ingenuity, has collected the statements of the different ancient writers into one narrative, which, affording on the

whole a complete view of the most extensive city the world ever saw, we avail ourselves of in the description that follows:

"Nebuchadnezzar being now at rest from all his wars, and in full peace at home, applied himself to the finishing of his buildings at Babylon. Semiramis is said by some, and Belus by others, to have first founded this city. But by whomsoever it was first founded, it was Nebuchadnezzar that made it one of the wonders of the world. The most famous works therein were, the walls of the city; the temple of Belus; his palace, and the hanging gardens in it; the banks of the river; the artificial lake, and artificial canals made for the draining of that river; in the magnificence and expense of these works he much exceeded all that had been done by any king before him.

"The walls were every way prodigious, for they were in thickness 87 feet, in height 350 feet, and in compass 480 furlongs, which make sixty of our miles. This is Herodotus's account of them, who was himself at Babylon, and is the most ancient author that hath wrote of this matter. And although there are others that differ from him herein, yet the most that agree in any measures of those walls, give us the same or very near the same that he doth. Those who lay the height of them at fifty cubits, speak of them only as they were after the time of Darius Hystaspes; for the Babylonians having revolted from him, and in confidence of their strong walls stood out against him in a long siege, after he had taken the place, to prevent their rebellion for the future, he took away their gates, and beat down their walls to the height last mentioned,

-and beyond this they were never after raised. These walls were drawn round the city in the form of an exact square, each side of which was fifteen miles in length, and all built of large bricks cemented together with bitumen, a glutinous slime arising out of the earth in that country, which binds in building much stronger and firmer than lime, and soon grows much harder than the bricks or stones themselves, which it cements together. These walls were surrounded on the outside with a vast ditch filled with water, and lined with bricks on both sides, after the manner of a scarp or counterscarp; and the earth which was dug out of it made the bricks wherewith the walls were built; and therefore, from the vast height and breadth of the walls may be inferred the greatness of the ditch. In every side of this great square were twenty-five gates, that is, an hundred in all, which were all made of solid brass; and hence it is, that when God promised to Cyrus the conquest of Babylon, he tells him that he would break in pieces before him the gates of brass. Between every two of these gates were three towers, and four more at the four corners of this great square, and three between each of these corners and the next gate on either side, and every one of these towers was ten feet higher than the walls. But this is to be understood only of those parts of the wall where there was need of towers; for some parts of them lying against morasses always full of water, where they could not be approached by an enemy, they had no need of any towers at all for their defence, and therefore in them were none built; for the whole number of them amounted to no more than 250; whereas had the same uniform order been observed in their disposition all

round, there must have been many more. From the twenty-five gates in each side of this great square, went twenty-five streets in straight lines to the gates, which were directly over against them in the other side opposite to it; so that the whole number of the streets were fifty, each fifteen miles long, whereof twenty-five went one way and twenty-five the other, directly crossing each other at right angles. And besides these there were also four half-streets, which were built but of one side, as having the wall on the other. These went round the four sides of the city next the walls, and were each of them 200 feet broad,—the rest were about 150. By these streets thus crossing each other, the whole city was cut out into 676 squares, each of which was four furlongs and a half on every side, that is, two miles and a quarter in compass. Round these squares on every side towards the streets stood the houses, all about three or four stories high, and beautified with all manner of adornments towards the streets. The space within in the middle of each square was open ground, employed for yards, gardens, and the like. A branch of the river Euphrates did run quite across the city, entering in on the north side and going out on the south, over which, in the middle of the city, was a bridge a furlong in length, and thirty feet in breadth, built with wonderful art, to supply the defect of a foundation in the bottom of the river, which was all sandy. At the two ends of the bridge were two palaces, the old palace on the east side, and the new palace on the west side of the river; the former of these took up four of the squares above mentioned, and the other nine of them; and the Temple of Belus, which stood next the old palace, took up another of these squares. The whole city stood on a large flat,