of crude brick, and though its walls were covered with a thin plaster
or wash of lime, only the simplest form of decoration in black and
white was attempted, and that very sparingly.[132] The fact that the
practice of building in mud-brick should have continued at a time when
kiln-burnt and enamelled brick was lavished on the royal palaces, is
probably to be explained as a result of religious conservatism. The
architectural design does not differ in essentials from that employed
for buildings of a military character. It will be seen that the long
exterior walls of E-makh resemble those of a fortification, their
surface being broken up by slightly projecting towers set at regular
intervals.[133] Larger rectangular towers flank the gateway, and two
others, diminishing in size and probably also in height, are ranged on
either side of them. The vertical grooves, which traverse the exterior
faces of the towers from top to bottom, constitute a characteristic
form of temple embellishment, which is never found on buildings of a
secular character. They may be either plain rectangular grooves, or
more usually, as in E-makh, are stepped when viewed in section.[134]
In all the important doorways of the temples foundation-deposits were
buried in little niches or boxes, formed of six bricks placed together
and hidden below the level of the pavement. The deposits found in
place are generally fashioned of baked clay, and that of most common
occurrence is a small figure of the god Papsukal. One of those in
Ninmakh's temple was in the form of a bird, no doubt sacred to the
goddess. There is clear evidence that the object of their burial was to
ensure the safety of the entrance both from spiritual and from human
foes. In addition to this magical protection the entrance was further
secured by double doors, their pivots shod with bronze and turning in
massive stone sockets. The ordinary method of fastening such doors
by bolts was supplemented in the case of E-makh by a beam propped
against the doors and with its lower end fitting into a socket in the
pavement. Since the temple was within the citadel fortifications, the
possibility was foreseen that it might have to be defended from assault
like the secular buildings in its immediate neighbourhood.
[Illustration: FIG. 20.
GROUND-PLAN OF E-MAKH.
A: Open Court. B: Ante-chamber to Shrine. C: Shrine. E:
Entrance-chamber, or Vestibule, to temple, _b_: Service-room for
Ante-chamber, _c_: Service-room for Shrine, _d_: Crude-brick altar,
_e_: Well, _s_: Dais, or postament, for statue of Ninmakh. 1: Porters'
room. 2-4: Priests' apartments or Store-rooms. 5, 6, 9, 10: Chambers
giving access to narrow passages. 7, 8, 11, 12: Narrow passages,
possibly containing stairways or ramps to roof.
(After Andrae.)]
Passing through the entrance-chamber of E-makh, from which opens a
service-room for the use of the temple-guardians, one enters a large
open court,[135] surrounded on all sides by doorways leading to
priests' apartments and store-chambers and to the shrine. The latter
is on the south-east side, facing the entrance to the court, and,
like the main gateway of the temple, the façade of the shrine and the
flanking towers of its doorway were adorned with stepped grooves. The
shrine itself is approached through an ante-chamber, and each has
a small service-apartment opening out from it to the left. Against
the back wall of the shrine, immediately opposite the doors, stood
the cult image of the goddess, visible from the open court; this has
disappeared, but the foundations of the low dais or postament, on which
it stood, are still in place.
[Illustration: FIG. 21.
CONJECTURAL RESTORATION OF E-MAKH, THE TEMPLE OF THE GODDESS NINMAKH.
The view is taken from the north. The plain finish to the tops of walls
and towers is in accordance with one theory of reconstruction. The
connecting wall between the temple and the east wing of the Ishtar Gate
is omitted to simplify the drawing.
(After Andrae.)]
The long narrow passage behind the shrine[136] was thought at first by
its discoverer to have served a secret purpose of the priesthood. It
was suggested that it might have given access to a concealed opening
in the back wall of the shrine, behind the image of the goddess,
whence oracles could have been given forth with her authority. But
there is a precisely similar passage along the north-east wall; and we
may probably accept the more prosaic explanation that they contained
the ramps or stairways that led up to the flat roof, though why two
should have been required, both at the same end of the building, is not
clear.[137] The precise use of the other chambers opening from the
court cannot be identified with any certainty, as nothing was found in
them to indicate whether they served as apartments for the priesthood
or as magazines for temple-stores. Beyond a number of votive terracotta
figures, no cult object was discovered. But around the dais for the
image of the goddess, the well in the courtyard for lustral water, and
the small crude-brick altar before the temple entrance, it is possible
to picture in imagination some of the rites to which reference is made
in the Babylonian religious texts.
As we have already seen was the case with the palace-buildings, the
upper structure of all the temples has been completely destroyed,
so that it is not now certain how the tops of walls and towers were
finished off. In the conjectural restoration of Ninmakh's temple[138]
the upper portions are left perfectly plain. And this represents one
theory of reconstruction. But it is also possible that the walls were
crowned with the stepped battlements of military architecture. In the
restoration of Assyrian buildings, both secular and religious, great
assistance has been obtained from the sculptured bas-reliefs that lined
the palace walls. For the scenes upon them include many representations
of buildings, and, when due allowance has been made for the conventions
employed, a considerable degree of certainty may be attained with
their help in picturing the external appearance of buildings of
which only the lower courses of the walls now remain. The scarcity
of stone in Babylonia, and the consequent absence of mural reliefs,
have deprived us of this source of information in the case of the
southern kingdom. The only direct evidence on the point that has been
forthcoming consists of a design stamped in outline upon a rectangular
gold plaque, found with other fragments of gold and jewellery in the
remains of a sumptuous burial within the structure of Nabopolassar's
palace.[139] The period of the burial is certain, for the grave in
which the great pottery sarcophagus was placed had been closed with
bricks of Nebuchadnezzar, who afterwards built his strengthening wall
against it. It must therefore date from the earlier part of his reign,
and Dr. Koldewey makes the suggestion that it was perhaps the tomb of
Nabopolassar himself.[140] However that may be, the grave is certainly
of the early Neo-Babylonian period, and the architectural design upon
the gold plaque may be taken as good evidence for that time.
[Illustration: FIG. 22.
GOLD PLAQUE, WITH ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN, PROM A NEO-BABYLONIAN BURIAL.
The engraving on the plaque shows a city-gate with flanking towers and
stepped battlements. (Enlargement after photo, by Koldewey.)]
The plaque formed the principal decoration in a chain bracelet, small
rings passing through the holes at its four corners and serving to
attach it to the larger links of the chain. On it the jeweller has
represented a gate with an arched doorway, flanked by towers, which
rise above the walls of the main building. Each tower is surmounted by
a projecting upper structure, pierced with small circular loopholes,
and both towers and walls are crowned with triangular battlements.
The latter are obviously intended to be stepped, the engraver not
having sufficient space to represent this detail in a design on so
small a scale. The outline is probably that of a fortified city-gate,
and it fully justifies the adoption of the stepped battlement in the
reconstruction of military buildings of the period. Whether the temples
were furnished in the same manner, for purely decorative purposes, is
not so clear. Some idea of the appearance of one, restored on this
alternative hypothesis, may be gathered from the elevation of the
unidentified temple known as "Z," which is given in Fig. 24.
[Illustration: FIG. 23.
GROUND-PLAN OF THE UNIDENTIFIED TEMPLE KNOWN AS "Z."
A1: Main Court of temple. A2, A3: Subsidiary Courts. B: Ante-chamber
to Shrine. C: Shrine. E1, E2, E3: Entrance-chambers, or Vestibules, to
temple, d, c2, c3: Service-rooms for Shrine, _s_: Dais, or postament,
for cult-statue. 1-3: Porters' rooms. 4, 5: Chambers with access to
narrow passage, possibly containing stairway or ramp to roof. 6,
7: Priests' apartments or store-rooms. 8, 9: Entrance-chambers to
residential quarters. 10-15: Quarters for resident priesthood around
N.-W. Court. 16: Entrance-chamber to Inner Court. 17-21: Quarters for
resident priesthood around Inner Court.
(After Andrae.)]
It is important that the ground-plans of no less than four of the
temples in Babylon have been recovered, for it will be seen that
the main features, already noted in Ninmakh's temple, are always
repeated.[141] In each the temple buildings are arranged around an open
court, to which access is given through one or more entrances with
vestibules. The doorways to temple and to shrine are flanked by grooved
towers, while within the shrine itself the cult-statue stood on a low
dais, visible from the court. Yet with this general similarity, all
combine special features of their own. The temple "Z," for example, is
exactly rectangular in plan, and is divided into two distinct parts,
the object of which may be readily surmised. The larger and eastern
portion, opening on the great court, was obviously devoted to the
service of the deity. For there, on the south side, is the shrine and
its ante-chamber, with the dais for the eult-image against the south
wall. The western portion is grouped around two smaller courts, and,
as its arrangement resembles that of a private dwelling-house, we may
regard it as the quarters of the resident priesthood. Other notable
features are the three service-chambers to the shrine, and the three
separate entrances to the temple itself, each with its own vestibule
and porters' room. But there is only one narrow passage, extending
partly behind the shrine and containing, as suggested, a ramp or
stairway to the roof. There was probably an altar before the northern
gate, as shown in the restoration, but only the paved area on which it
stood was found to be still in place.
[Illustration: FIG. 24.
CONJECTURAL RESTORATION OF THE UNIDENTIFIED TEMPLE KNOWN AS "Z."
The view is taken from a point immediately opposite the north corner of
the temple. The stepped battlements on walls and towers, borrowed from
military architecture, are here adopted in accordance with one theory
of reconstruction. (After Andrae and Koldewey.)]
In the temples dedicated to Ishtar of Akkad and to the god Ninib the
shrines are on the west side of the great court, instead of on the
south as in those we have already examined. Thus it would seem there
was no special position for the shrine, though the temples themselves
are generally built with their corners directed approximately to the
cardinal points.[142] In the temple of Ishtar unmistakable traces have
been noted of a simple form of mural decoration that appears to have
been employed in all the temples of Babylon. While the walls in general
were coloured dead white with a thin gypsum wash, certain of the more
prominent parts, such as the main entrance, the doorway leading to the
shrine and the niche behind the statue of the goddess, were washed
over with black asphalt in solution, each blackened surface being
decorated near its edge with white strips or line-borders. The contrast
in colour presented by this black and white decoration must have been
startling in its effect; no doubt, like the crude-brick material of
the buildings, it was an inheritance from earlier times, and owed its
retention to its traditional religious significance.
[Illustration: FIG. 25.
GROUND-PLAN OF THE TEMPLE OF ISHTAR OF AKKAD.
A: Open Court. B: Ante-chamber to Shrine. C: Shrine. El, E2:
Entrance-chambers, or Vestibules, to temple. _b_1, _b_2, _b_3:
Service-rooms for Ante-chamber, _d_: Service-room for Shrine, _e_:
Well, _s_: Position of statue of Ishtar, on dais or postament against
niche in back-wall of Shrine. 1-4: Priests' apartments or store-rooms.
5-7: Porters' rooms. 8: Entrance-chamber to small inner court. 9:
Small open court in which were two circular stores or granaries.
10-14: Chambers, probably used as store-rooms, giving access to narrow
passage, which possibly contained stairway or ramp to roof.
(After Reuther.)]
In the temple of Ninib two additional shrines flank the principal one,
each having its own entrance and a dais or postament for a statue.
It is probable that the side shrines were devoted to the worship of
subsidiary deities connected in some way with Ninib, for the temple as
a whole was dedicated solely to him. This we learn from Nabopolassar's
foundation-cylinders, buried below the pavement of the shrine, which
relate how the king erected the building in his honour, on an earlier
foundation, after he had kept back the foot of the Assyrian from the
land of Akkad and had thrown off his heavy yoke.[143] It was fitting
that he should have marked his gratitude in this way to the god of war.
[Illustration: FIG. 26.
GROUND-PLAN OF THE TEMPLE OF NINIB.
A: Open Court. C: Shrine of Ninib. NC, SC: Subsidiary shrines for
other deities, _s, s, s_: Postaments for statues of Ninib and the
other deities, set against niches in the wall exactly opposite the
entrances. E1, E2, E3: Entrance-chambers or Vestibules, to temple, _d_:
Crude-brick altar. 1, 2, 6, 7: Porters' rooms. 3-6, 11, 12: Priests'
apartments or store-rooms. 10: Small open court. 8, 9: Chambers giving
access to narrow passage behind the shrines, which possibly contained
stairway or ramp to roof.
(After Andrae.)]
The most interesting temple of Babylon is naturally that dedicated to
the worship of the city-god. This was the famous E-sagila, a great
part of which still lies buried some twenty-one metres below the
surface of Tell 'Amrân.[144] Its main portion, lying to the west,
is practically square in ground-plan, and like the smaller temples
of the city, it consists of chambers grouped around an open court;
but their arrangement here is far more symmetrical.[145] There was
a great gateway in the centre of each side, where in Neriglissar's
time stood the eight bronze serpents, a pair of them beside each
entrance.[146] The eastern gate was no doubt the principal one, as it
gives access to the inner court through a single great vestibule or
entrance-chamber, in striking contrast to the smaller vestibules on
the north and south sides, from which the court can be reached only
through side-corridors.[147] Around the great court within, the temple
doorways and towers are arranged symmetrically. The shrine of Marduk
lay on its western side, as may be inferred from the façade and towered
entrance. This was the E-kua of the inscriptions, which Nebuchadnezzar
states he made to shine like the sun, coating its walls with gold as
though with gypsum-plaster, a phrase which recalls the mud and gypsum
washes of the other temples. "The best of my cedars," he says, "that I
brought from Lebanon, the noble forest, I sought out for the roofing
of Ekua, [Marduk's] lordly chamber; the mighty cedars I covered with
gleaming gold for the roofing of Ekua."[148] The lavish employment of
gold in the temple's decoration is attested by Herodotus, who states
that in this, "the lower temple,"[149] was a great seated figure of
Zeus, which, like the throne, the dais, and the table before it,
was fashioned of gold, the metal weighing altogether eight hundred
talents.[150]
[Illustration: VI. Two views of the Temple of Ninib in course of
excavation.]
The identification of the temple was rendered certain by the discovery
of inscribed bricks in earlier pavements below those of Nebuchadnezzar.
Inscriptions stamped upon bricks from two pavements of Ashur-bani-pal
record that this Assyrian king made "bricks of E-sagila and
E-temen-anki," while on an older one which he re-used, stamped with the
name of Esarhaddon, it is definitely stated that it formed part of the
paving of E-sagila.[151] These pavements were reached by means of an
open excavation in Tell 'Amrân, extending some forty metres each way.
It took no less than eight months to remove the soil to the pavement
level, and it is estimated that some thirty thousand cubic metres of
earth were carted away in the course of the work. It is not surprising,
therefore, that the chambers on the west side of the court, including
the shrine of Marduk, still remain covered by the mound. A subsidiary
shrine, on the north side of the court, has been cleared, and it would
be a spot of considerable interest if, as Dr. Koldewey suggests, it
was dedicated to Ea. For in the Hellenistic period Ea was identified
with Serapis, and should this prove to have been his sanctuary, it
was here that Alexander's generals repaired during his illness, when
they enquired of the god whether he should be carried thither to be
healed.[152]
To the north of Marduk's temple rose its ziggurat, the Tower of Babel,
known to Babylonians of all ages as E-temen-anki, "The House of the
Foundation-stone of Heaven and Earth." It stood within its Peribolos
or sacred precincts, marked now by the flat area or plain which the
local Arabs call Sakhn, "the pan."[153] The precincts of the tower were
surrounded by an enclosing wall, decorated with innumerable grooved
towers, along the east and south sides of which the track of the Sacred
Way may still be followed.[154] On the inner side of the wall, in its
whole circuit, stretched a vast extent of buildings, all devoted to the
cult of the city-god, and forming, in the phrase of their discoverer,
a veritable Vatican of Babylon.[155]
[Illustration: FIG. 27.
GROUND-PLAN OF E-TEMEN-ANKI AND E-SAGILA.
A: Sacred Way, or Procession Street. B: E-temen-anki, the Ziggurat
or Temple-tower of Babylon. C: E-sagila, the temple of Marduk. D:
Eastern Annex to E-sagila. E: Northern Court of the Peribolos or sacred
precincts. P: Main Court. G: Western Court. H, J: Temple-magazines. K:
Arakhtu-wall. L: Nebuchadnezzar's wall. M: River-wall of Nabonidus. N:
Gateway in River-wall. P: Stone piers of Bridge over the Euphrates.
1-12: Entrances to the Peribolos, No. 2 marking the position of the
Main Entrance.
(After Wetzel.)]
The area so enclosed forms approximately a square, and is cut up by
cross-walls into three separate sections of unequal size. Within
the largest of the great courts[156] stood the temple-tower,[157]
its core constructed of unburnt brick but enclosed with a burnt
brick facing.[158] In the reconstruction a single stairway is shown
projecting from the southern side, and giving access to the first stage
or story of the tower. But it has lately been ascertained that three
separate stairways ascended the tower on the south side, the two outer
ones being built against its south-east and south-west corners, and
being flanked on their outer sides by stepped walls, which formed a
solid breastwork or protection for any one ascending them.[159]
[Illustration: FIG. 28.
CONJECTURAL RECONSTRUCTION OF E-TEMEN-ANKI AND E-SAGILA.
The form of the Temple-tower within the Peribolos is here restored in
accordance with Dr. Koldewey's theory that it consisted of a single
stage or story, on which the upper Temple of Marduk rested. According
to an alternative interpretation of Herodotus, the upper Temple would
have formed the last of eight receding towers or stages. It will be
noted that the two flanking stairways, recently discovered on the south
side of the tower, are here not shown.
(After Andrae.)]
The buildings within the precincts were evidently not temples, as they
present none of their characteristic features, such as the shrine
or the towered façade, and any theory as to their use must be based
on pure conjecture. Judging solely by their ground-plans, it would
appear that the two great buildings on the east side,[160] consisting
of a long series of narrow chambers ranged around open courts, were
probably the magazines and store-chambers. The buildings on the south
side resemble dwelling-houses, and were probably the quarters of the
priesthood; their huge size would not have been out of keeping with the
privileges and dignified position enjoyed by those in control of the
principal temple in the capital. The small chambers along the walls of
the Northern Court,[161] and the narrow Western Court,[162] may well
have been used to house the thousands of pilgrims who doubtless flocked
to Babylon to worship at the central shrine. No less than twelve
gateways led into the sacred precincts, the principal entrance being on
the east side,[163] exactly opposite the east face of the temple-tower.
The breccia paving of the Sacred Way was here continued within the area
of the precincts, along the centre of the open space, or deep recess,
between the temple-magazines. The great gateway probably spanned the
western end of this recess, thus completing the line of the Main Court
upon that side.[164]
The most striking feature of E-temen-anki was naturally the
temple-tower itself, which rose high above the surrounding buildings
and must have been visible from all parts of the city and from some
considerable distance beyond the walls. Its exact form has been the
subject of some controversy. Dr. Koldewey rejects the current view,
based upon the description of Herodotus,[165] that it consisted of a
stepped tower in eight stages, with the ascent to the top encircling
the outside. It is true that the excavations have shown that the
ascent to the first stage, at any rate, was not of this character,
consisting, as it did, of a triple stairway built against one side of
the tower;[166] but, as the ground-plan only of the building can now be
traced, there is nothing to indicate the form of its upper structure.
Dr. Koldewey does not regard the evidence for the existence of stepped
towers in Babylonia as satisfactory, and he appears to consider that
they depend solely on the description of Herodotus, who, he claims,
says nothing about stepped terraces, nor that each stage was smaller
than the one below it. He is inclined to reconstruct the tower as built
in a single stage, decorated on its face with coloured bands, and
surmounted by the temple to which the triple-stairway would have given
direct access. This view of its reconstruction is shown in Fig. 28,
but its author considers the problem as still unsettled, and suspends
his judgment until the Ziggurat at Borsippa, the best preserved of the
temple-towers, is excavated.
There, as at Babylon, we have a temple and a separate temple-tower,
but they both stood within the same peribolos or sacred enclosure,
along the inner side of which were built series of numerous small
chambers resembling those of E-temen-anki. A street[167] ran along the
north-west front of the peribolos, and two gateways[168] opened on
to it from the sacred enclosure. The main entrance both to peribolos
and temple was probably on the north-east side.[169] It will be noted
that the plan of the temple[170] follows the lines of those already
described, consisting of a complex of buildings ranged around one
great court and a number of smaller ones. The shrine of the god Nabû
stood on the south-west side of the Great Court, the heavily-towered
façade indicating the entrance to its outer vestibule. While so
much of the temple itself and of its enclosure has been cleared,
the temple-tower[171] awaits excavation. It still rises to a height
of no less than forty-seven metres above the surrounding plain, but
such a mass of _débris_ has fallen about its base that to clear it
completely would entail a vast amount of labour. The mound of soil
not only covers the open court surrounding the temple-tower, but
extends over the inner line of chambers on the north-west side of the
peribolos. The destruction of the temple and its surroundings by fire
has vitrified the upper structure of the ziggurat, and to this fact the
ruins owe their preservation. For the bricks are welded into a solid
mass, and, since it is no longer possible to separate them, they offer
no attractions as building-material and so have escaped the fate of
E-temen-anki.
[Illustration: FIG. 29.
GROUND-PLAN OF E-ZIDA AND THE TEMPLE-TOWER OF NABÛ AT BORSIPPA.
A: The temple E-zida. B: The Temple-tower of Nabû. C, D: Gateways
opening from the Peribolos on to the street which ran along that side
of the sacred enclosure. E: Remains of later building. F: Chambers on
south-west side of Peribolos. G, G: Street running along the north-west
face of the Peribolos.
(After Koldewey.)]
It is quite possible that, when Nabû's temple-tower is excavated,
it will throw some light upon the upper structure of these massive
buildings. Meanwhile we possess a piece of evidence which should not
be ignored in any discussion of the subject. On a boundary-stone of
the time of Merodach-baladan I. are carved a number of emblems of
the gods, including those of Marduk and Nabii, which are set beside
each other in the second row. That of Marduk consists of his sacred
Spear-head supported by his dragon, that of Nabfi being the Wedge or
Stilus, also supported by a horned dragon. But while the other emblems
are left sculptured in relief against the field of the stone, that of
Nabii is engraved against a temple-tower.[172] It will be noticed that
this rises in stages, diminishing in size and set one above the other.
The rough engraving may well represent the outward form of Nabû's
temple-tower at Borsippa at the time of Merodach-baladan I. In any
case, since the emblems on the boundary-stones are associated with
temples, the only building it can be intended for is a temple-tower. It
thus definitely proves the construction of this class of building in
stories or stages, which diminish in area as they ascend.
[Illustration: FIG. 30.
ROUGH ENGRAVING OF A TEMPLE-TOWER UPON A BOUNDARY-STONE.
The boundary-stone is of the period of Marduk-aplu-iddina, or
Merodach-baladan I. The engraving represents a temple-tower, before
which is a diagon supporting on its back an upright Wedge, the emblem
of Nabû. The tower is represented as built in stories, or stopped
stages, set one upon the other. (From Brit. Mus., No. 90850.)]
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.
[Illustration: FIG. 31.
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.]