Chapter 5

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 thecity-god, and forming, in the phrase of their discoverer, a veritable Vatican of Babylon.[155]

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.)

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 sectionsof 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]

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.)

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 notof 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 ofdébrishas fallenabout 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.

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.)

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 numberof 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 withtemples, 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.

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.)

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, whateverexplanation 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 wasrendered 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.

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.)

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, whichwere 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, andthey 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 rendertheir 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.

[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.

[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.

[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).

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

[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.

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

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

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

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

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

[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.

[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 millenniumb.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).

[13]See further, p. 72 f.

[14]I., 178.

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

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

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

[18]See above,p. 16, Fig. 2.

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

[20]Fig. 3, T.

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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[26]I., 179.

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

[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.

[29]See Fig. 3, A.

[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.

[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.).

[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.

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

[34]See further, pp. 82 ff.

[35]See Fig. 3, C.

[36]Fig. 3, R.

[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.

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