The History of the Ancient Civilizations. Duncker Max

second, 120 feet in length by 75 feet in breadth, and even now about 17 feet high. The ruins lying on this point to a third story, which may have contained the actual temple. There are traces still remaining of the entrance, which led up from the outside. The tiles of the lower story bear the stamp, "Urukh, king of Ur, has erected the temple of the god Sin;" on those of the upper story we find, "Ilgi, king of Ur, king of Sumir, and Accad." This building was, therefore, the temple of Sin, which Urukh commenced and his son Ilgi continued and completed—a fact which is further proved by the inscriptions of Nabonetus, the last king of Babylon, which were found in these ruins. To the south-east of this structure lies a platform, faced with tiles, 400 feet in circuit, which probably supported another temple or a palace. The foundation walls of various chambers can still be traced. Similar structures are found in the ruins of Abu Shahrein, south of Mugheir on the Euphrates. From a wide platform rises a square structure surrounded by a wall, in which are the remains of decorated chambers. North of Ur, on the east bank of the Euphrates, the remains of Senkereh form a circular plateau, not quite five miles in circumference; the ruins rise gradually towards the centre, which is marked by the remains of a structure 320 feet long and 220 broad, the walls of which, on one side, still rise 70 feet over the plain. In these and the other ruins of Senkereh inscriptions are found in considerable numbers, which give us the names of kings from Urukh to Cambyses.

      In the ruins of Erech (Uruk, Warka), above Senkereh, on the eastern bank of the Euphrates, are found the remains of an outer wall, broken by semicircular towers open to the city. This wall forms an irregular circle of more than five miles in circumference. Here and there the ruins are still about 40 feet high. Within the wall are three heaps of ruins. On the highest, which forms an exact square of more than 200 feet at the base, we may trace the ruins of a second story. This heap is about 100 feet in height. It consists of bricks alternating with layers of reeds at intervals of four or five feet in height. Here also there are buttresses, in which the tiles are cemented with bitumen. To the west lie the remains of an oblong structure of double the size. The ruins of Nipur are sixty miles to the north of Erech, in the land between the Euphrates and the Tigris. Here are several rounded heaps, but they are of less extent than the remains of Ur, Senkereh, and Erech.

The heaps of ruins which rise out of the plains some miles to the south-west of Babylon—the Arabs call them Birs Nimrud, i.e. "the fortress of Nimrod"—exhibit the same plan of structure as the ruins of the temples at Ur and Erech. Within a square wall, on a platform of brick, rises a square story, 272 feet on every side, and 26 feet in height; over this is a second story, of the same height, but forming a square of 230 feet only, and not placed exactly in the middle of the lower story, but in such a manner that on one side it recedes 12 feet only, but on the other 30 feet from the edge of the lower plateau. In the same way the third and still smaller story rests on the second. It is of the same height as the others. The fourth story is only 15 feet in height. The loose mass of ruins does not allow us to trace any more stories. Hence the building in all probability consisted of seven stories. It appears that these ruins, like the extensive heaps of remains lying to the east of them (Tel Ibrahim), mark the site of the ancient Borsippa. The tiles of the stories, which lie one over the other, bear the stamp of Nebuchadnezzar II., and in the angles of the building cylinders have been discovered,[401] on which Nebuchadnezzar relates that the temple of the seven lamps of the earth, the tower of Borsippa, which an earlier king had commenced but not completed, and which had fallen into decay for many years, was again erected by him, and the pinnacles covered with copper. In his great inscription of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar further tells us that he "restored the marvel of Borsippa, the temple of the seven spheres of the sky and of the earth, and covered the pinnacles with copper." In the same inscription it is said that Nebuchadnezzar built temples at Borsippa to the goddess Nana, to Adar, Bin, and Sin, and that he restored and completed Beth-Sida, i.e. the chief temple of Nebo at Borsippa; nevertheless we may be certain, from the cylinders actually found in the ruins, that the remains are those of the temple of the seven lamps.[402]

Turning from Borsippa to Babylon, we find Herodotus describing the largest temple of the city in the following manner:—"The sanctuary of Zeus Belus—it is in existence still—forms a square of two stadia on every side, and is furnished with iron gates. In the midst is a massive tower, a stadium in the square. Over this tower stands another, and again another, till there are eight towers, one over the other. They are ascended from the outside, and the ascent goes up round all the towers. Half-way up there is a resting-place, and seats for those who are ascending. On the highest tower is a large temple, and in the temple a large and beautifully-prepared bed, and beside it a golden table. There is no image there, nor does anyone watch there through the night except a woman of the country, whom, as the Chaldæan priests say, their god has chosen out of all the land. They also declare, though I do not believe it, that the god sometimes comes into the temple and rests on the bed. In this sanctuary there is also another temple below, and in this there is a great image of the seated Zeus, of gold, and a large golden table; the footstool and seat are also of gold; and altogether, as the Chaldæans say, the amount of gold used is 800 talents. Outside this temple is a golden altar, on which only sucking creatures may be sacrificed, and also a larger altar, where the full-grown animals are sacrificed. On this the Chaldæans burn in every year 1,000 talents of incense when they celebrate the festival of the god. Here was another golden image of the god, 12 cubits high. But this I did not see; I only repeat what the Chaldæans told me. This image Xerxes had taken away. Such were the adornments of the temple, and besides these there were in it many dedicatory offerings given by individuals."[403]

Diodorus, who wrote four hundred years later than Herodotus, relates:—"In the middle of the city was the sanctuary of Zeus, whom the Babylonians call Belus. But as the writers give different accounts of the temple, and the structure has fallen from age, it is not possible to say anything certain about it. Yet they agree that it was extremely high, and that the Chaldæans here made their observations of the stars, as the height of the building enabled them to observe accurately their rising and setting. The whole building is said to have been constructed of burnt brick and bitumen, with great skill and much ornament. On the top were three statues of Zeus, Hera, and Rhea, of beaten gold. The statue of Zeus represented him standing and advancing. It was 40 feet high and 1,000 Babylonian talents in weight. Of the same weight was the statue of Rhea, in which the goddess was seated on a golden throne. Beside her knees were two lions, and close at hand two very large serpents of silver, each weighing 30 talents. The standing figure of Hera weighed 800 talents; in her right hand she held a serpent by the head, and in the left a sceptre studded with precious stones. Before these statues was a common table of beaten gold, 40 feet long and 15 feet broad, and 500 talents in weight. On the table were two chalices, each 30 talents in weight. There also were two vessels for incense, each 30 talents in weight, and three great jars, of which that consecrated to Zeus was 1,200 talents in weight, and the two others 600 talents each."[404] Strabo contents himself with the remark: "The now ruined grave of Belus was a square pyramid of burnt bricks. It was a stadium in height, and a stadium on every side. Alexander intended to rebuild it, but the work was enormous, and required a long time; the removal of the debris alone employed 10,000 workmen for two months, so that he could not bring it to an end, for soon after he fell sick and died."[405] What Diodorus tells us of the many thousand talents of gold, of the statues and utensils on the top of the temple-tower, is borrowed from Ctesias, and belongs to the romance or poetry of the East from the time of the empire of the Medes. But we cannot doubt that there was a considerable amount of gold in the greatest sanctuary at Babel. The seated image of gold in the lower temple, which Herodotus saw, weighed, according to the Chaldæans, 800 talents, i.e., on the light imperial scale, 50,000 pounds.

It was this magnificent temple at Babylon to which the tradition of the Hebrews has attached the account of the building of that tower in the plain of Shinar of which the top should reach heaven. The mighty men, the giants of the ancient days, desired to climb heaven. Their insolence and wicked purpose was punished by the confusion of language and