There were too brazen gates, with lintels and side posts of brass. The city was divided into two portions by the river, which ran through the midst of it. The city wall was brought down on both sides to the edge of the stream, and thence from the corner of the wall a fence of burnt brick was carried along each bank of the river. The houses were mostly three and four storeys high. The streets all ran in straight lines parallel to the river, and at right angles to it. At the river end of these latter streets were low gates of brass in the fence that skirted the bank opening on the water. Be sides the outer wall there was another within of less thickness, but very little inferior to it in strength. There was also a fortress in the centre of each division of the town. In the one was the king's palace, surrounded by a wall of great strength and size, in the other was the temple of Bel, a square enclosure two furlongs each way, with gates of solid brass. Now, the first point in this statement which requires to be explained is the extraordinary magni tude ascribed to the city. Even supposing the more moderate dimensions of other historians are preferred, yet even these would make the size of Babylon to have been four or five times that of London. It is of course not to be imagined that the population was condensed and concentrated within this space, after the manner of our modern cities. On the contrary, it probably contained a tract of arable and pasture land very nearly, if not quite sufficient to supply the wants of the citizens, besides a large territory laid out in parks and orchards, paradises and gardens, for their recreation and amusement. It is, however, a fact that no traces of the wall which may have enclosed this space are visible in our time. Strange and un accountable as it may appear, it is nevertheless certain that the besom of destruction has swept them all away. The modern traveller wanders over the supposed site of ancient Babylon and searches in vain for the ruins of her walls. We might almost say the ruins of the city, for it must be confessed that all that remains of it is scarcely Pnough to warrant us in saying that a great city ever existed there. The modern remains of Babylon consist of a few mounds on the left bank of the Euphrates, a little above, and on the opposite side to Hillah. They occupy a space of about three miles long and two miles broad, and are almost entirely enclosed by two ramparts, which form a triangle having the river for its base. They lie chiefly in three groups, of which the most northerly is to this day called by the Arabs Babil. This was designated by Rich, which name is said now to be given to the second mound, the truth pparen tly being that the term is or was applied indifferently to several mounds in that locality. The word represents a vicious pronunciation, and ought by rights to be written Mukallabeh,' which would mean 'overturned.' In the south of this mound, and about a mile from it, commences the second, which is known by the name of Kasr,' or Palace. Further still to the south we have the third and last of these ruins, known as the tomb of Amram, said to have been the son of one of the caliphs who was killed in the battle of Hillah.' The general position of these ruins will be better understood by reference to the accompanying plan. In this plan A represents Babil, B the Kasr, C the mound of Amram. These are the main points of the ruin, but in addition to these there are others. For instance, F F is the irregular rampart mentioned above. G is a similar rampart bounding the Kasr on the north. E E two long lines of rampart about too yards apart, probably represent the great reservoir of Babylon, connected with the river by G, the Shebil. This reservoir was called Yapur Shapu, and was enlarged by Nebuchadnezzar, though perhaps built by one of the early kings.
D D are embankments on either side the Euphrates. H H appear to represent the embankments of a water-course, running southward till impeded by a mass of rubbish at K.
One great difficulty that occurs in the attempt to identify the present ruins of Babylon with the ancient city, is the fact that they are nearly all, without exception, to be found on the eastern side of the river ; whereas it is stated plainly by Hero dotus, Diodorus, Pliny, etc., that the Euphrates flowed through the city, and Herodotus says that it divided the temple of Belus from the palace of the king ; or, in other words, the mound of Babel from what is now called the kasr.' Mr. Layard supposes this to be accounted for by the tendency of the river to flow westward, which has therefore obliterated the ruins originally standing on the right bank ; but Mr. Rawlinson rejects this opinion, and thinks that Herodotus probably mistook for the river the canal called Shebil, which, as stated above, would flow in the required direction, and divide the temple of Belus from the palace of the king.
In a line with the mound Amrim, on both sides of the Euphrates, there are apparently the ruins of another palace, of which some of the bricks are found stamped with the name of Neriglissar, per haps the Nergal-sharezer of Holy Writ. It seems better to describe the present appearance of the site by the help of recent travellers than to attempt a description which must, after all, be made up of their materials. The ruins at present existing,' says Mr. Layard, stand upon the eastern bank of the Euphrates, and are enclosed within an irre gular triangle formed by two lines of rampart and the river, the area being about eight miles. This space contains three great masses of building, the high pile of unbaked brick work, called by Rich Mujellibe, but which is known to the Arabs as Babil, the building denominated the Kasr or palace, and also the mound upon which stands the modern comb of Amram-ibn-ali.' The distance of these ruins from Baghdad is about fifty miles, according to Loftus, and the road lies across a barren desert tract_ 'Near the village of Mohawill,' says Mr. Layard, 'it crosses a wide and deep canal, still car rying water to distant gardens. On the southern bank of this artificial stream is a line of earthen ramparts, which are generally believed to be the most northern remains of the ancient city of Ba bylon. From their summit the traveller scans a boundless plain, through which winds the Eu phrates, with its dark belt of evergreen palms. Rising in the distance, high above all surrounding objects, is the one square mound in form and size more like a natural hill than the work of men's hands. This is the first great ruin to the east of the river. Beyond it long lines of palms hem in the Euphrates, which now winds through the midst of the ancient city. To the vast mound of Sabi] ascend long undulating heaps of earth, bricks, and pottery ; a solitary mass of brick-work rising from the summit of the largest mound, marks the remains known to the Arabs as the Mujellibe, or the 'over-turned.' Other shapeless heaps of rubbish cover, for many an acre, the face of the land. The lofty banks of ancient canals fret the country like natural ridges of hills. Some have long been choked with sand ; others still carry the waters of the river to distant villages and palm groves. On all sides fragments of glass, marble, pottery, and inscribed brick, are mingled with that peculiar nitrous and blanched soil which, bred from the remains of ancient habitations, checks or destroys vegetation, and renders the site of Babylon a naked and hideous waste. Owls start from the scanty thickets, and the foul jackal skulks through the furrows. Surely ' the glory of kingdoms and the beauty of the Chaldees' excel lency is as when God overthrew Sodom and Go morrah. Wild beasts of the desert lie there, and their houses are full of doleful creatures ; and owls dwell there, and satyrs dance there ; and the wild beasts of the islands cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in her pleasant palaces,' for her day has come.