ZIMBABWE, zem-bab'wl, or ZIMBABYE (Bantu for 'here is a great kraal'), a name ap plied to numerous interesting South African ruins its Rhodesia and the Transvaal. They were discovered by Adam Benders in 18(8. The best known and most important is the Great Zimbabwe, near the Sabi River, about 17 miles from Victoria in southern Rhodesia. There are two principal structures at Great Zimbabwe, one on the crest of a granite hill breaking down pre cipitously to the south, and the other on the level ground about a third of a mile to the south. The lower one is roughly circular or elliptical, enclosed by a wall of 30 or 40 feet high, 14 feet thick at the base, and from six to nine feet thick at the summit. The wall is com posed of well-trimmed blocks of granite fitted together without mortar in regular courses and occasionally set angularly for ornamental pur poses. An inner wall runs close to the outer for a considerable distance, forming a passage which leads to a sacred enclosure containing two conical solid towers the larger of which is some 40 feet high. The rest of the enclo sure is divided into irregular unroofed chambers.
The building on the hill is very strongly built for defense and also contains a sacred enclosure. Emblems, believed by some to be phallic, many curious objects in soapstone, and undoubted re n.aitis of gold-working utensils have been found in the Zimbabwes. The nearest gold deposits and ancient gold workings are, however, some miles distant. Some theorists would locate here the Ophir of Solomon. It is also suggested that the lower building was a kind of town occupied by pre-Mohammedan Arabs who came here in search of gold, and that the ruin on the hill was a stronghold for defense. The signs of orientation reported by earlier visitors v ere disproved by scientific investigators who explored the ruins in 1905. The theories of Ilt lit are now definitely discarded. Consult Randall Mael vet% 1)., ' Mt dueval Rhodesia' 1'A06); for illustrations Bent, J. T. 'The Ruined Cities of Mashonaland' (1892) ; and Hall and Neal, 'The Ancient Ruins of Rho desia' (1902).