GEOGRAPHY AND ANTIQUITIES. 



ANCIENT BABYLON. 



It may be known to many of our readers that the French government 

 has employed a party of gentlemen to explore the site of ancient Babylon. 

 From reports just received from them, it appears that they have ascer- 

 tained, beyond reasonable doubt, that the ruins beneath a tumulus called 

 the Kasr are those of the marvellous palace-citadel of Semiramis and 

 Nebuchadnezzar. They are in such a state of confusion and decay that it 

 is impossible to form from them any idea of the extent or character of the 

 edifice. They appear, however, to extend beneath the bed of the Eu- 

 phrates a circumstance accounted for by the change in the course of that 

 river. In them have been found sarcophagi of clumsy execution and 

 strange form, and so sir all that the bodies of the dead must have been 

 packed up in them the chin touching the knees, and the arms being 

 pressed on the breast by the legs. These sarcophagi have every appear^ 

 aiice of having been used for the lowest class of society ; but notwith- 

 standing the place in which they were found, the discoverers are inclined 

 to think that they are of Parthian, not Chaldean, origin. There have also 

 been found numerous fragments of enamelled bricks, containing portions 

 of the figures of men and animals, together with cuneiform inscriptions 

 the latter white in color, on a blue ground. According to M. Fresnel, the 

 chief of the expedition, these bricks afford a strong proof that the ruins 

 are those of the palace of Nebuchadnezzar, inasmuch as the ornaments on 

 them appear to be sporting subjects, such as are described by Ctesias and 

 Diodorus. The foundations having been dug down to in certain parts, it 

 has been ascertained that they are formed of bricks about a foot square, 

 united by strong cement, and that they are in blocks, as if they had been 

 sapped in all directions. In a tumulus called Amran, to the south of 

 Kasr, interesting discoveries have also been made. They appear to be 

 the ruins of the dependencies of the palace situated on the left bank of the 

 Euphrates ; and they contain numerous sarcophagi, in which were found 

 skeletons clothed in a sort of armor, and wearing crowns of gold on 

 their heads. When touched, the skeletons, with the exception of some 

 parts of the skulls, fell into dust ; but the iron, though rusty, and the 



