147 



sarrani, " kings." 

 ^ty ^tf ahni, "stones." 



ii\ J^ t-} ^ Jcaliki, "weapons." 



*~>^ ^y>-. ^y^- for >->f- y«-w- ^y>- y>^w- zV^ raZ*/, " great gods." * 



ihlni rahilii. 

 In col. 3^ line 22, we meet with an example of the redun- 

 dancy so common in Syriac, thus : — siihiirsu diir Bdrzippav 

 " the height of it — the fortress of Borsippa/^ i.e. " the height 

 of the fortress of Borsippa.'^ 



And this brings us to the consideration of Babylon itself. 

 Babylon is the G-reek form of Babel or Bab-ili. And Ba-bel 

 is the exact Semitic translation of the Akkadian ^=1 ©^ 

 ^^.y KA DINGIRRA, or " the gate to god." It bore two 

 other names, viz., Jail ^T^T EKI "the house/' ^ar ^.rce//e7ice, 

 and -<^ ^^5^j[ DIN-TIR " the house of the jungle/' t or, 

 according to othei's, "the place of life." But this is 

 properly the designation of the town on the left bank of 

 the river. Babylon is also expressed by *"^yT C^^^T 

 >->?- !>->->->- D.P. Bab-ilani "the gate of the gods." J It was 

 said to have been built in very early times, it became the 

 capital under Khamrauragas (B.C. about, 1700, who built a 

 temple to Merodach there) and held this position for 1200 

 years. It was conquered by Tukulti-Ninip, B.C. 1271; by 

 Tiglath-Pileser I. B.C. 1110 ; by Tiglath-Pileser 11. B.C. 731 ; 

 by Merodach Baladan, B.C. 722; by Sargon, B.C. 721. It 

 was sacked and burnt by Sennacherib, B.C. 692 ; restored by 

 Esarhaddon, B.C. 675 ; captured by Assur-bani-pal, B.C. 048, 

 (also by Nabu-pal-usur, B.C. 626?) and finally taken by 

 the Modes and Persians about B.C. 539. The city was built 

 on both sides of the river in the form of a square, and was 

 enclosed within a double row of high walls, the inner being 

 called Imgur-Bel, the outer Nimitti Bel. Ctesias makes the 

 outer walls 360 stades in circumference, Herodotus and Pliny § 

 480, Strabo H 385, Q. Curtius^I 368, and Clitarchus ** a65. 



* This usage reminds us of the ri"l^3 n"IX3 of Genesis xiv. 10, to express 

 multitude, lion. "lioq of Judges xv. 16. 



t Sayce in the Encyclopcedia Britannica, art. " Babylon," 9th edition. 



X Trans, f^oc. Bib. Arch., vii. p. 109. 



§ N. H. vi. 26. II xvi, i. 5. IT v. i. 26. 



** cnroXaliovaa ct rov Eixppdrrjv norajiov itg i^iaov, 7rfp((/3aXfro ruxoc "ry 

 TToXft (iTaSi(t)v t^riKOvra Kai rpiaKoamv, Sin\ri^iftkvov wvpyoi^ ttvkpoIij koi 

 fi(yd\o((j, ior (p-qai KTrjuiar 6 KviStoc, wg ci KXttrapx"!' '^''' ■'''''*' varipov fiiT' 

 ' Wt'^dvSfiov Sinj3dt/riov tie ti)v ' Aaiav Tiviq aviypai^av, rpiaKoaioiv ilijKoi'ra 

 Km TTti'Tt ffTaCiwi' Kai TTpoaTtO'saaiv on tojv c(TW)' i/fifpiov rwi' (t'aciwi> 

 i'7ro(Tr//(Ta(T0«i.— Diod. Siculus, book ii. eect. 7. 



