96 HORMUZD RASSAM, ESQ., 
irrigated the alluvial soil to the west of the Euphrates as far 
as Nijif. 
Herodotus gives another version of the origin of the Palla- 
copas, and as his account is also interesting | will quote what 
he says on the subject. His words are these :— 
“The city (Babylon), as I said, was divided by the river 
into two distinct portions. Under the former kings,-if a man 
wanted to pass from one of these divisions to the other, he 
had to cross in a boat; which must, it seems to me, have 
been very troublesome. Accordingly, while she was digging 
the lake, Nitocris bethought herself of turning it to a use 
which should at once remove this inconvenience, and enable 
her to leave another monument of her reign over Babylon. 
She gave orders for the hewing of immense blocks of stone, 
and when they were ready and the basin was excavated, she 
turned the entire stream of the Euphrates into the cutting, 
and thus for a time, while the basin was filling, the natural 
channel of the river was left dry. Forthwith she set to work, 
and in the first place lined the banks of the stream within 
the city with quays of burnt brick, and also bricked the 
landing-places opposite the river gates, adopting throughout 
the same fashion of brickwork which had been used in the 
town wall; after which, with the materials which had been 
prepared, she built, as near the middle of the town as possible, 
a stone bridge, the blocks whereof were bound together with 
iron and lead. In the daytime square wooden platforms were 
laid along from pier to pier, on which the inhabitants crossed 
the stream; but at night they were withdrawn, to prevent 
people passing from side to side in the dark to commit 
robberies. When the river had filled the cutting, and the 
bridge was finished, the Euphrates was turned back again 
into its ancient bed; and thus the basin, transformed sud- 
denly into a lake, was seen to answer the purpose for which 
it was made, and the inhabitants, by help of the basin, 
obtained the advantage of a bridge.” * 
It also appears from the account given by Herodotus about 
the capture of Babylon by Cyrus that he had used the 
Pallacopas for his stratagem by turning the bulk of the 
Euphrates into it, which enabled his army to enter the city 
by the bed of the river. The narrative of Herodotus is so 
interesting that I am tempted to quote it :— 
He says that “ Cyrus had placed a portion of his army at 
the point where the river enters the city, and another body 
* Rawlinson’s Herodotus, Book f., chap. 186. 
