BAB 



was I JO furlong*, or 15 miles long, built of lar^e bricks 

 ccmeiittd together with bitumen, a glutinous flime which 

 ifTues out of the earth in that countr)-, and in a ftort time 

 becomes harder than the brick or ftone cemented bv it. 

 Without the walh, the city was encompafTed by a large 

 ditch filled with water, and lined on both fides with bricks 

 made of earth dug out of the fite of the ditch, whofc di- 

 menfions are indicated by thofe of the walls. In the com- 

 palsof the walls there were 100 gates, or 25 in each of the 

 four fides, all of which were formed of folid brafs, re- 

 ferred to by the prophet Ifaiah, ch. xlv. 2. Between every 

 two of thefe gates were three towers, and four more at the 

 four angles of this large fquare, and three between each 

 angle and the next gate on either fide ; and each of thefe 

 towers was ten feet higher than the walls. This, however, 

 is to be underftood merely of thofe parts of the walls where 

 towers were necefiary for defence ; for as feme parts were 

 feated on a morafs, and confequently inacceffible by an ene- 

 my, there the labour and expence were fpared ; and there- 

 fore the whole number of thefe towers amounted to no more 

 than 250. From the 25 gates on tach fide of this fquare 

 proceeded 25 ftreets, extending in ftraight lines to the cor- 

 refponding gates in the oppofite fides, fo that the number 

 of the ftreets was 50, each of them being about 15 miles 

 long, and all crofling one another refpeftively at right an- 

 gles. Befidcs thefe there were alfo four half ftreets, which 

 were rows of houfes, facing the four inner fides of the walls. 

 Thefe latter were properly the four fides of the city within 

 the walls, and each of them was 200 feet broad ; the whole 

 ftreets being about 150 feet in breadth. By this interfcftion 

 of the JO ftreets, the city was divided into 676 fquares, 

 each of which was four furlongs and a half on each fide, 

 or two miles and a quarter in compafs. Round thefe fquares 

 on every fide toward the ftreets ftood the houfes, all of 

 three or four ftories in height, and beautified with ever}- 

 kind of ornaments ; and the fpace within each of the fquares 

 was vacant, and occupied only by court-yards or gardens, 

 adapted to convenience or pleafure. 



A branch of the river Euphrates interfefted the city, run- 

 ning through the middle of it from north to fouth ; and 

 over the river, in the central part of the city, was a bridge, 

 a furlong, as feme lay, but according to others, much more, 

 in length, and thirty feet broad ; which bridge was inge- 

 iiioufly conftrufted in order to fupply a defccl in the bed 

 of the river, which was compofed of fand. At the two 

 ends of this bridge were two palaces; the old palac? en 

 the eaft fide, and the new one on the weft fide of the river ; 

 the former occupying four of the above mentioned fquares, 

 and the latter nine. The temple of Belus, which ftood 

 next to the old palace, took up another of thefe fquares. 



The whole city ftood on a large plain, in a fat and deep 

 foil ; that part or half of it which lay on the eaft fide of 

 the river, was the old city ; the other on the weft was added 

 by Nebuchadnezzar ; and both were included within the 

 fquare bounded by the walls already defcribed. The form 

 of the whole was feemingly borrowed from Nineveh, which 

 was alfo 480 furlongs in compafs, but its form wus that of 

 a parallelogram, whereas that of Babylon was an exafl 

 fquare. Nebuchadnezzar, who hid dcftroyed that old feat 

 of the Affyrian empire, is fuppofed to have defigncd that 

 this new one ftiould exceed it in fize and in magnificence. 

 It appears, however, that it was never wholly inhabited, 

 though Nebuchadnezzar can'ied thither a great number of 

 captives out of Judza and other conquered countries ; nor 

 was time allowed for its arriving at that population and 

 glor)', which were the objects aimed at by Nebuchadnezzar ; 

 for Cyrus reniovirg the feat of empire to Shu/han, Dabyloa 



BAB 



gradually funk into utter decay. When Alexander came to 

 Babylon, we learn from Quintus Curtius, that no mo;c 

 than 8100 fquare furlongs were then occupied by buildings ; 

 but the whole fpace within the walls contained 1 4,400 fquare 

 furlongs ; and therefore there muft have been 6300 fquajc 

 furlongs, which, as Cuitius infonns us, were ploucrhcd and 

 fown. Nor indeed weie the houLs contiguous, but a void 

 fpace was left on each fide between one houfe and ano- 

 ther. 



According to the obfervations of major Rcnncll (Geogra- 

 phical Syftem of Herodotus examined and explained, &c. 

 p. 341.), there feems to be no mode of invalidating the fact 

 refpedling the extent of the f-^acc inclofcd by the walls of 

 ancient Babylyon : " nor (fays ht) can it in our idea be re- 

 duced to Icfs than a fquare of about Sf Britifh miles, giving 

 an area of 72 fq-;are miles. But that even 72 ccntiguout 

 fquare miles ftiould have been in any degree covered with 

 buildings, is on ever^- account too improbable for belief. 

 The inhabitants of London, taken at a ninth part of the whole 

 population of South Britain (fay about 7,oco,coo, or for 

 London 8oo,coo), require for their fupply of provifions and 

 neceftaries, a proportion of land equal to about 6600 fquare 

 Britilh miles, on a fuppofition that they were confined to its 

 produce alone, and that it was taken as it generally runt 

 throughout the kingdom." — " If there be allowed to Ba- 

 bylon an area of feventy-two miles, we conceive that it 

 would then bear a proportion to the fpace which the build- 

 ings of London occupy, taking in all its fuburbs and mem- 

 bers, whether contiguous or othcrwife, and allowing the man 

 area of 15I Britifli miles, as 9 is to 2 nearly. But as moft 

 of the large Afiatic cities that we have feen or heard of, 

 fcarcely contain within the fame fpace half the number of 

 inhabitants that European cities do, we muft reckon the 

 proportion of population that Babylon would have contained 

 to that of London, as 9 to 4. In this cafe, 15,0^0 fquare 

 miles of fuch land as the common run of that in Englar.d 

 would have been required for the fupport of the peo- 

 ple of Babylon. But as the fimpler manner of living among 

 the lower claftes of people in Afia requires a lefs quantity 

 of land to fupport it, a confiderable deduclion mav be made, 

 and inftead of 15,000 fquare miles, we may perhaps fubfti- 

 tute 1 2,000. Now it will appear, that this reduced fum 

 of fquare miles equals, within one-twelfth part, the whole 

 area of Lower Mefopotamia ; and even the whole traft 

 properly denominated Babylonia and Chaldsa, including all 

 the arable and pailurc land, from whence Babylon could 

 have been conveniently fupplied by the inland navigations, 

 was little more than douMe the above aggregate, taken at 

 13,000 fquare miles. And though it be true, that the qua- 

 lity of the Babvlonifli lands, in moft places, was fuperior in 

 fertility to thofe of England ; yet, on the other hand, a 

 prodigious deduftion muft be made fot: the mnrflies and 

 lakes of Lower Mefopotamia and Chaldia." Hence the 

 author very juftly infers, that the houfes occupied only a 

 part of the vaft fpace inclofed by the walls, and he fumiftiei 

 a modern iuftance, in the fame region, of a city fuiTOunded 

 by a wall fcven miles in circuit ; ai;d yet BaiTora contain* 

 only from 40 to 50,000 inhabitants ; the wall inclofing date 

 groves and corn fields. Befidcs, it fhould be vemem.bered 

 that the Euphrates flowed through the centre of Babylon, 

 in which part of its courfe it is from 400 to ^co feet wide. 

 The palace of the Babylonian kings, the temple of Belus, 

 and other public buildings muft alio have occupied a cor.fi* 

 derable part of the fpace within the walls. 



Tiie next objeft particularly worthy of notice in the city 



of Babylon, was the temple of Belus. In the middle of 



this temple ftood the ancient tower, fupoofcd by Bochart 



3 H i (Phaleg 



