BAB 



nBtr of the conqueror, and in the various circiimflances 

 that attended this event, the prophecies which Ifaiah, Jere- 

 miah, and Daniel, had uttered agaiiill this proud metropohs. 

 However, the tower or temple flood to the time of Xerxes; 

 bvit in his return from the Grecian expedition, lie firll plun- 

 dered it of its wealth, tlien deniolillied the whole, and laid it 

 in ruins. Alexander, on his return to Babylon from his 

 Indian expedition, propofed to rebuild it, and to make it the 

 feat of his empire ; but his death prevented his accomplifhing 

 that delign. After the death of Alexander, the city of Ba- 

 bylon began to dechne apace; and its decay was ciiiefly 

 o.f iug to the vicinity of Seleucia, which was built by Seleucus 

 Nicator, as it is faid to mortify the Babylonians, and peopled 

 with 500,000 perfons drawn from Babylon. 



We learn further from a fragment of Diodorus Siculus, 

 produced by Valefuis, and quoted from him by Vitringa 

 (Comment, in Jefaiam, c. 13. vol. i. p. 421.), that a king 

 of Farthia fent many of the Babylonians, under the moll 

 trivial pretences, into flavery, burnt tlie forum and fome of 

 the temples of Babylon, and demolidied the bell parts of 

 the city. This happened about 130 years B.C. Diodorus 

 Siculus (1. ii.) defcribes the buildings as ruined or deflroyed 

 in his time (B.C. 44-), and aflcrts that only a fmall part of 

 the city was inhabited, but that the greatell part of it within 

 the walls was tilled. Strabo (l.xvi. p. 1073. ), ^^^° wrote 

 not long after IModorus (B.C. 30.), fays, that part of the 

 city was demolifhed by the Perlians, and part of it decayed 

 by time and the negleft of the Macedonians, particidarly after 

 the building of Seleucia, and the removal of the royal court 

 thither. Strabo applies to Babylon what a comic poet faid 

 of Megalopolis in Arcadia ; " The great city is now become 

 a great defert." Pliny alfo (H.N. 1.6. c. 30.) affirms 

 (A. D. 66.), that it was reduced to folitude by the neigh- 

 bourhood of Seleucia. Paufanias, about A.D. 153, com- 

 pares Megalopolis to Babylon, and fays (Arcad. c. 33. p. 668. 

 ed. Kuhnii), that of Babylon, the greatell city which the 

 fun ever faw, nothing remained but the walls. Maximus 

 Tyrius (DifT. 6.) mentions it as lying negletled and forfaken; 

 and Lucian intimates (ETian. five Contemplantes), that in a 

 little time it would be fought for and not be found, like 

 Nineveh. Conftantine the Great, in an oration prefervedby 

 Eufebius, fays, that he himfelf was upon the fpot, and be- 

 held the dcfolate and miferable condition of the city. In 

 the time of Jerome, about the clofe of the fourth century. 

 It was converted into a chafe for keeping wild bcafts witliin 

 the compafs of its walls, for the hunting of t'.ie later kings of 

 Perfia. St. Jerome adds, that, excepting the brick walls, 

 which after many years are repaired for the inclofing of wild 

 beafts, the whole fpace within is dcfoUtion. Hieron. Com- 

 ment, in Ifai. c. 13. c. 14. vol. iii. p. 11 1. 115. ed. Benedift. 

 Benjamin of Tudela, who lived in the twelfth century, 

 afTerts (Itin. p. 76.), that ancient Babylon is now laid wafte, 

 but that fome ruins are flill to be feeii of Nebuchadnezzar's 

 palace, into which men fear to enter on account of the fer- 

 pents and fcorpions that are in the midll of it. Texeira, a 

 Portugnefe, in his defcription of his travels from India to 

 Italy, cited by Bochart(Phaleg. 1. 4. c. 15.), and by Prideaux 

 (pt. I. b. 8.), affirms, that of this great and famous eity 

 nothincr but a few veftiges remained, and that there was not 

 any place in the whole region lefs frequented. Rauwolf, a 

 German traveller, vvhofe travels have been edited by Ray, 

 pafTed this way, A.D. 1574, and defcribes the ruins of this 

 famous city, which he found in the village of Elugo, not far 

 from Bagdad. He mentions fome piers and arches of the 

 old bridge over the Euphrates, and the ruins of the callle 

 and tower, which are the habitations of venomous creatures, 

 that are fo dangerous as not to be acgtffible with fafcty, 



BAB 



except during two months in winter, when thefe animals 

 never ftir out of their holes. Petrus Vallenfis, or Delia 

 Valle, was at Bagdad in 16 16, and vifitcd the niins, as 

 they arc thought to be, of ancient Babylon, which, he fays, 

 appear in confufion like a hufc.'e mountain, and exhibit t mafs 

 corrcfponding in form and lituation to tlie pvramid ca:ied by 

 Strabo the tower of Belus, and being probably the tower of 

 Nimiod in Babylon, or Babel, as the place is called. But 

 befides this large mafs, there arc no traces of ruins fufficient 

 to convince an obfcrver that fo great a city as Babylon was 

 ever fituatcd in that place. Tavernier fays, that at the part- 

 ing of the Tigris, which is but a little way from Bagdad, 

 there is the foundation of a city which may fcem to have 

 been a large league in compafs. Some of the wall^, he fays, 

 are yet Handing, upon which fix coaches may pafs abrcaft. 

 They are made of burnt brick, ten feet fquare and three 

 thick. The chronicles of the country reprelent this as the 

 fite of the ancient Babylon. But this intelligent traveller 

 adopts the opinion of the Arabs, and conceives the ruins ob- 

 fervcd by himfelf, and alfo by Benjamin the Jew, Rauwolf, 

 and Delia Valle, to be the remains, not of Nebuchadnezzar's 

 palace, or of the tower of Babel, but of fome tower built by 

 one of their princes, and defigned us a beacon to aflemble his 

 fubjc'ls in time of war. Hanway (Trav. vol. iv. p'. 3. c. 10. 

 p. 78.) fays, that the ruins of Babylon, placed about fifteea 

 leagues to the fouth of Bagdad, are no.v fo much effaced, 

 that there arc hardly any veiUges of them to point out the 

 fituation. 



Whoever compares thefe accounts, given more in detail by 

 the authors above cited, witli the predidlions of the ancient 

 prophets, will perceive, and be led to acknowledge, how 

 punctually the ravages of time have contributed to accomplilh 

 them. To this purpofe bhhop Newton obferves (DilTcrti 

 on the Prophecies, vol. vii. p. 285.), that when Babylon 

 " was converted into a chafe for wild beafts to feed and 

 breed there," then were exaftly accompliihed the words of 

 the prophets, that " The wild bcafls of the defei t, with the 

 wild beads of tlic iflands, (liould dwell there, and cry in their 

 defolate houfes." One part of the country was overflowed 

 by the river's having been turned out of its courfe, and never 

 rcllored again to its former channel, and thence became 

 boggy and marfhy, fo that it might literally be faid to be 

 " a pofTelTion for the bittern, and pools of water." Another 

 part is defcribed as dry and naked, and barren of every 

 thing, fo that thereby was fulfilled another prophecy, which 

 feemed in fome mcafurc to contradicl the former, " Her 

 cities arc a defolation, a dry land and a wildemefs, a land 

 wherein no man dwellcth, neither doth any ion of man pafs 

 thereby." The place thereabout is rcprefented as overrun 

 with fei-pents, fcorpions, and all forts of venomous and un- 

 clean creatures, fo that " their houfes are full of doleful 

 creatures, and dragons cry in their defolate places; and Ba- 

 bylon is become heaps, a dwelling for dragons, an aflonilh- 

 ment and an hiffing, without an inhabitant." For all thefe 

 reafons, " neither can the Arabian pitch his tent there, nei- 

 ther can the (liepheids water their folds there." And when 

 wef.nd that modern travellers cannot now certainly difcover 

 the fpot of ground whereon this renowned city was once 

 fituated, we may vciy properly fay, " How is Babylon be- 

 come a defolatios among the nations! Every purpofe of 

 the Lord hath he performed againfl Babylon, to make the 

 land of Babylon a defolation, without an inhabitant:" and 

 the exprtffion is no lefs true than fubhme, that " The Lord 

 of hoils hath fwept it with the btfoni of dcftniAion." 

 " How wonderful (adds the prelate) are fuch preditlions 

 compared with the events, and what a convincing argument 

 of the truth and divinity of the holy fcripturcs! VVell 



might 



