FROM WORLD-DOMINION TO SUBJECTION. 



117 



Babylon which he places to his own credit are attributed by 

 Herodotus to Nitocris, who was probably one of Nebuchad- 

 rezzar's queens. The hanging gardens, said by Herodotus to 

 have been built by Nebuchadrezzar for his " Median " queen, 

 Amuhia, were probably already in existence, as is implied by 

 one of the bas-reliefs in the Assyrian Saloon of the British 

 Museum ; it was carved for Assur-bani-apli, the " great and 

 noble Asnapper." It shows a slope, the highest portion of which 

 is supported on arches, and the whole is richly planted with 

 trees and irrigated by streams of water — a real oasis in a land 

 which, during the hot season, is simply a desert. The celebrated 

 " Istar-Gate," discovered by the German explorers, is specially 

 referred to by jSTebuchadrezzar in the India House Inscription. 



Wise, warlike, energetic, and religious, the second Nebuchad- 

 rezzar will always live in history as the type of an Eastern ruler 

 of old who knew how to raise the nation which he governed to 

 the highest pitch of its ancient glory and power. He was 

 succeeded by his son, Awil-Maruduk (Evil-Merodach) in 

 561 B.C. 



Who were the men who helped Nebuchadrezzar to attain for 

 his country the height of its glory ? Certain of his captains are 

 named in the contract-tablets, but these were not to all appear- 

 ance very highly placed officials. Queen Nitocris is credited 

 with having thought out the scheme of the city's great defences 

 — the walls, the lake, the winding river, which brought the 

 navigator to the same spot on three successive days — and we 

 may take it for granted that the great Icing may have been 

 largely aided by the suggestions of this princess as well as by 

 his other wives, notably the Median one, who doubtless 

 suggested the arrangement, or at least the improvement, of the 

 terraced plantation known as the " hanging gardens " ; but the 

 organization of the kingdom, both civil and military, must have 

 been the king's own. It is worthy of note how suddenly these 

 ancient powers fell from the lofty heights which they had 

 attained with the departure of the genius which had raised 

 them. The warlike energy of the ruler having departed, his 

 reputation rested on his administrative ability, which lasted as 

 long as his intelligence, and then, when his successor took his 

 place — possibly an inexperienced man — plots and counter-plots 

 brought confusion into the realm, and the falling-aw^ay, though 

 slow, became more and more pronounced. That this happened 

 in the case of Babylon, we shall see in the pages which follow. 



Evil-Merodach, Nebuchadrezzar's son and successor, was 

 apparently a man of a very different stamp, as is implied by the 



