BABYLON IN THE DAYS OF NEBUCHADREZZAR. 179 



Notwithstanding its reputation, Babylon cannot have been 

 a beautiful city, and many of its most celebrated monuments 

 were more massive than grand. Nevertheless, the Babylonians 

 thought much of it, and looked upon its holy places with poetical 

 reverence. Doubtless much has to be done in the way of 

 exploration before we shall get a really good idea of its extent 

 outside the walls. The portion to which most attention has 

 been paid formed the inner city, and is undoubtedly the oldest 

 part. Here stood the royal palaces, including that in which 

 Nebuchadrezzar is said, in the Book of Daniel, to have been 

 walking when he made the memorable utterance referred to above ; 

 and in this section, also, were the temple of Belus (Merodach) 

 and the great temple-tower whose erection is described in the 

 11th chapter of Genesis. In this portion Herodotus's statement 

 that the streets of the city crossed each other at right angles, 

 and were interrupted by the walls bordering the Euphrates, 

 does not seem to be confirmed. It is therefore probable that 

 the old city, called Su-anna, has to be excepted, and this would 

 only be natural, for it may be regarded as a general rule, that 

 the arrangement of primitive settlements, which developed 

 later into cities, was not done in accordance with architectural 

 plans — generally, they had no architects in those early ages — but 

 were dictated by the contour of the ground. Outside the walls 

 of Su-anna, however, some attempt at the arrangement described 

 by Herodotus may have been carried out, but extensive 

 excavations can alone settle that point. 



As I have already treated of the " City " of Babylon — the 

 oldest portion of the great metropolis — (" Discoveries in Baby- 

 lonia and the Neighbouring Lands," in the Journal of this 

 Institute for February 15th, 1909, and " The Latest Discoveries 

 in Babylonia," April 20th, 1914), I need say nothing further 

 upon this point, but it may be of interest to quote, in 

 Nebuchadrezzar's own words, something about his work upon 

 the great architectural monuments of his land. 



As is well known, the great god of the city was Merodach, 

 who is almost certainly the Nimrod of Genesis x, 10, and, as 

 stated there, its earliest king — or, at least, one of its earliest 

 rulers. Just exactly how the Babylonians looked upon him 

 in this respect, however, is not known — wherever we meet 

 with his name, it is as a divinity — anthropomorphic, it is true, 

 but, from their point of view, with no human traits about him. 

 It was to this god — " the lord of lords " — that the great temple 



