BABYLON IN THE DAYS OF NEBUCHADREZZAR. 183 



that what the king caused to be made was an imitation of lapis, 

 such as the Assyrians also either manufactured or procured. 

 Cedars of Lebanon were sought out for the roofing of l^]-kua, 

 Merodach's chief shrine on the top of this great structure. " For 

 the building of E-sagila daily have I besought the king of the 

 gods, the lord of lords." But his enthusiasm here turns his 

 mind away from the far-famed temple-tower of Babylon, and 

 directs it to the great structure, of a similar nature, at Borsippa, 

 which, as all Assyriologists know, was called " the second 

 Babylon." But it was rather the great temple of Nebo there 

 than the tower of the seven spheres, as it has been called, to 

 which he refers. " Borsippa, the city of his abode," he says, 

 I beautified, and E-zida, the everlasting house, I caused to 

 be built in its midst. With silver, gold, precious stones, bronze, 

 palm-wood, cedar-wood, I completed its construction. The 

 cedar of the roofing of Nebo's chambers I overlaid with gold ; 

 I overlaid the cedar of the roofing of the gate of Nanaa with 

 bright silver." 



And thus the description goes on, with details which, though 

 hardly minute, are nevertheless too long to be reproduced at 

 full length here. Suffice it to say, that he states that he made 

 the temple of Nebo at Borsippa magnificent with decoration, 

 so much so, that it became the object of admiring glances from 

 those who had the privilege of seeing it in all its glory. And to 

 say the truth, the plan drawn up by the German architects 

 who excavated the ruins, imperfect though they are, show 

 no less than 70 chambers or more — the " papahdti " of Nebo — 

 which were all decorated with gold, silver, and bronze, had 

 enamelled walls, and were roofed with cedars brought, in all 

 probability, from Lebanon, Amanus, and other districts where 

 these trees were known to grow. 



But besides the temple, E-zida, Nebuchadrezzar also paid 

 attention to the temple-tower of " the second Babylon " in 

 connection with it. This was called E-urme-imina-ana-ki, 

 " the house of the seven spheres of heaven and earth " — the 

 sun, the moon, and the five planets known to the Babylonians. 

 In this its burnt brick construction seems to have been covered 

 with uJcm elliti — probably an imitation of mottled lapis — a 

 stone with flakes of bright blue on an almost perfect white. 

 And at this point we find out why Nebuchadrezzar really in- 

 troduces a description of his work at Borsippa here — it was 

 because of the new year procession to which reference has already 



