BABYLON IN THE DAYS OF NEBUCHADREZZAR. 187 



the cliffs. Then comes his description of the completion of the 

 building, which was roofed with cedar, and provided with doors 

 of cedar plated with bronze, probably after the manner of the 

 gates of Balawat (Imgur-Bel, as it was called) in Assyria, which 

 have such interesting representations of the campaigns of Shal- 

 maneser II. Within this new building Nebuchadrezzar gathered 

 gold, silver, precious stones, and everything regarded as precious 

 and grand — property and wealth which were tokens of magnifi- 

 cence — the honour, the glory, the treasure of royalty. In no 

 other city did he the same as in Babylon. 



Had he, by chance, among all these treasures the golden 

 vessels taken from the Temple of Jerusalem ? 



But the king has more to say, and his details become a trifle 

 wearisome, until he reaches the part where he states that he added 

 another building to that erected by his father. And here he 

 explains the reason of this addition — it was that no shaft of 

 battle (qan tahazi) might reach the wall of Tin-dir, " the Seat 

 of Life," as the city was called in Sumerian, that he built it. 

 Great and mountainlike [saddnis) were the walls which he made. 

 There were two of them, and between them he states that he 

 built a structure and on the top thereof a great house (kummu 

 rabd) as the seat of his royalty, joining it with his father's palace 

 — its foundation was laid in the bosom of the earth, and its 

 top reared cliff -like (hursanis). It was a great and solid structure, 

 but great as it was, this erection took only fifteen days to erect, 

 as Herodotus also states. It is doubtful whether a builder of 

 our present age could equal such an energetic piece of work as 

 that. 



But it is time to leave this imperfect outline of the great 

 king's building operations, and I will end by quoting 

 Nebuchadrezzar's concluding prayer : — 



" Merodach, all knowing lord of the gods, glorious prince, 

 thou hast created me and conferred upon me the sovereignty 

 of multitudes of men. Like dear life, I love the exaltation 

 of thy cities. Besides thy city Babylon^ I have not beautified 

 a city of the land among all the settlements (of men). Just 

 as I love the fear of thy divinity, I constantly seek unto 

 thy lordship. Accept the lif ting-up of my hands, hear 

 my prayers. I am verily the king who maintaineth, who 

 gladdeneth thy heart — verily (am I also) the active city- 

 warden, who maintaineth all thy strongholds. By thy 

 command, most merciful Merodach, may the house I have 



