184 



T. G. PINCHES^ LL.D., M.R.A.S., ON 



130 feet square, oO feet high, enamelled, the second. 

 100 feet square, 10 feet high, recessed, the third. 

 85 feet square, 10 feet high, recessed, the fourth. 

 70 feet square, 10 feet high, recessed, the fifth. 

 40 feet long, a fraction under 35 feet wide, 25 feet high, 

 variegated to the top, the seventh — the house sahuru. 



And here we have it in all its details, as nearly as we 

 understand them — -the great Tower of Babel, the remains of 

 which utilitarian Turkish contractors have removed from the 

 face of the earth — that is, all but the core of unbaked brick. 

 The tenth section of the tablet, which immediately follows, 

 states, apparently, that this is a description of the extent and 

 the area of the building, not examined, but written, verified, 

 and made clear according to the copy preserved at the 

 neighbouring town of Borsippa. It is sincerely to be hoped 

 that the original of this present document will be found. 



The tenth section gives the dimensions of 68 plantations and 

 20 meadows belonging to the Tower, and after this comes the 

 colophon, in three lines of v/riting wide apart. It is as 

 follows : — 



" Tablet of Anu-bel-sunu, son of Anu-balat-su-iqbi, descendant 

 of Ahu'utu, the Tir-annaite ( = Erechite). 



" (Written out) by the hand of Anu-bel-sunu, son of Nidintu"'- 

 Anu, descendant of Sin-liki-unnini. Erech, month Chisleu, 

 day 26th, 



" year 83rd, Siluku (Seleucus), king." 



The owner of the tablet had therefore gotten a namesake of his 

 to write it out for him — a member, seemingly, of a very ancient 

 family, that of Sin-liki-unnini, the traditional writer of the 

 tablets of the Gilgames-legend, the eleventh of which contains 

 the story of the Flood. 



In his elevation of the Tower of Babylon, attached to the 

 Temple of Belus, called E-sagila, M. Dieulafoy adheres rigorously 

 to the data of the tablet, and does not insert the possible 

 dimensions of the missing sixth stage — in which, in fact, he 

 does not believe. George Smith, however, thought that it 

 ought to be restored, and in this he was probably right. It 

 seems possible that, at the time the inscription was drawn up, 

 the sixth stage, being in ruin, had been cleared away, and the 

 sanctuary at the top erected on the fifth stage. Or is this due 

 to the fact that, when " they left off to build the city," as 

 stated in Genesis xi, 8, they left off building the Tower as well, 



