DISCOVERIES IN BABYLONIA AND THE NEIGHBOURING LANDS. 107 



same corner. It is naturally difficult to get a good idea of 

 these ruins from the imperfect reproductions which I am now 

 showing, but they will probably be regarded as better than 

 nothing. Enthusiasts will easily imagine what an interesting 

 spot this would be to visit, with its sites from which the glory 

 departed so many hundred years ago. 



In the plan of Babylon which has been throw^n on the 

 screen, it will have been noticed that the form of the basement 

 of the " Tower of Babylon " is square, whilst the old repre- 

 sentations of that structure, which many of us have seen in 

 old family Bibles and elsewhere, show it as having been 

 circular in form, and tapering wdth a spiral ascent until the top 

 was reached. These designs, however, were probably mere 

 creations of the artist, who wished to produce something 

 picturesque, and copied, perhaps, some drawing or description 

 which he had met with of similar spiral towers of later date, 

 which actually occur in the East as minarets of certain mosques. 

 This, however, was not the shape of the Tower of Babel, w^hich, 

 as we know from the remains found in the country as well as 

 from the ancient descriptions of the structure, was square in 

 form, though the ascent was an inclined one, and though 

 arranged the same way, w^as straight instead of curved. The 

 picture now on the screen, which is taken from the boundary 

 stone of the time of Merodach-Baladan I., who reigned about 

 1167 B.C. (this object was presented to the British Museum by 

 the proprietors of the I)aily Telegraph)^ seems to show an 

 erection of this kind in three stages, with a shrine at the top. 

 The horned animal or dragon in front apparently bears on its 

 back a form of the wedge, the symbol of the god Nebo, so that 

 it is possible that the staged tower behind may have stood for 

 one of the emblems of that god. This would naturally form a 

 reason for identifying the great temple-tower of Xebo at 

 Borsippa (the Birs JSTimroud) wdth the Tower of Babel, w^hich is 

 the traditional site of that erection. In all probability,, 

 however, the reason for placing the Tower of Babel in "the 

 second Babylon," as Borsippa was called, and not in Babylon 

 proper, lies in the fact that the temple of N"ebo at Borsippa 

 was the latest shrine where the ancient Babylonian worship was 

 carried on. 



The form of temple-tower suggested by Perrot and Chipiez, 

 in their History of Art in Antiquity, was either with sloping 

 stages, as in the case now shown, or with a double ascent and 

 level stages, as in their alternative design. It is doubtful, 

 however, whether the Babylonian architects, notwithstanding 



