316 
TOWER OF BABEL 
of its primary centre; and this result, the four views I have 
given will sufficiently shew. Indeed, the effects of the gradual 
mouldering of any tower, or conical structure, will always, while 
a vestige remains, define themselves, and, therefore, in the ge¬ 
neral outline, that of the building; which common fact, if al¬ 
lowed in this instance, presents the present ruin, as I would 
limit its base, in a form more consonant to historical details of 
the Temple of Belus, than if we were to suppose its foundations 
had been spread over the whole oblong surface. And, as it is 
my full conviction that the extraordinary mass before me, is the 
remains of the Temple of Belus, I shall make a short statement 
of what the ancients say concerning it. 
To Nebuchadnezzar (who flourished early in the sixth cen¬ 
tury B. C.) are attributed the vast extent, and architectural 
splendours of Babylon ; amongst which is numbered the Temple 
of Belus, erected, we are told, in the midst of one of its quar¬ 
ters. But to Nimrod is ascribed the first foundations of the 
city, with its mountain-tower, not two hundred years posterior 
to the deluge. After its desertion by the son of Cush, we hear 
no more of it till Semiramis, the widow of Ninus, returned to 
the depopulated city with new colonies, surrounded it with walls, 
and established the worship of its hero-god. But it appears that 
the temple of Bel or Belus, in its most renowned state, was not 
erected till the time of Nebuchadnezzar; who, after the accom¬ 
plishment of his many conquests, raised this superb edifice to 
the idolatrous object to whom he ascribed his victories ; and 
who, probably, had been worshipped on the same high tower 
ever since the deification of its first founder. Nimrod, (according 
to Prideaux,) having been his name with the Hebrews, implying 
his rebellion ; but he was recognised under that of Bel, or Baal, 
