838 
RUINS OF BABYLON 
From her fallen towers have arisen, not only all the present 
cities in her vicinity, but others, which, like herself, are long ago 
gone down into the dust. Since the days of Alexander, we find 
four capitals, at least, built out of her remains : Seleucia by the 
Greeks, Ctesiphon by the Parthians, A1 Maidan by the Persians, 
Kufa by the Caliphs; with towns, villages, and caravansaries 
without number. Bagdad too, (had it not, most probably, com¬ 
pleted its walls from a nearer neighbour, the ruins of the city, 
which appears to have occupied the tract of Akarkouff,) might, 
by some trouble, boast its towers from the great parent city also. 
That the fragments of one city should travel so far, to build or 
repair the breaches of another, on the first view of the subject, 
appeared unlikely to myself; but on traversing the country be¬ 
tween the approximating shores of the two rivers, and observing 
all the facilities of water-carriage from one side to the other, I 
could no longer be incredulous of what had been told me; par¬ 
ticularly when scarce a day passed without my seeing people dig¬ 
ging the mounds of Babylon for bricks, which they carried to the 
verge of the Euphrates, and thence conveyed in boats to where- 
ever they might be wanted. From the consequent excavations in 
every possible shape and direction, the regular lines of the 
original ruins have been so broken, that nothing but confusion 
is seen to exist between one course and another, when any tra¬ 
veller would attempt seeking a distinct plan amongst those 
eternally traversing minor heaps, hollows, and ravines. But 
certain huge and rugged masses yet stand pre-eminent; which, 
by their situation, and other local circumstances, seem sufficiently 
to warrant the conclusions which have been drawn of their 
original purpose. These vaster mounds are surrounded by sub¬ 
ordinate ranges, now bearing the appearance of embankments ; 
