1801.] 
confit of ftories. The pagoda of Vil- 
nour has precifely the fame number of fto- 
ries, which Herodotus relates of the tower 
of Bel*. The pagoda of Tanjore has 
even more flories than the tower of Bel.+ 
And there are alfo fome pyramids in Egygt, 
which confiftt of ftories. Grobert, in his 
newelt account of the pyramids cf Sakhara, 
’ fays, that thefe pyramids were lefs known, 
becaufe the accels to them was difficult;that 
they are more ancient than thofe of Ghize ; 
that the largeft is built of bricks; and that 
fome of them are built with ffories: guel- 
gucs unes font confiruites en étagest. 
All che pagodas in India, fays Le Gen- 
fil, face the four cardinal points§. All 
the pyramids of Ghize, fays Grobert, face 
the four cardinal points||. The pagodas 
of Deogur, fays Hodges, which are in the 
earlieft ftage of Hizdoo buildings, are 
fimple pyramids, without any light what- 
ever withing]. That the pyramids of 
Egypt are without any light whatever 
within, is known long ago by the defcrip- 
tions of Pocock, Greaves,and Norden. In 
a word, there is a ftriking fimilarity, as 
Mr. Maurice obferves, between. the pyra- 
mids of Eyypt, and the more ancient pa- 
godas of India**; and as the tower of Bel 
had fuch a likenefs with the pagodas of 
India, it feems, that the Indian pagodas, 
as well as the pyramids of Egypt, were an 
imitation of the tower of Bel. 
That this tower faced the four cardinal 
points, it is an ealy matter to prove. For, 
according to Strabo, it was like the Egyp- 
tian pyramids, and the Indian pagodast++; 
it was befides the obfervatory of the Chal- 
dean aftronomersff{: it ftood-in the midi 
of the temple of Bel, which was a {quare 
building ; and this fquare building {tood 
within the fquare walls of Babylon, which 
faced the four cardinal poiats : befides, its 
fireets were all ftraight, and croffed by 
ftraight ftreets at right angles, confequent- 
ly each houfe looked to the cardinal 
points§§. 
_ * Le Gentil, Voyage dans les Mers des 
Indes, vol. 2. p. 537. 
+ Rennel’s Geography of Herodotus, page 
60. : 
; ft Grobert, cit. page 10 and 12. 
§ Le Gentil, ibid. 
{| Grobert, page 18. 
@ Hodges’ Select Views in India —View 
ef the Pagodas of Deogur, 
** Maurice’s Ind. Antiq. vol. 3, p. 4179. 
| TT Strabo, lib, cit. 
TI Diodor. Sic. lib. ii. 
_  §§ See Bochart, Phaleg, lib. i. cap, 17. 
gad Univ, Hitt, vol 3. Hilt, of Babylon. 
Dr. Hager on the Name and Origin of the Pyramids. 
187 
The modern towns in China, according 
to du Halde, are all in the fame ftyle. 
‘They are al] fquares, formed, like Baby- 
lon, by four firaizht walls, which unite at 
right angles; their walls look towards the 
four cardinal points; and the cafe is the 
fame with their houfes, the front of which 
muft always face the fouth*. : 
But what is more curious, every Chinefe — 
town, according to the fame du Halde, has 
one or more towers, remarkable for their 
high elevation, and confifting of from feven 
to nine ftories. Thefe ftories go. on de- 
creafing (like a pyramid) fo as they rife; 
that the tower of Bel had eight ftories, and 
that thefe ftories were decreafine as they 
rofe, we know from Herodotus and Strabo. 
Thus the diftance of places compenfes the 
diftance of times, and we find a curious 
analogy between tzme and efpace. 
But the ower of Bel feems alfo to have 
been dark at the infide: like the pyramids of 
Egypt. |For its ftaircafe was, according to 
Herodotus, on the outfide; and no other 
place is mentioned that it contained, but a 
chapel onthe top. Thisis not at all to be 
wondered at. For theShoemadoo,or the great 
temple of Pegu, a pyramidical building, 
compofed of brick, like the temple of Bel, 
and of a ftupendous height, is, according 
to Coloz. Syms,without excavation or aper- 
ture of any fortt. And this is not the only 
temple of this kind in Ivdia beyond the 
Ganges ; for the largeft and moft ,cele- . 
brated temples, both in the kingdom of 
Ava and of Pegu, fays Dr. Buchanan, are 
in the form of fuch pyramids}. 
If we now confider the antiquity of the 
Babytonians ; if we call to mind that the 
tower of Bel was probably the fame with 
the tower of Babel; and that Se/ofris, 
who built the firft pyramid in Egypt we 
know of, was much pofterior to Bel and 
‘Semiramis ; ought we not to believe the 
pyramids of Eg ypt,as well as the pagodas 
of India and China, derived from the tower of 
Bel, which was a temple, like the Indian, 
and a Mau/foleum, or burial-place, like the 
Egyptian ones, where Bel, the firt king 
and founder of Babylon, was buried, and 
worfhipped ? 
All thefe obfervations lead me to fearch 
for the etymology of Mupayic in theChaldaic 
er Hebrew language ; and, if poffible, to 
derive it from thence. ; 
There is no other name in beth lan- 
* Du Halde’s Defcript. dela Chine, tom.2. 
page 8. 
+ Symes’s Embaffy to-Ava, chap. v. 
{ Buchanan’s Differtation, in Afiat. Res. 
vol. 6. 
Bb z guages 
