586 THE BIRS BUILT BY NEBUCHADNEZZAR. APP. BOOK III its present form the Birs is chiefly the work of Nebuchadnezzar, whose name appears exclusively upon the bricks composing it, and the cylinders deposited at its angles.5 The following is the account which the royal restorer gives of his careful renovation of the edifice: : "Behold now the building named 'the Stages of the Seven Spheres,' which was the wonder of Borsippa, had been built by a former king. He had completed forty-two ammas (of the height), but he did not finish its head. From the lapse of time it had become ruined; they had not taken care of the exits of the waters, so the rain and wet had penetrated into the brickwork: the casing of burnt bricks had bulged out, and the terraces of crude brick lay scattered in heaps; (then) Merodach, my great lord, inclined my heart to repair the building. I did not change its site, nor did I destroy its foundation platform; but in a fortunate month, and on an auspicious day, I undertook the rebuilding of the crude-brick terraces, and the burnt-brick casing (of the temple). I strengthened its foundation, and I placed a titular record in the part that I had rebuilt. I set my hand to build it up and to finish its summit. As it had been in ancient times, so I built up its structure; as it had been in former days, thus I exalted its head. Nebo, the strengthener of his children, he who ministers to the gods (?), and Merodach, the supporter of sovereignty, may they cause my work to be established for ever! May it last through the seven ages! May the stability of my throne and the antiquity of my empire, secure against strangers and triumphant over many foes, continue to the end of time!" 5 Sir H. Rawlinson discovered two of these at the eastern and southern angles of the third stage. They were duplicates. He also found a few small fragments of another, the in. scription upon which was different. There are probably many cylinders still in the building. ESSAY IV. INSCRIPTION OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR. 587 NOTE A. [H. C. R.] STANDARD INSCRIPTION OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR. The Inscription begins with the various titles of Nebuchadnezzar. It then contains prayers and invocations to the Gods, Merodach and Nebo. The extent of Nebuchadnezzar's power is spoken of—it reaches from one sea to the other. An account is then given of the wonders of Babylon, viz. : 1. The great temple of Merodach. (The mound of Babil is the tower or ziggurat of this.) 2. The Borsippa temple (or Birs). had made but With two long He made the 3. Various other temples in Babylon and Borsippa. The subjoined description of the city follows :— "The double enclosure which Nabopolassar my father not completed, I finished. Nabopolassar made its ditch. embankments of brick and mortar he bound its bed. embankment of the Arakha. He lined the other side of the Euphrates with brick. He made a bridge (?) over the Euphrates, but did not finish its buttresses (?) From * (the name of a place) he made with bricks burnt as hard as stones, by the help of the great Lord Merodach, a way (for) a branch of the Shimat to the waters of the Yapur-Shapu, the great reservoir of Babylon, opposite to the gate of Nin. "The Ingur-Bel and the Nimiti-Bel-the great double wall of Babylon -I finished. With two long embankments of brick and mortar I built the sides of its ditch. I joined it on with that which my father had made. I strengthened the city. Across the river to the west I built the wall of Babylon with brick. The Yapur-Shapu-the reservoir of Babylon-by the grace of Merodach, I filled completely full of water. With bricks burnt as hard as stones, and with bricks in huge masses like mountains (?), the Yapur-Shapu, from the gate of Mula as far as Nana, who is the protectress of her votaries, by the grace of his godship (i.e. Merodach), I strengthened. With that which my father had made I joined it. Í made the way of Nana, the protectress of her votaries. The great gates of the Ingur-Bel and the Nimiti-Bel-the reservoir of Babylon, at the time of the flood (lit. of fulness), inundated them. These gates I raised. Against the waters their foundations with brick and mortar I built. [Here follows a description of the gates, with various architectural details, and an account of the decorations, hangings, &c.] For the delight of mankind I filled the reservoir. Behold! besides the Ingur-Bel, the impregnable fortification of Babylon, I constructed inside Babylon on the eastern side of the river a fortification such as no king had ever made before me, viz. a long rampart, 4000 ammas square, as an extra defence. I excavated the ditch: with brick and mortar I bound its bed; a long rampart at its head (?) I strongly built. I adorned its gates. The foldingdoors and the pillars I plated with copper. Against presumptuous enemies, who were hostile to the men of Babylon, great waters, like the waters of the ocean, I made use of abundantly. Their depths were like the depths of the vast ocean. I did not allow the waters to overflow, but the fulness of their floods I caused to flow on, restraining them with a 588 brick embankment. BABYLONIAN RESEARCHES APP. BOOK III. Thus I completely made strong the defences of Babylon. May it last for ever! [Here follows a similar account of works at Borsippa.] "In Babylon-the city which is the delight of my eyes, and which I have glorified-when the waters were in flood, they inundated the foundations of the great palace called Taprati-nisi, or the Wonder of Mankind;' (a palace) with many chambers and lofty towers; the high-place of Royalty; (situated) in the land of Babylon, and in the middle of Babylon; stretching from the Ingur-Bel to the bed of the Shebil, the eastern canal, (and) from the bank of the Sippara river to the water of the Yapur-Shapu; which Nabopolassar my father built with brick and raised up; when the reservoir of Babylon was full, the gates of this palace were flooded. I raised the mound of brick on which it was built, and made smooth its platform. I cut off the floods of the water, and the foundations (of the palace) I protected against the water with bricks and mortar; and I finished it completely. Long beams I set up to support it with pillars and beams plated with copper and strengthened with iron I built up its gates. Silver and gold, and precious stones whose names were almost unknown [here follow several unknown names of objects, treasures of the palace], I stored up inside, and placed there the treasure-house of my kingdom. Four years (?), the seat of my kingdom in the city which did not rejoice (my) heart. In all my dominions I did not build a high-place of power; the precious treasures of my kingdom I did not lay up. In Babylon, buildings for myself and the honour of my kingdom I did not lay out. In the worship of Merodach my lord, the joy of my heart (?), in Babylon, the city of his sovereignty and the seat of my empire, I did not sing his praises (?), and I did not furnish his altars (i.e. with victims), nor did I clear out the canals. [Here follow further negative clauses.] "As a further defence in war, at the Ingur-Bel, the impregnable outer wall, the rampart of the Babylonians-with two strong lines of brick and mortar I made a strong fort, 400 ammas square, inside the Nimiti-Bel, the inner defence of the Babylonians. Masonry of brick within them (the lines) I constructed. With the palace of my father I connected it. In a happy month and on an auspicious day its foundations I laid in the earth like ** * I completely finished its top. In fifteen days I completed it, and made it the high place of my kingdom. [Here follows a description of the ornamentation of the palace.] A strong fort of brick and mortar in strength I constructed. Inside the brick fortification another great fortification of long stones, of the size of great mountains, I made. Like Shedim I raised up its head. And this building I raised for a wonder; for the defence of the people I constructed it." NOTE B. BABYLONIAN RESEARCHES OF M. OPPERT. Since this Essay was first written, M. Oppert has published his magnificent work on the subject of the French expedition into Mesopotamia. Among the plates with which this work is illustrated, are several bearing upon ESSAY IV. OF M. OPPERT. 589 the topography of Babylon. In some respects the views taken coincide remarkably with those expressed in the foregoing Essay. This is especially the case as regards the ancient course of the Euphrates, and the position of the lesser palace (that of Neriglissar) upon the right bank of the stream. With regard to M. Oppert's restorations of the ancient city the most remarkable points have been already noticed in the footnotes to the above Essay. He believes that he has found traces of the ancient walls in certain lines of Tels which exist on both sides of the Euphrates. If the positions of these mounds are accurately laid down on his map, which is fairly represented by the subjoined chart, there would appear to be some grounds for regarding the lesser circuit of 360 stades as really indicated by the remains in question, though, upon the showing Chart of the Country round Babylon, with the limits of the ancient City, according to Oppert. 590 BABYLONIAN RESEARCHES OF M. OPPERT. APP. BOOK III. of the map itself, the larger circuit is almost entirely unsupported. It is an additional objection to this circuit, as placed by M. Oppert, that it includes Borsippa, which the inscriptions, the native writer Berosus, and the classical geographers, all regard as a city quite distinct from Babylon. The inclusion of Cutha in the opposite corner of the square, marked (as M. Oppert supposes) by the ruins of Hymar, or Oheimir, is still more impossible; for Cutha was at least 15 miles from Hymar in a north-easterly direction, being marked, not by the Hymar group, but by the ruins at Ibrahim. In his restoration of the royal residence-which has at least the merit of boldness-M. Oppert appears to have discarded alike the guidance of the inscriptions and that of the ancient writers. He takes no notice of Nebuchadnezzar's "Great Reservoir," of his "Shebil," or Eastern Canal," nor of the "palace of his father," which |