ttu aT^ •* ■f*i ^^^H M ■ '4- - V I H ■ ■ I ' - • Mi 4sH V %> ■■ ■1 IB! ■1 4 -.**£. V PIS •M IK OH SB Hi HBl MSB ■H ■IV ■ - " : M 1 mm > 1 ^5^ p& t j|L 1 B^ / / L ,iS t-J&r&Lw~ iJ^ ~ //fly? r-j Scale of a Jiriti.rli Standard Mile . Th# Ruins of Babylon on the East Bank of the Euphrates . MEMOIR ON THE RUINS OF BABYLON. BY CLAUDIUS JAMES RICH, Esq. RESIDENT FOR THE HONOURABLE EAST INDIA COMPANY AT THE COURT OF THE PASHA. OF BAGDAD. WITH THREE PLATES. THIRD EDITION. LONDON: PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN, PATERNOSTER ROW ; AND J. MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1818. 3A i i.ti * \ •91 OZQl' moo aew Jim edi PRINTED BY RICHARD AND ARTHUR TAYLOR, SHOE LANE, ADVERTISEMENT. The following Memoir was originally pub- lished at Vienna, in a Journal entituled Mines de V Orient, conducted by Mr. Hammer a learned Orientalist of that city, at whose re- quest it was composed. It is now republished, though without any instructions from the author, and without the advantage of his correction, in order partly to satisfy curiosity on an interest- ing subject, but still more to solicit the coun- sel of the learned in the prosecution of those inquiries, Geographical and Antiquarian, for which the situation of Bagdad furnishes pecu- liarly favourable opportunities. This Memoir is viewed by the Author as only the first fruits of imperfect research. It may perhaps be IV considered with the more indulgence, as it is believed that it is the only account of these memorable ruins hitherto laid before the pub- lic by a native of the British Islands. MEMOIR ON THE RUINS OF BABYLON. J.HE site of Babylon having never been either thoroughly explored or accurately described,, I beg leave to offer to the associates of the Mines de V Orient an account of my observations on that celebrated spot, the completion of which has been retarded by frequent interruptions from indisposition and offi- cial occupation. I have frequently had occasion to remark the in- adequacy of general descriptions to convey an ac- curate idea of persons or places. I found this par- ticularly exemplified in the present instance. From the accounts of modern travellers, I had expected to have found on the site of Babylon more, and less, B 2 than I actually did. Less, because I could have formed no conception of the prodigious extent of the whole ruins, or of the size, solidity, and perfect state, of some of the parts of them ; and more, be- cause I thought that I should have distinguished some traces, however imperfect, of many of the prin- cipal structures of Babylon. I imagined I should have said, cc Here were the walls, and such must have been the extent of the area. There stood the Palace, and this most assuredly was the Tower of Belus." — I was completely deceived : instead of a few insulated mounds, I found the whole face of the country covered with vestiges of building, in some places consisting of brick walls surprisingly fresh, in others merely of a vast succession of mounds of rubbish, of such indeterminate figures, variety, and extent, as to involve the person who should have formed any theory in inextricable confusion. — This, together with the impossibility, in such a remote si- tuation, of referring to all the authorities I should have consulted, will cause my account of the remains of Babylon to appear very meagre and unsatisfac- tory. I announce no discovery, I advance no in- teresting hypothesis ; I am sensible that to form any thing like a correct judgement, much study and con- sideration, and frequent visits to the same place, are requisite. As probably more weight may be attached to my opinions from my residence on the spot, and advantages of observation, than they would other- wise be entitled to., I would rather incur the impu- tation of being an ignorant and superficial observer., than mislead by forming rash decisions upon sub- jects so difficult to be properly discussed; and I shall therefore confine myself, in the present memoir, to a plain, minute, and accurate statement of what I ac- tually saw, avoiding all conjectures except where they may tend to throw light on the description, or be the means of exciting others to inquiry and con- sideration. I have added a few sketches illustrative of the principal objects, for which I claim no other merit than that of scrupulous fidelity, having been solici- tous to render them accurate representations rather than good drawings. For the sake of greater in- telligibility in my descriptions, I have added a ge- neral sketch of the ground, for the measurements of which I am' indebted to a gentleman who accompa- nied me (Mr. Lockett), who superintended that operation whilst I was employed in drawing and ex- ploring. I project other excursions to the same spot to confirm and prosecute my researches ; and preparatory to them I solicit the communications and queries of the learned, for my guidance and in- formation. b 2 An inquiry concerning the foundation of Baby- Ion, and the position of its remains, does not enter into my present plan ; the latter subject has been already so ably treated by Major Rennel, in his Geography of Herodotus (a work to which I have often been under obligations, which I take this op- portunity of acknowledging), that I shall consider the site of Babylon as established in the environs of Hilla, and commence my description with an ac- count of the country about that place. The whole country between Bagdad and Hilla is a perfectly flat and (with the exception of a few spots as you approach the latter place) uncultivated waste. That it was at some former period in a far different state, is evident from the number of canals by which it is traversed, now dry and neglected ; and the quantity of heaps of earth covered with frag- ments of brick and broken tiles, which are seen in every direction, — the indisputable traces of former population. At present the only inhabitants of this tract are the Zobeide Arabs, the Sheikh of which tribe is responsible for the security of the road, which is so much frequented that robberies are compa- ratively seldom heard of. At convenient distances khans or caravanserais are erected for the accom- modation of travellers, and to each of them is at- tached a small village of Fellahs. The first of these is Kiahya Khan,, so called from its founder Ahmed the Kiahya or minister of Suleiman Pasha ; it is about seven miles from Bagdad*, and it is rather a handsome building ; but from its vicinity to the town it is now unfrequented. The general direc- tion of the Hilla road is north and south. — Assad Khan is the next stage, and is distant from Kiahya Khan about five miles ; and between four and five miles to the southward of it the road is intersected by the famous Naher Malcha, or Jluvius regias, the work, it is said, of Nebuchadnezzar ; which is now dry, like many others which I forbear mentioning as being of no importance, though as late as the time of the Caliphs it was applied to the purposes of irrigation. It is confined between two very high mounds, and on the northern one near the road is a small ruin called Sheikh Shoubar, which is visible from afar. Before arriving at the Naher Malcha, and half way between Assad Khan and the next stage, is a small canal, over which is a bridge of one arch, now ruinous. Some time ago, a large lion came regularly every evening from the banks of the * I have laid down the distance on the Hilla road by compu- tation and not actual measurement, taking the ordinary walk of a light caravan at three British miles the hour. 6 Euphrates,, and took his stand on this bridge, to the terror of the traveller : he was at last shot by a Zo- beide Arab. Till very lately this canal was filled from the Euphrates, and the desert in the vicinity was in consequence cultivated; but the proprietors, finding the exactions of the government to be more than their industry could answer, were obliged to abandon the spot. The next khan, distant upwards of seven miles, is Bir-iunus, or Jonas's well, called by the Turks Orta Khan, from its being erroneously counted the half of the distance between Bagdad and Hilla. It is only remarkable for a deep well with a descent by steps to the water, and the tomb of a Turkish saint. Fine hawks, of the species called Balahan, used in hunting the antelope, are caught here. Near three miles from this, the road to Ker- bela by the bridge of Musseib on the Euphrates branches oif from the Hilla road, in the direction of S. 67 W. Iskenderia is about seven miles from Bir-iunus, and is a large handsome khan, built lately at the expense of Mohammed Hussein Khan, Emin-ed- doulah to the king of Persia, near a former much inferior one of the same name, which is still stand- ing, though deserted. All around it are vestiges of building, which would seem to indicate the prior existence of some large town, and the bricks of which it is built were dug- up on the spot. The first khan on the Kerbela or rather Musseib road, called Mizrakjee Og7^ow, from the name of the Bagdad mer- chant who founded it, is very near this on the same line; and Musseib itself is visible in the direction of S. 80 W. Prom Iskenderia to Khan Hajee Sulei- man (a mean building erected by an Arab) is a di- stance of upwards of eight miles ; and at this khan the road is traversed by a canal cut from the Eu- phrates at the village of Naseriat (which bears N. 20 W. from the road), and full of water in the spring, as are many of the canals between this and Hilla. Four miles from Hajee Suleiman is Mohawil, also a very indifferent khan, close to which is a large canal with a bridge over it : beyond this every thing- announces an approach to the remains of a large city. The ruins of Babylon may in fact be said almost to commence from this spot, the whole country between it and Hilla exhibiting at intervals traces of build- ing, in which are discoverable burnt and unburnt bricks and bitumen ; three mounds in particular at- tract attention from their magnitude. The ground to the right and left of the road bears the appear- ance of being partially and occasionally a morass, though at the time we passed it it was perfectly dry : the road, which is due south, lies within a quarter of a mile of the celebrated mass called by 8 Pietro della Valle the Tower of Belus ; Hilla is nine miles from Mohawil, and nearly forty-eight from Bagdad. Hilla is called by Abulfeda, Hellah Bene Mo- zeid ; he and the Turkish geographer who copies him say it was built, or rather augmented, by Saif- ed-doulah, in the year of the Hejira 495*, in the land of Babel. The Turkish geographer appears to place the ruins of Babylon considerably more to the northward, in the direction of Sura and Felugiah. The district called by the natives El-Aredh Babel extends on both sides the Euphrates. Its latitude, according to Niebuhr, is 32° 28', and it is situated on the western bank of the Euphrates, a few shops and huts only being on the eastern. It is meanly built, and its population does not exceed between 6 and 7000, consisting of Arabs, and Jews (who have one synagogue), there being no Christians, Abulfeda. jLjd iS^U ^jJj - l^ #jJuUU 1j*J <&s~ *J! LUaJU-\ (Jjj^J c r^ l -VJ Jlp Jj>^ *->*ks- j£j Djihannuma. l5**W' J^ J^Xu*. 1 jj^j*5 *£,'^ and only such Turks as are employed in the govern- ment. It is divided into seven small mahalles or parishes ; but there is only one mosque in the town, all the other places of worship being mere ibadetgahs or oratories. The walls are of mud, and present a truly contemptible appearance ; but the present Pasha of Bagdad has ordered a new wall to be con- structed of the finest Babylonian bricks. The gates are three in number, and, as usual in the East, each takes the name of the principal place it leads to, the northern one being called the gate of Hussein or Kerbela, the centre that of Tahmasia (a large village in the neighbourhood), and the southern the gate of Nejef or Imam Ali. The little street on the east- ern side is also closed by a gate, or rather door. The gardens on both sides the river are very extensive, so that the town itself from a little distance appears embosomed in a wood of date-trees ; on the outer verge of the gardens on the west, small redans are established, within sight and hearing of each other, in each of which a matchlockman mounts guard at night; and for greater security against the ma- rauders of the Desert, the late Ali Pasha dug an ample trench round the whole, and built a citadel, (which, as usual in these countries, is nothing more than a square inclosure,) in the town, on the bank of the river. 10 Among- the gardens a few hundred yards to the west of the Husseinia gate, is the Mesjid-esshems, a mosque built on the spot where popular tradition says a miracle,, similar to that of the prophet Joshua, was wrought in favour of Ali, and from this the mosque derives its appellation. It is a small build- ing, having instead of a minaret an obelisk, or rather hollow cone fretted on the outside like a pine-apple, placed on an octagonal base : this form, which is a very curious one, I have observed in several very old structures, particularly the tomb of Zobeide, the wife of Haroun-al-raschid, at Bagdad; and I am in- formed it cannot now be imitated. On the top of the cone is a mud cap, elevated on a pole, resembling the cap of liberty. This, they say, revolves with the sun; a miracle I had not the curiosity to verify. The inside of the mosque is supported by rows of short pillars about two feet in girth; from the top of each spring pointed arches, in form and combination re- sembling in a striking manner the Gothic architec- ture. It contains nothing remarkable except what the people show as the tomb of the prophet Joshua. This country abounds in pretended tombs of pro- phets. On the Tigris between Bagdad and Bussora they show the sepulchre of Ezra ; .twelve miles in the Desert to the south-west of Hilla is that of Eze- chiel, and to the southward the tomb of Job : the two 11 former are places of pilgrimage of the Jews, who do not acknowledge those of Job and Joshua. The district of Hilla extends from Husseinia (which is a canal leading from the Euphrates near Nusseib to Imam Hussein) on the north to the town of Hasca on the south. It is governed by a Bey, who is always a Turk or Georgian, appointed by the Pasha of Bagdad, from whom the government is farmed for a stipulated yearly sum*. There is also * For the information of those who may be curious regarding such subjects, I subjoin a statement of the revenue of Hilla, communicated to me by the Serraf Bashi of the place. Annual Receipts of the Governor of Hilla. From the farms and villages 100,000 Duties on rice, corn, fyc, grown in the vicinity and passing through the town from the Khezail territory 100,000 Farm of sesame 1 5,000 dyeing 15,000 the butchery 6,000 silk 4,000 tannery 1 ,000 lime kilns 1,500 Collections or voluntary contributions levied on the townspeople under various pretexts about three times a year generally 8,000 Miri on the dates 20,000 Paid by the Commandant of Janissaries for his appoint- ment 2,000 Private revenue of the Zabit his own farms, gardens . 20,000 Total in piastres Hilla currency 290,500 Add the difference of exchange 50,000 Total in standard Turkish piastres 340,500 12 a Serdar or commandant of Janissaries, and a Cadi, whose office, unlike any other of the same kind in Turkey, has been continued in the same family for upwards of a century. The inhabitants of Hilla bear a very bad character. The air is salubrious, and the soil extremely fertile, producing great quantities of rice, dates, and grain of different kinds, though it is not cultivated to above half the degree of which it is susceptible. Public Payments made by him to the Bagdad Government. To the Pasha 260,000 Kiahya Bey 30,000 Total in Turkish piastres 290,000 He also supplies government with 5,500 tagars of corn and barley, in value about 165,000 piastres on the average; but this he levies on the farmers at the rate of 2 tagars for every 5. over and above the rent and imposts of their farms and produce. He must also supply the Pasha's army or any detachment of it that may be in the neighbourhood ; fee the most powerful members of government from time to time, and yet be able to lay by a sufficiency not only for his own reimbursement, but also to pay the mulct that is invariably levied on governors when they are removed, however well they may have discharged their duty. And when it is considered that his continuance in office seldom exceeds two or three years, it may well be imagined that he has recourse to secret methods of accumulating wealth, and that the inhabitants of his district are proportionally oppressed. The re- gulation of this petty government is a just epitome of the genera! system which has converted some of the finest countries of the world into savage wastes and uninhabitable deserts. 13 The grand cause of this fertility is the Euphrates, the banks of which are lower and the stream more equal than the Tigris. Strabo says that it was a stadium in breadth at Babylon ; according to Ren- nel, about 491 English feet, or d'Anville's still more reduced scale, 330. Niebuhr says, at Hilla it is 400 Danish feet broad; my measurement by a graduated line at the bridge there brings it to 75 fathoms, or 450 feet; its breadth however varies in its passage through the ruins. Its depth I found to be 2^ fa- thoms, and the current runs at the medium rate of about two knots, when lowest being probably half a knot less, and when full, a knot more. The Tigris is infinitely more rapid, having a current of near seven knots when at its height. The Euphrates rises at an earlier period than the Tigris ; in the middle of the winter it increases a little, but falls again soon after; in March it again rises, and in the latter end of April is at its full, continuing so till the latter end of June. When at its height it overflows the sur- rounding country, fills the canals dug for its recep- tion, without the slightest exertion of labour, and facilitates agriculture in a surprising degree. The ruins of Babylon are then inundated so as to render many parts of them inaccessible, by converting the valleys among them into morasses. But the most remarkable inundation of the Euphrates is at Felu- 14 giah, twelve leagues to the westward of Bagdad, where on breaking down the dyke which confines its waters within their proper channel, they flow over the country and extend nearly to the banks of the Tigris, with a depth sufficient to render them navi- gable for rafts and flat-bottomed boats. At the moment I am now writing (May 24th, 1812) rafts laden with lime are brought on this inundation al- most every day from Felugiah, to within a few hun- dred yards of the northern gate of Bagdad, called the Imam Mousa gate. The water of the Euphrates is esteemed more sa- lubrious than that of the Tigris. Its general course through the site of Babylon is north and south. I questioned the fishermen who ply on the river re- specting its bottom, and they all agreed that bricks and other fragments of building are very commonly found in it. From the gentleness of the current, re- gularity of the stream, and equal substance of the banks, I am of opinion that the Euphrates would not naturally alter its course in any great degree, cer- tainly not so much as the Tigris, whose variations in a few years are often very considerable. A variety of circumstances may however have caused some al- terations. It is evident from what Strabo says, that the neglected state of the canals had considerably injured the original stream, and it is possible that a ]5 part of it might have continued to flow through the channel cut by Cyrus for a long time afterwards*. That some change in the course of the river has taken place, will be hereafter shown. I have before remarked that the whole of this part of Mesopotamia is intersected by canals (^J). These are of all ages ; and it is not uncommon to see workmen employed in excavating a new canal close to and parallel with an old one, when it might be supposed that the cleansing of the old one would be a work of much less toil. The high embankments of these canals easily impose on the unpractised eye for ruins of buildings, especially when the channel has been filled up by the accession of soil, and I doubt not are the origin of the belief expressed by some travellers, that there are ruins in the gardens of Hilla. Niebuhr and Otter say that remains of walls and edifices are in existence, though enveloped in woods and coppices. Otter in particular observes that the site of Babylon is generally covered with wood : this is certainly incorrect. On the ruins of Babylon there is not a single tree growing, except- ing the old one which I shall hereafter have occasion to mention; but in the intervals of the ruins, where * Vide Rollin, who quotes Arrian, whose work I regret nut having at present to refer to. 16 in all probability no building ever stood, there are some patches of cultivation*. I made the most dili- gent search all through the gardens, but found not the slightest vestige of ruins, though previously I heard of many, — an example of the value of infor- mation resting solely on the authority of the natives. The reason is obvious. Ruins composed, like those of Babylon, of heaps of rubbish impregnated with nitre, cannot be cultivated, and any inferior mound would of course be levelled in making the garden. In such a soil as that of Babylon it appears sur- prising how long some of the canals have remained. The Naher Malcha, a work of the Babylonian mon- archs, might still be effectually repaired, and it is probable that many of the canals now seen on the site of Babylon may have been in existence when it was a flourishing city. Some of the canals were used for the purpose of navigation, and Alexander took great pains to cleanse and restore those that were out of order. Aristobulus, quoted by Strabo, lib. xvi. page 510, edit. Casaub., says that he went into these canals in a boat, which he steered himself, and in- spected the repairs in person, in presence of a mul- * I am unacquainted with the original work of Mr. Otter, and imagine that the word coppice must exist only in the translation, as it is an improper term, the only wood being the date gardens of Hilla, to which certainly the word coppice will not apply. 17 titude of spectators, cleansing- the mouths of some which were choked up with mud, and blocking up others. In one instance, where the canal led to- ward the morasses and lakes of the Arabian side, he opened a new mouth thirty stadia from the old one, in a more stony place, to ensure greater durability. He also dug basons for his fleet; and in performing these works, it is said the graves of many of the kings and princes who were buried in the morasses were dug up ; by which I understand that the bad state of the canals had caused inundations in the places of sepulture. From the yielding nature of the soil I can readily conceive the ease with which Cyrus dug a trench round the city, sufficient to contain the ri- ver (Cyrop. lib. vii.). I have not however been able to discover any traces either of this trench, or the lines of circumvallation. The ruins of the eastern quarter of Babylon com- mence about two miles above Hilla, and consist of two large masses or mounds connected with and ly- ing north and south of each other, and several smaller ones which cross the plain at different intervals. The northern termination of this plain is Pietro della Valle's ruin, from the south-east angle of which (to which it evidently once joined, being only oblite- rated there by two canals,) proceeds a narrow ridge or mound of earth, wearing the appearance of hav- c 18 ing been a boundary wall. Vide the annexed plan (A). This ridge forms a kind of circular inclosure, and joins the south-east point of the most southerly of the two grand masses. The river bank is skirted by a ruin (B), which I shall, for perspicuity's sake, call its embankment, though, as will hereafter be seen, there is good rea- son for supposing it never was intended for one. It commences on a line with the lower extremity of the southernmost grand mound, and is there nearly three hundred yards broad at its base, from the east angle of which a mound (resembling the boundary A, but broader and flatter,) proceeds, taking a sweep to the south-east, so as to be nearly parallel with, and forty yards more to the south than, that boundary ; this loses itself in the plain, and is in fact the most southerly of all the ruins. The embankment is con- tinued in a right line to the north, and diminishes in breadth, but increases in elevation till at the di- stance of seven hundred and fifty yards from its commencement, where it is forty feet perpendicular height, and is interrupted by a break (C) nearly of the same breadth with the river : at this point a tri- angular piece of ground commences, recently gain- ed from the river, which deserts its original channel above and returns to it again here : this gained ground (D) is a hundred and ten yards in length, 19 and two hundred and fifty in breadth at its angle or point, and along its base are traces of a continuation of the embankment, which is there a narrow line that soon loses itself. Above this the bank of the river affords nothing worthy of remark ; for though in some places there are slight vestiges of building, they were evidently not connected with the above- mentioned embankment. The whole of the area inclosed by the boundary on the east and south, and river on the west, is two miles and six hundred yards in breadth from east to west, (exclusive of the gained ground which I do not take into account, as comprising no part of the ruins,) as much from Pietro della Valle's ruin to the south- ern part of the boundary (A), or two miles and one thousand yards to the most southerly mound of all, which has been already mentioned as branching off from the embankment. This space is again longi- tudinally subdivided into nearly half, by a straight line of the same kind with the boundary, but much its inferior in point of size (B). This may have crossed the whole inclosure from north to south,, but at present only a mile of it remains. Exactly parallel with it, and a little more than a hundred yards to the west of it, is another line precisely of a similar de- scription, but still smaller and shorter (F) : its north- ern termination is a high heap of rubbish of a curi- c2 20 ous red colour, nearly three hundred yards long and one hundred broad, terminating on the top in a ridge: it has been dug into in various parts, but few or no fine whole bricks have been found in it*. All the ruins of Babylon are contained within the western division of the area, i. e. between the innermost of these lines and the river, there being vestiges of building in the eastern or largest division between the outermost line and the external boundary. Before entering into a minute description of the ruins, to avoid repetition, it is necessary to state that they consist of mounds of earth, formed by the de- composition of building, channelled and furrowed by the weather, and the surface of them strewed with pieces of brick, bitumen, and pottery. On taking a view of the ruins from south to north, the first object that attracts attention is the low mound connected with the embankment ; on it are two little parallel walls close together, and only a few feet in height and breadth, which bear indis- putable marks of having formed part of a Mohame- * I saw one found at the foot of this heap, which had an im- pression resembling the spade or shovel in use at present among the Arabs. This is a singular specimen, as I never saw an in- stance of any other impression than that of writing on a Baby- lonian brick. T therefore made a drawing of it, which will be given in its proper place. 21 tan oratory or Koubb^. This ruin is called Jumjuma (Calvary), and gives its name to a village a little to the left of it. The Turkish Geographer says, ' ' To the north of Hilla on the river is Jumjuma, which is the burial place of a Sultan." J^^^ is the com- mon name here for a skull. It also means, accord- ing to Castell and Golius, &\). Four leagues below Hilla, on the same side of the Eu- phrates, but not on the bank, is a village called Jer- bouiya (^c^-), near which is a considerable col- lection of ruins similar to those of Babylon, and called by the natives Boursa (<^jj), probably the Borosippa of Strabo, and Barsita of Ptolemy *. The governor of Hilla informed me of a mound as larg-e as the Mujelibe, situated thirty-five hours to the southward of Hilla; and that a few years ago, a cap or diadem of pure gold, and some other articles of the same metal, were found there, which the Khezail Arabs refused to give up to the Pasha. In the * ^'p")^ quasi »SNCJJ *V3 in Chaldean, whence the Greek Borosippa, is, according to the Talraads, the name of the place in Babel near the Tower, whose air renders a man forgetful. I hare not yet had leisure to search the Talmud and other Hebrew and Chaldean works for the traditions concerning Babylon, and am unwilling to detain this memoir (which has already beeu so much and so unexpectedly retarded) any longer for such infor- mation; but I have some hopes of being able to make it the sub- ject of a future communication. 40 western desert bearing- north-west from the top of the Mujelibe, is a large mound called Towereij (^v^L). In the same desert, two leagues to the west of Hilla, is the village of Tahmasia, built by Nadir Shah,, where, it is said., are some trifling mounds ; this village must occupy part of the site of Babylon. From the top of the Mujelibe in a south- erly direction, at a great distance, two large mounds are visible, with whose names I am unacquainted. Five or six miles to the east of Hilla is Al Hheimar (^xs\M), which is a curious ruin, as bearing, on a smaller scale, some resemblance to the Birs Nem- roud. The base is a heap of rubbish, on the top of which' is a mass of red brick-work, between each layer of which is a curious white substance, which pulverizes on the least touch. I have not yet visited Al Hheimar, but those who have, conjectured, from the grain of the white substance or powder, seem- ingly lying in filaments, that it must have originally been layers of reeds. I have seen a specimen ad- hering to a piece of brick, but not sufficiently well preserved to enable me to form any decisive judge- ment ; but I cannot imagine how reeds, under any circumstances, could be brought to assume such an appearance ; and besides, they are never found in buildings composed, as this is, of burnt brick. To these ruins I add one, which, though not in 41 the same direction, bears such strong characteristics of a Babylonian origin? that it would be improper to omit a description of it in this place. I mean Akerkouf (c-iy^iU), or, as it is more generally called,, Nimrod's Tower, for the inhabitants of these parts are as fond of attributing every vestige of antiquity to Nimrod, as those of Egypt are to Pharaoh. It is situated ten miles to the north-west of Bagdad, and is a thick mass of unburnt brick-work of an irregu- lar shape, rising out of a base of rubbish ; there is a layer of reeds between every fifth or sixth (for the number is not regulated) layer of bricks. It is per- forated with small square holes, as the brick-work at the Birs Nemroud, and about half way up on the east side is an aperture like a window ; the layers of cement are very thin, which, considering it is mere mud, is an extraordinary circumstance. The height of the whole is one hundred and twenty-six feet ; diameter of the largest part, one hundred feet ; circumference of the foot of the brick-work above the rubbish, three hundred feet ; the remains of the tower contain one hundred thousand* cubic feet. (Vide Ives's Travels, p. 298.) To the east of it is a dependent mound resembling those at the Birs, and Al Hheimar. I shall now inquire which of the public works, that conspired with its size to render Babylon so 42 celebrated among the ancients, was likely to have left the most considerable traces at the present day ; and how far the vestiges which may be imagined would have remained, correspond with what we now find. Of all the ancient writers who have described Babylon, Herodotus and Diodorus are the most mi- nute. Much weight must certainly be placed on the accounts of the former of these historians, who was an eye-witness of what he relates, notwith- standing the exaggeration and credulity which may in some instances be laid to his charge. The ac- counts of later writers are of comparatively small value. Pliny in particular has done nothing more than copy Herodotus. Strabo's general accuracy and personal experience indeed render his descrip- tion of great interest, as far as it goes; but he could only have seen Babylon at a period when its public buildings had already become heaps of rubbish, and consequently must have depended upon more ancient authorities for particular accounts of most of them. The greatest circumference the ancients have ascribed to the city walls, is four hundred and eight stadia; the most moderate, three hundred and sixty. Strabo, who is excellent authority in this particular, as he must have seen the walls in a sufficiently per- fect state to form his judgement, allows three hun- 43 j (jlyixhttov xa.) x.ao- tkttov xtolvov av$pa*" evidently with the idea present to him of viewing the space of ground he covered as he lay ; for he imme- diately adds u IJokXog yaq rig sxsito, nagyopos evQa. xa» evfia." But, I doubt not, better authorities might be easily produced. 47 metaphor common to all ages and languages, i. e. with a very elevated and conspicuous summit. This is certainly a more rational interpretation than sup- posing a people in their senses, even at that early period, would undertake to scale heaven by means of a building of their own construction. The in- tention in raising this structure might have been displeasing to the Almighty on many other accounts ; such for instance as the paying of divine honours to other beings, or the counteracting of the destined dispersion of mankind. For, notwithstanding the testimony of Josephus's Sibyl, we have no good reason for supposing that the work suffered any da- mage ; and allowing it to have been in any consi- derable degree of forwardness, it could have under- gone no material change at the period the build- ins: of Babel was recommenced. It is therefore most probable that its appearance, and the tradition con- cerning it, gave those who undertook the continu- ation of the labour, the idea of a monument in ho- nour of Belus ; and the same motives which made them persist in adhering to the spot on which such a miracle had been wrought, would naturally enough induce them to select its principal structure for that purpose. Be this as it may, the ruins of a solid build- ing of five hundred feet must, if any traces of the town remain, be the most remarkable object among 48 them. Pliny, seventy years after Strabo, mentions " the Temple of Jupiter Belus, the inventor of astro- nomy/' as still standing; and all travellers since the time of Benjamin of Tudela, who first revived the remembrance of the ruins, whenever they fancied themselves near the site of Babylon,, universally fixed upon the most conspicuous eminence to represent the Tower of Belus. Benjamin of Tudela, Rawulf, and some others, saw it among the ruins of old Fe- lugiah ; and, fully bent upon verifying the words of Scripture, fancied it infested by every species of ve- nomous reptile. If we take Rawulf's account, in- deed, he must in the 16th century have seen Babylon nearly as perfect as it was in Strabo's time, and he has no kind of difficulty in pointing out the minutest divisions of the city. I believe Pietro della Valle was the first who selected theMujelibeas the remains of this celebrated structure. Pere Emanuel and Niebuhr are the only writers who have noticed the Birs Nemroud ; and the former, from the account he has given, or the clearness of the idea he appears to have formed, might with equal advantage to the world and himself have never seen it. Notwithstanding the apparent ease with which this important point in the topography of Babylon has been determined, a careful examiner will find as great a difficulty in discovering the Tower of 49 Belus, as in identifying- any other part of the ruins. Taking* for granted the site of Babylon to be in the vicinity of the Hilla, his choice will be divided be- tween two objects, the Mujelibe and the Birs Nem- roud. I shall briefly notice the arguments in favour of each, with the difficulties and objections which may be advanced, first giving a comparative state- ment of their dimensions with those of the original tower. English feet. Total circumference or sum of the four sides of the Birs . . . 2286 Ditto of the Mujelibe . . . 2J11 Ditto of the Tower of Belus, taking- five hundred feet for the stadium, at a rough calculation . . . 2000 By this it appears that the measurement both of the Birs and the Mujelibe agrees as nearly as possi- ble with that of the Tower of Belus, considering our ignorance of the exact proportion of the stadium, and the enlargement which the base must have un- dergone by the crumbling of the materials. The variations in the form of the Mujelibe from a per- fect square, are not more than the accidents of time will account for; and the reader will best judge from my description, whether the summit and ex- E ternal appearance of this ruin correspond in any way with the accounts of the tower. That there may have been some superstructure on it appears probable, from the irregularity of the summit, and the quantity of burnt brick found there ; but it is impossible to decide on the form or extent of this superstructure, and it may be thought that there does not remain in the irregularities on the top, a sufficient quantity of rubbish to account for a.n ele- vation equal to that of the tower, the whole height now being only one hundred and forty feet. To those who, from the traces of an inclosure some- what resembling a ditch with a glacis, and the ap- pearances of lanterns or turrets at one or two of the corners, would conjecture this to be the ruins of a castle, it must be objected that the inclosure which we know surrounded the tower,, might leave just such traces ; and indeed we observe perfectly simi- lar ones in ruins which we know never could have been castellated, as for instance, at the Birs Al Hheimar and Akerkouf ; that the corners of the base of the tower may have been rounded off for ornament or use, and that the interior appearance and solidity of the ruin argue completely against its having been a castle. We have besides every reason to believe that there never was a castle at Babylon, except the fortified palace ; and the opinion of a - 51 few Turks, who call it the Kalaa, or citadel, is not worth noticing. '^on stii Al Of the grand inclosure of two miles and half, which surrounded the temple and tower, and was probably the boundary of the sanctuary or holy ground, there are no traces here; and indeed such an inclosure would be incompatible with the boun- dary-line (A). The passage filled with skeletons in the Mujelibe, is a circumstance that will embarrass equally those who may be of opinion it was a castle, and those who judge it to have been the Tower of Belus ; though probably it would be more favour- able to the theory of the latter than that of the for- mer. We gain nothing in this instance by studying position. Major Rennel considers this ruin as suf- ficiently answering to the site of the Tower of Belus : he does not however establish its position from that of the other ruins, but assumes it as a datum to as- certain the situation and extent of the rest of Ba- bylon. The only building which can dispute the palm with the Mujelibe is the Birs Nemroud, previous to visiting which I had not the slightest idea of the possibility of its being the Tower of Belus ; indeed its situation was a strong argument against such a supposition : but the moment I had examined it I could not help exclaiming, " Had this been on the e 2 other side of the river, and nearer the great mass of ruins, no one could doubt of its being the remains of the tower." As this therefore is the principal objection that can be brought against it. it will be proper to consider it first. I believe it is no where positively asserted that the Tower of Belus stood in the eastern quarter of Ba- bylon. Herodotus., Strabo, Pliny, and Quintus Cur- tius, do not affirm this, but it is certainly the gene- rally received opinion ; and Major Rennel says, " It may be pretty clearly collected from Diodorus, that the temple stood on the east side and the palace on the west. A presumptive proof of the supposed position of the temple, should the words of Diodo- rus be regarded as ambiguous, is, that the gate of the city named Belidian, and which we must con- t elude to be denominated from the temple, appears pretty clearly to have been situated on the east side. When Darius Hystaspes besieged Babylon, the Belidian and Cissian gates were opened to him by Zopyrus; and the Babylonians fled to the Temple of Belus, as we may suppose, the nearest place of re- fuge. The Cissian or Susian gate must surely have been in the eastern part of the city, as Susa lay to the east; and by circumstances the Belidian gate was near it." Geogr. of Herod, page 355 — 357. Now, I do not think these premises altogether warrant the 53 conclusion : in these countries, as has before been remarked*, gates take the names of the places to and not from which they lead; the gates of Babylon are instances of this, and the very gate next the Be- lidian Avas called Susian, from the town to which the road it opened upon led ; so that, if the Beli- dian g-ate really derived its appellation from the temple, it would have been a singular instance, not merely in Babylon, but in the whole East at any period. It is consequently much easier to suppose there may have been a town, village, or other re- markable place without the city, the tradition of which is now lost, which gave its name to the gate, than that such an irregularity existed. As to the inhabitants in their distress taking refuge w ithin the precincts of the temple, it is probable they were in- duced to it, not from its proximity to the point of attack, but as the grand sanctuary, and from its holiness and great celebrity the one most likely to be respected by the enemy. The difficulty is however by no means vanquished, by allowing the Temple and Tower of Belus to have stood on the east side : a very strong objection may be brought against the Birs Nemroud, in the di- stance of its position from the extensive remains on * Vide also Rennel. 54 the eastern bank of the Euphrates, which, for its accommodation within the area of Babylon, would oblige us to extend the measurement of each side of the square to nine miles, or adopt a plan which would totally exclude the Mujelibe, all the ruins above it, and most of those below : even in the for- mer case the Mujelibe and the Birs would be at opposite extremities of the town, close to the wall, while we have every reason to believe that the Tower of Belus occupied a central situation. Whether the Birs *stood within or without the walls, if it was a building distinct from the Tower of Belus, it appears very surprising how so stupendous a pile, as it must have been in its perfect state, never attracted the attention of those who have enumerated the won- ders of Babylon. The plan of the Birs varies more from a perfect square than that of the Mujelibe, which may be acr counted for, on the supposition of its having been in a state of ruin for a much ionger period, I think from its general appearance there are some reasons to conclude it was built in several stages, gradually diminishing to the summit. The annexed sketch, in four different views, will convey a clearer idea of it than any description would, and enable in some mea- sure the reader to judge for himself. In forming a conjecture on the original destina- 5S tion of the Birs, the mound situated parallel to its eastern face, which must have been a building of great dimensions, must not be overlooked. The temple attached to the Tower of Belus must have been a very spacious edifice, and formed part of its quadrangular inclosure, of which it. is probable it did not occupy more than one side, the three re- maining- ones being- composed of accommodations for the priests and attendants, of course inferior in proportions to the temple : allowing some degree of resemblance in other respects, between the Birs and the Tower, the elevation observable round the former will represent the priests' apartments, and the above-mentioned mound the temple itself. We find the same kind of mound, and precisely in the same situation, attached to other ruins which have a strong resemblance in themselves to the Birs ; and we may therefore reasonably conclude that they were intended for the same design, either the honour of the dead, the observation of the celestial bodies, religious worship, or perhaps some of these motives combined. In like manner we find in Egypt the original idea of the Pyramids exactly copied at dif- ferent times on a smaller scale,, and each pyramid having its dependant temple. I leave to the learned the decision of this point, and the determining what degree of resemblance, inform and purpose, exists 56 between the Pyramids of Memphis and the Tower of Belus. I have dwelt the longer on this most interesting of the Babylonian edifices, as I shall have but little to offer on the rest. The citadel or palace (for it served both these purposes,, and was the only fortress within the walls J was surrounded by an exterior Wall of sixty stadia in circumference ; inside which was another of forty stadia, the interior face of which was ornamented with painting-, as is the cus- tom of the Persians at the present day ; and again, within this last was a third, adorned with designs of hunting. On the opposite side of the river, and on the same side with the Tower of Belus, was situated the old palace, the outer wall of which was no larger than the inner one of the new. Above the new palace or citadel were the hanging gardens, which, according to Strabo, formed a square of four ple- thora each face, and were fifty cubits in height. When I consider the dimensions of the Sefivieh pa- lace at Isfahaun, and other similar buildings yet re- maining in the East, I see no difficulty in admitting the account of the Babylonian palace in its full ex- tent. The antiquarian will consider how far the measurement of the ruins inclosed between the river and the boundary on the east corresponds with those of the palace : in some respects the Mujelibe would 57 answer sufficiently well with the accounts of the hanging gardens, were it not for the skeletons found there, which must embarrass almost any theory that may be formed on this extraordinary pile. There was a tunnel under the Euphrates, of which no trace can reasonably be expected at this time. Semiramis, according to Diodorus, erected a stone obelisk of a hundred and twenty-five feet high by five feet square, which was cut on purpose in the Armenian mountains. As we do not trace this mo- nument in any of the neighbouring towns after the destruction of Babylon, it is not impossible that some vestige of it may yet be discovered. I have already expressed my belief that the num- ber of buildings in Babylon bore no proportion to the space inclosed by the wall : besides this, it is most probable that the houses were in general small; and even the assertion of Herodotus, that it abound- ed in houses of two and three stories, argues that the majority consisted of only one. The peculiar cli- mate of this district must have caused a similarity of habits and accommodation in all ages • and if upon this principle we take the present fashion of building as some example of the mode heretofore practised in Babylon, the houses that had more than one story must have consisted of the ground floor or basse-cour, occupied by stables, magazines, 58 and serdaubs or cellars, sunk a little below the ground, for the comfort of the inhabitants during the heats ; above this a gallery with the lodging- rooms opening into it, and over all the flat terrace for the people to sleep on during the summer. From what remains of Babylon, and even from the most favourable account handed down to us, there is every reason to believe that the public edi- fices which adorned it, were remarkable more for vastness of dimensions than elegance of design, and solidity of fabric rather than beauty of execution. The Tower of Belus appears merely to have been astonishing from its size. It was inferior in some respects to the Pyramids, and did not surpass either them or probably the great temple of Mexico in external appearance ; and the ornaments of which Xerxes despoiled it, convey an idea of barbaric rich> ness, rather than taste : all the sculptures which are round among the ruins, though some of them are executed with the greatest apparent care, speak a barbarous people. Indeed with a much greater de- gree of refinement than the Babylonians seem to have been in possession of, it would be difficult to make any thing of such unpropitious materials as brick and bitumen. Notwithstanding the assertion of M. Dutens, there are the strongest grounds for supposing that the Babylonians were entirely unae- 59 quainted with the arch, of which I could not find the slightest trace in any part of the ruins where I purposely made the strictest search ; particularly in the subterranean at the Kasr, and the passages in Mujelibe. The place of the column too appears to have been supplied by thick piers, buttresses, and pilasters ; for to the posts of date-wood, which was then and is still made great use of in the architec- ture of this country, the name of pillar certainly cannot with propriety be applied. Strabo says, tf notfn *l£l"lS DH S Wl Our translation is : " And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick and burn them thoroughly : and they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar/' This is in- correct. The Chaldee paraphrast has Hini ttrnj?.^ Wp) jfljjj nil tOOTH MZxb ftW^ pn 1 ? Ac- cording to Buxtorff, and indeed the sense it still bears in these parts, ">bn means cement, and 1pm bitumen ; so that the Vulgate is correct in saying : " Dixitque alter ad proximum suum, Venite, facia- mus lateres. et coquamus eos igni: habueruntque la- 6l teres pro saxis, et bitumen pro cemento." I have not a Polyglot to consult, and therefore am not able to trace the error in our version higher than to Lu- ther's German one. It is true Castell translates ^Cll limus,lutum, inGen.xi. 3, and bitumen in Exod.ii.3. This is extraordinary; for, of the two, the context of the latter passage would appear rather to justify the former reading., to avoid the seeming tautology be- tween 1DH and DOT I conclude he must have taken the common translation of the Bible as sufficient au- thority, without further examination ; for he allows the Chaldee word JOp'n (Targ. Gen. xi. 3.) to sig- nify bitumen, in direct opposition to his definition of the corresponding Hebrew word. HJ5r signifies brick, of course the burnt sort from its root ; and both Golius and Castell, perhaps relying too much on the Hebrew derivation^ translate the Arabic word Jfl burnt brick also. Nevertheless it is now ex- clusively applied by the Arabs to the brick merely dried in the sun. Thegeneral size of the kiln-burnt brick is thirteen inches square, by three thick : there are some of half these dimensions, and a few of different shapes for particular purposes, such as rounding corners, &c. They are of several different colours ; white, approaching more or less to a yellowish cast, like our Stourbridge or fire brick, which is the finest 62 sort; red, like our ordinary brick, which is the coarsest sort ; and some which have a blackish cast and are very hard. The sun-dried brick is consider- ably larger than that baked in the kiln, and in gene- ral looks like a thick clumsy clod of earth, in which are seen small broken reeds, or chopped straw, used for the obvious purpose of binding* them : in like manner the flat roofs of the houses at Bagdad are covered with a composition of earth and mortar mixed up with chopped straw. At the Birs Nem- roud I found some fire-burnt bricks, which appeared to have had the same materials in their composition. Thebestsun-driedbricks I ever saw, are those which compose the ruin called Akerkouf. There are three kinds of cement discoverable in the ruins of Babylon : bitumen, mortar, and clay, I am inclined to think the former could never have been of such very general use as is commonly ima- gined ; we now only find it in a few situations (not always such as indicate the reason for which it was used), except the small pieces of it which are found on the surface of the mounds. Thmtf° i lrt i he foun- tains at Heet are inexhaustible, the Babylonians had nearer at hand a much better cement, the discovery of which was a very obvious one ; and the richness of the ruins in nitre, is some proof that lime cement was the one most generally employed. The pre- 63 paration necessary for the bitumen is a much more expensive and troublesome one than that requisite for lime, for the commoner sort of which a simple burning; with the brambles, which abound in the Desert, is sufficient ; while the bitumen, to deprive it of its brittleness and render it capable of being- applied to the brick, must be boiled with a certain proportion of oil ; and after all, the tenacity of the bitumen bears no comparison with that of the mor- tar. The bricks which Niebuhr mentions as being; so easily separated, were all laid in bitumen; and I in- variably found that when this was the case, as above the subterranean passage in the mound of the Kasr, the bricks could be picked out with a small pickaxe, or even trowel, with the utmost facility ; but where the best mortar had been used, as at the Birs, no force or art could detach the bricks without break- ing them in pieces. There are two places in the pashalick of Bagdad where bitumen is found : the first is near Kerkouk, and too remote to come under present considera- tion ; the next, is at Heet, the Is of Herodotus, whence the Babylonians drew their supplies. Heet is a town situated on the Euphrates, about thirty leagues to the west of Bagdad, inhabited by Arabs and Karaite Jews. The principal bitumen-pit has two sources, and is divided by a wall in the centre, 64 on one side of which the bitumen bubbles up, and on the other oil of naphtha; for these two productions are always found in the same situation. That kind of petroleum, called by the Orientals Mumia, is also found here, but of a quality greatly inferior to that brought from Persia. Strabo, who calls the naphtha liquid bitumen, says its flame cannot be extinguished by water, and relates a cruel experiment made by Alexander, to prove the truth of this, the result of which however is in direct contradiction of it. I believe it is Diodorus alone wo asserts that bitumen flows out of the ground at Babylon. Herodotus positively says it was brought from Heet, and Strabo generally that it is produced in Babylonia. I was unable to discover any traces of it in the vicinity of Hilla, except on the testimony of a Jew, who told me he believed it might be found in the Desert. It is at present used for caulking boats, coating cis- terns, baths, and other places that are to remain in contact with water. The fragments of it scattered over the ruins of Babylon are black, shining, and brittle, somewhat resembling pit-coal in substance and appearance ; the Turks call it Zift, and the Arabs Kiev or Geer ( j ). There are three kinds of calcareous earth found in most situations in the western desert between Ba- bylon, Heet, and Ana. The first is called Noora, 65 and is a white powder particularly abundant at Heet and Ana. Mixed with ashes it is used as a coating- for the lower parts of walls, in baths and other places liable to damps. The second is also found in powder, mixed with indurated pieces of the same substance, and round pebbles ; it is called by the Turks Karej, and by the Arabs Jus ; it is very plentiful between Hilla and Felugiah, is the common cement of the country, and composes the mortar which is found in the ruins of Babylon. The third species, called Borah, is a substance resembling gypsum, and is found in large craggy lumps of an earthy appear- ance externally, but being* burnt it forms an excel- lent white-wash or plaster. I have seen some mor- tar in Babylon of a reddish appearance, as if clay had been mixed with it; and there yet remains an- other kind of cement to be spoken of, viz. pure clay or mud, the use of which is exclusively confined to the sun-dried brick; and it is indeed a very imper- fect cement, notwithstanding the great thickness in which it is laid on. At the Mujelibe, layers of reeds are found on the top of every layer of mud-cement, between it and the layer of brick ; the use of the reeds (which are the common growth of the marshes) is not very obvious, unless it be supposed that they were intended to prevent the bricks sinking un- equally and too speedily into the thick layer of mud: 66 they are in a surprisingly perfect state, and hand- fulls of them are easily drawn out. I never saw any reeds employed where any other kind of ce- ment was used. Herodotus asserts that the tops of them are intermixed with the bitumen., and I have certainly observed on pieces of bitumen, impressions like short pieces of reed, though not a fragment of the reeds themselves (if there ever were any) re- main ; and from subsequent observations I am in- clined to think such appearances might proceed from other causes. In the mud cement of the walls of Ctesiphon there are layers of reeds as at Baby- lon, and I believe they are also to be found among the ruins of Seleucia, the builders of which would naturally have copied the peculiarities of the Baby- lonian architecture, and have been imitated in their turn by their Parthian neighbours. I have thus given a faithful account of my obser- vations at Babylon, and offer it merely as a prelude to further researches, which repeated visits to the same spot may enable me to make. My wish to be minutely accurate, has, I fear, often betrayed me into tediousness ; but the subject is a curious, per- haps an important one, as it may tend to illustrate several passages in the sacred and profane writers. Instead of being disappointed at the difficulty of ascertaining any part of the original plan of Baby- 67 Ion,, from its present remains, we ought rather to be astonished at the grandeur of that city which has left such traces, when we consider that it was nearly a heap of ruins two thousand years ago ; that im- mense cities have been built out of its materials, which still appear to be inexhaustible ; and that the capital of the Abassides, which we know to have been one of the most extensive and magnificent cities of comparatively modern times, has left but a few con- fused vestiges, which are scarcely elevated above the level of the Desert, and which in a few years the most inquiring eye will be unable to discover. - THE END. L O Np O N : PRINTED BY RICHARD AND ARTHUR TAYL OR A CUR F. J^ ba 3 < 5> > *8 1 5 % J ^ n v «■ i* -:; > 5 ; 5 i < $ 5 \i 36' IHPi + 1 1 ■ ^■k ■ m * I* ^ ^■i .* ^- ■ ■ I B SHI K 6 ^ | •VjT - Vain