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Curiosities Respecting Temples, Etc: Babylon

The famous Hanging Gardens, which adorned the palace in Babylon, were ranked among the wonders of the world. They contained four hundred feet square, and were composed of several large terraces; and the platform of the highest terrace was equal in height to the walls of Babylon, that is, three hundred and fifty feet. The assent from terrace to terrace was by steps ten feet wide. The whole mass was supported by large vaults, built upon each other, and strengthened by a wall twenty-two feet thick. The tops of these arches were covered with stones, rushes and bitumen, and plates of lead, to prevent leakage. The depth of earth was so great, that in it the largest trees might take root. Here was every thing that could please the sight; as, large trees, flowers, plants, and shrubs. Upon the highest terrace was a reservoir, supplied with water from the river. The predictions of the prophets against Babylon, gradually received their accomplishment. Berosus relates, that Cyrus, having taken this city, demolished its walls, lest the inhabitants should revolt. Darius, son of Hystaspes, destroyed the gates, &c. Alexander the Great intended to rebuild it, but was prevented by death from accomplishing his design. Seleucus Nicator built Seleucia on the Tigris, and this city insensibly deprived Babylon of its inhabitants. Strabo assures us, that under Augustus, Babylon was almost forsaken, and that it was no longer any thing more than a great desert. St. Jerome relates, on the testimony of a monk who dwelt at Jerusalem, that in his time, Babylon and its ancient precincts were converted into a great park, in which the kings of Persia were accustomed to hunt.

A German traveller, named Rauwolf, who in 1574 passed through the place where Babylon formerly stood, speaks of its ruins as follows: "The village of Elugo now stands where Babylon of Chaldea was formerly situated. The harbour is distant from it a quarter of a league, and people go on shore to proceed by land to the celebrated city of Bagdad, which is distant a journey of a day and a half eastward, on the Tigris. The soil is so dry and barren, that they cannot till it; and so naked, that I could scarcely believe, that this powerful city, once the most stately and renowned in all the world, and situated in the most fruitful country of Shinar, could ever have stood in this place. My doubts, however, on this point, were removed, by the situation, and by many antiquities of great beauty, which are still to be seen, and particularly by the old bridge over the Euphrates, of which some piles and arches of brick remain, so strong as to excite admiration. The whole front of the village of Elugo is the hill upon which the castle stood; and the ruins of its fortifications, though demolished and uninhabited, are still visible. Behind, and at a small distance beyond, was the tower of Babylon, which is still to be seen, and is half a league in diameter. It is, however, so ruinous, so low, and so full of venomous creatures, which lodge in holes made by them in the rubbish, that no one dares approach nearer to it than within half a league, except during two months in winter, when these animals never leave their holes. In particular, one sort, which the inhabitants of the country call eglo, possesses a very active poison, and is larger than our lizard."

We shall close this chapter with a full description of an ancient fortress called ALHAMBRA.