The bridge was not inferior to any of the other buildings, either in beauty or magnificence; it was a furlong in length,[984] and thirty feet in breadth, built with wonderful art, to supply the defect of a foundation in the bottom of the river, which was all sandy. The arches were made of huge stones, fastened together with chains of iron and melted lead. Before they began to build the bridge, they turned the course of the river, and laid its channel dry, having another view in so doing, besides that of laying the foundations more commodiously, as I shall explain hereafter. And as every thing was prepared beforehand, both the bridge and the quays, which I have already described, were built in that interval.
III. The Lake, Ditches, and Canals, made for the draining [pg 322] of the River.—These works, objects of admiration for the skilful in all ages, were still more useful than magnificent.[985] In the beginning of the summer, on the sun's melting the snow on the mountains of Armenia, there arises a vast increase of waters, which, running into the Euphrates in the months of June, July, and August, makes it overflow its banks, and occasion such another inundation as the Nile does in Egypt. To prevent the damage which both the city and country received from these inundations, at a very considerable distance above the town two artificial canals were cut, which turned the course of these waters into the Tigris, before they reached Babylon.[986] And to secure the country yet more from the danger of inundations, and to keep the river within its channel, they raised prodigious banks on both sides the river, built with brick cemented with bitumen, which began at the head of the artificial canals, and extended below the city.[987]
To facilitate the making of these works, it was necessary to turn the course of the river, for which purpose, to the west of Babylon, was dug a prodigious artificial lake, forty miles square,[988] one hundred and sixty in compass, and thirty-five feet deep, according to Herodotus, and seventy-five, according to Megasthenes. Into this lake was the whole river turned, by an artificial canal cut from the west side of it, till the whole work was finished, when it was made to flow in its former channel. But that the Euphrates, in the time of its increase, might not overflow the city, through the gates on its sides, this lake, with the canal from the river, was still preserved. The water received into the lake at the time of these overflowings was kept there all the year, as in a common reservoir, for the benefit of the country, to be let out by sluices, at convenient times for the watering of the lands below it. The lake, therefore, was equally useful in defending the country from inundations, and making it fertile. I relate the wonders of Babylon as they are delivered down to us by the ancients; but there [pg 323] are some of them which are scarce to be comprehended or believed, of which number is the vast extent of the lake which I have just described.
Berosus, Megasthenes, and Abydenus, quoted by Josephus and Eusebius, make Nebuchadnezzar the author of most of these works; but Herodotus ascribes the bridge, the two quays of the river, and the lake, to Nitocris, the daughter-in-law of that monarch. Perhaps Nitocris might finish what her father left imperfect at his death, on which account that historian might give her the honour of the whole undertaking.
IV. The Palaces, and Hanging Gardens.[989]—At the two ends of the bridge were two palaces, which had a communication with each other by a vault, built under the channel of the river, at the time of its being dry. The old palace, which stood on the east side of the river, was thirty furlongs (or three miles and three quarters) in compass; near which stood the temple of Belus, of which we shall soon speak. The new palace, which stood on the west side of the river, opposite to the other, was sixty furlongs (or seven miles and a half) in compass. It was surrounded with three walls, one within another, with considerable spaces between them. These walls, as also those of the other palace, were embellished with an infinite variety of sculptures, representing all kinds of animals, to the life. Amongst the rest was a curious hunting-piece, in which Semiramis on horseback was throwing her javelin at a leopard, and her husband Ninus piercing a lion.
In this last palace, were the hanging gardens, so celebrated among the Greeks.[990] They contained a square of four hundred feet on every side, and were carried up in the manner of several large terraces, one above another, till the height equalled that of the walls of the city. The ascent was from terrace to terrace, by stairs ten feet wide. The whole pile was sustained by vast arches, raised upon other arches, one above another, and strengthened by a wall, surrounding it on every side, of twenty-two feet in thickness. On the top of the arches were first laid large flat stones, sixteen feet long, and four broad; over these was a layer of reeds, mixed with a great quantity of [pg 324] bitumen, upon which were two rows of bricks, closely cemented together with plaster. The whole was covered with thick sheets of lead, upon which lay the mould of the garden. And all this floorage was contrived to keep the moisture of the mould from running away through the arches. The earth laid hereon was so deep, that the greatest trees might take root in it; and with such the terraces were covered, as well as with all other plants and flowers, that were proper to adorn a pleasure-garden. In the upper terrace there was an engine, or kind of pump, by which water was drawn up out of the river, and from thence the whole garden was watered. In the spaces between the several arches, upon which this whole structure rested, were large and magnificent apartments, that were very light, and had the advantage of a beautiful prospect.
Amytis, the wife of Nebuchadnezzar, having been bred in Media, (for she was the daughter of Astyages, the king of that country,) had been much delighted with the mountains and woody parts of that country.[991] And as she desired to have something like it in Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, to gratify her, caused this prodigious edifice to be erected: Diodoras gives much the same account of the matter, but without naming the persons.
V. The Temple of Belus.[992]—Another of the great works at Babylon was the temple of Belus, which stood, as I have mentioned already, near the old palace. It was most remarkable for a prodigious tower, that stood in the middle of it. At the foundation, according to Herodotus, it was a square of a furlong on each side, that is, half a mile in the whole compass, and (according to Strabo) it was also a furlong in height. It consisted of eight towers, built one above the other, decreasing regularly to the top, for which reason Strabo calls the whole a pyramid. It is not only asserted, but proved, that this tower much exceeded the greatest of the pyramids of Egypt in height. Therefore we have good reason to believe, as Bochart asserts,[993] that this is the very same tower which was built there at the confusion of languages; and the rather, because it is attested [pg 325] by several profane authors, that this tower was all built of bricks and bitumen, as the Scriptures tell us the tower of Babel was. The ascent to the top was by stairs on the outside round it; that is, perhaps, there was an easy sloping ascent in the side of the outer wall, which, turning by very slow degrees in a spiral line eight times round the tower from the bottom to the top, had the same appearance as if there had been eight towers placed upon one another. In these different stories were many large rooms, with arched roofs supported by pillars. Over the whole, on the top of the tower, was an observatory, by the benefit of which the Babylonians became more expert in astronomy than all other nations, and made, in a short time, the great progress in it ascribed to them in history.
But the chief use to which this tower was designed, was the worship of the god Belus or Baal, as also that of several other deities; for which reason there was a multitude of chapels in different parts of the tower. The riches of this temple in statues, tables, censers, cups, and other sacred vessels, all of massy gold, were immense. Among other images, there was one forty feet high, which weighed a thousand Babylonish talents. The Babylonish talent, according to Pollux in his Onomasticon, contained seven thousand Attic drachmas, and consequently was a sixth part more than the Attic talent, which contains but six thousand drachmas.
According to the calculation which Diodorus makes of the riches contained in this temple, the sum total amounts to six thousand three hundred Babylonish talents of gold.