Q. Curti Rufi Histor. Alex. v. i. 24–35

Ceterum ipsius urbis pulchritudo ac vetustas non regis modo, sed etiam omnium oculos in semet haud inmerito convertit. Samiramis eam condiderat, non, ut plerique credidere, Belus, cuius regia ostenditur. Murus instructus laterculo coctili bitumine interlito spatium XXX et duorum pedum in latitudinem amplectitur: quadrigae inter se occurrentes sine periculo commeare dicuntur. Altitudo muri L cubitorum eminet spatio: turres denis pedibus quam murus altiores sunt. Totius operis ambitus CCCLXV stadia complectitur; singulorum stadiorum structuram singulis diebus perfectam esse memoriae proditum est. Aedificia non sunt admota muris, sed fere spatium iugeri unius absunt. Ac ne totam quidem urbem tectis occupaverunt—per LXXX stadia habitabatur—, nec omnia continua sunt, credo, quia tutius visum est pluribus locis spargi. Cetera serunt coluntque, ut, si externa vis ingruat, obsessis alimenta ex ipsius urbis solo subministrentur. Euphrates interfluit magnaeque molis crepidinibus coercetur. Sed omnium operum magnitudinem circumveniunt cavernae ingentem in altitudinem pressae ad accipiendum impetum fluminis: quod ubi adpositae crepidinis fastigium excessit, urbis tecta corriperet, nisi essent specus lacusque, qui exciperent. Coctili laterculo structi sunt, totum opus bitumine adstringitur. Pons lapideus flumini inpositus iungit urbem. Hic quoque inter mirabilia Orientis opera numeratus est. Quippe Euphrates altum limum vehit, quo penitus ad fundamenta iacienda egesto vix suffulciendo operi firmum reperiunt solum: harenae autem subinde cumulatae et saxis, quibus pons sustinetur, adnexae morantur amnem, qui retentus acrius, quam si libero cursu mearet, inliditur. Arcem quoque ambitu XX stadia conplexam habent. XXX pedes in terram turrium fundamenta demissa sunt, ad LXXX summum munimenti fastigium pervenit. Super arcem, vulgatum Graecorum fabulis miraculum, pensiles horti sunt, summam murorum altitudinem aequantes multarumque arborum umbra et proceritate amoeni. Saxo pilae, quae totum onus sustinent, instructae sunt, super pilas lapide quadrato solum stratum est patiens terrae, quam altam iniciunt, et humoris, quo rigant terras: adeoque validas arbores sustinet moles, ut stipites earum VIII cubitorum spatium crassitudine aequent, in L pedum altitudinem emineant frugiferaeque sint, ut si terra sua alerentur. Et cum vetustas non opera solum manu facta, sed etiam ipsam naturam paulatim exedendo perimat, haec moles, quae tot arborum radicibus premitur tantique nemoris pondere onerata est, inviolata durat: quippe XX [pedes] lati parietes sustinet XI pedum intervallo distantes, ut procul visentibus silvae montibus suis inminere videantur. Syriae regem Babylone regnantem hoc opus esse molitum memoriae proditum est, amore coniugis victum, quae desiderio nemorum silvarumque in campestribus locis virum conpulit amoenitatem naturae genere huius operis imitari.

G. SMITH’S ESAGILA TABLET

See pp. [192]–194

The tablet was hurriedly transcribed by G. Smith on his journey to Nineveh, from which he was destined never to return, and his account of it remained our only source of information on the subject until V. Scheil discovered the text in private possession. It has now been fully edited by V. Scheil and M. Dieulafoy under the title Esagil ou le temple de Bêl-Marduk à Babylone in the Mémoires de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres (Paris, Picard, 1913). It is obvious that this important document, drawn up in the Seleucid era, is a first-hand authority and must now be taken into account in any fresh attempt to reconcile the data of the excavations with ancient inscriptions. Koldewey cannot be reproached for forming his conclusions from the only data before him, and no one could be more willing to modify his conclusions if necessary. Whether what has been laid bare by the excavator be recognisable as consistent with the temple buildings as they stood in Seleucid times, or must be referred to earlier ages, remains to be seen, and the excavator himself has the first right to be heard on this point.—[C. H. W. Johns.]

PUBLICATIONS OF THE GERMAN ORIENTAL SOCIETY

Issued by J. C. Hinrichs’sche Buchhandlung, Leipzig.

Assur
Cloth
M. M.
Der Anu-Adad-Tempel 1909 40 44
Keilinschriften historischen Inhalts 1911 12 12.50
Die Festungswerke. 2 Bände 1913 135 147
Die Stelenreihen 1913 45 50
Babylon
Die Tempel von Babylon und Borsippa 1911 32 36
Die Hettitische Inschrift der Königsburg 1900 4 22.50
Die Pflastersteine von Aiburschabu 1901 4
Babylonische Miscellen 1903 12
Die Inschriften Nebukadnezars II. im Wadi Brisā und am Nahr el-Kelb 1906 20 22.50
Die Ausgrabungen von Jericho 1913 60 66
Kasr Firaun in Petra 1910 16 19
Die Bauwerke von Boghazköi 1912 60 66
Die Ruinen von Hatra. 2 Bände 1908, 1912 91 100
Die Ruinen von Ocheïdir 1912 30 35
Nordmesopotamische Baudenkmäler altchristlicher und islamischer Zeit 1911 50 58
Kirchen und Moscheen in Armenien und Kurdistan 1913 40 46
Abusir
Das Grabdenkmal des Königs Ne-user-re 1907 60 64
Priestergräber und andere Grabfunde vom Ende des alten Reiches bis zur griechischen Zeit vom Totentempel des Ne-user-re 1908 54 58
Griechische Holzsarkophage aus der Zeit Alexanders d. Gr. 1905 35 37.50
Der Timotheos-Papyrus 1903 12 15
Das Grabdenkmal des Königs Nefer-ir-ke-re 1909 30 34
Das Grabdenkmal des Königs Sahu-re: 1: Der Bau, 2: Die Wandbilder. 3 Tle. 1910, 1913 144 158
Das Hohe Tor von Medinet Habu 1910 25 29
Der Porträtkopf der Königin Teje 1911 16 19

INDEX