For a time I held the opinion that this canal was the Libil-ḫigalla, because bricks with the Aramaic stamp “Libilḫi” were found here. Later on, however, similar bricks were found on other parts of the Kasr, which rendered my earlier reasons fallacious.
The following passage in the great Steinplatten inscription, 8, 31–9, 28 (K.B. iii. 2, p. 27), refers principally to the palace of the Principal Citadel, but includes also the fortification walls of the Northern Citadel, to which we shall return later: “Because my heart did not wish the dwelling-place of my Majesty to be in another place, because I did not build a royal dwelling in any other place, and because I did not consign the kingly property to all lands, my dwelling-place in Babylon grew insufficient for the dignity of my Majesty. Because the fear of Marduk my lord dwelt in my heart, I did not change his street in order to widen my fortress, the seat of my royalty in Babylon. I did his sanctuary no damage, nor did I dam up his canal, but I sought at a distance room for myself. That no assault of battle may approach Imgur-Bel the dûr of Babil, on the other side of Nimitti-Bel the šalḫû of Babil, for 490 ells of land I made for a protection two mighty walls of asphalt and burnt bricks as dûr like mountains, and built between them a building of burnt brick (bitik agurri), and made upon it a lofty seat for my royal dwelling of asphalt and burnt brick, and joined it to the palace of my father. In a not unfavourable month, on a propitious day, I grounded its foundations firmly on the bosom of the underworld, and raised its summit high like the mountains. Within 15 days I finished the building and made the seat of government illustrious. I caused mighty cedars, the product of high mountains, thick asûḫu-trees, and selected fine cypresses to be laid lengthways for its roofing. Door leaves of mismakanna, cedar, cypress, and usû-wood and ivory inlaid with silver and gold and adorned with copper; bronze hinges and thresholds I fitted into its doorways, and caused its summits to be encompassed with a blue cornice (? kilîli). A mighty dûr of asphalt and burnt brick I caused to surround it mountains high” (trans. by Delitzsch).
By the blue cornice is meant either the frieze of lions on a blue ground or the above-mentioned reliefs in lapis-lazuli paste. That asphalt alone is mentioned as mortar, and not the lime that was so freely used in the Principal Citadel, need cause no wonder in face of the usual inaccuracy in regard to details. The statement that the palace was built and completed in 15 days is, however, truly marvellous and scarcely credible, and something must lie behind these words that has not yet been correctly understood. It was believed, however, in the ancient world without reservation. Berosus (Josephus, Antiq. Jud. x. 11) apparently derived his information from the same inscription when he says that the second palace which joined on to the ancestral palace was finished in 15 days, notwithstanding its magnificence and size.
XXVII
THE FORTIFICATION WALLS OF THE PRINCIPAL CITADEL
The Principal Citadel, which adjoins the Arachtu wall on the south, was protected on the east and north by two strong walls, while the western front probably lay open until Nabonidus built his Euphrates wall here.
The southern portion of the 7–metres-thick west wall was placed on the old wall of Nebuchadnezzar’s first projected building, which we lighted on in the centre of the Principal Citadel. In it the main entrance to the palace undoubtedly lay, but the wall is not yet completely excavated. Small mud houses backed against the wall and were placed on the upper Nebuchadnezzar pavement, but they were buried below the later pavement that laid the Street horizontal.
On the other side of the Procession Street there ran a parallel wall also 7 metres thick. The part that connects it with the Ishtar Gate corresponds with the cross wall on the other side, and like it has shallow foundations. Later a strengthening piece was added to it. It contains two doors close to each other, and a third door lies at a short distance from the northern end. The footing of the wall at the east was concealed by a bank of earth piled up against it, which with its walk on the top reached almost to the height of the Procession Street. At the edge of this walk there is an additional slender wall which may have been built in Persian times, and which appears to have surrounded the whole of the northern Kasr, and to have cut through several of the older walls that stretched eastwards. At the north both walls end in a powerful bastion. These marked the corners at which one turned westward, the other eastward from the Procession Street at an obtuse angle. Transversely across the Procession Street between the bastions there are two mud walls, each with a door in the centre, forming a gateway court, which in conjunction with the bastions bore the appearance of an actual fortified gateway. This gateway was destroyed when the whole length of the Street was laid horizontal with the latest pavement of broken brick.
The wall that turned westward protected the palace of the Principal Citadel on the north. Not far from the corner there is a gateway (Fig. [106]), which was roofed over at the very moderate height of 1.5 metres with beams of palm wood. Bricks placed upright formed the cavities for inserting the beams, and in them the print of the wood in the asphalt can still be seen; in the middle of the pavement, which is strongly laid in asphalt, a well-shaft led down to the small conduit. This roofed-in space appears to have been only a sort of underground chamber that gave access to the well-shaft; the actual door must have been higher at about the level of the palace. In the outside angle near the bastion Neriglissar constructed a quadrangular well-shaft with his stamped bricks. We have not yet followed up the wall to its western end.
Fig. 106.—Doorway with drain, in the north wall of the Principal Citadel.