Withinside one finds some grottos, but so ruined that one can make nothing of them, whether they were built at the same time with that work, or made since by the peasants for shelter, which last seems to be the most likely. The Mohammedans believe that these caverns were appointed by God as places of punishment for Harut and Marut, two angels, who they suppose were sent from heaven to judge the armies of men, but did not execute their commissions as they ought. It is evident from these ruins, that the tower of Nimrod was built with great and thick bricks, as I carefully observed, causing holes to be dug in several places for the purpose; but they do not appear to have been burnt, but dried in the sun, which is extreme hot in those parts. In laying these bricks neither lime nor sand was employed, but only earth tempered and petrified, and in those parts which made the floors, there had been mingled with that earth which served instead of lime, bruised reeds, or hard straw, such as large mats are made of to strengthen the work. Afterwards one perceives at certain distances in divers places, especially where the strongest buttresses were to be, several other bricks of the same size, but more solid and burnt in a kiln, and set in good lime, or bitumen, nevertheless the greatest number consists of those which are only dried in the sun.
I make no doubt but this ruin was the ancient Babel, and the tower of Nimrod; for besides the evidence of its situation, it is acknowledged to be such by the people of the country, being vulgarly called Babil by the Arabs.
Pietro delle Valle. Universal Hist.
Eight towers arise,
Each above each, immeasurable height,
A monument at once of eastern pride
And slavish superstition. Round, a scale
Of circling steps entwines the conic pile;
And at the bottom on vast hinges grates
Four brazen gates, towards the four winds of heaven
Placed in the solid square.
Roberts’s Judah Restored.
[98] And Babylon the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees excellency shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation; neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there, neither shall the Shepherds make their fold there.
Isaiah. XIII. 19. 20.
[99] The stupid superstition of the Turks with regard to hidden treasures is well known, it is difficult or even dangerous for a traveller to copy an inscription in sight of those barbarians.
“On a rising ground, at a league’s distance from the river Shelliff, is Memoun-turroy, as they call an old square tower, formerly a sepulchral monument of the Romans. This, like many more ancient edifices, is supposed by the Arabs, to have been built over a treasure. Agreeably to which account, they tell us, these mystical lines were inscribed upon it. Prince Maimoun Tizai wrote this upon his tower.