The survivors were principally located at Babylon, then the capital of the empire, lately occupied as the metropolitan city by Nebuchadnezzar, who was exerting himself to render it unrivalled for extent and magnificence. The captive Jews were designed by him to add to the population of this vast city, as yet thinly inhabited in proportion to its extent. Those who arrived there were settled as colonists rather than as captives, although, as presently will appear, they had many trials to endure; and from Nehemiah v. 8, who speaks of having had to redeem his brethren that were sold to the heathen, it is evident that a part, at least, were actually slaves in the land of their captivity. They must have been deeply affected by the appearances around them; the broad plains of Chaldea, unvaried by hill and dale, intersected by straight lines of canals, bordered by willows, widely differed from the varied surface of their own beloved land, with its cultivated hill sides, sunny slopes, and shady valleys. Nor was the aspect of the city of Babylon less strange and unpleasing, to those who remembered the rocky heights and romantic situation of their beloved Zion. With all its splendour, Babylon was not Jerusalem. There can be no agreement, no comparison between the temple of God and idols; this is true now in a spiritual sense, even as it was of old in the literal meaning of the words. At the time when the Jews were thus led into captivity, the two powers ruling over the then known world, were the Babylonians and the Medes. The dominion of the latter was over the countries east of the river Tigris; the former had succeeded to the Assyrians, and had become identified with that monarchy, extending their conquests westward, substituting Babylon as the capital of this enlarged empire, in place of Nineveh, which was captured by the united forces of the Babylonians and the Medes, B.C. 608, under circumstances minutely predicted by the prophet Nahum. Of that vast city no certain traces are known; some ANCIENT BABYLON. 13 grassy mounds, among which a few ancient remains have been found, are supposed to mark its site. Babylon was situated in a plain, upon the banks of the river Euphrates. Much has been written descriptive of its glory and riches: these accounts evidently are for the most part exaggerated; a brief summary will here be given of the particulars most worthy of credit. The first mention of Babylon is in the earliest of authentic histories, the sacred Scriptures. It is in Gen. xi. 1-9, where we read of the building of the tower of Babel, the impious designs of the children of men, the confusion of tongues, and the dispersion of mankind by the miraculous interposition of the Most High. In the next chapter, Babel is mentioned among the cities of Nimrod." No particulars are given respecting this place; it is only noticed on account of the violence and iniquity of its rulers and inhabitants: but all the details are passed by in silence, for though they might be glorious in the sight of men, they had no direct reference to the history of the people of God. In the book of Daniel are a few incidental notices respecting this city, which show that it was much beautified by Nebuchadnezzar during the period when the Jews were captives there. The earliest minute account of Babylon is given by Herodotus, a Greek, who is the first authentic uninspired historian. He visited this vast city, about B.C. 450, sixty years after the Jews had returned to their own land. He describes Babylon as situated in a plain level country, being four square, one hundred and twenty stadia on each side, or four hundred and eighty in circumference. The length of the stadium here intended is uncertain, it may have been about six hundred and thirty feet, or not more than five hundred. Without taking the largest measure, it may be supposed that Babylon was twelve miles each way. It was surrounded by a deep and wide trench, or ditch, filled with water from the Euphrates, within which was a lofty wall, about seventy-five feet wide, and с 14 ANCIENT BABYLON. said to be three hundred feet in height. This was constructed of masses of earth, burned in furnaces, so as to form a sort of brick, secured by layers of reeds and bitumen, which was found in large quantities in that country. On the walls were towers and small erections, with open spaces sufficiently large for a fourhorsed chariot to turn. Within the enclosure were many large openings, gardens, and fields. The space within has been called a walled province, it was equal in size to a small English county, such as Middlesex, while its population was not so great as that of London and the neighbourhood, which occupy a much smaller extent of ground. Babylon was divided into two parts by the river Euphrates, or rather it was built on each bank of that river. These divisions communicated by a bridge, not built wholly with brick, but consisting of several piers raised from the bed of the river, on which were laid planks, so as to form a road; a part of it was withdrawn at night, to cut off the communication. The banks were secured by walls of brick, with two-leaved brazen gates, opening from the river to the ends of streets, which intersected others at right angles. In these streets were many large houses, some three or four stories in height; but the greater part of the habitations were small miserable huts, such as abound in every eastern city. Each division of the city had a large walled enclosuré. One was a fortified palace with large gardens: the other was the temple of Belus; supposed by many to have been raised on the site of the tower of Babel. It was a vast pile, consisting of eight stories or towers, one upon another, to the height of four hundred feet. An ascent, with resting places, wound around the sides to the summit, where was a temple richly adorned, in which the priests performed idolatrous rites of imposture and delusion. At the base of the tower was another temple, once remarkable for a golden image. ANCIENT BABYLON. 15 Diodorus Siculus, another ancient writer, describes a palace at each end of the bridge, having also a private communication by a sub-way, or tunnel, beneath the bed of the river. Ancient writers speak much of the hanging gardens of the palace, describing them among the principal wonders of the world. These were erected on a square of three or four acres. Walls, or piers of brick, were raised so as to support terraces of different heights, the most lofty being about seventyfive feet above the level of the plain. The arches, or piers which formed these terraces, were covered with bitumen and sheets of lead, upon which was a sufficient depth of earth to allow even large shrubs and trees to be planted. These gardens were watered by a machine which raised water from the river. Vast labour and expense would be incurred to enable art thus to overcome nature; but the hanging gardens of Babylon must have been poor, when compared with the pleasure gardens of Solomon, situated among the diversified heights of Lebanon. Nebuchadnezzar is said to have constructed these gardens to please his queen, a native of Media, with a representation of the hills and valleys of her own land, even on the plains of Babylonia. "Great princes have great playthings," and certainly works such as these, are very preferable to the savage delights of war. The largest palace enclosed a tract of eight miles in circumference, in which were these hanging gardens and terraces. The wide open spaces within the walls of Babylon, not occupied by houses, were cultivated gardens, and even corn fields; they would afford a considerable supply of food to the inhabitants. Large embankments protected the buildings from the effects of inundations, which also were drawn off by canals and reservoirs. The inhabitants of this splendid city, at the period when the Jews were captives in the land, were conquerors of the civilized world. Their country produced abundantly, especially corn; Herodotus describes it as commonly yielding two hundred fold, and sometimes |