five days. He yielded to her entreaties, and all the provinces of the empire were commanded to obey Semiramis. These orders were executed but too exactly for the unfortunate Ninus, who was put to death, either immediately, or after some years imprisonment. SEMIRAMIS. • This princess applied all her thoughts to immortalize her name, and to cover the meanness of her extraction by the greatness of her enterprises. She proposed to herself to surpass all her predecessors in magnificence, and to that end she undertook the building of the mighty Babylon, in which work she employed two million of men, which were collected out of all the provinces of her vast empire. Some of her successors endeavoured to adorn that city with new works and embellishments. I shall here speak of them all together, in order to give the reader a more clear and distinct idea of that stupendous city. The principal works which rendered Babylon so famous are, the walls of the city; the quays and the bridge; the lake, banks, and canals made for the draining of the river; the palaces, hanging gardens, and the temple of Belus; works of such surprising magnificence, as is scarce to be comprehended. Dr. Prideaux having treated this matter with great extent and learning, I have only to copy, or rather abridge him a 1. THE WALLS. Babylon stood on a large plain, in a very fat and deep soil. The walls were every way prodigious. They were in thickness 87 feet, in height 350, and in compass 480 furlongs, which make 60 of our miles. These walls were drawn round the city in the form of an exact square, each side of which was 120 furlongs d, or 15 miles, in length, and all built of large bricks cemented together with bitumen, a glutinous slime arising out of the earth in that country, which binds in building much stronger and firmer than mortar, and soon grows much harder than the bricks or stones themselves which it cements together. These walls were surrounded on the outside with a vast ditch, full of water, and lined with bricks on both sides, The earth that was dug out of it made the bricks wherewith the walls were built; and therefore, from the vast height a Diod. l. ii. p. 95. We are not to wonder, if, we find the founding of a city ascribed to differ ent persons. It is common, even among the profane writers, to say, Such a prince built such a city, whether he was the person that first founded it, or that only embellished, or enlarged it. c Herod 1 1. c 178, 180 Diod. l. ii p. 95. 96. Q Curt. 1. v. c. 1. d I relate things as I find them in the ancient authors, which Dean Prideaux Kas also done; but I cannot help believing that great abatements are to be made in what they say as to the immense extent of Babylon and Nineveh which is to be understood of the whole circuit, or compass of the city. The walls of it were 100 feet high, and of so considerable a thickness, that three chariots might go abreast upon them with ease. They were fortified and adorned with 1500 towers 200 feet high. After he had finished this prodigious work, he resumed his expedition agains the Bactrians. His army, according to the relation of Ctesias, consisted of 1,700,000 foot, 200,000 horse, and about 16,000 chariots, armed with scythes. Diodorus adds, that this ought not to appear incredible, since, not to mention the innumerable armies of Darius and Xerxes, the single city of Syracuse, in the time of Dionysius the Tyrant, furnished 120,000 foot, and 12,000 horse, besides 400 vessels well equipped and provided. And a little before Hannibal's time, Italy, including the citizens and allies, was able to send into the field near 1,000,000 of men. Ninus made himself master of a great number of cities, and at last laid siege to Bactria, the capital of the country. Here he would probably have seen all his attempts miscarry, had it not been for the diligence and assistance of Semiramis, wife to one of his chief officers, a woman of an uncommon courage, and peculiarly exempt from the weakness of her sex. She was born at Ascalon, a city of Syria. I think it needless to recite the account Diodorus gives of her birth, and of the miraculous manner of her being eing nursed and brought up by pigeons, since that historian himself looks upon it only as a fabulous story. It was Semiramis that directed Ninus how to attack the citadel, and by her means he took it, and thus became master of the city, in which he found an immense treasure. The husband of this lady having killed himself, to prevent the effects of the king's threats and indignation, who had conceived a violent passion for his wife, Ninus married Semiramis. After his return to Nineveh, he had a son by her, whom he called Ninyas. Not long after this he died, and left the queen the government of the kingdom. She, in honour of his memory, erected a magnificent monument, which remained a long time after the ruin of Nineveh. 6 I find no appearance of truth in what some authors relate concerning the manner of Semiramis's coming to the throne. According to them, having secured the chief men of the state, and attached them to her interest by her benefactions and promises, she solicited the king with great importunity to put the sovereign power into her hands for the space of five days. He yielded to her entreaties, and all the provinces of the empire were commanded to obey Semiramis. These orders were executed but too exactly for the unfortunate Ninus, who was put to death, either immediately, or after some years imprisonment. a It is hard to believe that Diodorus does not speak of the bigness of Nineveh with some exaggeration; therefore some learned men have reduced the stadium to little more than one half and reckon 15 of them to the Roman mile instead of eight, the usual computation. b Plut. in Mor. p. 753. SEMIRAMIS. • This princess applied all her thoughts to immortalize her name, and to cover the meanness of her extraction by the greatness of her enterprises. She proposed to herself to surpass all her predecessors in magnificence, and to that end she undertook the building of the mighty Babylon, in which work she employed two million of men, which were collected out of all the provinces of her vast empire. Some of her successors endeavoured to adorn that city with new works and embellishments. I shall here speak of them all together, in order to give the reader a more clear and distinct idea of that stupendous city. The principal works which rendered Babylon so famous are, the walls of the city; the quays and the bridge; the lake, banks, and canals made for the draining of the river; the palaces, hanging gardens, and the temple of Belus; works of such a surprising magnificence, as is scarce to be comprehended. Dr. Prideaux having having treated this matter with great extent and learning, I have only to copy, or rather abridge him 1. THE WALLS. Babylon stood on a large plain, in a very fat and deep soil. The walls were every way prodigious. They were in thickness 87 feet, in height 350, and in compass 480 furlongs, which make 60 of our miles. These walls were drawn round the city in the form of an exact square, each side of which was 120 O furlongs d, sd, or 15 miles, in length, and all built of large bricks cemented together with bitumen, a glutinous slime arising out of the earth in that country, which binds in building much stronger and firmer than mortar, and soon grows much harder than the bricks or stones themselves which it cements together. These walls were surrounded on the outside with a vast ditch, full of water, and lined with bricks on both sides, The earth that was dug out of it made the bricks wherewith the walls were built; and therefore, from the vast height a Diod. l. ii. p. 95. & Weare not to wonder. if, we find the founding of a city ascribed to different persons. It is common, even among the profane writers, to say. Such a prince built such a city, whether he was the person that first founded it, or that only embellished, or enlarged it. c Herod 1 1. c 178, 180 Diod. l. ii p. 95. 96. Q Curt. 1. v. c. 1. d I relate things as I find them in the ancient authors, which Dean Prideaux Mas also done; but I cannot help believing that great abatements are to be made in what they say as to the immense extent of Babylon and Nineveh and breadth of the walls may be inferred the greatness of the ditch. In every side of this great square were 25 gates, that is, 100 in all, which were all made of solid brass; and hence it is, that when God promised to Cyrus the conquest of Babylon, he tells him", that he would break in pieces before him the gates of brass. Between every two of these gates were three towers, and four more at the four corners of this great square, and three between each of these corners and the next gate on either side; every one of these towers was 10 feet higher than the walls. But this is to be understood only of those parts of the wall where there was need of tow ers. From the 25 gates in each side of this great square went 25 streets, in straight lines to the gates, which were directly over against them, in the opposite side; so that the whole number of the streets were 50, each 15 miles long, whereof 25 went one way, and 25 the other, directly crossing each other at right angles. And besides these, there were also four half streets, which had houses only on one side, and the wall on the other; these went round the four sides of the city next the walls, and were each of them 200 feet broad; the rest were about 150. By these streets thus crossing each other, the whole city was cut out into 676 squares, each of which was four furlongs and an half on every side, that is, two miles and a quarter in circumference. Round these squares, on every side towards the streets, stood the houses (which were not contiguous, but had void spaces between them) all built three or four stories high, and beautified with all manner of ornaments towards the streets. The space within, in the middle of each square, was likewise all void ground, employed for yards, gardens, and other such uses; so that Babylon was greater in appearance than reality, near one half of the city being taken up in gardens and other cultivated lands, as we are told by Q. Curtius. 2. THE QUAYS AND BRIDGE. A branch of the river Euphrates ran quite cross the city, from the north to the south side; on each side of the river was a quay, and an high wall built of brick and bitumen, of the same thickness as the walls that went round the city. In these walls, over against every street that led to the river, were gates of brass, and from them descents by steps to the river, for the conveniency of the inhabitants, who used to pass over from one side to the other in boats, having no other a Isa. xlv. 2. b Quint. Curtek voc. lo © Herod. 1. 1. c. 180. & 186, Diod. 1. ii. p. 96. way of crossing the river before the building of the bridge.. These brazen gates were always open in the daytime, and shut in the night. The bridge was not inferior to any of the other buildings, either in beauty or magnificence; it was a a furlong in length, and 30 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 SO n to build the bridge, they turned the course of the river, and laid its channel dry, having another view in 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. 3. THE LAKE, DITCHES, AND CANALS, MADE FOR THE DRAINING OF THE RIVER. These works, objects of admiration for the skilful in all ages were still more useful than magnificent. 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 occasions 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. 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. To facilitate the making of these works, it was necessary to turn the course of the river another way, for which purpose, to the west of Babylon, was dug a prodigious artificial lake, e e 40 miles square, 160 in compass, and 35 feet deep, according to Herodotus, and 75 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 finish a Diodorus says, this bridge was five furlongs in length, which can hardly be true. since the Euphrates was but one furlong broad. Strab. 1. xvi. p. 738. 6 Strab 1. xvi. p 740. Plin 1. v. c. 26. c Abyd. ap. Eus Præp. Evang. lib ix. d. Abyd. ap. Eus Præp. Evang. lib. ix. Herod. l. i. c. 185. e The author follows Herodotus, who makes it 420 furlongs, or 52 miles square; but I choose to follow Dean Prideaux, who prefers the account of Megasthenes. |