The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1881-01-05


of Nebuchadnezzer it had alread,
become an ancient city, and had
world renowned fame for it's magni
tude, learning and fame, but it wa
not until the latter years of thi
monarch that it assumed those mag
nifcent proportions and gradeur tha
made it one of the wonders of the
world.
THE WALLS
were perfectly stupendous in every
respect. They were eighty-eight
feet in thickness, three hundred and
fifty feet In height and sixty miles
in compass, or four walls, each fif-
teen miles in length, drawn around
the city in the form of an exact
square. These walls were built of
large square brick, cemented tOgeth-
er with bitumen, a glutinous slime
arising out of the earth in that coun-
try, which binds in building much
stronger and frmer than lime, and
soon becomes harder than the bricks
or stones themselves which it ce-
ments together. Immediately on
the outside, and eo-extensive with
these walls, was
A VAST DITCH
lined ON either side with brick, ce-
mented on the inside, and filed with
water. We have no definite knowl-
edge of the width nor depth of this
ditch, but when we take into cQnsid,
grafton that the earth which was
taken ont of it made the bricks
wherewith the walls were built; and
therefore, from the vast height and
breadth and length of the walls we
may infer the greatness of the ditch.
THE GATES AND TOWERS.
The gates were twenty-five in
Aumher aR each side of this great
square, making in all one hundred,
each made of one solid piece of brass.
They were kept open and constant
" guarded during the day, but clos
ed and securely fastened during the
night. Between every two Of those
gates were three towers and four
more at each of the four corners of
this great square, and three between
each of these corners and the next
gate ON either side, and every one Of
these taWers was ton feet higher than
the walls, making them three hum
dred and sixty feet in height.
THE STREETS.
From the twenty-five gates on each
side of this square We're twenty-five
streets leading in strait limos across
the oity to corresponding gates on
the opposite side each way, making
in all fifty streets, each one hundred
and fifty feet in width and fifteen
miles in length, besides four half
streets Immediately inside Of the
wall, each two hundred feet in width
aud fifteen miles long, making In all
4 grand total of one thousand three
hundred and ten miles in length
about equal to the distance from New
York to Now Orleans. The streets
crossing each other at right angles,
the city was divided into
SIX HUXRREB AM ssvaSFf-sIx
SQUARES,
each of which was two and one-fourth
miles in compass. Around these
squares on every side, and fronting
the streets, stood the houses, all Of
which were either three on four sto-
Mna high, ef superb architecture and
be;lutified with all manner of adorn-
ments. The space within, in the
middle of the square, was all void
ground, appropriated for yards, gar
dens, ornamental trees, flowers and
other purposes. The
RePHAAFEs RIVER
flowed through the city, entering in
on the north aud going out on the
south, dividing the city in two, from
which the divisions were afterwards
kno~nas eastern and western These
i've dIyisians wele llAallg connected
In tha middle by bridge spanning
the river. The bridge was one-eighth
of mile IN length and thirty feet
wide, very ingeniously built and Of
great architectural beauty. AT each
endrof tbs bridge We're located the
Kings
-
FALAoka,
Fhe old palace on the east and the
uSw palace On tie west side Uf tire
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