The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-11-12
Walls of Babylon
Uncovered. Confirm
Herodotus' Mondrous Stories.

in the Journal, lies one of the most start
ling bits OF historic news published since
exploration began. The discovery OF the
wall which Herodotus described and
scholars have SO long ridiculed as i'm
possible is but the first step toward re-
markable discoveries which must follow.
The library of .Nebuchadnezzar, his mon
| uments and inscriptions must lie in these
ruins in untold variety and endless num-
Der. Only few memorials Of this great
| king and oonqueror Of Palestine have been
found in other places excavated. Old
Herodotus has again proved himself TO
have been actually the Father of His
tory" and not the Father of Lies" as
some would have US believe. Greater than
the great wall Of China, the greatest
wall ever built by the hands of man, one
on which hundreds of families lived, while
a wide avenue separated their houses and
the chariots Of the king drove up and
down on this lofty wall four abreast.
| Professor Friedrich Delitzsch professor
of assyriology in the University of Berlin,
author of the "Luxia Of the Assyrian
| Language" writes the Journal as follows:
Since the city in which Sargon, the-con-
queror of Samaria, had his palace, was
explored by the French consul, Botta, in
1912. Sir Henry I.ayard and Rassam have
excavated Kujunschalk, laying bare the
/ great buildings Of Nineveh, the palaces of
/ Sennacherib and Sardanapalus The Am
/ orleans have uncovered the temples of the
/ Sun-god at Nippur, and the French have
made great discoveries at Telloh.
They have all found not merely remains
! Of ancient art, precious stones, glass and
earthen vessels, but the entire literary
J life of thousands of years ago has been
brought to the light of day. There have
/ been found the laws of the states. histor-
! ical notes, whole royal chronologies, re-
! ports Of generals and astronomers. letters,
| invitations. poems and fables, prayersw<
/ psalms which have astonished the world
| by their beauty and power. All these were
written on countless clay tablets which
/ are just as legible today as on the day
/ they were written, five or six thousand
! years ago. The library of Sardanapalus
alone, found in his palace, has furnished
tens of thousands of these clay books.
All this time Germany has stood idle,
while England, France and America have
been engaged in this valuable work. Five
decades have passed, and at last Ger
many has become jealous of the large col
lections of treasures which are being gath
cred into the museums Of London. Paris
Philadelphia and Constantinople, and is re-
solved 10 take part in this great work.
I am happy to state that the long apathy
is at last over and that in January, 1898,
the German Oriental society was organiz-
ed at Berlin, for the purpose of exploring
the mounds Of ruins which lie along the
banks of the Tigris and Euphrates. Peo-
pie of all ranks and conditions have con-
tributed to the funds, making it in every
way a national movement. The first ex-
petition has been sent to explore the ruins
of stored Babylon, the city of Nebuchad-
nezzar.
At Easter, 1899, the work was begun on
the mound that covers ancient Babylon
1t was the beginning of bringing to life
the so-caIled "City of life" which had
been dead to the world for three thousand
years or more. One or two towers still
protrude above the broad ruins Of the 81
gantic city, the great mountain height Of
which has gained the name of ''Kasr,"
citadel, from the Arabs. Here must lie
the palaces built by ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, the
cOnqueror of Jerusalem C58S B. c.. and
inhabited first by him, then used by the
Persian conquerors as their winter resi-
dence, and later to fall into the hands Of
Alexander the Great. Nineveh and the
palace of Sardanapalus have been the
pride of Engand's discoveries; Babylon
and the palaces Of Nebuchadnezzar are to
reflect age-long glory on the German ge-
MUS for exploration. 1t is no mean task,
but fortunately it is in the best of hands,
those of DR.. Robert Koldewey, the leader
of the expedition, who may be relied upon
to work wonders If given due support
Herodotus who visited Babylon in the
time OF Artaxerxes l., said that the city
was surrounded by a wall 80 royal ellis
ga feeO high, and that on top of this wall
one each edge were one-story houses,
leaving a space between tn rows of
houses on which four charlots abreast
could drive.
As soon as Dr.. Koldewey made his first
attack on the mound, digging into it from
the eastern. side of "Kasr," he struck this
wall undoubtedly the one mentioned by
Herodotus. This was Of course to be ex-
pected, if this was the ruin Of Babylon,
button digging further into the mound
the thickness of the wall was found to
surpass all expectations
The outer or eastern shell. or retaining
wall was built OF baked bricks and as
phalt, and was 23is feet thick. Beyond
this was found a filing Of sand and grsv-
el 50 feet thick. and then another retaining
wall q feet thick. making the entire wall
1857 feet thick. This wall, TO which there
is no parallel on earth. took some hot,
hard work to dig over and expose. and IT
was then found that the top of it was
about 22lz feet below the surface of the
mound. Then came the final and absolute
proof that Diodorus, too. was correct when
he stated that the bricks in the walls
and citadels az Nebuchaidnezzsr were
adorned with magnificent reliefs IN color.
I am happy 70 present some OF the phot-
oEraDhs just received from the German
expedition showing how the work IS pro
sress.ng. and at the same time let me
give some extracts from letter lately
received from Dr. Koldewey. There can
be little doubt that the walls uncovered
point the way 20 the palaces OF Ne5uchad-
rezzar-the most promising field for Won
derful discoveries 10 come.
Babylon. June o. 1899.
Did you ever see a great sand Storm
We have them often here; the horizon
looks a little leaden. there IS rush Of
Wind ard then it comes, The spotless
biIe heaven becomes dark hrova; the sun
IS Il dish Of blood; the dust prevents sight
or hearing. The palms bend almost 70
breaking beneath the wind. and II every
thing IS not made fast il VIII b. blown
away forever. We dare not close the win
dows or we should die from The heat that