Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-07-03
SIZE OF BABYLON.
Much Wild Conjecture Swept Away
BY Recent Explorations.

L
BY Recent Explorations.
The report Of the German Oriental
society on the extensive explorations
carried out on the ruins Of ancient
Babylon, which has just been issued
under the editorship of DR.. Friedrich
Delitzsch, is a document Of more than
usual interest.
Perhaps one Of the most astonish-
ing discoveries in the field Of topo-
graphical research has been the trac-
ing Of the walls Of the city and the
ascertainment Of the true size Of the
great city. Wonderful descriptions
of the size of Babylon have been CIV
en-, based chiefly on the hearsay evil
dence Of Herodotus, in ancient times,
and the theories Of the late DR.. OPP
pert. These writer's made the city a
vast parallelogram, surrounded by
wall fifty miles long and hundred
feet high, with one hundred gates,
and bisected by the Euphrates. Ac-
cording to them the area was about
as large as London and Paris togeth-
er, or some forty square miles. All
this wild conjecture has been swept
away.
| The exploration of the walls COM
menced at the Babil fort, and here
was found a wall twenty-five feet
thick, with buttresses every sixty-feet.
The line of the wall was traced to
| the southeast angle, until 1t bends to
the west and joins the great quay on
the banks of the river. This portion
was pierced by only one gate, the
gate Of Isar flanked by tall towers
and decorated with friezes Of lions
and dragons in encaustic tile work.
On the north it was traced to the
river bank. The whole enclosure
covered an area of a little over one
square mile or roughly that Of our
city of London.
In the Kasr or palace" mound
were found the remains Of two great
palaces, one built by Natupalassar,
the other by NebuchadneZzar. Both
were most complex in plan, contain
ing hundreds of rooms for the accom-
mediation of retainers, officials in the
royal family. The two palaces are
separated by street. The later or
new edifice Is on the eastern side and
consists of several groups Of cham
bers arranged around quadrangles
separated by strong walls and gate
ways. The largest of these is a royal
quadrangle, entered by a double gate
way.
the northern facade of the royal au-
dience chamber or Selamlik. This
facade was forty feet wide and had
been richly decorated with floral de-
signs in enamelled brick in yellow,
white, blue and black The audience
hall measures 60 by 10 feet and on
the south side Is a deep alcove with
dais in front, where the royal throne
was placed.
What a historic chamber this is!
Here NebuchadnezZar had sat and
received homage on his conquest Of
Jerusalem. Perhaps in this very
chamber BeshaZzar's feast was held
and the plaster covered walls had re-
ceived the terrible message. Here Cy-
rus the conqueror was enthroned In
June, 538 B. c.. and perhaps in this
very chamber Alexander Of Macedon
held the fatal revels after his over
throw Of the empire Of the east.
Nebuchadnezzar speaks Of richly
decorated palaces and temples, but
the one prevailing feature Of all the
buildings was the dull, monotonous
brickwork, void Of decoration. II
gold and silver and precious stones,
cedar and cypress wood, had oeen
used all disappeared long ago.-Lon-
don Chronicle.