The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1908-07-19
ANCIENT BABYLON
NOW LAID BARE
German Oriental Society Issues
Report Concerning Explorations
Amid Ruins of CITY.

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
Deitzsch, is a document Of more than
usual interest
Perhaps one OF the most astonishing
discoveries in the. field Of Typographical
research, says the London Chronicle.
has been the tracing Of the walls Of The
city and the ascertainmeut OF the true
size OF the great city. Wonderful de-
scripuons Of the size of Babylon have
been given, based chiefly on the hearsay
evidence Of HerodOtus, IN ancient times,
and the theories Of the late DR.. Oppert
These writer's made the city a vast
parallelOgram. surrounded by a wall
80 miles long and 100 feet high, with 100
gates. and bisected by the Euphra;es.
According TO them. the area was about
as large as London and Paris together.
or some 40 square miles. All this wild
conjecture has been swept away.
The exploration of the walls com
menced at the Babu fort, and here was
found a wall 25 feet thick. with but
tresses every co feet. The line Of the
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. fanked by tall
lowers decorated with friezes Of lions
and dragons in encausuce 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 palace" Mound.
In the Kasr or palace mound were
found the remains of two great pal
| aces. one built by NatUpalassar. the
other by observation-disclosures Both were
most complex in plan, containing hun
dreds Of rooms for the accommodation
of retainers, officials in the royal fam
lily. The two palaces are separated by
a street. The later or new edifce is on
the eastern side. and consists Of several
groups of chambers arranged around
quadrangles separated by strong walls
and gateways. The largest of these is
/ a royal quadrangle. entered by a double
! gateway.
/ On the south side OF this square is the
northern facade of the royal ~ldience
/ chamber or Selam,ik. This ,ade was
/ forty feet wide and had been richly
! decorated with floral designs in en-
I ameled brick in yellow, white, blue. and
| black. The audience hall measures
60 by 40 feet. and on the south side
is deep alcOve with a dais in front,
where the royal throne was placed.
| What a historic chamber this isl
( Here Nebuchadnezze had sat and re-
/ ceived homage on his conquest of Jeru-
| salem. Perhaps in this very chamber
| Be!shazzars feast was held and the
/ plaster-cOvered walls had received the
terrible message. Here Cyrus the Con-
| Queror was enthrOned in June. 53S B. C.
| and perhaps in the very chamber Alex
/ ander Of MacedOn held the fatal reveIs
after his overthrow OF the Empire of
/ the East.
! Nebuchadnezzar speaks of richly
! decorated palaces and temples but the
one prevailing feature of all the build
! ings was the dull, monOtOnous brick
work. void of decoration. If gold and
| silver and precious stones, cedar and
| cypress wood had been used, all disap-
peared long ago.