hat it is this word which
appears in the Talmud as Nopher, we are perhaps entitled, on the
authority of that treasure-house of Hebrew traditions, to identify these
ruins with the Calneh of Moses, and the Calno of Isaiah.

About sixty-five miles from Niffer, on the opposite side of the
Euphrates, and in a direction only slightly north of west, are the
remains of the ancient Borsippa. These consist of little more than the
ruins of a single building--the great temple of Merodach--which was
entirely rebuilt by Nebuchadnezzar. They have been sometimes regarded as
really a portion of the ancient Babylon; but this view is wholly
incompatible with the cuneiform records, which distinctly assign to the
ruins in question the name of Borsip or Borsippa, a place known with
certainty to have been distinct from, though in the neighborhood of, the
capital. A remnant of the ancient name appears to be contained in the
modern appellation, Birs-Nimrud or Birsi-Nimrud, which does not admit of
any explanation from the existing language of the country.

Fifteen miles from thence, to the north-east, chiefly but not entirely on
the left or east bank of the Euphrates, are the remains of "Babylon the
Great," which have been so frequently described by travellers, that
little need be said of them in this place. The chief ruins cover a space
about three miles long, and from one to two broad, and consist mainly of
three great masses: the first a square mound, called "Babil" by the
Arabs, lying towards the north at some distance from the other remains;
the second or central mound, a pile called the "Kasr" or Palace; and the
third, a great irregular heap lying towards the south, known as the
"mound of Amram," from a tomb which crowns its summit. The "Kasr" and
"Amram" mounds are enclosed within two lines of rampart, lying at right
angles to each other, and forming, with the river, a sort of triangle,
within which all the principal ruins are comprised, except the mound
called "Babil". Beyond the rampart, towards the north, south, and east,
and also across the river to the west, are various smaller detached
ruins, while the whole ground, in every direction, is covered with
fragments of brick and with nitre, the sure marks of former habitations.

[Illustration: PLATE 3]

The other cities of ancient Chaldaea which may be located with an
approach to certainty, are Cutha, now Ibrahim, fifteen miles north-east
by north of Hymar; Sippara or Sepharvaim