god city.' " This name is
particularly interesting when it is remembered that the Babylonian and
Assyrian word for god and mountain was identical and that this identity
may account for the Chinese employment of the term "four mountains," to
express also the four provinces and their chiefs. Professor Jastrow
informs us, in a note, that the name Arbela is, more precisely, Arba-ilu,
signifying "city of the four-fold divinity" or "four-god" city and invites
comparison to the Palestinian form Kiryath-arba, "four-city." He suggests
that this name may perhaps likewise signify a city of four gods, but adds
that it has commonly been explained as meaning four roads or four quarters
(_op. cit._ 203).

The ancient pagan authorities inform us that the ancient city of Babylon
was laid out in the form of a perfect square, the sides of which were
oriented to the cardinal points. A massive wall enclosed the entire city
and the river Euphrates divided it into halves, united by a bridge, each
half being again subdivided by the main street leading to the bridge. A
series of streets ran parallel to the river through the city and were
crossed at right angles by others, the result being that 625 blocks or
squares of building were thus formed.

There is positive evidence that the capital city of Lagash or Shir-pur-la
was divided into four sections, the separate names of which were Girsu,
Uru-alaga, Nina and Gish-Galla or Erim, the reading of the latter name
being doubtful. The circumstance that each of these quarters had its
"divinity" and was ruled by its earthly representative, explains the term
"four-god city" or "four city" found associated with other capitals of
Babylonia.

The existence of a central ruler who exercised supreme authority over the
four quarters of the capital, and by extension over the "four provinces"
is amply proven by the title of the Babylonian kings, _i. e._, the "king
of the four regions." An interesting oracle, addressed to king Esar-Haddon
is found to contain the statement that "Ashur has given him the four ends
of the earth" (Jastrow, _op. cit._ 345).

Evidence that while the capital and entire state consisted of four
quarters, the whole was also divided theoretically and practically into
halves, is furnished by the significant fact that, from remote antiquity,
the rulers of Babylonia also bore the title of "lord of Akkad and
Sumer"=North and South, this term being, like that of "Four Regions," a
general desig