ylon, and it was
their antiquity that made them dear both to the people and their kings. We
may believe, therefore, that in restoring them care was taken to preserve
their ancient features. It would be the upper part of their retaining walls
that required renewal, and these would be rebuilt on their ancient
foundations. Here and there the latter exist even at the present day,
and the names of the earliest Chaldaean princes may be read upon their
bricks.[454]

[Illustration: PLATE II. RECTANGULAR CHALDAEAN TEMPLE

Restored by Ch. Chipiez.]

The remains studied by Messrs. Taylor and Loftus at Warka (Fig. 172),
Abou-Sharein, and Mugheir have furnished the chief elements for our
restoration, which bears a strong resemblance to the ruin at Warka called
Bouvariia (A on the map), and one still stronger to that temple at Mugheir
whose present state is shown in our Figs. 48 and 143. This first type is
characterized by the form of its lower, and the situation of its upper,
stages. The latter are not placed in the centre of the platform on which
they stand; they are thrown back much nearer to one of the two shorter
sides than to the other, so that the building has a front and a back. The
front is almost entirely taken up with wide staircases.[455] The staircase
leading from the first story to the second must alone have been concealed
in the interior of the building, an arrangement which avoided the necessity
for breaking up the ample solidity of that imposing stage (see Plate II.).

[Illustration: FIG. 172.--Map of Warka with its ruins; from Loftus.

A, Bouvariia; B, Wuswas; C, ruin from the Parthian epoch; D, building
decorated with coloured cones (see page 279).]

The surroundings of the temple in our plate--the background of slightly
undulating plain, the houses similar to those found by Taylor and Loftus,
in which they discovered vaulted passages traversing the thickness of the
walls[456]--are, of course, purely imaginary.

The temple itself, like the palace at Khorsabad, was raised on a vast
platform upon which the city walls abutted. This platform was reached by
wide flights of steps.[457] Lateral ramps led to a second platform,
inclosed on every side, with which the sacred part of the building, the
Haram, began. We have already spoken of the panelled ornament with which
the great, flat surfaces of its walls were relieved.[458] The lowest stage
of the temple was provided with buttresses like those that still exist in