d brick. And we should
remember that Strabo tells us in a passage already quoted that the height
of the great temple at Babylon was equal to its shorter diameter, an
arrangement that may to some extent have been prescribed by custom.

[Illustration: FIG. 186.--The _Observatory_ restored. Plan.]

So far then as its main features are concerned, we may look upon the
restoration we borrow from M. Place's work as perfectly authentic (Figs.
185 and 186). Our section (Fig. 187) is meant to show that no trace of any
internal chamber or void of the smallest kind was discovered by the French
explorers. It is, however, quite possible that such chambers were contrived
in the upper stories, but we have no evidence of their existence. We may
say the same of the resting-places mentioned by Herodotus in his
description of the temple of Belus. But supposing that edifice to have had
seven stages, its ramp must have been about a thousand yards long, and it
is likely enough that halting places were provided on such a long ascent.

[Illustration: FIG. 187.--The _Observatory_. Transverse section through
AB.]

It is not until we come to discuss the object of such a building that we
feel compelled to part company with MM. Place and Thomas. They are
inclined to believe that it was an observatory rather than a temple, and
under that title they have described it. Although we have made use of the
name thus given we do not think it has been justified. There is nothing,
says M. Place, among the ruins at Khorsabad to show that the tower ever
bore any chapel or tabernacle upon its apex. But according to their own
hypothesis it has lost its three highest stories, so why should they expect
to find any vestige of such a chapel, seeing that it must have been the
first thing to disappear? There is absolutely nothing to negative the idea
that it may have been of wood, in which case its total disappearance would
not be surprising, even after the platform had been thoroughly explored;
and that is far from being the case at present. Moreover there is some
little evidence that the purpose of the pyramid was religious. Two stone
altars were found in its neighbourhood. Whether they came from its summit
or from the esplanade, they justify us in believing the _Observatory_ to
have been a temple. We are confirmed in this belief by the
similarity--which M. Place himself points out--between it and the chief
monuments of Babylon, as described by Herodotus. It seems t