ew power, and seeing the danger which threatened the other monarchies
of the time, if they allowed the great Arian kingdom to attack them
severally with her full force, proposed a league whereby the common
enemy might, she thought, be resisted with success. Ambassadors seem
to have been sent from Sardis to Babylon in the very year in which
Nabonadius became king. He therefore had at once to decide whether he
would embrace the offer made him, and uniting with Lydia and Egypt in
a league against Persia, make that power his enemy, or refuse the
proffered alliance and trust to the gratitude of Cyrus for the future
security of his kingdom. It would be easy to imagine the arguments pro
and contra which presented themselves to his mind at this conjuncture;
but as they would be destitute of a historical foundation, it is perhaps
best to state simply the decision at which he is known to have arrived.
This was an acceptance of the Lydian offer. Nabonadius consented to join
the proposed league; and a treaty was probably soon afterwards concluded
between the three powers whereby they united in an alliance offensive
and defensive against the Persians.

Knowing that he had provoked a powerful enemy by this bold act, and
ignorant how soon he might be called upon to defend his kingdom, from
the entire force of his foe, which might be suddenly hurled against him
almost at any moment, Nabonadius seems to have turned his attention at
once to providing means of defence. The works ascribed by Herodotus to a
queen, Nitocris, whom he makes the mother of Nabonadius (Labynetus)
must be regarded as in reality constructions of that monarch himself,
undertaken with the object of protecting Babylon from Cyrus. They
consisted in part of defences within the city, designed apparently to
secure it against an enemy who should enter by the river, in part of
hydraulic works intended to obstruct the advances of an army by the
usual route. The river had hitherto flowed in its natural bed through
the middle of the town. Nabonadius confined the stream by a brick
embankment carried the whole way along both banks, after which he built
on the top of the embankment a wall of a considerable height, pierced
at intervals by gateways, in which were set gates of bronze. He likewise
made certain cuttings, reservoirs, and sluices at some distance from
Babylon towards the north, which were to be hindrances to an enemy's
march, though in what way is not very apparent. Some