rity. The Greek mercenaries
or traders who visited it, though prepared for its huge size by general
report, could not repress a feeling of astonishment as they approached
it. First of all there was the triple wall of Nebuchadrezzar, with its
moats, its rows of towers, and its colossal gateways. Unlike the Greek
cities, it had been laid out according to a regular plan, and formed a
perfect square, inside which the streets crossed one another at right
angles, some parallel to the Euphrates, others at right angles to it;
every one of the latter terminated in a brazen gate opening through the
masonry of the quay, and giving access to the river. The passengers who
crowded the streets included representatives of all the Asiatic races,
the native Babylonians being recognisable by their graceful dress,
consisting of a linen tunic falling to the feet, a fringed shawl, round
cap, and heavy staff terminating in a knob. From this ever-changing
background stood out many novel features calculated to stimulate Greek
curiosity, such as the sick persons exposed at street-corners in
order that they might beg the passers-by to prescribe for them, the
prostitution of her votaries within the courts of the goddess Mylitta,
and the disposal of marriageable girls by auction: Herodotus, however,
regretted that this latter custom had fallen into abeyance. And yet to
the attentive eye of a close observer even Babylon must have furnished
many unmistakable symptoms of decay. The huge boundary wall enclosed
too large an area for the population sheltered behind it; whole quarters
were crumbling into heaps of ruins, and the flower and vegetable gardens
were steadily encroaching on spaces formerly covered with houses. Public
buildings had suffered quite as much as private dwellings from the
Persian wars. Xerxes had despoiled the temples, and no restoration
had been attempted since his time. The ziggurat of Bel lay half buried
already beneath piles of rubbish; the golden statues which had once
stood within its chambers had disappeared, and the priests no longer
carried on their astronomical observations on its platform.*

* Herodotus merely mentions that Xerxes had despoiled the
temple; Strabo tells us that Alexander wished to restore it,
but that it was in such a state of dilapidation that it
would have taken ten thousand men two months merely to
remove the rubbish.

The palaces of the ancient kings were falling to pieces from