ed
forward the work planned by his father, and carried it to completion
undeterred and undismayed by any difficulties.* The combined system
of irrigation and navigation introduced by the kings of the first
Babylonian empire twenty centuries previously, was ingeniously repaired;
the beds of the principal canals, the Royal river and the Arakhtu,
were straightened and deepened; the drainage of the country between the
Tigris and the Euphrates was regulated by means of subsidiary canals and
a network of dykes; the canals surrounding Babylon or intersecting in
the middle of the city were cleaned out, and a waterway was secured
for navigation from one river to the other, and from the plateau of
Mesopotamia to the Nar-Marratum.**

* The only long inscriptions of Nebuchadrezzar which we
possess, are those commemorating the great works he designed
and executed.

** The irrigation works of Nebuchadrezzar are described at
length, and perhaps exaggerated, by Abydenus, who merely
quotes Berosus more or less inaccurately. The completion of
the quays along the Arakhtu, begun by Nabopolassar, is
noticed in the _East India Company's Inscription_. A special
inscription, publ. by H. Rawlinson, gives an account of the
repairing of the canal Libil-khigallu, which crossed
Babylon.

We may well believe that all Nebuchadrezzar's undertakings were carried
out in accordance with a carefully prepared scheme for perfecting
the defences of the kingdom while completing the system of internal
communication. The riches of Karduniash, now restored to vigour by
continued peace, and become the centre of a considerable empire, could
not fail to excite the jealousy of its neighbours, and particularly that
of the most powerful among them, the Medes of Ecbatana. It is true
that the relations between Nebuchadrezzar and Astyages continued to be
cordial, and as yet there were no indications of a rupture; but it
was always possible that under their successors the good understanding
between the two courts might come to an end, and it was needful to
provide against the possibility of the barbarous tribes of Iran being
let loose upon Babylon, and attempting to inflict on her the fate they
had brought upon Nineveh. Nebuchadrezzar, therefore, was anxious to
interpose, between himself and these possible foes, such a series of
fortifications that the most persevering enemy would be worn out by the
prolonged tas