is occupied
by ruins of any pretension. On the admitted site of Babylon striking
masses of ruin cover a space considerably larger than that which at
Nineveh constitutes the whole area of the town. Beyond this space
in every direction, north, east, south and west, are detached mounds
indicating the former existence of edifices of some size, while the
intermediate ground between these mounds and the main ruins shows
distinct traces of its having been built upon in former days.

Of the actual size of the town, modern research gives us no clear and
definite notion. One explorer only has come away from the country with
an idea that the general position of the detached mounds, by which the
plain around Hillah is dotted, enables him to draw the lines of the
ancient walls, and mark out the exact position of the city. But the very
maps and plans which are put forward in support of this view show that
it rests mainly on hypothesis; nor is complete confidence placed in the
surveys on which the maps and plans have been constructed. The English
surveys, which have been unfortunately lost, are said not to have placed
the detached mounds in any such decided lines as M. Oppert believes them
to occupy, and the general impression of the British officers who were
employed on the service is that "no vestige of the walls of Babylon has
been as yet discovered." [PLATE XI.]

[Illustration: PLATE XI.]

For the size and plan of the city we are thus of necessity thrown back
upon the reports of ancient authors. It is not pretended that such
reports are in this, or in any other case, deserving of implicit
credence. The ancient historians, even the more trustworthy of them, are
in the habit of exaggerating in their numbers; and on such subjects as
measurements they were apt to take on trust the declarations of their
native guides, who would be sure to make over-statements. Still in
this instance we have so many distinct authorities--eyewitnesses of the
facts--and some of them belonging to times when scientific accuracy had
begun to be appreciated, that we must be very in credulous if we do not
accept their witness, so far as it is consentient, and not intrinsically
very improbable.

According to Herodotus, an eye-witness, and the earliest authority on
the subject the _enceinte_ of Babylon was a square, 120 stades (about 14
miles) each way--the entire circuit of the wall being thus 56 miles, and
the area enclosed within them falling little s