a resting-place with
seats, where persons commonly sat a while on their way to the summit.
The shrine which crowned the edifice was large and rich. In the time
of Herodotus it contained no image; but only a golden table and a large
couch, covered with a handsome drapery. This, however, was after the
Persian conquest and the plunder of its principal treasures. Previously,
if we may believe Diodorus, the shrine was occupied by three colossal
images of gold--one of Bel, one of Beltis, and the third of Rhea or
Ishtar. Before the image of Beltis were two golden lions, and near them
two enormous serpents of silver, each thirty talents in weight. The
golden table--forty feet long and fifteen broad--was in front of these
statues, and upon it stood two huge drinking-cups, of the same weight as
the serpents. The shrine also contained two enormous censers and three
golden bowls, one for each of the three deities.

At the base of the tower was a second shrine or chapel, which in the
time of Herodotus contained a sitting image of Bel, made of gold, with
a golden table in front of it, and a stand for the image, of the same
precious metal. Here, too, Persian avarice had been busy; for anciently
this shrine had possessed a second statue, which was a human figure
twelve cubits high, made of solid gold. The shrine was also rich
in private offerings. Outside the building, but within the sacred
enclosure, were two altars, a smaller one of gold, on which it was
customary to offer sucklings, and a larger one, probably of stone, where
the worshippers sacrificed full-grown victims.

The great palace was a building of still larger dimensions than the
great temple. According to Diodorus, it was situated within a triple
enclosure, the innermost wall being twenty stades, the second forty
stades, and the outermost sixty stades (nearly seven miles), in
circumference. The outer wall was built entirely of plain baked brick.
The middle and inner walls were of the same material, fronted with
enamelled bricks representing hunting scenes. The figures, according to
this author, were larger than the life, and consisted chiefly of a great
variety of animal forms. There were not wanting, however, a certain
number of human forms to enliven the scene; and among these were two--a
man thrusting his spear through a lion, and a woman on horseback aiming
at a leopard with her javelin--which the later Greeks believed to
represent the mythic Ninus and Semiramis. Of