west of the mouth of the Euphrates, and protected
by a quay, or a breakwater, from the high tides that rolled in from the
Indian Ocean. There is great difficulty in identifying its site, owing
to the extreme uncertainty as to the exact position of the coast-line,
and the course of the river, in the time of Nebuchadnezzar. Probably it
should be sought about Zobair, or a little further inland.. The chief
provincial cities were Susa and Badaca in Susiana; Anat, Sirki, and
Carchemish, on the Middle Euphrates; Sidikan on the Khabour; Harran on
the Bilik; Hamath, Damascus, and Jerusalem, in Inner Syria; Tyre,
Sidon, Ashdod, Ascalon, and Gaza, upon the coast. Of these, Susa was
undoubtedly the most important; indeed, it deserves to be regarded
as the second city of the Empire. Here, between the two arms of the
Choaspes, on a noble and well-watered plain, backed at the distance
of twenty-five miles by a lofty mountain range, the fresh breezes from
which tempered the summer heats, was the ancient palace of the Kissian
kings, proudly placed upon a lofty platform or mound, and commanding
a wide prospect of the rich pastures at its base, which extended
northwards to the roots of the hills, and in every other direction as
far as the eye could reach. Clustered at the foot of the palace
mound, more especially on its eastern side, lay the ancient town, the
foundation of the traditional Memnon who led an army to the defence
of Troy. The pure and sparkling water of the Choaspes--a drink fit for
kings--flowed near, while around grew palms, konars, and lemon-trees,
the plain beyond waving with green grass and golden corn. It may be
suspected that the Babylonian kings, who certainly maintained a palace
at this place, and sent high officers of their court to "do their
business" there, made it their occasional residence, exchanging,
in summer and early autumn, the heats and swamps of Babylon for the
comparatively dry and cool region at the base of the Lurish hills. But,
however, this may have been, at any rate Susa, long the capital of a
kingdom little inferior to Babylon itself, must have been the first of
the provincial cities, surpassing all the rest at once in size and in
magnificence. Among the other cities, Carchemish on the Upper Euphrates,
Tyre upon the Syrian coast, and Ashdod on the borders of Egypt, held
the highest place. Carchemish, which has been wrongly identified with
Circesium, lay certainly high up the river, and most likely