Page:A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria Vol 1.djvu/411

 RUINS OK STAGED TOWERS. 38. the other, reminds us of those Chaldaeo- Baby Ionian structures whose probable object was to afford a refuge to the inhabitants from the swarms of insects and burning winds that devastate these regions for nine months of the year." Here, we believe, M. de Sarzec is in error ; the only refuges against the inflamed breath of the desert were the serdabs, the subterranean chambers with their scanty light and moistened walls, and the dark apartments of Assyrian palaces with their walls of prodigious thickness. The great terraces erected at such a vast expenditure of labour were Fir.. 183. Map of the ruins of Babylon ; from Oppert. not undertaken merely to escape the mosquitoes ; we may take M. de Sarzec's words, however, as a proof that at Sirtella as in all the towns of Lower Chaldaea, the remains of a building with several stories or stages are to be recognized. The ruins on the site of Babylon may be divided into four principal groups, each forming small hills that are visible for many miles round ; they are designated on the annexed map by the names under which they are commonly known. These are, in