Page:A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria Vol 1.djvu/417

 RUINS OF STAGED TOWERS. 389 three inches for each story, by the difficulty in taking correct measurements on a ruined structure of sun-dried brick. And we should remember that Strabo tells us in a passage already quoted that the height of the great temple at Babylon was equal to its shorter diameter, an arrangement that may to some extent have been prescribed by custom. So far then as its main features are concerned, we may look upon the restoration we borrow from M. Place's work as per- fectly authentic (Figs. 185 and 186). Our section (Fig. 187) is meant to show that no trace of any internal chamber or void FIG. 186. The Olsen-atory restored. Plan. of the smallest kind was discovered by the French explorers. It is, however, quite possible that such chambers were contrived in the upper stories, but we have no evidence of their existence. We may say the same of the resting-places mentioned by Herodotus in his description of the temple of Belus. But supposing that edifice to have had seven stages, its ramp must have been about a thousand yards long, and it is likely enough that halting places were provided on such a long ascent. It is not until we come to discuss the object of such a building that we feel compelled to part company with MM. Place and