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 citadel consisted of "the royal palace and its surrounding fortifications." These fortifications consisted of seven walls "arranged in circles one within the other" and "planned in such manner that each circle rises higher than the one preceding it by the height merely of the battlements" and "particular care was taken to have the Royal Palace and the treasury within the innermost circle" at the top of the "gently sloping hill." (Herodotus.) This inmost circle, is described by Herodotus now as palace and now as palace-and-treasury, and is well compared with the Acropolis of Athens which was of about the same size. As the Acropolis was long called "the city," so this citadel is called "the city" by Herodotus, although the residence of the king only, while "the rest of the people built their houses round about outside the wall." Later another and even more splendid palace was built adjoining at the foot of the citadel, outside the walls.