Page:Herodotus and the Empires of the East.djvu/29

Rh rampart (Imgur-Bêl), and the outer wall (Nimitti-Bêl). He dammed up the canal Arachtu, strengthened the walls of the Euphrates with brick, and made a great festal road from the sanctuary of Merodach "to A-a-îbur-šâbû, the street of Babylon opposite the gate of Beltis." This work was completed in the time of Nebuchadrezar, son of Nabopolassar. It was this king who made great Babylon the mighty city of antiquity. In his reign the town became the permanent royal residence. Nebuchadrezar expressly states that during his whole reign he dwelt only in Babylon and the contiguous sister town, Borsippa, while many of his predecessors "in other towns which they preferred had built palaces, and had taken their habitation, had heaped up their treasures therein, had stored their possessions, and only came to Šuanna (Babylon) … at the time of the Zagmuku festival.

The numerous inscriptions of Nebuchadrezar inform us about his building operations. The most important document is the great stone inscription, compiled toward the close of his reign, which is preserved in the East India office at London. This narrates, in 620 lines, the service which Nebuchadrezar rendered in increasing, beautifying, and fortifying the town. The contents of this document, which are not arranged chronologically, but according to the nature of the work, we can divide into three parts: building of (a) temples, (b) fortifications, (c) palaces.

Nebuchadrezar turned his attention to the two great