Page:Herodotus and the Empires of the East.djvu/43

Rh rest. On the last tower is a great temple. . . . There is also another temple below, within the sanctuary at Babylon, where there is a great golden image of Zeus seated, and before it is a great golden table, and the footstool and throne are of gold." (I., 181, fg.)

Let us endeavor to identify these two structures with the buildings known from the cuneiform documents. Herodotus places the citadel on a different bank of the Euphrates from the "temple of Zeus Belos." From the inscriptions and the extant ruins of Babylon we are convinced that the royal palace of Nabopolassar, as well as the new structure of Nebuchadrezar, was situated in the eastern portion of the town. Nabopolassar had built a palace in Babylon near the old temple Esagila. This lay in the extreme north of the town on the eastern bank of the Euphrates, and was bounded by ImgurBêl, the East Canal, the Euphrates, and the festal road A-a-îbur-šâbû. Esagila stood in close union with this palace. (E. I. H., VII. 36 fg.) Since the existing edifice was not sufficient, and its extension impossible because of its surroundings, Nebuchadrezar laid out a definite area between Imgur-Bêl and Nimitti-Bêl, erected thereon a terrace and surrounded it by a strong wall. Within this wall, the one which Herodotus mentions (I., 181), Nebuchadrezar built a new palace. The king designates it by the epithet "elevated;" consequently it must have seemed to dominate the town like an acropolis. The new structure was joined in some way with the old palace. This great complex structure, erected by Nabopolassar and Nebuchadrezar, is doubtless to be identified with the "royal palace" of our historian. It is possible that in the time of Herodotus royal edifices were also extant on the west bank,