Page:History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 1.djvu/186

 154 BABYLONIA. Part I. 6 inches, as we might expect, was 26, which seems to have resulted from some adjustment due to the chambers wnich ranged along their walls on two sides. The exact form and dimensions of these chambers were not ascertained, which is very much to be regretted, as they soom the counterpart of those which surrounded Solomon's Temple and the Viharas in India, and are consequently among the most inter- esting peculiarities of this building. No attempt was made to investigate the design of the upper storv, thouo-h it does not seem that it would be diffi(nilt to do so, as fragments of its vaulted roof are strewed about the base of the tower- like fragment that remains, from which a restoration miglit be effected by any one accustomed to such investigations. ^ What we do know is that it was the cella or sanctuary of the temple.^ There probably also was a shrine on the third platform. This temple, as Ave know from the decipherment of the cylinders which were found on its angles, was dedicated to the seven planets or heavenly spheres, and we find it consequently adorned with the colors of each. The lower, Avhich was also richly panelled, was black, the color of Saturn ; the next orange, the color of Jupiter ; the third, red, emblematic of Mars ; the fourth, yellow, belonging to the sun ; the fifth and sixth, green and blue respectively, as dedicated to Venus and Mercury; and the upi)er i)robably white, that being the color belonging to the Moon, whose place in the Chaldean system would be uppermost. Access to each of these stories Avas obtained by stairs, probably arranged as shown in the plan ; these have crumbled away or been removed, though probably traces of them might still liave been found if the explorations had been more complete. Another temple of the same class was exhumed at Khorsabad, about twenty years ago, by M. Place. It consisted, like the one at Borsippa, of seven stories, but, as in this instance, each was placed concentrically on the one below it : and instead of stairs on the sloping face, a ramp wound round the tower, as we are told was the case with the temple of Belus at Babylon. The four lower stories are still perfect : each of theiu is richly i)anelled and colored as above mentioned, and in some parts even the parapet of the ram)) still remains in situ. The three upper stories are gone, but may easily be restored from those 1 Flaiidin and Coste, "Voyage en Perse," vol. iv. ])1. 221. 2 I have ventured to restore the roof of the cella with a sikra (zi<:;i;ur or zig- f;iirali. aci'onlin;; to liawlinson's "Five An<'i<'nl. iMonarcliics," vol. i. p. .']!>."). ct liassini), from liiidiiij^ similar roofs at Siiza, Bagdad, Kcffcli, etc. These are certainly indigenous, and borrowed from some older type, whether exactly what is represented here is not clear, it must be confessed. It is offered as a sugges- tion, the reason for which will be given when we come to speak of Buddhist or Saracenic arcliitecture.