Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/118

 82 Outlines of European History Hanging gardens crowned the roof of the imperial palace and, overlooking the Ishtar Gate, enhanced the brightness of its colors. Here in the cool shade of palms and ferns, inviting to rest and ease, the great king might enjoy an idle hour with the ladies of his court and look down upon the splendors of his city. These roof gardens of Nebuchadnezzar's palace are the mysterious " Hang- ing Gardens " of Babylon, whose fame spread far into the west until they were numbered by the Greeks among the Seven Wonders of the World. It is this Babylon of Nebu- chadnezzar whose marvels over a century later so im- pressed Herodotus (p. i88), as is shown in the descrip- tion of it which he has left us. This, too, is the Babylon which has become familiar to all Christian peoples as the great city of the Hebrew captivity (p. 107). Of all the glories which made it world renowned in its time, little now remains. The excava- tions of the Germans, who have been uncovering the city since 1899, are slowly revealing one building after Fig. 47. The Ishtar Gate of the Palace Quarter of Babylon in the Chaldean Empire (Sixth Century b.c.) This gate, recently excavated by the Germans, is the most important build- ing still standing in Babylon. It is not a restoration like Fig. 46. The towers rising on either side of the gate are adorned with the figures of animals (see cut, p. 86) in splendidly colored glazed tile, as used also in the Assyrian palaces (Fig. 43). Behind this gate rose the sumptuous palace of Nebu- chadnezzar, crowned by the beautiful roof gardens known as the " Hanging Gardens " of Babylon (p. 82)