The New Student's Reference Work/Babylon

Babylon, capital of the empire of Babylonia on the Euphrates River, was said by the ignorant Greeks to have been founded by Queen Semiramis, who, it is related, employed two million workmen in building it. In Nebuchadnezzar’s time, it stood on both sides of the river, in the form of a square. It was surrounded by walls, some 60 miles long, with 100 brazen gates. Here was a famous temple of Baal, by some thought to be built over the ruins of the tower of Babel; also the hanging gardens of Semiramis, one of the wonders of the old world. The Persians ruined Babylon by their conquest, Xerxes in particular, ravaging the temple of Baal. Alexander the Great undertook to rebuild the city; but when his ten thousand workmen, after two months’ labor, had not even cleared away the rubbish, he gave up the project. After that it rapidly fell into ruin, and its materials were used in building the new city, Seleucia, by Alexander’s successor, Seleucus.