Among
others, he drove oil" those of Sisyphus, and he defaced
the marks as usual; but, when Sisyphus came in quest
of them, he, to the great surprise of the thief, selected
his own beasts out of the herd, for he had marked the
initial letter of his name under their hoofs.
others, he drove oil" those of Sisyphus, and he defaced
the marks as usual; but, when Sisyphus came in quest
of them, he, to the great surprise of the thief, selected
his own beasts out of the herd, for he had marked the
initial letter of his name under their hoofs.
Charles - 1867 - Classical Dictionary
(Hen-
nc. Canneg. de atatc, &c. Flat. Arnani Jhsserlatio,
p. 231, seqq) This opinion, however, is rendered al-
together untenable by the inferior character of the
Latinity, which Cannegieter endeavours, though un-
successfully, to defend. Avianus would seem to have
lived in the reign of Theodosius, long after the date
assigned by the scholar just mentioned. His work is
dedicated to a certain Theodosius, supposed to have
been the grammarian Macrobius Theodosius. The fa-
bles of Avianus are sometimes erroneously ascribed to
Avienus. The best editions of Avianus are that of
Cannegieter, Amstelod. , 1731, 8vo, and that ofNodell,
Amsietod. , 1787, 8vo. (Bahr, Gesch. Rom. Lit. , vol.
1, p. 317. )
AviENfs, Rufus Festus, a Roman poet, whose age
and country have both been disputed. St. Jerome
speaks of him as of a recent writer(m Eptst. ad Tttum,
v. 12). and we can scarcely, therefore, with Crinitu&j
place him in the reign of Dioclesian. (Cnnil. , de poet.
La. , c. 80. ) The death of Jerome happened A. D.
420, in his ninety-first year: on the supposition, there-
fore, that Avienus flourished about the middle of that
father's protracted life, we may assign him to about
A. D. 370, or the period of Valentiman, Valens, and
Gratian. Tradition or conjecture has made him a
Spaniard by birth; but this opinion is unsupported by
written testimony, and even contradicted, if the in-
scription found in the Cssarian Villa refer to this poet,
which there seems small reason to doubt. From this
we learn that he was the son of Musonius Avienus, or
the son of Avienus and descendant of Musonius, ac-
cordingly as we punctuate the first line (" Festus Mu-
stmi soboles prolesque Avieni"); that he was born at
Vulsinii in Etruria; that he resided at Rome; that he
was twice proconsul, and the author of many poetical
pieces. The same inscription contradicts the notion,
too precipitately grounded on some vague expressions
in his writings, that he was a Christian; for it is no-
thing else than a religious address to the goddess Nor-
tia. the Fortune of the Etrurians. The extant and ac-
knowledged works of this poet are versions of the ? <<-
voficva of Aratus, and the lleptyyvmc of Dionysius;
and a portion of a poem "De Ora Marttima," which
includes, with some digressions, the coast between
Cadiz and Marseilles. The other poems generally be-
lieved to be the work of Avienus are, an Epistle to
Flavianus Myrmecius, an elegiac piece "de Canto Si-
renum," and some verses addressed to the author's
friends from the conntry. A poem " de urbibus His-
pam<z Medtterranets," is cited by some Spanish wri-
ters as the production of Avienus (Kicolaus Anionics,
BM. Vet. Hisp. , 2, 9), but it is generally supposed to
be the forgery of a Jesuit of Toledo. Servius (ad Virg. ,
. En. , 10,272--388) ascribes to Avienus iambic versions
of the narrative of Virgil and the history of Livy;
which observation of the grammarian, together with a
consideration of the genius and habits of this poet, ren-
ders it not altogether improbable that he is the author
? ? of a very curious and spirited Latin Epitome of the
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? AURELIANUS.
His next elevation was to the throne, Claudius II. , on
his deathbed, having recommended Aurelian to the
troops of Illyricum, who readily acceded to his wishes.
The reign of this monarch lasted only four years and
about nine months; but every instant of that short
period was filled by some memorable achievement.
He put an end to the Gothic war, chastised the Ger-
mans who invaded Italy, recovered Gaul, Spain, and
Britain out of the hands of Tetricus, and destroyed the
proud monarchy which Zenobia had erected in the East
on the ruins of the afflicted empire. Owing to the un-
fenerous excuse of the queen, that she had waged war
y the advice of her ministers, her secretary, the cel-
ebrated Longinus, was put to death by the victor; but,
after having graced his triumphal entry into Rome,
Zenobia herself was presented with a villa near Tibur,
and allowed to spend the remainder of her days as a
Roman matron. (Kid. Zenobia, Longinus, Palmyra. )
Aurelian followed up his victories by the reformation
of abuses, and the restoration throughout the empire
of order and regularity, but he tarnished his good in-
tentions by the general severity of his measures, and
the sacrifice of the scnatorim order to his slightest
suspicions. He had planned a great expedition against
Persia, and was waiting in Thrace for an opportunity
to cross the straits, when he lost his life, A. I). 125, by
assassination, the result of a conspiracy excited by a
secretary whom he intended to call to account for
peculation. Aurelian was a wise, able, and active
prince, and very useful in the declining state of the
empire; but the austerity of his character caused him
to be very little regretted. It is said that he meditated
a severe persecution on the Christians, when he was
so suddenly cut off. (Hist. August. , p. 211, seqq. --
Gibbon, Decline and Fall, c. 11. -- Biogr. Univ. , vol.
3. p. 72. --Encyclop. Am. , vol. 1, p. 474. )--II. Cslius,
a native of Sicca, in Numidia, who is supposed to have
lived between 180 and 240 AD. He was a member
of the medical profession, and has left behind him two
works: the one entitled, " Libit Quinque tardarum
live chronicarum passwnum," and the other, "Libri
tret celerum site acutarum passionum. " Both arc
drawn from Greek authors; from Themison, Thessa-
lus, and, above all, Soranus. Cselius Aurelianus being
the only author of the sect called Methodists who has
come down to us (if we except Octavius Horatianus,
who lived in the days of the Emperor Valentinian, and
is little known), his work is particularly valuable, as
preserving to us an account of many theories and views
of practice which would otherwise have been lost; but
even of itself it is deserving of much attention for the
practical information which it contains. Ctelius is re-
markable for learning, understanding, and scrupulous
accuracy; but his style is much loaded with technical
terms, and by no means elegant. He has treated of
the most important diseases which come under the care
of the physician in the following manner. In the first
place, he gives a very circumstantial account of the
symptoms, which he does, however, more like a syste-
matic writer and a compiler, than as an original ob-
server of nature. Next, he is at great pains to point
out the distinction between the disease he is treating
of and those which very nearly resemble it. He after-
ward endeavors to determine the nature and seat of
the disease; and this part frequently contains valuable
references to the works of Erasistratus, the celebrated
Alexandrean anatomist. Then comes his account of
the treatment, which is, in general, sensible and sci-
? ? entific, but somewhat too formal, timid, and fettered
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? A US
AUS
star above her head, standing in a chariot <lrawn by
winged horses, while in one hand she holds a torch,
and with the other scatters roses, as illustrative of the
flowers springing from the dew, which the poets de-
scribe as diffused from the eyes of the goddess in liquid
pearls. (Compare Inghirami, Man. Etrusc, 1, 5. --
Mtikn. Vase* de Canosa, 5. Vases, 1,15. --Id. ibid. ,
2, 37-- Eckhel, SyU. , 7, 3. --MiUUr, ArchttoL tier
Kunst, p. 611. )
Avbunci, a people of Latium, on the coast towards
Campania, southeast of the Volsci. They were, in
fact, identical with the Ausonians. The Italian form
of the name Ausoncs can have been no other than
Aurun. for from this Aurunci is manifestly derived.
Auruncus is Aurunicus; the termination belongs to
the number of adjective-forms in which the old Latin
luxuriated, so as even to form Tuscanicus from Tuscus.
(lYiebahr's Rom. Hist. , voL 1, p. 56, 2d ed. , Cam-
bridge transi. )
Ausar, a river of Etruria, which formerly joined
the Arnus, not far from the mouth of the latter. At
present they both flow into the sea by separate chan-
nels. Some indication of the junction of these rivers
seems preserved by the name of Osari, attached to a
little stream or ditch which lies between them. (Cra-
mer's Aac. Italy, vol. 1, p. 174. )
AitschTs<<<, a people of Libya. (Hcrotlot. , 4, 171. )
They extended from above Barca to the neighbourhood
of the Hesperides. (Compare RcnncU's Geography of
Herodotus, vol. 2, p. 266. )
Ausci, a people of Gallia Aquitania. Their capital
was Ausci, now Ausc/i, on the Ger, one of the south-
em branches of the Garumna or Garonne. Its earlier
name was Climberris or Climberrum. (Cos. , B. G. ,
3, 27-- Mela, 3, 2. --Amm. Marc, 15, 28. )
Atsox, a son of Ulysses and Calypso, from whom
the Ausones, a people of Italy, were fabled to have
been descended. ( Viit. Ausonia. )
Ausomia, a name properly applied to the whole
southern part of Italy, through which the Ausones,
one of the ancient races of Italy, had spread them-
selves. Its derivation from Auson, son of Ulysses
and Calypso, is a mere fable. The sea on the south-
east coast was for a long time called from them Mare
Ausonmm. Niebuhr makes the Ausonians a por-
tion of the great Oscan nation. (Horn. Hist. , vol. 1,
p. 56, id cd. , Cambridge transl. )
Ausomus (Dccius, or, more correctly, Decimus,
Magnus), a Roman poet of the fourth century. The
most authentic particulars respecting him are to be
found in his own writings, and more especially in the
second volume of his Prafattuncula, wherein he treats
the subject professedly. He was born at Burdigala
(Bourdeauz), where his father, Julius Ausonius, was
an eminent physician, and also a Roman senator and
member of the Municipal Council. Had his educa-
tion been solely confided to paternal attentions, it is
probable that no record of him would have been ne-
cessary among the Latin poets, since the elder Auso-
nius, although well read in Greek, was but indiffer-
ently acquainted with the Latin' tongue. By the ex-
ertions, however, of his inatiem. il uncle, /Emilius
Magnus Arborius, himself a poet, and the reputed au-
thor of an elegy still extant, "Ad nympham nimis
cuUam. " and those of the /grammarians Minervius,
Xepotian, and Staphylus, the disadvantages of our po-
et's circumstances were abundantly removed. From
? ? these eminent men he acquired the principles of gram-
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? AXI
BAB
the husbandman neither to trim his trees nor prune his
vines when this wind blows (18, 76). On another oc-
casion (16, 46) he states, that the pear and the almond
trees lose their buds if the heavens be clouded by a
south wind, though unaccompanied by rain. This re-
mark, however, is not confirmed by modem experience.
The south wind is also described by the Latin poets
as bringing rain. (Tibull. , 1,1, 47. -- Ovid, Mel. , 13,
725, &c. ) We must distinguish, therefore, between
the dry and humid southern blasts, as Pliny docs in the
following passage: "(Ausler) humidua aut astuosus
Ilah<e est; Africa quidem tncendia cum sercmlate
ail/err (18, 76).
Autochthones, an appellation assumed by the
Athenians, importing that they sprang from the soil
which they inhabited. (Consult remarks undor the
article Attica. )
Autololje, a people of Africa, on the western or
Atlantic coast of Mauritania Tingitana. (Plin. , 6,
31. --Lxuan, Pharsal. , 4, 677. --SU. Ilal. , 2, 63. )
Autolycus, son of Mercury and Philonis, accord-
ing to the scholiast on Homer (Od. , 19, 432), but, ac-
cording to Pausanms (8, 4), the son of Daxlalion, and
not of Mercury. He dwelt on Parnassus, and was cel-
ebrated as a stealer of cattle, which he carried off in
such a way as to render it nearly impossible to recog-
nise them, all the marks being defaced.
Among
others, he drove oil" those of Sisyphus, and he defaced
the marks as usual; but, when Sisyphus came in quest
of them, he, to the great surprise of the thief, selected
his own beasts out of the herd, for he had marked the
initial letter of his name under their hoofs. (The an-
cient form of the 2 was C, which is of the shape of a
horse's hoof. ) Autolycus forthwith cultivated the ac-
quaintance of one who had thus proved himself too able
tor him; and Sisyphus, it is said, seduced or violated
his daughter Anticlea (who afterward married Laertes),
and thus was the real father of Ulysses. (Phcrccyd. ,
ap. Schol. ad Od. , 19, 432. --Schol. ad 11, 10, 2G7.
--Tzelz. ad Lycophr. , 344. --Keightlcy's Mythology,
p. 400. )
Automedok, a son of Diorcus, who went to tho
Trojan war with ten ships. He was the charioteer of
Achilles, after whose death he served Pyrrhus in the
same capacity. (Horn. , II. , 9, 16, &c. -- Yirir. , fiin. ,
2, 477. )
Autonob, a daughter of Cadmus, who married
Aristteus, by whom she had Actaion, often called Au-
toneius heros. The death of her son (rid. Actason)
was so painful to her, that she retired from Bosotia to
Megara, where she soon after died. (Pausan. , 1, 44.
--Hygin. , fab. , 179. --Ovid. Met. , 3, 720. )
Autrioones, a people of Hispania Tarraconcnsis,
among the Cantab ri. They occupied what is now
the eastern half of La Montana, the western quarter
of Biscay and Alava, and the northeastern part of
Burgos. Their capital was Flaviobri>ra, now Porlo
Gallclc, near Bilboa. (Floret, lisp. S. , 24, 10. --
Uicrt, Geogr. , vol. 2, p. 446. ) Mannert, however,
makes it to be Santandcr. (Geogr. , vol. 1. p. 373. )
Axknos, the ancient name of the Euxinc Sea. The
word signifies inhospitable, which was highly applica-
ble to the manners of the ancient inhabitants of the
coast. It took the name of Euxinus after the coast
was settled by Grecian colonies. (Yid. Pontus Euxi-
nus. )
Axius, the largest river in Macedonia, rising in the
? ? chain of Mount Scardus, and, after a course of eighty
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? BAB
of the original became more and more obscured, until
a single apologue alone, that of the swallow and night-
ingale, bore marks of a versified fable. This piece
found its way into a collection of fables attributed to
Ignatius Magister, a priest of Constantinople, who,
being in possession of a copy of tho original fables
of Babrius, in choliambic verse, as that author had
written them, resolved to change them into iambic
tertrastics. With this view he abridged and tortured
each apologue until he succeeded in reducing them
individually to four verses. Fifty-three fables were
thus strangled; but as if Ignatius had wished, by
means of a comparison; to augment our regTets for
those which he had altered, he preserved entire and
unchanged a single fable, the one to which we have al-
luded. At the period when the Greek authors began
to be printed, the true collection of Babrius no longer
existed: it was thought, however, that the collection
of Ignatius was the original one, and hence it was pub-
lished under tho name of Babrius, or rather Gabrias,
the B in the manuscripts being confounded with a T
The error of the name was only perceived about the
dose of the sixteenth century. Two English scholars,
the celebrated Bentley, in his dissertation on /Esop,
and, at a later period, Tyrwhitt, in his dissertation on
Babrius (Lond. , 1776, 8vo), have avenged the memo-
ry of the poet, and dissipated much of the obscurity
which hung over this portion of literary history. The
latter of these two scholars reunited all the fragments
of Babrius to be found in Suidas, as well as all those
which were to be met with in other works. In this
way he succeeded in recomposing four of the fables
of Babrius, so that their number now amounted in all
U> five. Thirty-three years afterward (1809) De Fu-
ria published many fables of -Esop, up to that time in-
edited. In the number of these were thirty-six, which
he believed to be written in proso like tho rest, and
which he printed as prose compositions; they were,
in reality, however, versified fables, and a few correc-
tions sufficed to restore them to their primitive form.
This service has been rendered by Coray, in his col-
lection of -Esop's Fables; by J. G. Schneider, at the
end of his edition of ^Esop, from the Augustan MS. ;
by Berger, in an edition of the remains of Babrius,
published at Munich in 1816; by Mr. G. Burges, in
the Classical Journal (whose collection, however, is
unfinished); by the present Bishop of London (Dr.
BlomlieU). in the third number of the Museum Criti-
cum ; and by an anonymous writer in the second num-
ber of the Cambridge Philological Museum. (Scholl,
Hist. Lit. Gr. , vol. 4, p. 61, scq. --Cambridge Pkilol.
Mas. , n. 2, p. 282, act]. )
Bibylon. I. a celebrated city, the capital of the
Babylonian empire, situate on the Euphrates, in 32?
25' north latitude, and 44? east longitude, as is sup-
posed. Its origin is lost in the obscurity of early
times. It is remarkable enough that Herodotus should
have given us no intimation respecting its founder; he
merely informs us that Semiramis and Nitocris, two of
its queens, strengthened the fortifications, and guard-
ed the city against inundations of the river, as well as
unproved and adorned it. May we not conclude from
this, asks Rennell (Geography of Herodotus, vol. 1,
p. 442), that its antiquity was very great; and as-
cended so high that Herodotus could not satisfy him-
self concerning it ? At the same time, adds this in-
telligent writer, the improvements that took place in
the city in the reign of ,Semiramis, might occasion the
? ? original foundation to be ascribed to her; the like
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? BABYLON.
BABYLON.
thirds of it might have been occupied in the mode in
which the large cities of Asia are built; that is, in the
style of some of those of India at the present day, hav-
ing gardens, reservoirs of water, and large open places
within them. Moreover, the houses of the common
people consist of one floor only; bo that, of course,
fewer people can be accommodated in the same com-
pass of ground in an Indian than in a European city.
This accounts at once for the erroneous dimensions
of some of the Asiatic cities; and perhaps we cannot
allow much less than double the spare to accommo-
date the same number of Asiatics that Europeans
would require That the area enclosed by the walls
of Babylon was only partly built on, is proved by the
words of Quintus Curtius (5,4), who says, that "the
buildingB in Babylon are not contiguous to the walls,
but some considerable space was left all around. "
Diodorus, moreover, describes a vast space taken up
by the palaces and public buildings. The enclosure
of one of the palaces was a square of 15 stadia, or
near a mile and a half; the other of live stadia: here
are more than 2 V square miles occupied by the palaces
alone. Besides these, there were the temple and
tower of fielus, of vast extent; the hanging gardens,
&c. From all this, and much more that might be ad-
duced, we may collect most clearly, that much vacant
space remained within the walls of Babylon: and this
would seem to do away, in some degree, the great dif-
ficulty respecting the magnitude of the city itself.
Nor is it stated as the effect of the subsequent decline
of Babylon, but as the actual state of it, when Alex-
ander first entered the place: for Curtius leaves us
to understand, that the system of cultivating a large
proportion of the enclosed space originated with the
foundation itself; and the history of its two sieges, by
Cyrus and Darius Hystaspis, seems to show it. (Rcn-
nclFs Geography of Herodotus, vol. 1, p. 447. )--The
walls of Babylon were built of brick baked in the sun,
cemented with bitumen instead of mortar, and were
encompassed by a broad and deep ditch, lined with
Iho same materials, as were also the banks of the river
in its course through the city, the inhabitants descend-
ing to the water by steps through the smaller brass
gates already mentioned. Over the river was a bridge,
connecting the two halves of the city, which stood,
the one on its eastern, the other on its western bank;
the river running nearly north and south. The bridge
was five furlongs in length, and thirty feet in breadth,
and had a palace at each end, with, it is said, a sub-
terranean passage beneath the river from one to the
other, the work of Semiramis. Within the city was
the temple of Belus, or Jupiter, which Herodotus de-
scribes as a square of two stadia: in the midst of this
arose the celebrated tower, to which both the same
writer and Strabo give an elevation of one stadium,
and the same measure at its base. The whole was di-
vided into eight separate towers, one above another,
of decreasing dimensions to the summit; where stood
a chapel, containing a couch, table, and other things,
of gold. Here the principal devotions were perform-
ed; and over this, on the highest platform of all, was
the observatory, by the help of which the Babylonians
are said to have attained to great skill in astronomy.
A winding staircase on the outside formed the ascent
to this stupendous edifice. --The two palaces, at the
two ends of the bridge, have already been alluded to.
The old palace, which stood on the cast side of the
? ? river, was 30 furlongs (or three miles and three quar-
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? BABYLON.
BABYLON.
tlie army of Cyrus entered the channel from their re-
spective stations on each side of the city, they rushed
onward towards the centre of the place; andfindingthc
gates leading towards the river left open, in the drunk-
enness and negligence of the night, they entered them,
and met by concert at the palace before any alarm had
been given: here the guards, partaking, no doubt, in
the negligence and disorder of the night, were sur-
prised and killed. While all this was going on with-
out, a remarkable scene of widely different character
was transacting within. Daniel was deciphering the
writing on the wall; and, soon after, the soldiers of
Cyrus, having killed the guard, and meeting with no re-
sistance, advanced towards the banqueting-hall, where
they encountered Belshazzar, the ill-fated monarch,
and slew him, with his armed followers. --Babylon had
suffered much when carried by the troops of Cyrus;
but other sufferings were to come. Cyrus having es-
tablished his court at Susa, Babylon, formerly the seat
of empire, was thus reduced to the rank of a provin-
cial city; and the inhabitants, who, grown wealthy
and proud during their empire over the East, could ill
brook this change of fortune, resolved to make an ef-
fort towards regaining their former power and gran-
deur. Accordingly, in the fifth year of Darius Hys-
taspis, and twelve years after the death of Cyrus, hav-
ing for several years covertly laid in great stores of
provisions, and every necessary, they openly revolted;
v. hich. as they might have expected, soon brought
upon them the armies of Darius. The city a second
time was taken by stratagem (nil. Zopyms), and Da-
rius, when he again became possessed of it, gave it
up to the plunder of his soldiers. He impaled 3000
ot those who were supposed to have been most active
in the revolt; took away the gates, and pulled down
the walls to the height of fifty cubits. During the re-
mainder of the reign of Darius, Babylon continued in
much the same state in which it was left after the
siege. But in the succeeding reign another blow was
struck towards her downfall. Xerxes, in his return
from his Grecian expedition, partly to indemnify him-
self for his losses, and partly out of zeal for the Ma-
gian religion, which held every kind of image-worship
in abhorrence, destroyed the temples and plundered
them of their vast wealth, which appears to have been
hitherto spared, and which must have been indeed pro-
digious; that in the temple of Belus alone amounting,
according to Diodorus, to above 6000 talents of gold,
or about 21 millions sterling. From this period, Bab-
ylon, despoiled of her wealth, her strength, and her
various resources, was in no condition for any more
revolts; and it is reasonable to suppose, that, with
the decay of her power and local advantages, the pop-
ulation also must decline. We hear, in fact, no more
of Babylon until the coming of Alexander, 160 years
after; when the terror of his name, or the weakness
of the place, was such, that it made not the slightest
pretensions to resistance. Alexander, after a short
visit to Babylon, proceeded on his expedition to In-
dia; and, at his return from thence, finding Babylon
more suitable in its situation and resources for the
capital of his empire than any other place in the East,
he resolved to fix his residence there, and to restore
it to its former strength and magnificence. For this
purpose, having examined the breach which Cyrus
had made in the river, and the possibility of bringing
it back to its former channel through the city, he em-
? ? ployed 10,000 men in the work, and, at the same
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? BABYLON.
BAC
or, as it is called by the natives, Birs Nemroud
(" The hill of Nimrod"). "If any building," says he,
"may be supposed to have left any considerable traces,
it is certainly the pyramid or tower of Belus; which,
by its form, dimensions, and the solidity of its con-
struction, was well calculated to resist the ravages of
time; and, if human force had not been employed,
would in all probability have remained to the present
day in nearly as perfect a state as the pyramids of
Egypt. Even under the dilapidations which we know
it to have undergone at a very early period, we might
reasonably look for traces of it after every other ves-
tige of Babylon had vanished from the face of the
earth. The whole height of the Birs Nemroud above
the plain, to the summit of the brick wall on its top,
is 235 feet. The brick wall itself, which stands on
the edge of the summit, and was undoubtedly the face
of another stage, is 37 feet high. In the side of the
pile, a little below the summit, is very clearly to be
seen part of another brick wall, precisely resembling
the fragment which crowns the summit, but which
still encases and supports its part of the mound.
This is clearly indicative of another stage, of greater
extent. TJlie masonry is infinitely superior to anything
of the kind I have ever seen; and, leaving out of the
question any conjecture relative to the original desti-
nation of this ruin, the first impression made by the
sight of it is, that it was a solid pile, composed in the
interior of unburned brick, and perhaps earth or rub-
bish; that it was constructed in preceding stages,
and faced with fine burned bricks, having inscriptions
on them, laid in a very thin layer of lime cement;
and that it was reduced by violence to its present ru-
inous condition. The upper stories have been forcibly
broken down, and fire has been employed as an in-
strument of destruction, though it is not easy to say
precisely how or why. The facing of fine bricks has
partly been removed, and partly covered by the falling
down of the mass which it supported and kept to-
gether. The Birs Nemroud is in all likelihood at
present pretty nearly in the state in which Alex-
ander saw it; if we give any credit to the report
that 10,000 men could only remove the rubbish, pre-
paratory to repairing it, in two months. If indeed it
required one half of that number to disencumber it,
the state of dilapidation must have been complete.
The immense masses of vitrified brick which arc
seen on the top of tho mount, appear to have marked
its summit since the time of its destruction. The
rubbish about its base was probably in much greater
quantities, tho weather having dissipated much of it
in the course of so many revolving ages; and possi-
bly portions of the exterior facing of fine brick may
have disappeared at different periods. " (Second Me-
moir on the Ruins of Babylon, p. 165, scoa. . Land. .
1839. )--The account of Sir Robert Ker Porter is
also exceedingly interesting. --As regards the opinion
generally entertained, that all traces of the walls of
Babylon had disappeared, it may be remarked, that
Buckingham considers the hill or mound of Al Hhei-
mar to ba a portion of the ancient wall. This mound
is about ten miles east of Hillah. It appears to con-
sist of a solid mass of brickwork, and is of an oval
form, its length being from north to south. It is
from 80 to 100 feet thick at the bottom, and from 70
to 80 high. On the summit is a mass of solid wall,
about 30 feet in length by 12 to 15 in thickness,
? ? bearing marks of being broken and incomplete on
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?
nc. Canneg. de atatc, &c. Flat. Arnani Jhsserlatio,
p. 231, seqq) This opinion, however, is rendered al-
together untenable by the inferior character of the
Latinity, which Cannegieter endeavours, though un-
successfully, to defend. Avianus would seem to have
lived in the reign of Theodosius, long after the date
assigned by the scholar just mentioned. His work is
dedicated to a certain Theodosius, supposed to have
been the grammarian Macrobius Theodosius. The fa-
bles of Avianus are sometimes erroneously ascribed to
Avienus. The best editions of Avianus are that of
Cannegieter, Amstelod. , 1731, 8vo, and that ofNodell,
Amsietod. , 1787, 8vo. (Bahr, Gesch. Rom. Lit. , vol.
1, p. 317. )
AviENfs, Rufus Festus, a Roman poet, whose age
and country have both been disputed. St. Jerome
speaks of him as of a recent writer(m Eptst. ad Tttum,
v. 12). and we can scarcely, therefore, with Crinitu&j
place him in the reign of Dioclesian. (Cnnil. , de poet.
La. , c. 80. ) The death of Jerome happened A. D.
420, in his ninety-first year: on the supposition, there-
fore, that Avienus flourished about the middle of that
father's protracted life, we may assign him to about
A. D. 370, or the period of Valentiman, Valens, and
Gratian. Tradition or conjecture has made him a
Spaniard by birth; but this opinion is unsupported by
written testimony, and even contradicted, if the in-
scription found in the Cssarian Villa refer to this poet,
which there seems small reason to doubt. From this
we learn that he was the son of Musonius Avienus, or
the son of Avienus and descendant of Musonius, ac-
cordingly as we punctuate the first line (" Festus Mu-
stmi soboles prolesque Avieni"); that he was born at
Vulsinii in Etruria; that he resided at Rome; that he
was twice proconsul, and the author of many poetical
pieces. The same inscription contradicts the notion,
too precipitately grounded on some vague expressions
in his writings, that he was a Christian; for it is no-
thing else than a religious address to the goddess Nor-
tia. the Fortune of the Etrurians. The extant and ac-
knowledged works of this poet are versions of the ? <<-
voficva of Aratus, and the lleptyyvmc of Dionysius;
and a portion of a poem "De Ora Marttima," which
includes, with some digressions, the coast between
Cadiz and Marseilles. The other poems generally be-
lieved to be the work of Avienus are, an Epistle to
Flavianus Myrmecius, an elegiac piece "de Canto Si-
renum," and some verses addressed to the author's
friends from the conntry. A poem " de urbibus His-
pam<z Medtterranets," is cited by some Spanish wri-
ters as the production of Avienus (Kicolaus Anionics,
BM. Vet. Hisp. , 2, 9), but it is generally supposed to
be the forgery of a Jesuit of Toledo. Servius (ad Virg. ,
. En. , 10,272--388) ascribes to Avienus iambic versions
of the narrative of Virgil and the history of Livy;
which observation of the grammarian, together with a
consideration of the genius and habits of this poet, ren-
ders it not altogether improbable that he is the author
? ? of a very curious and spirited Latin Epitome of the
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? AURELIANUS.
His next elevation was to the throne, Claudius II. , on
his deathbed, having recommended Aurelian to the
troops of Illyricum, who readily acceded to his wishes.
The reign of this monarch lasted only four years and
about nine months; but every instant of that short
period was filled by some memorable achievement.
He put an end to the Gothic war, chastised the Ger-
mans who invaded Italy, recovered Gaul, Spain, and
Britain out of the hands of Tetricus, and destroyed the
proud monarchy which Zenobia had erected in the East
on the ruins of the afflicted empire. Owing to the un-
fenerous excuse of the queen, that she had waged war
y the advice of her ministers, her secretary, the cel-
ebrated Longinus, was put to death by the victor; but,
after having graced his triumphal entry into Rome,
Zenobia herself was presented with a villa near Tibur,
and allowed to spend the remainder of her days as a
Roman matron. (Kid. Zenobia, Longinus, Palmyra. )
Aurelian followed up his victories by the reformation
of abuses, and the restoration throughout the empire
of order and regularity, but he tarnished his good in-
tentions by the general severity of his measures, and
the sacrifice of the scnatorim order to his slightest
suspicions. He had planned a great expedition against
Persia, and was waiting in Thrace for an opportunity
to cross the straits, when he lost his life, A. I). 125, by
assassination, the result of a conspiracy excited by a
secretary whom he intended to call to account for
peculation. Aurelian was a wise, able, and active
prince, and very useful in the declining state of the
empire; but the austerity of his character caused him
to be very little regretted. It is said that he meditated
a severe persecution on the Christians, when he was
so suddenly cut off. (Hist. August. , p. 211, seqq. --
Gibbon, Decline and Fall, c. 11. -- Biogr. Univ. , vol.
3. p. 72. --Encyclop. Am. , vol. 1, p. 474. )--II. Cslius,
a native of Sicca, in Numidia, who is supposed to have
lived between 180 and 240 AD. He was a member
of the medical profession, and has left behind him two
works: the one entitled, " Libit Quinque tardarum
live chronicarum passwnum," and the other, "Libri
tret celerum site acutarum passionum. " Both arc
drawn from Greek authors; from Themison, Thessa-
lus, and, above all, Soranus. Cselius Aurelianus being
the only author of the sect called Methodists who has
come down to us (if we except Octavius Horatianus,
who lived in the days of the Emperor Valentinian, and
is little known), his work is particularly valuable, as
preserving to us an account of many theories and views
of practice which would otherwise have been lost; but
even of itself it is deserving of much attention for the
practical information which it contains. Ctelius is re-
markable for learning, understanding, and scrupulous
accuracy; but his style is much loaded with technical
terms, and by no means elegant. He has treated of
the most important diseases which come under the care
of the physician in the following manner. In the first
place, he gives a very circumstantial account of the
symptoms, which he does, however, more like a syste-
matic writer and a compiler, than as an original ob-
server of nature. Next, he is at great pains to point
out the distinction between the disease he is treating
of and those which very nearly resemble it. He after-
ward endeavors to determine the nature and seat of
the disease; and this part frequently contains valuable
references to the works of Erasistratus, the celebrated
Alexandrean anatomist. Then comes his account of
the treatment, which is, in general, sensible and sci-
? ? entific, but somewhat too formal, timid, and fettered
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? A US
AUS
star above her head, standing in a chariot <lrawn by
winged horses, while in one hand she holds a torch,
and with the other scatters roses, as illustrative of the
flowers springing from the dew, which the poets de-
scribe as diffused from the eyes of the goddess in liquid
pearls. (Compare Inghirami, Man. Etrusc, 1, 5. --
Mtikn. Vase* de Canosa, 5. Vases, 1,15. --Id. ibid. ,
2, 37-- Eckhel, SyU. , 7, 3. --MiUUr, ArchttoL tier
Kunst, p. 611. )
Avbunci, a people of Latium, on the coast towards
Campania, southeast of the Volsci. They were, in
fact, identical with the Ausonians. The Italian form
of the name Ausoncs can have been no other than
Aurun. for from this Aurunci is manifestly derived.
Auruncus is Aurunicus; the termination belongs to
the number of adjective-forms in which the old Latin
luxuriated, so as even to form Tuscanicus from Tuscus.
(lYiebahr's Rom. Hist. , voL 1, p. 56, 2d ed. , Cam-
bridge transi. )
Ausar, a river of Etruria, which formerly joined
the Arnus, not far from the mouth of the latter. At
present they both flow into the sea by separate chan-
nels. Some indication of the junction of these rivers
seems preserved by the name of Osari, attached to a
little stream or ditch which lies between them. (Cra-
mer's Aac. Italy, vol. 1, p. 174. )
AitschTs<<<, a people of Libya. (Hcrotlot. , 4, 171. )
They extended from above Barca to the neighbourhood
of the Hesperides. (Compare RcnncU's Geography of
Herodotus, vol. 2, p. 266. )
Ausci, a people of Gallia Aquitania. Their capital
was Ausci, now Ausc/i, on the Ger, one of the south-
em branches of the Garumna or Garonne. Its earlier
name was Climberris or Climberrum. (Cos. , B. G. ,
3, 27-- Mela, 3, 2. --Amm. Marc, 15, 28. )
Atsox, a son of Ulysses and Calypso, from whom
the Ausones, a people of Italy, were fabled to have
been descended. ( Viit. Ausonia. )
Ausomia, a name properly applied to the whole
southern part of Italy, through which the Ausones,
one of the ancient races of Italy, had spread them-
selves. Its derivation from Auson, son of Ulysses
and Calypso, is a mere fable. The sea on the south-
east coast was for a long time called from them Mare
Ausonmm. Niebuhr makes the Ausonians a por-
tion of the great Oscan nation. (Horn. Hist. , vol. 1,
p. 56, id cd. , Cambridge transl. )
Ausomus (Dccius, or, more correctly, Decimus,
Magnus), a Roman poet of the fourth century. The
most authentic particulars respecting him are to be
found in his own writings, and more especially in the
second volume of his Prafattuncula, wherein he treats
the subject professedly. He was born at Burdigala
(Bourdeauz), where his father, Julius Ausonius, was
an eminent physician, and also a Roman senator and
member of the Municipal Council. Had his educa-
tion been solely confided to paternal attentions, it is
probable that no record of him would have been ne-
cessary among the Latin poets, since the elder Auso-
nius, although well read in Greek, was but indiffer-
ently acquainted with the Latin' tongue. By the ex-
ertions, however, of his inatiem. il uncle, /Emilius
Magnus Arborius, himself a poet, and the reputed au-
thor of an elegy still extant, "Ad nympham nimis
cuUam. " and those of the /grammarians Minervius,
Xepotian, and Staphylus, the disadvantages of our po-
et's circumstances were abundantly removed. From
? ? these eminent men he acquired the principles of gram-
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? AXI
BAB
the husbandman neither to trim his trees nor prune his
vines when this wind blows (18, 76). On another oc-
casion (16, 46) he states, that the pear and the almond
trees lose their buds if the heavens be clouded by a
south wind, though unaccompanied by rain. This re-
mark, however, is not confirmed by modem experience.
The south wind is also described by the Latin poets
as bringing rain. (Tibull. , 1,1, 47. -- Ovid, Mel. , 13,
725, &c. ) We must distinguish, therefore, between
the dry and humid southern blasts, as Pliny docs in the
following passage: "(Ausler) humidua aut astuosus
Ilah<e est; Africa quidem tncendia cum sercmlate
ail/err (18, 76).
Autochthones, an appellation assumed by the
Athenians, importing that they sprang from the soil
which they inhabited. (Consult remarks undor the
article Attica. )
Autololje, a people of Africa, on the western or
Atlantic coast of Mauritania Tingitana. (Plin. , 6,
31. --Lxuan, Pharsal. , 4, 677. --SU. Ilal. , 2, 63. )
Autolycus, son of Mercury and Philonis, accord-
ing to the scholiast on Homer (Od. , 19, 432), but, ac-
cording to Pausanms (8, 4), the son of Daxlalion, and
not of Mercury. He dwelt on Parnassus, and was cel-
ebrated as a stealer of cattle, which he carried off in
such a way as to render it nearly impossible to recog-
nise them, all the marks being defaced.
Among
others, he drove oil" those of Sisyphus, and he defaced
the marks as usual; but, when Sisyphus came in quest
of them, he, to the great surprise of the thief, selected
his own beasts out of the herd, for he had marked the
initial letter of his name under their hoofs. (The an-
cient form of the 2 was C, which is of the shape of a
horse's hoof. ) Autolycus forthwith cultivated the ac-
quaintance of one who had thus proved himself too able
tor him; and Sisyphus, it is said, seduced or violated
his daughter Anticlea (who afterward married Laertes),
and thus was the real father of Ulysses. (Phcrccyd. ,
ap. Schol. ad Od. , 19, 432. --Schol. ad 11, 10, 2G7.
--Tzelz. ad Lycophr. , 344. --Keightlcy's Mythology,
p. 400. )
Automedok, a son of Diorcus, who went to tho
Trojan war with ten ships. He was the charioteer of
Achilles, after whose death he served Pyrrhus in the
same capacity. (Horn. , II. , 9, 16, &c. -- Yirir. , fiin. ,
2, 477. )
Autonob, a daughter of Cadmus, who married
Aristteus, by whom she had Actaion, often called Au-
toneius heros. The death of her son (rid. Actason)
was so painful to her, that she retired from Bosotia to
Megara, where she soon after died. (Pausan. , 1, 44.
--Hygin. , fab. , 179. --Ovid. Met. , 3, 720. )
Autrioones, a people of Hispania Tarraconcnsis,
among the Cantab ri. They occupied what is now
the eastern half of La Montana, the western quarter
of Biscay and Alava, and the northeastern part of
Burgos. Their capital was Flaviobri>ra, now Porlo
Gallclc, near Bilboa. (Floret, lisp. S. , 24, 10. --
Uicrt, Geogr. , vol. 2, p. 446. ) Mannert, however,
makes it to be Santandcr. (Geogr. , vol. 1. p. 373. )
Axknos, the ancient name of the Euxinc Sea. The
word signifies inhospitable, which was highly applica-
ble to the manners of the ancient inhabitants of the
coast. It took the name of Euxinus after the coast
was settled by Grecian colonies. (Yid. Pontus Euxi-
nus. )
Axius, the largest river in Macedonia, rising in the
? ? chain of Mount Scardus, and, after a course of eighty
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? BAB
of the original became more and more obscured, until
a single apologue alone, that of the swallow and night-
ingale, bore marks of a versified fable. This piece
found its way into a collection of fables attributed to
Ignatius Magister, a priest of Constantinople, who,
being in possession of a copy of tho original fables
of Babrius, in choliambic verse, as that author had
written them, resolved to change them into iambic
tertrastics. With this view he abridged and tortured
each apologue until he succeeded in reducing them
individually to four verses. Fifty-three fables were
thus strangled; but as if Ignatius had wished, by
means of a comparison; to augment our regTets for
those which he had altered, he preserved entire and
unchanged a single fable, the one to which we have al-
luded. At the period when the Greek authors began
to be printed, the true collection of Babrius no longer
existed: it was thought, however, that the collection
of Ignatius was the original one, and hence it was pub-
lished under tho name of Babrius, or rather Gabrias,
the B in the manuscripts being confounded with a T
The error of the name was only perceived about the
dose of the sixteenth century. Two English scholars,
the celebrated Bentley, in his dissertation on /Esop,
and, at a later period, Tyrwhitt, in his dissertation on
Babrius (Lond. , 1776, 8vo), have avenged the memo-
ry of the poet, and dissipated much of the obscurity
which hung over this portion of literary history. The
latter of these two scholars reunited all the fragments
of Babrius to be found in Suidas, as well as all those
which were to be met with in other works. In this
way he succeeded in recomposing four of the fables
of Babrius, so that their number now amounted in all
U> five. Thirty-three years afterward (1809) De Fu-
ria published many fables of -Esop, up to that time in-
edited. In the number of these were thirty-six, which
he believed to be written in proso like tho rest, and
which he printed as prose compositions; they were,
in reality, however, versified fables, and a few correc-
tions sufficed to restore them to their primitive form.
This service has been rendered by Coray, in his col-
lection of -Esop's Fables; by J. G. Schneider, at the
end of his edition of ^Esop, from the Augustan MS. ;
by Berger, in an edition of the remains of Babrius,
published at Munich in 1816; by Mr. G. Burges, in
the Classical Journal (whose collection, however, is
unfinished); by the present Bishop of London (Dr.
BlomlieU). in the third number of the Museum Criti-
cum ; and by an anonymous writer in the second num-
ber of the Cambridge Philological Museum. (Scholl,
Hist. Lit. Gr. , vol. 4, p. 61, scq. --Cambridge Pkilol.
Mas. , n. 2, p. 282, act]. )
Bibylon. I. a celebrated city, the capital of the
Babylonian empire, situate on the Euphrates, in 32?
25' north latitude, and 44? east longitude, as is sup-
posed. Its origin is lost in the obscurity of early
times. It is remarkable enough that Herodotus should
have given us no intimation respecting its founder; he
merely informs us that Semiramis and Nitocris, two of
its queens, strengthened the fortifications, and guard-
ed the city against inundations of the river, as well as
unproved and adorned it. May we not conclude from
this, asks Rennell (Geography of Herodotus, vol. 1,
p. 442), that its antiquity was very great; and as-
cended so high that Herodotus could not satisfy him-
self concerning it ? At the same time, adds this in-
telligent writer, the improvements that took place in
the city in the reign of ,Semiramis, might occasion the
? ? original foundation to be ascribed to her; the like
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? BABYLON.
BABYLON.
thirds of it might have been occupied in the mode in
which the large cities of Asia are built; that is, in the
style of some of those of India at the present day, hav-
ing gardens, reservoirs of water, and large open places
within them. Moreover, the houses of the common
people consist of one floor only; bo that, of course,
fewer people can be accommodated in the same com-
pass of ground in an Indian than in a European city.
This accounts at once for the erroneous dimensions
of some of the Asiatic cities; and perhaps we cannot
allow much less than double the spare to accommo-
date the same number of Asiatics that Europeans
would require That the area enclosed by the walls
of Babylon was only partly built on, is proved by the
words of Quintus Curtius (5,4), who says, that "the
buildingB in Babylon are not contiguous to the walls,
but some considerable space was left all around. "
Diodorus, moreover, describes a vast space taken up
by the palaces and public buildings. The enclosure
of one of the palaces was a square of 15 stadia, or
near a mile and a half; the other of live stadia: here
are more than 2 V square miles occupied by the palaces
alone. Besides these, there were the temple and
tower of fielus, of vast extent; the hanging gardens,
&c. From all this, and much more that might be ad-
duced, we may collect most clearly, that much vacant
space remained within the walls of Babylon: and this
would seem to do away, in some degree, the great dif-
ficulty respecting the magnitude of the city itself.
Nor is it stated as the effect of the subsequent decline
of Babylon, but as the actual state of it, when Alex-
ander first entered the place: for Curtius leaves us
to understand, that the system of cultivating a large
proportion of the enclosed space originated with the
foundation itself; and the history of its two sieges, by
Cyrus and Darius Hystaspis, seems to show it. (Rcn-
nclFs Geography of Herodotus, vol. 1, p. 447. )--The
walls of Babylon were built of brick baked in the sun,
cemented with bitumen instead of mortar, and were
encompassed by a broad and deep ditch, lined with
Iho same materials, as were also the banks of the river
in its course through the city, the inhabitants descend-
ing to the water by steps through the smaller brass
gates already mentioned. Over the river was a bridge,
connecting the two halves of the city, which stood,
the one on its eastern, the other on its western bank;
the river running nearly north and south. The bridge
was five furlongs in length, and thirty feet in breadth,
and had a palace at each end, with, it is said, a sub-
terranean passage beneath the river from one to the
other, the work of Semiramis. Within the city was
the temple of Belus, or Jupiter, which Herodotus de-
scribes as a square of two stadia: in the midst of this
arose the celebrated tower, to which both the same
writer and Strabo give an elevation of one stadium,
and the same measure at its base. The whole was di-
vided into eight separate towers, one above another,
of decreasing dimensions to the summit; where stood
a chapel, containing a couch, table, and other things,
of gold. Here the principal devotions were perform-
ed; and over this, on the highest platform of all, was
the observatory, by the help of which the Babylonians
are said to have attained to great skill in astronomy.
A winding staircase on the outside formed the ascent
to this stupendous edifice. --The two palaces, at the
two ends of the bridge, have already been alluded to.
The old palace, which stood on the cast side of the
? ? river, was 30 furlongs (or three miles and three quar-
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? BABYLON.
BABYLON.
tlie army of Cyrus entered the channel from their re-
spective stations on each side of the city, they rushed
onward towards the centre of the place; andfindingthc
gates leading towards the river left open, in the drunk-
enness and negligence of the night, they entered them,
and met by concert at the palace before any alarm had
been given: here the guards, partaking, no doubt, in
the negligence and disorder of the night, were sur-
prised and killed. While all this was going on with-
out, a remarkable scene of widely different character
was transacting within. Daniel was deciphering the
writing on the wall; and, soon after, the soldiers of
Cyrus, having killed the guard, and meeting with no re-
sistance, advanced towards the banqueting-hall, where
they encountered Belshazzar, the ill-fated monarch,
and slew him, with his armed followers. --Babylon had
suffered much when carried by the troops of Cyrus;
but other sufferings were to come. Cyrus having es-
tablished his court at Susa, Babylon, formerly the seat
of empire, was thus reduced to the rank of a provin-
cial city; and the inhabitants, who, grown wealthy
and proud during their empire over the East, could ill
brook this change of fortune, resolved to make an ef-
fort towards regaining their former power and gran-
deur. Accordingly, in the fifth year of Darius Hys-
taspis, and twelve years after the death of Cyrus, hav-
ing for several years covertly laid in great stores of
provisions, and every necessary, they openly revolted;
v. hich. as they might have expected, soon brought
upon them the armies of Darius. The city a second
time was taken by stratagem (nil. Zopyms), and Da-
rius, when he again became possessed of it, gave it
up to the plunder of his soldiers. He impaled 3000
ot those who were supposed to have been most active
in the revolt; took away the gates, and pulled down
the walls to the height of fifty cubits. During the re-
mainder of the reign of Darius, Babylon continued in
much the same state in which it was left after the
siege. But in the succeeding reign another blow was
struck towards her downfall. Xerxes, in his return
from his Grecian expedition, partly to indemnify him-
self for his losses, and partly out of zeal for the Ma-
gian religion, which held every kind of image-worship
in abhorrence, destroyed the temples and plundered
them of their vast wealth, which appears to have been
hitherto spared, and which must have been indeed pro-
digious; that in the temple of Belus alone amounting,
according to Diodorus, to above 6000 talents of gold,
or about 21 millions sterling. From this period, Bab-
ylon, despoiled of her wealth, her strength, and her
various resources, was in no condition for any more
revolts; and it is reasonable to suppose, that, with
the decay of her power and local advantages, the pop-
ulation also must decline. We hear, in fact, no more
of Babylon until the coming of Alexander, 160 years
after; when the terror of his name, or the weakness
of the place, was such, that it made not the slightest
pretensions to resistance. Alexander, after a short
visit to Babylon, proceeded on his expedition to In-
dia; and, at his return from thence, finding Babylon
more suitable in its situation and resources for the
capital of his empire than any other place in the East,
he resolved to fix his residence there, and to restore
it to its former strength and magnificence. For this
purpose, having examined the breach which Cyrus
had made in the river, and the possibility of bringing
it back to its former channel through the city, he em-
? ? ployed 10,000 men in the work, and, at the same
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? BABYLON.
BAC
or, as it is called by the natives, Birs Nemroud
(" The hill of Nimrod"). "If any building," says he,
"may be supposed to have left any considerable traces,
it is certainly the pyramid or tower of Belus; which,
by its form, dimensions, and the solidity of its con-
struction, was well calculated to resist the ravages of
time; and, if human force had not been employed,
would in all probability have remained to the present
day in nearly as perfect a state as the pyramids of
Egypt. Even under the dilapidations which we know
it to have undergone at a very early period, we might
reasonably look for traces of it after every other ves-
tige of Babylon had vanished from the face of the
earth. The whole height of the Birs Nemroud above
the plain, to the summit of the brick wall on its top,
is 235 feet. The brick wall itself, which stands on
the edge of the summit, and was undoubtedly the face
of another stage, is 37 feet high. In the side of the
pile, a little below the summit, is very clearly to be
seen part of another brick wall, precisely resembling
the fragment which crowns the summit, but which
still encases and supports its part of the mound.
This is clearly indicative of another stage, of greater
extent. TJlie masonry is infinitely superior to anything
of the kind I have ever seen; and, leaving out of the
question any conjecture relative to the original desti-
nation of this ruin, the first impression made by the
sight of it is, that it was a solid pile, composed in the
interior of unburned brick, and perhaps earth or rub-
bish; that it was constructed in preceding stages,
and faced with fine burned bricks, having inscriptions
on them, laid in a very thin layer of lime cement;
and that it was reduced by violence to its present ru-
inous condition. The upper stories have been forcibly
broken down, and fire has been employed as an in-
strument of destruction, though it is not easy to say
precisely how or why. The facing of fine bricks has
partly been removed, and partly covered by the falling
down of the mass which it supported and kept to-
gether. The Birs Nemroud is in all likelihood at
present pretty nearly in the state in which Alex-
ander saw it; if we give any credit to the report
that 10,000 men could only remove the rubbish, pre-
paratory to repairing it, in two months. If indeed it
required one half of that number to disencumber it,
the state of dilapidation must have been complete.
The immense masses of vitrified brick which arc
seen on the top of tho mount, appear to have marked
its summit since the time of its destruction. The
rubbish about its base was probably in much greater
quantities, tho weather having dissipated much of it
in the course of so many revolving ages; and possi-
bly portions of the exterior facing of fine brick may
have disappeared at different periods. " (Second Me-
moir on the Ruins of Babylon, p. 165, scoa. . Land. .
1839. )--The account of Sir Robert Ker Porter is
also exceedingly interesting. --As regards the opinion
generally entertained, that all traces of the walls of
Babylon had disappeared, it may be remarked, that
Buckingham considers the hill or mound of Al Hhei-
mar to ba a portion of the ancient wall. This mound
is about ten miles east of Hillah. It appears to con-
sist of a solid mass of brickwork, and is of an oval
form, its length being from north to south. It is
from 80 to 100 feet thick at the bottom, and from 70
to 80 high. On the summit is a mass of solid wall,
about 30 feet in length by 12 to 15 in thickness,
? ? bearing marks of being broken and incomplete on
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?
