BABYLON AND PERSIA

228 MEDLA, BABYLON, AND PERSIA.besetting idea of coupling adornment with militaryrequirements, which consistently underiies most ofthe public works he undertook. In this, however,he appears to have followed a line traced out first byhis father. Of some of his greatest constructions,such as the new palace, the great city walls, and theembankments of the Euphrates,he especially men¬tions that they were begun by Nabopolassar, butleft unfinished at his death. Babylon, sacked onceby Sennacherib, then rebuilt by Esarhaddon, hadgone through a conflagration when besieged andtaken by Asshurbanipal, and must have been in a sadcondition when the Chaldean usurper made it oncemore the seat of empire. Hence, perhaps, thethought of reconstructing it in such a manner aswould make it a capital not only in size and mag¬nificence, but in strength : it was to be at once thequeen of cities and the most impregnable of fortresses.6. The last time that Babylon had been taken ithad been reduced by famine.* This was' the firstcontingency to be guarded against. For this pur¬pose the city was to be protected by a double en¬closure of mighty walls, the inner one skirting itsoutlines narrowly, while the outer was moved to sucha distance as to enfold a large portion of the land,which was to be cultivated so that the capital couldraise enough grain and fodder for its own consump¬tion. This vast space also would serve to shelter thepopulation of the surrounding villages in case of aninvasion. It has not been possible to trace the line ofthis outer wall, which received the name of NlJVHT-See " Story of Assyria," p. 396.