BABYLON AND PERSIA

236 MEDIA, BABYLON, AND PERSIA.10. Yet, poor as it may have been when comparedto nature's own mountain architecture, as a piece ofhuman art it was a marvel which the Greeks thoughtworthy of a place among their "Seven Wonders,"along with the walls of Babylon, the temple of Bel,that of Artemis at Ephesus, and a few other monu¬ments. The terraces are described by Greek andRoman writers to have been borne on arched vaultssupported by pillars, all of well cemented bricks.On the topmost terrace was the pump-house, withthe hydraulic machinery for raising the water throughpipes from the Euphrates, or rather, from canalswhich brought the water within easy reach, and sothat the contrivance should not be noticed from theoutside. "Mr. Rassam found some of the pipes, cutthrough hmestone, and having cleared one of therubbish that choked it, actually came upon waterwhich still partly filled it. It is said that the earthwas carted up in loads and spread out on a layer ofplates of lead, for the protection of the masonryfrom the destructive action of the moisture whichhad to be kept up around the roots of the trees.The terraces were four in number, the pillars sixtyfeet apart, and twenty-two feet in circumference, ascould be verified from the remains. On the whole,this Paradeisos, as the Greeks called it, disposedsomewhat on the principle of the Ziggurat, was notan innovation, and we have seen in a preceding vol¬ume that similar constructions terraces upon arches,bearing groves or gardens and forming artificiallywatered slopes have been portrayed long beforeNebuchadrezzar on Assyrian wall-sculptures, the