BABYLON AND PERSIA

238 MEDIA, BABYLON, AND PERSLA.type of both Ziggurat and hanging gardens havingbeen carried north in remote antiquity from Chaldeawhere, beyond doubt, it originated, and was closelyconnected with the religious traditions of the Holy-Mountain and Sacred Tree.*II. If the mound of Babil has been correctlyidentified as the site of the hanging gardens, thatof the great temple of Bel-Marduk will have, untilfurther discoveries, to remain doubtful. Both tem¬ple and Ziggurat, the latter with a chapel on thetop stage, are thus described by Herodotus :" The sacred precinct was a square enclosure two stadia (i200feet) each way, with gates of solid brass, which was also remainingin my time.In the middle of the precinct there was a tower ofsolid masonry, a stadion (5oo feet) in length and breadth, uponwhich was raised a second tower, and on that a third, and so on upto eight. The ascent to the top is on the outside, by a path whichwinds round all the towers,f When one is about half-way up, onefinds a resting-place and seats, where persons are wont to sit sometime on their way to the summit. On the topmost tower there is aspacious temple, and inside the temple stands a couch of unusualsize, richly adorned, with a golden table by its side. . . . Theydeclare but I for my part do not credit it that the god comesdown in person into this chamber, and sleeps on the couch. . . .In the same precinct there is another temple, in which is a sittingfigure of Zeus " (i. e., Bel-Marduk), "all of gold. Before the fig¬ure stands a large golden table ;and the throne whereupon it sits,and the base on which the throne is placed, are likewise of gold.. . . Outside the temple are two altars, one of solid gold, onwhich it is lawful to offer only sucklings ;the other a common altar,but of great size, on which the full-grown animals are sacrificed. Itis also on this great altar that the Chaldeans burn the frankincense,which is offered every year at the festival of the god. . . ."* See " Story of Chaldea," pp. 274-280, and ill. 68.f See'' Story of Chaldea," ill. 70, "Ziggurat Restored,"