"سرد لرحلة إلى موقع مدينة بابل في ١٨١١، طُبعت الآن لأول مرة: مذكرات على الأطلال؛ مع نقوش من الخرائط المدبئية للمؤلف: ملاحظات على طبوغرافية بابل القديمة،بقلم الرائد رينيل؛ في إشارة إلى المذكرات: مذكرات ثانية على الأطلال؛ في إشارة إلى ملاحظات الرائد رينيل: مع سرد لرحلة إلى برسبوليس: طُبعت الآن لأول مرة، مع كتابات مسمارية نسخت في برسبوليس ولم تُنشر من قبل: كتبها الراحل كلوديوس جيمس ريتش، المحترم، المقيم البريطاني السابق لشركة الهند الشرقية في بغداد. حررته أرملته." [‎١‎٠‎٤] (٤٧٤/١٩٠)

104 RUINS OF BABYLON.
architecture, and have been imitated in their turn by
their Parthian neighbours.
I have thus given a faithful account of my obser
vations at Babylon, and offer it merely as a prelude
to further researches, which repeated visits to the
same spot may enable me to make. My wish to be
minutely accurate has, I fear, often betrayed me into
tediousness ; but the subject is a curious, perhaps an
important one, as it may tend to illustrate several
passages in the sacred and profane writers. Instead
of being disappointed at the difficulty of ascertain
ing any part of the original plan of Babylon, from
its present remains, we ought rather to be astonished
at the grandeur of that city which has left such
traces, when we consider that it was nearly a heap of
ruins two thousand years ago; that immense cities
have been built out of its materials, which still
appear to be inexhaustible; and that the capital of
the Abassides, which we know to have been one of
the most extensive and magnificent cities of compa
ratively modern times, has left but a few confused
vestiges, which are scarcely elevated above the level
ol the Desert, and which in a few years the most
inquiring eye will be unable to discover.