'Narrative of a journey to the site of Babylon in 1811, now first published: memoir on the ruins; with engravings from the original sketches by the author: remarks on the topography of ancient Babylon, by Major Rennell; in reference to the memoir: second memoir on the ruins; in reference to Major Rennell's remarks: with narrative of a journey to Persepolis: now first printed, with hitherto unpublished cuneiform inscriptions copied at Persepolis: by the late Claudius James Rich, Esq., formerly the Resident of the Hon. East India Company at Bagdad. Edited by his widow.' [‎153] (241/474)

RUINS OF BABYLON.
153
pretended to refer every ruin which remains of
ancient Babylon to the age of Nebuchadnezzar) ;
and if they are condemned, the mound itself, con
sequently, and all the mounds or heaps attached to
it, cannot be admitted to be a part of ancient Baby
lon.—I shall in the sequel have occasion to return to
this subject.
As Major Rennell appears generally inclined to
receive so literally the statements of the ancients,
even of Diodorus, it is a little surprising that he has
not adverted to the dimensions assigned by that
writer The lowest of the four classes into which East India Company civil servants were divided. A Writer’s duties originally consisted mostly of copying documents and book-keeping. to the palaces: he would have seen, that so
far from warranting the belief of the eastern ruins
comprising the remains of all the public edifices of
Babylon (viz., the new palace of 60 stades in cir
cumference, the old one of 30 stades, and the Temple
of Belus of 8 stades), it is evident that they will only
answer to the new palace, with its Acropolis. It is
true, Diodorus places his largest palace on the west;
but an author who confounds the Tigris with the
Euphrates may without injustice be suspected of a
topographical inaccuracy of this nature. (C) In
deed, whether we do or do not admit the authority of
Diodorus, the best conclusion to be drawn trom the
appearance and plan of these ruins is, that they re
present the whole of the royal precincts, including
the hanging gardens.* The ruins of the palace of
* We should form a very incorrect notion of the residence of an
eastern monarch, if we imagined it was one building which in its
decay would leave a single mound, or mass of ruins. Such esta-