'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in reference to Major Rennell's remarks: with narrative of a journey to Persepolis: now first printed, with hitherto unpublished cuneiform inscriptions copied at Persepolis: by the late Claudius James Rich, Esq., formerly the Resident of the Hon.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.' [‎46] (73/474)

xlvi
INTRODUCTION.
desert ? Some writers have attempted to solve the
difficulty otherwise, from a passage in Alydenus,
where we read that anciently the name of sea was
given to the waters spread abroad in the neighbour
hood of Babylon. If this explanation, which has
been adopted by some commentators, and among
others by Don Calmet, is thought too conjectural,
might it not be as well to take simply the word
here for the Euphrates itself, which served as a port
to the ships of all the nations of the East, who were
in the habit of trading with the Babylonians ? This
seems the more probable, as this manner of expres
sion was not unknown in the East, the Egyptians
commonly calling the Nile, or
These waves which overwhelmed Babylon soon
rendered it uninhabitable ; and, as Isaiah says,* she
became the habitation of wild beasts, and owls, and
satyrs. The progressive accomplishment of the pro
phecies is one means used by God to perpetuate the
lemembrance of His oracles, and to keep them con
tinually before the minds of men. Nevertheless,
that progress is neither hidden nor unfelt—the rod
stiikes, and from time to time lets itself be seen;
and this is principally what we ought to observe
as legai ds Babylon, Her destruction was marked
by sevei al epochs; and one of the last of these was
when she was sacked by the Parthian general, Hy-
merus . from that time forward the name of city
could no longer be applied to her. " Mine eyes
* Isaiah xiii. 21.