The following account of this city, in its greatest splendour, is borrowed principally from Herodotus, who had been on the spot, and is the oldest author who has treated of the subject.

The city of Babylon was square, being a hundred and twenty furlongs, that is, fifteen miles, or five leagues, every way; and the whole circuit of it was four hundred and eighty furlongs, or twenty leagues. The walls were built with large bricks, cemented with bitumen, a thick glutinous fluid, which rises out of the earth in the neighbouring country, and which binds stronger than mortar, and becomes harder than brick itself. These walls were eighty-seven feet thick, and-three hundred and fifty high. Those who mention them as only fifty cubits high, refer to their condition after Darius, son of Hystaspes, had commanded them to be reduced to that height, to punish a rebellion of the Babylonians.

The city was encompassed with a vast ditch, which was filled with water, and the sides of which were built up with brick-work. The earth which was dug out, was used in making bricks for the walls of the city; so that the depth and width of the ditch may be estimated by the extreme height and thickness of the walls. There were a hundred gates to the city, twenty-five on each of the four sides. These gates, with their posts, etc. were all of brass. Between every two gates were three towers, raised ten feet above the walls, where necessary; for the city being encompassed in several places with marshes, which defended the approach to it. those parts stood in no need of towers.

A street corresponded with each gate; so that there were fifty streets, which cut one another at right angles, and each of which was fifteen miles in length, and one hundred and fifty-one feet in width. Four other streets, which had houses on one side, and the ramparts on the other, encompassed the whole city, and were each of them two hundred feet wide. By the streets crossing each other, the whole city was divided into six hundred and seventy-six squares, each of which was four furlongs and a half on every side, and two miles and a quarter in circuit. The houses of these squares were three or four stories high, and their fronts were embellished; and the inner space was filled with courts and gardens.

The city was divided into two parts by the Euphrates, which ran from north to south. A bridge of admirable structure, about a furlong in length, and sixty feet in width, formed the communication across the river; and at the two extremities of this bridge were two palaces on the east, and the new palace on the west side of the river. The Temple of Belus, which stood near the old palace, occupied one entire square. The city was situated in a vast plain, the soil of which was extremely fat and fruitful.

To people this immense city, Nebuchadnezzar transplanted hither an infinite number of captives, from the many nations that he subdued. It would appear, however, that the whole of it was never inhabited.

The famous Hanging Gardens, which adorned the palace in Babylon, were ranked among the wonders of the world. They contained four hundred feet square, and were composed of several large terraces; and the platform of the highest terrace was equal in height to the walls of Babylon, that is, three hundred and fifty feet. The assent from terrace to terrace was by steps ten feet wide. The whole mass was supported by large vaults, built upon each other, and strengthened by a wall twenty-two feet thick. The tops of these arches were covered with stones, rushes and bitumen, and plates of lead, to prevent leakage. The depth of earth was so great, that in it the largest trees might take root. Here was every thing that could please the sight; as, large trees, flowers, plants, and shrubs. Upon the highest terrace was a reservoir, supplied with water from the river.

The predictions of the prophets against Babylon, gradually received their accomplishment. Berosus relates, that Cyrus, having taken this city, demolished its walls, lest the inhabitants should revolt. Darius, son of Hystaspes, destroyed the gates, etc. Alexander the Great intended to rebuild it, but was prevented by death from accomplishing his design. Seleucus Nicator built Seleucia on the Tigris, and this city insensibly deprived Babylon of its inhabitants. Strabo assures us, that under Augustus, Babylon was almost forsaken, and that it was no longer any thing more than a great desert. St. Jerome relates, on the testimony of a monk who dwelt at Jerusalem, that in his time, Babylon and its ancient precincts were converted into a great park, in which the kings of Persia were accustomed to hunt.

A German traveller, named Rauwolf, who in 1574 passed through the place where Babylon formerly stood, speaks of its ruins as follows: "The village of Elugo now stands where Babylon of Chaldea was formerly situated. The harbour is distant from it a quarter of a league, and people go on shore to proceed by land to the celebrated city of Bagdad, which is distant a journey of a day and a half eastward, on the Tigris. The soil is so dry and barren, that they cannot till it; and so naked, that I could scarcely believe, that this powerful city, once the most stately and renowned in all the world, and situated in the most fruitful country of Shinar, could ever have stood in this place. My doubts, however, on this point, were removed, by the situation, and by many antiquities of great beauty, which are still to be seen, and particularly by the old bridge over the Euphrates, of which some piles and arches of brick remain, so strong as to excite admiration. The whole front of the village of Elugo is the hill upon which the castle stood; and the ruins of its fortifications, though demolished and uninhabited, are still visible. Behind, and at a small distance beyond, was the tower of Babylon, which is still to be seen, and is half a league in diameter. It is, however, so ruinous, so low, and so full of venomous creatures, which lodge in holes made by them in the rubbish, that no one dares approach nearer to it than within half a league, except during two months in winter, when these animals never leave their holes. In particular, one sort, which the inhabitants of the country call eglo, possesses a very active poison, and is larger than our lizard."