Excerpt from Great Men and Famous Women, Vol. 1: A Series of Pen and Pencil Sketches of the Lives of More Than 200 of the Most Prominent Personages in History
When Nebuchadnezzar rested after his conquests, secure in the subjugation of his rivals, and in the possession of his vast kingdom, he gave himself up to the material improvement of Babylon and the surrounding country. The city as he left it, at the end Of his reign of forty-three years, was built on both sides Of the Euphrates, and covered a space of four hundred square miles, equal to five times the size of London. It was surrounded by a triple wall Of bri’ck the innermost, over three hundred feet high, and eighty-five feet broad at the top, with room for four chariots to drive abreast. The walls were pierced by one hundred gate-ways framed in brass and with brazen gates, and at the points Where the Euphrates entered and left the city the walls also turned and followed the course of the river, thus dividing the city into two fortified parts. These two districts were connected by a bridge Of stone piers, guarded by portcullises, and ferries also plied between the quays that lined the river-banks, to which access was given by gates in the walls.
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