of the Euphrates, and was joined to the city by a festal road. The outer fortification walls of Babylon could not have been very far from Birs Nimroud. The distance is twenty kilometers—i. e., about fourteen miles. Since the old wall of Babylon ran north from Babil, we can safely estimate the extent of the town from north to south at fourteen miles. The ruins also extend in the direction of west to east about twenty kilometers. Accordingly we can reckon, without difficulty, a circumference of fifty-six miles (four hundred and eighty stades). Against the statements of Herodotus no valid arguments can be brought.
The difference between Herodotus and the later Greek writers can be explained in several ways. The remains of the outer fortification may have been extant in the time of Herodotus; but if later writers failed to recognize these, they would consequently underestimate the circuit of the town. Again it is possible that Herodotus might have taken his measurements from the eastern part of Babylon, which, on account of the east wall constructed by Nebuchadrezar, had a greater extent than the western part, on which the later writers may have based their figures. Doubtless the extent of the town from west to east, owing to the east wall of Nebuchadrezar, was greater than from north to south. Herodotus, assuming a quadrangular area, had perhaps measured only one side; the later writers may also have measured only one side, but in a different direction. The most probable explanation is that Herodotus included Borsippa with Babylon, and consequently had greater dimensions as the basis of his measurement than those writers who took into their account only Babylon proper. That Herodotus reckoned Borsippa as a
