itself. This mound is 1,100 yards long and 800 yards broad.
Baboon (băb-oon′), a family of monkeys, native to Africa and found also in parts of Asia. They have dog-shaped heads, long muzzles, large cheek-pouches in which a great quantity of food can be temporarily stowed away, frequently large and brightly-colored calloused cushions on their hips. In the adult males the canine teeth are developed into formidable tusks. They are quadrupeds, running swiftly on all-fours, climbing with great vigor, fond of sitting on their haunch pads and especially at home in mountainous districts. They often live in herds, and, led by patriarchs and guarded by sentinels, fight other herds or defend themselves against other wild beasts. Often when fighting they will stand erect. They are playful and amiable when young. It is said the ancient Egyptians trained them to pick fruit. When older, especially when kept confined, they are very savage. Their food is largely made up of fruits, roots, seeds, insects, worms, etc. Their raids on plantations are much dreaded. About a dozen different kinds are known. The largest and fiercest is called the mandril or ribbed-nose baboon, and is a native of the Guinea coast. This form has a rudimentary tail, while the common baboon has a well developed tail, twenty inches long in the adult. The baboon is thought to have been an object of worship in Egypt, inspiring reverence because of his wise-looking face.
Bab′ylon, capital of the empire of Babylonia on the Euphrates River, was said by the ignorant Greeks to have been founded by Queen Semiramis, who, it is related, employed two million workmen in building it. In Nebuchadnezzar’s time, it stood on both sides of the river, in the form of a square. It was surrounded by walls, some 60 miles long, with 100 brazen gates. Here was a famous temple of Baal, by some thought to be built over the ruins of the tower of Babel; also the hanging gardens of Semiramis, one of the wonders of the old world. The Persians ruined Babylon by their conquest, Xerxes in particular, ravaging the temple of Baal. Alexander the Great undertook to rebuild the city; but when his ten thousand workmen, after two months’ labor, had not even cleared away the rubbish, he gave up the project. After that it rapidly fell into ruin, and its materials were used in building the new city, Seleucia, by Alexander’s successor, Seleucus.
Babylo′nia was the name given to the low plain watered by the lower streams of the Tigris and Euphrates. The country has always been one of the most fertile spots in western Asia. Herodotus tells us that it supplied one third of the corn of the whole Persian empire. This fertility was increased by a network of canals irrigating the whole country.
It has always been a land of many races and tongues, and almost every country is represented in the mixed gathering of nations living on its plains. Chronicles and lists of kings have been found that afford us considerable knowledge of the Babylonians. Boys became free citizens at the age of fourteen; women were well-treated; they could trade and own slaves, and offenses against the mother were severely punished. Slaves must not be treated cruelly, and all free Chaldaeans must be educated and learn tablet-writing. Judges sat in the gates of the temple, and taxes were fixed by law. They were also no mean sculptors, and had learned the art of casting metals.
Babylonia’s history in age rivals that of Egypt, going back at least 4,000 years before Christ. The first king who appears to have united the different towns into one kingdom was Urbaku (about 2,700 B. C.). In 2120 B. C., came in the Kassite dynasty, and then Babylon came to be known as the capital of the empire. From 1150 B. C. there were many wars between Babylonia and Assyria. Even the great kings suffered invasions from the north, as Nabonassar, who reigned fourteen years, beginning in 747 B. C., and whose kingdom was twice invaded by the Assyrian army. Tiglath-Pileser III, the Assyrian, completely overran the country, and ascended its throne as King Pul, being known by a different name in each of his kingdoms. This conquest brought Babylon and Nineveh, the two capitals, into close relations. Merodach-Baladan II succeeded, in 722 B. C., in freeing the country from its northern neighbor, and by skillfully sending an embassy to Hezekiah of Judaea and other Syrian princes led them to revolt, and so kept the Assyrian Sargon too busy to march into Babylonia; but in 710 B. C. it was again conquered. When Assyria fell, Babylonia
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