precious metal. Here, too, Persian avarice had been busy; for anciently
this shrine had possessed a second statue, which was a human figure
twelve cubits high, made of solid gold. The shrine was also rich
in private offerings. Outside the building, but within the sacred
enclosure, were two altars, a smaller one of gold, on which it was
customary to offer sucklings, and a larger one, probably of stone, where
the worshippers sacrificed full-grown victims.

The great palace was a building of still larger dimensions than the
great temple. According to Diodorus, it was situated within a triple
enclosure, the innermost wall being twenty stades, the second forty
stades, and the outermost sixty stades (nearly seven miles), in
circumference. The outer wall was built entirely of plain baked brick.
The middle and inner walls were of the same material, fronted with
enamelled bricks representing hunting scenes. The figures, according to
this author, were larger than the life, and consisted chiefly of a great
variety of animal forms. There were not wanting, however, a certain
number of human forms to enliven the scene; and among these were two--a
man thrusting his spear through a lion, and a woman on horseback aiming
at a leopard with her javelin--which the later Greeks believed to
represent the mythic Ninus and Semiramis. Of the character of the
apartments we hear nothing; but we are told that the palace had three
gates, two of which were of bronze, and that these had to be opened and
shut by a machine.

But the main glory of the palace was its pleasure-ground--the "Hanging
Gardens," which the Greeks regarded as one of the seven wonders of the
world. This extraordinary construction, which owed its erection to the
whim of a woman, was a square, each side of which measured 400 Greek
feet. It was supported upon several tiers of open arches, built one over