thing would have taken place. E-sagila, which is now the ruin known as
the mount of Amran ibn Ali, is the celebrated temple of Belus which
Alexander and Philip attempted to restore.

In addition to the legend of the confusion of tongues, it is probable
that there were many similar traditions attached to the great temples
of Babylonia, and as time goes on, and the excavations bring more
material, a large number of them will probably be recovered. Already
we have an interesting and poetical record of the entry of Bel and
Beltis into the great temple at Niffer, probably copied from some
ancient source, and Gudea, a king of Lagas (Telloh), who reigned about
2700 B.C., gives an account of the dream which he saw, in which he was
instructed by the gods to build or rebuild the temple of Nin-Girsu in
his capital city.


E-sagila according to Herodotus.

As the chief fane in the land after Babylon became the capital, and
the type of many similar erections, E-sagila, the temple of Belus,
merits just a short notice. According to Herodotus, it was a massive
tower within an enclosure measuring 400 yards each way, and provided
with gates of brass, or rather bronze. The tower within consisted of a
kind of step-pyramid, the stages being seven in number (omitting the
lowest, which was the platform forming the foundation of the
structure). A winding ascent gave access to the top, where was a
chapel or shrine, containing no statue, but regarded by the
Babylonians as the abode of the god. Lower down was another shrine, in
which was placed a great statue of Zeus (Bel-Merodach) sitting, with a
large table before it. Both statue and table are said to have been of