THE MUJELIBE. The Mujelibe was first supposed by Pietro Della Velle to be the Tower of Belus. This traveller examined its ruins A.D. 1616, and he characterizes the mass as "a mountain of ruins," and again, as a "huge mountain." He is supported in his opinion by D'Anville, Rennell, and other high names; but none of them, except Kenneir, possessed any distinct information concerning the Birs Nemroud. The Mujelibe, or "overturned," is one of the most enormous masses of brick-formed earth, raised by the art and labour of man. According to Rich, the mound is of an oblong shape, irregular in its height, with its sides facing the cardinal points. The measurement of the northern side being 200 yards in length; the southern 219; the eastern 182; and the western 136. The elevation of the south-east, or highest angle, he says, is 141 feet. The western face of the building is most interesting, on account of the appearance which it presents. It is a straight wall, that seems to have cased and parapeted this side of the magnificent pile. The south-west angle is rounded off; but whether it was so formed, or it has been thus worn by the hand of time, cannot be stated. On the summit, it is crowned with something like a turret, or lantern. The other angles are not so perfect, but it is probable, they were originally thus ornamented. The western face is the easiest, and the northern the most difficult of access. Every portion of this mighty structure, though erected as if it would resist the utmost shock of time, has been torn by the rains, which here fell in torrents, with the force and body of water-spouts, in a terrific manner. The eastern face, particularly, is worn into a deep channel, from the summit to the base. The summit is covered with heaps of rubbish; in digging into which, layers of broken burned brick, cemented with mortar, are discovered, and whole bricks, with antique inscriptions on them, are not unfrequently found. The whole is covered with fragments of pottery, brick, bitumen, pebbles, vitrified scoriæ, and even shells, bits of glass, and mother of pearl. Dens of wild beasts (in one of which Rich found the bones of sheep and other animals) are very numerous among this ruin; and in most of the ravines are numbers of bats and owls. Yes, these mighty buildings, which were once, perhaps, the chambers of royalty, are now the haunts of jackals, and other ferocious animals; reminding us of the awful prediction of the prophet: "Wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; And their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; And owls shall dwell there, And satyrs shall dance there, And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, It may be mentioned that the Hebrew word Sheirim, rendered "satyr" here, is translated by Dr. Henderson "wild goats," and it literally signifies "hairy ones;" a signification still preserved in the Vulgate. In Gen. xxvii. I1, 23; in Lev. iv. 24, xvi. 9, it is applied to the goat; and in Lev. xvii. 7, 2 Chron. xi. 15, to objects of idolatrous worship, perhaps in the form of goats, and translated "devils." It is probable, that in the verse quoted, and in Isa. xxxiv. 14, some kind of wild goat is intended; but it may be interesting to observe, that Rich, who explored these masses A. D. 1812, heard the oriental account of satyrs while thus employed. He had always imagined the belief of the existence of such creatures to be confined to the mythology of the west, but a Tahohadar who accompanied him accidentally mentioned that, in this desert, there is an animal resembling a man from the head to the waist, and having the thighs and the legs of a goat and a sheep. He also informed him that the Arabs hunt it with dogs, and eat the lower parts, abstaining from the upper, on account of their resemblance to the human species The belief of the existence of such creatures, however ideal, is by no means rare in the vicinity of the Babylonian wilds. BIRS NEMROUD. It has been observed, that every one who sees the Birs Nemroud feels at once, that of all the masses of ruin found in this region, there is not one which so nearly corresponds with his previous notions of the Tower of Babel; and he will decide that it could be no other, if he is not discouraged by the apparent difficulty of reconciling the statements of the ancient writers concerning the Temple of Belus with the situation of this ruin on the western bank, and its distance from the river and the other ruins. This difficulty is not insuperable; but without identifying the Birs Nemroud with the Temple of Belus, we prefer giving the reader a description of it, leaving him to draw his own conclusions. This sublime ruin stands in the midst of a solitary waste, like the awful figure of Prophecy herself, pointing to the complete fulfilment of her thrilling denunciations. Just, says Rich, as we were within the proper distance, so necessary to the production of grandeur of view, the Birs at once burst upon our view in the midst of rolling masses of black thick clouds, partially obscured by that kind of haze, whose indistinctness is one great cause of sublimity; while a few catches of stormy light, thrown on the desert, in the back ground, served to give some idea of the immense extent and dreary solitude of the waste surrounding the venerable pile. "The Birs Nemroud is a mound of an oblong form, the total circumference of which is 762 yards. At the eastern side, it is cloven by a deep furrow, and is not more than fifty or sixty feet high; but on the western side, it rises in a conical figure, to the elevation of 198 feet; and on its summit is a solid pile of brick, thirty-seven feet high by twenty-eight in breadth, diminishing in thickness to the top, which is broken and irregular, and rent by a large fissure, extending through a third of its height. It is perforated by small square holes, disposed in rhomboids. The fire-burned bricks of which it is built have inscriptions on them, and so excellent is the cement, which appears to be lime-mortar, that it is nearly impossible to extract one whole. The other parts of the summit of this hill are occupied by immense fragments of brickwork, of no determinate figure, tumbled together and converted into solid vitrified masses, as if they had undergone the action of the fiercest fire, or had been blown up with gunpowder, the layers of brick being perfectly discernable. The ruins stand on a prodigious mound, the whole of which is itself in ruins, channelled by the weather, and strewed with fragments of blackstone, sandstone, and marble. In the eastern part, layers of unburned brick, but no reeds are discernible. In the north side, may be seen traces of building, 'exactly similar to the brick pile. At the foot of the mound a step may be traced, scarcely elevated above the plain, exceeding in extent, by several feet each way, the true, or measured base; and there is a quadrangular enclosure around the whole, as at the Mujelibe, but more distinct, and of greater dimensions. This stupendous structure is believed, both by Rich and Ker Porter, to be the remains of the celebrated Temple and Tower of Belus, completed, if not commenced by Nebuchadnezzar. Porter seems to show that three, and part of the fourth original stages of the tower, as described by Diodorus, may be traced in the existing ruins of Birs Nemroud; and with regard to the intense vitrifying heat, to which the summit has evidently been subjected, he says, that he has no doubt that the fire acted from above, and was probably lightning. This circumstance is assuredly most remarkable, in connexion with the tradition of the Arabs, that the original Tower of Babel was rent and overthrown by fire from heaven. The same author conceives that the works of the Babylonish kings concealed, for a season, the marks of the original devastation, and that now, the destruction of time and man have reduced it to nearly the same condition in which it appeared after the confusion. As it exists, it reminds the beholder of the emphatic words of the prophet:— Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the Lord, And I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, And roll thee down from the rocks. And will make thee a burnt mountain. And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, Nor a stone for foundations; But thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith the Lord.”—Jer. li. 25, 26. Scarcely half this elevation now stands. In the piece of brick wall, now surmounting the pile, 270 feet from the eastern face of the Birs, is a great mound, equal to the Kasr in elevation, and 1,242 feet broad by 1,935 feet in length. The whole of its summit and sides are furrowed into hollows and traversing channels, the effect of time, violence, and accident, and all are imbedded with fragments of the same nature as the other mounds. It is supposed that this mound contained the minor temples of the attendant gods of the chief divinity, and also the abodes of the priesthood, with their attendants. Within the quadrangle of two miles and a half, stood the mound and the temple itself, with a large open are expanding on all sides; but on the north side, from the top of the mound, at the distance of 400 feet, mounds of various elevation are descried. Clustering ranges appear to continue curving round to the west, where a vacuum occurs, after which they recommence running eastward. Other chains, of apparently greater magnitude, rise to the west, at 200 yards from the Birs, and these are connected with others to the north and south; so that the whole quadrangle seems to have been filled with variously erected structures. These were doubtless erected for the protection of the various animals worshipped according to the Sabian ritual, the officers in attendance, and the many occasional residents of the place; for the in habitants regarded the Birs Nemroud as a temple, a college, a royal sanctuary, and even a fortress, in the days of extremity. NIMROD'S TOWER. This pyramidal mass, which many travellers have taken for the ruined Tower of Babel, stands about ten miles to the north-west of Bagdad. By the Arabs, who refer every thing ancient to Nimrod, it is denominated Tel Nemroud; and by the Turks, Nemroud Tepasse: which appellations some translate "The Tower of Nimrod," but which signifies "The hill." The term Akkerkoof, given it by the Arabs, is intended to signify the ground around it; and the word having no distinct meaning, it is supposed by some that it was probably the name of some ancient city of the Babylonians, now buried in the dust. Thus Rennell thinks it to be the ancient Agrani; D'Anville, the ancient Sitace; and Ker Porter, the city of Accad, mentioned Gen. x. 10, as one of the principal cities of Nimrod's kingdom. The ruined mass of the Tower of Nimrod rises 180 feet above the level of the plain, and 126 feet above the mound whereon it is erected. Its circumference at the base of the upper structure is 300 feet, and 900 feet within ten feet of the base on the mound. The whole mass is computed at 300,000 cubical feet. It is composed of the same materials as the structures before described, and seems to be solid, except certain square perforations, resembling those of the turret of the Birs Nemroud. Like that of the Birs, there is reason to believe that this pile, as well as the lofty conical mounds of Al Hymer, were the temples and mansions of the Sabian priesthood, and dedicated to the worship of the host of heaven. A number of relics of Babylonish idolatry have been dug out of the ruins of the Kasr, and the hill of Amzam; and it is probable many more might be discovered on a close investigation. CITY OF BABYLON. There can be no doubt that this famous metropolis of the Assyrian empire was erected upon the site of that first postdiluvian city of which there is any record, and which was built by Nimrod, Babel. See Gen. x. 10. The town founded by Nimrod could have been but of little importance; but its greatness, after it had been enlarged and improved by Belus, Semiramis, Nebuchadnezzar, and his queen, whom Herodo |