The identification of the temple was rendered certain by the discovery of inscribed bricks in earlier pavements below those of Nebuchadnezzar. Inscriptions stamped upon bricks from two pavements of Ashur-bani-pal record that this Assyrian king made "bricks of E-sagila and E-temen-anki," while on an older one which he re-used, stamped with the name of Esarhaddon, it is definitely stated that it formed part of the paving of E-sagila.[151] These pavements were reached by means of an open excavation in Tell 'Amrân, extending some forty metres each way. It took no less than eight months to remove the soil to the pavement level, and it is estimated that some thirty thousand cubic metres of earth were carted away in the course of the work. It is not surprising, therefore, that the chambers on the west side of the court, including the shrine of Marduk, still remain covered by the mound. A subsidiary shrine, on the north side of the court, has been cleared, and it would be a spot of considerable interest if, as Dr. Koldewey suggests, it was dedicated to Ea. For in the Hellenistic period Ea was identified with Serapis, and should this prove to have been his sanctuary, it was here that Alexander's generals repaired during his illness, when they enquired of the god whether he should be carried thither to be healed.[152] To the north of Marduk's temple rose its ziggurat, the Tower of Babel, known to Babylonians of all ages as E-temen-anki, "The House of the Foundation-stone of Heaven and Earth." It stood within its Peribolos or sacred precincts, marked now by the flat area or plain which the local Arabs call Sakhn, "the pan."[153] The precincts of the tower were surrounded by an enclosing wall, decorated with innumerable grooved towers, along the east and south sides of which the track of the Sacred Way may still be followed.[154] On the inner side of the wall, in its whole circuit, stretched a vast extent of buildings, all devoted to the cult of the city-god, and forming, in the phrase of their discoverer, a veritable Vatican of Babylon.[155] [Illustration: FIG. 27. GROUND-PLAN OF E-TEMEN-ANKI AND E-SAGILA. A: Sacred Way, or Procession Street. B: E-temen-anki, the Ziggurat or Temple-tower of Babylon. C: E-sagila, the temple of Marduk. D: Eastern Annex to E-sagila. E: Northern Court of the Peribolos or sacred precincts. P: Main Court. G: Western Court. H, J: Temple-magazines. K: Arakhtu-wall. L: Nebuchadnezzar's wall. M: River-wall of Nabonidus. N: Gateway in River-wall. P: Stone piers of Bridge over the Euphrates. 1-12: Entrances to the Peribolos, No. 2 marking the position of the Main Entrance. (After Wetzel.)]