To facilitate this great task, a bill has been submitted to the German Reichstag requesting a yearly government appropriation of over fifteen thousand dollars, while at the same time application has been made by the German Orient Committee to the Ottoman Government for another firman to carry on excavations at Warka, the biblical Erech, whose temple archive was badly pillaged by the invading Elamites at about 2280 B. C." Some account of results from the uncovering of the palace of Nebuchadrezzar are quoted from "Die Illustrirte Zeitung" in the "Scientific American Supplement," December 16, 1899, as follows: "According to early Babylonian records, Nebuchadnezzar completed the fortifications of the city, begun by his father Narbolpolassar, consisting of a double inclosure of strong walls, the inner called Imgur-Bel ('Bel is gracious'), the outer Nemitti-Bel ('foundation of Bel'). The circumference of the latter according to Herodotus was 480 stades (55 miles), its height 340 feet, and its thickness 85 feet. At the inner and outer peripheries, one-story houses were built, between which was room enough for a chariot drawn by four horses harnessed abreast. When Koldewey cut through the eastern front of Al Kasr, he came upon a wall which was undoubtedly that described by Herodotus. The outer eastern shell was composed of burnt brick and asphalt, 24 feet in thickness; then came a filling of sand and broken stone 70½ feet in thickness, which was followed by an inner western shell of 43 feet thickness. The total thickness was, therefore, 137.5 feet. By dint of hard work this wall was cut through and the entrance to Nebuchadnezzar's palace laid bare. Koldewey and his men were enabled to verify the description given by Diodorus of the polychromatic reliefs which graced the walls of the royal towers and palaces. It still remains to be seen how trustworthy are the statements of other ancient historians. The city itself, as previous investigators have found, was adorned with many temples, chief among them Esaglia ('the high towering house'), temple of the city, and the national god Marduk (Merodach) and his spouse Zirpanit. Sloping toward the river were the Hanging Gardens, one of the world's seven wonders, located in the northern mound of the ruins of Babel. The temple described by Herodotus is that of Nebo, in Borsippa, not far from Babylon, which Herodotus included under Babylon and which the cuneiform inscriptions term 'Babylon the Second.' This temple, which in the mound of Birs Nimrûd is the most imposing ruin of Babylon, is called the 'eternal house' in the inscriptions; it was restored by Nebuchadnezzar with great splendor. In form, it is a pyramid built in seven stages, for which reason it is sometimes referred to as the 'Temple of the Seven Spheres of Heaven and Earth.' The Tower