He says that it was situated in a great plain, the river Euphrates running through it from north to south. Its form was square; each side measured fifteen miles, and the whole circuit sixty miles. It was surrounded with walls, three hundred and fifty feet high and eighty-seven feet thick. Upon these walls were two hundred and fifty towers. The entrance to the city was by one hundred gates of brass. Without the wall, there was a deep ditch around the city, filled with water. Upon the tops of the walls, there were buildings on each side containing one room each. Between these there was space to drive a chariot with horses. The walls were built of bricks cemented together by bitumen. At every thirty layers of bricks, there was a layer of reeds to give the fabric strength. The engraving at the head of this article is intended to give some idea of the form of this mighty city, as described by Herodotus. The streets in the city were straight, the houses being four or five stories high. The temple of Belus was of amazing magnitude, being nearly as large as the great pyramid of Gizeh. It was a regular square, each side measuring six hundred feet. It consisted of eight towers one above another, and was of immense height. Beside this, there was a magnificent palace, and connected with it were hanging gardens of great extent. The history of Babylonia goes back to a period of high antiquity. Its founders were among the earliest nations that have been formed upon the earth, and they appear to have reached a certain degree of science and civilization, nearly two thousand years before Christ. Nimrod is mentioned in the Bible as the founder of this empire, of which Babylon was the capital. Here the kings of Assyria held their court, and displayed a magnificence, the accounts of which strike us with wonder. Here many of the arts were carried to great perfection, particularly the manufacture of cotton, linen and silk. Babylon reached its magnificence through the efforts of several succeeding sovereigns. But Semiramis, the wife of Ninus, is said to have been its founder. In the year 538 B. C. it was taken by Cyrus, king of Persia, who made it his winter residence. At this place, Alexander, who had conquered Persia, died, 323 B. C.