acquiring more details of building achievements, and their nomenclature and purpose. But this desire for information on the part of later scholars was evidently not foreseen by the King of Babylon. The principal object was to preserve the name of the king as the promoter of mighty works, and the hundreds of inscribed bricks, and the millions of stamped bricks do in fact form an enduring monument to the king, which it would be difficult to surpass. [Illustration: FIG. 57.—Inscribed bricks _in situ_, Southern Citadel. ] According to these inscriptions the Southern Citadel stands on the “Babil place,” and in my opinion that is the site of the earliest settlement, which was named Babilu or Babilani, the gate of god or gate of the gods. At that time Esagila was separate from Babylon. It was later, though at a very early date, that both were united in one great Babylon. Later on, however, Esarhaddon, on one of the bricks found by us, says (No. 38940) that he built “Babylon and Esagila” anew, and on the numerous bricks of his Arachtu wall (No. 30522) Nabopolassar calls himself “the restorer of Esagila and Babylon.” The measurements of 190 metres broad by 300 metres long are amply sufficient for those very ancient cities. The acropolis of Tiryns, with its length of 150 metres and breadth of 50 metres, could be placed inside the eastern part of the Southern Citadel, which comprises the eastern court with its two gateways, and stretches from the northern to the southern wall. The 6th level of Troy, the Mycenaean level, is also considerably smaller than the southern acropolis, with its 130 × 180 metres; its two ancient encircling walls measure only 80 × 110 metres and 100 × 110 metres. Thus on the _irṣit_ of Babylon there is certainly sufficient room for an ancient settlement of the size usual at that very remote period. Esagila lay 800 metres away, and therefore we must not imagine that from the beginning Babylon and Esagila formed a combined township. On the other hand, it is quite possible that when they were first founded, the entrance to the sacred place Esagila was completely dominated by the fortress Babil, and that it was only through this _god’s door_ that access could be obtained to Esagila. These conditions may have been modified quite early, possibly by the beginning of the historical times. In Merkes, as far back as Hammurabi, we certainly find fully developed houses in straight streets, which we have excavated and which show a remarkably wide expansion of the town. The Hammurabi period, the 3rd millennium, is the oldest so far attained by our excavation. Of the prehistoric existence of Babylon we only find the evidence of flints and other stone implements, which owing to the continuous occupation of this site and the frequent disturbance of the soil, have been raised to the levels accessible to us.