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Herodotus · Histories §1.179.1-1.179.4

Construction of Babylon's Walls and the Bronze Gates

Passage 179 of 1577 · Greek

Summary

The exact method of constructing Babylon's walls and moat using baked bricks made from the excavated earth and hot asphalt is described. Additionally, the structures atop the wall, the bronze gates, and the river at Is, which served as the source of the asphalt, are introduced.

§1.179.1δεῖ δή με πρὸς τούτοισι ἔτι φράσαι ἵνα τε ἐκ τῆς τάφρου ἡ γῆ ἀναισιμώθη, καὶ τὸ τεῖχος ὅντινα τρόπον ἔργαστο.
Now I must also tell in addition to this where the earth from the moat was used, and in what manner the wall was built.
ὀρύσσοντες ἅμα τὴν τάφρον ἐπλίνθευον τὴν γῆν τὴν ἐκ τοῦ ὀρύγματος ἐκφερομένην, ἑλκύσαντες δὲ πλίνθους ἱκανὰς ὤπτησαν αὐτὰς ἐν καμίνοισι·
As they dug the moat, they shaped the earth carried out of the excavation into bricks, and when they had molded a sufficient number of bricks, they baked them in kilns.
§1.179.2μετὰ δὲ τέλματι χρεώμενοι ἀσφάλτῳ θερμῇ καὶ διὰ τριήκοντα δόμων πλίνθου ταρσοὺς καλάμων διαστοιβάζοντες, ἔδειμαν πρῶτα μὲν τῆς τάφου τὰ χείλεα, δευτέρα δὲ αὐτὸ τὸ τεῖχος τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον.
Then, using hot asphalt as mortar, and stuffing layers of wattled reeds between every thirty courses of bricks, they built first the edges of the moat, and secondly the wall itself in the same manner.
§1.179.3ἐπάνω δὲ τοῦ τείχεος παρὰ τὰ ἔσχατα οἰκήματα μουνόκωλα ἔδειμαν, τετραμμένα ἐς ἄλληλα· τὸ μέσον δὲ τῶν οἰκημάτων ἔλιπον τεθρίππῳ περιέλασιν.
On the top of the wall, along its edges, they built single-roomed chambers facing one another; and between these chambers they left space enough for a four-horse chariot to drive around.
πύλαι δὲ ἐνεστᾶσι πέριξ τοῦ τείχεος ἑκατόν, χάλκεαι πᾶσαι, καὶ σταθμοί τε καὶ ὑπέρθυρα ὡσαύτως.
And there are a hundred gates set in the circuit of the wall, all of bronze, and the jambs and lintels are likewise.
§1.179.4ἔστι δὲ ἄλλη πόλις ἀπέχουσα ὀκτὼ ἡμερέων ὁδὸν ἀπὸ Βαβυλῶνος· Ἲς οὔνομα αὐτῇ.
There is another city, eight days' journey distant from Babylon, and its name is Is.
ἔνθα ἐστὶ ποταμὸς οὐ μέγας· Ἲς καὶ τῷ ποταμῷ τὸ οὔνομα· ἐσβάλλει δὲ οὗτος ἐς τὸν Εὐφρήτην ποταμὸν τὸ ῥέεθρον.
There is a river there, not large, and the name of the river is also Is; and it discharges its stream into the river Euphrates.
οὗτος ὦν ὁ Ἲς ποταμὸς ἅμα τῷ ὕδατι θρόμβους ἀσφάλτου ἀναδιδοῖ πολλούς, ἔνθεν ἡ ἄσφαλτος ἐς τὸ ἐν Βαβυλῶνι τεῖχος ἐκομίσθη.
Now this river Is throws up many lumps of asphalt together with its water, whence the asphalt was brought for the wall of Babylon.

Notes

  1. §1.179.1ἵνα — Not the conjunction introducing a purpose clause ('in order that'), but an interrogative adverb meaning 'where' or 'whither,' introducing an indirect question clause that functions as the object of the preceding infinitive φράσαι.
  2. §1.179.1ἑλκύσαντες — Aorist active participle of ἑλκύω. It describes the specific brickmaking process of 'drawing out' the clay from the molds, or 'dragging' the mud.
  3. §1.179.3τεθρίππῳ περιέλασιν — The dative τεθρίππῳ ('for a four-horse chariot') modifies the noun περιέλασιν ('driving around, passage'), meaning 'space for a four-horse chariot to pass or turn around.'
  4. §1.179.4τὸ ῥέεθρον — Accusative of specification or internal object with ἐσβάλλει ('discharges'), specifying the stream or current that the river pours into the Euphrates.

Cite this passage

Herodotus, Histories §1.179.1-1.179.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:1.179.1-1.179.4

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