§2.7.1ὁ δὲ Νίνος τούς τε ἐν Βάκτροις παρέλαβε θησαυρούς, ἔχοντας πολὺν ἄργυρόν τε καὶ χρυσόν, καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὴν Βακτριανὴν καταστήσας ἀπέλυσε τὰς δυνάμεις.
Ninus, having taken over the treasures in Bactra, which contained much silver and gold, and having settled the affairs in Bactriana, dismissed his forces.
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα γεννήσας ἐκ Σεμιράμιδος υἱὸν Νινύαν ἐτελεύτησε, τὴν γυναῖκα ἀπολιπὼν βασίλισσαν.
After this, having fathered a son, Ninyas, by Semiramis, he died, leaving his wife as queen.
τὸν δὲ Νίνον ἡ Σεμίραμις ἔθαψεν ἐν τοῖς βασιλείοις, καὶ κατεσκεύασεν ἐπʼ αὐτῷ χῶμα παμμέγεθες, οὗ τὸ μὲν ὕψος ἦν ἐννέα σταδίων, §2.7.2τὸ δʼ εὖρος, ὥς φησι Κτησίας, δέκα.
Semiramis buried Ninus in the palace, and constructed over him a huge mound, the height of which was nine stades, and the width, as Ctesias says, ten.
διὸ καὶ τῆς πόλεως παρὰ τὸν Εὐφράτην ἐν πεδίῳ κειμένης ἀπὸ πολλῶν σταδίων ἐφαίνετο τὸ χῶμα καθαπερεί τις ἀκρόπολις· ὃ καὶ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν φασι διαμένειν, καίπερ τῆς Νίνου κατεσκαμμένης ὑπὸ Μήδων, ὅτε κατέλυσαν τὴν Ἀσσυρίων βασιλείαν.
For this reason, since the city lay in a plain along the Euphrates, the mound was visible from many stades away like a kind of acropolis; which, they say, remains even to this day, although Ninus was razed to the ground by the Medes when they destroyed the Assyrian empire.
ἡ δὲ Σεμίραμις, οὖσα φύσει μεγαλεπίβολος καὶ φιλοτιμουμένη τῇ δόξῃ τὸν βεβασιλευκότα πρὸ αὐτῆς ὑπερθέσθαι, πόλιν μὲν ἐπεβάλετο κτίζειν ἐν τῇ Βαβυλωνίᾳ, ἐπιλεξαμένη δὲ τοὺς πανταχόθεν ἀρχιτέκτονας καὶ τεχνίτας, ἔτι δὲ τὴν ἄλλην χορηγίαν παρασκευασαμένη, συνήγαγεν ἐξ ἁπάσης τῆς βασιλείας πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἔργων συντέλειαν ἀνδρῶν μυριάδας διακοσίας.
Semiramis, being by nature high-aspiring and eager for glory to surpass the one who had reigned before her, undertook to build a city in Babylonia, and having selected architects and artisans from everywhere, and having furthermore prepared the other necessary supplies, she gathered from the whole kingdom two hundred myriads of men for the completion of the works.
§2.7.3ἀπολαβοῦσα δὲ τὸν Εὐφράτην ποταμὸν εἰς μέσον περιεβάλετο τεῖχος τῇ πόλει σταδίων ἑξήκοντα καὶ τριακοσίων, διειλημμένον πύργοις πυκνοῖς καὶ μεγάλοις, ὥς φησι Κτησίας ὁ Κνίδιος, ὡς δὲ Κλείταρχος καὶ τῶν ὕστερον μετʼ Ἀλεξάνδρου διαβάντων εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν τινὲς ἀνέγραψαν, τριακοσίων ἑξήκοντα πέντε σταδίων· καὶ προστιθέασιν ὅτι τῶν ἴσων ἡμερῶν εἰς τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν οὐσῶν ἐφιλοτιμήθη τὸν ἴσον ἀριθμὸν τῶν σταδίων ὑποστήσασθαι.
Enclosing the Euphrates River into the middle, she threw around the city a wall of three hundred and sixty stades, punctuated by frequent and large towers, as Ctesias of Cnidus says, but as Cleitarchus and some of those who later crossed over with Alexander into Asia recorded, of three hundred and sixty-five stades; and they add that, since the days in a year are equal in number, she was eager to establish the same number of stades for the wall.
§2.7.4ὀπτὰς δὲ πλίνθους εἰς ἄσφαλτον ἐνδησαμένη τεῖχος κατεσκεύασε τὸ μὲν ὕψος, ὡς μὲν Κτησίας φησί, πεντήκοντα ὀργυιῶν, ὡς δʼ ἔνιοι τῶν νεωτέρων ἔγραψαν, πηχῶν πεντήκοντα, τὸ δὲ πλάτος πλέον ἢ δυσὶν ἅρμασιν ἱππάσιμον· πύργους δὲ τὸν μὲν ἀριθμὸν διακοσίους καὶ πεντήκοντα, τὸ δʼ ὕψος καὶ πλάτος ἐξ ἀναλόγου τῷ βάρει τῶν κατὰ τὸ τεῖχος ἔργων.
Binding baked bricks in asphalt, she constructed a wall, the height of which was, as Ctesias says, fifty fathoms, but as some of the more recent writers have written, fifty cubits, and the width was passable by more than two chariots driven abreast; and she built two hundred and fifty towers in number, their height and width being in proportion to the massiveness of the works along the wall.
§2.7.5οὐ χρὴ δὲ θαυμάζειν εἰ τηλικούτου τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ περιβόλου καθεστῶτος ὀλίγους πύργους κατεσκεύασεν· ἐπὶ πολὺν γὰρ τόπον τῆς πόλεως ἕλεσι περιεχομένης, κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν τόπον οὐκ ἔδοξεν αὐτῇ πύργους οἰκοδομεῖν, τῆς φύσεως τῶν ἑλῶν ἱκανὴν παρεχομένης ὀχυρότητα.
And one must not marvel if, when the size of the circuit was so great, she constructed few towers; for since the city was surrounded by marshes over a large area, in this area she did not think it fit to build towers, the nature of the marshes providing sufficient security.
ἀνὰ μέσον δὲ τῶν οἰκιῶν καὶ τῶν τειχῶν ὁδὸς πάντῃ κατελέλειπτο δίπλεθρος.
Between the houses and the walls, a street of two plethra in width had been left everywhere.