§16.1.4μετὰ δὲ Ἄρβηλα καὶ τὸ Νικατόριον ὄρος (ὃ προσωνόμασεν Ἀλέξανδρος νικήσας τὴν περὶ Ἄρβηλα μάχην) ὁ Κάπρος ἐστὶ ποταμὸς ἐν ἴσῳ διαστήματι ὅσῳ καὶ ὁ Λύκος· ἡ δὲ χώρα * Ἀρτακηνὴ λέγεται.
After Arbela and the Nicatorium Mountain (which Alexander so named after winning the battle near Arbela) is the Capros river, at the same distance as the Lycus; and the region is called Artacene.
περὶ Ἄρβηλα δὲ ἔστι καὶ Δημητριὰς πόλις· εἶθʼ ἡ τοῦ νάφθα πηγὴ καὶ τὰ πυρὰ καὶ τὸ τῆς * Ἀναίας ἱερὸν καὶ Σαδράκαι, τὸ Δαρείου τοῦ Ὑστάσπεω βασίλειον, καὶ ὁ Κυπαρισσὼν καὶ ἡ τοῦ Κάπρου διάβασις συνάπτουσα ἤδη Σελευκείᾳ καὶ Βαβυλῶνι.
And near Arbela is also the city of Demetrias; then the spring of naphtha, and the fires, and the temple of Anaea, and Sadracae, the palace of Darius the son of Hystaspes, and the Cypress-grove, and the crossing of the Capros, which already connects with Seleucia and Babylon.
§16.1.5̔η δὲ Βαβυλὼν καὶ αὐτὴ μέν ἐστιν ἐν πεδίῳ, τὸν δὲ κύκλον ἔχει τοῦ τείχους τριακοσίων ἑξήκοντα πέντε σταδίων, πάχος δὲ τοῦ τείχους ποδῶν δύο καὶ τριάκοντα, ὕψος δὲ τῶν μὲν μεσοπυργίων πήχεις πεντήκοντα τῶν δὲ πύργων ἑξήκοντα, ἡ δὲ πάροδος τοῖς ἐπὶ τοῦ τείχους ὥστε τέθριππα ἐναντιοδρομεῖν ἀλλήλοις ῥᾳδίως·
And Babylon itself is also situated in a plain; the circuit of its wall is three hundred and sixty-five stadia, the thickness of the wall is thirty-two feet, and the height is fifty cubits for the parts between the towers and sixty cubits for the towers; and the passage on top of the wall is such that four-horse chariots can easily pass each other.
διόπερ τῶν ἑπτὰ θεαμάτων λέγεται καὶ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ κρεμαστὸς κῆπος ἔχων ἐν τετραγώνῳ σχήματι ἑκάστην πλευρὰν τεττάρων πλέθρων·
For this reason, both this and the Hanging Garden are said to be among the seven wonders of the world.
συνέχεται δὲ ψαλιδώμασι καμαρωτοῖς ἐπὶ πεττῶν ἱδρυμένοις κυβοειδῶν ἄλλοις ἐπʼ ἄλλοις·
The garden is square in shape, each side being four plethra; and it is supported by vaulted arches built one upon another on cube-shaped pillars.
οἱ δὲ πεττοὶ κοῖλοι πλήρεις γῆς ὥστε δέξασθαι φυτὰ δένδρων τῶν μεγίστων, ἐξ ὀπτῆς πλίνθου καὶ ἀσφάλτου κατεσκευασμένοι καὶ αὐτοὶ καὶ αἱ ψαλίδες καὶ τὰ καμαρώματα.
The pillars are hollow and filled with earth so as to receive the plantings of the largest trees, both the pillars themselves and the vaults and arches being constructed of baked brick and asphalt.
ἡ δʼ ἀνωτάτω στέγη προσβάσεις κλιμακωτὰς ἔχει, παρακειμένους δʼ αὐταῖς καὶ κοχλίας διʼ ὧν τὸ ὕδωρ ἀνῆγον εἰς τὸν κῆπον ἀπὸ τοῦ Εὐφράτου συνεχῶς οἱ πρὸς τοῦτο τεταγμένοι.
The topmost roof has stairs for ascent, and adjacent to them are screw-pumps through which those appointed for this purpose continuously raised water into the garden from the Euphrates.
ὁ γὰρ ποταμὸς διὰ μέσης ῥεῖ τῆς πόλεως σταδιαῖος τὸ πλάτος, ἐπὶ δὲ τῷ ποταμῷ ὁ κῆπος.
For the river flows through the middle of the city, being a stadium in width, and the garden is by the river.
ἔστι δὲ καὶ ὁ τοῦ Βήλου τάφος αὐτόθι, νῦν μὲν κατεσκαμμένος, Ξέρξης δʼ αὐτὸν κατέσπασεν, ὥς φασιν· ἦν δὲ πυραμὶς τετράγωνος ἐξ ὀπτῆς πλίνθου καὶ αὐτὴ σταδιαία τὸ ὕψος, σταδιαία δὲ καὶ ἑκάστη τῶν πλευρῶν·
There is also the tomb of Belus there, now indeed demolished, but Xerxes destroyed it, as they say; and it was a square pyramid of baked brick, itself a stadium in height, and each of its sides was a stadium.
ἣν Ἀλέξανδρος ἐβούλετο ἀνασκευάσαι, πολὺ δʼ ἦν ἔργον καὶ πολλοῦ χρόνου (αὐτὴ γὰρ ἡ χοῦς εἰς ἀνακάθαρσιν μυρίοις ἀνδράσι δυεῖν μηνῶν ἔργον ἦν), ὥστʼ οὐκ ἔφθη τὸ ἐγχειρηθὲν ἐπιτελέσαι· παραχρῆμα γὰρ ἡ νόσος καὶ ἡ τελευτὴ συνέπεσε τῷ βασιλεῖ, τῶν δʼ ὕστερον οὐδεὶς ἐφρόντισεν.
Alexander wished to rebuild it, but it was a vast work and of much time (for the clearing of the debris alone was a work of two months for ten thousand men), so that he did not live to complete what he had undertaken; for immediately disease and death befell the king, and of those who came after, no one cared for it.
ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ ὠλιγωρήθη καὶ κατήρειψαν τῆς πόλεως τὰ μὲν οἱ Πέρσαι τὰ δʼ ὁ χρόνος καὶ ἡ τῶν Μακεδόνων ὀλιγωρία περὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα, καὶ μάλιστα ἐπειδὴ τὴν Σελεύκειαν ἐπὶ τῷ Τίγρει πλησίον τῆς Βαβυλῶνος ἐν τριακοσίοις που σταδίοις ἐτείχισε Σέλευκος ὁ Νικάτωρ.
Nay, the rest was also neglected, and of the city, some parts were ruined by the Persians, others by time and the neglect of the Macedonians concerning such things, and especially after Seleucus Nicator fortified Seleucia on the Tigris near Babylon at about three hundred stadia.
καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνος καὶ οἱ μετʼ αὐτὸν ἅπαντες περὶ ταύτην ἐσπούδασαν τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὸ βασίλειον ἐνταῦθα μετήνεγκαν· καὶ δὴ καὶ νῦν ἡ μὲν γέγονε Βαβυλῶνος μείζων ἡ δʼ ἔρημος ἡ πολλή, ὥστʼ ἐπʼ αὐτῆς μὴ ἂν ὀκνῆσαί τινα εἰπεῖν ὅπερ ἔφη τις τῶν κωμικῶν ἐπὶ τῶν Μαγαλοπολιτῶν τῶν ἐν Ἀρκαδίᾳ
ἐρημία μεγάλη ʼστὶν ἡ Μεγάλη πόλις. διὰ δὲ τὴν τῆς ὕλης σπάνιν ἐκ φοινικίνων ξύλων αἱ οἰκοδομαὶ συντελοῦνται καὶ δοκοῖς καὶ στύλοις· περὶ δὲ τοὺς στύλους στρέφοντες ἐκ τῆς καλάμης σχοινία περιτιθέασιν, εἶτʼ ἐπαλείφοντες χρώμασι καταγράφουσι, τὰς δὲ θύρας ἀσφάλτῳ· ὑψηλαὶ δὲ καὶ αὗται καὶ οἱ οἶκοι καμαρωτοὶ πάντες διὰ τὴν ἀξυλίαν· ψιλὴ γὰρ ἡ χώρα καὶ θαμνώδης ἡ πολλὴ πλὴν φοίνικος· οὗτος δὲ πλεῖστος ἐν τῇ Βαβυλωνίᾳ, πολὺς δὲ καὶ ἐν Σούσοις καὶ ἐν τῇ παραλίᾳ Περσίδι καὶ ἐν τῇ Καρμανίᾳ.
For indeed he and all his successors were zealous about this city and transferred the royal palace there; and so indeed now the one has become larger than Babylon, while the other is mostly deserted, so that one would not hesitate to say of it what one of the comic poets said of the Megalopolitans in Arcadia: "The Great City is a great desert." And because of the scarcity of timber, the buildings are finished with palm wood, both for beams and pillars; and around the pillars they wind ropes made of reeds and cover them, and then they smear them with colors and paint designs, and the doors with asphalt; and these doors are high, and the houses are all vaulted because of the lack of timber; for the country is bare, and most of it is brushwood except for the palm; and this tree is most abundant in Babylonia, and plenty also in Susa and the coastal Persis and Carmania.
κεράμῳ δʼ οὐ χρῶνται· οὐδὲ γὰρ κατομβροῦνται.
And they do not use tiling, for they do not have rain.
παραπλήσια δὲ καὶ τὰ ἐν Σούσοις καὶ τῇ Σιτακηνῇ.
Similar also are the conditions in Susa and Sitacene.