The Walls of Babylon

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 31, 1907

The Walls of Babylon

THE extent of the walls of Babylon is variously stated; by Herodotus at 480 stadia, or furlongs, in circumference; by Pliny and Solinus at sixty Roman miles, or of equal extent; by Strabo at 385 stadia; by Diodorus Siculus, according to the slightly different testimony of Ctesias and Clitarchus, both of whom visited Babylon, at 360 or 365; and to the last of these statements that of Quintus Curtius nearly corresponds; namely, 368. The difference of a few stadia rather confirms than disproves the general accuracy of the last three of these accounts. There may have been an error in the text of Herodotus of 480 instead of 380, which Pliny and Solinus may have copied. The variation of 20 or 25 stadia, in excess, may have been caused by the line of measurement having been outside of the trench, and not immediately of the wall. And thus the various statements may be brought nearly to correspond. Major Rennel, estimating the stadium at 491 feet, computes the extent of the wall at 34 miles, or eight and a half on each side. The opposite and contradictory statements of the height and breadth of the wall may possibly be best reconciled on the supposition that they refer to different periods. Herodotus states the height to have been 200 cubits, or 300 feet, and the breadth 50 cubits, 75 feet. According to Curtius, the height was 130 feet, and the breadth 32; while Strabo states the height at 75 feet, and the breadth at 32 feet.—Foot-note in Keith’s “The Evidence of Prophecy,” page 396.