BABYLONIAN ARCHITECTURE. In commencing this article, we must
premise that we cannot pretend to any detailed description, as
the materials for such an undertaking are almost entirely
wanting. An account of this style of architecture must needs be
very imperfect, when the very situation of the ancient Babylon
remains- uncertain. This once vast city, the metropolis of one
of the great empires of the world, is now but one mass of
undistinguishable ruins. Owing to the interest belonging to so
ancient and power ful an empire, much pains have been taken in
the examination of the remains of the city, but so great is the
confusion, that it has hitherto baffled the exertions of
travellers to determine with certainty the situation and extent
of any of the buildings mentioned by ancient authors: among the
more successful of our modern travellers, we may especially
mention the names of Rich and Tier Porter ; and among the
ancients, those of Herodotns, Strabo, and Diodorus. We shall
proceed to give an account of the city a