Media, Babylon and Persia : including a study of the Zend-Avesta or religion of Zoroaster, from the fall of Nineveh to the Persian war . er ofearth, were planted with the handsomest trees,amidst which, on the topmost terrace, a villa-likeresidence was erected fur the queen, where shecould ciijoy, not only purer air and i:)leasant shades,but a vast and beautiful prospect. If this prettylegend be true—and why should we deny ourselvesthe pleasure of believing it, since there is nothingto disprove it?—the woman so loved might well feelcompensated even for the loss of her native sceneryin the Zagro
Media, Babylon and Persia : including a study of the Zend-Avesta or religion of Zoroaster, from the fall of Nineveh to the Persian war . er ofearth, were planted with the handsomest trees,amidst which, on the topmost terrace, a villa-likeresidence was erected fur the queen, where shecould ciijoy, not only purer air and i:)leasant shades,but a vast and beautiful prospect. If this prettylegend be true—and why should we deny ourselvesthe pleasure of believing it, since there is nothingto disprove it?—the woman so loved might well feelcompensated even for the loss of her native sceneryin the Zagros wilds, for which, of course, her terracedbower, some 500 feet square, could be but a poorsubstitute. *See Kaulen, Assyrien unci Babylonien, p. A daughter of tlie great Kyaxares. See Story of Assyria, z; o J >< n < M o Tl o O 3 L^ <n ?^ C w M U a! < n n o e 236 MEDIA, , and Persia. 10. Yet, poor as it may have been when comparedto natures own mountain architecture, as a piece ofhuman art it was a marvel which the Greeks thoughtworthy of a phice among their Seven Wonders,along with the walls of Babylon, the temple of Bel,that of Artemis at Ephesus, and a few other monu-ments. The terraces are described by Greek andRoman writers to have been borne on arched vaultssupported by pillars, all of well cemented the topmost terrace was the pump-house, withthe h\draulic machinery for raising the water throughpipes from the Euphrates, or rather, from canalswhich brought the water within easy reach, and sothat the contrivance should not be noticed from theoutside. Mr. Rassam found some of the pipes, cutthrough limestone, and having cleared one of therubbish that choked it, actually came upon waterwhich still partly filled it. It is said that the earthwas car
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