Note 39 — Chapter I · CIVIL AND MILITARY ARCHITECTURE.

Diodorus (ii. 10), speaks of λίθιναι δοκοί, or stone beams, to which he attributes a length of sixteen feet, and a width of four; Strabo (xvii. i. 5) makes use of the expression, ψαλιδώματα καμαρωτά, which means vaulted arcades. Both writers agree that there were several terraces one above another. Diodorus says that the whole—as seen from the Euphrates no doubt—looked like a theatre. Both give the same measurements to these hanging gardens; they tell us they made a square of from three to four plethra each way (410 feet). The mound of Tell-Amran is much larger than this, and if it really be on the site of the famous gardens, it must include the ruins of other buildings besides, pleasure houses, chapels and kiosks, like those figured in the reliefs, to which we have already had frequent occasion to allude.