and roof are arched in the same way as those of the outer tomb,
and the execution of the whole is scarcely inferior to that of
the tombs of the kings near Jerusalem, or to the ordinary
excavations in Upper Egypt.
The ruins The ruins may possibly be those of the ancient city of
y Anthemusia, which is placed hereabouts by Strabo and Pliny.1
Anthemusia. The practice of hewing temples with columns and figures out
of masses of rock, as well as that of raising vast pyramidal
mounds, prevailed through Arabia, Syria, Egypt, and India;
and the general resemblance of such works in all these countries
sufficiently indicates a common origin, which, it is reasonable
to presume, may have been in Assyria. The caves of Ele-
phanta, Elora, Ajunta, and the temples on Mount Aboo, differ,
however, in their details from those of Thebes, Philoe, and
Abu Simbal; but these differences are probably only such as
would naturally arise on transferring such a style of architecture
from one country to another.
Roads cut Amongst the less striking, but more useful works in western
through the Asia, are the roads, which, in some places, consist of causeways
^ over marshes, and elsewhere of passes cut through rocky
mountains; of the latter kind are the Zagros at Keli-shin,8 and
the Caspian Gates.3 And in the plains of Assyria, numerous
canals served the important purposes of irrigating the land,
conveying water to the cities, and, occasionally, as means of
communication.
Canals in Great water-courses intersected Susiana, as well as Mesopo-
Assyria and tamia, and by crossing the latter territory from side to side, at
Mesopotamia. differ^nt placeS; they formed as many lines of intercommunication
between the two great rivers; such lines are the Nahr
I ’sa, Nahr Sersár, Nahr-Malká, and Nahr Kuthah:4 canals
were also carried along the country parallel to one or other of
the rivers. Near the Tigris, the Ishaki, the El Burech, the
Nebí Suleimán, the Nahrawán, the Dujeil, and the Khális,
still remain; and, diverging from the Tigris, are the Shatt el
Ha'i and the Shatt el ’A'mah; the former still falls into the
1 Pliny, lib. V., ch.. xxiv. ■
8 Vol. X., p. 21-23, of Royal Geographical Journal.
3 See vol. I., p. 213 * See vol. I., p. 54-56.
Euphrates, and, beyond the latter, is the celebrated Pallacopas,
with several other channels, of which the most remarkable are
those near Mesjid ’Ali and Lamlum.
By means of these canals supplies of water were obtained in use of
almost every di• rection, not only for the towns and for i« rriga- * 1
tion, but also for navigation, for which last purpose the I ’sa is
still available.1 Owing to the impermeable nature of the soil,
masonry was seldom used in the formation of the canals. These
great and useful undertakings are particularly mentioned by
the earliest historians, who attribute their construction to
Semiramis and other Assyrian monarchs, whilst tradition
claims for some of them the more remote age of Nimrud; but
be this as it may, some of the canals belong to the period when
Babylon and Nineveh were in the highest state of prosperity.
In connexion with these canals, and in order to secure all Dikes and
their advantages, immense dikes were constructed in certain
positions in order to retain sufficient supplies of water for water-
different purposes, particularly for irrigation.
The Bunds of Zikru-l-awaz, or Nimrud, and Zikr Isma’il, on
the Tigris, and that which crosses the ’Adhim, have been
already noticed.8 The like constructions were executed along
the river Euphrates, in the marshes of Lamlum, and also in the
low ground of Susiana ; as at Shuster, Band-i-kir, and Ahwaz;
such works have also been formed at Dorak and other places Bunds and
in Persia with the most perfect success. Nor were these works dikes of Asia‘
confined to the regions in question, the same method of securing
supplies of water prevailing in Arabia,3 in Africa, and in Asia.
Descriptions of the prodigious bunds and tanks of India, China,
&c., are familiar to most readers, and their resemblance to
similar works in Babylonia will be readily admitted by
those who have visited both countries. Some of these works,
although no longer objects of attention to the government,
are in many cases maintained, though imperfectly, by the
people, as at Shuster, Band-i-kir, &c., and they still attest the
strength and utility of these specimens of early art; some of
them, probably, were constructed antecedently to the time of
1 See vol. I., p. 55. ! See vol. I., pp. 21, 30.
* ’Oman, Yemen, Nedjd, &c.