Explorations in Bible lands during the 19th century - H. V. Hilprecht

484 EXPLORATIONS IN BIBLE LANDS
flanked on each side by a pair of tower-like bastions, still
preserved to a considerable height. They projected sixteen
feet towards the northwest and about nine
feet towards the
southeast. Like the wall itself, which was 16 feet thick,
including the storage vaults of the inner court, the front
faces of these towers were panelled. A kind of vestibule
marked the entrance of the gate on both sides. By
means of three
stepped recesses projecting from each tower
these vestibules (14 feet wide) narrowed into the passageway
proper, which measured only 6 feet in width. In the
middle of the gate this passage opened into a long gallery,
probably serving as a guard-room. The door of the gate
which closed
the opening towards the outer court swung in
the direction of the eastern section of this gallery, as a socket
in dolerite imbedded in baked bricks allowed us to infer.
This stone, though inscribed with the common legend of
Ur-Gur, did not seem to lie in its original position, but
apparently had been used over and over, the last time by
Ashurbanapal, at the level of whose pavement it was found.
The remains of Imgur-Marduk were deeply hidden below
the ruins of later constructions. As regards Nimit-Marduk,
the outer wall of the temple, we find the case somewhat different.
To a considerable extent the course of the ancient
rampart could still
be recognized and traced through a series
of low ridges lying on the northwest and northeast (II)
limits of Nuffar. Seen from the top of Bint el-Amir, they
formed two almost straight lines (more or less interrupted
by gaps) which originally must have met at an obtuse angle
in the north (comp. the plan of the ruins, p. 305). In the
course of the third expedition Haynes had driven two tunfloor
of the gate was raised by the gradually accumulating dirt and debris, the
door-socket was carried higher and higher, so that Ashurbanapal' s entrance
lies about six feet above that of Ur-Gur, a fact in entire accord with the
difference of altitude observed between the pavements of the two monarchs
within the temple enclosure.