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

DURING 19th CENTURY: ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA 499
structure measured nine feet, and was covered with a mass
of disintegrated adobes. Its base rested on a foundation of
clay laid up en masse (No. 12), which extended seven feet
beyond the outer face of the wall and was nearly six feet
high, 1
with practically the same slope as the latter.
The remains of Naram-Sin's wall (about 3750 b. c.) are
very insignificant compared with those of Ur-Gur's. The
reason is very apparent. A glance upon Fisher's accompanying
sketch shows that Naram-Sin's wall (No. 3) met
Ur-Gur's in an angle of io° 30'. The last-mentioned king
therefore, in modifying the plan of the earlier ruler, was forced
to raze the old wall in order to prevent the enemy from using
it as a base of operation against his new rampart. Consequently
Naram-Sin's structure is preserved only where it
lies beneath the wall of Ur-Gur, who, as far as possible,
utilized it as a foundation for his own bulwark. From the
fact that the axis of the upper sidewalk of the pre-Sargonic
gate ( No. 6 ),
previously described, is perpendicular to the line
of Naram-Sin's fortification
restored, we infer that Sargon's
famous son built his wall according to the plan of one of his
predecessors. The course of this wall, however, differed
essentially from that of the earliest rampart 2 and from that
of the time of
Ur-Gur, both of which practically followed
the same general trend. All attempts on the part of the
architects to fix the inner face of Naram-Sin's enclosing
wall have been unsuccessful, so that, Haynes' previous assertions
3 to the contrary, we still are in absolute ignorance of
1
It descended, therefore, to the level of the present plain, which lies somewhat
above that of Ur-Gur's time.
This indicates that the ground on which
the 'foundation was laid had previously been raised. It is very probable that
an earlier wall, afterwards partly covered by Ur-Gur's foundation, once occupied
the same site.
2
Which must have been perpendicular to the axis of the lower sidewalk
of the pre-Sargonic gate.
3
Reproduced in Hilprecht, " The Bab. Exp. of the U. of Pa.," series
A, vol. i, part 2, pp. 20, seq.