ever equalled it.  About half-way up the ascent was a resting-place with seats, where persons commonly sat a while on their way to the summit.  The shrine which crowned the edifice was large and rich.  In the time of Herodotus it contained no image; but only a golden table and a large couch, covered with a handsome drapery.  This, however, was after the Persian conquest and the plunder of its principal treasures.  Previously, if we may believe Diodorus, the shrine was occupied by three colossal images of gold—­one of Bel, one of Beltis, and the third of Rhea or Ishtar.  Before the image of Beltis were two golden lions, and near them two enormous serpents of silver, each thirty talents in weight.  The golden table—­forty feet long and fifteen broad—­was in front of these statues, and upon it stood two huge drinking-cups, of the same weight as the serpents.  The shrine also contained two enormous censers and three golden bowls, one for each of the three deities.

At the base of the tower was a second shrine or chapel, which in the time of Herodotus contained a sitting image of Bel, made of gold, with a golden table in front of it, and a stand for the image, of the same precious metal.  Here, too, Persian avarice had been busy; for anciently this shrine had possessed a second statue, which was a human figure twelve cubits high, made of solid gold.  The shrine was also rich in private offerings.  Outside the building, but within the sacred enclosure, were two altars, a smaller one of gold, on which it was customary to offer sucklings, and a larger one, probably of stone, where the worshippers sacrificed full-grown victims.

The great palace was a building of still larger dimensions than the great temple.  According to Diodorus, it was situated within a triple enclosure, the innermost wall being twenty stades, the second forty stades, and the outermost sixty stades (nearly seven miles), in circumference.  The outer wall was built entirely of plain baked brick.  The middle and inner walls were of the same material, fronted with enamelled bricks representing hunting scenes.  The figures, according to this author, were larger than the life, and consisted chiefly of a great variety of animal forms.  There were not wanting, however, a certain number of human forms to enliven the scene; and among these were two—­a man thrusting his spear through a lion, and a woman on horseback aiming at a leopard with her javelin—­which the later Greeks believed to represent the mythic Ninus and Semiramis.  Of the character of the apartments we hear nothing; but we are told that the palace had three gates, two of which were of bronze, and that these had to be opened and shut by a machine.