The logo of the Melammu Project

The Melammu Project

The Heritage of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East

  The Melammu Project
  
   General description
   Search string
   Browse by topic
   Search keyword
   Submit entry
  
   About
   Open search
   Thematic search
   Digital Library
   Submit item
  
   Ancient texts
   Dictionaries
   Projects
   Varia
   Submit link
  FAQ
  Contact us
  About

  The Newsletter
  To Project Information >

  

Semiramis and the founding of Babylon (2)

 Printable view
Topics (move over topic to see place in topic list)

07 Crafts and economy



 		Keywords
Babylon
Semiramis
tunnels
Period
1st century BCE
Roman Empire 		Channel
Helleno-Roman philosophers and scholars

Text
Diodorus Siculus 2.9.1-2:
After this Semiramis picked out the lowest spot in Babylonia and built a square reservoir, which was three hundred stades long on each side; it was constructed of baked brick and bitumen, and had a depth of thirty-five feet. Then, diverting the river into it, she built an underground passage-way from one palace to the other; and making it of burned brick, she coated the vaulted chambers on both sides with hot bitumen until she had made the thickness of this coating four cubits. The side walls of the passage-way were twenty bricks thick and twelve feet high, exclusive of the barrel-vault, and the width of the passage-way was fifteen feet.

Source (list of abbreviations)
Diodorus Siculus 2.9.1-2

Bibliography

Oldfather 1960, I 378-381Oldfather, C. H. Diodorus of Sicily. 12 Vols. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, London: Heinemann 1960.

Links (external links will open in a new browser window)
Cf. Semiramis and the founding of Babylon (1)

Amar Annus


URL for this entry: http://www.aakkl.helsinki.fi/melammu/database/gen_html/a0000338.php

Illustrations
No pictures

^
T
O
P