LONDON BIGGER THAN SEVEN BABYLONS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 161, 29 June 1908, Page 4

LONDON BIGGER THAN SEVEN BABYLONS

Another historical lie lias been nailed to the counter hy the German Oriental Society, which has been recemly in uiKoveriuK the ruins of ancient l'abvlon.

In their report, ju-t published. they stall" Hint practically tlie whole area of till' cit.v lias now- iieen laiil bare, ami tlic foundation- of (he inelo-ing wall traced throughout it- entire length. Tlic space occupied liy the cil \ was barely <im; square mile—as compar.il wiili l„.ndon's seventy —a nil (lie buildings were )ilnin. unpretentious ~triiilure- of sundried In-ieks. Tlie famous wall was alninl thirty feet lti>rli by four mil,-- long. ami was pierced liy four

Herodotus made this same wall lift.' mil,'s long and a hnndred feet lii-i'i. with one liniidi'ed irate-. lint (hen (lie old lii-!,,rians were prone to cvaggera(ion.

They gave the world to understand, for iii-tan,-e, that tlie Colo-sus of I'hodes lie-trode the harbor with its feet so wide apart that an hour's hard rowing was necessary to pa-- from one to the oilier. As a matter of fact, the statu 1 was no! a striding one. and its height wa- 1-t' only, as compared with the l.'D fee! of the statue of Liberty which dominate- New York liarlmr. And as il is with this, -o it i, with mo-t of the other wonders of the ancient world. l'ompey's I'illar. for example, would 1«> dwarfed if placed alongside tile Xcl-on Column. The Albert .Memorial, erected in Hyde Park by Queen Victoria in memory of the Prince Consort. i- larger and more splendid than I lie temple-tomb built by Queen Artemisia at Halicantassns j a honor of her husband Mausolus. A score of Xinevehs could be contained within the area of modern Ijondon; while the l'alacc of Cyprus, which we wcIV gravely a-,-wa> {viiH'iitoil with jioUl, was <|iiit« stu ordinarv edifice hv comparison wiili some of tiie modern lmildinsrs in London,