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The outer wall is the main defence of the city. There is, however,
a second inner wall, of less thickness than the first, but very little
inferior to it in strength. The centre of each division of the town
was occupied by a fortress. In the one stood the palace of the kings,
surrounded by a wall of great strength and size: in the other was the
sacred precinct of Jupiter Belus, a square enclosure two furlongs
each way, with gates of solid brass; which was also remaining in my
time. In the middle of the precinct there was a tower of solid
masonry, a furlong in length and breadth, upon which was raised a
second tower, and on that a third, and so on up to eight. The ascent
to the top is on the outside, by a path which winds round all the
towers. When one is about half-way up, one finds a resting-place
and seats, where persons are wont to sit some time on their way to the
summit. On the topmost tower there is a spacious temple, and inside
the temple stands a couch of unusual size, richly adorned, with a
golden table by its side. There is no statue of any kind set up in the
place, nor is the chamber occupied of nights by any one but a single
native woman, who, as the Chaldaeans, the priests of this god,
affirm, is chosen for himself by the deity out of all the women of the land.
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