MEDIAE MURUS
MEDIAE MURUS mentioned only by name by Xenophon, who calls it
τό Μηδίας καλούμενον τεῖχος. (
Anab. 2.4.12.)
He states that it was 20 parasangs in length, 100 feet high, and 20 broad; and it may be inferred from his narrative that it was from 30 to 40 miles to the N. of
Baghdád. There can be little doubt that it was the same work as that called by Strabo in two places
τὸ Σεμιράμιδος διατείχισμα (ii. p. 80, xi. p. 529), and that it had been built across the strip of land where the Tigris and Euphrates approach most nearly, as a defence to the province of Babylonia, which lay to the S. of it.
There has been much question, whether this great work can be identified with any of the numerous mounds still remaining in this part of Mesopotamia; but the question has, we think, been set at rest by the careful survey of Lieut. Lynch, in 1837. (
Roy. Geogr. Journ. vol. ix. pp. 472, 473.) Mr. Lynch places the end adjoining the Tigris in N. lat. 34° 3‘ 30 “, and long. 21‘ 50” W. of
Baghdád. He describes the existing ruins as an embankment or wall of lime and pebbles, having towers or buttresses on the northern or NW. face, and a wide and deep fosse; and states, that, putting his horse at its full speed, he galloped along it for more than an hour without finding any appearance of termination.
The natives, too, assured him that it extended to the Euphrates.
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