It follows from hence, 1.

That all the flat country bordering upon these rivers, was originally a marsh; 2.

That this marsh could not have been inhabited previously to the construction of the banks in question; 3.

That these banks could not have been the work but of a population prior as to date; and the elevation of Babylon, therefore, must have been posterior to that of Nineveh, as I think I have chronologically demonstrated in the memoir above cited.

See Encyclopedia, vol.xiii, of Antiquities.
The modern Aderbidjan, which was a part of Medea, the mountains of Koulderstan, and those of Diarbekr, abound with subterranean canals, by means of which the ancient inhabitants conveyed water to their parched soil in order to fertilize it.