Till, however, additional researches have been made, it is in vain to think of restoring the plan or elevation of this part of the temple.
From the temples of the Babylonians we may now pass to their palaces--constructions inferior in height and grandeur, but covering a greater space, involving a larger amount of labor, and admitting of more architectural variety.

Unfortunately the palaces have suffered from the ravages of time even more than the temples, and in considering their plan and character we obtain little help from the existing remains.
Still, something may be learnt of them from this source, and where it fails we may perhaps be allowed to eke out the scantiness of our materials by drawing from the elaborate descriptions of Diodorus such points as have probability in their favor.
The Babylonian palace, like the Assyrian, and the Susianian, stood upon a lofty mound or platform.

This arrangement provided at once for safety, for enjoyment, and for health.

It secured a pure air, freedom from the molestation of insects, and a position only assailable at a few points.
The ordinary shape of the palace mound appears to have been square; its elevation was probably not less than fifty or sixty feet.

It was composed mainly of sun-dried bricks, which however were almost certainly enclosed externally by a facing of burnt brick, and may have been further strengthened within by walls of the same material, which perhaps traversed the whole mound.