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πύργος. For the eight stories cf. the Cyrus tomb at Murghab (125. 3 n.). H. is undoubtedly describing a tower with one story set upon another, each decreasing in size, and thus the ziggurat is usually restored (cf. Rawlinson, ii. 583-4, for picture). But Meyer, i. 380 n., says it was a rounded cone, with a sloping way winding about it to the top; he follows E. Herzfeld (Samarra, 1907), who gives a beautiful picture of the still-existing minaret of the Samarra mosque, which, he claims, embodies the idea of the old ziggurat. The form is certainly very primitive, and Herzfeld maintains that the sun-burned bricks were not strong enough for such a tower as H. describes. The Babylonians had, however, kiln-baked bricks as well, and there is no sufficient reason for describing H.'s view as mistaken.

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