Histories

Then a long way above Babylon [44.4,32.55] (deserted settlement), Babil, Iraq, AsiaBabylon she dug the reservoir of a lake, a little way off from the river, always digging deep enough to find water, and making the circumference a distance of fifty two miles; what was dug out of this hole, she used to embank either edge of the river;

and when she had it all dug, she brought stones and made a quay all around the lake.

Her purpose in making the river wind and turning the hole into marsh was this: that the current might be slower because of the many windings that broke its force, and that the passages to Babylon [44.4,32.55] (deserted settlement), Babil, Iraq, AsiaBabylon might be crooked, and that right after them should come also the long circuit of the lake.

All this work was done in that part of the country where the passes are and the shortest road from Media, so that the Medes might not mix with her people and learn of her affairs.