Herodotus tells us, that one of the gates of Babylon was [356] called the gate of Semiramis, and than she adorned the walls of the city, and the Temple of Belus, and that she [357] was five Generations older than Nitocris the mother of Labynitus, or Nabonnedus, the last King of Babylon; and therefore she flourished four Generations, or about 134 years, before Nebuchadnezzar , and by consequence in the Reign of Tiglath-pileser the successor of Pul:  and the followers of Ctesias tell us, that she built Babylon, and was the widow of the son and successor of Belus, the founder of the Assyrian Empire; that is, the widow of one of the sons of Pul:  but [358] Berosus a Chaldaean blames the Greeks for ascribing the building of Babylon to Semiramis; and other authors ascribe the building of this city to Belus himself, that is to Pul; so Curtius [359] tells us; Semiramis Babylonem condiderat, vel ut plerique credidere Belus, cujus regia ostenditur:  and Abydenus, who had his history from the ancient monuments of the Chaldaeans, writes, [360] [Greek:  Legetai Belon Babylona teichei peribalein; toi chronoi de toi ikneumenoi aphanisthenai. teichisai de authis Nabouchodonosoron, to mechri tes Makedonion arches diameinan eon chalkopylon.] ’Tis reported that Belus_ compassed Babylon with a wall, which in time was abolished:  and that Nebuchadnezzar afterwards built a new wall with brazen gates, which stood ’till the time of the Macedonian Empire_:  and so Dorotheas [361] an ancient Poet of Sidon;

  [Greek:  Archaie Babylon, Tyriou Beloio polisma.]
  The ancient city Babylon_ built by the Tyrian Belus_;

That is, by the Syrian or Assyrian Belus; the words Tyrian, Syrian, and Assyrian, being anciently used promiscuously for one another:  Herennius [362] tells us, that it was built by the son of Belus; and this son might be Nabonassar.  After the conquest of Calneh, Thelasar, and Sippare, Belus might seize Chaldaea, and begin to build Babylon, and leave it to his younger son:  for all the Kings of Babylon in the Canon of Ptolemy are called Assyrians, and Nabonassar is the first of them:  and Nebuchadnezzar [363] reckoned himself descended from Belus, that is, from the Assyrian Pul:  and the building of Babylon is ascribed to the Assyrians by [364] Isaiah:  Behold, saith he, the land of the Chaldeans_:  This people was not ’till the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness, [that is, for the Arabians_.]_ They set up the towers thereof, they raised up the palaces thereof_.