A Neo-Babylonian royal inscription of
Nebuchadnezzar II on a
stele from
Babylon, claimed to have been found in the 1917 excavation by
Robert Koldewey, and of uncertain authenticity, reads: "Etemenanki Zikkurat Babibli [Ziggurat of Babylon] I made it, the wonder of the people of the world, I raised its top to heaven, made doors for the gates, and I covered it with bitumen and bricks." The building is depicted in shallow relief, showing its high first stages with paired flights of steps, five further stepped stages and the temple that surmounted the structure. A floor plan is also shown, depicting the buttressed outer walls and the inner chambers surrounding the central
cella. Foundation cylinders with inscriptions from Nabopolassar were found in the 1880s, one of which reads: Carved on a black stone, the "Tower of Babel Stele", as it is known, dates to 604–562 BCE, the time of Nebuchadnezzar II. Translated in 1876 by Assyriologist
George Smith, it gives the height of the tower as seven stocks (91 meters) with a square base of 91 meters on each side. This mudbrick structure was confirmed by excavations conducted by Robert Koldewey after 1913. Large stairs were discovered at the south side of the building, where a triple gate connected it with the
Esagila. A larger gate to the east connected the Etemenanki with the sacred procession road (now reconstructed in the
Pergamon Museum, Berlin). Until the first translation of the "Esagila" tablet, details of Babylon's ziggurat were known only from the ancient Greek historian
Herodotus, who wrote in the mid-5th century BCE: This
Tower of Jupiter Belus is believed to refer to the Akkadian god
Bel, whose name has been
Hellenised by Herodotus to
Zeus Belus. It is likely that it corresponds to Etemenanki. Herodotus does not say that he visited Babylon or the ziggurat, however; the account contains multiple inaccuracies and is most likely second hand. ==Final demolition==