The figures, according to this author, were larger than the life, and consisted chiefly of a great variety of animal forms.

There were not wanting, however, a certain number of human forms to enliven the scene; and among these were two--a man thrusting his spear through a lion, and a woman on horseback aiming at a leopard with her javelin--which the later Greeks believed to represent the mythic Ninus and Semiramis.

Of the character of the apartments we hear nothing; but we are told that the palace had three gates, two of which were of bronze, and that these had to be opened and shut by a machine.
But the main glory of the palace was its pleasure-ground--the "Hanging Gardens," which the Greeks regarded as one of the seven wonders of the world.

This extraordinary construction, which owed its erection to the whim of a woman, was a square, each side of which measured 400 Greek feet.

It was supported upon several tiers of open arches, built one over the other, like the walls of a classic theatre, and sustaining at each stage, or story, a solid platform, from which the piers of the next tier of arches rose.