17. An elevated situation seems in these countries to have been an essential requisite to a royal garden; probably because the air in such regions is more cool and salubrious, �the security from hostile attack of any sort more certain, � and the prospect always sublime. �When Semiramis came to Chanon, a city of Media,� observes Diodorus Siculus (lib. ii. cap. 13.), �she discovered, on an elevated plain, a rock of stupendous height, and of considerable extent. Here she formed another paradise, exceedingly large, enclosing a rock in the midst of it, on which she erected sumptuous buildings for pleasure, commanding a view both of the plantations and the encampment.�
