The Hanging Gardens
of Babylon (also known as the Hanging
Gardens of Semiramis) are considered
one of the ancient Seven Wonders of
the World. They were said to have
been built by Nebuchadnezzar II around
600 B.C.E.
The image of the gardens
is impressive not only for its beauty,
but also for the engineering feat
of supplying the massive, raised gardens
with soil and water. The lush Hanging
Gardens were extensively documented
by Greek historians such as Strabo
and Diodorus Siculus. However, these
are not eyewitness accounts, and there
is little first-hand evidence of their
existence. Some circumstantial evidence
gathered at the excavation of the
palace at Babylon has accrued, but
does not substantiate the apparently
fanciful descriptions of ancient writers.
Through the ages, the location of
the Hanging Gardens may have been
confused with gardens that existed
at Nineveh, since tablets from there
clearly show gardens.
Presumed to have been
located on or near the east bank of
the River Euphrates, about 31 miles
south of Baghdad, Iraq, the Hanging
Gardens of Babylon—with their
blossoming flowers, ripe fruit, gushing
waterfalls, terraces lush with rich
foliage, and exotic creatures roaming
about—may have been only a figment
of the fertile imagination of Greek
scholars and poets, or the boasts
of returning soldiers.
History
During the rule of the
well-known king, Hammurabi (1792–1750
B.C.E.), the kingdom of Babylonia
rose to prominence above the cities
of Mesopotamia. However, Babylonian
civilization did not reach the apex
of its glory until the reign of Nabopolassar
(625–605 B.C.E.), who began
the Neo-Babylonian empire. His fabled
son, Nebuchadnezzar II (604–562
B.C.E.), the presumed builder of the
legendary Hanging Gardens is said
to have constructed them in order
to win favor with his wife, Amyitis,
who had been "brought up in Media
[an ancient country roughly in the
area of the northwest of modern Iran]
and had a passion for mountain surroundings."
Philo of Byzantium,
thought by many to be the first to
compile a list of the Seven Wonders
of the World in the late second century
B.C.E., raised the issue whether the
plants in the Hanging Gardens were
hydroponic. Philo noticed that plants
were cultivated above ground, while
the roots of the trees were embedded
in an upper terrace of the garden
rather than in the earth. This was
certainly an advanced agricultural
technique for the time, if true.
Strabo, the first century
B.C.E. Greek historian and geographer,
in Book 16 of his 17-book series,
Geography (in the Middle East), described
the geo-political landscape of the
Hanging Gardens, as he did with much
of the known world during the reigns
of the first two Roman emperors, Augustus
and Tiberius
