Seven Wonders of the Ancient World:
HANGING GARDENS OF BABYLON
Date Created: about 600BC Created by: King Nebuchadnezzar II Location: Babylon, south of modern Baghdad, in Iraq
In a city full of wonders — gold temples and statues, a grand palace, massive gates decorated with colorful tiles and sculptures — the Hanging Gardens stood out as an engineering marvel. Strabo, the first-century Greek geographer and historian, described the gardens in one of his writings.
“The Hanging Garden has plants cultivated above ground level, and the roots of the trees are embedded in an upper terrace rather than in the earth. The whole mass is supported on stone columns… Streams of water emerging from elevated sources flow down sloping channels… These waters irrigate the whole garden saturating the roots of plants and keeping the whole area moist. Hence the grass is permanently green and the leaves of trees grow firmly attached to supple branches… This is a work of art of royal luxury and its most striking feature is that the labor of cultivation is suspended above the heads’ of the spectators.”
The earliest descriptions of the Hanging Gardens come from the first century BC. Unfortunately, none of the people who wrote about them, including Strabo, actually saw the gardens in person. It is interesting that there is no reference to them in any of the writings of the Babylonian historians of the time. Nor did the Greek historian Herodotus, who visited Babylon about 450 BC, mention any gardens.
Located near the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II, the Hanging Gardens are believed to have consisted of a series of six terraces with supporting columns and archways. The terraces were filled with trees and plants gathered from every corner of the known world. They created large shady areas in the hot dry climate.
King Nebuchadnezzar II was not usually considered to be a sensitive ruler. He often made decisions that were not popular with his advisors or his people. However, the story of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon shows a different side of the king. Amyitis, the daughter of the king of the Medes, was one of Nebuchadnezzar II’s wives. She was not happy living in the flat semi-desert area of Babylon and was homesick for the green mountains and trees of her homeland. King Nebuchadnezzar II decided to create a man-made mountain in order to please her.
It is also possible that Nebuchadnezzar was not as interested in making his wife happy as he was in making sure that he did not upset the king of the Medes. The Medes, and their neighbors the Persians, were both strong kingdoms that were a potential threat to the stability of King Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon.
The lowest terrace of the garden was reported to be 400 feet square and 75-80 feet above the ground. The highest terrace was 130 feet above ground level. Each terrace was lined with lead to keep the water from seeping through, and then covered with dirt.
Ingenious devices were used to raise water from the Euphrates River to the top of the gardens. Buckets were fastened to a chain which circled around a set of wooden wheels, turned by means of a treadmill operated by slaves. As each bucket reached the highest terrace, it emptied out the water. The water then ran down the terraces in a series of channels that kept the bushes and trees green all year long.
The reign of King Nebuchadnezzar II (605-562BC) is known as “The New Babylonian” period, and marked the height of the Babylonian Empire. Nebuchadnezzar II’s father, Nabopolassar, had managed to overthrow the rule of the Assyrians, who had been in control of Babylon for almost 300 years. Nebuchadnezzar II took advantage of the opportunity to increase the strength and power of Babylon. Under his rule the Babylonians were able to repel several attacks from the Egyptians and Assyrians. He was also able to lay siege to Jerusalem and bring all the Jews back to Babylon to serve as slaves.
King Nebuchadnezzar II began a number of building projects to restore Babylon to its former glory. One of these projects was the king’s palace, a huge structure that contained not only the residence of the king but also the government offices. He also constructed a large defensive wall around the city that was reportedly wide enough for two chariots to race side by side on its top.
In 539 BC Babylon fell to Cyrus, king of the Persians, and later became a province under a Persian governor.
There is still a considerable amount of mystery associated with the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Although the most likely creator of the gardens is King Nebuchadnezzar II, there are several other theories regarding their origin. One legend holds that a queen of ancient Assyria named Semiramis (810783 BC) made them. Another theory states that a Babylonian king named Marduk-apal-iddin constructed the gardens. In fact, there were stone tablets found that mention this king and his special interest in herbs and plants which he cultivated in his “Great Garden.”
Just as the origin of the gardens is in question, so too the actual structure and location is suspect. Between 1899 and 1917 the ruins of the city of Babylon were excavated by Robert Koldewey, a German archaeologist. Over the years he was able to uncover many of the amazing structures from Ancient Babylon. However, it :is not certain that he ever found the Hanging Gardens. A series of arched terraces were discovered near the Ishtar Gate. These terraces were supported with stone columns in a manner not typical of Babylonian buildings, most of which were made of mud bricks because stone was scarce here. Koldewey also discovered the shaft of a triple well that might have been the one from which water was lifted to the terraces of the gardens. Koldewey felt confident that he had found the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, but the location of the find is not consistent with the earliest descriptions by the Greeks.
Historians do not know when the Hanging Gardens disappeared. It is believed that they still existed in about 350 BC, and probably for some time after.
- Clay tablets from the time of Nebuchadnezzar do not have a single reference to the Hanging Gardens.
- Babylon is the location of the Tower of Babel (mentioned in the Bible), a ziggurat or sacred tower reaching 288 feet toward the heavens.
- At its height, Babylon was known as the richest city in the world.
- Ancient Babylonians were one of the earliest civilizations to make and use maps.
Mission must be fulfilled 