THE SEVEN WONDERS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD, THE HANGING GARDENS OF BABYLON

 

If you asked anyone to name the seven wonders it is highly unlikely that they will be able to do so, but the majority will manage to name the hanging gardens of Babylon.

What makes that fact all the more remarkable is that the hanging gardens are the only wonder we have yet to locate.

It’s believed to have been on the east bank of the River Euphrates, approximately 30 miles to the south of Baghdad in modern Iraq but as yet archaeologists have failed to agree on its exact location.

There are some who go as far as to say the hanging gardens never existed but were instead figments of the imagination of Greek poets written on the back of tales from travellers and soldiers who had never set eyes upon such fertile land as Mesopotamia.

Even Babylonian writings from the time make no mention of their existence.

 

The Babylonian kingdom flourished for over a thousand years, but it was during the Neo-Babylonian dynasty that the Mesopotamian civilization reached its zenith.

It was during the rule of Nebuchadnezzar that the gardens are supposed to have been built and Nebuchadnezzar himself is credited with their conception although even this is disputed in some quarters.

The story goes that Nebuchadnezzar had the gardens built in around 600 BC to please his homesick wife who missed the mountain surroundings of her homeland.

The exact description of the gardens varies from account to account, but the gist seems to be an enormous multi-tiered structure generally square and supported from beneath by vast pillars and vaulted arches.

On the tiers were planted trees and plants of every kind as well as large, grassed areas and such was the irrigation system fed by pumped water from the river Euphrates that the grass was always green and the trees always in leaf.