Hanging Gardens of Babylonia Ihs Dupi

8/2/2019 Hanging Gardens of Babylonia Ihs Dupi

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Hanging gardens of Babylonia

Some stories indicate the Hanging Gardens towered hundreds of

feet into the air, but archaeological explorations indicate a more

modest, but still impressive, height.


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The city of Babylon, under King

Nebuchadnezzar II, must have been a

wonder to the ancient traveller's eyes."In addition to its size," wrote

Herodotus, a Greek historian in 450

BC, "Babylon surpasses in splendor any

city in the known world."


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There are two equally credible theories about who

build the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, they are

assumed to be the work either of semilegendary

Queen Sammu-ramat (Greek Semiramis), the Assyrian

queen who reigned from 810 to 783 BC, or of

King Nebuchadrezzar II, the king of the BabylonianEmpire, who reigned c. 605 BC 562 BC. Though ther

are no compelling arguments about the credibility of

any of the assumptions, the hanging Gardens ofBabylon are often called the Hanging Gardens of

Semiramis.
http://ancientworldwonders.com/the-hanging-gardens-of-babylon.htmlhttp://ancientworldwonders.com/the-hanging-gardens-of-babylon.html


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The gardens, presumed to

have been located on or

near the east bank of

the River Euphrates, about

31 miles south

ofBaghdad, Iraq. A more

recent theory proposes

that the gardens were

actually constructed in the

city ofNineveh, on thebank of the river Tigris. It

is possible that Through

the ages, the location of

the Hanging Gardens may

have been confused with

gardens that existed at thecity of Nineveh, since

tablets from the place

clearly show gardens.
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Euphrates_Riverhttp://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Baghdadhttp://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Iraqhttp://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Ninevehhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Tigrishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Tigrishttp://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Ninevehhttp://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Iraqhttp://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Baghdadhttp://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Euphrates_River


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The gardens were about 75 feet (22 meters) high.

The image of the gardens is impressive not only for

its blossoming flowers, ripe fruit, gushing

waterfalls, terraces lush with rich foliage, and

exotic creatures, but also for the engineering feat

of supplying the massive, raised gardens with soil

and water. German architect and archaeologistRobert Koldewey who is known for revealing the

semilegendary Babylon as a geographic and

historical reality, discovered huge vaults and archesat the site. He also uncovered an ancient hydraulic

system like a pump drawing water from the river.


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The hanging gardens didnt actually hang The

name hanging comes from the Greek word

kremastos or the Latin word pensilis, which

mean more overhanging than just hanging

as in the case of a terrace or balcony. The

gardens were probably developed on a

structure like a ziggurat and built in the form of

elevated terraces, so that the gardens were at

different levels which grew around and on top

of a building.


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Here is a puzzle: In Herodotus description of

the city of Babylon (Histories, Book I, sections

178-184), where he claims to have been to

Babylon himself, he fails to mention the

gardens, this is usually taken as proof that they

did not exist. But a Dutch historian Jona

Lenderingthinks that Herodotus description

of Babylon is so extraordinary that heeven characterises it as nonsensical. The

18th-century Historian, Edward Gibbon goes

even further and accuses Herodotus of never

having set foot in Babylon at all. Despite these

considerations, if you try to sketch out the city

plan as herodotus describes it, youll see thatits pretty accurate in relation to archaeological

maps so how come that he never mentions

the Gardens?
http://www.livius.org/he-hg/herodotus/logos1_03.htmlhttp://www.livius.org/he-hg/herodotus/logos1_03.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Gibbonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Gibbonhttp://www.livius.org/he-hg/herodotus/logos1_03.htmlhttp://www.livius.org/he-hg/herodotus/logos1_03.htmlhttp://www.livius.org/he-hg/herodotus/logos1_03.html


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Another proof of the consideration that the

Hanging Gardens of Babylon never actuallyexisted are many thousands of clay tablets

from that period in Babylon. Stone tablets

from Nebuchadnezzars reign give detailed

descriptions of the city of Babylonia, its walls,

and the palace, but do not refer to the Hanging

Gardens. Some historians claim that thewarriors in the army ofAlexander the Great

were amazed at the immense prosperity of the

thriving city ofBabylon and tended to

exaggerate their experiences greatly. When the

soldiers returned to their stark homeland, they

had incredible stories to relate about the

remarkable gardens, palm trees, and imposing

buildings of rich and fertile Mesopotamia.
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Alexander_the_Greathttp://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Babylonhttp://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Babylonhttp://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Alexander_the_Great


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In ancient writings the Hanging Gardens of

Babylon were first described by Berossus,

a Chaldaean (a dynasty in Babylonian history)

priest who lived in the late 4th century B.C. In

his book Babyloniaca, written around 280

B.C. The book is lost, but it was summarizedby Alexander Polyhistor in C1 BC in a treatise of

42 books on world history and geography

which is also lost. That treatise, however, was

used by Josephus (37100 AD), who discussed

the gardens twice once in Jewish Antiquities,

and once in Contra Apionem (Against Apion,or Against the Greeks).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Polyhistorhttp://www.josephus-1.com/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiquities_of_the_Jewshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Against_Apionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Against_Apionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Against_Apionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiquities_of_the_Jewshttp://www.josephus-1.com/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Polyhistorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Polyhistor


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Ancient Greek historians, Strabo, Philo and Diodorus gave us these description of the

hanging gardens of Babylon:

The Garden is quadrangular, and each side is four plethra long. It consists of archedvaults which are located on checkered cube-like foundations.. The ascent of the

uppermost terrace-roofs is made by a stairway (Strabo)

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 andkeeping 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. (Philo)

The approach to the Garden sloped like a hillside and the several parts of the structure

rose from one another tier on tier. On all this, the earth had been piledand was thicklyplanted with trees of every kind that, by their great size and other charm, gave pleasure

to the beholder. The water machines [raised] the water in great abundance from the

river, although no one outside could see it. (Diodorus)


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Recent archaeological digs at Babylon have

unearthed a major palace, a vaulted building

with thick walls (perhaps the one mentioned

by Greek historians), and an irrigation well in

proximity to the palace. Although anarchaeological team surveyed the palace site

and presented a reconstruction of the vaulted

building as being the actual Hanging Gardens,

accounts by Strabo place the Hanging Gardens

at another location, nearer the Euphrates

River. Other archaeologists insist that since thevaulted building is thousands of feet from the

Euphrates, it is too distant to support the

original claims even if Strabo happened to be

wrong about the location. The latter team

reconstructed the site of the palace, placing

the Hanging Gardens in a zone running from

the river to the palace. Interestingly, on the

banks of the Euphrates, a newly discovered,

immense, 82-foot thick wall may have been

stepped to form terraces like those mentioned

by the ancient Greek sources.


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Archaeologists and historians believe that the

Hanging Gardens of Babylon were not

destroyed by an earthquake but by other

minor disasters such as: erosion and warfare.

The huge construction probably started fallingapart under the influence of the weather.

Armies and other raiders could have been for

its eventual destruction and disappearance.

After about 600 or 700 years, the whole

structure had been levelled to the ground.


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The Seven Wonders of the World/The Hanging

Gardens


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One of the more common mysteries has been how the plants were given water.

Babylon, after all, is in the middle of a desert. Excavations in recent years have shedlight on this question. Archaeologists now think that a sort of pump system was

designed, utilizing buckets of water on a sort of pulley (like our modern conveyor

belt). No such object has been found, of course, but the evidence that has been

found fits in with this theory.


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Another question in relation to the one above is how the foundation of the

Gardens was kept intact. The building was made of brick, and the water needed

to keep the plants alive must have had to have flown down a sort of drain in

order not to soften the brick and make the whole roof collapse. Further, the

Gardens were said to have been on several levels of terraces. Surely a drainwould have had to have been in place for each terrace level. Archaeologists are

still working on this one.

The other big mystery is who had the gardens built. Babylon wasn't exactly a

democracy, so we can probably surmise that slaves or laborers built the gardens.But who had them built?

The story traditionally has been that King Nebuchadrezzar II had them built for his

Median wife, Amytis, because she missed the gardens of her home. No firsthand

accounts of motives for building the Gardens exist, of course, so we are left to

assume.We can probably conclude that the Hanging Gardens existed, based on the theory

that enough people saw them and described them. We can probably conclude that

the system of providing water to all those plants was remarkable and ingenius,

especially given the desert climate and the mechanical capabilities of the ancient

Babylonians. We can definitely say that the Hanging Gardens continue to inspire

the imagination.
http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/wwww/world/nebuchadnezzardef.htmhttp://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/wwww/world/nebuchadnezzardef.htmhttp://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/wwww/world/nebuchadnezzardef.htmhttp://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/wwww/world/nebuchadnezzardef.htmhttp://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/wwww/world/nebuchadnezzardef.htm


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The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were once located in thepart of the world known as Iraq. They were actuallyterraced gardens, probably built by the king

Nebuchadnezzar II in the sixth century BC. According tothe legend he built them to please his wife Semiarid whowas homesick for the mountain climate of her native land.

[nebjukdnez(r)]- Nebuchadnezzar

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon

The gardens werent theeasiest thing to sustain in thatpart of the world. Babylon wasin a desert where there wasvery little rainfall. Engineershad to come up with a way tolift water up from the localEuphrates River so it could

reach every level of theterrace.

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Hanging Gardens of Babylonia Ihs Dupi