Seven Ancient Wonders of the World - Hanging Gardens of Babylon

The Hanging Garden of Babylon, also known as the, Hanging Gardens of Semiramis, is one of the most venerated marvels among the seven wonders of world. Located in the east bank of Euphrates, South of Baghdad in Iraq.

The King Hammurabi is the most famous king of the Babylonian kingdom. The whole kingdom flourished under his rule. His son Nebuchadnezzar is the one who built the Hanging gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven wonders of world. Nebuchadnezzar ruled the country for 43 years from 605 BC. He constructed impressive array of temples, palaces and streets. It is being told that he built this garden to please his wife, Amyitis. Amyitis, daughter of the king Medes seems to have had a passion for mountainous surroundings. There are some other accounts which say that this wonder of the world was actually built by the Assyrian Queen Semiramis.The ancient accounts of this hanging gardens (one of the seven wonders of the world) describes the structure to be a stairs like one. The Greek geographer Strabo, describes it as , "the garden consists of vaulted terraces raised one above another, and resting upon cube-shaped pillars. These are hollow and filled with earth to allow trees of the largest size to be planted. The pillars, the vaults, and terraces are constructed of baked brick and asphalt." The irrigation system was supposedly the complex part built on this gardens. This region had very scarce rains. Slaves were used to push the water upwards using some ancient method of irrigation. Of course there must be some exploitation of slave labor to maintain one among the seven wonders of the world. The gardens did not really hang on the roof using cables or ropes. But this name from the sense that it was built on the roof top. Some accounts state that the gardens are 400 by 400 feet and 80 feet high.

There is some controversy as to whether the Hanging Gardens were an actual creation or a poetic creation due to the lack of documentation of them in the chronicles of Babylonian history. In ancient writings the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were first described by Berossus, a Chaldean priest who lived in the late 4th century BC. These accounts were later elaborated on by Greek historians.
A newer theory proposes that the garden was actually constructed under the orders of Sennacherib, who took the throne of Assyria in 705–681 BC. During new studies of the location of Nineveh (Located on the eastern bank of the Tigris in ancient Assyria) his gardens were placed close to the entrance of his palace, on the bank of the river Tigris. It is possible that in the intervening centuries, the two sites became confused, and the hanging gardens were attributed to Babylon.

The Bablyon reflects a great depiction on the ancient arts as well. 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.Yet, today, 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.