The hanging garden of Babylon

Introduction
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient
World. They were described as a remarkable feat of engineering with an ascending
series of tiered gardens containing a wide variety of trees, shrubs, and vines,
resembling a large green mountain constructed of mud bricks.

The architect
There is no definitive information about the architect of the Hanging Gardens of
Babylon. According to one legend, the gardens were built by the Neo-Babylonian
King Nebuchadnezzar II (who ruled between 605 and 562 BC), for his Median wife,
Queen Amytis, because she missed the green hills and valleys of her homeland.
However, there are no extant Babylonian texts that mention the gardens, and no
definitive archaeological evidence has been found in Babylon. Three theories have
been suggested to account for this:
First, that they were purely mythical, and the descriptions found in ancient Greek and
Roman writings represented a romantic ideal of an eastern garden;
second, that they existed in Babylon, but were destroyed sometime around the first
century AD;
and third, that the legend refers to a well-documented garden that the Assyrian King
Sennacherib (704–681 BC) built in his capital city of Nineveh on the River Tigris, near
the modern city of Mosul.

Location
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were located in the ancient city of Babylon, near
present-day Hillah, Babil province, in Iraq. However, the location of the Hanging
Gardens has not been definitively established. There are no extant Babylonian texts
that mention the gardens, and no definitive archaeological evidence has been found
in Babylon.

1
Story behind
According to one legend, the Hanging Gardens were built alongside a grand palace
known as The Marvel of Mankind, by the Neo-Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II
(who ruled between 605 and 562 BC), for his Median wife, Queen Amytis, because
she missed the green hills and valleys of her homeland. The gardens were described
as a remarkable feat of engineering with an ascending series of tiered gardens
containing a wide variety of trees, shrubs, and vines, resembling a large green
mountain constructed of mud bricks. The Hanging Gardens’ name is derived from the
Greek word κρεμαστός (kremastós, lit. ‘overhanging’), which has a broader meaning
than the modern English word “hanging” and refers to trees being planted on a raised
structure such as a terrace.

Materials used to construct

There are no definitive records of the materials used to construct the Hanging
Gardens of Babylon. According to some researchers, the gardens were built within
the walls of the royal palace at Babylon, the capital of Babylonia (now in southern
Iraq), and did not actually “hang” but were instead “up in the air”; that is, they were
roof gardens laid out on a series of ziggurat terraces that were irrigated by pumps
from the Euphrates River.
The gardens were constructed of mud bricks, which were waterproofed with lead.
The irrigation system was said to be exceptional, and the gardens were roofed with
stone balconies on which were layered various materials, such as reeds, bitumen,
and lead, so that the irrigation water would not seep through the terraces.

Reasons for the choice of materials

There is no definitive information about why the materials used to construct the
Hanging Gardens of Babylon were chosen.

The spirit or intention behind the commissioning of the wonder

According to one legend, the Hanging Gardens were built alongside a grand palace
known as The Marvel of Mankind, by the Neo-Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II
(who ruled between 605 and 562 BC), for his Median wife, Queen Amytis, because
she missed the green hills and valleys of her homeland.

2
Why was it constructed in a gigantic size out of human scale and
proportion
There is no definitive information about why the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were
constructed in a gigantic size out of human scale and proportion.

Conclusion
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient
World. They were described as a remarkable feat of engineering with an ascending
series of tiered gardens containing a wide variety of trees, shrubs, and vine

References
https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/ancient-near-eastern-
world/hanging-gardens/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanging_Gardens_of_Babylon
https://wisdomanswer.com/what-materials-were-used-to-build-the-hanging-gardens-
of-babylon/
https://www.britannica.com/place/Hanging-Gardens-of-Babylon
https://www.worldhistory.org/Hanging_Gardens_of_Babylon/