One of the seven wonders of the ancient wonders of the world; the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
Said to be an architectural and engineering feat, the gardens are the stuff of legend,
but, did they ever exist.
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I am your host, Rebecca Felgate and today we’re asking Were The Hanging Gardens of
Babylon.
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So, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were said to be a beautiful oasis, a tranquil haven
built by King Nebuchadnezzar for his wife, Amytis.
Construction was thought to have been at some point in his reign between 605 – 561 BC.
Babylon itself was a thriving city in Iraq that these days has been badly damaged by
war.
In ancient writings, the gardens were first described by Babylonian historian, Berossus
in a 280 BC book called Babyloniaca which was lost but summarized in a later text.
Following that they have later been alluded to by the ancient Greeks and Romans who give
detailed descriptions as to their layout.
The gardens are described as raised quadrangular platforms, with arched vaults and built on
stone columns.
Said to be 75ft high, the gardens were more like a series of lush balconies, kept green
by elaborated irrigation systems.
If the gardens were real, it is estimated that it would take 8,200 gallons of water
each day to keep the plants and grass sufficiently watered.
This would obviously have required huge effort on the part of the Babylonians…which cast
some doubt on whether or not they actually existed, but was we know…
kings and queens in these eras were pretty ostentatious.
The seven wonders of the ancient world are considered to be the pyramids of Giza, the
Temple of Artemis, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Colossus
of Rhodes, the Pharos lighthouse at Alexandria and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
While the Pyramids are the only wonder to remain intact, the thing that all of the wonders
except the gardens share is a reliable first-hand account and an established location.
All references in history that we have, so that which weren’t destroyed, all discuss
the gardens from a second-hand perspective, from hearsay.
Clay tablets detailing life in Babylon exist from the time period the gardens were supposed
to exist, but none of them reference the gardens at all.
No structure unearthed in archeological excavations has ever delivered proven to be the ancient
wonder, either.
This has led many to refer to the wonder as the “Lost” Gardens of Babylon, and for
many others to simply assume they did not exist.
That being said, there are a lot of structures that have been lost over the course of time
that archeologists are still looking for, for example, Cleopatra’s tomb.
Many historians simply think the structure was lost in one of the many wars fought in
the area over time.
While no structure has been confirmed to be the Hanging Babylon, many archeologists have
claimed to have found the missing wonder.
Between 1899 and 1917, German archaeologist Robert Koldeway unearthed fourteen large stone
rooms with arch ceilings in the Southern Citadel of Babylon.
He claimed these must have been the ruins of the gardens, but some historians think
the location was too far away from the Euphrates River, where they thought the water for the
garden was irrigated.
It was concluded that the structure was likely a series of storage rooms.
A more recent excavation in Nineveh, 300 miles north of Iraq, seemed somewhat fruitful.
In 2013, Oxford Historian Dr Stephanie Dalley claimed that the gardens were actually near
the river Tigris in Nineveh.
Excavations found aqueducts in line of what we could have expected from Babylon.
Dr Dalley also claims that when King Assyria ransacked Babylon in 689 AD, the Assyrian
Capital of Nineveh was dubbed New Babylon, which may be where and why confusion came
around.
As with all legends passed down through history, time has eroded source credibility and all
we have to really go on is what we find in the earth.
Sadly, as time changes fables, it also erodes physical evidence.
If a lot of people mentioned the gardens, there is probably some truth in their existence,
but without a first hand account of physical evidence in the earth, we just can’t say
for sure.
So…
Were The Hanging Gardens of Babylon real?
Probably.
Were they in Babylon?
Maybe not.
We just can’t know for sure.
But don’t just take our word for it…..What do you guys think?
Let me know in the comments section down below.
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I am your host Rebecca Felgate, I’ll catch you in the next video, but until then stay
curious, stay alert and never ever stop questioning.