The city where the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were located. Babylon Gardens

The Hanging Gardens were located in Babylon. Their creation in ancient times was associated with a certain Queen Semiramis. Currently, it is believed that the construction of this miracle of technical thought was carried out by the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar II.

Hanging Gardens of Babylon: history and legend

The modern history of the Gardens of Babylon is associated with the name of the German archaeologist Robert Koldewey. While excavating ancient Babylon since 1899, one day he stumbles upon a strange structure that is not typical for the area. For example, the vaults had a different shape, were lined with stone instead of the usual brick, there were underground structures, and most importantly, an interesting water supply system from three mines was found.

It is obvious that a building of this type was used for some special purposes. Koldewey had to find out. He was able to understand that the entire structure was a kind of water lift for a continuous supply of water to the top. He was helped by references from ancient writers, who said that stone in Babylon was used in only two places. The archaeologist managed to discover one of them, near the northern wall of Qasr, earlier. Another place was semi-legendary, it was about the discovery of one of the 7 wonders of the world, the Gardens of Babylon.

The main ancient mentions of the Gardens of Babylon are associated with the name of the Greek Ctesias. But due to the exaggerations and fantasies observed behind it, almost all of our information about this wonder of the world is controversial and unreliable.

In antiquity, the image of Semiramis appears quite often. According to many legends, Semiramis was a brave warrior and builder with excellent architectural taste. According to one legend, she was the daughter of the mermaid Atargatis, who is a lunar goddess, and an ordinary person. According to other stories, Semiramis was abandoned by her parents from birth, and pigeons were involved in her upbringing.

In fact, the name Semiramis was understood by the Greeks to mean the Assyrian queen Shammuramat, who lived around 800 BC. After the death of her husband Shamshi-Adad V, she had to take power completely into her own hands until her son came of age. But even after his accession to the royal throne, Shammuramat retained the title of queen. And it is no coincidence that under her the state was strengthened and the borders were expanded by conquering Media.

But still, the wonder of the world, the Gardens of Babylon, according to modern researchers, could not be connected with Shammuramat itself. According to a more truthful version, this miracle was presented to the wife of Nebuchadnezzar II, Amytis, two hundred years after the reign of Semiramis. According to legend, Nebuchadnezzar entered into an alliance with the king of Media for the war with Assyria. After the victory, to strengthen the alliance, he married the daughter of the Median king. But life in desert Babylon was incomparable to mountainous and green Media. To please and console his wife, Nebuchadnezzar ordered the construction of these evergreen gardens in the city. So the full name of this building is most likely “Amitis Hanging Gardens”.

Hanging Gardens of Babylon: brief description and interesting facts

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were a four-level structure with many cool rooms, richly decorated with plants. To water them, a water lift was used, for the operation of which the slaves had to turn the wheel. The vaults of the building at each level were supported by 25-meter columns. The terraces were tiled, filled with asphalt and covered with a layer of earth sufficient to grow even trees.

The water supply system used in the Gardens of Babylon was not new to Mesopotamia. Similar features are found in local ziggurats, including the legendary Tower of Babel and the Great Ziggurat of Ur. But it was in gardens that irrigation technology reached its perfection.

If we talk about the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II, then this was a time of great construction of great structures. During his reign, many roads of the city were built, including the famous Processional Road leading from the gate of the goddess Ishtar, a huge number of palaces and temples.

Separately, it is worth mentioning the legendary walls of Babylon, originally also included in the list of wonders of the world. If you believe the descriptions, their width allowed two chariots to pass freely. Watchtowers were installed in two rows of walls every 50 meters. In total there were 360 ​​of them on the inner wall, and 250 on the outer wall.

But with the construction of the Alexandria Lighthouse, the walls of the city with the Gardens of Babylon left the famous list, but the gardens themselves have proudly survived with it to our times. Of course, one can argue for a long time about the place of gardens in this list, but the fact that it was one of the best engineering structures of antiquity is beyond doubt.

In this article I will tell you about the legendary Hanging Gardens of Babylon. What’s interesting is that they are called this way only in our country, while in the West they are called the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, which is logical, since Queen Semiramis’s attitude towards the gardens is very questionable. You will learn about this and much more below.

If we look at the history of the construction of the Hanging Gardens, it becomes clear that the reason for their construction, like many other architectural pearls of antiquity (for example, the Taj Mahal), was love. King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon entered into a military alliance with the king of Media, marrying his daughter named Amytis. Babylon was a trading center in the middle of a sandy desert, it was always dusty and noisy. Amitis began to yearn for her homeland, evergreen and fresh Mussel. To please his beloved, he decided to build hanging gardens in Babylon

The gardens were arranged in the form of a pyramid with four tiers of platforms supported by 20-meter columns. The lowest tier had the shape of an irregular quadrangle, the length of which varied in different parts from 30 to 40 meters

From the Babylonian kingdom of the last period of its existence, mainly the remains of architectural structures have come down, including the palaces of Nebuchadnezzar II and the famous “Hanging Gardens”. According to legend, at the beginning of the 6th century BC. King Nebuchadnezzar II ordered the creation of hanging gardens for one of his wives, who in lowland Babylonia yearned for her homeland in the mountainous part of Iran. And, although in reality the “hanging gardens” appeared only during the time of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II, the Greek legend, transmitted by Herodotus and Ctesias, associated the name of Semiramis with the creation of the “hanging gardens” in Babylon.

According to legend, the king of Babylon Shamshiadat V fell in love with the Assyrian Amazon queen Semiramis. In her honor, he built a huge structure consisting of an arcade - a series of arches stacked on top of each other. On each floor of such an arcade, earth was poured and a garden was laid out with many rare trees. Fountains gurgled among the amazingly beautiful plants and bright birds sang. The Gardens of Babylon were cross-cutting and multi-story. This gave them lightness and a fabulous look.

To prevent water from seeping through the tiers, each of the platforms was covered with a dense layer of tied reeds, then a thick layer of fertile soil with seeds of strange plants - flowers, shrubs, trees

The Gardens of Babylon were located in what is now the Arab Republic of Iraq. Archaeological excavations are underway near the southern part of Baghdad. The Fertility Temple, gates and stone lion were found. As a result of excavations, archaeologist Robert Koldewey in 1899-1917 discovered city fortifications, a royal palace, a temple complex of the god Marduk, a number of other temples and a residential area.

One of the parts of the royal palace can rightfully be identified with the “hanging gardens” of Babylon described by Herodotus with their terraced engineering structures above the vaults and artificial irrigation installations. Only the basements of this structure have been preserved, which represented an irregular quadrangle in plan, the walls of which bore the weight of the “hanging gardens”, located at the height of the palace walls. The above-ground part of the building apparently consisted of a series of powerful pillars or walls covered with vaults, judging by the surviving underground part, which consisted of fourteen vaulted internal chambers. The garden was irrigated using a water wheel.

From a distance, the pyramid looked like an evergreen and flowering hill, bathed in the coolness of fountains and streams. Pipes were located in the cavities of the columns, and hundreds of slaves constantly rotated a special wheel that supplied water to each of the platforms of the hanging gardens. The luxurious gardens in hot and arid Babylon were truly a real miracle, for which they were recognized as one of the seven ancient wonders of the world

Semiramis - (Greek: Semiraramis), according to Assyrian legends, the name of the queen is Shammuramat (late 9th century BC), originally from Babylonia, the wife of King Shamshiadad V. After his death, she was regent for her minor son Adadnerari III (809-782 BC).

The heyday of the Gardens of Babylon lasted about 200 years, after which, during the hegemony of the Persians, the palace fell into disrepair. The kings of Persia only occasionally stayed there during their rare trips around the empire. In the 4th century, the palace was chosen by Alexander the Great as a residence, becoming his last place on earth. After his death, the 172 luxuriously furnished rooms of the palace finally fell into disrepair - the garden was finally no longer looked after, and strong floods damaged the foundation, and the structure collapsed. Many people wonder where the Gardens of Babylon were located? This miracle was located 80 kilometers southwest of modern Baghdad, in Iraq

Legend associates the creation of the famous gardens with the name of the Assyrian queen Semiramis. Diodorus and other Greek historians say that she built the “Hanging Gardens” in Babylon. True, until the beginning of our century, the “Hanging Gardens” were considered pure fiction, and their descriptions were simply excesses of a wild poetic fantasy. Semiramis herself, or rather, her biography, was the first to contribute to this. Semiramis (Shammuramat) is a historical figure, but her life is legendary. Ctesias preserved her detailed biography, which Diodorus later repeated almost verbatim.

“In ancient times there was a city in Syria called Askalon, and next to it there was a deep lake, where the temple of the goddess Derketo stood.” Outwardly, this temple looked like a fish with a human head. The goddess Aphrodite became angry with Derketo for something and made her fall in love with a mere mortal youth. Then Derketo gave birth to his daughter and, in anger, irritated by this unequal marriage, killed the young man, and she disappeared into the lake. The girl was saved by pigeons: they warmed her with their wings, carried milk in their beaks, and when the girl grew up, they brought her cheese. The shepherds noticed hollowed-out holes in the cheese, followed the trail of the pigeons and found a lovely child. They took the girl and took her to the caretaker of the royal herds, Simmas. “He made the girl his daughter, gave her the name Semiramis, which means “dove” among the people of Syria, and raised her approximately. She surpassed everyone in her beauty.” This became the key to her future career.

During a trip to these parts, Onnes, the first royal adviser, saw Semiramis and immediately fell in love with her. He asked Simmas for her hand and, taking her to Nineveh, made her his wife. She bore him two sons. “Since, in addition to beauty, she had all the virtues, she had complete power over her husband: he did nothing without her, and he succeeded in everything.”

Then the war with neighboring Bactria began, and with it the dizzying career of Semiramis... King Nin went to war with a large army: “with 1,700,000 foot, 210,000 horsemen and 10,600 war chariots.” But even with such large forces, the warriors of Nineveh could not conquer the capital of Bactria. The enemy heroically repelled all the attacks of the Ninevites, and Onnes, unable to do anything, began to feel burdened by the current situation. Then he invited his beautiful wife to the battlefield.

“When setting out on the journey,” writes Diodorus, “she ordered a new dress to be sewn for herself,” which is quite natural for a woman. However, the dress was not entirely ordinary: firstly, it was so elegant that it determined the fashion among society ladies of that time; secondly, it was sewn in such a way that it was impossible to determine who was wearing it - a man or a woman.

Arriving at her husband, Semiramis studied the battle situation and found that the king always attacked the weakest part of the fortifications in accordance with military tactics and common sense. But Semiramis was a woman, which means she was not burdened with military knowledge. She called for volunteers and attacked the strongest part of the fortifications, where, according to her assumptions, there were the fewest defenders. Having easily won, she used the moment of surprise and forced the city to capitulate. “The king, delighted with her courage, gave her a gift and began to persuade Onnes to give in to Semiramis voluntarily, promising for this to give him his daughter Sosana as his wife. When Onnes did not want to agree, the king threatened to gouge out his eyes, for he was blind to the orders of his master. Onnes, suffering from the king's threats and love for his wife, eventually went mad and hanged himself. In this way Semiramis acquired the royal title.”

Leaving an obedient governor in Bactria, Nin returned to Nineveh, married Semiramis, and she bore him a son, Ninias. After the death of the king, Semiramis began to rule, although the king had a son-heir.

Semiramis never married again, although many sought her hand. And, enterprising in nature, she decided to surpass her deceased royal husband. She founded a new city on the Euphrates - Babylon, with powerful walls and towers, a magnificent bridge over the Euphrates - “all this in one year.” Then she drained the swamps around the city, and in the city itself she built an amazing temple to the god Bel with a tower, “which was unusually high, and the Chaldeans there watched the rising and setting of the stars, for such a structure was most suitable for this.” She also ordered the construction of a statue of Bel, weighing 1000 Babylonian talents (equal to approximately 800 Greek talents), and erected many other temples and cities. During her reign, a convenient road was built through the seven ridges of the Zagros chain to Lydia, a state in western Asia Minor. In Lydia, she built the capital Ecbatana with a beautiful royal palace, and brought water to the capital through a tunnel from distant mountain lakes.

Then Semiramis started a war - the first Thirty Years' War. She invaded the Median kingdom, from there she went to Persia, then to Egypt, Libya and finally to Ethiopia. Everywhere Semiramis won glorious victories and acquired new slaves for her kingdom. Only in India was she unlucky: after her first successes she lost three-quarters of her army. True, this did not affect her firm determination to win at any cost, but one day she was easily wounded in the shoulder by an arrow. Semiramis returned to Babylon on her fast horse. There a heavenly sign appeared to her that she should not continue the war, and therefore the powerful ruler, pacifying the rage caused by the daring messages of the Indian king (he called her a lover of love affairs, but used a ruder expression), continued to rule in peace and harmony.

Meanwhile, Ninia became bored with her inglorious life. He decided that his mother had been ruling the country for too long, and organized a conspiracy against her: “with the help of one eunuch, he decided to kill her.” The queen voluntarily transferred power to her son, “then she went out onto the balcony, turned into a dove and flew away... straight into immortality.”

However, a more realistic version of the biography of Semiramis has also been preserved. According to the Greek writer Athenaeus of Naucratis (2nd century), Semiramis was at first “an insignificant court lady at the court of one of the Assyrian kings,” but she was “so beautiful that she won the royal love with her beauty.” And soon she persuaded the king, who took her as his wife, to give her power for only five days...

Having received the staff and donned the royal dress, she immediately arranged a great feast, at which she won over the military leaders and all the dignitaries to her side; On the second day, she already ordered the people and noble people to give her royal honors, and threw her husband into prison. So this determined woman seized the throne and retained it until old age, performing many great deeds... “Such are the contradictory reports of historians about Semiramis,” Diodorus concludes skeptically.

And yet, Semiramis was a real historical figure, although we know little about her. In addition to the famous Shammuramat, we know several more “Semiramis”. About one of them, Herodotus wrote that “she lived five human centuries before another Babylonian queen, Nitocris” (i.e., around 750 BC). Other historians call Semiramis Atossa, the daughter and co-ruler of King Beloch, who ruled at the end of the 8th century BC. e.

However, the famous “Hanging Gardens” were not created by Semiramis and not even during her reign, but later, in honor of another, non-legendary, woman.

The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II (605 - 562 BC), in order to fight against the main enemy - Assyria, whose troops twice destroyed the capital of the state of Babylon, entered into a military alliance with Knaxar, the king of Media. Having won, they divided the territory of Assyria among themselves. The military alliance was strengthened by the marriage of Nebuchadnezzar II to the daughter of the Median king Semiramis.

Dusty and noisy Babylon, located on a bare sandy plain, did not please the queen, who grew up in mountainous and green Media. To console her, Nebuchadnezzar ordered the construction of “hanging gardens.” This king, who destroyed city after city and even entire states, built a lot in Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar turned the capital into an impregnable stronghold and surrounded himself with luxury unparalleled even in those times. Nebuchadnezzar built his palace on an artificially created platform, raised to the height of a four-tiered structure.

So far, the most accurate information about the Gardens comes from Greek historians, for example, from Verossus and Diodorus, but the description of the Gardens is rather meager. This is how the gardens are described in their testimonies: “The garden is quadrangular, and each side of it is four plethra long. It consists of arc-shaped storages that are arranged in a checkerboard pattern like cubic bases. Ascent to the uppermost terrace is possible by stairs...” Manuscripts from the time of Nebuchadnezzar do not have a single reference to the “Hanging Gardens,” although they contain descriptions of the palace of the city of Babylon. Even historians who give detailed descriptions of the Hanging Gardens have never seen them.

Modern historians prove that when the soldiers of Alexander the Great reached the fertile land of Mesopotamia and saw Babylon, they were amazed. After returning to their homeland, they reported amazing gardens and trees in Mesopotamia, the palace of Nebuchadnezzar, the Tower of Babel and ziggurats. This gave food to the imagination of poets and ancient historians, who mixed all these stories into one whole to produce one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

Architecturally, the Hanging Gardens were a pyramid consisting of four tiers - platforms, they were supported by columns up to 25 m high. The lower tier had the shape of an irregular quadrangle, the largest side of which was 42 m, the smallest - 34 m. To prevent the seepage of irrigation water, the surface Each platform was first covered with a layer of reeds mixed with asphalt, then two layers of brick held together with gypsum mortar, and lead slabs were laid on top. On them lay a thick carpet of fertile soil, where seeds of various herbs, flowers, shrubs, and trees were planted. The pyramid resembled an ever-blooming green hill.

The floors of the gardens rose in ledges and were connected by wide, gentle staircases covered with pink and white stone. The height of the floors reached almost 28 meters and provided enough light for plants. “In carts drawn by oxen, trees wrapped in damp matting and seeds of rare herbs, flowers and bushes were brought to Babylon.” And trees of the most amazing species and beautiful flowers bloomed in extraordinary gardens. Pipes were placed in the cavity of one of the columns, through which water from the Euphrates was pumped day and night to the upper tier of the gardens, from where it, flowing in streams and small waterfalls, irrigated the plants of the lower tiers. Day and night, hundreds of slaves turned a lifting wheel with leather buckets, bringing water from the Euphrates to the gardens. The murmur of water, shade and coolness among the trees taken from distant Media seemed miraculous.

Magnificent gardens with rare trees, fragrant flowers and coolness in sultry Babylonia were truly a wonder of the world. But during the Persian rule, Nebuchadnezzar's palace fell into disrepair. It had 172 rooms (with a total area of ​​52,000 square meters), decorated and furnished with truly oriental luxury. Now the Persian kings occasionally stayed there during “inspection” trips throughout their vast empire. In 331 BC. e. Alexander the Great's troops captured Babylon. The famous commander made the city the capital of his huge empire. It was here, in the shadow of the Hanging Gardens, that he died in 339 BC. e. The throne room of the palace and the chambers of the lower tier of the hanging gardens were the last place on earth of the great commander, who spent 16 years in continuous wars and campaigns and did not lose a single battle.

After the death of Alexander, Babylon gradually fell into decay. The gardens were in disrepair. Powerful floods destroyed the brick foundation of the columns, and the platforms collapsed to the ground. Thus one of the wonders of the world perished...

The man who excavated the Hanging Gardens was the German scientist Robert Koldewey. He was born in 1855 in Germany, studied in Berlin, Munich and Vienna, where he studied architecture, archeology and art history. Before he was thirty, he managed to take part in excavations in Assos and on the island of Lesbos. In 1887 he was engaged in excavations in Babylonia, later in Syria, southern Italy, Sicily, then again in Syria. Koldewey was an extraordinary person, and in comparison with his professional colleagues, an unusual scientist. His love for archeology, a science that, according to the publications of some specialists, may seem boring, did not prevent him from studying countries, observing people, seeing everything, noticing everything, reacting to everything. Among other things, Koldewey the architect had one passion: his favorite pastime was the history of sewers. Architect, poet, archaeologist and sanitation historian - such a rare combination! And it was this man that the Berlin Museum sent to excavations in Babylon. And it was he who found the famous “Hanging Gardens”!

One day, while excavating, Koldewey came across some vaults. They were under a five-meter layer of clay and rubble on Qasr Hill, which hid the ruins of the southern fortress and the royal palace. He continued his excavations, hoping to find a basement under the arches, although it seemed strange to him that the basement would be under the roofs of neighboring buildings. But he did not find any side walls: the workers’ shovels only tore off the pillars on which these vaults rested. The pillars were made of stone, and stone was very rare in Mesopotamian architecture. And finally Koldewey discovered traces of a deep stone well, but a well with a strange three-stage spiral shaft. The vault was lined not only with brick, but also with stone.

The totality of all the details made it possible to see in this building an extremely successful design for that time (both from the point of view of technology and from the point of view of architecture). Apparently, this structure was intended for very special purposes.

And suddenly it dawned on Koldewey! In all the literature about Babylon, starting with ancient authors (Josephus, Diodorus, Ctesias, Strabo and others) and ending with cuneiform tablets, wherever the “sinful city” was discussed, there were only two mentions of the use of stone in Babylon, and this was especially emphasized during the construction of the northern wall of the Qasr region and during the construction of the “Hanging Gardens” of Babylon.

Koldewey re-read the ancient sources again. He weighed every phrase, every line, every word; he even ventured into the alien field of comparative linguistics. In the end, he came to the conclusion that the found structure could not be anything other than the vault of the basement floor of the evergreen “hanging gardens” of Babylon, inside of which there was an amazing plumbing system for those times.

But there was no more miracle: the hanging gardens were destroyed by floods of the Euphrates, which rises 3-4 meters during floods. And now we can imagine them only from the descriptions of ancient authors and with the help of our own imagination. Even in the last century, the German traveler, member of many honorary scientific societies, I. Pfeiffer, described in her travel notes that she saw “on the ruins of El-Qasr one forgotten tree from the cone-bearing family, completely unknown in these parts. The Arabs call it “atale” and consider it sacred. They tell the most amazing stories about this tree (as if it was left from the “Hanging Gardens”) and they claim that they heard sad, plaintive sounds in its branches when a strong wind blows.”

Here is a short documentary that clearly describes how everything was arranged in this wonderful complex:

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Babylon once joined the list of “Seven Wonders of the World”. Most scientists doubt their existence, believing that this is nothing more than a fantasy of ancient chroniclers. However, many are sure that such a historical fact took place, and all legends reflect real events.

Hanging Gardens of Babylon: where are they located?

The history of the Hanging Gardens goes back centuries, to ancient Babylon. According to legends, they were built by King Nebuchadnezzar II for his wife Amytis. His wife grew up in the green country of Media, so she did not feel comfortable in the sandy and dusty Babylon. Then the king decided to build a palace on artificial terraces planted with green trees, shrubs and herbs. This complex structure of four tiers became known as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

A fantastic structure for that time, it was a stepped pyramid, the tiers of which were connected by means of wide staircases. The platforms were installed on columns whose height reached 25 m. At this height, the plants had a sufficient amount of sunlight. The building looked like an evergreen hill. A complex irrigation system helped him stay this way, thanks to which the hanging gardens were discovered.

History of the discovery of the gardens

Despite the fact that the existence of the gardens was constantly questioned, ruins were discovered that confirm their existence. The ruins of the ancient structure were found by the German architect and archaeologist Robert Koldewey in 1899, when he was excavating Babylon. During the work, he came across a strange structure that was atypical for this area. Its vaults had a rounded shape and were made of stone, while brick laying technology was typical for that time.

However, what struck the scientist most was the amazing water supply system, consisting of three shafts. At first glance, it was made to constantly supply water upward. For what building was such a strange system created? The scientist remembered the texts of the ancient chronicle, which said that stones in Babylon were used only in two buildings. One of them, Koldewey, had already been discovered earlier. The second was the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Having compared all the facts, the archaeologist realized that he was dealing with one of the seven wonders of the world.

Where are the gardens located on the modern world map?

The ruins of Babylon are located on the banks of the Euphrates River, 90 km from modern Baghdad, the capital of Iraq. There are also the ruins of an ancient structure, declared by Robert Koldewey as the Hanging Gardens. However, not all scientists agreed with the German archaeologist. Many continued their search for the ancient monument, believing that it was located in another place.

Oxford archaeologist Stephanie Dalley spent dozens of years unraveling the mystery of the Hanging Gardens. She deciphered the inscriptions from cuneiform tablets located in the British Museum and came to the conclusion that the second wonder of the world was not built in Babylon. According to Dalli, the ancient structure was located in northern Iraq, near modern Mosul.

According to the British archaeologist, the Hanging Gardens were part of the palace of King Sennacherib of Assyria, and were not built by Nebuchadnezzar II for his wife. Cuneiform tablets indicate that the palace with its green garden was “a miracle for all people.” However, this alternative version has not yet been confirmed. To prove her theory, Dalli intends to conduct excavations near Mossul.

Hanging Gardens of Babylon: interesting facts

So, it is still not possible to establish exactly where the Hanging Gardens of Babylon are located. The ancient structure collapsed almost to the ground due to flooding, which was caused by the flooding of the Euphrates River. It overflowed its banks, flooding the structure. The foundation of the building was washed away and it completely collapsed. Thus, for hundreds of years, the ruins of the ancient structure, like the rest of Babylon, were buried under a pile of sand and debris. Years later, scientists discovered the ruins of the ancient city, but there are still many mysteries that will take a long time to unravel.

One of the well-known Seven Wonders of the World, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, was a romantic combination of lush greenery and bright flowers that seemed to descend from the sky.

The grandeur of this architectural monument and entertainment must have been impressive, since contemporaries, for example, in their “History”, called them the most beautiful of human creations.

However, this wonder of the world was lost, and there is no documentation of its existence in the chronicles of Babylonian history, so today the very existence of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon is called into question.

Perhaps they were just a figment of fantasy, a story in the annals of ancient myths and history.

Most of the references to the legendary Babylonian gardens are associated with the name of the Greek Ctesias, but the use of hyperbolization and fiction was noticed behind him, therefore this information is controversial.

Concept

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were first described in ancient documents by Berossus, a Chaldean priest who lived at the end of the 4th century BC.

In his book Babylonian History, written around 280 BC, he describes this magnificent architectural monument and attributes its creation to the great Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II.

According to this source, Nebuchadnezzar erected the Hanging Gardens around 600 BC for his beloved Amytis.

Amytis was the daughter of King Cyaxares of Media.

Their marriage was concluded to seal the agreement between Media and Babylon for victory in the war against Assyria.

In the arid Babylon surrounded by the desert, Amytis yearned for her fertile and green homeland, so the king ordered evergreen gardens to be built in the city that could delight her.

Why the legendary warrior Semiramis appears in their name is still not clear.

Description of the Hanging Gardens of Amitis

To put it bluntly, the hanging gardens did not hang at all. They got their name from a misinterpretation of the Greek term "kremastos" - drooping.

The entire structure of the monument was a four-level pyramid with many rooms, abundantly planted with plants. The floors were arranged in the form of steps, so from a distance this splendor resembled a flowering hill.

The levels were connected by steps made of pink and white slabs.

The gardens were not an independent object, but were part of the palace complex. The vaults of the structure were supported on all sides by 25-meter high columns.

This height was necessary so that all the flora growing there would be fully illuminated by the sun.

The terraces were lined with lead slabs, bricks and covered with such a layer of earth that even trees could grow on them. This arrangement prevented excess water from draining to the lower levels.

To water all the plants in the palace, a water lift was installed; to ensure its operation, slaves turned a huge wheel.

This technique of supplying water was not new; it was used in Mesopotamia in many architectural structures, even in the legendary Tower of Babel. But it was here that she achieved her impeccability.

Over the years, the plants planted in this building have likely grown and created the effect of a mountain landscape seemingly hanging in the air.

It was always cool and shady here due to the abundance of plants, and everywhere you could hear the water gurgling in the numerous canals.

There are several versions of where the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were located. According to the first of them, the Gardens of Babylon were located on the Euphrates River in the center of Iraq.

According to the second, less popular opinion, the Babylonian gardens were erected in Nevinia, in the north of what is now Iraq and in the capital of ancient Assyria.

Archaeological excavations

One of the first scientists to discover the ruins of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon was the German explorer Robert Koldewey.

He had been excavating Ancient Babylon since 1899 and one day came across a building that was atypical for this region.

Its vaults were of a different shape: lined with stone instead of brick, underground rooms were discovered, and an interesting water-lifting system consisting of three shafts was excavated.

Having found out that the entire building was used as some kind of water lift, used to constantly supply moisture upward, and also learned from the references of ancient writers that stone in this area was used only in two architectural monuments (one of which the researcher had already discovered earlier) Koldewey concluded that these are the ruins of the legendary Gardens of Babylon.

Death

After Nebuchadnezzar, the legendary commander came to power in Babylon, who died in the king’s palace - his residence.

After this event, Babylon began to perish over time, without proper care, and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon could no longer flourish.

They soon dried up, withered and were subsequently destroyed by severe floods of the Euphrates River.

Hanging Gardens of Babylon is an ancient creation that is included in the famous list as the second wonder of the world. Unfortunately, now there is no opportunity to enjoy all the beauty of this splendor, because they are no longer on earth, but there are many legends, scientific evidence and facts by which one can judge their occurrence and superiority. In the photo, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon are shown from different sides, thanks to which you can see all the beauty of this masterpiece.

Discovery of the second wonder of the world

Back in 1899, an expedition led by the German scientist and explorer Robert Koldewey carried out excavations and cultural studies in ancient Babylon. One fine day, archaeologists stumbled upon an unusual structure, which was not at all typical for a desert area. The strange structure was made of stone, and not of baked brick, as usual, there were many underground buildings and the most amazing discovery was steel -3 underground mines with water supply systems.

The scientist found out that water was constantly circulating in the giant building; all that remained was to understand for what purposes or tasks this was necessary. And he was helped in this by the works of ancient thinkers, who mentioned that stone in ancient Babylon was used only in two buildings:

• northern wall of Qasr;
• Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

The Greek Ctesias also worked a lot to reveal the secret; he cited many reliable and not so reliable facts that were said about the reasons for the emergence of this masterpiece. But his fantasies sometimes did not always coincide with reality, so it is not worth relying only on his arguments to find out the truth better.

Legends of the emergence of the Gardens of Babylon

There are many assumptions and hypotheses about the origin of the name of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

1. Semiramis is a brave ruler who built a beautiful structure, the ancient chroniclers said. One of the legends says that her mother was the mermaid Atargatis, and another that Semiramis was raised by pigeons, which is why she had such a refined taste.
2. According to another legend, Semiramis really existed, but the Greeks called her the Assyrian queen Shammuramat. When her husband Shamshi-Adada V died, the throne passed to her. During her reign, the queen conquered Media and strengthened her borders, for which she earned great respect and respect from her people.
3. Modern historians and researchers of this creation nevertheless came to a different conclusion, more reliable and plausible. During the reign of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II, an agreement was concluded with the ruler of Media in order to conquer Assyria. Having won the victory, Nebuchadnezzar II, in order to make the alliance even stronger, married the daughter of the king of Media, the beautiful Amytis. The princess was very homesick for her native Media, for its mountain peaks and green gardens. And the king ordered the construction of hanging gardens in Babylon, which were supposed to console and please his beloved. Initially, such an idea seemed like something fantastic and completely impossible to implement. But still, a wonderful structure was built, which was later recognized as the second wonder of the world.

For reasons unknown to us, Queen Amytis was given the name Semiramis by her descendants. That is why we now call the work that was built in her honor - the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. What kind of actions did men perform for the sake of love and their beloved women - the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, another confirmation that love works true miracles.

Creation of the design of the second wonder of the world

As archaeological excavations and chronicles of the Gardens of Eden testify, it was a gigantic building in the form of a four-tier pyramid. If you look closely at the photo of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, you can see that they contained many cool rooms, balconies, terraces and underground rooms. On each of the tiers, a wide variety of plants were planted: flowers, shrubs, grass and even trees, which together created an incredibly beautiful composition. The tiers themselves were supported by high columns that supported the huge structure. Plants arrived in Babylon from all corners of our world, and the building itself from a distance resembled a green hill strewn with flowers.

In order to constantly circulate water throughout the building, a special water supply system was installed. Water was supplied upstairs in leather buckets from the river using a wheel, which hundreds of slaves were forced to turn around the clock. Thanks to a constant water supply, a variety of exotic plants grew in fairly dry climatic conditions.

Later, the splendor of the Gardens of Eden captivated Alexander the Great himself, who was in the ancient city. Alexander loved to spend time in shady gardens and enjoy the coolness and aromas of flowering plants. It was in the flourishing palace that he spent his last days; here Macedonsky recalled his childhood, his native expanses, victories and defeats.

Over time, the city began to empty out, there were fewer and fewer people, so watering the plants stopped. Under the hot sun, the plantings quickly dried out. In addition, strong earthquakes completely destroyed the city and along with it the great structure.

And a video about how they found a unique structure

Today, you can admire the beauty of one of the Seven Wonders of the World in various publications by looking at the fabulous photos of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Looking at the drawings, you involuntarily plunge into the ancient era, tasting the spirit and superiority of that time.

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