For other uses, see Hanging Garden (disambiguation).
Hellenistic legend about gardens in Babylon
This hand-coloured engraving, probably made in the 19th century after the first excavations in the Assyrian capitals, depicts the fabled Hanging Gardens, with the Tower of Babel in the background.Timeline and map of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, including the Hanging Gardens of Babylon
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World listed by Hellenic culture. 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. It was said to have been built in the ancient city of Babylon, near present-day Hillah, Babil province, in Iraq. 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.[1][2][3]
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. This was attested to by the Babylonian priest Berossus, writing in about 290 BC, a description that was later quoted by Josephus. The construction of the Hanging Gardens has also been attributed to the legendary queen Semiramis[4] and they have been called the Hanging Gardens of Semiramis as an alternative name.[5]
The Hanging Gardens are the only one of the Seven Wonders for which the location has not been definitively established.[6] There are no extant Babylonian texts that mention the gardens, and no definitive archaeological evidence has been found in Babylon.[7][8] 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 (including those of Strabo, Diodorus Siculus and Quintus Curtius Rufus) represented a romantic ideal of an eastern garden;[9] second, that they existed in Babylon, but were destroyed sometime around the first century AD;[10][4] 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.[11][1]
^ abCite error: The named reference Dalley1993 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference Reade2000 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Foster, Karen Polinger (2004). "The Hanging Gardens of Nineveh". Iraq. 66: 207–220. doi:10.2307/4200575. ISSN 0021-0889. JSTOR 4200575.
^ ab"The Hanging Gardens of Babylon". Retrieved 5 February 2014.
^Cartwright M (July 2018). "Hanging Gardens of Babylon". World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
^Cite error: The named reference autogenerated1988 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Finkel (1988) p. 58.
^Finkel, Irving; Seymour, Michael (2008). Babylon: City of Wonders. London: British Museum Press. p. 52. ISBN 978-0-7141-1171-1.
^Finkel 2008
^"The Hanging Gardens of Babylon". Retrieved 5 February 2014.
^Dalley, Stephanie (2013). The Mystery of the Hanging Garden of Babylon: an elusive World Wonder traced. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-966226-5.
and 26 Related for: Hanging Gardens of Babylon information
“The HangingGardensofBabylon: History, Legends, and More.” TheCollector, 28 November 2023, www.thecollector.com/hanging-gardens-babylon/. “Hanging Gardens...
capital of the short-lived Neo-Babylonian Empire from 626 to 539 BC. The HangingGardensofBabylon were ranked as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient...
HangingGardensofBabylon. Using modern-day countries, two of the wonders were located in Greece, two in Turkey, two in Egypt, and one in Iraq. Of the...
The gardens were built partially on top of ziggurats, and plants were irrigated on channels. No direct evidence of the HangingGardensofBabylon exists...
mountains of Media led to the construction of the HangingGardensofBabylon, as Nebuchadnezzar attempted to please her by planting the trees and plants of her...
publications of cuneiform texts and her investigation into the HangingGardensofBabylon, and her proposal that it was situated in Nineveh, and constructed...
Levant, for his construction projects in his capital, Babylon, including the HangingGardensofBabylon, and for the role he plays in Jewish history. Ruling...
destroyed. 600 BC: Nebuchadnezzar builds the HangingGardensofBabylon. First metal coins used by the Lydians of western Anatolia. Until c. 525 BC, coins...
harbor of the city of Rhodes, on the Greek island of the same name. HangingGardensofBabylon, in Babylon, near present-day Hillah, Babylon Governorate...
aqueduct of white limestone blocks, I made those waters flow over it." Some scholars believe the legends of the HangingGardensofBabylon were actually...
excavation of the HangingGardensofBabylon (1899–1917) which were built ca. 580 BC using mainly unfired mudbricks. A practicing archaeologist for most of his...
and the HangingGardensofBabylon. Temple gardens developed from the representation of a sacred grove; several distinct styles of royal garden are also...
whom Nebuchadnezzar was said to have built the HangingGardensofBabylon. Married to Aryenis, the sister of the Lydian king Croesus, to seal the treaty...
derivation of the name Babel (also the Hebrew name for Babylon) is uncertain. The native, Akkadian name of the city was Bāb-ilim, meaning "gate of God". However...
HangingGardensofBabylon". Iraq. 62: 195–217. doi:10.2307/4200490. ISSN 0021-0889. JSTOR 4200490. S2CID 194130782. i. 184 iii. 155 The Library of History...
numerous impressive building projects in Babylon. He is credited with building the fabled HangingGardensofBabylon. Amel-Marduk succeeded to the throne...
Stephanie (1993). "Ancient Mesopotamian Gardens and the Identification of the HangingGardensofBabylon Resolved". Garden History. 21 (1): 1–13. doi:10.2307/1587050...
never of the HangingGardensofBabylon; Herodotus, who probably visited Babylon in the mid-fifth century, does not mention the hanginggardens. Xenophon...
statue of Zeus by the Alpheus, and the hanginggardens, and the Colossus of the Sun, and the huge labour of the high pyramids, and the vast tomb of Mausolus;...
century they were usually powered by gravity, though the famous HangingGardensofBabylon are described by Strabo as supplied by an Archimedean screw and...
Global Information
