February 18, 2009
The Original Seven – #2:  The Hanging Gardens of Babylon The Hanging Gardens were commissioned by King Nebuchadnezzar II around 600 BC as a gift to his wife Amytis of Media. The pair’s marriage sealed an alliance that created a vast Babylonian empire stretching from modern day Turkey to Pakistan. The Babylonians needed the Medians to gain control of present-day Iraq, but Amytis was home sick for the trees and flowers of the present-day Iran where she grew up. And so, The Gardens were built in Al Hillah (100 miles south of Baghdad). The name is a suspected error of translation, as The Overhanging Gardens would have been more accurate. Physically the structures would have been awesome — a foliaged mountain in the desert — but the exact size has been muddled by exaggerating and conflicting historians. Whatever the size, great expense was made to beautify the Gardens, including men whose only job was to drive a pulley system that delivered water from the Euphrates. For an area with little rain, this was vital. Similarly vital was the stone construction. Babylon lacked proper stone quarries, and the rest of the empire was essentially built with brick that the pumped-in water would have rotted quickly. Great expense would have been necessary to bring the giant stones of the gardens into the area. Historians also believe these stones were covered with lead to further prevent rot. The gardens were destroyed in the second century BC in a series of earthquakes, lasting 400-some years. As with anything so studied, some minor controversy has stirred. Some scholars believe the Gardens might have been simply a poetic creation. Others say they were built in Nineveh (near modern-day Mosul, Iraq) by n Assyrian king. (Depicted in the above painting are The Gardens, with the Tower of Babel in the background.)

The Original Seven – #2:  The Hanging Gardens of Babylon

The Hanging Gardens were commissioned by King Nebuchadnezzar II around 600 BC as a gift to his wife Amytis of Media. The pair’s marriage sealed an alliance that created a vast Babylonian empire stretching from modern day Turkey to Pakistan.

The Babylonians needed the Medians to gain control of present-day Iraq, but Amytis was home sick for the trees and flowers of the present-day Iran where she grew up. And so, The Gardens were built in Al Hillah (100 miles south of Baghdad).

The name is a suspected error of translation, as The Overhanging Gardens would have been more accurate. Physically the structures would have been awesome — a foliaged mountain in the desert — but the exact size has been muddled by exaggerating and conflicting historians. Whatever the size, great expense was made to beautify the Gardens, including men whose only job was to drive a pulley system that delivered water from the Euphrates. For an area with little rain, this was vital.

Similarly vital was the stone construction. Babylon lacked proper stone quarries, and the rest of the empire was essentially built with brick that the pumped-in water would have rotted quickly. Great expense would have been necessary to bring the giant stones of the gardens into the area. Historians also believe these stones were covered with lead to further prevent rot.

The gardens were destroyed in the second century BC in a series of earthquakes, lasting 400-some years. As with anything so studied, some minor controversy has stirred. Some scholars believe the Gardens might have been simply a poetic creation. Others say they were built in Nineveh (near modern-day Mosul, Iraq) by n Assyrian king.

(Depicted in the above painting are The Gardens, with the Tower of Babel in the background.)

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