It is said to be built under the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar II, who ruled the city for 43 years starting in 605 BC. However, there is an alternative story claiming that the hanging gardens were constructed by Assyrian Queen Semiramis during her five year reign starting in 810 BC, which is less reliable according to the historical sources. Thus, they are sometimes called the Hanging Gardens of Semiramis.

The hanging gardens were built in the city-state of Babylon. The ancient ruins of this famous city lie about 50 miles to the south-west of Bagdad, in Iraq.The current location is Al Hillah, Babil.

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Most of the scholars state that King Nebuchadnezzar II dedicated hanging gardens of Babylon to his precious and marvelous wife Amytis, of Media. Amytis was a daughter of King Medes and the marriage between those two was perceived to be the strong alliance among their nations. It is worth to be mentioned that King Nebuchadnezzar was prominent sovereign, who had conquered and controlled virtually most of the known world. Thus, the land Amytis came from was nothing compared to the flat, sun-baked terrain of Mesopotamia. Ametis missed of the mountains and greenery of her homeland and accordingly, surrounding dust and sand she found extremely depressing.

Ancient Greek historian Herodotus (450 B.C) describes the city of Babylon as a “wonder of traveler’s eye”. “In addition to its size Babylon surpasses in splendor any city in the known world.” – added he later.

There are a lot of rumors spreading about the size of the hanging gardens

Herodotus claimed that outer walls were 56 miles in length, 80 feet thick and 320 feet high. He assumed that the outer walls were wide enough, to allow a four-horse chariot to turn. The inner walls were “not as thick as the first, but hardly less strong.” Inside the walls anyone could see fortresses and temples containing immense statues of solid gold. Rising above the city was the famous Tower of Babel, a temple to the god Marduk that seemed to reach to the heavens. All above-mentioned asserts that Babylon has owned tremendous wealth and recognition. However, archaeological examination has disputed some of Herodotus’s narratives; it’s obvious that the hanging gardens have astonished and dazed thousands of spectators.

The term “hanging” caused a lot of disputes among the archeologists and historians. It is apparent that the term exaggerates what has been in reality. It did not really   “hang” in the meaning of being suspended from cables or ropes. The name comes from an inexact translation of the Greek word kremastos or the Latin word pensilis, which mean not just “hanging”, but “overhanging” as in the case of a terrace or balcony. That is exactly how the huge variety of the plants from all over the world were planted alongside each other and managed to survive no matter the huge climate change moving from their homelands to the sandy soil.

The Greek geographer Strabo, who described the gardens in first century BC, wrote, “It consists of vaulted terraces raised one above another, and resting upon cube-shaped pillars. These are hollow and filled with earth to allow trees of the largest size to be planted. The pillars, the vaults, and terraces are constructed of baked brick and asphalt.”

Strabo also touched very interesting point concerning to the hanging gardens-irritation procedure. Probably that was the most amazing part of the garden. As much as Babylon rarely received rain, it was vital to irrigate the garden; otherwise it wouldn’t survive.  That meant to have concrete measures to lift the water far into the air so it could flow down through the terraces, water the plants, so that it reached each level. The water was supposed to be taken from Euphrates River. However it was an immense task without any of the modern engines to pump up the water that high in the fifth century B.C.. The decision has been made and one of the solutions the designers of the garden might have reached is “chain pump.”

A chain pump was meant to be constructed with two large wheels, one above the other, connected by a chain. The buckets were hanging on the chain. Below the bottom wheel should have been a pool with the water source from the Euphrates. As the wheel started to turn around, the buckets dip into the pool and picked up the water. The chain then lifted them to the upper wheel, where the buckets were tipped and dumped into an upper pool. The chain then carried the empty buckets back down to be refilled. However, historians think that screw pump could have been the alternative way of lifting water while irrigation, which is considered very effective source by that time. Although this theory has it’s defects as much as screw pump was invented around 250 B.C , which is 300 year later than hanging gardens of Babylonshould have been created.

Talking about the hanging gardens of Babylon, there have been a lot of disputes if it actually existed at all or not.  Even though Diodorus Siculus, Strabo, Herodotus and other scholars have mentioned about it in their descriptions, archeological excavations have put this topic under question-mark. First was German archaeologist Robert Koldewey, who melted an ice and started to pay scientists interest towards muddy debris of the ancient city Babylon.

Though interesting thing about this location was that unlike others, it was clearly defined, nothing visible remained of its architecture. Koldewey unearthed many of the features of the city while having archeological excavations for around 14 years. As a result he clarified details including the outer walls, inner walls, foundation of the Tower of Babel, Nebuchadnezzar’s palaces, ect.

The foundations that Koldewey discovered measured some 100 by 150 feet. This was smaller than the measurements described by ancient historians, but still impressive.

Even though Koldewey was convinced he had found the gardens, some scientists still considered its location was far beyond to get the necessary amount of water needed for irritation.

Overall, the reality is that, nowadays none of the proofs have been kept to state that hanging gardens of Babylon truly existed. It’s often stated that they destroyed during the earthquake in second century B.C. Thus, it’s still an open question if hanging gardens of Babylon were legend in the ancient Greek historians’ minds or truth, devastated by the geographical changes.

1. There are two equally credible theories about who build the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, they are assumed to be the work either of semilegendary Queen Sammu-ramat (Greek Semiramis), the Assyrian queen who reigned from 810 to 783 BC, or of King Nebuchadrezzar II, the king of the Babylonian Empire, who reigned c. 605 BC – 562 BC. Though there are no compelling arguments about the credibility of any of the assumptions, the hanging Gardens of Babylon are often called the Hanging Gardens of Semiramis.
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2. A few words about the first possible builder, Semiramis:Through the centuries the legend of Semiramis attracted not only the attention of Greek historians, but she also was the muse of novelists, poets and other storytellers. Great warrior queens in history have been called the Semiramis of their times. A  “gossip” around her name would have made a beautiful yellow press headline – “Semiramis is said to have had a long string of one-night-stands with handsome soldiers”. Another “rumor” may become an inspiration for horror film makers – they say that she had each lover killed after a night of passion, so that her power would not be threatened by a man who presumed on their relationship.

3. As for the other supposed builder – King Nebuchadrezzar II (reigned c. 605– c.561 BC), it is said that he built the legendary gardens to console his wife Amytis of Media, because she was homesick for the mountains and greenery of her homeland. Nebuchadnezzar II is most widely known through his portrayal in the Bible, according to the Bible, he conquered Judah and Jerusalem, and sent the Jews into exile.

4. The gardens, presumed to have been located on or near the east bank of the River Euphrates, about 31 miles south of Baghdad, Iraq. A more recent theory proposes that the gardens were actually constructed in the city of Nineveh, on the bank of the river Tigris. It is possible that  Through the ages, the location of the Hanging Gardens may have been confused with gardens that existed at the city of Nineveh, since tablets from the place clearly show gardens.

5. The gardens were about 75 feet (22 meters) high. The image of the gardens is impressive not only for its blossoming flowers, ripe fruit, gushing waterfalls, terraces lush with rich foliage, and exotic creatures, but also for the engineering feat of supplying the massive, raised gardens with soil and water. German architect and archaeologist Robert Koldewey who is known for revealing the semilegendary Babylon as a geographic and historical reality, discovered huge vaults and arches at the site. He also uncovered an ancient hydraulic system like a pump drawing water from the river.

6. The hanging gardens didn’t actually hang… The name “hanging” comes from the Greek word “kremastos” or the Latin word “pensilis”, which mean more “overhanging” than just “hanging” as in the case of a terrace or balcony. The gardens were probably developed on a structure like a ziggurat and built in the form of elevated terraces, so that the gardens were at different levels which grew around and on top of a building.

7. Here is a puzzle: In Herodotus’ description of the city of Babylon (Histories, Book I, sections 178-184), where he claims to have been to Babylon himself, he fails to mention the gardens, this is usually taken as proof that they did not exist. But a Dutch historian Jona Lendering thinks that Herodotus’ description of Babylon is so extraordinary that he even  characterises it as “nonsensical”. The 18th-century Historian, Edward Gibbon goes even further and accuses Herodotus of never having set foot in Babylon at all. Despite these considerations, if you try to sketch out the city plan as herodotus describes it, you’ll see that it’s pretty accurate in relation to archaeological maps… so how come that he never mentions the Gardens?

image source: www.bible-history.com

8. Another proof of the consideration that the Hanging Gardens of Babylon never actually existed are many thousands of clay tablets from that period in Babylon. Stone tablets from Nebuchadnezzar’s reign give detailed descriptions of the city of Babylonia, its walls, and the palace, but do not refer to the Hanging Gardens. Some historians claim that the warriors in the army of Alexander the Great were amazed at the immense prosperity of the thriving city of Babylon and tended to exaggerate their experiences greatly. When the soldiers returned to their stark homeland, they had incredible stories to relate about the remarkable gardens, palm trees, and imposing buildings of rich and fertile Mesopotamia.

image source: www.jayneshatzpottery.com

9. In ancient writings the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were first described by Berossus, a Chaldaean (a dynasty in Babylonian history) priest who lived in the late 4th century B.C. In his book Babyloniaca, written around 280 B.C.  The book is lost, but it was summarized by Alexander Polyhistor in C1 BC in a treatise of 42 books on world history and geography which is also lost. That treatise, however, was used by Josephus (37–100 AD), who discussed the gardens twice – once in Jewish Antiquities, and once in Contra Apionem (Against Apion, or Against the Greeks).

10. Ancient Greek historians, Strabo, Philo and Diodorus  gave us these description of the hanging gardens of Babylon:

• “The Garden is quadrangular, and each side is four plethra long. It consists of arched vaults which are located on checkered cube-like foundations.. The ascent of the uppermost terrace-roofs is made by a stairway…” (Strabo)
• “The Hanging Garden has plants cultivated above ground level, and the roots of the trees are embedded in an upper terrace rather than in the earth. The whole mass is supported on stone columns… Streams of water emerging from elevated sources flow down sloping channels… These waters irrigate the whole garden saturating the roots of plants and keeping the whole area moist. Hence the grass is permanently green and the leaves of trees grow firmly attached to supple branches… This is a work of art of royal luxury and its most striking feature is that the labor of cultivation is suspended above the heads of the spectators.” (Philo)
• “The approach to the Garden sloped like a hillside and the several parts of the structure rose from one another tier on tier. On all this, the earth had been piled…and was thickly planted with trees of every kind that, by their great size and other charm, gave pleasure to the beholder. The water machines [raised] the water in great abundance from the river, although no one outside could see it.” (Diodorus)

11. Recent archaeological digs at Babylon have unearthed a major palace, a vaulted building with thick walls (perhaps the one mentioned by Greek historians), and an irrigation well in proximity to the palace. Although an archaeological team surveyed the palace site and presented a reconstruction of the vaulted building as being the actual Hanging Gardens, accounts by Strabo place the Hanging Gardens at another location, nearer the Euphrates River. Other archaeologists insist that since the vaulted building is thousands of feet from the Euphrates, it is too distant to support the original claims even if Strabo happened to be wrong about the location. The latter team reconstructed the site of the palace, placing the Hanging Gardens in a zone running from the river to the palace. Interestingly, on the banks of the Euphrates, a newly discovered, immense, 82-foot thick wall may have been stepped to form terraces like those mentioned by the ancient Greek sources.

image source: Raymond Kleboe/Picture Post/Getty Images

12. Archaeologists and historians believe that the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were not destroyed by an earthquake but by other minor disasters such as: erosion and warfare. The huge construction probably started falling apart under the influence of the weather. Armies and other raiders could have been for its eventual destruction and disappearance. After about 600 or 700 years, the whole structure had been levelled to the ground.