For a long time, historians and archaeologists were skeptical of enthusiastic descriptions of this complex. This attitude was explained by the absence of their mention in the deciphered cuneiform writings of the Sumerians. The detailed description of Babylonia left by Herodotus, who was there during this period, also does not say anything about the hanging park.
But Josephus mentions them, referring to the “Babylonian History” written by the priest Berossus. In addition, the testimonies of ancient historians about the place of death of Alexander the Great say that he died under the arches of his favorite park, which reminded him of his native Macedonia.
The archaeological discovery of the German scientist R. Koldewey tipped the scales in favor of the version about the reality of man-made landscapes. Koldewey's expedition, which spent 18 years (1899–1917) conducting excavations in Hilla (90 km from Baghdad), proved that Babylonian miracles actually existed. The discovered remains of masonry pillars and a shaft well next to the brickwork of the ruins of the palace, according to the archaeologist, served as confirmation of the words of the ancient authors. The Babylonians used baked bricks in their buildings. The stone was very expensive. Stone was used only during the construction of gardens and part of the defensive wall.
The fate of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon
Babylon existed for about 26 centuries. It reached its greatest prosperity under King Nebuchadnezzar II in the 6th century BC. There was no city equal to it in size, beauty, power and degree of depravity. Expressions about the Tower of Babel, pandemonium, harlot, etc. have come down from the depths of centuries and have been preserved.
The kings of Babylonia waged constant wars with neighboring states. One of them, Assyria, annoyed the Babylonians the most, twice razing their capital to the ground. Joining forces with the king of Media, Cyaxares, they completely defeated the Assyrians.
To strengthen the alliance, Nebuchadnezzar II married the daughter of the king of the Medes.
Growing up in the cool, forested mountains of the Zagros Mountains (northern part of modern Iran), the queen suffered from heat, dry winds and sandstorms. The vain ruler ordered a corner to be built for his chosen one, similar to her beloved Media.
The river divided the city into two districts: western and eastern. Three rows of powerful walls with fortifications surrounded its perimeter. On one bank stood a tower, on the other - the ruler’s palace, unsurpassed in luxury, with 172 rooms and an area of 52,000 m2.
A four-tiered pyramid 40 m high was erected next to the palace. Massive supports held the slabs stacked on them.
Waterproofing, soil layer, good lighting and watering made this building an evergreen oasis.
The lower vault of the hanging gardens was the largest. It looked like a quadrangle with a maximum length of 42 m and a minimum of 34 m. Subsequent rows of slabs were stacked in terraces so as not to block the sun's rays, tapering towards the top.
The layer of soil made it possible to plant not only shrubs, herbs and flowers, but also trees.
By order of the ruler, seedlings and seeds were brought from all over the world. Strange plants have taken root on the man-made mountain, amazing with their beauty and aroma.
For irrigation, a special irrigation system was built, through which water came from the Euphrates. Channels were punched into the supporting pillars, through which hundreds of slaves pumped water to the top of the structure. From there, water flowed down in streams, cooling the scorching breath of the Arabian desert and filling the area with moisture.
Several rows of reeds, resin, stone, basalt, gypsum and lead slabs prevented water from seeping into the lower tier.
Bright white and coral stone stairs led to the top, and from there there was a view of a huge city, dusty and loud. And here, in the cool shade of the trees, silence reigned, broken only by the quiet whisper of water and the singing of birds.
For 200 years, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon delighted the eyes and aroused the admiration of their contemporaries.
But “nothing lasts forever under the sun.” The kingdom fell into decay. The new rulers did not have the desire or means to maintain an artificial park. Earthquakes and floods gradually destroyed it. After 6 centuries, Babylon also disappeared. The biblical prediction that it would be destroyed and never be inhabited again came true.
The Legend of Semiramis
The gardens were named after Semiramis. But the name of Nebuchadnezzar’s wife Amytis has been preserved in history. Who was Semiramis? Why is the wonder of the world created by the masters of Mesopotamia associated with her name?
History knows the names of several Semiramis, and all of them lived several centuries before the gardens. Poetic speculation intervened in the chronography. By combining real events and myths, he created the myth of Semiramis, the ruler of Babylon.
The Greek writer Diodorus came up with the legend of Semiramis, taking as a basis a completely historical person: Shammuramat, the Assyrian ruler.
The daughter of the goddess Derketo and a mortal youth was abandoned by her mother to the mercy of fate.
A flock of pigeons saved the baby by feeding and warming him. The shepherds, surprised by their strange behavior, followed their flight and discovered the child.
She was taken in by the caretaker of the royal herds. He even named the girl Semiramis, which means dove in Syriac.
The extraordinary attractiveness of the shepherd's adopted daughter captivated Onnes, Nin's first adviser. She married him and became his main adviser. The husband obeyed his adored wife in everything.
Ninus took Semiramis as his wife. She later bore him a son named Ninyas.
With the death of the king, the ambitious woman became the ruler of Assyria. She was no longer interested in marriage. She wanted power and might.
On the banks of the Euphrates, the queen built the city of Babylon, decorating it with temples, statues of gods and an artificial hill planted with unprecedented plants.
Semiramis waged wars of conquest for 30 years and conquered Media, Persia, Libya, Egypt, and Ethiopia. Only the war with India was unsuccessful for her. In a dream, she had a vision to stop invading this country.
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, also known as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, are one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Unfortunately, this marvelous architectural creation has not survived to this day, but the memory of it still lives on.
For tourists coming to Iraq, guides offer to explore the ruins of once beautiful gardens, located near Al-Hilla (90 km from Baghdad), but stone fragments in the middle of the desert cannot impress the average person, and perhaps inspire archeology lovers. The Gardens of Babylon were discovered in 1989 during excavations led by archaeologist Robert Koldewey, who discovered a network of intersecting trenches. The sections reveal ruins that are vaguely similar in description to the legendary Gardens.
This masterpiece was built at the behest of the Babylonian ruler Nebuchadnezzar II, who lived in the 6th century BC. He gave the order to the best engineers, mathematicians and inventors to create a marvelous wonder to the delight of his wife Amytis. The ruler's wife was from Media, a land filled with the aroma of flowering gardens and green hills. In the stuffy, dusty and stinking Babylon, she was suffocating and longing for her native land. Nebuchadnezzar, out of love for his wife and, let’s face it, because of his own vanity, decided to build not an ordinary park, but a fabulous one that would glorify Babylon throughout the world. Herodotus wrote about the capital of the world: “Babylon surpasses in splendor any other city on Earth.”
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were described by many ancient historians, including the Greek ones - Strabo and Diodorus. This suggests that this miracle really existed and was not a fantasy or fiction. But on the other hand, Herodotus, who traveled through Mesopotamia in the 5th century before the Birth of Christ, mentions many of the sights of Babylon, but does not say a word about the main miracle - the Gardens of Babylon. It's quite strange, isn't it? Maybe this is why skeptics are opposed to the real existence of this masterpiece of engineering?
It is noteworthy that the chronicles of Babylon also do not mention the Gardens, while the Chaldean priest Berossus, who lived at the end of the 4th century BC, described this structure in detail and clearly. True, further evidence from Greek historians is very reminiscent of the stories of Berossus. In general, the mystery of the Gardens of Babylon continues to excite the minds of scientists and ordinary people even now, more than 2000 years later.
A number of scholars suggest that perhaps the Gardens of Babylon were confused with similar parks in Ninivea, which was located on the eastern bank of the Tiber in Ancient Assyria. The lush Ninivean gardens, laid out near the entrance to the palace, were located next to the river and were irrigated like the Hanging Gardens of Babylon using a system of Archimedean screws. However, this device was invented only in the 3rd century BC, while the Gardens of Babylon were similarly supplied with water already in the 6th century BC.
Direct evidence of the real existence of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were the stories about Alexander the Great, who conquered Babylon without a fight. He was so in love with the luxurious city that he chose to forget his native land for many years, and put off military campaigns for the sake of the beauty of the fragrant Gardens. They say that he loved to relax in their shade, remembering the forests of his dear Macedonia. According to legend, the death of the great conqueror occurred here.
The date of the destruction of the Gardens of Babylon coincides with the time of the decline of Babylon. After the death of Alexander the Great, the fairy-tale city fell into disrepair, irrigation of the gardens ceased, as a result of a series of earthquakes the vaults collapsed, and rainwater eroded the foundation. But we will still try to tell about the history of this grandiose structure and describe all its charms.
The beautiful garden was erected during the 43-year reign of King Nebuchadnezzar, who lived in the 6th-7th centuries BC. The miracle was located in the northwestern part of the palace. Interestingly, there is an alternative version about the history of the appearance of gardens. Some scientists believe that they were created during the reign of the Assyrian queen Semiramis, the founder of Babylon (it’s not for nothing that the Gardens bear her name) around the 8th century BC. However, we will build on the generally accepted version.
So, Nebuchadnezzar decided to build wonderful gardens out of love for his wife Amytis, whom he married in order to conclude an alliance with the Median state. Recreating picturesque green hills in the middle of an arid plain seemed like a fantasy. Moreover, artificial mountains covered with paradise gardens had to be built in a short period of time.
One should not think that the Hanging Gardens were actually in the air - this is far from the case. Previously it was assumed that they were supported by ropes, but in reality everything is much simpler. Historians have been misled by the incorrect interpretation of the Greek word “kremastos”, which can be translated not only as “hanging”, but also as “protrudes beyond (the limits of the terrace, balcony).” Thus, it would be more legitimate to say “Protruding Gardens of Babylon,” but, in pursuit of sensation, it was the first version of the name “Hanging Gardens of Babylon” that stuck. Who can argue with the fact that it is more sonorous?
According to some historical sources, the height of the hill on which the Gardens of Babylon were laid out exceeded several hundred feet and the climb to the highest terrace was like climbing a mountain. However, archaeological research has shown that the size of this masterpiece was much more modest, although it looked impressive for that time. Now most scientists agree that the height of the hill was 30-40 meters.
This is how the Greek historian Strabo, who lived in the first century BC, described Babylon and its main miracle - the Gardens:
Babylon is located on a plain and its area is 385 stadiums (approx. 1 stadium = 196 m). The walls surrounding it are 32 feet thick, which is the width of a chariot drawn by four horses. The height of the walls between the towers is 50 cubits, the towers themselves are 60 cubits high. The Gardens of Babylon were quadrangular in shape, each side four plethra long (approx. 1 plethra = 100 Greek feet). The gardens are formed from arched vaults, laid out in a checkerboard pattern in several rows, and resting on cube-shaped supports. Each level is separated from the previous one by a layer of asphalt and baked brick (in order to prevent water seepage). Inside, the vaults are hollow, and the voids are filled with fertile soil, and its layer was such that even the branched root system of giant trees freely found a place for itself. Wide, gentle stairs, lined with expensive tiles, lead to the upper terrace, and on the sides of them there is a constantly working chain of lifts, through which water from the Euphrates is supplied to the trees and bushes.
From a distance, the Hanging Gardens resembled an amphitheater, since the terraces were formed by ledges and their area decreased towards the top. All ledges, as well as semblances of balconies, were planted with exotic plants (trees, palm trees, flowers), which were brought to Babylon from all over the world. Not only seeds were delivered, but also seedlings, which were wrapped in matting soaked in water in order to avoid drying out.
For the people of that time, the most surprising thing was not only the design of the gardens itself, but also the sophisticated irrigation system, probably represented by a chain of pumps. The water was brought up by slaves who pumped it from the river day and night. In order to bring life-giving moisture to the very last fourth tier, it was necessary to use not only strength, but also ingenuity.
The irrigation system worked something like this. There were two large wheels on which buckets moved, attached to a cable. There was a pool under the lower wheel; water was scooped from it in buckets. Then, along a chain of lifts, they were transferred to the upper wheel, where the buckets were tipped over and the water was drained into the upper pool. From there, through a network of canals, water flowed in streams in different directions along the tiers of the hill to the very foot, irrigating the plants along the way. The empty buckets sank back down and the cycle repeated again and again.
Another problem that the builders had to solve was strengthening the foundation, since flowing water could easily wash it away and lead to collapse. Stone was not initially considered as a building material, since it simply did not exist in the area, and it was too expensive and time-consuming to transport it to the plains of Mesopotamia from afar. Therefore, most of the houses, including the fortress wall, were built of brick. Bricks were made from a mixture of clay and straw. The mass was kneaded, laid out in molds, then dried in the sun. The bricks were connected to each other using bitumen - the result was quite strong and beautiful masonry. However, such blocks were quickly destroyed by water. For most buildings in Babylon this was not a problem, since it rarely rained in this arid area. Gardens that are subject to constant irrigation must have a protected foundation and vaults. Accordingly, it was necessary to somehow isolate the brick from moisture or use stone.
The Greek historian Diodorus stated that the platforms of the Gardens were composed of stone slabs (unheard of in Babylon), then covered with layers of reeds impregnated with resin (asphalt) and two-layer brick tiles held together with gypsum mortar. The top of this “pie” was covered with sheets of lead, so that not even a drop of moisture would seep into the foundation. How was Nebuchadnezzar able to deliver so many stone slabs from afar? This still remains a mystery.
Was the German scientist and archaeologist Robert Koldewey able to lift the veil of secrecy during the excavations of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon? For many centuries (just think, two millennia have passed!) the ruins of Babylon were hidden under a layer of sand, debris and debris that formed the mound. People could not even imagine that it was in this place that the once luxurious and wonderful city of Vivilon was buried. There was not a trace left of the marvelous buildings and even of the high wall - merciless time and desert winds did a good job of hiding the traces. After lengthy excavations, the outer and inner walls, the foundation of the famous Tower of Babel, the palace of Nebuchadnezzar, as well as the wide main road passing through the center of the city were discovered.
During archaeological research of the southern part of the Citadel, Koldewey discovered many ruins in the form of tiers with arched vaults made of stone slabs. And since stone was used only in two places in Babylon - in the Northern part of the Citadel and in the Hanging Gardens, this gave reason to be convinced of the truth of the find. A German archaeologist has found nothing less than the basements of one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
The scientist continued to study the layers and discovered great similarities with the description of the Gardens given by Diadorus. Finally, a room was found that had three large holes in the floor of unknown purpose. It turns out that this place served as a “pumping station” for supplying water to the upper tiers.
The ruins that Coldway discovered were approximately 100 - 150 feet in height, this, of course, is much smaller than those described earlier, but still very impressive, because most of the structure was destroyed by time.
Although the scientist fiercely argued that the ruins were the Gardens of Babylon, skeptics argued the opposite. Doubts were raised by the place itself, which is located far from Euphrates and, accordingly, irrigation in sufficient quantities would be difficult. In addition, according to the description in clay tablets found nearby, these ruins were once used as storage buildings and had no connection with the Gardens.
Controversies and discussions around the Hanging Gardens of Babylon continue to this day. Archaeologists and historians have been unable to come to a consensus for many years. One thing is clear: this Wonder of the World really existed.
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-lifting 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.
legendary Semiramis
“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 crazy 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 decisive 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:
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon are one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The correct name of this structure is the Hanging Gardens of Amytis: this was the name of the wife of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, for whose sake the gardens were created.
Another slave died today
Without words of mercy, anger and resentment.
A many-legged crab closed over him -
Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
The loving king could not bear the reproach.
He spared neither money nor slaves
For the joy of the noble wife.
The slaves will build the garden in no time.
They are slaves, they don’t need coffins,
And the soil will become twice as fertile!
The dawn of humanity is rising,
And the truths have not yet been beaten.
They are talking quietly to the wind about something
Hanging Gardens of Babylon…
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 Cyaxares, the king of Media.
Having won, they divided the territory of Assyria among themselves. Their military alliance was confirmed by the marriage of Nebuchadnezzar II to the daughter of the Median king Amytis. 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.
The very name of the miracle - the Hanging Gardens - misleads us. The gardens did not hang in the air! And they weren’t even supported by ropes, as they had previously thought. The gardens were not hanging, but protruding.
Architecturally, the hanging gardens were a pyramid consisting of four tiers-platforms. They were supported by columns up to 25 meters high. The lower tier had the shape of an irregular quadrangle, the largest side of which was 42 m, the smallest - 34 m.
The Hanging Gardens were amazing - trees, shrubs and flowers from all over the world grew in noisy and dusty Babylon. The plants were located as they should have grown in their natural environment: lowland plants - on the lower terraces, highland plants - on the higher ones. Trees such as palm, cypress, cedar, boxwood, plane tree, and oak were planted in the Gardens.
Nebuchadnezzar ordered his soldiers to dig up all unknown plants that they encountered during military campaigns and immediately deliver them to Babylon. There were no caravans or ships that did not bring more and more new plants here from distant countries. So in Babylon a large and diverse garden grew up - the first botanical garden in the world.
There were miniature rivers and waterfalls, ducks swam on small ponds and frogs croaked, bees, butterflies and dragonflies flew from flower to flower. And while all of Babylon was sweltering under the scorching sun, the gardens of Semiramis bloomed and grew luxuriantly, without suffering from the heat and without experiencing a lack of moisture.
To prevent the seepage of irrigation water, the surface of each platform was first covered with a layer of reeds and asphalt, then bricks and lead slabs were laid, and fertile soil lay on them in a thick carpet, where seeds of various herbs, flowers, shrubs and trees were planted.
The pyramid resembled an ever-blooming green hill. Pipes were placed in the cavity of one of the columns. Day and night, hundreds of slaves turned a lifting wheel with leather buckets, delivering water to the gardens. Magnificent gardens with rare trees, fragrant flowers and coolness in sultry Babylonia were truly a wonder of the world.
The historian Strabo described the Hanging Gardens as follows: “Babylon is located on a plain and its area is equal to 385 stadiums (approx. 1 stadium = 196 m). The walls surrounding it are 32 feet thick, which is the width of a chariot drawn by four horses. The height of the walls between the towers is 50 cubits, the towers themselves are 60 cubits high. The Gardens of Babylon were quadrangular in shape, each side four plethra long (approx. 1 plethra = 100 Greek feet).
The gardens are formed from arched vaults, laid out in a checkerboard pattern in several rows, and resting on cube-shaped supports. Each level is separated from the previous one by a layer of asphalt and baked brick (in order to prevent water seepage). Inside, the vaults are hollow, and the voids are filled with fertile soil, and its layer was such that even the branched root system of giant trees freely found a place for itself. Wide, gentle stairs, lined with expensive tiles, lead to the upper terrace, and on the sides of them there is a constantly working chain of lifts, through which water from the Euphrates is supplied to the trees and bushes.”
But during the Persian rule, Nebuchadnezzar's palace fell into disrepair. It had 172 rooms, decorated and furnished with luxury. Now Persian kings occasionally stayed there during inspection trips throughout the vast empire. But in the 4th century this palace became the residence of Alexander the Great. The throne room of the palace and the chambers of the lower tier of the hanging gardens were Alexander's last place on earth.
There is a version that the gardens were not named after Nebuchadnezzar’s beloved, who actually had a different name. They say that Semiramis (as she was called in Greece) was an Assyrian ruler who was at enmity with the Babylonians. At the same time, Semiramis was the wife of the Assyrian king Nin. There are also opinions that Semiramis herself was from Babylon. In the Western tradition, the gardens are called the “Hanging Gardens of Babylon” (English: Hanging Gardens of Babylon, French: Jardins suspendus de Babylone, Italian: Giardini pensili di Babilonia), although a variant with Semiramis is also found.
It is worth noting that some historians consider the Hanging Gardens of Babylon to be a myth, a fiction. They have a reason for this - Herodotus, who traveled through Mesopotamia, talks about the delights of Babylon, but... does not say a word about the Hanging Gardens. However, the ancient historians Diodorus and Strabo describe them.
The Hanging Gardens existed for about two centuries. First, they stopped caring for the garden, then powerful floods destroyed the foundation of the columns, and the entire structure collapsed. Thus one of the wonders of the world perished. Modern archaeologists are still trying to gather enough evidence before drawing final conclusions about the location of the Gardens, their irrigation system and the true reasons for their appearance and disappearance.
The secret of the existence of a grandiose monument of engineering was slightly revealed only in 1898 thanks to the excavations of Robert Koldewey. During excavations, he discovered a network of intersecting trenches near the Iraqi city of Hille (90 km from Baghdad), in the sections of which traces of dilapidated masonry are still visible. Now tourists coming to Iraq are offered to look at the ruins remaining from the Gardens, but these debris are unlikely to impress.
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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-lifting 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 crazy 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 decisive 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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