Hanging Gardens of Babylon
The ancient list of the Seven Wonders of the World can easily said to be part of our modern mythology. One of these Seven Wonders of the World is the hanging gardens of Babylon.
As the story goes, the ruler Nebuchadnezzar II built them for his homesick wife, Amyitis, around 600 BCE. She was from a much greener and mountainous land and the marriage with Nebuchadnezzar was largely a diplomatic one.
In order to make her feel more at home Nebuchadnezzar supposedly built a great mountain with gardens in Babylon (modern day Iraq). Such a gigantic tiered garden in the middle of the desert would indeed have been quite a site.
Much of our documentation of this is from Greek historians and there has been some debate about its existence. Some archaeological evidence has been found, however, a notably limited amount.
Tomorrow I will post an artist’s depiction of what the possible gardens of Babylon might have looked like.