Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the ancient gardens are considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World and are located near the royal palace in Babylon. By the beginning of the twenty-first century, the Hanging Gardens site had yet to be conclusively established. However, several theories persisted regarding the structure and location of the gardens. Some researchers have suggested that these were rooftop gardens. Another theory, in the writings of the British archaeologist Sir Leonard Woolley, suggested that the gardens were built inside the walls of the royal palace in the capital of Babylon (now in southern Iraq), and were not “suspended in the air”; That is, they were rooftop gardens built on a series of ziggurat terraces that were irrigated with pumps from the Euphrates.
Kiev. Ukraine. Ukraine Gate – March 25, 2021 – Tourism and Travel
Traditionally, it was believed to be the work of the semi-mythical queen Samu Ramat (Greek Semiramis, mother of the Assyrian king Adad-nirari III) or of King Nasr II who built it to console his second wife Amitis because she lacks mountains and green spaces in her homeland.
A number of classical authors describe the Hanging Gardens of Babylon in detail, although some sources disagree with who built them, it is agreed that the gardens are located near the royal palace and placed on domed terraces. It is also described as having been watered by an exceptional irrigation system and roofs with stone terraces in which different materials, such as reeds, tar, and lead, have been layered so that the irrigation water does not seep through the terraces.
Although no specific traces of the Hanging Gardens have been found, German archaeologist Robert Koldoy has unveiled an unusual series of foundation rooms and cellars in the northeastern corner of the Palace of Babylon. A well in one of the cellars may have been used in conjunction with a chain pump and thus it was thought that it might have been part of the towering hanging gardens infrastructure.
Research in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries indicated that the popular theories that Hanging Gardens once flourished in Babylon on a roof or ziggurat gradient may have been misconceptions. Instead, a later theory postulated that due to confusion between classical sources, the Hanging Gardens may have been those built by Sennacherib in Nineveh. This research suggested that the gardens were placed on a slope construction designed to mimic natural mountain landscapes and were irrigated with a new irrigation system, possibly early utilization of what would eventually be known as Archimedes’ screw.
Read Also: Kherson Gives an Art Show on Tavria’s Natural Wonders
Source: Ukrgate