Historical Mirage of Reality? Know the Deep-Lying Secrets of the Ancient Hanging Gardens of Babylon
Several Greek and Roman texts are painted with vivid pictures of the luxurious Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Amidst the hot and arid landscape of ancient Babylon, lush vegetation cascaded like waterfalls pouring down from the terraces of the 75-foot high garden.
There were exotic plants, herbs, and flowers dazzling the eyes, and fragrances drifted through the towering botanical oasis dotted with beautiful statues and tall stone columns.
Hanging Gardens of Babylon:
Legends claim the then king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar II constructed the luxurious Hanging Gardens during the 6th century B.C. as a gift to his wife, Amytis. She fell homesick for the beautiful vegetation and mountains of her native Media, the northwestern part of modern-day Iran.
For blooming the desert, it required a marvel of irrigation engineering. Currently, several scientists have analyzed the systems and summarized a system of pumps, waterwheels, and cisterns that have employed in raising and delivering the water from the nearby river, Euphrates, to the top of the gardens. The various Greek and Roman accounts of the Hanging Gardens were found to be second-hand written centuries after the alleged destruction of the wonder. The existence of the first-hand accounts was missing.
Scientific Studies:
For several centuries several archaeologists hunted in vain for the remains of the gardens. Even two long decades were spent by a group of German archaeologists. At the turn of the 20th century, they failed to unearth the signs of the ancient wonder. The lack of available relics caused skeptics to question the gardens' existence as a "historical mirage."
However, a British scholar, Dr. Stephanie Dalley investigating ancient historical places claimed to identify the precise spot of the elusive Hanging Gardens of Babylon, is one of the most dangerous places on the earth. However, it is recognized as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world that made the location of the Gardens an elusive place. Finding the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, led her to establish that the gardens were built on a series of terraces built like an amphitheater comprising a lake at the bottom. Water was brought to the city and the surrounding areas via a canal measuring 60 miles in length.
There are evidences that the structure measured 300 feet wide and 60 feet deep at some points remains of the landscape. Presently using modern technologies, the structure is viewed prominently on declassified photographs collected by the US spy satellites and further analyzed by Dalley. She focused on her search stated that the gardens existed 300 miles north of the site to the ancient city of Babylon, which is currently located near Hillah in central Iraq for supporting her theory that the lush, elevated marvel was built near the city of Ninevah, located in the north of the country. Joining several clues from the ancient texts, she successfully uncovered evidences that the gardens were not made by the Babylonians as well as their king Nebuchadnezzar. Rather, their neighbors and foes, the Assyrians under their monarch, Sennacherib around 2,700 years ago in the 7th century, later than what others claimed. According to Oxford University, Dalley, a scholar in ancient Mesopotamian languages, has found the evidences in new translations of the ancient texts of King Sennacherib. The text dealing with the ancient king describes his own "unrivaled palace" and a "wonder for the peoples."
The magnificent greenery required approximately 300 tonnes of water a day, which, according to the text, was performed by a water-raising screw made of bronze. This screw is claimed to be similar to the screw developed four centuries later by the famous mathematician and inventor of Greece, Archimedes. Recent excavations carried out around Ninevah, the modern city of Mosul in Iraq have uncovered evidence of extensive aqueduct system delivering water from the mountains with the inscription: "Sennacherib king of the world…Over a great distance, I had a watercourse directed to the environs of Nineveh." Several reliefs from the royal palace of Ninevah depicts a lush garden watered by an aqueduct. Besides, unlike the flat surroundings of Babylon, the rugged topography found around the Assyrian capital would have made the logistical challenges far easier for an ancient civilization to overcome in elevating water to the gardens. Dalley explains the conquering of Babylon by the Assyrians in 689 B.C. as one of the prime reasons behind the confusions of the location of the Hanging Gardens, and following the takeover, Ninevah was referred as the "New Babylon," which Sennacherib even renamed the city gates after those entrances of Babylon.
Conclusion:
The assertions of Dalley debunks the thoughts that the elusive ancient wonder was a "historical mirage." However, they could also prove that the Hanging Gardens of Babylon are mislabelled and must be the Hanging Gardens of Ninevah.
Up Next: California’s Death Valley: The Mysterious Secret Behind Moving Stones that May Leave You Puzzled
SIGN UP to get such articles directly into your inbox.
