The city where the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were located. Hanging Gardens of Babylon: description and history

Hanging Gardens of Babylon. One of the seven wonders of the world. Co school days we know everything and nothing about them. What did they look like? Who was their brilliant creator? What idea did you want to convey to your descendants with your immortal creation?

JUST A LEGEND

The ancient historian Ctesias told the world the following legend: in ancient times, the city of Ascalon stood in Syria, not far from it there was a beautiful lake, on the shore of which stood the temple of the goddess Derketo. Derketo's beloved was a beautiful young shepherd. Derketo bore him a daughter, and they lived in peace and harmony. But one day, in anger, the goddess killed her husband, and she herself, unconscious from grief, disappeared into the waters of the lake.

Baby. left an orphan and was saved by birds. They warmed her with their warmth and brought milk in their beaks. When the baby grew up, they began to feed her cheese.

One day, the shepherds, suspecting something was wrong, followed the trail of the pigeons and soon found a beautiful child. They took the girl to the caretaker of the royal herds named Simmas, who raised her as my own daughter and named Semiramis, which means “dove.” With her beauty, the girl eclipsed everyone in the great kingdom of the formidable Assyrians! which determined her future fate.

First, Semiramis became the wife of the royal adviser Onnes. But when the ruler saw her, he fell madly in love and took her away from her unfortunate husband. Onnes, unable to bear the separation from his beloved, lost his mind. But the royal husband of Semiramis did not live long. Died after 3 months. It was then that Semiramis ascended the throne.

This amazing woman became the inspiration and organizer of the construction of many brilliant architectural structures and above all the hanging gardens. But while the queen was busy building grandiose palaces and temples, her son Niny was also making... plans to seize power. Realizing that she would face death at the hands of her own son, or rather, his mercenaries, the queen turned into a dove and flew away.

Here's the story. However, she is nothing more than a legend. The historian Ctesias himself emphasized this more than once.

SACRED Z LESSONS ABOUT THE SEVEN WORLDS

In fact, the famous Hanging Gardens were built by King Nebuchadnezzar for his beloved wife Amytis, who was suffocating in dusty and stuffy Babylon. It was he who destroyed Jerusalem, captivating almost all the inhabitants of Judea, it was he who captured the territory of Syria and Palestine, and conquered the Assyrian state.

However, Nebuchadnezzar was not only a warrior, but also a creator. Having brought order to his vast empire, he set about building magnificent palaces, temples and canals. The Gardens of Babylon became the crowning achievement of the architectural structures created during his reign.

But when erecting them, Nebuchadnezzar thought not only about pleasing Amytis with the murmuring streams and lush greenery that were dear to her heart.

He owned the greatest city of the Ancient world, famous for its sages. And the main mystery of Babylon was associated with the names of Tammuz and Ishtar. Tammuz. being the sun god, he was both the son and husband of the goddess Ishtar. The essence of the mysteries was this. that Ishtar resurrected Tammuz, who was killed evil forces. Esoterically, this meant the immortality of the soul, its exit from the dead body, a journey through other existence and a new incarnation.

The myth of Ishtar symbolizes the journey of the soul through the seven worlds, seven heavens, and seven sacred planets. After which she enters the physical body, in which her ordeals begin. And then again take off and strive towards your divine beginning.

Naturally, the king of Babylon was familiar with these mysteries. That is why, when starting to build the gardens, he decided to embody in them sacred knowledge about the seven worlds and the ascent of the soul.

GARDEN OF EDEN

The Hanging Gardens were laid out in the north-eastern part of the palace, on seven earthen terraces that rested on huge vaults. The vaults were supported by massive columns located inside each floor. Special lead plates were designed to retain water.

The terraces were covered with a thick layer of the most fertile soil, in which even very large trees could take root. The floors of the gardens rose in ledges and were connected by gentle staircases covered with pink and white stone. The height of the floors reached 28 meters and provided enough light for plants.

Each of the seven terraces was an independent garden, but together they formed a single whole. In the summer, when the air temperature in Babylon exceeded 50 degrees, slaves continuously pumped water from wells and fed it into canals through which it flowed down from the upper terrace, forming systems of miniature waterfalls and streams.

From all parts Babylonian kingdom carts drawn by oxen were pulled towards the capital. They contained trees, seeds of rare herbs, flowers and shrubs...

IN SEARCH OF BABYLON

For a long, long time, serious researchers doubted the existence of the Gardens of Babylon. They were considered just a continuation of the legend. And so it was before late XIX century.

In 1898, on the banks of the ancient Euphrates, about 100 kilometers from Baghdad, the German archaeologist Robert Koldewey began his search for Babylon. And imagine - I found it! And the remains of the Tower of Babel, and the ruins of powerful fortress walls that surrounded the city, and... the hanging gardens.

It was these three structures that the German Oriental Society commissioned Koldewey to find. The scientist spent 18 years completing this task. In order to remove mountains of garbage and rubble from the excavation site, he even ordered a portable railway. It was impossible to do without her.

He dug up the Tower of Babel and the fortress walls relatively quickly. The scientist spent most of his time searching for the legendary gardens. And he had completely despaired of finding them, when suddenly one day, in the northeastern corner of the vast palace complex, he came across a structure that was unlike any he had ever seen before. The foundation consisted of 12 chambers, which were lined with hewn stones. The massive vaults of the chambers, made of baked brick, were designed to withstand heavy load. The thickness of the walls and supports reached 7 meters.

Along with this unusual structure for Babylon, Koldewey also came across a source, which he dug up at the very base of the vaulted structure. A scoop lift made of wood and thick ropes was connected to the source. The lift itself, of course, has not survived.

Koldewey thought for a long time about the purpose of this basement arcade, and came to the idea of ​​​​the reality of the hanging gardens. After all, both ancient sources and the cuneiform tablets of Mesopotamia said that in Babylon, hewn stones were used in the construction of two structures: the northern wall of the Babylonian palace and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. He discovered the stone wall earlier, which means that in front of him was great monument from an ancient legend...

...Why are the gardens called the Gardens of Babylon? Yes because human memory has one amazing property: it connects events of the distant past, separated in time. So the real Semiramis and the gardens of Nebuchadnezzar are separated by 200 years. The memory of them has survived thousands of years. Apparently, they really were a miracle.

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon are the most mysterious structure of all the Wonders of the World. Scientists even doubt whether they actually existed or are just a figment of someone’s imagination, carefully copied from chronicle to chronicle.

It is interesting that those who did not see the Gardens at all turned out to be the most diligent in describing this miracle, while those who visited Babylon remain silent on this matter. There is also no word about the Gardens in the cuneiform tablets of Babylon. Therefore, now it is difficult to say with certainty whether they existed or not. Moreover, the ancient historians of the neighboring states wove into one ball both the semi-mythical Semiramis, who reigned two hundred years before Nebuchadnezzar, and himself along with the Hanging Gardens, and also attributed “hangingness” to the Gardens, although according to all descriptions it is just a multi-story building with continuous landscaping .

According to legend, the history of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon is as follows.

They were built by Nebuchadnezzar in the 6th century BC for his beloved, the Median princess Amytis. Babylon in those years was a noisy, dusty city, and the young queen, suffering from the contrast of the capital with her native side, fragrant with green spaces, often complained of headaches, malaise and lack of tone. Loving husband Nebuchadnezzar was faced with a dilemma: move the city closer to Media or make his wife’s stay in Babylon more comfortable. There was not much choice, and local engineers and sages were tasked with quickly solving the problem of greening the capital.

The best minds of Babylon developed a plan for improvement. From an engineering point of view, the structure was as follows: four floors on columns 25 meters high, ceilings in the form of brick vaults, reeds with asphalt on them, then lead plates, then black soil, then the actual greenery, which the king ordered to be collected from all over Media. IN general view the structure looked like a stepped pyramid, with a base measuring approximately 42 by 34 meters. Birds and butterflies probably fluttered between the trees, and bees flew around the flowers. The Hanging Gardens could not compare with the nature of Media, but Queen Amytis strolled contentedly along the alleys, finally saying goodbye to the blues and nostalgia.

The gardens, due to their fragility and critical dependence on water and maintenance, did not exist for long - approximately two hundred years. As legend says, they began to collapse almost immediately after the death of Alexander the Great, who rested in them.

The reconstructions that you can see below have nothing in common with the Gardens of Babylon - these are simply the fantasies of artists of different centuries on this topic.

Organize interesting program on New Year's Eve in the Moscow region, as well as a good rest during the celebration, the travel company “Play” will help.

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, sometimes also called the Gardens of Babylon, are considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Although a more appropriate name for this structure would be the Hanging Gardens of Amitis (Amanis) - after all, that was the name of the Median princess for whom they were built. But history has mistakenly fixed everything famous name, associated with the Assyrian queen Semiramis, who lived two centuries earlier.

Many legends are associated with the Assyrian queen Semiramis (in Assyrian Shammuramat), who reigned at the end of the 9th century BC.
The historical prototype of Semiramis is the Assyrian queen Shammuramat (812-803 BC), known in fact only for the fact that she ruled alone, which is an extremely rare phenomenon in the countries Ancient East. This woman was born for the royal throne, and, as a true queen by her destiny from above, she simply could not do otherwise...

But if you turn to one of the legends associated with the name of Semiramis, you can recognize another motivation - the revenge of a loving female heart for the death of a loved one.... The name Semiramis translated from Sumerian means “Born of a Dove.” According to Greek historians, after birth she was fed and raised by pigeons. There are legends about pigeon fidelity and devotion... .

In the 9th century BC. e. Assyria was ruled by the legendary king Nin, who built a city in his honor called Nineveh and became the capital of Assyria. He was a great warrior who subjugated most Asia with the exception of India, a powerful, cruel ruler.

One of his best viziers, advisers and generals was Onn. During one of his trips around the country, Onn saw a young orphan girl of rare beauty and, fascinated by her charm, intelligence and innocence, Onn took her to Nineveh, where they had a wedding. This girl was Semiramis. Their marriage with Onn turned out to be quite happy. She gave birth to Onna two twins - Khiyapta and Khidasp.

One day, the king launched a new military campaign against neighboring Bactria and gathered his best viziers, including Onn, for a military council. . Unfortunately for Onn, he took Semiramis with him to the council, who accompanied him on this campaign. At the council, Semiramis flashed her intelligence, making several valuable comments about the siege, and then asked to give her a small army of soldiers in order to capture one of the towers herself. She succeeded.


Ning was captivated by her intelligence, beauty and courage. He immediately decided to marry Semiramis himself and make her queen, and proposed Onna as new wife his daughter Suzana. Onn flatly refused. And only when Nin threatened to gouge out his eyes from Onn, he, in despair, agreed to give him Semiramis, but, unable to bear the grief, hanged himself a few days later. And Semiramis ascended to the Assyrian throne and subsequently bore the king a son, Ninias.


Nin, already in old age, burned with jealousy every time a stranger’s gaze fell on Semiramis. He went so far as to order her to wear a veil at all times, allowing her to reveal her face only in front of the eunuchs. “In Assyria, all women are beautiful,” he said, “but next to Great Queen even the most beautiful of them is like a pearl next to a diamond. To see her open face means to become her slave forever.” Ning ordered to wall up alive anyone who dared to see the queen without a veil. Apparently, the queen soon got tired of such tyranny, and she decided that it would be easier to get rid of the oppressive king and rule Assyria herself. Perhaps the fact that she was never able to forget her first husband Onn also played a role (for example, until the end of her life she wore an amulet in the shape of a dove that he gave her on her chest). According to Dinon, her husband allowed her to rule Asia for five days, and as soon as she was convinced that the servants were loyal to her, she ordered the capture and execution of King Ninus. So she became the sole ruler of Assyria.


The queen began her reign. And she did it very bravely. Wars against Media, campaigns in Egypt, Ethiopia and India, the construction of Babylon - all these are the glorious deeds of Semiramis.


Babylon – The largest city ancient Asia was conceived by her as a counterweight to the capital of her late husband, Nineveh. The queen spared no effort, no money, no imagination on it, wanting to make it much more majestic and grandiose than the creation of her late husband. To this day, this city hides many mysteries and secrets.


There is a legend that talks about the transformation of Semiramis into a dove. Since then, the dove has been considered sacred, and Semiramis has been revered as a goddess.
Semiramis reigned for over forty years, and went down in history as one of the most famous female queens in world history.

According to another version, she was nevertheless killed by her son’s supporters.
In 606 BC. Nineveh was destroyed and Assyria ceased to exist. The Neo-Babylonian kingdom arose on this site.

What about the Gardens of Babylon?
This is a completely different story. They were built only two centuries after the death of the queen by the great conqueror Nebuchadnezzar II.
Unfortunately this unique creation has long been destroyed, but the memory of it is alive to this day.

To defeat his main enemy, Assyria, the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II entered into a military alliance with the king of Media, Cyaxares. This union was strengthened by the marriage of Nebuchadnezzar II and Princess Amytis, daughter of King Cyaxares.

Dusty and stuffy Babylon, standing in the middle of a deserted sandy plain, brought melancholy to the young queen, accustomed to the greenery and clean air of Media. Nebuchadnezzar loved young Amytis very much, but he could not move Babylon to the green hills of Media. He did it differently: he ordered a wonderful creation with beautiful vegetation to be built in the middle of the desert, so that the queen could admire the greenery of her country to her heart’s content. Beautiful and interesting plants, the fresh and cool air of the wonderful Hanging Gardens of Babylon in Babylon - hot, dusty and stuffy - is a real monument created in the name of love.


These gardens were located on a very wide four-tiered tower, each tier of which was supported by 25-meter columns. The tiers of the tower rose in ledges and were connected by wide staircases made of white and pink slabs. The terrace platforms, made of stone slabs, were covered with a layer of reeds and filled with asphalt, then lined with bricks, which were held together with plaster and lead slabs. And already on top there was such a thick layer of fertile soil that it was possible to plant even large trees.
This pyramid was like an evergreen flowering hill.


The water supply system used in the Gardens of Babylon was not new to Mesopotamia. Something similar was found in local ziggurats, in particular in the legendary Tower of Babel. But it was in the Hanging Gardens that this technology reached its perfection. Thousands of slaves turned the wheel day and night, raising water from the Euphrates in leather buckets to the top of the tower. From there, through numerous channels, water flowed onto all the terraces, giving life to beautiful plants.


Almost all historians who lived in those days described Babylon in their writings, but the description of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, if found in ancient texts, is rather superficial. Only the ancient Greek Straubon and Diodorus left us their story about gardens. They noted its square shape with a side four plethora long - that is, 124 meters. Semicircular storage facilities were built on it in a checkerboard pattern. A staircase leads to the uppermost terrace.


Only among the Chaldean priest Berossus, who lived at the end of the 4th century BC, is there more detailed description gardens, which later migrated to the pages of the Greek historians who lived after him. For many centuries the minds of scientists and ordinary people were excited by the mysterious Gardens of Babylon, built in the 6th century BC.


In the 3rd century BC in Ancient Assyria, on the eastern bank of the Tiber, lush Ninivean gardens grew, which, like the Babylonian ones, were laid out by the king not far from the entrance to his palace. Therefore, many historians are still confident that a mistake occurred and the gardens in Nineveh were mistaken for the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, especially since the Archimedes screw, which, judging by the descriptions, delivered water to the upper terraces of the Gardens of Babylon, was invented by Archimedes, who lived three centuries later.


So perhaps the only evidence of their existence is the stories about the conquest of Babylon by Alexander the Great, who was captivated by the splendor of the Hanging Gardens. In 331 BC. Alexander and his army entered Babylon without a fight after its inhabitants sent messengers to him with an offer of peace. Residents of the city honored Alexander as their liberator. Ten years later, he had bypassed and conquered half of everything known to people at that time. ancient world, tired and sick, Alexander entered the city gates of Babylon again. He made his residence in the palace. In it he wanted to rest and recover before a new campaign against Carthage, Spain and Italy and see with his own eyes the limit of the world of that time - the Pillars of Hercules. Only here, among the shady green trees, could he calmly surrender to the memories of his native Macedonia. The chambers of the lower tier and the throne room of this palace became the place on Earth from where Alexander began his path to immortality.


After Alexander's death, his empire instantly disintegrated, torn apart piece by piece by arrogant commanders. Babylon was no longer the capital of the world; it gradually fell into decay and was completely deserted. The flood completely destroyed the walls of the palace built by Nebuchadnezzar: the poorly baked clay softened, the terraces sank, the supporting columns and vaults collapsed. True, the vegetation died even earlier, because no one else pumped water for irrigation.


The history of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon is closely connected with the name of the German archaeologist Robert Koldewey.
In 1898, his archaeological expedition landed on the banks of the Euphrates. Centuries have passed since the now deserted bank of the great Babylonian river was filled with the noise and voices of many thousands of caravans of traders, travelers, wandering musicians and seekers of happiness and fortune from all over the world flocking to the huge multi-story Babylon. Koldewey then saw only a lifeless desert with a huge hill of clay in front of him.


It seemed that time had destroyed even the memory of the once richest city in the world.


Having studied the area, Koldewey discovered hills with steep slopes and stunted vegetation in places. In the spring of the following year, in this place of the Sakhi plain, which meant frying pan, two hundred workers worked under his leadership, digging out clay and sand. From the very first days it became clear that excavations were being carried out on the site of a former civilization. A few months later, three walls opened up to people’s eyes and the walls that had once encircled ancient city ditch The walls, each 3, 8 and 7 meters wide, were made of brick. Their height reached 12 meters. The length of the smallest inner wall with 360 fortress towers was more than 18 kilometers!


This was undoubtedly Babylon, built here more than 4 thousand years ago. At the excavation site there were numerous remnants of its former splendor - winged lions, various bas-reliefs, gold jewelry and even copper-clad city gates. There is reason to believe that Babylon was founded by the more ancient Sumerian civilization, which suddenly died, apparently as a result of a global natural disaster.


As a result of excavations, it was discovered royal palace, and next to it are twelve underground halls.
Koldewey realized that he had excavated the vaults of the underground part of the Gardens of Babylon, above which the terraces themselves were located.


Modern photographs of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon show the only trace of the grandiose monument that has survived to this day - a network of intersecting trenches near the Iraqi city of Hille, which is 90 km from Baghdad. In the sections of these trenches you can still see traces of dilapidated masonry.

They say that a hundred years ago in the ruins of El-Qasr there grew a tree that the local Arabs considered sacred. They showed it to the German traveler Pfeiffer, who recognized it as a tree from the cone-bearing family, which does not grow in these parts.


The Arabs said that it had been preserved for many centuries from the gardens that were once here. In its branches when it blows strong wind, quiet plaintive sounds are heard. And this is all that remains of the once beautiful Gardens of Babylon.

People have been fascinated by creating “best of” lists for thousands of years. The most famous of the ancient tops that have come down to us is the list of seven wonders of the world. Exist different variations of this list, but all ancient authors, without exception, considered it their duty to mention the Hanging Gardens of Babylon in it.

This is the legendary queen of Assyria, few reliable facts about which have been preserved, but in Akkadian mythology she plays a fairly prominent role. Some ancient authors attribute to Semiramis the founding of Babylon and dominion over all of Asia.

Despite the abundance of legends associated with the name of the legendary queen, historians managed to establish her historical prototype. He is considered to be Queen Shammuramat, who single-handedly ruled Assyria at the beginning of the 9th century BC. However, most researchers are confident that the named ruler had nothing to do with the Hanging Gardens that bear her name.

Who initiated the creation of the Hanging Gardens?

Until recently, it was generally accepted that the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were built by Nebuchadnezzar II (605–562 BC). He actually built many of the towers and gardens of Babylon. According to a widespread hypothesis, the Babylonian king ordered the creation of a garden of unprecedented beauty for his wife Amytis, daughter of the Median king Cyaxares. The grandiose gift should be to help the queen cope with longing for her mountainous homeland.

There is another version. So, according to Oxford University doctor Stephanie Delli, famous miracle light was built in Nineveh by order of the Assyrian king Sennacherib (705–680 BC). Indirect evidence of this version is the absence of mention of miraculous gardens in sources from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar.

Where were the Hanging Gardens of Babylon?

Scientists have repeatedly made attempts to determine the location of this wonder of the world. The first person to take this task seriously was the German historian Robert Koldewey. The research he carried out at the end of the 19th century provided a very comprehensive idea of ​​what Babylon was like in the 6th century BC. e.

And most importantly, to the north of Nebuchadnezzar’s palace, Koldewey discovered a structure that was very atypical for the area, equipped with a water supply system from three mines. The scientist believed that these were the famous Hanging Gardens. Not everyone agreed with him. Some researchers believed that the location was on the banks of the Euphrates, others argued that they were created on a wide bridge spanning the river.

In the 90s of the last century, the above-mentioned Stephanie Delli proposed a version about the location of the gardens on the territory of Nineveh. One piece of evidence supporting her theory is a bas-relief from the palace of Sennacherib with an image similar to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Stephanie Delli suggests that the ruins of the buildings are located in a massive mound near Mosul (northern Iraq). This is where Nineveh was once located.

In addition, a text was found that stated that the palace of Sennacherib, together with its garden, was “a miracle for all people.” It is worth noting that in many ancient sources Nineveh is often referred to as “Ancient Babylon,” which could well lead to misconceptions about the location of the wonder of the world.

What they looked like

The description of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon has come to us thanks to the efforts of ancient authors, who with great pleasure described various wonders in their works. According to their testimonies, wonderful gardens were laid out on a 4-tier tower. The structure resembled a flowering hill. Its construction required an engineering approach.

Massive stone platforms were supported by strong vaults supported by columns. The terraces were tiled and filled with asphalt. Lead plates protected the lower tiers from water penetration. The thick layer of soil made it possible to grow a wide variety of plants, from flowers to large trees.

The tiers were connected to each other by wide staircases. Water was supplied to the top and then flowed through numerous channels to the lower tiers. The terraces also had small ponds and waterfalls. Sources mention that from a distance the gardens seemed to float in the air.

• According to legend, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were the favorite vacation spot of Alexander the Great. According to some contemporaries, the death of the great commander occurred here.
• A number of researchers believe that the buildings should actually be called “protruding”. The Greek word kremastos, used by ancient authors, can be translated not only as “hanging”, but also as “protruding beyond.”
• Researchers suggest that wonderful gardens existed in ancient Babylon no more than two centuries. At first they stopped caring for them, and then the gradual destruction was accelerated by floods.
• What is the meaning of the phraseological unit “Gardens of Babylon”? The meaning of the expression indicates something wonderful, beautiful, magnificent.

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 preferred to long years forget his native land, 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.

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 gardens of paradise, 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.

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 giant trees I freely found a place for myself. 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. Under the lower wheel there was a pool - water was scooped up 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 plaster 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 the main road, passing through the city center.

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 resemblance with a 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. Moreover, as described 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 for many years cannot come to a conclusion unanimous opinion. One thing is clear: this Wonder of the World really existed. All that remains is to answer two questions: “Where?” and when?".