Thursday, March 01, 2007
Hanging Gardens of Babylon
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the walls of Babylon were considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World. They were both supposedly built by Nebuchadnezzar II around 600 BC.
The lush Hanging Gardens are extensively documented by Greek historians such as Strabo and Diodorus Siculus, but otherwise there is little evidence for their existence. In fact, there are no Babylonian records of any such gardens having existed. Some evidence gathered at the excavation of the palace at Babylon has accrued, but does not completely substantiate what look like fanciful descriptions. Through the ages, the location may have been confused with gardens that existed at Nineveh, since tablets from there clearly show gardens. Writings on these tablets describe the possible use of something similar to an Archimedes' screw as a process of raising the water to the required height.
# posted by faburous @ 9:08 PM 
