|
|
|
Seven Wonders of the World - Hanging Gardens of Babylon | |
| |
|
|
This
is one of the most venerated marvels
among the seven wonders of world.
Location:
This wonder of the world was located in the east bank of Euphrates, South of Baghdad in Iraq.
Description:
The King Hammurabi is the most famous king of the Babylonian
kingdom. The whole kingdom flourished
under his rule. His son Nebuchadnezzar
is the one who built the Hanging gardens
of Babylon, one of the Seven wonders of
world.
Nebuchadnezzar ruled the country for 43 years from 605 BC. He
constructed impressive array of temples,
palaces and streets. It is being told
that he built this garden to please his
wife, Amyitis. Amyitis, daughter of the
king Medes seems to have had a passion
for mountainous surroundings. There are
some other accounts which say that this
wonder of the world was actually built by the
Assyrian Queen Semiramis.
The ancient accounts of this hanging gardens (one of the seven
wonders of the world) describes the
structure to be a stairs like one. The
Greek geographer Strabo, describes it as
, "the garden consists of vaulted
terraces raised one above another, and
resting upon cube-shaped pillars. These
are hollow and filled with earth to
allow trees of the largest size to be
planted. The pillars, the vaults, and
terraces are constructed of baked brick
and asphalt."
The irrigation system was supposedly the complex part built on this
gardens. This region had very scarce
rains. Slaves were used to push the
water upwards using some ancient method
of irrigation. Of course there must be
some exploitation of slave labor to
maintain one among the seven wonders of
the world. The gardens did not
really hang on the roof using cables or
ropes. But this name from the sense that
it was built on the roof top. Some
accounts state that the gardens are 400
by 400 feet and 80 feet high. | |
|
|
|