The hanging gardens of Babylon are considered to be one of the original seven wonders of the ancient world.
They were built in the ancient city –state of Baylon , near present day Al Hilah , Babil in Iraq.
The gardens were supposedly built by Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II around 600 B.C. to please his homesick wife Amytis of Media , who longed for the trees and fragrant plants of her homeland Persia.
Babylon lies in a plain and the circuit of its wall is there hundred and eighty –five stadia. The thickness of its wall is thirty-two feet, the height there of between the towers is fifty cubits, that of the towers is sixty cubits, the passage on top of the wall is such that four-horse chariots can easily pass one another , and it is on this account that this and the hanging garden are called one of the seven wonders of the world.
The garden is quadrangular in shape and each side is four plethora in length. It consists of arched vaults, which are situated one after another, on checkered , cube like foundations.
The garden was 100 feet (30m) long by 100 ft wide and built up in tiers so that it resembled a theatre.
Vaults had been constructed under the ascending terraces which carried the entire weight of the planted garden.
The uppermost vault, which was seventy-five feet high , was the highest part of the garden.
The roofs of the vaults which supported the garden were constructed of stone beams some sixteen feet long, and over these were laid first a layer of reeds set in thick tar, then two courses of baked brick bonded by cement and finally a covering of lead to prevent the moisture in the soil penetrating the roof.
On top of this roof enough top soil was heaped to allow the biggest trees to take root.
The earth was leveled off and thickly planted with every kind of tree.
Since the galleries projected one beyond the other, where they were sunlit, they contained conduits for the water which was raised by pumps in great abundance from the river.
Last modified: Saturday, 10 December 2011, 12:55 PM
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