Hanging Gardens of Babylon

Hanging Gardens of Babylon

Like the Colossus of Rhodes, archaeologists have yet to uncover any ruins of the Hanging Gardens. In fact, many ancient authors who mentioned the gardens in their works only knew of them through hearsay and never saw them firsthand. So, are the Hanging Gardens purely a legend?

The Hanging Gardens were situated on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River, about 50 li south of Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, in Babylon—one of the four great ancient civilizations. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were never actually suspended in the air. The name originated from a mistranslation of the Greek word "kremastos" and the Latin word "pensilis," which meant not only "suspended" but also "overhanging" or "projecting."

It is generally believed that the gardens were built by King Nebuchadnezzar II (604–562 BCE) to console his homesick wife, Queen Amyitis. He constructed the gardens to resemble the mountainous homeland of the queen.