Tobias Posted October 9, 2006 Report Share Posted October 9, 2006 G'day All I'm sure you are all familiar with the Hanging Gardens of Babylon - a wonder of the ancient world. This name brings to mind beautiful, lush gardens adorning terraces and all the buildings of Babylon. Now, there is considerable documentation and description of the Hanging Gardens from historians and geographers such as Diodorus Siculus and Strabo, but apparently there is not a hell of a lot of evidence outside of the writings of these people. Excavation at the site of Babylon has brought to light some evidence, but apparently not enough to make it beyond doubt that the Hanging Gardens of Babylon existed. There is also apparently a complete lack of Babylonian accounts of the Gardens. What do you people think? Did the Hanging Gardens of Babylon exist? Were they perhaps confused with gardens that are known to have existed in the city of Nineveh? Or is there some other solution? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docoflove1974 Posted October 9, 2006 Report Share Posted October 9, 2006 I thought that there was talk of the marshy and fertile land at the southern end of the 'Mesopotemia' region was the probably site for the Gardens? I could be wrong, tho. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil25 Posted October 9, 2006 Report Share Posted October 9, 2006 I think this is a case where we need to trust the sources. i don't think the site has been sufficiently well excavated to allow us to dismiss the idea. Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WotWotius Posted October 9, 2006 Report Share Posted October 9, 2006 I thought that there was talk of the marshy and fertile land at the southern end of the 'Mesopotemia' region was the probably site for the Gardens? I could be wrong, tho. During Ancient times, a lot of the region (modern day Kuwait) was under water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DecimusCaesar Posted October 9, 2006 Report Share Posted October 9, 2006 Mesopotamia was certainly more fertile during the era. During Sumerian times one of it's main sources of wealth was for people to dive for pearls. I'm not sure in which region this took place, but it is believed that the story of Gilgamesh swimming to the bottom of the ocean to retrive the branch of eternal life was based on this. This goes to show how different the area must have been compared to modern times, so the Hanging Gardens might have been sustainable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pantagathus Posted November 8, 2006 Report Share Posted November 8, 2006 This goes to show how different the area must have been compared to modern times, so the Hanging Gardens might have been sustainable. There was an extensive marsh & wetlands area in southern Iraq until Saddam phucked it up in the early 90's. There was a whole culture of people called the Ma'dan who lived there on floating reed huts. I first came across the whole story behind it in Thor Heyerdahl's memoir. Thor described it as heaven on earth... Read up on it here: Iraq's Wetlands May be Restored Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docoflove1974 Posted November 8, 2006 Report Share Posted November 8, 2006 There was an extensive marsh & wetlands area in southern Iraq until Saddam phucked it up in the early 90's. There was a whole culture of people called the Ma'dan who lived there on floating reed huts. I first came across the whole story behind it in Thor Heyerdahl's memoir. Thor described it as heaven on earth... Read up on it here: Iraq's Wetlands May be Restored That's what I was thinking of! Thanks for the link, Pantagathus...now I can refresh my memory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caldrail Posted November 18, 2006 Report Share Posted November 18, 2006 I think there were hanging gardens. The ancients were very specific about the seven wonders of the ancient world and we know most of them were very real. As to what form these gardens took I can't say, but they were there without a doubt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rameses the Great Posted November 19, 2006 Report Share Posted November 19, 2006 It would be logical to build the hanging gardens of Babylon so the motivation was there. Along the Fertile Cresent, 2,000 years ago it used to be like a tropical area not like today. Aside from the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq is probably the warmest place in the Middle East not beeing next to the Mediterranian. The questions I would ask are, did they build it along the banks of the Euphrates or Tigris? For that matter there is resounding evidence it may bave been made in Assyria. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pantagathus Posted November 21, 2006 Report Share Posted November 21, 2006 The questions I would ask are, did they build it along the banks of the Euphrates or Tigris? On the east bank of the Euphrates, about 30 miles south of Baghdad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DecimusCaesar Posted November 21, 2006 Report Share Posted November 21, 2006 I am very confused about how the monument came to be destroyed. I remember it was once stated that Alexander the Great caused partial damage to the structure at one time, yet I have never read of this in any other biography on Alexander. Perhaps one person got it mixed up with the tale of the burning of the palace at Persepolis. Either way, how was is that the structure came to be destroyed? (I know that earthquakes destroyed the Colossus, Mausoleum and that the Pharos collapsed into the sea in Alexandria. Was there a similar fate for this wonder?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callaecus Posted December 22, 2006 Report Share Posted December 22, 2006 Taking in consideration that they were hanging gardens it would be a bit difficult to find them in the archaeologicl record; at the most, only the mechanisms that sent water up would be found. But as Phil25 rightly said, the place is not yet fully excavated; besides I agree with those that say that one can believe in the written sources; after all, the remaining wonders of the world existed and one of them - the pyramids - is stil around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bripus Klmunus Posted February 26, 2007 Report Share Posted February 26, 2007 I had read that recent research stated the the gardens were not really "hanging", persay, but instead were grown on rooftops. I do know that their name has been also mistranslated from Greek so that instead of the proper word - "overhanging", it was translated as "hanging". So, in a way - sure - I think that they really did exist. But insomuch as them literally "hanging", probably not so much as them hanging over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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