Archaeology & History

Were the Hanging Gardens really in Babylon ?

By T.K. Randall
May 6, 2013 ·  12 comments

Image Credit: Wiki For hundreds of the years the construction of the Hanging Gardens, a lavishly watered paradise, has been attributed to Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylonia. Despite extensive archaeological efforts to locate the site of the gardens however no trace of them has ever been found. A team from Germany spent 19 years excavating the most likely sites only to come up empty. "To their dismay, they could not find any possible location with enough space in the vicinity of the palaces, nor did they dig out any written confirmation from the many texts they unearthed," wrote researcher Stephanie Dalley.

Instead, Dalley believes that the gardens may not have been located in Babylon at all but that they were in fact the creation of the Assyrians who built them more than 300 miles away at Ninevah which is located in today's northern Iraq. Dalley has based these conclusions on new cuneiform inscription translations and evidence of sophisticated aqueducts and canals in the region.[!gad]For hundreds of the years the construction of the Hanging Gardens, a lavishly watered paradise, has been attributed to Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylonia. Despite extensive archaeological efforts to locate the site of the gardens however no trace of them has ever been found. A team from Germany spent 19 years excavating the most likely sites only to come up empty. "To their dismay, they could not find any possible location with enough space in the vicinity of the palaces, nor did they dig out any written confirmation from the many texts they unearthed," wrote researcher Stephanie Dalley.

Instead, Dalley believes that the gardens may not have been located in Babylon at all but that they were in fact the creation of the Assyrians who built them more than 300 miles away at Ninevah which is located in today's northern Iraq. Dalley has based these conclusions on new cuneiform inscription translations and evidence of sophisticated aqueducts and canals in the region.

Source: Independent | Comments (12)

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