Where were the hanging gardens of Semiramis. Hanging Gardens of Semiramis Gardens of Semiramis

In this article, I will tell you about the legendary Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Interestingly, in this way they are called only in our country, while in the west they are called the hanging gardens of Babylon, which is logical, since the attitude of Queen Semiramis to the gardens is very doubtful. Find out about this and much more below.

If we turn to the history of the construction of the Hanging Gardens, it becomes clear that the reason for their construction, like many other architectural gems of antiquity (for example, the Taj Mahal), was love. The king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar II, entered into a military alliance with the king of Media, marrying his daughter named Amitis. Babylon was a trading center in the middle of a sandy desert, it was always dusty and noisy here. Amitis began to yearn for her homeland, the evergreen and fresh Mussel. To please his beloved, he decided to build hanging gardens in Babylon

The gardens were arranged in the form of a pyramid with four tiered platforms resting on 20-meter columns. The lowest tier had the shape of an irregular quadrangle, the length of which in different parts varied from 30 to 40 meters.

From the Babylonian kingdom of the last period of existence, mainly the remains of architectural structures have come down, including the palaces of Nebuchadnezzar II and the famous "hanging gardens". According to legend, at the beginning of the VI century BC. King Nebuchadnezzar II ordered the creation of hanging gardens for one of his wives, who yearned in the plains of Babylonia for her homeland in the mountainous part of Iran. And, although in reality the “hanging gardens” appeared only during the time of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II, the Greek legend, transmitted by Herodotus and Ctesias, connected the name of Semiramis with the creation of the “hanging gardens” in Babylon.

According to legend, the king of Babylon Shamshiadat V fell in love with the Assyrian Amazon queen Semiramis. In her honor, he built a huge structure, consisting of an arcade - a series of arches stacked on top of each other. On each floor of such an arcade, earth was poured and a garden was laid out with many rare trees. Among the amazingly beautiful plants, fountains murmured, bright birds sang. The gardens of Babylon were through and multi-storey. This gave them lightness and a fabulous look.

To prevent water from seeping through the tiers, each of the platforms was covered with a dense layer of bound reeds, then a thick layer of fertile land was laid with seeds of outlandish plants - flowers, shrubs, trees

The Gardens of Babylon were located on the territory of the current Arab Republic of Iraq. Archaeological excavations are underway not far from the southern part of Baghdad. Found the Temple of Fertility, the gate and the stone lion. As a result of excavations, archaeologist Robert Koldewey in 1899-1917 discovered city fortifications, the royal palace, the temple complex of the god Marduk, a number of other temples and a residential area.

One of the parts of the royal palace can be rightly identified with the "hanging gardens" of Babylon described by Herodotus with their terraced engineering structures over the vaults and artificial irrigation installations. Only the cellars of this building have been preserved, which in terms of plan was an irregular quadrangle, the walls of which carried the weight of the "hanging gardens" located at the height of the walls of the palace. The ground part of the building, apparently, consisted of a series of powerful pillars or walls covered with vaults, judging by the preserved underground part, which consisted of fourteen vaulted inner chambers. The garden was irrigated with a water wheel.

From afar, the pyramid looked like an evergreen and flowering hill, bathed in the coolness of fountains and streams. Pipes were located in the cavities of the columns, and hundreds of slaves constantly turned a special wheel that supplied water to each of the platforms of the Hanging Gardens. Luxurious gardens in hot and dry Babylon were indeed a real miracle, for which they were recognized as one of the seven ancient wonders of the world.

Semiramis - (Greek Semiraramis), according to Assyrian legends, the name of Queen Shammuramat (end of the 9th century BC), originally from Babylonia, the wife of King Shamshiadad V. After his death, she was regent for her minor son Adadnerari III (809-782 BC).

The heyday of the gardens of Babylon lasted about 200 years, after which, during the hegemony of the Persians, the palace fell into disrepair. The kings of Persia only occasionally stopped there during rare trips around the empire. In the 4th century, the palace was chosen by Alexander the Great as a residence, becoming the last place of his stay on earth. After his death, 172 luxuriously furnished rooms of the palace finally fell into disrepair - the garden was completely abandoned, and strong floods damaged the foundation, and the building collapsed. Many are interested in where the gardens of Babylon were located? This miracle was located 80 kilometers southwest of modern Baghdad, in Iraq

The legend connects the creation of the famous gardens with the name of the Assyrian queen Semiramis. Diodorus and other Greek historians relate that she built "hanging gardens" in Babylon. True, until the beginning of our century, the “hanging gardens” were considered pure fiction, and their descriptions were simply excesses of poetic fantasy. The first to contribute to this was Semiramis herself, or rather, her biography. Semiramis (Shammuramat) is a historical figure, but her life is legendary. Ctesias preserved her detailed biography, which Diodorus later repeated almost verbatim.

“In ancient times there was the city of Ascalon in Syria, and next to it there was a deep lake, where the temple of the goddess Derketo stood.” Outwardly, this temple looked like a fish with a human head. The goddess Aphrodite was angry with Derketo for something and made her fall in love with a mere mortal youth. Then Derketo bore him a daughter and in anger, irritated by this unequal marriage, killed the young man, and she herself hid in the lake. The pigeons saved the girl: they warmed her with their wings, carried milk in their beaks, and when the girl grew up, they brought her cheese. The shepherds noticed gouged holes in the cheese, followed the trail of the pigeons and found a lovely child. They took the girl and carried her to the caretaker of the royal flocks, Simmas. “He made the girl his daughter, gave her the name Semiramis, which means “dove” among the inhabitants of Syria, and raised her approximately. Her beauty surpassed all." This was the key to her future career.

During a trip to these parts, Onnes, the first royal adviser, saw Semiramis, and immediately fell in love with her. He asked Simmas for her hand in marriage and, taking her to Nineveh, made him his wife. She bore him two sons. “Since, apart from beauty, she possessed all the virtues, she had complete power over her husband: he did nothing without her, and he succeeded in everything.”

Then the war began with neighboring Bactria, and with it the dizzying career of Semiramis ... King Nin went to war with a large army: "with 1,700,000 foot, 210,000 horsemen and 10,600 war chariots." But even with such large forces, the soldiers of Nineveh could not conquer the capital of Bactria. The enemy heroically repelled all the attacks of the Nineveh, and Onnes, unable to do anything, began to be weary of the situation. Then he invited his beautiful wife to the battlefield.

“Setting out on a journey,” writes Diodorus, “she ordered a new dress to be made for herself,” which is quite natural for a woman. However, the dress was not quite ordinary: firstly, it was so elegant that it determined the fashion among the society ladies of that time; secondly, it was sewn in such a way that it was impossible to determine who was in it - a man or a woman.

Arriving to her husband, Semiramis studied the combat situation and found that the king always attacks the weakest part of the fortifications according to military tactics and common sense. But Semiramis was a woman, which means she was not burdened with military knowledge. She called for volunteers and attacked the strongest part of the fortifications, where, according to her, there were the fewest defenders. Having easily won a victory, she used the moment of surprise and forced the city to capitulate. “The king, admiring her courage, endowed her and began to persuade Onnes to give up Semiramis voluntarily, promising to give him his daughter Sosana as his wife. When Onnes did not want to agree, the king threatened to gouge out his eyes, for he was blind to the orders of his master. Onnes, suffering from the king's threats and the love of his wife, eventually went insane and hanged himself. In this way, Semiramis acquired the royal title.

Leaving an obedient governor in Bactria, Nin returned to Nineveh, married Semiramis, and she bore him a son, Niniya. After the death of the king, Semiramis began to rule, although the king had a son-heir.

Semiramis did not marry again, although many sought her hand. And, enterprising by nature, she decided to surpass her deceased royal husband. She founded a new city on the Euphrates - Babylon, with powerful walls and towers, a magnificent bridge over the Euphrates - "all this in one year." Then she drained the swamps around the city, and in the city itself she built an amazing temple to the god Bel with a tower, “which was unusually high, and the Chaldeans watched the sunrise and sunset of the stars there, because such a structure was the most suitable for this.” She also ordered the construction of a statue of Bel, weighing 1,000 Babylonian talents (equal to about 800 Greek), erected many other temples and cities. During her reign, a convenient road was laid through the seven ridges of the Zagros chain to Lydia, a state in the west of Asia Minor. In Lydia, she built the capital Ecbatana with a beautiful royal palace, and led the water to the capital through a tunnel from distant mountain lakes.

Then Semiramis started a war - the first Thirty Years' War. She invaded the kingdom of Media, from there she went to Persia, then to Egypt, Libya and, finally, to Ethiopia. Everywhere Semiramis won glorious victories and acquired new slaves for her kingdom. Only in India she was unlucky: after the first successes, she lost three-quarters of the army. True, this did not affect her firm intention to win at all costs, but once she was lightly wounded in the shoulder by an arrow. On her swift horse, Semiramis returned to Babylon. There, a heavenly sign appeared to her that she should not continue the war, and therefore the powerful ruler, having pacified the fury caused by the impudent messages of the Indian king (he called her a lover of love adventures, but used a rougher expression), ruled further in peace and harmony.

Meanwhile, Ninya was bored with her inglorious life. He decided that his mother had been ruling the country for too long, and organized a conspiracy against her: "with the help of one eunuch, he decided to kill her." The queen voluntarily transferred power to her son, “then she went out onto the balcony, turned into a dove and flew away ... straight into immortality.”

However, a more realistic version of the biography of Semiramis has also been preserved. According to the Greek writer Athenaeus from Navcratis (II century), Semiramis was at first "an insignificant court lady at the court of one of the Assyrian kings," but she was "so beautiful that she won royal love with her beauty." And soon she persuaded the king, who took her as his wife, to give her power for only five days ...

Having received the rod and dressed in the royal dress, she immediately arranged a great feast, at which she won the military leaders and all the dignitaries to her side; on the second day, she already commanded the people and noble people to give her royal honors, and threw her husband into prison. So this resolute woman seized the throne and retained it until her old age, having accomplished many great deeds ... "Such are the conflicting reports of historians about Semiramis," Diodorus concludes skeptically.

And yet, Semiramis was a real historical figure, however, we know little about her. In addition to the famous Shammuramat, we know several more "Semiramid". About one of them, Herodotus wrote that "she lived five human centuries before another Babylonian queen, Nitocris" (i.e., about 750 BC). Other historians call Semiramis Atossa, the daughter and co-ruler of King Beloch, who ruled at the end of the 8th century BC. e.

However, the famous "hanging gardens" were not created by Semiramis and not even during her reign, but later, in honor of another, non-legendary woman.

The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II (605 - 562 BC), in order to fight against the main enemy - Assyria, whose troops twice destroyed the capital of the state of Babylon, entered into a military alliance with Knakxar, the king of Media. Having won, they divided the territory of Assyria among themselves. The military alliance was strengthened by the marriage of Nebuchadnezzar II to the daughter of the Median king Semiramis.

Dusty and noisy Babylon, located on a bare sandy plain, did not please the queen, who grew up in the mountainous and green Media. To console her, Nebuchadnezzar ordered the erection of "hanging gardens". This king, who destroyed city after city and even entire states, built a lot in Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar turned the capital into an impregnable stronghold and surrounded himself with luxury, unparalleled even in those days. Nebuchadnezzar built his palace on an artificially created platform, raised to the height of a four-tier structure.

So far, the most accurate information about the Gardens comes from Greek historians, for example, from Verossus and Diodorus, but the description of the Gardens is rather scarce. Here is how the gardens are described in their testimonies: “The garden is quadrangular, and each side of it is four pletras long. It consists of arched vaults that are staggered like cubic bases. Climbing to the uppermost terrace is possible by stairs...” The manuscripts of the time of Nebuchadnezzar do not have a single reference to “hanging gardens”, although they contain descriptions of the palace of the city of Babylon. Even historians who give detailed descriptions of the "hanging gardens" have never seen them.

Modern historians prove that when the soldiers of Alexander the Great reached the fertile land of Mesopotamia and saw Babylon, they were amazed. After returning to their homeland, they reported about the amazing gardens and trees in Mesopotamia, about the palace of Nebuchadnezzar, about the Tower of Babel and ziggurats. This gave food to the imagination of poets and ancient historians, who mixed all these stories into one whole to produce one of the seven Wonders of the World.

In architectural terms, the Hanging Gardens were a pyramid, consisting of four tiers - platforms, they were supported by columns up to 25 m high. The lower tier had the shape of an irregular quadrangle, the largest side of which was 42 m, the smallest - 34 m. each platform was first covered with a layer of reeds mixed with asphalt, then with two layers of bricks bonded with gypsum mortar, with lead slabs laid on top of everything. Fertile land lay on them with a thick carpet, where seeds of various herbs, flowers, shrubs, and trees were planted. The pyramid looked like an ever-blooming green hill.

The floors of the gardens rose in ledges and were connected by wide, sloping stairs covered with pink and white stone. The height of the floors reached almost 28 meters and gave enough light for the plants. “In carts pulled by oxen, they brought to Babylon trees wrapped in wet matting, seeds of rare herbs, flowers and bushes.” And trees of the most amazing species and beautiful flowers blossomed in extraordinary gardens. Pipes were placed in the cavity of one of the columns, through which water from the Euphrates was pumped day and night to the upper tier of gardens, from where it, flowing in streams and small waterfalls, irrigated the plants of the lower tiers. Day and night, hundreds of slaves turned the lifting wheel with leather buckets, supplying water from the Euphrates to the gardens. The murmur of water, the shade and coolness among the trees, taken out from distant Media, seemed like a miracle.

Magnificent gardens with rare trees, fragrant flowers and coolness in sultry Babylonia were truly a wonder of the world. But during the Persian domination, the palace of Nebuchadnezzar fell into disrepair. It had 172 rooms (52,000 square meters in total), decorated and furnished with truly oriental luxury. Now, the Persian kings occasionally stopped there during their “inspection” trips around their vast empire. In 331 BC. e. Alexander the Great's troops captured Babylon. The famous commander made the city the capital of his vast empire. It was here, in the shadow of the Hanging Gardens, that he died in 339 BC. e. The throne room of the palace and the chambers of the lower tier of the hanging gardens were the last place of stay on earth of the great commander, who spent 16 years in continuous wars and campaigns and did not lose a single battle.

After the death of Alexander, Babylon gradually falls into decay. The gardens were in disrepair. Powerful floods destroyed the brick foundation of the columns, the platforms collapsed to the ground. So one of the wonders of the world perished...

The person who unearthed the Hanging Gardens was the German scientist Robert Koldewey. He was born in 1855 in Germany, studied in Berlin, Munich and Vienna, where he studied architecture, archeology and art history. Until the age of thirty, he managed to take part in excavations in Assos and on the island of Lesvos. In 1887 he excavated in Babylonia, later in Syria, southern Italy, in Sicily, then again in Syria. Koldevey was an extraordinary person, and compared to his colleagues in the profession, he was also an unusual scientist. Love for archeology - a science that, according to the publications of some experts, may seem boring, did not prevent him from studying countries, observing people, seeing everything, noticing everything, reacting to everything. Among other things, Koldewey the architect had one passion: his favorite pastime was the history of sewers. An architect, a poet, an archaeologist and a sewage historian - such a rare combination! And it was this man that the Berlin Museum sent to excavate in Babylon. And it was he who found the famous "hanging gardens"!

Once, during excavations, Koldewey came across some vaults. They were under a five-meter layer of clay and rubble on the Qasr hill, which hid the ruins of the southern fortress and the royal palace. He continued excavations, hoping to find a cellar under the arches, although it seemed strange to him that the cellar would be under the roofs of neighboring buildings. But he did not find any side walls: the shovels of the workers tore off only the pillars on which these vaults rested. The pillars were made of stone, and stone was a rarity in Mesopotamian architecture. And finally, Koldewey discovered traces of a deep stone well, but a well with a strange three-stage spiral shaft. The arch was lined not only with brick, but also with stone.

The combination of all the details made it possible to see in this building an extremely successful design for that time (both from the point of view of technology and from the point of view of architecture). Apparently, this building was intended for very special purposes.

And suddenly it dawned on Koldeveya! In all the literature about Babylon, starting with ancient authors (Josephus Flavius, Diodorus, Ctesias, Strabo and others) and ending with cuneiform tablets, everywhere where it was a question of the "sinful city", there were only two references to the use of stone in Babylon, and this was especially emphasized: during the construction of the northern wall of the Kasr region and during the construction of the "hanging gardens" of Babylon.

Koldewei re-read the ancient sources. He weighed every phrase, every line, every word, he even ventured into the alien area of ​​comparative linguistics. In the end, he came to the conclusion that the structure found could not be anything other than the vault of the basement of the evergreen "hanging gardens" of Babylon, inside which there was an amazing plumbing system for those times.

But there was no more miracle: the hanging gardens were destroyed by the floods of the Euphrates, which rises by 3-4 meters during floods. And now we can imagine them only according to the descriptions of ancient authors and with the help of our own imagination. Even in the last century, the German traveler, a member of many honorary scientific societies I. Pfeiffer, in her travel notes, described that she saw “on the ruins of El Kasra one forgotten tree from the cone-bearing family, completely unknown in these parts. The Arabs call it "atale" and revere it as sacred. The most amazing stories are told about this tree (as if it were left from the "hanging gardens") and they assure that they heard sad, plaintive sounds in its branches when a strong wind blows "...

Here is a short documentary that clearly describes how everything was arranged in this wonderful complex:

1

When compiling a list of the wonders of the world of the ancient world, an honorable second place was given to the Hanging Gardens in Babylon. This building of a truly grandiose scale was perceived as a real miracle. According to legend, hanging gardens were called because when approaching the city standing in the middle of the desert, blooming green terraces stretched over it. It seemed that the gardens really hung in the air, and many travelers initially mistook them for a mirage.

History of the building

According to legend, the building was erected by order of King Nebuchadnezzar II, who wanted to please his wife Amitis. The queen was from a flourishing mountainous country and greatly yearned for dusty and deserted Babylon. Since the king was very powerful, he not only created a corner of nature that reproduced the area of ​​​​the queen, he decided to build a monumental structure that should have been admired not only by contemporaries, but also by descendants.

The building is mistakenly associated with the name of another ruler - Semiramis. Historians believe that this notorious woman could not have had anything to do with the Hanging Gardens, since she died two centuries before they were built.

The date of construction of the gardens is attributed to the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II (approximately 605-562 BC). Of course, such a structure could not be built in one year, and it was necessary to solve not only the problem of "landscaping" by delivering seedlings from distant countries. It was also necessary to water, perhaps to protect some plants from the scorching sun, so it was not only an architectural, but also an engineering and technical structure.

Design features

Hanging Gardens of Babylon - interesting facts about the design features. The technologies that are indicated in the description of the building were many years ahead of their time. These facts still excite and give rise to numerous disputes. Many experts generally question the very existence of the second wonder of the world, because in their opinion, it was simply impossible.

It is believed that the legendary building was in the form of a four-tier pyramid, each side of which was about 1300 meters long. Each tier was supported by 25-meter hollow columns. The terraces were reinforced with baked bricks and covered with special lead plates. From above, fertile soil, brought from distant places, fell asleep. The lower tiers were filled with plain plants, and mountain species grew on the uppermost tiers. The presence of ponds and reservoirs is mentioned throughout the territory.

The garden irrigation system deserves special attention. According to the description, water from the Euphrates River was scooped up by buckets attached to a lift. The lift itself looked like two wheels with chains stretched over them. The wheels turned with the help of the labor of numerous slaves, buckets on chains scooped up water and delivered it to a special reservoir built above. From there, water entered numerous channels. The slaves turned the wheel continuously, only this made it possible to do the incredible: to ensure the growth of plants that are not typical for the area.

Destruction of the second wonder of the world

After the death of Queen Amitis, the most beautiful gardens fell into disrepair without proper care. This continued until the conquest of Babylon by Alexander the Great. The famous commander was fascinated by the Hanging Gardens. There is evidence that he even refused military campaigns, not wanting to leave the shadow of a beautiful garden. After an illness received on a campaign in India, Alexander returned to Babylon. Here, in the coolness and shade of the trees, he spent his last days. When Alexander went to another world, the gardens fell into desolation, like Babylon itself. During the next flood, the water washed away the foundation and the structure collapsed.

Various facts about the Hanging Gardens are currently being questioned. Disputes about who, for whom and when built them do not subside. The researcher of ancient Babylon, Koldewey, believes that he found them in Iraq, not far from Baghdad. Another scientist, who is engaged in unraveling the mysteries of the gardens of Babylon from Oxford, by the name of Dally, claims that the structure was located near another Iraqi city - Mosul.

While uncertainty exists and new theories are put forward regarding the gardens in Babylon, they can safely be called one of the most mysterious structures of that time.

The ruins of Ancient Babylon are located 90 km from Baghdad. The city ceased to exist long ago, but even today the ruins testify to its grandeur. In the 7th century BC. Babylon was the largest and richest city of the Ancient East. There were many amazing buildings in Babylon, but the hanging gardens of the royal palace were most striking - gardens that have become a legend.

The second of the seven wonders of the world of the ancient world is the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, which is also known as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Unfortunately, this beautiful creation no longer exists, but disputes about it continue to this day.

The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II, whose reign fell between 605 and 562. BC, famous not only for the capture of Jerusalem and the creation of the Tower of Babel, but also for the fact that he gave his beloved wife an expensive and unusual gift. By royal order, a palace-garden was created in the center of the capital, which was later called the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

Deciding to marry, Nebuchadnezzar II chose a bride - the beautiful Nitocrida, the daughter of the king of Media, with whom he was in allied relations. According to other sources, the queen's name was Amitis.

The king and his young wife settled in Babylon. Nitocride, accustomed to life among the forest thickets and lush vegetation, quickly became unbearable in the dull landscape around the palace. In the city - gray sand, darkened buildings, dusty streets, and outside the city gates - the endless desert brought the queen to melancholy. The ruler, noticing the sadness in the eyes of his beloved wife, inquired about the reason. Nitokrida expressed her desire to be at home, to take a walk in her beloved forest, to enjoy the smell of flowers and the singing of birds. Then Nebuchadnezzar II ordered the construction of a palace, which would be turned into a garden.

The construction of the palace proceeded at a rapid pace. The queen watched the progress of the work. On the 25-meter supports, the slaves laid stone slabs, and low walls were installed on the sides. The stone floor from above was filled with mountain tar and bitumen, and lead sheets were laid on top. The palace was created by ledges. On extensive terraces, connected by stairs made of pink and white stone, fertile earth was poured. It is not known exactly how many tiers were supposed to be made in the palace, but up to now information has reached about four.

Planting material - flowers, trees and shrubs - was brought from Mussels and planted in the ground. Water for irrigation was brought by slaves from the Euphrates. On the tiers, special lifts were arranged with leather buckets attached to them, necessary for supplying water. Nests were made in the trees for songbirds.

Ancient chronicles testify that a wonderful castle with green spaces and bright flowers towered over the city walls and was perfectly visible from the desert valley of Mesopotamia for many kilometers. Historical chronicles have not preserved information about the later life of Queen Nitocrida. But another Assyrian queen Semiramis (in Assyrian - Shammuramat), whose reign fell on the 9th century BC, gained great fame. e., i.e. much earlier than Nebuchadnezzar II, but which gave its name to the Hanging Gardens.

According to legend, as a reward for love, Semiramis asked King Nin to give her power for three days. The king fulfilled her desire, but Semiramis immediately ordered the guards to seize Nin and execute her, which was done. So she got unlimited power. In the future, she waged wars with neighboring kingdoms, and when her life came to an end, she flew away from the royal palace, turning into a dove. This legend in the 5th century, during the time of Herodotus, was intertwined with stories about the Hanging Gardens due to the mistakes of travelers, which led to the appearance of the name - Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

After Nebuchadnezzar II, Babylon was captured by the Persians, later passed into the hands of Alexander the Great, who wanted to make the city the capital of the empire, but died suddenly. Gradually the city fell into oblivion. The royal palace was almost completely destroyed by the wind and the overflowing waters of the Euphrates. But the German archaeologist Robert Coldway excavated and studied the records of ancient Greek historians, thanks to which the world learned about the Hanging Gardens and the Tower of Babel.

The term "Hanging Gardens of Babylon" is familiar to any schoolchild, mainly as the second most important structure of the Seven Wonders of the World. According to the legends and mentions of ancient historians, the ruler of Babylon Nebuchadnezzar II built them for his wife in the 6th century BC. Today, the gardens and the palace are completely destroyed by both man and the elements. Due to the lack of direct evidence of their existence, there is always no official version about their location and date of construction.

Description and alleged history of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon

A detailed description is found in the ancient Greek historians Diodorus and Stabo, clear details were provided by the Babylonian historian Beross (3rd century BC). According to them, in 614 BC. e. Nebuchadnezzar II makes peace with the Medes and marries their princess Amitis. Growing up in the mountains full of greenery, she was horrified by the dusty and stone Babylon. To prove his love and console her, the king orders the construction of a grandiose palace with terraces for trees and flowers to begin. Simultaneously with the start of construction, merchants and warriors from campaigns began to deliver seedlings and seeds to the capital.

The four-tier structure was located at a height of 40 m, so it was visible far beyond the walls of the city. The area indicated by the historian Diodorus is striking: according to his data, the length of one side was about 1300 m, the second - a little less. The height of each terrace was 27.5 m, the walls were supported by stone columns. The architecture was not remarkable, the main interest was the green spaces on each level. To care for them, slaves brought water upstairs, flowing in the form of waterfalls to the lower terraces. The irrigation process was continuous, otherwise the gardens would not have survived in that climate.

It is still not clear why they were named after Queen Semiramis, and not Amitis. Semiramis - the legendary ruler of Assyria lived two centuries earlier, her image was practically deified. Perhaps this was reflected in the works of historians. Despite many contradictions, the existence of gardens is beyond doubt. Mentions of this place are found among the contemporaries of Alexander the Great. It is believed that he died in this place, which struck his imagination and reminded him of his native country. After his death, the gardens and the city itself fell into disrepair.

Where are the gardens now?

Nowadays, there are no significant traces left of this unique building. The ruins indicated by R. Koldewey (an explorer of ancient Babylon) differ from other ruins only in stone slabs in the basement and are of interest only to archaeologists. To visit this place, you must go to Iraq. Travel agencies organize excursions to the ancient ruins, located 90 km from Baghdad near the modern city of Hill. In the photo of our days, only clay hills covered with brown debris are visible.

An alternative version is offered by the Oxford researcher S. Dalli. She claims that the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were built in Nineveh (modern Mosul in northern Iraq) and shifts the date of construction two centuries earlier. Currently, the version is based only on the decipherment of cuneiform tables. To find out in which country the gardens were located - the Babylonian kingdom or Assyria, additional excavations and studies of the mounds of Mosul are required.

Interesting facts about the Hanging Gardens of Babylon

• According to the descriptions of ancient historians, stone was used to build the foundations of terraces and columns, which is absent in the vicinity of Babylon. It and fertile land for trees were brought from afar.
• It is not known for certain who created the gardens. Historians mention the joint work of hundreds of scientists and architects. In any case, the irrigation system surpassed all technologies known at that time.
• Plants were brought from all over the world, but planted taking into account their growth in natural conditions: on the lower terraces - terrestrial, on the upper - mountain. Plants from her homeland were planted on the upper platform, beloved by the queen.
• The location and time of creation are constantly disputed, in particular, archaeologists find pictures on the walls with images of gardens dating back to the 8th century BC. e. To this day, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon are among the secrets of Babylon that have not been fully revealed.

For a long time, historians and archaeologists were skeptical about the enthusiastic descriptions of this complex. This attitude was explained by the absence of their mention in the deciphered cuneiform inscriptions of the Sumerians. The detailed description of Babylonia left by Herodotus, who was there during this period, also says nothing about the hanging park.

But Josephus Flavius ​​mentions them, referring to the "Babylonian History", written by the priest Berossus. In addition, the testimonies of ancient historians about the place of death of Alexander the Great say that he died under the arches of his favorite park, which reminded him of his native Macedonia.

The archaeological find of the German scientist R. Koldewey tipped the scales in favor of the version of the reality of man-made landscapes. Koldewey's expedition, which spent 18 years (1899-1917) excavating at Hilla (90 km from Baghdad), proved that the Babylonian miracles actually existed. The discovered remains of masonry pillars and a shaft well next to the brickwork of the ruins of the palace, according to the archaeologist, served as confirmation of the words of ancient authors. The Babylonians used burnt bricks in their buildings. The stone was very expensive. Stone was used only in the construction of gardens and part of the defensive wall.

The fate of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon

Babylon existed for about 26 centuries. It reached its greatest prosperity under King Nebuchadnezzar II in the 6th century BC. There was no city equal to it in size, beauty, power and degree of debauchery. From the depths of centuries, expressions about the Tower of Babel, pandemonium, a harlot, etc., have come down and survived.

The kings of Babylonia waged constant wars with neighboring states. One of them, Assyria, most annoyed the Babylonians, twice razing their capital to the ground. By joining forces with the king of Media Cyaxares, they utterly defeated the Assyrians.

To strengthen the alliance, Nebuchadnezzar II married the daughter of the king of the Medes.

Growing up in the coolness of the forest-covered Zagros mountains (the northern part of modern Iran), the queen suffered from heat, dry winds and sandstorms. The conceited ruler ordered to build a corner for the chosen one, similar to her beloved Mussel.

The river divided the city into two districts: western and eastern. Three rows of powerful walls with fortifications surrounded its perimeter. On one side there was a tower, on the other - the palace of the ruler, unsurpassed in luxury, with 172 rooms, an area of ​​​​52,000 m2.

A four-tiered pyramid 40 meters high was erected next to the palace. Massive supports held the slabs stacked on them.

Waterproofing, soil layer, good lighting and watering made this building an evergreen oasis.
The lower vault of the Hanging Gardens was the largest. It looked like a quadrangle with a maximum length of 42 m and a minimum length of 34 m. The subsequent rows of slabs were stacked in terraces so as not to obscure the sun's rays, tapering towards the top.

The soil layer made it possible to plant not only shrubs, herbs and flowers, but also trees.

Seedlings and seeds, by order of the ruler, were brought from all over the world. Outlandish plants have taken root on the man-made mountain, amazing with their beauty and aroma.

For irrigation, a special irrigation system was built, through which water flowed from the Euphrates. Channels were cut in the supporting pillars, through which hundreds of slaves pumped water to the top of the structure. From there, the water flowed down in streams, cooling the scorching breath of the Arabian desert and filling the area with moisture.

Several rows of reeds, resin, stone, basalt, gypsum and lead slabs prevented water from seeping into the lower tier.

Bright white and coral stone stairs led up to the summit, and from there a view of the huge city, dusty and loud, opened up. And here, in the cool shade of the trees, silence reigned, which was broken only by the quiet whisper of water and the singing of birds.

For 200 years, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon delighted the eyes and aroused the admiration of contemporaries.

But "nothing lasts forever under the moon." The kingdom has fallen. The new rulers did not have the desire and means to maintain an artificial park. Earthquakes and floods gradually destroyed it. After 6 centuries, Babylon also disappeared. The biblical prediction came true that it would be destroyed and never inhabited again.

Legend of Semiramis

The gardens were named after Semiramis. But the name of the wife of Nebuchadnezzar Amitis has been preserved in history. Who was Semiramis? Why was the wonder of the world created by the masters of Mesopotamia associated with her name?

History knows the names of several Semiramides, and all of them lived several centuries before the gardens. Poetic conjecture intervened in the chronography. Combining real events and myths, he created the myth of Semiramis, the ruler of Babylon.

The Greek writer Diodorus invented the legend of Semiramis, taking as a basis a completely historical person: Shammuramat, the Assyrian ruler.

The daughter of the goddess Derketo and a mortal youth was abandoned by her mother to the mercy of fate.

A flock of pigeons saved the baby by feeding and warming him. The shepherds, surprised by their strange behavior, followed their flight and found the child.

She was brought up by the caretaker of the royal herds. He even named the girl Semiramide, which means dove in Syriac.

The unusual attractiveness of the shepherd's adopted daughter conquered Onnes, Nin's first adviser. She married him and became his chief adviser. The husband obeyed his adored wife in everything.

Nin took Semiramide as his wife. She later bore him a son named Ninyas.

With the death of the king, the ambitious woman became the ruler of Assyria. She was no longer interested in marriage. She wanted power and might.

On the banks of the Euphrates, the queen built the city of Babylon, decorating it with temples, statues of gods and an artificial hill planted with unprecedented plants.

Semiramis waged wars of conquest for 30 years and conquered Media, Persia, Libya, Egypt, Ethiopia. Only the war with India was unsuccessful for her. She had a vision in her dream to stop her invasion of this country.