SEVEN WONDERS - Hanging Gardens of Babylon
Temple of Artemis | Mausoleum at Halicarnassus | Colossus of Rhodes | Hanging Gardens of Babylon | Pyramids of Egypt | Lighthouse of Alexandria | Statue of Zeus at Olympia

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon was a palace with legendary gardens built on the banks of the Euphrates River (near Baghdad, Iraq) by King Nebuchadnezzar II around 600 B.C. to please his queen, Amuhia. The terraced gardens are also associated with the mythical Assyrian queen, Semiramis.

The most descriptive accounts of the Gardens came from Greek historians. There is no mention of the Hanging Gardens in any Babylonian Records. Archeologists are still trying to reach a conclusion about the actual location of the gardens, but they surmise that they were layed out atop a vaulted building with an irrigation well. The terraces were said to rise 75 to 300 feet.

The Walls of Babylon, also built by Nebuchadnezzar, are sometimes referred to as the second (or seventh) wonder instead of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

Temple of Artemis | Mausoleum at Halicarnassus | Colossus of Rhodes | Hanging Gardens of Babylon | Pyramids of Egypt | Lighthouse of Alexandria | Statue of Zeus at Olympia
Copyright 2005 Eric Lampert. Contact the webmaster. Last modified Monday, March 7, 2007 10:18 AM.