11. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, are described as a remarkable feat of engineering with an ascending series of tiered gardens containing a wide variety of trees, shrubs, and vines, resembling a large green mountain constructed of mud bricks. The gardens were said to have been built in the ancient city of Babylon, near present-day Hillah, Babil province, in Iraq. Its name is derived from the Greek word κρεμαστός (kremastós), which has a broader meaning than the modern English word “hanging” and refers to trees being planted on a raised structure such as a terrace. The gardens were said to have been built by King Nebuchadnezzar II for his wife Amytis, who missed the green hills and valleys of her homeland. However, the exact location of the gardens remains a subject of debate, with some scholars suggesting they may have been located in Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian king Sennacherib. (nationalgeographic.com) Despite extensive research and excavation, no definitive archaeological evidence of the gardens has been found, leading some to question their existence. Others propose that the gardens were purely mythical, and the descriptions found in ancient Greek and Roman writings represented a romantic ideal of an eastern garden.
