Hanging Gardens of Babylon

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Hanging Gardens of Babylon
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Seven Wonders of the World

• The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (from left
  to right, top to bottom) Great Pyramid of Giza,
  Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Temple of Artemis,
  Statue of Zeus at Olympia, Mausoleum of
  Maussollos, Colossus of Rhodes and the Lighthouse
  of Alexandria.

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• The Seven Wonders of the World (or the Seven
  Wonders of the Ancient World) is a widely-known
  list of seven remarkable constructions of
  classical antiquity. It was based on guide-books
  popular among Hellenic sight-seers and only
  includes works located around the Mediterranean
  rim. Later lists include those for the Medieval
  World and the Modern World.
•  

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The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
 
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• The Hanging Gardens of Babylon (also known as
  Hanging Gardens of Semiramis) and the walls of
  Babylon (present-day Iraq) were considered one of
  the Seven Wonders of the World. They were both
  supposedly built by Nebuchadnezzar II around 600
  BC.

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• Some circumstantial evidence gathered at the
  excavation of the palace at Babylon has accrued,
  but does not completely substantiate what look
  like fanciful descriptions. Through the ages, the
  location may have been confused with gardens that
  existed at Nineveh, since tablets from there
  clearly show gardens. Writings on these tablets
  describe the possible use of something similar to
  an Archimedes' screw as a process of raising the
  water to the required height.

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Hanging Garden, Assyrian interpretation

• A hanging garden, 21st century interpretation

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Babylon

• Babylon is the Greek variant of Akkadian Babilu
  (bab-ilû,or Bab-Eili, meaning "Gateway of the
  god(s)", translating Sumerian Kadingirra), an
  ancient city in Mesopotamia (modern Al Hillah,
  Iraq).

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• It was the "holy city" of Babylonia from around
  2300 BC, and the seat of the Neo-Babylonian
  Empire from 612 BC. In the Old Testament, the
  name appears as ??? (Babel), interpreted by
  Genesis 119 to mean "confusion", from the verb
  balal, "to confuse". Babylon is the Greek variant
  of Akkadian Babilu (bab-ilû,or Bab-Eili, meaning
  "Gateway of the god(s)", translating Sumerian
  Kadingirra), an ancient city in Mesopotamia
  (modern Al Hillah, Iraq). It was the "holy city"
  of Babylonia from around 2300 BC, and the seat of
  the Neo-Babylonian Empire from 612 BC. In the Old
  Testament, the name appears as ??? (Babel),
  interpreted by Genesis 119 to mean "confusion",
  from the verb balal, "to confuse".

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US Marines in front of the rebuilt ruins of
Babylon (2003)

• Historical knowledge of Babylon's topography is
  derived from classical writers, the inscriptions
  of Nebuchadnezzar, and several excavations,
  including those of the Deutsche
  Orientgesellschaft begun in 1899. The layout is
  that of the Babylon of Nebuchadnezzar the older
  Babylon destroyed by Sennacherib having left few,
  if any, traces behind.