Ancient Babylon and Hanging Gardens

When it comes to Babylonian civilization, the first thing that people talk about and think about is the "hanging garden". It is considered as one of the seven wonders of the world.

For thousands of years, there has been a beautiful and touching legend about "Hanging Garden". King Nebuchadnezzar II of new Babylon married Princess Medea as his queen. The princess was beautiful and won the king's favor. But as time went on, the princess became very sad. Nebuchadnezzar doesn't know why. The princess said, "my hometown is full of green mountains and green waters, and birds are singing and flowers are fragrant." And here is the endless plain of Babylon, and even a hill can't be found. How I long to see the mountains and winding paths in our hometown again! " So the princess is homesick. So Nebuchadnezzar II ordered craftsmen to build a cascade garden in his palace according to the scenery of Mount Mitis, which was full of exotic flowers and herbs, and opened a quiet mountain path in the garden, with flowing water beside it. The craftsmen also built a tower in the middle of the garden, which stood in the air. The wonderful garden scenery finally won the princess's heart. Because the garden is higher than the palace wall, it feels that the whole imperial garden is hanging in the air, so it is called "hanging garden" and "hanging garden". Those who went to Babylon to worship, do business or travel in those days could see the golden roof shining in the sun from a distance. Therefore, by the 2nd century AD, Greek scholars listed the "Hanging Garden" as one of the "Seven Wonders of the World" when evaluating famous buildings and sculptures around the world. Since then, the "Hanging Garden" has become more famous.

Regrettably, the "Hanging Garden", like other famous buildings of Babylonian civilization, has long been lost in the rolling yellow sand. We can only understand the "hanging garden" through historical records of later generations and modern archaeological excavations.

However, there are also some records that although the "hanging garden" is mentioned, people think that the legendary "hanging garden" was not built by Nebuchadnezzar II, but was specially built by a Syrian king to please his beloved princess. Some records even think that the legendary "Hanging Garden" actually refers to the royal garden built by Assyrian King sinatra Herib in Nineveh, his capital.

It was not until the end of 19 that German archaeologists excavated the ruins of Babylon. When they excavated Nangong Garden, they excavated an unusual, semi-underground and almost rectangular building in the northeast corner, with an area of about 1.260 square meters. This building consists of two rows of log cabins, each row is only 6.6 square meters on average. There is a corridor between the two rows of cottages, which is symmetrically arranged and surrounded by tall and generous walls. A well with three sinks, one square and two ovals, was found in a hut in the west row. According to the analysis of archaeologists, these huts may be the original water rooms, and those tanks were used to install the pressurized water machine. Therefore, archaeologists believe that this place is probably the site of the legendary "Hanging Garden". At that time, the Babylonians paved the solid vaults of these huts with mud, raised them layer by layer, and planted flowers and trees. As for irrigation water, it is continuously supplied by the pressurized water machine in the underground cabin. Archaeologists have proved through textual research that the principle of using pressurized water machine at that time was basically the same as the chain pump we use now. It ties several buckets to a chain belt and connects them with a wheel placed on the wall. When the wheel rotates once, the bucket will rotate with it, completing the whole process of lifting and pouring water, and then the water will flow into the garden through the sink for irrigation. This kind of pressurized water machine is still widely used in the two river basins. In addition, archaeologists did find a lot of traces of planting flowers and trees in the site. However, so far, no exact documents have been found in the clay tablets of Babylonian cuneiform characters. Therefore, whether the archaeologist's explanation is correct needs further study. In short, the true face of the legendary "hanging garden" is still hidden in the fog of history.