The Hanging Gardens of Babylon might not have been located in Babylon

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Around 225 B.C. a Greek engineer, Philo, produced a list of seven “things to be seen”: the Pyramids at Giza; the Statue of Zeus at Olympia; the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus; the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus; the Colossus of Rhodes; the Pharos of Alexandria; and, most mysterious of all, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, held by tradition to be the work of Babylon’s mighty King Nebuchadrezzar II (r. 605-561 B.C.), is the list’s great enigma. No clue of such gardens has come to light in ruins, or in any reference in Babylonian sources. The hunt for the gardens is one of the most tantalizing quests in Mesopotamian scholarship, and archaeologists are still puzzling out where such gardens may have been located in Babylon, or what was so special about them. They are still debating what the term “hanging” might mean, what they might have looked like, how they were irrigated—in short, whether they even existed at all.

Apart from Babylon, all the monuments on Philo’s bucket list lie in or near the eastern Mediterranean, well within the Hellenist sphere of influence. The Hanging Gardens, however, are an eastern outlier, “a long journey to the land of the Persians on the far side of the Euphrates.”

The ingenious Hanging Gardens, Philo writes, were laid out on a large platform of palm beams raised up on stone columns. This trellis of palm beams was covered with a thick layer of soil and planted with all kinds of trees and flowers, a “labor of cultivation suspended above the heads of the spectators.”

Following a recent investigation, Oxford University Assyriologist Stephanie Dalley has argued that the Hanging Gardens were not built by King Nebuchadrezzar II in Babylon at all, but in Nineveh by the Assyrian ruler Sennacherib (r. 704-681 B.C.). Her thesis relies on the annals of his reign, which have been found inscribed on prism-shaped stones

. In one the king boasts of the extensive monument-building he undertook: “I raised the height of the surroundings of the palace to be a Wonder for all peoples . . . A high garden imitating the Amanus mountains I laid out next to it with all kinds of aromatic plants.” With its reference to wonder and height, the passage echoes many of the key aspects attributed to the Hanging Gardens. 

A relief from the time of Sennacherib’s grandson, Ashurbanipal (r. 668-627 B.C.), depicts gardens with trees distributed across a slope topped by a pavilion. Water flows from an aqueduct to feed a series of channels filled with fish. The theory that this Ninevan pleasure park could well have been the famed Hanging Gardens is bolstered further by Sennacherib’s reputation for engineering innovation. 
 

Source: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/history-magazine/article/know-where-7-wonders-ancient-world-except-one-hanging-gardens-babylon

[KORG 4,756]

I've always assumed that they misunderstood "hanging" and it was the Babylonian gardens where they would hang people. Just a green lush piece of land with flowers and trees where people would be hanged, but in a beautiful way.

[Lee Ng 1,497]

14 minutes ago, KORG said:

I've always assumed that they misunderstood "hanging" and it was the Babylonian gardens where they would hang people. Just a green lush piece of land with flowers and trees where people would be hanged, but in a beautiful way.

Lol 💀 is this why Gaga has “Battle for your life!” on “Babylon” 

[Sir 1,596]

Stream Babylon for clearer meaning of hanging garden 

[dit 46,738]

so would still be in Iraq but a lot more North. Closer to the autonomous Kurdistan region. That's an interesting theory I suppose. Either way I am so curious what it looked like .

[Sorcerer 12,526]

Now we know why the Chromatica Ball stage isn't the Hanging Gardens as suggested by little managers 

[Lumiere 5,825]

That's gossip 

[CautiousLurker 19,709]

Since we're on the topic of seven wonders, I like this video by Trey The Explainer on Colossus of Rhodes and what the statue could have potentially looked like, if you're curious
 

 

[Sneaky Oliver 22,973]

Maybe the actual gardens were not that great but they looked good at the time because there weren’t many beautiful things to look at 

[Bloody hooker 6,445]

This reminds of the 911 music video. I know it was based on The Color of Pomegranates, but this still has some resemblance.

 

***TCB spoiler***
 

Spoiler

Even though the arches are curved, it reminds me of the the Replay backdrop

Gaga was heavily researching when creating the world of Chromatica 

[Eido 3,681]

2 hours ago, CautiousLurker said:

Since we're on the topic of seven wonders, I like this video by Trey The Explainer on Colossus of Rhodes and what the statue could have potentially looked like, if you're curious
 

 

A huuuuuge tall naked man

Count me in 

[PhantomOfTheDance 13,795]

umm.. it was clearly located on chromatica.

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2 hours ago, Bloody hooker said:

This reminds of the 911 music video. I know it was based on The Color of Pomegranates, but this still has some resemblance.

 

***TCB spoiler***
 

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Even though the arches are curved, it reminds me of the the Replay backdrop

Gaga was heavily researching when creating the world of Chromatica 

Armenia is a Caucasian country. The ancient cultures of these places used to be subjected to influences from Mesopotamia (we know this based on arhaeological finds). So generally speaking to say there are parallels that can be made betwen Armenian culture and Mesopotamia is actually valid! 

Some are saying the roots of the Proto-Indo-Europeans can be linked with some Mesopotamian influences coming from the Caucasus area into the Eurasian Steppes (note: Armenia is an Indo-European nation, while Azerbaijan is Turkic and Georgia is Kartvelian).

[Mother of Puppies 36,615]

2 hours ago, Lady JarJar said:

umm.. it was clearly located on chromatica.

You have to walk a mile 

[Retro Dance Freak 339]

This has actually got me kind of sad, so many mysteries from ancient periods we will never see because they’ve been lost to time and natural disasters