Were The Hanging Gardens Of Babylon Real?

One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Said to be an architectural and engineering feat, the gardens are the stuff of legend, but did they ever exist? Hello and welcome back to Life's Biggest Questions, the channel that looks to delve into a breadth of topics, be they science, politics, health, history, myth or legend. I am your host Rebecca Felgate and today we are asking Were the Hanging Gardens of Babylon Real? Before we get started, I want to ask you to leave a thumbs up on our videos if you like our channel. Of course, please do click on that big beautiful notification bell. So, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were said to be a beautiful oasis, a tranquil haven built by King Nebuchadnezzar for his wife Amytis. Construction was thought to have been at some point during his reign, between 605 and 561 BCE. Babylon itself was a thriving city in Iraq that these days has been badly damaged by war. In ancient writings, the gardens were first described by Babylonian Historian, Berossus in a 280 BCE book called Babylonica, which was lost but later summarized in a different text. Following that, the gardens have later been alluded to by the ancient Greeks and Romans who give detailed descriptions as to their layout. The gardens are described as raised, quadrangular platforms with arched vaults and built on stone columns. Said to be 75 feet high, the gardens were more like a series of lush balconies, kept green by elaborate irrigation systems. If the gardens were real, it is estimated that it would take 8,200 gallons of water each day to keep the plants and grass sufficiently watered. This would obviously have required huge effort on the part of the Babylonians, which casts some doubt on whether or not they actually existed, but as we know, kings and queens in these eras were pretty ostentatious. The seven wonders of the ancient world are considered to be the Pyramids of Giza, the Temples of Artemis, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes, the Pharaohs Lighthouse at Alexandra and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. While the pyramids are the only wonder to remain intact, the thing that all of the wonders except the gardens share is reliable first hand accounts and an established location. All references in history that we have, so that which weren't destroyed, all discuss the gardens from a second hand perspective. From hearsay. Clay tablets detailing life in Babylon exist from the time period that the gardens were supposed to exist, but none of them reference the gardens at all. No structure unearthed in archaeological excavations has ever been proven to be the ancient wonder. This has led many to refer to the wonder as the Lost Gardens of Babylon and for many others to simply assume they didn't exist. That being said, there are a lot of structures that have been lost over the course of time that archaeologists are still looking for. One huge example is Cleopatra's Tomb. Many historians simply think that the structure was lost in one of the many wars ravaged over the area throughout history. While no structure has been confirmed to be the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, many archaeologists have claimed to have found the missing wonder. Between 1899 and 1917, German Archaeologist Robert Caldwey unearthed 14 large stone rooms with arched ceilings in the southern citadel of Babylon. He claimed these must have been the ruins of the gardens, but some historians think that the location is far too far away from the river. They thought the water from the river was instrumental in the gardens irrigation. It was concluded that the structure was likely a series of storage rooms. A more recent excavation in Nineveh, 300 miles north of Iraq, seemed somewhat fruitful. In 2013, Oxford Historian Dr Stephanie Daly claimed that the gardens were actually near the river Tigris in Nineveh. Excavations found aqueducts in line with what could have been expected from the gardens of Babylon. Dr Daly also claims that when King Asria ransacked Babylon in 689 AD, the Asrian capital of Nineveh was dubbed New Babylon. This may be where and why the confusion came from. As with all legends passed down through history, time has eroded source credibility, and all we have to really go on is what we find in the earth. Sadly, as time changes fables, it also erodes physical evidence. If a lot of people mentioned the gardens, there is probably some truth in their existence, but without a first hand account of physical evidence in the earth, we just can't say for sure. So, were the Hanging Gardens of Babylon real? Probably. Were they in Babylon? Well, maybe not. We just can't know for sure. But don't take our word for it. Let me know what you guys think. Let me know whether you think the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were real in the comments section down below. Also, if you like our videos, please do make sure you leave a hearty thumbs up and stay subscribed for more big answers. Also, if you want a specific question answered, why don't you leave us a comment letting us know. Thank you so much for tuning in, I am your host Rebecca Felgate, I'll catch you in the next video, but until then, stay curious, stay alert and never ever stop questioning.