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Ava De La Cruz

7th Grade World History

Mrs. Bommarito

15 November, 2019

Hanging Gardens of Babylon

The Hanging Gardens were one of the largest and adored gardens in history, and were

commonly called the Hanging Gardens of Semiramis, after the female Assyrian ruler thought by

the Greeks to have rebuilt Babylon. The garden was built by a king named Nebuchadnezzar II

who ruled over Babylon from 562 B.C. to 605 B.C. for a total of forty-three years. He was

married to queen Amytis, granddaughter of Cyaxares, to secure an alliance between the

Babylonians and the Medes. Amytis was becoming unhappy living in her husband’s desert, and

missed the luscious mountain view and the green plants from her home country Media, which is

now modern-day Turkey. To please Amytis, Nebuchadnezzar II created the Hanging Gardens to

remind her of Media. After the garden was built, the queen decided to stay in the city of

Babylon. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon was one of the most beautiful seven wonders of the

ancient world.

The garden had no actual evidence of ever existing but similar gardens have been found

and people have pieced together a picture of how they might have possibly looked. Many people

thought that the Hanging Gardens of Babylon actually hung in the air by magic. Instead, they

were believed to have been pyramid shaped structures or terraces raised above each other like a

ziggurat. The Hanging Gardens were probably about 75 feet tall and required a lot of irrigation to

water all the plants and flowers. The Hanging Gardens may have been located on the Euphrates

River which would have been an abundant water source for it. Water was transported to the
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Hanging Gardens from the river in a system of channels. The Hanging Gardens also required

high walls, made of baked mud bricks with layers of tar and lead to prevent water from escaping

the garden. Flowing water was important to this large garden because of its desert like climate it

was located in, it helped create a cool atmosphere for the garden. By planting the trees close

together moisture would be kept and shade created in it. Throughout the magical gardens there

were distinctive blue bricks, man-made waterfalls, exotic fruits, and blooming flowers.

Sadly, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were destroyed and did not survive. No one

knows for sure how the garden was ruined but many people think it was possibly destroyed by an

earthquake or by a war. The Hanging Gardens were one of the most fascinating wonders of the

ancient world. No one really knows what actually happened to them. All we know is that the

Hanging Gardens of Babylon were a breath taking paradise for King Nebuchadnezzar and

Amytis.
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Work Cited

Ash, Russell. Great Wonders of the World, Dorling Kindersley Publishing Inc., 2000, pp. 24-17.

Gillan, Joanna. “Searching for the Hanging Gardens.” Ancient Orgins, ancient-orgins.net/news-

history-archaeology/hanging-gardens-babylon-001060. Accessed 13 November 2019.

Mark, Joshua J. “Nebuchadnezzar II.” Ancient History Encyclopedia, 7 November 2018,

ancient.eu/Nebuchadnezzar/. Accessed 13 November 2019.

Cartwright, Mark. “Hanging Gardens of Babylon.” Ancient History Encyclopedia, 22 July 2019,

ancient.eu/Hanging_Gardens_of_Babylon/