In this article I will tell you about the legendary Hanging Gardens of Babylon. What’s interesting is that they are called this way only in our country, while in the West they are called the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, which is logical, since Queen Semiramis’s attitude towards the gardens is very questionable. You will learn about this and much more below.

If we look at the history of the construction of the Hanging Gardens, it becomes clear that the reason for their construction, like many other architectural pearls of antiquity (for example, the Taj Mahal), was love. King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon entered into a military alliance with the king of Media, marrying his daughter named Amytis. Babylon was a trading center in the middle of a sandy desert, it was always dusty and noisy. Amitis began to yearn for her homeland, evergreen and fresh Mussel. To please his beloved, he decided to build hanging gardens in Babylon

The gardens were arranged in the form of a pyramid with four tiers of platforms supported by 20-meter columns. The lowest tier had the shape of an irregular quadrangle, the length of which varied in different parts from 30 to 40 meters

From the Babylonian kingdom of the last period of its existence, mainly the remains of architectural structures have come down, including the palaces of Nebuchadnezzar II and the famous “Hanging Gardens”. According to legend, at the beginning of the 6th century BC. King Nebuchadnezzar II ordered the creation of hanging gardens for one of his wives, who in lowland Babylonia yearned for her homeland in the mountainous part of Iran. And, although in reality the “hanging gardens” appeared only during the time of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II, the Greek legend, transmitted by Herodotus and Ctesias, associated the name of Semiramis with the creation of the “hanging gardens” in Babylon.

According to legend, the king of Babylon Shamshiadat V fell in love with the Assyrian Amazon queen Semiramis. In her honor, he built a huge structure consisting of an arcade - a series of arches stacked on top of each other. On each floor of such an arcade, earth was poured and a garden was laid out with many rare trees. Fountains gurgled among the amazingly beautiful plants and bright birds sang. The Gardens of Babylon were cross-cutting and multi-story. This gave them lightness and a fabulous look.

To prevent water from seeping through the tiers, each of the platforms was covered with a dense layer of tied reeds, then a thick layer of fertile soil with seeds of strange plants - flowers, shrubs, trees

The Gardens of Babylon were located in what is now the Arab Republic of Iraq. Archaeological excavations are underway near the southern part of Baghdad. The Fertility Temple, gates and stone lion were found. As a result of excavations, archaeologist Robert Koldewey in 1899-1917 discovered city fortifications, a royal palace, a temple complex of the god Marduk, a number of other temples and a residential area.

One of the parts of the royal palace can rightfully be identified with the “hanging gardens” of Babylon described by Herodotus with their terraced engineering structures above the vaults and artificial irrigation installations. Only the basements of this structure have been preserved, which represented an irregular quadrangle in plan, the walls of which bore the weight of the “hanging gardens”, located at the height of the palace walls. The above-ground part of the building apparently consisted of a series of powerful pillars or walls covered with vaults, judging by the surviving underground part, which consisted of fourteen vaulted internal chambers. The garden was irrigated using a water-lifting wheel.

From a distance, the pyramid looked like an evergreen and flowering hill, bathed in the coolness of fountains and streams. Pipes were located in the cavities of the columns, and hundreds of slaves constantly rotated a special wheel that supplied water to each of the platforms of the hanging gardens. The luxurious gardens in hot and arid Babylon were truly a real miracle, for which they were recognized as one of the seven ancient wonders of the world

Semiramis - (Greek: Semiraramis), according to Assyrian legends, the name of the queen is Shammuramat (late 9th century BC), originally from Babylonia, the wife of King Shamshiadad V. After his death, she was regent for her minor son Adadnerari III (809-782 BC).

The heyday of the Gardens of Babylon lasted about 200 years, after which, during the hegemony of the Persians, the palace fell into disrepair. The kings of Persia only occasionally stayed there during their rare trips around the empire. In the 4th century, the palace was chosen by Alexander the Great as a residence, becoming his last place on earth. After his death, the 172 luxuriously furnished rooms of the palace finally fell into disrepair - the garden was finally no longer looked after, and strong floods damaged the foundation, and the structure collapsed. Many people wonder where the Gardens of Babylon were located? This miracle was located 80 kilometers southwest of modern Baghdad, in Iraq

Legend associates the creation of the famous gardens with the name of the Assyrian queen Semiramis. Diodorus and other Greek historians say that she built the “Hanging Gardens” in Babylon. True, until the beginning of our century, the “Hanging Gardens” were considered pure fiction, and their descriptions were simply excesses of a wild poetic fantasy. Semiramis herself, or rather, her biography, was the first to contribute to this. Semiramis (Shammuramat) is a historical figure, but her life is legendary. Ctesias preserved her detailed biography, which Diodorus later repeated almost verbatim.

legendary Semiramis

“In ancient times there was a city in Syria called Askalon, and next to it there was a deep lake, where the temple of the goddess Derketo stood.” Outwardly, this temple looked like a fish with a human head. The goddess Aphrodite became angry with Derketo for something and made her fall in love with a mere mortal youth. Then Derketo gave birth to his daughter and, in anger, irritated by this unequal marriage, killed the young man, and she disappeared into the lake. The girl was saved by pigeons: they warmed her with their wings, carried milk in their beaks, and when the girl grew up, they brought her cheese. The shepherds noticed hollowed-out holes in the cheese, followed the trail of the pigeons and found a lovely child. They took the girl and took her to the caretaker of the royal herds, Simmas. “He made the girl his daughter, gave her the name Semiramis, which means “dove” among the people of Syria, and raised her approximately. She surpassed everyone in her beauty.” This became the key to her future career.

During a trip to these parts, Onnes, the first royal adviser, saw Semiramis and immediately fell in love with her. He asked Simmas for her hand and, taking her to Nineveh, made her his wife. She bore him two sons. “Since, in addition to beauty, she had all the virtues, she had complete power over her husband: he did nothing without her, and he succeeded in everything.”

Then the war with neighboring Bactria began, and with it the dizzying career of Semiramis... King Nin went to war with a large army: “with 1,700,000 foot, 210,000 horsemen and 10,600 war chariots.” But even with such large forces, the warriors of Nineveh could not conquer the capital of Bactria. The enemy heroically repelled all the attacks of the Ninevites, and Onnes, unable to do anything, began to feel burdened by the current situation. Then he invited his beautiful wife to the battlefield.

“When setting out on the journey,” writes Diodorus, “she ordered a new dress to be sewn for herself,” which is quite natural for a woman. However, the dress was not entirely ordinary: firstly, it was so elegant that it determined the fashion among society ladies of that time; secondly, it was sewn in such a way that it was impossible to determine who was wearing it - a man or a woman.

Arriving at her husband, Semiramis studied the battle situation and found that the king always attacked the weakest part of the fortifications in accordance with military tactics and common sense. But Semiramis was a woman, which means she was not burdened with military knowledge. She called for volunteers and attacked the strongest part of the fortifications, where, according to her assumptions, there were the fewest defenders. Having easily won, she used the moment of surprise and forced the city to capitulate. “The king, delighted with her courage, gave her a gift and began to persuade Onnes to give in to Semiramis voluntarily, promising for this to give him his daughter Sosana as his wife. When Onnes did not want to agree, the king threatened to gouge out his eyes, for he was blind to the orders of his master. Onnes, suffering from the king's threats and love for his wife, eventually went crazy and hanged himself. In this way Semiramis acquired the royal title.”

Leaving an obedient governor in Bactria, Nin returned to Nineveh, married Semiramis, and she bore him a son, Ninias. After the death of the king, Semiramis began to rule, although the king had a son-heir.

Semiramis never married again, although many sought her hand. And, enterprising in nature, she decided to surpass her deceased royal husband. She founded a new city on the Euphrates - Babylon, with powerful walls and towers, a magnificent bridge over the Euphrates - “all this in one year.” Then she drained the swamps around the city, and in the city itself she built an amazing temple to the god Bel with a tower, “which was unusually high, and the Chaldeans there watched the rising and setting of the stars, for such a structure was most suitable for this.” She also ordered the construction of a statue of Bel, weighing 1000 Babylonian talents (equal to approximately 800 Greek talents), and erected many other temples and cities. During her reign, a convenient road was built through the seven ridges of the Zagros chain to Lydia, a state in western Asia Minor. In Lydia, she built the capital Ecbatana with a beautiful royal palace, and brought water to the capital through a tunnel from distant mountain lakes.

Then Semiramis started a war - the first Thirty Years' War. She invaded the Median kingdom, from there she went to Persia, then to Egypt, Libya and finally to Ethiopia. Everywhere Semiramis won glorious victories and acquired new slaves for her kingdom. Only in India was she unlucky: after her first successes she lost three-quarters of her army. True, this did not affect her firm determination to win at any cost, but one day she was easily wounded in the shoulder by an arrow. Semiramis returned to Babylon on her fast horse. There a heavenly sign appeared to her that she should not continue the war, and therefore the powerful ruler, pacifying the rage caused by the daring messages of the Indian king (he called her a lover of love affairs, but used a ruder expression), continued to rule in peace and harmony.

Meanwhile, Ninia became bored with her inglorious life. He decided that his mother had been ruling the country for too long, and organized a conspiracy against her: “with the help of one eunuch, he decided to kill her.” The queen voluntarily transferred power to her son, “then she went out onto the balcony, turned into a dove and flew away... straight into immortality.”

However, a more realistic version of the biography of Semiramis has also been preserved. According to the Greek writer Athenaeus of Naucratis (2nd century), Semiramis was at first “an insignificant court lady at the court of one of the Assyrian kings,” but she was “so beautiful that she won the royal love with her beauty.” And soon she persuaded the king, who took her as his wife, to give her power for only five days...

Having received the staff and donned the royal dress, she immediately arranged a great feast, at which she won over the military leaders and all the dignitaries to her side; On the second day, she already ordered the people and noble people to give her royal honors, and threw her husband into prison. So this decisive woman seized the throne and retained it until old age, performing many great deeds... “Such are the contradictory reports of historians about Semiramis,” Diodorus concludes skeptically.

And yet, Semiramis was a real historical figure, although we know little about her. In addition to the famous Shammuramat, we know several more “Semiramis”. About one of them, Herodotus wrote that “she lived five human centuries before another Babylonian queen, Nitocris” (i.e., around 750 BC). Other historians call Semiramis Atossa, the daughter and co-ruler of King Beloch, who ruled at the end of the 8th century BC. e.

However, the famous “Hanging Gardens” were not created by Semiramis and not even during her reign, but later, in honor of another, non-legendary, woman.

The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II (605 - 562 BC), in order to fight against the main enemy - Assyria, whose troops twice destroyed the capital of the state of Babylon, entered into a military alliance with Knaxar, the king of Media. Having won, they divided the territory of Assyria among themselves. The military alliance was strengthened by the marriage of Nebuchadnezzar II to the daughter of the Median king Semiramis.

Dusty and noisy Babylon, located on a bare sandy plain, did not please the queen, who grew up in mountainous and green Media. To console her, Nebuchadnezzar ordered the construction of “hanging gardens.” This king, who destroyed city after city and even entire states, built a lot in Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar turned the capital into an impregnable stronghold and surrounded himself with luxury unparalleled even in those times. Nebuchadnezzar built his palace on an artificially created platform, raised to the height of a four-tiered structure.

So far, the most accurate information about the Gardens comes from Greek historians, for example, from Verossus and Diodorus, but the description of the Gardens is rather meager. This is how the gardens are described in their testimonies: “The garden is quadrangular, and each side of it is four plethra long. It consists of arc-shaped storages that are arranged in a checkerboard pattern like cubic bases. Ascent to the uppermost terrace is possible by stairs...” Manuscripts from the time of Nebuchadnezzar do not have a single reference to the “Hanging Gardens,” although they contain descriptions of the palace of the city of Babylon. Even historians who give detailed descriptions of the Hanging Gardens have never seen them.

Modern historians prove that when the soldiers of Alexander the Great reached the fertile land of Mesopotamia and saw Babylon, they were amazed. After returning to their homeland, they reported amazing gardens and trees in Mesopotamia, the palace of Nebuchadnezzar, the Tower of Babel and ziggurats. This gave food to the imagination of poets and ancient historians, who mixed all these stories into one whole to produce one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

Architecturally, the Hanging Gardens were a pyramid consisting of four tiers - platforms, they were supported by columns up to 25 m high. The lower tier had the shape of an irregular quadrangle, the largest side of which was 42 m, the smallest - 34 m. To prevent the seepage of irrigation water, the surface Each platform was first covered with a layer of reeds mixed with asphalt, then two layers of brick held together with gypsum mortar, and lead slabs were laid on top. On them lay a thick carpet of fertile soil, where seeds of various herbs, flowers, shrubs, and trees were planted. The pyramid resembled an ever-blooming green hill.

The floors of the gardens rose in ledges and were connected by wide, gentle staircases covered with pink and white stone. The height of the floors reached almost 28 meters and provided enough light for plants. “In carts drawn by oxen, trees wrapped in damp matting and seeds of rare herbs, flowers and bushes were brought to Babylon.” And trees of the most amazing species and beautiful flowers bloomed in extraordinary gardens. Pipes were placed in the cavity of one of the columns, through which water from the Euphrates was pumped day and night to the upper tier of the gardens, from where it, flowing in streams and small waterfalls, irrigated the plants of the lower tiers. Day and night, hundreds of slaves turned a lifting wheel with leather buckets, bringing water from the Euphrates to the gardens. The murmur of water, shade and coolness among the trees taken from distant Media seemed miraculous.

Magnificent gardens with rare trees, fragrant flowers and coolness in sultry Babylonia were truly a wonder of the world. But during the Persian rule, Nebuchadnezzar's palace fell into disrepair. It had 172 rooms (with a total area of ​​52,000 square meters), decorated and furnished with truly oriental luxury. Now the Persian kings occasionally stayed there during “inspection” trips throughout their vast empire. In 331 BC. e. Alexander the Great's troops captured Babylon. The famous commander made the city the capital of his huge empire. It was here, in the shadow of the Hanging Gardens, that he died in 339 BC. e. The throne room of the palace and the chambers of the lower tier of the hanging gardens were the last place on earth of the great commander, who spent 16 years in continuous wars and campaigns and did not lose a single battle.

After the death of Alexander, Babylon gradually fell into decay. The gardens were in disrepair. Powerful floods destroyed the brick foundation of the columns, and the platforms collapsed to the ground. Thus one of the wonders of the world perished...

The man who excavated the Hanging Gardens was the German scientist Robert Koldewey. He was born in 1855 in Germany, studied in Berlin, Munich and Vienna, where he studied architecture, archeology and art history. Before he was thirty, he managed to take part in excavations in Assos and on the island of Lesbos. In 1887 he was engaged in excavations in Babylonia, later in Syria, southern Italy, Sicily, then again in Syria. Koldewey was an extraordinary person, and in comparison with his professional colleagues, an unusual scientist. His love for archeology, a science that, according to the publications of some specialists, may seem boring, did not prevent him from studying countries, observing people, seeing everything, noticing everything, reacting to everything. Among other things, Koldewey the architect had one passion: his favorite pastime was the history of sewers. Architect, poet, archaeologist and sanitation historian - such a rare combination! And it was this man that the Berlin Museum sent to excavations in Babylon. And it was he who found the famous “Hanging Gardens”!

One day, while excavating, Koldewey came across some vaults. They were under a five-meter layer of clay and rubble on Qasr Hill, which hid the ruins of the southern fortress and the royal palace. He continued his excavations, hoping to find a basement under the arches, although it seemed strange to him that the basement would be under the roofs of neighboring buildings. But he did not find any side walls: the workers’ shovels only tore off the pillars on which these vaults rested. The pillars were made of stone, and stone was very rare in Mesopotamian architecture. And finally Koldewey discovered traces of a deep stone well, but a well with a strange three-stage spiral shaft. The vault was lined not only with brick, but also with stone.

The totality of all the details made it possible to see in this building an extremely successful design for that time (both from the point of view of technology and from the point of view of architecture). Apparently, this structure was intended for very special purposes.

And suddenly it dawned on Koldewey! In all the literature about Babylon, starting with ancient authors (Josephus, Diodorus, Ctesias, Strabo and others) and ending with cuneiform tablets, wherever the “sinful city” was discussed, there were only two mentions of the use of stone in Babylon, and this was especially emphasized during the construction of the northern wall of the Qasr region and during the construction of the “Hanging Gardens” of Babylon.

Koldewey re-read the ancient sources again. He weighed every phrase, every line, every word; he even ventured into the alien field of comparative linguistics. In the end, he came to the conclusion that the found structure could not be anything other than the vault of the basement floor of the evergreen “hanging gardens” of Babylon, inside of which there was an amazing plumbing system for those times.

But there was no more miracle: the hanging gardens were destroyed by floods of the Euphrates, which rises 3-4 meters during floods. And now we can imagine them only from the descriptions of ancient authors and with the help of our own imagination. Even in the last century, the German traveler, member of many honorary scientific societies, I. Pfeiffer, described in her travel notes that she saw “on the ruins of El-Qasr one forgotten tree from the cone-bearing family, completely unknown in these parts. The Arabs call it “atale” and consider it sacred. They tell the most amazing stories about this tree (as if it was left from the “Hanging Gardens”) and they claim that they heard sad, plaintive sounds in its branches when a strong wind blows.”

Here is a short documentary that clearly describes how everything was arranged in this wonderful complex:

Living in an area with a temperate climate, favorable for many plants, we take for granted the green landscape that surrounds us and the comfort that plantings give us. We don’t even think about how lucky we are! But there are many places on the planet where growing even a small garden requires enormous effort and expense.

Gift for Amytis

Gardening problems have been troubling people since ancient times - an example of this is the legendary Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

At the end of the 80s of the 20th century, work was underway in Iraq to restore ancient Babylon (the capital of Mesopotamia in the 19th–6th centuries BC) and the country’s authorities were ready to pay a reward of $2 million to anyone who would reveal the secret of watering like this called the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. But military operations in this territory prevented the successful completion of the project. Now we can only guess about the structure and location of one of the seven wonders of the world.

The Greeks called Semiramis the Assyrian queen Shammuramat, who lived in the 9th century BC. e. and founded the famous Babylon, the capital of Mesopotamia (Mesopotamia). It was to Queen Shammuramat that ancient Greek historians mistakenly attributed the creation of the famous gardens of Babylon.

Later it was established that the beautiful gardens were erected at the beginning of the 6th century BC. e. Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II (605–562 BC) to please his beloved wife Amytis, the Median princess. The climate in Babylon was dry and hot, with rain falling mainly in winter. It is not surprising that the queen greatly missed the fresh mountain air and greenery of her native Media.

At his palace (King Nebuchadnezzar) ordered the construction of stone elevations, completely similar in appearance to mountains, planted them with all kinds of trees and arranged the so-called hanging gardens because of the desire of his wife, who came from Media, to have such a thing as she was accustomed to at home. at home.

Berossus (Babylonian historian), early 3rd century BC. e.

I found the Gardens of Babylon!

As a result of excavations, which were carried out in 1899–1917 under the leadership of the German scientist and archaeologist Robert Koldewey, 90 km from Baghdad, it was possible to find the ruins of Babylon during the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar. In the southern part of the city, the archaeologist came across the remains of a very unusual underground vaulted structure with a well, which consisted of three shafts. The vaults were lined not only with brick, but also with stone. During excavations, Koldewey encountered such a stone among the ruins of Babylon only once - near the northern side of the Qasr region. Obviously, the unusual structure was intended for some special purposes.

Koldewey suggested that in front of him were the remains of a water intake well with a ribbon water intake, which at one time was intended for a continuous supply of water. Ancient sources - starting with the works of ancient writers Josephus, Ctesias, Strabo and ending with cuneiform tablets - contain only two references to the use of stone in Babylon: in the construction of the northern wall of the Babylonian palace and in the creation of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

“I have found the Gardens of Babylon!” – Koldewey triumphantly reported to Berlin. But as soon as reports of the discovery appeared, doubts immediately arose. Some scientists, citing the same ancient sources, tried to prove that the gardens could in no way be located where the archaeologist found them. According to some, the wonder of the world should have been located not in the palace, but next to it. Others believed that the gardens were built on the very banks of the Euphrates. Still others argued: not just near the Euphrates, but above it, on a special wide bridge spanning the river. Archaeologists are still collecting facts, finding out the exact location of the gardens, the irrigation system, and the true reasons for their appearance and death.

Babylon plan: 1. Process road. 2. Gate of the goddess Ishtar. 3. Internal wall. 4. Southern Palace. 5. Hanging Gardens. 6. Temple of the goddess Ninmah. 7. Tower of Babel. 8. Euphrates River

Eyewitness accounts

The first mention of the Hanging Gardens was preserved in the “History” of Herodotus, who probably visited Babylon and left us the most complete description of it. The most accurate information about the ancient city comes from other Greek historians, for example from Verossus and Diodorus, but the description of the gardens is rather meager: “... The garden is quadrangular, and each side of it is four pletras long (plethra - 30.85 m). It consists of arc-shaped silos, which are arranged in a checkerboard pattern on cubic bases. Climbing to the uppermost terrace is possible by stairs...”

It is believed that the Hanging Gardens were a pyramid of four terraces located one above the other. The lower tier had the shape of an irregular quadrangle. Inside each floor, the vaults were supported by powerful columns about 25 m high. The outer parts of the terraces served as galleries, the inner parts as grottoes, decorated with colored tiles and frescoes. Inside, the vaults were hollow, and the voids were filled with fertile soil, with such a layer that even the branched root system of giant trees could freely find a place. The height of the tiers reached 50 cubits (27.75 m) and provided enough light for plants. The floors of the gardens rose in ledges and were connected by wide, gentle staircases covered with pink and white stone. Along the sides of the stairs there was a constantly operating chain of water lifts.

A miracle of ancient engineering

An important issue that the builders had to solve was strengthening the foundation, since flowing water could easily wash it away and lead to collapse. Most of the houses, including the fortress wall, were built from raw brick, which was a mixture of clay and straw. The mass was laid out in molds and then dried in the sun. The bricks were connected to each other using bitumen - the result was quite strong and beautiful masonry. However, such buildings were quickly destroyed by water. For most buildings in Babylon this was not a problem, since it rarely rained in this arid area. Gardens, subject to constant irrigation, had to have a protected foundation and vaults.

The platform of each terrace was a multi-layered structure. At its base lay massive stone slabs, on which was laid a layer of reed impregnated with resin (asphalt). Then came a double row of baked bricks, held together with plaster mortar. Even higher are lead plates for water retention.

Not only the architectural design of the gardens was surprising, but also the irrigation system, because water was delivered to a fairly high altitude. It is believed that to provide all the plants with moisture, a watering system was used, consisting of two large wheels with leather buckets attached to a cable. The wheels were driven around the clock by many slaves. The buckets of the lower wheel scooped up water from the Euphrates and were transferred along a chain of lifts to the upper wheel, where they tipped over, draining the water into the upper pool. From there, through a network of canals, it flowed in streams in different directions along the tiers of the hill to the very foot, irrigating the plants along the way. The empty buckets were lowered back down and the cycle repeated.

In the summer, when the air temperature reached + 50 ° C, slaves continuously pumped water from underground wells and supplied it to numerous small channels through which moisture was distributed through the entire system from the upper terrace down. The garden was laced with miniature rivers and waterfalls; ducks swam in small ponds and frogs croaked; bees, butterflies and dragonflies flew from flower to flower.

Man-made oasis

All ledges, as well as semblances of balconies, were planted with exotic plants brought to Babylon from all over the world. Not only seeds were delivered, but also seedlings, which were wrapped in water-soaked matting. Magnificent palm trees rose high above the fortress walls of the palace enclosure. Outlandish shrubs and beautiful flowers decorated the queen’s gardens. Trees of the most amazing species grew green between the columns.

Each of the numerous terraces was a separate garden, but the overall view was perceived as a single whole. The stems and branches of thousands of climbing and hanging plants spread to neighboring areas, forming an amazingly beautiful picturesque park - a huge green area with steep slopes covered with a wide variety of trees, shrubs and flowers. From a distance it seemed that the plants were hovering above the ground; from this amazing impression the name “hanging” was firmly assigned to the gardens.

Death of the gardens

In 331 BC. e. Alexander the Great's troops captured Babylon. The famous commander was fascinated by the majestic city and made it the capital of his huge empire. It was here, in the shadow of the Hanging Gardens, that he died. After the death of Alexander, Babylon gradually fell into decay, and the gardens fell into disrepair. According to one version, the death of this wonder of the world occurred as a result of a powerful flood that destroyed the brick foundation of the columns.

In the century before last, the German traveler I. Pfeiffer described in her travel notes that she saw on the ruins of El-Qasr one forgotten tree from the Cone-bearing class, completely unknown in these parts. The Arabs call it “atale” and consider it sacred. They tell the most amazing stories about this tree (as if it was left from the hanging gardens) and they claim that they heard sad, plaintive sounds in its branches when a strong wind blows.

Hanging Gardens in Russia

“Hanging” or, as they were also called, “mountain” gardens adorned the Kremlin in the 17th century under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. They were arranged on the terraces and roofs of the palace, outbuildings and cellars. The waterproofing was sheet lead, on top of which a layer of earth up to 1 m thick was poured. The gardens were preserved until the reconstruction of the Kremlin, which was carried out in the 70s of the 18th century.

In St. Petersburg, hanging gardens were built for Elizabeth Petrovna in the Summer and Anichkov palaces. The laurels of Queen Semiramis and Catherine II, who ordered the construction of hanging gardens at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg and at the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoe Selo, did not give rest.

The garden of the Winter Palace was decorated with flower beds with scarlet and white roses, trimmed bushes and trees. Tropical plants were displayed in containers and moved indoors for the winter. Birch, cherry and apple trees constantly grew in the garden, protecting them from frost. Later, birds were released into the garden and a dovecote was built, having previously stretched a wire mesh on top.

Babylon (first mentioned in the 23rd century BC) is a city that existed in Mesopotamia (currently Iraq, 110 km south of Baghdad). The climate of Iraq is subtropical Mediterranean - with hot, dry summers and warm, rainy winters. The most widespread in Iraq is subtropical steppe and semi-desert vegetation, confined to the western, southwestern and southern regions and represented mainly by wormwood, saltwort, camel thorn, juzgun, and astragalus.

Media (670 - 550 BC) is an ancient state in the western territory of modern Iran from the Arax River and the Elborz Mountains in the north to the borders of Persis (Fars) in the south and from the Zagros Mountains in the west to the Dasht-Kevir desert in the east. In the mountainous regions of Iran, the climate depends on the altitude of the area. The northern wet slopes of Elborz up to an altitude of 2440 m are covered with dense broad-leaved forests with a predominance of hazelnut (hazelnut), oak, hornbeam, maple, beech, plum and ash. Above their border, low-growing shrubs and turf grass vegetation are common.

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, sometimes also called the Gardens of Babylon, are considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Although a more appropriate name for this structure would be the Hanging Gardens of Amitis (Amanis) - after all, that was the name of the Median princess for whom they were built. But history mistakenly fixed the well-known name associated with the Assyrian queen Semiramis, who lived two centuries earlier.

Many legends are associated with the Assyrian queen Semiramis (in Assyrian Shammuramat), who reigned at the end of the 9th century BC.
The historical prototype of Semiramis is the Assyrian queen Shammuramat (812-803 BC), known in fact only for the fact that she ruled alone, which is an extremely rare phenomenon in the countries of the Ancient East. This woman was born for the royal throne, and, as a true queen by her destiny from above, she simply could not do otherwise...

But if you turn to one of the legends associated with the name of Semiramis, you can recognize another motivation - the revenge of a loving female heart for the death of a loved one.... The name Semiramis translated from Sumerian means “Born of a Dove.” According to Greek historians, after birth she was fed and raised by pigeons. There are legends about pigeon fidelity and devotion... .

In the 9th century BC. e. Assyria was ruled by the legendary king Nin, who built a city in his honor called Nineveh and became the capital of Assyria. He was a great warrior who subjugated most of Asia with the exception of India, a powerful, cruel ruler.

One of his best viziers, advisers and generals was Onn. During one of his trips around the country, Onn saw a young orphan girl of rare beauty and, fascinated by her charm, intelligence and innocence, Onn took her to Nineveh, where they had a wedding. This girl was Semiramis. Their marriage with Onn turned out to be quite happy. She gave birth to Onna two twins - Khiyapta and Khidasp.

One day, the king launched a new military campaign against neighboring Bactria and gathered his best viziers, including Onn, for a military council. . Unfortunately for Onn, he took Semiramis with him to the council, who accompanied him on this campaign. At the council, Semiramis flashed her intelligence, making several valuable comments about the siege, and then asked for a small army of soldiers to capture one of the towers herself. She succeeded.


Ning was captivated by her intelligence, beauty and courage. He immediately decided to marry Semiramis himself and make her queen, and offered Onna his daughter Susana as his new wife. Onn flatly refused. And only when Nin threatened to gouge out his eyes from Onn, he, in despair, agreed to give him Semiramis, but, unable to bear the grief, hanged himself a few days later. And Semiramis ascended to the Assyrian throne and subsequently bore the king a son, Ninias.


Nin, already in old age, burned with jealousy every time a stranger’s gaze fell on Semiramis. He went so far as to order her to wear a veil at all times, allowing her to reveal her face only in front of the eunuchs. “In Assyria, all women are beautiful,” he said, “but next to the Great Queen, even the most beautiful of them is like pearls next to a diamond. To see her open face means to become her slave forever.” Ning ordered to wall up alive anyone who dared to see the queen without a veil. Apparently, the queen soon got tired of such tyranny, and she decided that it would be easier to get rid of the oppressive king and rule Assyria herself. Perhaps the fact that she was never able to forget her first husband Onn also played a role (for example, until the end of her life she wore an amulet in the shape of a dove that he gave her on her chest). According to Dinon, her husband allowed her to rule Asia for five days, and as soon as she was convinced that the servants were loyal to her, she ordered the capture and execution of King Ninus. So she became the sole ruler of Assyria.


The queen began her reign. And she did it very bravely. Wars against Media, campaigns in Egypt, Ethiopia and India, the construction of Babylon - all these are the glorious deeds of Semiramis.


Babylon, the largest city of ancient Asia, was conceived by her as a counterweight to the capital of her late husband, Nineveh. The queen spared no effort, no money, no imagination on it, wanting to make it much more majestic and grandiose than the creation of her late husband. To this day, this city hides many mysteries and secrets.


There is a legend that talks about the transformation of Semiramis into a dove. Since then, the dove has been considered sacred, and Semiramis has been revered as a goddess.
Semiramis reigned for over forty years, and went down in history as one of the most famous female queens in world history.

According to another version, she was nevertheless killed by her son’s supporters.
In 606 BC. Nineveh was destroyed and Assyria ceased to exist. The Neo-Babylonian kingdom arose on this site.

What about the Gardens of Babylon?
This is a completely different story. They were built only two centuries after the death of the queen by the great conqueror Nebuchadnezzar II.
Unfortunately, this unique creation has long been destroyed, but the memory of it is alive to this day.

To defeat his main enemy, Assyria, the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II entered into a military alliance with the king of Media, Cyaxares. This union was strengthened by the marriage of Nebuchadnezzar II and Princess Amytis, daughter of King Cyaxares.

Dusty and stuffy Babylon, standing in the middle of a deserted sandy plain, brought melancholy to the young queen, accustomed to the greenery and clean air of Media. Nebuchadnezzar loved young Amytis very much, but he could not move Babylon to the green hills of Media. He did it differently: he ordered a wonderful creation with beautiful vegetation to be built in the middle of the desert, so that the queen could admire the greenery of her country to her heart’s content. Beautiful and interesting plants, fresh and cool air of the wonderful Hanging Gardens of Babylon - hot, dusty and stuffy - this is a real monument created in the name of love.


These gardens were located on a very wide four-tiered tower, each tier of which was supported by 25-meter columns. The tiers of the tower rose in ledges and were connected by wide staircases made of white and pink slabs. The terrace platforms, made of stone slabs, were covered with a layer of reeds and filled with asphalt, then lined with bricks, which were held together with plaster and lead slabs. And already on top there was such a thick layer of fertile soil that it was possible to plant even large trees.
This pyramid was like an evergreen flowering hill.


The water supply system used in the Gardens of Babylon was not new to Mesopotamia. Something similar was found in local ziggurats, in particular in the legendary Tower of Babel. But it was in the Hanging Gardens that this technology reached its perfection. Thousands of slaves turned the wheel day and night, raising water from the Euphrates in leather buckets to the top of the tower. From there, through numerous channels, water flowed onto all the terraces, giving life to beautiful plants.


Almost all historians who lived in those days described Babylon in their writings, but the description of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, if found in ancient texts, is rather superficial. Only the ancient Greek Straubon and Diodorus left us their story about gardens. They noted its square shape with a side four plethora long - that is, 124 meters. Semicircular storage facilities were built on it in a checkerboard pattern. A staircase leads to the uppermost terrace.


Only the Chaldean priest Berossus, who lived at the end of the 4th century BC, contains a more detailed description of the gardens, which later migrated to the pages of Greek historians who lived after him. For many centuries, the minds of scientists and ordinary people were excited by the mysterious Gardens of Babylon, built in the 6th century BC.


In the 3rd century BC in Ancient Assyria, on the eastern bank of the Tiber, lush Ninivean gardens grew, which, like the Babylonian ones, were laid out by the king not far from the entrance to his palace. Therefore, many historians are still confident that a mistake occurred and the gardens in Nineveh were mistaken for the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, especially since the Archimedes screw, which, judging by the descriptions, delivered water to the upper terraces of the Gardens of Babylon, was invented by Archimedes, who lived three centuries later.


So perhaps the only evidence of their existence is the stories about the conquest of Babylon by Alexander the Great, who was captivated by the splendor of the Hanging Gardens. In 331 BC. Alexander and his army entered Babylon without a fight after its inhabitants sent messengers to him with an offer of peace. Residents of the city honored Alexander as their liberator. Ten years later, having walked around and conquered half of everything known to people in the ancient world at that time, tired and sick Alexander, again entered the city gates of Babylon. He made his residence in the palace. In it he wanted to rest and recover before a new campaign against Carthage, Spain and Italy and see with his own eyes the limit of the world of that time - the Pillars of Hercules. Only here, among the shady green trees, could he calmly surrender to the memories of his native Macedonia. The chambers of the lower tier and the throne room of this palace became the place on Earth from where Alexander began his path to immortality.


After Alexander's death, his empire instantly disintegrated, torn apart piece by piece by arrogant commanders. Babylon was no longer the capital of the world; it gradually fell into decay and was completely deserted. The flood completely destroyed the walls of the palace built by Nebuchadnezzar: the poorly baked clay softened, the terraces sank, the supporting columns and vaults collapsed. True, the vegetation died even earlier, because no one else pumped water for irrigation.


The history of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon is closely connected with the name of the German archaeologist Robert Koldewey.
In 1898, his archaeological expedition landed on the banks of the Euphrates. Centuries have passed since the now deserted bank of the great Babylonian river was filled with the noise and voices of many thousands of caravans of traders, travelers, wandering musicians and seekers of happiness and fortune from all over the world flocking to the huge multi-story Babylon. Koldewey then saw only a lifeless desert with a huge hill of clay in front of him.


It seemed that time had destroyed even the memory of the once richest city in the world.


Having studied the area, Koldewey discovered hills with steep slopes and stunted vegetation in places. In the spring of the following year, in this place of the Sakhi plain, which meant frying pan, two hundred workers worked under his leadership, digging out clay and sand. From the very first days it became clear that excavations were being carried out on the site of a former civilization. A few months later, three walls and a moat that once encircled the ancient city were revealed to people’s eyes. The walls, each 3, 8 and 7 meters wide, were made of brick. Their height reached 12 meters. The length of the smallest inner wall with 360 fortress towers was more than 18 kilometers!


This was undoubtedly Babylon, built here more than 4 thousand years ago. At the excavation site there were numerous remnants of its former splendor - winged lions, various bas-reliefs, gold jewelry and even copper-clad city gates. There is reason to believe that Babylon was founded by the more ancient Sumerian civilization, which suddenly died, apparently as a result of a global natural disaster.


As a result of excavations, the royal palace was discovered, and next to it twelve underground halls.
Koldewey realized that he had excavated the vaults of the underground part of the Gardens of Babylon, above which the terraces themselves were located.


Modern photographs of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon show the only trace of the grandiose monument that has survived to this day - a network of intersecting trenches near the Iraqi city of Hille, which is 90 km from Baghdad. In the sections of these trenches you can still see traces of dilapidated masonry.

They say that a hundred years ago in the ruins of El-Qasr there grew a tree that the local Arabs considered sacred. They showed it to the German traveler Pfeiffer, who recognized it as a tree from the cone-bearing family, which does not grow in these parts.


The Arabs said that it had been preserved for many centuries from the gardens that were once here. In its branches, when a strong wind blows, quiet plaintive sounds are heard. And this is all that remains of the once beautiful Gardens of Babylon.

In the list of seven wonders of the world, the second wonder is considered Hanging Gardens of Babylon. This truly legendary structure was created in 605 BC. However, already in 562 BC. this architectural masterpiece was destroyed by floods.

Despite the well-established connection between the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the name of the Assyrian queen, Semiramis, who lived around 800 BC, scientists consider this a misconception. In fact, the official version of the origin of this wonder of the world is as follows.

Nebuchadnezzar II fought against Assyria. In order to strengthen the army, an alliance was concluded with the Median king. After destroying the enemy, Nebuchadnezzar II decided to marry the daughter of the Median sovereign. But the dusty city of Babylon, standing essentially in the desert, could not be compared with the green and blooming Media.

It was for this reason that the ambitious ruler decided to build the Babylonian Hanging Gardens. By the way, the queen’s name was Amytis, so it would be more correct to call the second of the seven wonders of the world by this name. But the unforgettable Semiramis, who was also an extraordinary person, was entrenched in history, although she lived two centuries earlier.

Interesting facts about the Hanging Gardens of Babylon

Surprisingly, the unique building included in the building was not new at that time. It’s just that Nebuchadnezzar II, under whom many architectural masterpieces were built, managed to supply water to his hanging gardens in an unusual way.

An interesting fact is that the described structure consisted of four levels. Each of them had many cool rooms where the royal family walked during the heat of the day. The building's vaults were supported by 25-meter columns at each level. The fortified terraces were covered with earth, the thickness of which was sufficient for trees to grow there.

To prevent liquid from leaking to the lower floors, the platforms of each tier, consisting of huge slabs, were covered with leaves and covered with asphalt. Water was supplied upward using a specially designed mechanism pumping it from the Euphrates River.

To do this, the slaves turned a huge wheel, irrigating the Hanging Gardens of Babylon with a sufficient amount of moisture. The hundred-meter walls of Babylon and the crowns of trees towering above them instilled in everyone who saw this wonder of the world the thought of the power and strength of the kingdom. And proud Amytis, to whom this grandiose building was actually dedicated, enjoyed the greenery of flowering plants stretching for many kilometers around.

Currently, 90 km from the modern capital of Iraq - Bogdad, there are the ruins of the most ancient city of the East - Babylon. This city, as described in the Bible: “A great city... A strong city,” was in the 9-6 centuries BC the most beautiful and rich city of the Ancient East.

Rich temples, magnificent palaces, impregnable fortress walls with crenellated towers adorned it. But the most significant decoration was the Hanging Gardens. They, like a fabulous green hill, rose among the sun-scorched Mesopotamian desert plain.

The Greeks called them the second classical wonder of the ancient world. Information about the Hanging Gardens of Babylon from some ancient Greek scientists has been preserved to this day. The ancient Greek traveler Strabo (“the father of geography” - 64 BC - 19 AD), when describing this fantastic structure, referred to oral legends that existed 500 years ago.

The ancient Greek philosopher and writer Philo of Alexandria (25 BC - 50 AD), having studied the earliest information from ancient authors, and the surviving technical descriptions of hanging structures that existed in ancient times, for example, the “Hanging Boulevard” on O. Cnidus also described the Hanging Gardens in Babylon.

About Queen Semiramis

The ancient Greek “father of history” Herodotus (5th century AD) and the ancient Greek historian Diodorus Siculus (first century of the new era) attributed the construction of the “Hanging Gardens” in Babylon to the Assyrian queen Shammuramat (gr. Semiramis - Semiramis), who ruled in Babylon in 810-782 b.c. e.

There were many legends about her life, one of which was told to us by Diodorus Siculus. In ancient times, there was a city in Syria called Ascalon, near which there was a deep lake. On its bank stood the temple of the Goddess Derketo. This Goddess was similar in appearance to a fish, but had a human head.

Aphrodite (for some unknown reason) became angry with her and made her fall in love with a beautiful mortal youth. Derketo had a daughter. Angered by this unequal marriage, Derketo killed the young man and, leaving the girl, disappeared into the lake.

The girl grew up among a flock of pigeons: they warmed her with their wings and brought her milk in their beaks. By chance, shepherds saw this beautiful child and took him to Simmas, the caretaker of the royal flocks. This kind man named her Semiramis (the Syrians mean “dove”), raised her and raised her as his own daughter.

Years have passed. One day, Onnes, the first royal adviser, came to these parts on a business trip. Seeing this beautiful young girl, he fell in love, asked Simmas for her hand, married and took her to Nineveh. Onnis loved his wise, beautiful wife very much, and always consulted her in everything. And success followed him.

Soon the king of Nineveh began a war with Batria. Despite his large, well-armed army, he was unable to capture the capital of this country. Then Onnis asked his beautiful wife to visit the battlefield. Having become familiar with the situation, Semiramis and her volunteers suddenly attacked the heavily fortified part of the city. Here, in her opinion, was indeed the weakest defense.

The city capitulated. Admired by the beauty, wisdom and courage of Semiramis, the king generously presented her with gifts. And he began to persuade Onnis to voluntarily give him her as his wife. When Onnis refused, the king threatened him with death. Suffering from love for his wife and from the king’s threats, Onnis committed suicide.

Returning to Nineveh, the king married Semiramis. After the death of her husband, Semiramis inherited the throne, despite the fact that they had a son, Ninias. It was then that another talent of hers was revealed - government. By her order, Babylon was surrounded by impregnable fortress walls with towers. A bridge was built across the Euphrates River. A magnificent temple was erected in Belu. An underground tunnel was laid through which water was supplied from distant mountain lakes from the capital. A very convenient road was laid through the ridges of the Zagroz chain, connecting Babylon with Lydia.

In Lydia, the capital Ektaban was built with a magnificent royal palace. The court of Semiramis was beautiful and fabulously rich. But her son Ninnius was tired of the idle, inglorious life, and he organized a conspiracy against his mother. Semiramis voluntarily renounced power, passing it on to her son, turned into a dove and flew away to distant lands with a flock of doves.

Creation of Hanging Gardens

Interestingly, the Greek writer Athenaeus of Naucratis (2nd century AD) described a more realistic version of the life of Semiramis. He wrote that at first she was an ordinary, unremarkable court lady at the court of the Assyrian king. But her extraordinary beauty charmed the king, and he married her. Semiramis persuaded her husband to give her power for only five days...

On the very first day, she organized magnificent feasts, attracted the king’s close associates, military leaders, dignitaries, and noble people to her side. On the second day, she sent her husband to prison, seized the throne and retained her power until old age. During her reign, she accomplished many great deeds. Deodorus concludes that there are precisely such contradictory descriptions of the life of Semiramis by historians. But still, this was a real historical figure.

But it was not by order of Semiramis that the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were built. Archaeological research has proven that they were created several centuries after her reign, and were dedicated to another, not at all legendary, woman. However, until the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, some historians generally believed that the Hanging Gardens in Babylon were nothing more than a beautiful legend, a fantasy of ancient authors.

But in 1899-1914, the German archaeologist Robert Koldewey, who carried out excavations in Babylon for several years, found both the ruins of the Royal Palace and the remains of four-tiered Terraces. Thus, it was established that the Hanging Gardens were built in the 7th century BC, during the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar II in Babylon (605-562 BC).

The history of the creation of these beautiful gardens is interesting. The king of Babylon (father of Nebuchadnezzar II) and the king of Media entered into a military alliance. And to strengthen it, Prince Nebuchadnezzar II and Princess Amyitis (daughter of the Median king) got married. The young princess admired the grandeur, wealth and beauty of Babylon.

But soon, she began to miss the green, shady forests of her homeland in a stuffy and dusty city, surrounded by impenetrable stone walls. Having come to power, Nebuchadnezzar the second ordered the construction of a green oasis for his beloved wife - the “Hanging Gardens”, which would remind her of her beloved homeland.

Construction of Hanging Gardens

Based on archaeological excavations, it has been established that the gardens were located on four-tiered artificial stepped terraces attached to the huge royal palace. Each terrace rose 27-30 m above the other. This allowed the plants to receive a lot of light for their good growth and development. The terraces were supported by high, powerful colonnades, which were located inside each floor.

The terraces were based on massive stone slabs. They were covered with a layer of reeds and filled with asphalt. Then, two layers of brick were laid on a gypsum mortar (according to some sources, the brick was fired, according to others - unburned clay mixed with straw). Next, for reliable waterproofing, a layer of sheet lead was laid. And then - such a layer of fertile soil that not only shrubs and flowers, but also large trees with a powerful root system could grow here.

The terraces were connected by a wide, gentle staircase, its steps made of polished slabs of pink and white stone. She walked along the wall of the royal palace to the very top. At the top, above the Hanging Gardens, there was a huge pool. In plan, the Gardens had square sides, approximately equal to 12 meters, their total area was about 15,000 m2.

From different countries of the world, trees and shrubs wrapped in wet matting were brought to Babylon on carts drawn by oxen. As well as seeds of various flowers and herbs. And beautiful flowers and trees of different species bloomed and fragrant in these fabulous gardens. Strange birds imported from overseas countries began to sing and chirp. Luxurious palm trees, plane trees and cypresses were planted between the columns, which rose high above the walls of the royal palace.

The aroma and coolness of these gardens was carried by the cool North-East wind. And all this seemed like a fabulous miracle to the inhabitants of Babylon. This huge royal palace, along with the Hanging Gardens, was surrounded by impenetrable walls - there was only one entrance gate.

It was like a fortress, inside an impregnable stronghold - Babylon. And only those invited by the king could get into this fairy-tale world. When a warm night came in Babylon, the king and his guests walked along the alleys of the garden. Hundreds of torches illuminated the paths of the gardens and enchanting music sounded.

Garden Irrigation System

There are three hypotheses about how water was collected and supplied to water these gardens. First, water was supplied from the Euphrates River. Continuously, day and night, hundreds of slaves turned the water-lifting wheel with leather buckets, filling the huge upper pool.

Secondly, from deep wells, as Philo of Alexandria assumed, with the help of a pressure force created by a special device, through channels and spiral pipes, water was supplied to the upper pool. These channels and pipes were located in the supports and posts that supported the terraces. By the way, such deep wells were found by archaeologists at the beginning of the 20th century.

Third, perhaps water could be collected at each level of terraces made of crushed stone (stone) heaps capable of condensing water from the air (their description is given in the article “”). After watering the plants, the excess water that remained in the upper pool flowed onto the stones in small streams, sparkling in the sun's rays, forming fabulous cascades and waterfalls.

Conclusion

The Hanging Gardens are a complex, grandiose structure that was maintained by thousands of slaves. They planted and cared for flowers, trees, and trimmed bushes. Monitored the operation of the irrigation system. Torchbearers were responsible for lighting the gardens. For the king's guests, invisible musicians performed enchanting melodies.

The ancient Greek historian Herodotus wrote that back in the 5th century B.C. e. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were in good condition. Later, in 331 BC. e. They were admired by Alexander the Great, who, having defeated the troops of the last Persian king, Darius the Third, decided to declare Babylon the capital of his “World Empire”.

But his dream was not destined to come true. According to legend, in June 323 BC. e., escaping from the scorching rays of the sun in chambers located in the lower tier of these gardens, he spent the last days of his life. And in a golden sarcophagus his ashes were sent to the city he founded - Alexandria. Time... The inexorably fast flowing time gradually destroyed the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

After 2000 years, like the city of Babylon, they were finally destroyed by the floods of the Euphrates, during which the water of this river rose over 4 meters. Centuries have passed... but even today the ruins of this ancient city speak of its former greatness. Arseny Tarkovsky dedicated the following lines to him:

"It's impossible to go back there,

and it’s impossible to tell.

How filled with bliss

this garden of Eden."