There is an ancient legend that King Nebuchadnezzar II, decided to please his wife Amitissu, ordered to build in Babylon scale structure consisting of terraces and ledges, where specially imported soil trees grew.Fruits, flowers and greenery creating an atmosphere of pampering, reminding the queen of home Media, in a dusty and noisy state.Documentary evidence of this fact does not exist, although the city itself there are numerous details.The fact that the Hanging Gardens of Babylon existed, say, mainly the description of Herodotus, who lived, however, long after the events they described.
Babylonian walls were high, but it is assumed that the building was clearly visible behind them.Judging by the description of Herodotus, it was rising a hundred meters.Construction technology of the time did not anticipate moving huge blocks of stone to a great height, but the ancient architects, seems to have failed to meet this challenge and delivered units.To give maximum design aesthetic has been applied facing tiled tiles with embossed pattern turquoise and golden yellow colors.The arches supported by columns, which at that time was a revolutionary technology for such massive structures.Thanks to them, this masterpiece of ancient architecture and known as the "Hanging Gardens".
deserves special attention and waterproofing irrigation system, without which the whole edifice would lose all meaning.Found during excavations of the remains of the foundation of the unknown, but really giant-sized structures have holes, which supposedly housed Archimedes screws, ie screws, to transport water from the Euphrates River to the upper levels and operated by muscle power.Leakage of moisture allowed lead plates sandwiched between bricks.Such complex and unusual for the seventh century BC, the composition seem fantastic today.Many skeptics doubt at all that the hanging gardens ever existed.Other historians doubt is their location.For example, some researchers argue that such a facility could be built by the Assyrian king Sennacherib in the period from 705 to 681 BCon the banks of the Tigris, and the rumor attributed this achievement to the ancient Babylon.
There are, however, and the facts speak in favor of the truth of the beautiful ancient legend.In 1899, archaeologist Robert Koldewey found the remains of an ancient structure of colossal proportions in the place where there was the ancient city.German scientists have suggested that they found the foundations are the basis of the Tower of Babel, and yet something very big.Proving the existence of the biblical Babylon, he put forward the hypothesis that there were, and the Hanging Gardens.
Even if we accept this version as a basis for further research, it remains nevertheless a mystery name adopted to designate one of the wonders of the world.What have the Hanging Gardens of Babylon to Shammuramat, founder of the city-state, who lived in the IX century before Christ, that is, two centuries before the period of the hypothetical construction of the complex engineering systems serving to please the royal Nebuchadnezzar and Amitissy?Perhaps even then there was a tradition to call build objects after famous people?And yet, according to research and Koldewey dimensions, dimensions of terraces significantly exaggerated, but still remains impressive.
