In our series about Architectural
Wonders of the Ancient World, The Hanging Gardens of Babylon is one of the most
fascinating. It is the only ancient
wonder not reliably verified that it actually existed as no definitive
archaeological evidence has ever been found.
Nonetheless, there are many accounts from ancient historians who
describe the magnificence gardens’ elegant terraces, elaborate water features
and floating plants in detail.
It has generally been believed that if
the Gardens existed they were built in Babylon near the present-day Hillah,
Babil province, in Iraq by Nebuchadnezzar II who ruled from 605 to
562 BC. However there is a group of archeologists
and historians who think they may have been built somewhere else. Recently Dr. Stephanie Dalley of Oxford
University cited evidence that the Hanging Gardens were built by King
Sennacherib in the Assyrian capital of Nineveh 350 miles away from the Babylon
site.
Texts from one of the ancient Greek
historians, Diodorus of Sicily, described the Hanging Gardens as a beautiful
park-like structure that was 400 ft. wide by 400 ft. long and had walls 80 ft.
tall. He states that the Gardens were built
in a Persia design and had sloped, split-level stone tiers that resembled a
theater. The beautiful terraces were constructed
beneath galleries that carried the hanging plants. He explains that the walls were twenty-two
ft. thick with ten foot wide passageways.
Diodorus’ descriptions included the roof that had “first a layer of
reeds laid in great quantities of bitumen, over this two courses of baked brick
bonded by cement, and as a third layer of covering of lead, to the end that the
moisture from the soil might not penetrate beneath.”
The large amount of water needed to
care for the plants is thought to have been transported using a similar
principle to the Archimedes’ screw, which is a pump that scoops water in a
spiral tube and carries it up. It is
estimated that the gardens would have required 8,200 gallons of water daily to
survive.
The Conco Companies’ mission is to be
the best supplier of concrete services in the Western United States and to
bring expertise and unsurpassed quality to each project. We have built our reputation
on superior concrete formwork, reinforcing, place and finish, shotcrete and
other ancillary services that benefit from our vast experience. We serve Northern
and Southern California, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, and Nevada.
Sources:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanging_Gardens_of_Babylon
dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2513819/Mystery-missing-Hanging-Gardens-Babylon-solved-Expert-claims-elusive-wonder-world.html
No comments:
Post a Comment