Artist's representation of Hanging Gardens of
Babylon (Credit: iStockphotos.com)
See full article at history.com http://www.history.com/news/hanging-gardens-existed-but-not-in-babylon
Though there are multiple accounts
of the gardens in both Greek and Roman literature, none of them are firsthand,
and no mention of the gardens has been found in Babylonian cuneiform inscriptions.
As a result, most modern scholars believe that the existence of the gardens was
part of an inspired and widely believed but still fictional tale.
Mythology shrouds each of the Seven
Wonders of the Ancient World, but none has been more mysterious than the
Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Archaeologists have never unearthed evidence of the
soaring gardens, and scholars have questioned its very existence. Now, however,
an Oxford University researcher Stephanie Dalley says she knows why the Hanging
Gardens of Babylon have proven so elusive because they were never built there
in the first place.
Dalley, who has spent the better part of two decades researching the Hanging Gardens and studying ancient cuneiform texts, believes they were constructed 300 miles to the north of Babylon in Nineveh, the capital of the rival Assyrian empire.
Dalley explains that the reason for the confusion of the location of the gardens could be due to the Assyrian conquering of Babylon in 689 B.C. Following the takeover, Nineveh was referred to as the “New Babylon,” and Sennacherib even renamed the city gates after those of Babylon’s entrances. Dalley’s assertions could debunk thoughts that the elusive ancient wonder was an “historical mirage,” but they could also prove that the Hanging Gardens of Babylon are mislabeled and should truly be the Hanging Gardens of Nineveh.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Mystery-Hanging-Garden-Babylon/dp/0199662266
or
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-mystery-of-the-hanging-garden-of-babylon-stephanie-dalley/1112707348?ean=9780199662265
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