7. Introduction:
The thing which
made gardens of
babylones so
famous to world is
the presence of
gardens on all
stories of the entire
building. Built by
King
Nebuchadnezzar II
8. There were gardens present on all stories such as grown on
the earth. And the city looks like a city in gardens. And it
was really so awesome that a number of history writers
wrote about this.
9. In ancient writings the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were
first described by Berossus, a Chaldaean priest who lived in
the late 4th century BC. In his book Babyloniaca, written
around 280 BC, he describes the gardens and attributes
them to the great Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II.
10. The Greek Geographer Strabo, described the
Gardens in first century BC:
It consists of vaulted terraces raised one above another, and
resting upon cube-shaped pillars. These are hollow and filled with
earth to allow trees of the largest size to be planted. The pillars,
the vaults, and terraces are constructed of baked brick and asphalt.
Illustration by Stephen Francis; photo of an Egyptian shaduf (National Geographic)
11. Location:
It is the one in seven wonders of word which does not exist
in now a days. And its also a fact that its presence is also a
doubt.
12. There are different views of archeologists
about its existence:
Firstly it was
believed that it was
located in the city-
state of Babylones.
This idea was given
by the early history
writers belonging to
that age.
13. The 2nd supposition about the location of the city that it was
located near the on the banks of the River Euphrates, south
of present-day Baghdad, capital of Iraq.
14. The 3rd and most accurate idea about the existence of the city
is given by Dr. Dalley.
3rd and Most Accurate Idea:
She said that “ It’s taken many years
to find the evidence to demonstrate
that the gardens and associated
system of aqueducts and canals were
built by Sennacherib at Nineveh at the
bank of River Tigris and not by
Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. For the
first time it can be shown that the
Hanging Garden really did exist”
18. The use of gardens has been a part of history for centuries. In
ancient civilizations, gardens were a way of showing one’s
worth in society. Famous leader, King Nebuchadnezzar built a
beautiful.
19. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven
Wonders of the World are documented to have been built
approximately 2500 years ago in 600 BC. The gardens were
built on orders of King Nebuchadnezzar II,
20. There is also Described a loved story behind construction of
the city is that, the King had the gardens constructed for his
wife, Amytis, who was homesick of her home country,
Persia.
21. The Hanging Gardens
probably did not really "hang"
in the sense of being
suspended from cables or
ropes. The name comes from
an inexact translation of the
Greek word kremastos, or the
Latin wordpensilis, which
means not just "hanging", but
"overhanging" as in the case
of a terrace or balcony.
22. It is sometimes called The Hanging Gardens of
Semiramis referring to the legendary Queen Semiramis.
23. The Queen ruled Babylon's for 5 years and some believed
that Hanging garden of Babylon's were constructed by her.
24.
25. Constructional information:
Deodars Siculus described the hanging gardens as a "series
of super imposed terraces of reducing size, rising to a height
of 75 feet." [H.W.F. Saggs ]
26. Strabo said it was much
larger, with a square
base with each side 400
feet long. The water
could have been
brought from the
Euphrates River to the
garden by irrigation
and a series of buckets
or pulleys.
27. Further he stated that the
platforms on which the
garden stood consisted of
huge slabs of stone, covered
with layers of asphalt and
tiles. Over this was put “a
covering with sheets of lead”
that the wet which drenched
through the earth might not
rot the foundation. Upon all
these was laid earth of a
convenient depth, sufficient
for the growth of the greatest
trees.”
28. Gardens would have been multi-level terraces supported by
baked brick columns. These columns would have been
filled with dirt to allow large plantings and trees to root and
grow.
29. To build the gardens the first thing that they did was to make a
series of brick arches to hold them. They were ten stories high,
and had a shaded courtyard underneath. On top of them, the
workmen built brick terraces. They lined the terraces with lead
and put a thick layer of soil on top. On the platform
Nebuchadnezzar ordered his men to plant every kind of tree
and plant, importing them from all over the kingdom.
30. These gardens consists the plants of
almonds, juniper, dates, olives,
plums, pears and grapes. Beautiful
trees such as cypress, oak, ash,
willows and firs were planted as well
as ferns, date palms, vines, aloe
plants and flowers such as rock
roses, water lilies and incense
bushes. The wood from the trees
were also a practical resource for
construction, with palm wood being
adequate with its strong and hard to
rot properties.
31. The entire structure measured around 400 feet by 400
feet. According to ancient accounts, the gardens were
built like sloped hillsides with several levels of
flowerbeds.
32. Garden Construction:
Construction of the garden wasn't only complicated
by getting the water up to the top, but also by having
to avoid the liquid ruining the foundations once it
was released. Since stone was difficult to get on the
Mesopotamian plain, most of the architecture in
Babel utilized brick.
33. Diodorus Siculus, a Greek historian, stated that the
platforms on which the garden stood consisted of huge slabs
of stone (otherwise unheard of in Babel), covered with
layers of reed, asphalt and tiles. Over this was put "a
covering with sheets of lead, that the wet which drenched
through the earth might not rot the foundation.
The bricks were composed of clay mixed with chopped
straw and baked in the sun. These were then joined with
bitumen, a slimy substance, which acted as a mortar.
34. . Upon all these was laid earth of a convenient depth,
sufficient for the growth of the greatest trees. When the
soil was laid even and smooth, it was planted with all
sorts of trees, which both for greatness and beauty
might delight the spectators.
35.
36. Irrigation System:
If Babylon's buildings boasted of its great wealth, then the
gardens would've demonstrated the engineering skills of
their architect. It's no small feat to keep plants thriving in
the desert, but to transport water to flowers perched atop a
nearly five-story building is a monstrous challenge.
37. The gardens would have relied on the Euphrates as
their irrigation source, and the water would likely have
been transported through a pumping system made of
reeds and stone and stored in a massive holding tank.
From the tank, a shaduf (a manually-operated water-
lifting device) would have delivered water to the
plants.
Irrigation System:
38. Three systems of irrigation are
assumed to be used for irrigation
in the city:
Chain Pump system
Archemidius screw
Crain Type Shedopes
39. Chain Pump System:
The Babylonians created a
water pump that transported
water from the Euphrates
River up to the Hanging
Gardens. They created the
pump by attaching buckets
to a chain. The chain was
connected to two big wheels
at the top and bottom. These
would allow the chain to
come back up after it went to
the bottom to retrieve the
water.
40.
41. A historian by the name of Philo,
described these water pumps:
Slaves powered the chain by
pulling it so that it would
continue to move. As the
chain moved, the buckets
would go into the river and
fill with water. They tipped
over at the top of the pump
so that the high gardens
could be reached and
irrigated.
42. Evidence of these pumps may have been discovered in
1899 by the archeologist, Robert Koldewey.
Evidence:
43. Babylonian engineers designed an advanced system of shafts to
carry buckets of water continuously. The water carried in the
buckets filled the fountains and pools in the Garden. The
energy to allow this was supplied by slaves turning massive
screws. This well system was the first and only of its kind in
Babylon. They also used massive slabs of stone, which was
unheard of in Babylon, to prevent the water from eroding the
ground.
44. Archimedes Screw:
An alternate method of
getting the water to the top of
the gardens might have been a
screw pump. This device
looks like a trough with one
end in the lower pool from
which the water is taken with
the other end overhanging an
upper pool to which the water
is being lifted.
45. Fitting tightly into the
trough is a long screw.
As the screw is turned,
water is caught between
the blades of the screw
and forced upwards.
When it reaches the top,
it falls into the upper
pool.
46. Turning the screw can be done by a hand crank. A different
design of screw pump mounts the screw inside a tube, which
takes the place of the trough. In this case the tube and screw
turn together to carry the water upward.
