View source for Hanging Gardens of Babylon

[[Image:Hanging_Gardens_of_Babylon.jpg|right|thumb|300px|A [[16th century]] depiction of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon (by [[Martin Heemskerck]]). The [[Tower of Babel]] is visible in the background.]]
[[Image:Ogrody_semiramidy.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Gardens of Semiramis, [[20th century]] interpretation]]

The '''Hanging Gardens of [[Babylon]]''' (also known as '''Hanging Gardens of [[Semiramis]]''') and the walls of Babylon (near present-day Baghdad in [[Iraq]]) were considered one of the [[Seven Wonders of the World]]. They were both supposedly built by [[Nebuchadnezzar II]] around [[600 BC]]. He is reported to have ordered the construction of the gardens to please his wife, Amyitis of Media, who longed for the trees and beautiful plants of her homeland. 
The lush Hanging Gardens are extensively documented by [[Greece|Greek]] [[history|historians]] such as [[Strabo]] and [[Diodorus Siculus]], but otherwise there is little evidence for their existence.  In fact, there are no Babylonian records of any such gardens having existed.  Some circumstantial evidence gathered at the excavation of the palace at Babylon has accrued, but does not completely substantiate what look like fanciful descriptions. Through the ages, the location may have been confused with gardens that existed at [[Nineveh]], since tablets from there clearly show gardens. Writings on these tablets describe the possible use of something similar to an [[Archimedes' screw]] as a process of raising the water to the required height.
<!-- discussed on UKtv's History of the Ancients program The Hanging Gardens of Babylon. The gardens are located by the river of babylonia. It runs on that. -->
{|width=480px|[[Image:Hanging_Gardens_of_Babylon.gif|right|thumb|300px|Hanging Garden, [[Assyria]]n interpretation]] <br />
|[[Image:Hanging_Garden.gif|A hanging garden, [[21st century]] interpretation|thumb]]
|}