Meaning of THE GARDENS OF SEMIRAMIS (BOOK) in the Phraseology Guide

GARDENS OF SEMIRAMIS (BOOK)

something wonderful, magnificent, beautiful. Semiramis is the legendary Assyrian queen. Greek historians (Diodorus and others) say that she built the “hanging gardens” in Babylon; The ancient world considered these gardens one of the seven wonders of the world.

Handbook of phraseology. 2012

See also interpretations, synonyms, meanings of the word and what the GARDENS OF SEMIRAMIS (BOOKS) are in Russian in dictionaries, encyclopedias and reference books:

• GARDENS FISHING
  small lakes of sufficient depth with clean water, cleared in the West. Siberia near fishing huts for placing caught fish (sometimes in ...
• GARDENS V Encyclopedic Dictionary Brockhaus and Euphron:
  S. is a piece of land, usually surrounded by a fence and planted with various kinds of plants intended for the benefit or pleasure of a person. Indispensable...
• GARDENS*
  ? S. is a piece of land, usually surrounded by a fence and planted with various kinds of plants intended for the benefit or pleasure of a person. ...
• GARDENS in the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedia:
  ? small, sufficiently deep lakes with clean water, cleared in the West. Siberia near fishing huts for placing caught fish (sometimes ...
• GARDENS in Lopatin’s Dictionary of the Russian Language:
  Sad`y, -`ov: New Sad`y (district in ...
• GARDENS in the Complete Spelling Dictionary of the Russian Language:
  Gardens: New Gardens (district in ...
• GARDENS in the Spelling Dictionary:
  gardens, -ov: new gardens (area in ...
• BOOK in Dahl's Dictionary:
  (abbreviation) literary and bookish...
• BOOK) V Explanatory dictionary Russian language Ushakov:
  action according to verb. see. Gift of Providence. PROVIDENCE, providence, pl. no, cf. (church). According to the ideas of religious people, it is the action of a supreme being...
• GARDENS OF BABY
  now completely destroyed one of the ancient seven wonders of the world. Unlike other lost “miracles,” it was decided to completely restore the gardens. Authorities...
• GARDEN AND PARK ART
  - the art of creating gardens, parks, public gardens, boulevards and other green areas. The specificity of gardening art is in its use for organizing space...
• GARDEN AND PARK ART
  art, the art of creating gardens, parks and other green areas. Specificity of S.-p. And. is to use living plants to organize space...
• BOTANICAL GARDENS in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, TSB:
  gardens, scientific research, educational and auxiliary and cultural and educational institutions that cultivate and study plants, promoting botanical knowledge. Basis of B. s. make up collections...
• BOTANICAL GARDENS in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron:
  Under this name, gardens are known in which plants from different parts of the world and different climates are cultivated for scientific and educational purposes. ...
• ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron:
  gardens or parks in which native and foreign animals are kept in appropriately arranged premises. Originally existing menageries (Menagerie), which served for...
• BOTANICAL GARDENS in the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedia:
  ? Under this name, gardens are known in which plants from different parts of the world and various ...
• ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS in the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedia:
  ? gardens or parks in which native and foreign animals are kept in appropriately arranged premises. The original menageries (Menagerie) that served...
• SEMIRAMIS in the Directory of Miracles, unusual phenomena, UFOs and other things:
  V ancient greek myths the legendary daughter of the Syrian goddess Derketo, who was fed by doves and after death turned into a dove. Later at the end of V...
• AMMIAN MARCELLINUS in the Wiki Quotation Book.
• ENTS in the Encyclopedia Galactica of Science Fiction Literature:
  Ents differed from each other like trees: some were like trees of the same species, but of different ages; others are like one...
• SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD in the Dictionary of Fine Arts Terms:
  - Egyptian pyramids at Giza (circa 2700-1780 BC). Hanging Gardens of Babylon in Babylon (605-562 BC...
• GARDEN ART in the Encyclopedia Japan from A to Z:
  - a unique phenomenon that represents a carefully developed philosophical and aesthetic system of understanding Nature as universal model of the universe. Thanks to this, anyone Japanese garden - …
• GARDEN in the Bible Encyclopedia of Nikephoros:
  (Numbers 24:6). The gardens of the Jews were undoubtedly simple and little cultivated. In addition to the above quote, references to them are made in Job...
• NIN
  (Ninus, ??????). The founder of the Assyrian monarchy, the husband of Semiramis, who succeeded him. Nin is a mythical person. The Assyrian kingdom is believed to have arisen...
• BABYLON V Brief dictionary mythology and antiquities:
  (Babylon, ???????). The ancient famous capital of Babylonia, located on both sides of the Euphrates River. Under Nebuchadnezzar (604-562 BC). Babylonia...
• SEMIRAMIS
  IN Greek mythology daughter of the Syrian goddess Derketo (Luc. De dea syr. XIV 39]. Semiramis, left in the mountains, was fed by pigeons and raised ...
• BABYLON in the Directory of Characters and Cult Objects of Greek Mythology:
  Babylon (in Akkadian “gate of God”) is a city in Mesopotamia south of Baghdad, on the Euphrates River (now a settlement near the city of Hilla, ...
• I. LITERATURE OF THE NOBLE OF POLAND. in the Literary Encyclopedia:
  1. MEDIEVAL POLAND [X-XV centuries]. - Slavic peoples, from time immemorial, inhabiting the wooded and swampy plain between the Baltic...
• SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD
  in the minds of ancient society, the most famous sights are: the ancient Egyptian pyramids; Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, c. 550 BC e.; Mausoleum in...
• SEMIRAMIS in the Big Encyclopedic Dictionary:
  (Assyrian Shammuramat) queen of Assyria at the end. 9th century BC e., waged wars of conquest (mainly in Media). With name …
• COLBRAN in the Big Encyclopedic Dictionary:
  (Colbran) Isabella Angela (1785-1845) Italian singer (dramatic soprano). Spanish by origin. The first wife of G. Rossini, who wrote the parts for her...
• DERKETO in the Big Encyclopedic Dictionary:
  in Greek mythology, the eastern goddess, mother...
• SHAMMURAMAT in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, TSB:
  Assyrian queen; V ancient literature known as Semiramis...
• FLORICULTURE in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, TSB:
  branch of plant growing engaged in the cultivation of floral and ornamental plants for cut flowers, planting them in gardens, parks, public gardens, for interior decoration...
• THE USSR. LITERATURE AND ART in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, TSB:
  and art Literature Multinational Soviet literature represents a qualitative new stage development of literature. As a definite artistic whole, united by a single socio-ideological...
• SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, TSB:
  wonders of the world, in the minds of ancient society, are the most famous sights of ancient cultures. From the S. Ch.S., including the most diverse monuments, ...
• MENUA in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, TSB:
  king of the state of Urartu (ruled around 810 - 786 or 781 BC). M. made campaigns of conquest in Transcaucasia and ...
• COLBRAN ISABELLA ANGELA in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, TSB:
  (Colbran) Isabella Angela (2/2/1785, Madrid - 10/7/1845, Castenaso, near Bologna), Italian singer (dramatic soprano). Spanish by nationality. Daughter of a court musician. ...
• CATALANI ANGELICA in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, TSB:
  (Catalani) Angelica (10.5.1780, Senigallia, province of Ancona, - 12.6.1849, Paris), Italian singer (soprano). In 1797 she made her debut on the opera stage of Venice (opera ...
• JULIA OF SYRIA in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron:
  Roman empresses or relatives of emperors of the 3rd century. (during the time of the Severas). This name unites four outstanding women connected by origin...
• SHALIMAR in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron:
  the famous gardens near Kashmir, glorified in Moore's poem "Lalla Rook". At the upper end of the garden is a polished black marble pavilion. Name …
• CHALDEAN ART in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron:
  this is what we call art that arose and developed in ancient times in our own Chaldea, that is, the country lying between the confluence of the Tigris ...
• AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron:
  Its task is to depict in numbers the factors, methods of conducting and results of the agricultural industry and to study this digital material. At Brussels...
• SKOPTSY in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron.
• SIMBIRSK PROVINCE in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron:
  I occupies 43491 sq. a verst or 4,530,312 dessiatines; borders in the north with the Kazan province, in the east with the Volga, separating it...
• SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron:
  This was the name given in ancient times to S. works of architecture and sculpture that surpassed all others in their colossality and luxury, namely: 1) pyramids...
• SEVEN in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron:
  The Seven Wonders of the World - this was the name given in ancient times to S. works of architecture and sculpture, which surpassed all others in their colossality and luxury, namely: ...
• RAMMAN-PIRARI in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron:
  (= R.-patron) is the name of several Assyrian kings. R. I (XIV century), son of Pudiil and father of Shalmaneser I. About his exploits ...
• PRAGUE, THE CHIEF CITY OF THE CZECH KINGDOM in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron:
  (Czech Praha, Zlat? Praha, German Prag) - main city Kingdom of Bohemia, the third largest and most populous city in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, ...

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, also called the Gardens of Babylon, are the second wonder of the world, which, unfortunately, has not survived to our time. Although today researchers cannot say exactly their location, vaguely pointing to one of the hills, it is known for sure that they existed. There is numerous evidence of this, reflected in ancient writings.

The period of creation of the gardens of Babylon

Presumably the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were created in the 6th century BC. at the request of Nebuchadnezzar II, the Babylonian ruler. Then Babylon was experiencing a period of its decline. The once powerful state, constantly competing with Egypt, was noticeably losing ground. The gardens appeared at the time when the first Greek buildings were erected. But in spirit they are still closer to Egypt than to Greece or Rome.

Reasons for creating one of the wonders of the world

The Gardens of Babylon were erected by order of King Nebuchadnezzar, who with such a gesture wanted to show his love to his wife and become famous throughout the world. The Median princess Amytis missed her homeland very much. There she walked among the luxurious gardens, inhaled Fresh air and listened to the murmur of the stream. There was nothing to breathe in Babylon, just sand, heat, not a single living tree around. To make the princess feel at home, the ruler decided to create an artificial green hill for her.

Technology for creating gardens

In order for the Hanging Gardens of Babylon to appear, the knowledge of many mathematicians and builders was used. The hill consisted of four tiers, each of which was supported by columns. The platforms were made of flat bricks, which were fired at local brick factories. The stone slabs were covered with reeds, filled with something like asphalt and covered with lead. All this was done to ensure that water from the upper tiers did not flow down to the lower ones. poured onto the stone fertile land, brought from the banks of the Euphrates. Exotic shrubs, herbs, flowers and trees were brought from all over the world. Some were grown from seeds, but huge trees were also used and carried on carts.

Green garden in the desert

To prevent the Hanging Gardens of Babylon from drying out under the scorching sun, slaves turned a wheel with leather buckets day and night. Water was supplied from the Euphrates through a specially designed and built system. The soil in the flower beds always remained wet.

Collapse of the Babylonian Kingdom

Babylon was no longer powerful at the time when the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were created. The photo of the hills on which the second wonder of the world was supposedly located today only evokes regret about the irretrievably lost beauty. After the death of Alexander the Great, who made Babylon his residence, there was no one to look after the gardens. First, the flowers and trees died - there was no one to water them, then the columns collapsed and the bricks crumbled. Earthquakes also did their job. There are many hills on the territory of the Babylonian kingdom, and researchers cannot determine exactly where the gardens were. But there is no doubt that they really existed.

Second of the Seven Wonders of the World Ancient World-, they are also called Hanging Gardens Babylon. This amazing creation has not survived to this day, but controversy about it still does not subside.

In the 6th century BC. The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II gave the order to build marvelous gardens for his beloved wife Amytis. She was a Median princess and in dusty, noisy Babylon she really missed the green hills and aromas blooming gardens of his homeland. Nebuchadnezzar, in order to please his beloved, decided to create fairy gardens, which no one has ever seen and which would glorify Babylon throughout the world.

The idea of ​​recreating green, flowering hills in the middle of the arid Babylonian plain seemed just a fantasy. But still wonderful paradise gardens were built.

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon had the shape of a pyramid, consisting of four tiers in the form of protruding terraces and balconies, which were supported by columns up to 25 meters high. All tiers were seated beautiful plants(grass, flowers, shrubs, trees). Seeds and seedlings were delivered to Babylon from all over the world. The pyramid resembled an evergreen flowering hill.

The irrigation system was also amazing at that time. Pipes were placed in the cavity of one of the columns. Hundreds of slaves turned a lifting wheel with leather buckets day and night, thus pumping water from the river and delivering it to the gardens.

Magnificent gardens with fragrant flowers, rare trees and pleasant coolness in hot and stuffy Babylon were truly a real wonder of the world. It was a real monument built in honor of love.

The name of Queen Amytis in the memory of descendants strangely mixed with the name of the legendary Queen of Assyria Semiramis, and the amazing gardens of Babylon began to bear her name. This is how they got their name.

In the 4th century BC. e. Babylon captivated Alexander the Great with its splendor, who made this palace his residence. He loved to relax in the shade of the gardens, remembering his native Macedonia. The throne room of the palace and the chambers of the lower tier of the hanging gardens of Babylon became Alexander’s last place on earth, from where he began his journey to immortality…………

And the city fell into disrepair; there was no one to supply water to the gardens. Over time, the plants died, and the palace was destroyed as a result of an earthquake. Thus, along with Babylon, the amazing wonder of the world perished.

If we look at the history of the construction of the Hanging Gardens, it becomes clear that the reason for their construction, like many other architectural pearls of antiquity (for example, the Taj Mahal), was love. King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon entered into a military alliance with the king of Media, marrying his daughter named Amytis. Babylon was a trading center in the middle of a sandy desert, it was always dusty and noisy. Amitis began to yearn for her homeland, evergreen and fresh Mussel. To please his beloved, he decided to build hanging gardens in Babylon

The gardens were arranged in the form of a pyramid with four tiers of platforms supported by 20-meter columns. The lowest tier had the shape of an irregular quadrangle, the length of which was different parts varied from 30 to 40 meters

From the Babylonian kingdom of the last period of its existence, mainly the remains of architectural structures have come down, including the palaces of Nebuchadnezzar II and the famous “Hanging Gardens”. According to legend, at the beginning of the 6th century BC. King Nebuchadnezzar II ordered the creation of hanging gardens for one of his wives, who in lowland Babylonia yearned for her homeland in the mountainous part of Iran. And, although in reality the “hanging gardens” appeared only during the time of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II, the Greek legend, transmitted by Herodotus and Ctesias, associated the name of Semiramis with the creation of the “hanging gardens” in Babylon.

According to legend, the king of Babylon Shamshiadat V fell in love with the Assyrian Amazon queen Semiramis. In her honor, he built a huge structure consisting of an arcade - a series of arches stacked on top of each other. On each floor of such an arcade, earth was poured and a garden with many rare trees was laid out. Among the amazingly beautiful plants, fountains gurgled and sang bright birds. The Gardens of Babylon were cross-cutting and multi-story. This gave them lightness and a fabulous look.

To prevent water from seeping through the tiers, each of the platforms was covered with a dense layer of tied reeds, then a thick layer of fertile soil with seeds of strange plants - flowers, shrubs, trees

The Gardens of Babylon were located in what is now the Arab Republic of Iraq. Archaeological excavations are underway near the southern part of Baghdad. The Fertility Temple, gates and stone lion were found. As a result of excavations, archaeologist Robert Koldewey in 1899-1917 discovered city fortifications, a royal palace, a temple complex of the god Marduk, whole line other temples and a residential area.

One of the parts of the royal palace can be with good reason identify with the “hanging gardens” of Babylon described by Herodotus with their terraced engineering structures over vaults and artificial irrigation installations. Only the basements of this structure have been preserved, which represented an irregular quadrangle in plan, the walls of which bore the weight of the “hanging gardens”, located at the height of the palace walls. The above-ground part of the building apparently consisted of a series of powerful pillars or walls covered with vaults, judging by the surviving underground part, which consisted of fourteen vaulted internal chambers. The garden was irrigated using a water wheel.

From a distance, the pyramid looked like an evergreen and flowering hill, bathed in the coolness of fountains and streams. Pipes were located in the cavities of the columns, and hundreds of slaves constantly rotated a special wheel that supplied water to each of the platforms of the hanging gardens. The luxurious gardens in hot and arid Babylon were truly a real miracle, for which they were recognized as one of the seven ancient wonders of the world

Semiramis - (Greek: Semiraramis), according to Assyrian legends, the name of the queen is Shammuramat (late 9th century BC), originally from Babylonia, the wife of King Shamshiadad V. After his death, she was regent for her minor son Adadnerari III (809-782 BC).

The heyday of the Gardens of Babylon lasted about 200 years, after which, during the hegemony of the Persians, the palace fell into disrepair. The kings of Persia only occasionally stayed there during their rare trips around the empire. In the 4th century, the palace was chosen by Alexander the Great as a residence, becoming his last place on earth. After his death, the 172 luxuriously furnished rooms of the palace finally fell into disrepair - the garden was finally no longer looked after, and strong floods damaged the foundation, and the structure collapsed. Many people wonder where the Gardens of Babylon were located? This miracle was located 80 kilometers southwest of modern Baghdad, in Iraq

Legend associates the creation of the famous gardens with the name of the Assyrian queen Semiramis. Diodorus and other Greek historians say that she built the “Hanging Gardens” in Babylon. True, until the beginning of our century, the “Hanging Gardens” were considered pure fiction, and their descriptions were simply excesses of a wild poetic fantasy. Semiramis herself, or rather, her biography, was the first to contribute to this. Semiramis (Shammuramat) is a historical figure, but her life is legendary. Ctesias preserved her detailed biography, which Diodorus later repeated almost verbatim.

legendary Semiramis

“In ancient times there was a city in Syria called Askalon, and next to it there was a deep lake, where the temple of the goddess Derketo stood.” Outwardly, this temple looked like a fish with human head. The goddess Aphrodite became angry with Derketo for something and made her fall in love with a mere mortal youth. Then Derketo gave birth to his daughter and in anger, irritated by this unequal marriage, killed the young man, and disappeared into the lake. The girl was saved by pigeons: they warmed her with their wings, carried milk in their beaks, and when the girl grew up, they brought her cheese. The shepherds noticed hollowed-out holes in the cheese, followed the trail of the pigeons and found a lovely child. They took the girl and took her to the caretaker of the royal herds, Simmas. “He made the girl his daughter, gave her the name Semiramis, which means “dove” among the people of Syria, and raised her approximately. She surpassed everyone in her beauty.” This became the key to her future career.

During a trip to these parts, Onnes, the first royal adviser, saw Semiramis and immediately fell in love with her. He asked Simmas for her hand and, taking her to Nineveh, made her his wife. She bore him two sons. “Since, in addition to beauty, she had all the virtues, she had complete power over her husband: he did nothing without her, and he succeeded in everything.”

Then the war with neighboring Bactria began, and with it the dizzying career of Semiramis... King Nin went to war with a large army: “with 1,700,000 foot, 210,000 horsemen and 10,600 war chariots.” But even with such large forces The warriors of Nineveh could not conquer the capital of Bactria. The enemy heroically repelled all the attacks of the Ninevites, and Onnes, unable to do anything, began to feel burdened by the current situation. Then he invited his beautiful wife to the battlefield.

“When setting out on the journey,” writes Diodorus, “she ordered a new dress to be sewn for herself,” which is quite natural for a woman. However, the dress was not entirely ordinary: firstly, it was so elegant that it determined the fashion among society ladies of that time; secondly, it was sewn in such a way that it was impossible to determine who was wearing it - a man or a woman.

Having arrived to her husband, Semiramis studied the battle situation and established that the king always leads an attack on the weakest part of the fortifications according to military tactics And common sense. But Semiramis was a woman, which means she was not burdened with military knowledge. She called for volunteers and attacked the most strong part fortifications, where, according to her assumptions, there were the fewest defenders. Having easily won, she used the moment of surprise and forced the city to capitulate. “The king, delighted with her courage, gave her a gift and began to persuade Onnes to give in to Semiramis voluntarily, promising for this to give him his daughter Sosana as his wife. When Onnes did not want to agree, the king threatened to gouge out his eyes, for he was blind to the orders of his master. Onnes, suffering from the king's threats and love for his wife, eventually went mad and hanged himself. In this way Semiramis acquired the royal title.”

Leaving an obedient governor in Bactria, Nin returned to Nineveh, married Semiramis, and she bore him a son, Ninias. After the death of the king, Semiramis began to rule, although the king had a son-heir.

Semiramis never married again, although many sought her hand. And, enterprising in nature, she decided to surpass her deceased royal husband. She founded on the Euphrates new town- Babylon, with powerful walls and towers, a magnificent bridge over the Euphrates - “all this in one year.” Then she drained the swamps around the city, and in the city itself she built an amazing temple to the god Bel with a tower, “which was unusually high, and the Chaldeans there watched the rising and setting of the stars, for such a structure was most suitable for this.” She also ordered the construction of a statue of Bel, weighing 1000 Babylonian talents (equal to approximately 800 Greek talents), and erected many other temples and cities. During her reign, a convenient road was built through the seven ridges of the Zagros chain to Lydia, a state in western Asia Minor. In Lydia, she built the capital Ecbatana with a beautiful royal palace, and brought water to the capital through a tunnel from distant mountain lakes.

Then Semiramis started the war - the first Thirty Years' War. She invaded the Median kingdom, from there she went to Persia, then to Egypt, Libya and finally to Ethiopia. Everywhere Semiramis won glorious victories and acquired new slaves for her kingdom. Only in India was she unlucky: after her first successes she lost three-quarters of her army. True, this did not affect her firm determination to win at any cost, but one day she was easily wounded in the shoulder by an arrow. Semiramis returned to Babylon on her fast horse. There a heavenly sign appeared to her that she should not continue the war, and therefore the powerful ruler, pacifying the rage caused by the daring messages of the Indian king (he called her a lover of love affairs, but used a ruder expression), continued to rule in peace and harmony.

Meanwhile, Ninia became bored with her inglorious life. He decided that his mother had been ruling the country for too long, and organized a conspiracy against her: “with the help of one eunuch, he decided to kill her.” The queen voluntarily transferred power to her son, “then she went out onto the balcony, turned into a dove and flew away... straight into immortality.”

However, a more realistic version of the biography of Semiramis has also been preserved. According to the Greek writer Athenaeus of Naucratis (2nd century), Semiramis was at first “an insignificant court lady at the court of one of the Assyrian kings,” but she was “so beautiful that she won the royal love with her beauty.” And soon she persuaded the king, who took her as his wife, to give her power for only five days...

Having received the staff and donned the royal dress, she immediately arranged a great feast, at which she won over the military leaders and all the dignitaries to her side; On the second day, she already ordered the people and noble people to give her royal honors, and threw her husband into prison. So this determined woman seized the throne and retained it until old age, performing many great deeds... “Such are the contradictory reports of historians about Semiramis,” Diodorus concludes skeptically.

And yet Semiramis was real historical figure, however, we know little about her. In addition to the famous Shammuramat, we know several more “Semiramis”. About one of them, Herodotus wrote that “she lived five human centuries before another Babylonian queen, Nitocris” (i.e., around 750 BC). Other historians call Semiramis Atossa, the daughter and co-ruler of King Beloch, who ruled at the end of the 8th century BC. e.

However, the famous “Hanging Gardens” were not created by Semiramis and not even during her reign, but later, in honor of another, non-legendary, woman.

The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II (605 - 562 BC), in order to fight against the main enemy - Assyria, whose troops twice destroyed the capital of the state of Babylon, entered into a military alliance with Knaxar, the king of Media. Having won, they divided the territory of Assyria among themselves. The military alliance was strengthened by the marriage of Nebuchadnezzar II to the daughter of the Median king Semiramis.

Dusty and noisy Babylon, located on a bare sandy plain, did not please the queen, who grew up in mountainous and green Media. To console her, Nebuchadnezzar ordered the construction of “hanging gardens.” This king, who destroyed city after city and even entire states, built a lot in Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar turned the capital into an impregnable stronghold and surrounded himself with luxury unparalleled even in those times. Nebuchadnezzar built his palace on an artificially created platform, raised to the height of a four-tiered structure.

So far, the most accurate information about the Gardens comes from Greek historians, for example, from Verossus and Diodorus, but the description of the Gardens is rather meager. This is how the gardens are described in their testimonies: “The garden is quadrangular, and each side of it is four plethra long. It consists of arc-shaped storages that are arranged in a checkerboard pattern like cubic bases. Ascent to the uppermost terrace is possible by stairs...” Manuscripts from the time of Nebuchadnezzar do not have a single reference to the “Hanging Gardens,” although they contain descriptions of the palace of the city of Babylon. Even historians who give detailed descriptions"Hanging Gardens", have never seen them.

Modern historians prove that when the soldiers of Alexander the Great reached the fertile land of Mesopotamia and saw Babylon, they were amazed. After returning to their homeland, they reported amazing gardens and trees in Mesopotamia, the palace of Nebuchadnezzar, the Tower of Babel and ziggurats. This gave food to the imagination of poets and ancient historians, who mixed all these stories into one whole to produce one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

Architecturally, the Hanging Gardens were a pyramid consisting of four tiers - platforms, they were supported by columns up to 25 m high. The lower tier had the shape of an irregular quadrangle, the largest side of which was 42 m, the smallest - 34 m. To prevent the seepage of irrigation water, the surface Each platform was first covered with a layer of reeds mixed with asphalt, then two layers of brick held together with gypsum mortar, and lead slabs were laid on top. On them lay a thick carpet of fertile soil, where seeds of various herbs, flowers, shrubs, and trees were planted. The pyramid resembled an ever-blooming green hill.

The floors of the gardens rose in ledges and were connected by wide, gentle staircases covered with pink and white stone. The height of the floors reached almost 28 meters and provided enough light for plants. “In carts drawn by oxen, trees wrapped in damp matting and seeds of rare herbs, flowers and bushes were brought to Babylon.” And trees of the most amazing species and beautiful flowers bloomed in extraordinary gardens. Pipes were placed in the cavity of one of the columns, through which water from the Euphrates was supplied by pumps day and night. upper tier gardens, from where it, flowing in streams and small waterfalls, irrigated the plants of the lower tiers. Day and night, hundreds of slaves turned a lifting wheel with leather buckets, bringing water from the Euphrates to the gardens. The murmur of water, shade and coolness among the trees taken from distant Media seemed miraculous.

Magnificent gardens with rare trees, fragrant flowers and coolness in sultry Babylonia were truly a wonder of the world. But during the Persian rule, Nebuchadnezzar's palace fell into disrepair. It had 172 rooms ( with total area 52 000 square meters), decorated and furnished with truly oriental luxury. Now the Persian kings occasionally stayed there during “inspection” trips throughout their vast empire. In 331 BC. e. Alexander the Great's troops captured Babylon. The famous commander made the city the capital of his huge empire. It was here, in the shadow of the Hanging Gardens, that he died in 339 BC. e. The throne room of the palace and the chambers of the lower tier of the hanging gardens were the last place on earth of the great commander, who spent 16 years in continuous wars and campaigns and did not lose a single battle.

After the death of Alexander, Babylon gradually fell into decay. The gardens were in disrepair. Powerful floods destroyed brick foundation columns and platforms collapsed to the ground. Thus one of the wonders of the world perished...

The man who excavated the Hanging Gardens was the German scientist Robert Koldewey. He was born in 1855 in Germany, studied in Berlin, Munich and Vienna, where he studied architecture, archeology and art history. Before he was thirty, he managed to take part in excavations in Assos and on the island of Lesbos. In 1887 he was engaged in excavations in Babylonia, later in Syria, southern Italy, Sicily, then again in Syria. Koldewey was an extraordinary person, and in comparison with colleagues in the profession - and an unusual scientist. His love for archeology, a science that, according to the publications of some specialists, may seem boring, did not prevent him from studying countries, observing people, seeing everything, noticing everything, reacting to everything. Among other things, Koldewey the architect had one passion: his favorite pastime was the history of sewers. Architect, poet, archaeologist and sanitation historian - such a rare combination! And it was this man that the Berlin Museum sent to excavations in Babylon. And it was he who found the famous “Hanging Gardens”!

One day, while excavating, Koldewey came across some vaults. They were under a five-meter layer of clay and rubble on Qasr Hill, which hid the ruins of the southern fortress and the royal palace. He continued his excavations, hoping to find a basement under the arches, although it seemed strange to him that the basement would be under the roofs of neighboring buildings. But he did not find any side walls: the workers’ shovels only tore off the pillars on which these vaults rested. The pillars were made of stone, and stone was very rare in Mesopotamian architecture. And finally Koldewey discovered traces of a deep stone well, but a well with a strange three-stage spiral shaft. The vault was lined not only with brick, but also with stone.

The totality of all the details made it possible to see in this building an extremely successful design for that time (both from the point of view of technology and from the point of view of architecture). Apparently, this structure was intended for very special purposes.

And suddenly it dawned on Koldewey! In all the literature about Babylon, starting with ancient authors (Josephus, Diodorus, Ctesias, Strabo and others) and ending with cuneiform tablets, wherever the “sinful city” was discussed, there were only two mentions of the use of stone in Babylon, and this was especially emphasized during the construction of the northern wall of the Qasr region and during the construction of the “Hanging Gardens” of Babylon.

Koldewey re-read the ancient sources again. He weighed every phrase, every line, every word; he even ventured into the alien field of comparative linguistics. In the end, he came to the conclusion that the found structure could not be anything other than the vault of the basement floor of the evergreen “hanging gardens” of Babylon, inside of which there was an amazing plumbing system for those times.

But there was no more miracle: the hanging gardens were destroyed by floods of the Euphrates, which rises 3-4 meters during floods. And now we can imagine them only from the descriptions of ancient authors and with the help of our own imagination. Even in the last century, the German traveler, member of many honorary scientific societies, I. Pfeiffer, described in her travel notes that she saw “on the ruins of El-Qasr one forgotten tree from the cone-bearing family, completely unknown in these parts. The Arabs call it “atale” and consider it sacred. The most talked about this tree amazing stories(as if it were left over from the “Hanging Gardens”) and they claim that they heard sad, plaintive sounds in its branches when a strong wind blows”...

Here's a short one documentary, which clearly describes how everything was arranged in this wonderful complex:

Source stomaster