When you get closer to the slope of the garden you see the building rises in layers…. The whole of the structure seems to symbolize the whole world... Giant piles of plants, large and thick trees are so attractive that they fascinate the beholders… Some tools raise the abundant water coming from the river… And you cannot see all this from the outside… (Historian Diodorus Siculus)

Waterfalls, fruits and flowers, gardens overflowing from the floors of the building, exotic animals… These were the beauties that were remembered by those who saw the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. If  the historians and poets of Ancient Greece were not, no one would have heard of such a miracle.

The location of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon is estimated to be 80 km south of Baghdad on the east bank of the Euphrates River. While some scholars argue that the Gardens were not in Babylon but in Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire, others adhere to the ancient authors and expect archeology to provide positive evidence. Here I mostly deal with what ancient writers have told us. On the other hand, there is a third group that claims that the Hanging Gardens of Babylon are a figment of imagination.

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were sometimes referred to the Hanging Gardens of Semiramis by the Greeks, after the half-legendary and half-divine female Assyrian ruler who is thought to have extensively rebuilt Babylon in the 9th century BC. The 5th-century BC Greek historian Herodotus describes Babylon's impressive irrigation system and walls, but does not specifically mention any gardens. The first mention in an ancient source of the gardens actually belongs to Berossus of Kos, a priest named Bel-Usru of Babylon, who settled on the Greek island. writing c. In 290 BC, Berossus' work survives only as excerpts from the works of later authors, but much of his account of Babylon has been corroborated by archaeology.

According to modern historians, the soldiers of Alexander the Great were fascinated by the fertile, lush lands of Babylon and when they returned, the fascinating palms and gardens of Mesopotamia. They could never stop speaking highly of Nebuchadnezzar's palace, the famous tower of Babylon and the ziggurats.

(Ziggurat: Pyramid-like structures containing terrace-like sections in ancient Mesopotamia and occasionally in Iran. It is a kind of temple in Sumerian, Assyrian and Babylonian societies. Unlike pyramids, Ziggurats have flat tops.)

What is told beyond these is the imagination of poets and ancient historians. Thus, The Hanging Gardens of Babylon took its place among the 7 Wonders of the World, and this mystery continued until the 20th century. However, several archaeologists have announced that they have found some evidence. The evidence they found was the Gardens' irrigation system. This was real proof.

For a detailed description of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, we particularly get information from Strabo and the Byzantine Philo. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were described thus;

“The garden was rectangular. Its two long sides were 400 meter length and decorated with arches and cube-shaped fountains. The stairs, starting from the bottom, spiraled up and went up to the terrace at the top. The entire structure was supported by stone pillars and the water flow was provided by inclined channels. The water that went down was brought back up by a system and watered all the plants while going down. What was done reflected exactly the luxury of a kingdom…”

Claiming that the garden was close to the king's palace, irrigation channels and walls that are thought to be garden walls were found during the excavations carried out near the ancient Babylon ruins. No one has seen the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, but its glory still continues. Maybe more reliable data can be obtained if excavations can be carried out in healthy conditions in Iraq one day.