HANGING GARDENS OF BABYLON WERE NOT IN BABYLON!

as far as i know remnants are still to be seen in today's Baghdad.

well, unless we're speaking of two different hanging gardens. I mean the Semiramis' hanging gardens, but i reckon it must be the same- one of the seven marvels of the world.

Who when where?

Semiramis was Assyrian, i don't think she has anything to do with what was considered one of the wonders of the ancient world.

I'm with Walter, too vague . . .

hmmm, that's what i was taught in primary school - that Hanging gardens of Semiramis were one of the seven wonders of the world.... gotta look it up. i mean, primary school wasn't exactly yesterday.

obviously you did not attend primary school in the USA, where the most complicated thing our primary students learn is where their nap mats go and how to leave the cafeteria in single file.

mmmm no. i had to know capital cities in the whole world, principles of archimedean physics, the entire Mendelejev's table of elements and great many more things I've long forgotten since.

YESSSSSS! i do indeed remeber something.

From wikipedia:

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon (also known as the Hanging Gardens of Semiramis) and the walls of Babylon (present-day Iraq) were considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World. They were both supposedly built by Nebuchadnezzar II around 600 BC .

I wonder why they attributed them to Semiramis? I missed that one altogether.

The idea that the Hanging gardens were in Babylon appears to be based on a understanding of the book of Judith by Josephus,where it correctly says the right king(Sennaechib)(He besieghed Hezekiah in Jerusalem),but gives wrong place.

That I've no idea about, Set.

I believe there are still remnants of the garden and the wall in Baghdad that one can see, isn't it so?

Well, i see now why she is associated with Babylon, having read this page at About-dot-com's women's history section. I had always known her from the Greek legends, in no account of which i had ever read about here marrying the "King" of Babylon, and having him executed. I had simply known her as the widow of the Assyrian ruler of Nineveh who made a name for herself as an effective ruler while regent for her son--successfully defeating invasions and increasing the size of her son's patrimony. I am awfully suspicious of this account (the one i've linked) as having been a good deal of embroidery on someone's part.

The source i find repeatedly referred to is Diodorus Siculus, not a well-thought of ancient historian. The kindest description of him which i found reads:



I am completely unfamiliar with "UNRV History," which seems to be dedicated to ancient history. One might think it a university site, but there is no "about us" link, and it does not have the file extension "edu," which is characteristic of university web sites. Qui said? Tant pis . . .

Byron could NOT be wrong, badboy:

Byron
The Destruction Of Sennacherib
Poem lyrics of The Destruction Of Sennacherib by George Gordon, Lord Byron.
The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;
And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.
Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green,
That host with their banners at sunset were seen:
Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown,
That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.

For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed in the face of the foe as he pass'd,
And the eyes of the sleepers wax'd deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!
And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide,
But through it there roll'd not the breath of his pride;
And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,
And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.

And there lay the rider distorted and pale,
With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail:
And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,
The lances unlifted, the trumpets unblown.
And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail,
And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal;
And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,
Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord!

Sorry, I LOVE that poem