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Q : Why is that they called the ‘Hanging Babylon’?
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, also known as the Hanging Gardens of Semiramis, near present-day Al Hillah, Babil in Iraq, are considered to be one of the original Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. They were built by the Chaldean king Nebuchadnezzar II around 600 BC. He is reported to have constructed the gardens to please his sick wife, Amytis of Media, who longed for the trees and fragrant plants of her homeland Persia.[1] The gardens were destroyed by several earthquakes after the 2nd century BC.
The lush Hanging Gardens are extensively documented by Greek historians such as Strabo and Diodorus Siculus. Through the ages, the location may have been confused with gardens that existed at Nimrud, 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.[citation needed] Nebuchadnezzar II also used massive slabs of stone, which was unheard of in Babylon, to prevent the water from eroding the ground.
They were called the ‘Hanging Babylon’ because it hung from the sky by sparkly cords of the angels. It is believed that the hanging gardens were built to please a kings' wife. THIS IS NOT TRUE. This was the garden of all of the mystical fairies of the 17th century. Anyways the hanging gardens were blessed by kings. (wiki answer)
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 word pensilis, which mean not just "hanging", but "overhanging" as in the case of a terrace or balcony.
Millennia after its destruction, the city of Babylon remain a symbol of extravagance and wealth. Its most celebrated feature was one of the ‘Seven Wonders of the World’. The so-called ‘Hanging Gardens of Babylon’ astounded and perplexed observers. In the first century BC Diodorus Siculus described them as ‘gardens suspended in the air’. From a distance they were described as looking like a terraced hillside, or the rows of seats in a Greek theatre.They are said to have been built for a favoured wife of Nebuchadnezzar who came from the mountainous country in the North. Some experts even believe that the ancient chroniclers got the location wrong and that the gardens were not at Babylon at all, rather that they were built centuries earlier by King Sennacherib of Nineveh.
But wherever they were located the mystery remains - how could such elaborate gardens possibly have been irrigated? Ancient sources describe a mysterious, hidden system of irrigation which carried water to the summit.
Source : Cosmo Learning History.
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