Monday, June 01, 2009

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon was a man-made structure that was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The Hanging Gardens originated in approximately 605 B.C.
Babylon, the capital of Babylonia, was built between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers, where modern Baghdad, in Iraq, stands today. King Nebuchadnezzar built the Hanging Gardens for his wife, Amytis, who was the Princess of the Medes.
The Hanging Gardens was built on arches overlooking the city walls. The lowest terrace was twenty-four meters off the ground and each succeeding terrace was three meters higher. There were about six terraces, so that the topmost terrace was forty meters off the ground.
The first stage of the building was a series of brick archways that were the same height as the city walls. Underneath them lay a shaded courtyard. On top of these arches, the Babylonians built long brick terraces in rows. These terraces were lined with lead, to hold the water, the covered with thick layers of fertile soil. Many exotic plants and trees were planted. Each flower-bed was the size of a tennis court and the area of each terrace was thirty meters long by five meters long by five meters wide.

(Taken from Bahasa Inggris, Materi PTBK Buku 2)

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