Hanging Gardens fact or fiction?

[tibilicus]

Where the hanging gardens ever built? Even more did they even excist? Alexanders men said it did. But the people of that are and of the anchient lands of Babylon have never recorded it. Ehat do u think? Were Alexanders men sufering from heat stroke? Or were they real?

[tibilicus]

Please parden my poor spelling.

[ShadesPanther]

Well it is strange the Babylonians never mentioned it. I suppose they could of taken it for granted or maybe the writings of it by them are lost. I guess we won't know for sure until archaeological evidence is found

[Shambles]

Im prety shure they exiisted like the colossus,
they were 1 of the 7 wonders of the ancient orld right?

The colosus of rhodes does not have Much literacy backing up the fact that it ever existed,
And the text that do exist are really unbelevable, Some saying that It stood stradeling the opening to the docks Which would mean hed have had to have been Thousands of feet high,

However archeologists say it was on top of a mountain over looking the docks, and was Still prety Huge,

No real evidence exists But still It existed,
Atleast thats what historians would have us beleve,

Howmany of the 7 wonders can we prove?

[tibilicus]

We can only prove the ones that still excist. Then again isnt everything lost in time.

[Red Harvest]

I've never heard of anything supporting the existence of the hanging gardens other than the one mentioned.

I thought the Colossus was better established, although not through archaeological finds, but instead by multiple sources attesting to its existence. It was supposedly erected some time after 300 BC and stood for about 50 years before an earthquake toppled it. (It apparently did not span the harbor entrance.) And supposedly there it lay for ~900 years until the Arabs conquered Rhodes and broke it up for scrap in the 7th century AD.

[Craterus]

The 7 wonders are:

1. Pyramids at Giza. 2. Colossus of Rhodes. 3. Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. 4. Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. 5. Hanging Gardens of Babylon. 6. The Light House at Alexandria. 7. Statue of Zeus at Olympia.

I beleive in them all and my theory of the gardens of Babylon is that there were so many great Persian gardens that they were maybe nothing special to write about or of course the proof has been lost.

Thank you to Browning for his help on the update on my list

[Browning]

Craterus, there is

6. the Lighthouse of Alexandria

missing in your list.

[EDit: Craterus updated his post above this one.]

[Mouzafphaerre]

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As I conclude from what I have read (not very thorough and not too much either) they are fiction or mythology (like Troia ).
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[Accounting Troll]

I read somewhere that the Babylonians did build the Hanging Gardens, but instead of building them in the city of Babylon, they built them in one of the other cities they ruled at the time, and over time people got confused between the city and the empire. There are the remains of several ziggurats at the sites of Ur and Nineveh.

Unfortunatly a lot of the archaeological evidence from Babylon was lost in the Saddam Hussein era when there was a massive rebuilding program that turned the site into a theme park, and many of the artefacts that were dug up got sold on the black market. Perhaps this was an attempt to outdo the archaeologist who tried to dynamite his way into one of the Egyptian pyramids to see how had it would be.

[Colovion]

based on fact, but probably exaggerated

gardens as such we well known to exist, I'm thinking that Babylon was just, at one point, the pinnacle of the 'hanging garden fad' and so the mere concept is now attributed to Babylon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanging_Gardens_of_Babylon

[Craterus]

Craterus, there is

6. the Lighthouse of Alexandria

missing in your list.

Hehe, and theres the proof that I didnt copy that from a website and I actually know them all. But I forgot one, probably because it is my least favourite... Thanks for telling me, I'll update

[tibilicus]

I know have evidence the hanging gardes did exsist. However it was not in Babylon most probably Navada or what ever its called near it. There there has been found scriptures talking of a great Garden. The gardens would of probably neded 300 qubeic meters of water i think it was wich is a lot of water per day and that was just the top teresas. They would of probably been waterd buy devises similar to the Archemidis screw. Hope that sorted it a bit.

[Craterus]

The golf courses on Dubai use 1 million litres of water per day. I think? I can't remember the exact statistic.

[AntiochusIII]

The 7 wonders are:

1. Pyramids at Giza. 2. Colossus of Rhodes. 3. Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. 4. Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. 5. Hanging Gardens of Babylon. 6. The Light House at Alexandria. 7. Statue of Zeus at Olympia.

Pyramid of Giza - Alive and well. Well, may be dead, but still here on Earth.

Colossus of Rhodes - Several sources are there. Believe or not up to you. It's said that the Rhodians built this from the remains of Demetrius' largest siege ever to celebrate their victory. The last bronze pieces of the fallen Colossus were said to be taken by Muslim conquerors.

Mausoleum of Halicarnassus - I don't know much about the history of it. Do they discover anything there? It's said that Mausolos' sister orders the construction. It was known for being simple yet elegant, large, and noticably Greek-style but not for Greek gods - which was strange, or so we believed...

Temple of Artemis - Ruins are there, aren't they? So they're there. The story of its temporary downfall is weird, though. "Artemis was so obsessed over watching the newborn Alexander that she didn't protect her temple from being destroyed..."

Hanging Gardens - the most controversial ones. I believe the Babylonians takes it as a norm, or as "just a part of the grand palace." While the Greeks were amazed. But that's my theory.

Light House - They should be there, since many sources in history recorded it. And Alexandria was a New York of the ancient world, anyway. The ridiculously rich Ptolemies would certainly do something about their city...

Statue of Zeus - The ruins are gone, for the statue, but the Temple is still there, right? Well, concerning the fact that is was The most important site in Greece as much as Delos and Delphi, no surprise if there is a statue there.

So, at least two are proven existence. What about the other five?