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Hanging Gardens of Babylon Facts & Worksheets

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World and thought to have been located near the royal palace in Babylon.

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The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World and thought to have been located near the royal palace in Babylon. Its name is derived from the Greek word kremastós (“overhanging”) which also refers to trees being planted on a raised structure such as a terrace.

See the fact file below for more information on the Hanging Gardens of Babylon or alternatively, you can download our 20-page Hanging Gardens of Babylon worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

DESCRIPTION

  • The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were believed to be built by the Neo-Babylonian King, Nebuchadnezzar II, who ruled between 605 and 562 BC. The gardens were said to be built as a gift for his Median wife, Queen Amytis who missed her homeland of Media.
  • This belief was later disputed stating that its construction was attributed to the legendary queen Semiramis, hence its alternate name “Hanging Gardens of Semiramis”.
  • Among the seven wonders, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon are the only one in which the location has not been definitely established. There was no archeological evidence in Babylon nor Babylonian texts that mention the gardens.

BABYLON AND NEBUCHADNEZZAR II

  • Babylon, located at about 80 km (50 miles) south of modern Baghdad in Iraq was an ancient city with a history of settlement. Its greatest period was in the 6th century BC during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II when the city was the capital of the Neo-Babylonian Empire.
  • The empire had been founded by Nebuchadnezzar’s father Nabopolassar (r. 625-605 BC) after his victories over the Assyrian Empire. Nebuchadnezzar II would go on to even greater things, including the capture of Jerusalem in 597 BC.
  • The Babylonian king then set about making his capital one of the most splendid cities in the world.

THE GARDENS

  • The gardens were not just about flowers and plants, but were architectural and sculptural, where water features were added.
  • These gardens became such a desired feature that fresco painters, such as those at Pompeii used this as their subject.
  • The gardens were also described in detail by a number of classical authors, but without traces, the Gardens were said to be a poetic creation and not an actual creation.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL THEORIES

  • In search for its existence, German archaeologist Robert Koldewey in 1899 found nothing but a mound of muddy debris never explored by scientists. Questions were raised by him such as: if they did exist, what happened to the gardens? There is a report that they were destroyed by an earthquake in the second century B.C. If so, the jumbled remains, mostly made of mud-brick, probably slowly eroded away with the infrequent rains.
  • Research in the late 20th and early 21st century suggested that the Hanging Gardens were just misconceptions, but Dr. Stephanie Dalley, an honorary research fellow and part of the Oriental Institute at England’s Oxford University believes to have found evidence of its existence.
  • Dalley asserts that the reason why there were no traces of the gardens is because they were never built in Babylon in the first place. By researching for two decades and studying cuneiform texts, Dalley believes that the gardens were constructed 300 miles to the north of Babylon in Nineveh, the capital of the rival Assyrian empire. It was there that Assyrian King Sennacherib, not Nebuchadnezzar II, built the gardens at around 7th century BC.
  • More findings supported this claim where recent excavations around Nineveh, near the modern-day Iraq city of Mosul, have uncovered an aqueduct system that delivered water from the mountains. This system was believed to be the irrigation system of the Hanging Gardens.

Hanging Gardens of Babylon Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about Hanging Gardens of Babylon across 20 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Hanging Gardens of Babylon worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about the Hanging Gardens of Babylon which were considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World and thought to have been located near the royal palace in Babylon. Its name is derived from the Greek word kremastós (“overhanging”) which also refers to trees being planted on a raised structure such as a terrace.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Hanging Gardens of Babylon Facts
  • Look Back
  • Imagine Paradise
  • Garden’s Trademark
  • The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
  • Describe It!
  • Investigate it!
  • Correct me, if I’m Wrong
  • Building the Hanging Gardens
  • Let’s Make it Last
  • The Ancient Wonders

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Link will appear as Hanging Gardens of Babylon Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, May 2, 2019

Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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