The Mystery of the Hanging Garden of Babylon

Add to My Reading List

Stephanie Dalley

Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, 2013, English

Nonfiction, Landscape Design

8.5 x 5.4 inches, hardcover, 352 pages, 90 illustrations, 8 color plates

ISBN: 9780199662265

Suggested Retail Price: $34.95

Recognized in ancient times as one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the legendary Hanging Garden of Babylon and its location remain to this day a mystery steeped in shadow and puzzling myths. Now offering a brilliant solution to a question that has challenged archeologists for centuries, The Mystery of the Hanging Garden of Babylon is an exciting story of detection as well as a lavishly illustrated and vividly written description of a little-known civilization.

In this remarkable volume, Stephanie Dalley, a world expert on ancient Babylonian language, gathers in one place for the first time all the material on this enigmatic wonder. Tracing the history of the Garden, Dalley describes how deciphering an ancient Assyrian text--and comparing it to sculpture in the British Museum--provided the clues that enabled her to pin down where the Garden was positioned (it was not the Babylon we know today) and to describe in detail what it may have looked like. The author also offers a groundbreaking description of the technology behind the Hanging Garden's water supply, highlighting a very early occurrence of the "water-raising screw." And through her dramatic and fascinating reconstruction of the Garden, Dalley is also able to follow its influence on later garden design.

A Designers & Books Notable Design Book of 2013

On 1 book list

Diana Balmori

On Diana Balmori’s Notable Books of 2013 list

This is a notable book. After decades of doubt about the very existence of Babylon’s hanging garden, this extremely interesting and solidly researched work takes us step by step along the circuitous route that led historical sources astray to the wrong site or the wrong attribution.

First, Dalley asks why, while the existence of six of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World had been proven, this one had been consigned to myth. With this intriguing question, she begins her long search for clues to solve this mystery.

In a good mystery, it is anathema to disclose the final discovery prematurely. But although I do not want to spoil this mystery for its new readers, I cannot help saying that the two major discoveries—first, that the garden was not built in Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar or Semiramis, but in Nineveh, in Assyria, by Sennacherib in 700 BC; and second, that it was built not on the Euphrates River, but on the Tigris—resulted in searches in the wrong places. The reasons that the names became confused is one of the most interesting parts of the story and the crux of the mystery.

Once the information is applied to the new site, the data and archaeology begin to fall into place. Of course, that doesn’t mean that it is possible to actually find the hanging garden by conducting an archeological dig at the new site; many cities succeeded one another on top of Sennacherib’s palace and garden. But significant elements remain, including both the elaborate complex that brought water to the palace and irrigated the garden, as well as some of the sculpted structures in important areas of the waterworks. As the author points out, this water system is an integral part of what made the garden one of the Seven Wonders.

The book is full of major surprises, such as that—several centuries before Archimedes was born—bronze Archimedean screws served to raise water to the top of the terraced garden. Learning about the water engineering is in itself a reason to read this book, particularly in an age in which water engineering has become a priority in cities menaced by rising seas.

Dalley’s descriptions of the terraced garden, the collection of plants from many distant places, the semicircular plan that later Greek writers described as similar to their amphitheaters, the shaded columned walk that connected the upper level of the garden with the palace, and finally the two bronze Archimedean screws carrying water to the top of the garden, all provide a picture of delight.

For the first time, we are on solid ground with regard to where the hanging garden stood. New discoveries will perhaps lead to some changes here and there in our knowledge, but they can only add richness to this superb discovery.

comments powered by Disqus

Announcements

Now is Better by Stefan Sagmeister

Now is Better

By Stefan Sagmeister
Publisher: Phaidon Press
Published: October 2023

Combining art, design, history, and quantitative analysis, transforms data sets into stunning artworks that underscore his positive view of human progress, inspiring us to think about the future with much-needed hope.

Order the book.

Design Emergency: Building a Better Future by Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli

Design Emergency: Building a Better Future

By Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli
Publisher: Phaidon Press
Published: May 2022

Rawsthorn and Antonelli tell the stories of the remarkable designers, architects, engineers, artists, scientists, and activists who are at the forefront of positive change worldwide. Focusing on four themes—Technology, Society, Communication, and Ecology—the authors present a unique portrait of how our great creative minds are developing new design solutions to the major challenges of our time, while helping us to benefit from advances in science and technology.

Order the book.

Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World’s Most Creative People by Debbie Millman

Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World's Most Creative People

By Debbie Millman
Publisher: Harper Design
Published: February 22, 2022

Debbie Millman—author, educator, brand consultant, and host of the widely successful and award-winning podcast “Design Matters”—showcases dozens of her most exciting interviews, bringing together insights and reflections from today’s leading creative minds from across diverse fields.

Order the book.

Milton Glaser: POP by Steven Heller, Mirko Ilić, and Beth Kleber

Milton Glaser: POP

By Steven Heller, Mirko Ilić, and Beth Kleber
Publisher: The Monacelli Press
Published: March 2023

This collection of work from graphci design legend Milton Glaser’s Pop period features hundreds of examples of the designer’s work that have not been seen since their original publication, demonstrating the graphic revolution that transformed design and popular culture.

Order the book.

Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall by Alexandra Lange

Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall

By Alexandra Lange
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Published: June 2022

Chronicles postwar architects’ and merchants’ invention of the shopping mall, revealing how the design of these marketplaces played an integral role in their cultural ascent. Publishers Weekly writes, “Contending that malls answer ‘the basic human need’ of bringing people together, influential design critic Lange advocates for retrofitting abandoned shopping centers into college campuses, senior housing, and ‘ethnocentric marketplaces’ catering to immigrant communities. Lucid and well researched, this is an insightful study of an overlooked and undervalued architectural form.”

Order the book.

Die Fläche: Design and Lettering of the Vienna Secession, 1902–1911 (Facsimile Edition) by Diane V. Silverthorne, Dan Reynolds, and Megan Brandow-Faller

Die Fläche: Design and Lettering of the Vienna Secession, 1902–1911 (Facsimile Edition)

By Diane V. Silverthorne, Dan Reynolds, and Megan Brandow-Faller
Publisher: Letterform Archives Books
Published: October 2023

This facsimile edition of Die Fläche, recreates every page of the formative design periodical in full color and at original size, accompanied by essays that contextualize the work, highlighting contributions by pathbreaking women, innovative lettering artists, and key practitioners of the new “surface art,” including Rudolf von Larisch, Alfred Roller, and Wiener Werkstätte founders Koloman Moser and Josef Hoffmann.

Order the book.