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Babylon Gardens: Landscape Design Assignment

The document provides information about the Hanging Gardens of Babylon: 1) The gardens were built in 600 BC in Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar II for his wife as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. 2) They featured terraced gardens constructed on the side of a ziggurat and contained exotic plants and animals imported from around the world. 3) The gardens were irrigated through an elaborate system that used chain pumps to lift water from the Euphrates River and release it into pools and channels to water the different garden terraces high above the ground.

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Anna Poulose
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289 views18 pages

Babylon Gardens: Landscape Design Assignment

The document provides information about the Hanging Gardens of Babylon: 1) The gardens were built in 600 BC in Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar II for his wife as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. 2) They featured terraced gardens constructed on the side of a ziggurat and contained exotic plants and animals imported from around the world. 3) The gardens were irrigated through an elaborate system that used chain pumps to lift water from the Euphrates River and release it into pools and channels to water the different garden terraces high above the ground.

Uploaded by

Anna Poulose
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Babylon gardens

Landscape design assignment

19-07-2010

Origin
Mainly started as agricultural practices. Established in around 600 BC. Made by Nebuchadnezzar-II for his wife Amyitis, daughter of the king of the Medes. Considered as one of the 7 wonders.

Design features
Terrace gardens. Constructed on one side of the ziggurat. Part of a huge palatial complex. Considered as 1st created landscape inspired by the irrigated fields of Mesopotamia. The garden was also renowned for its massive walls. It contained exotic plants and animals which were imported from all over the world.

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.

Construction techniques
The platforms on which the garden stood consisted of huge slabs of stone, covered with layers of reed, asphalt and tiles. Over this was put a covering with sheets of lead, so that the water which drenched through the earth should not rot the foundation. Upon all these was laid earth of a convenient depth, sufficient for the growth of the greatest trees. When the soil was laid even and smooth, it was planted with all sorts of trees, which both for greatness and beauty might delight the

Size of the gardens


Some records mention it was about 400 feet wide by 400 feet long and more than 80 feet high. Other accounts indicate the height was equal to the outer city walls (320 feet high). In any case the gardens were an amazing sight: A green, leafy, artificial mountain rising off the plain. It consists of vaulted terraces

Technologies
The ascent to the highest story is by stairs. At their side are water engines, by means of which persons, appointed expressly for the purpose, are continually employed in raising water from the Euphrates into the garden. That meant lifting the water far into the air so it could flow down through the terraces,

Irrigation
A chain pump is two large wheels, one above the other, connected by a chain. On the chain are hung buckets. Below the bottom wheel is a pool with the water source. As the wheel is turned, the buckets dip into the pool and pick up water. The chain then lifts them to the upper wheel, where the buckets are tipped and dumped into an upper pool. The chain then carries the empty ones back down to be refilled. The pool at the top of the gardens could then be released by gates into channels which acted as artificial streams to water the gardens. The pump wheel below was attached to a shaft and a handle. By turning the handle slaves provided the power to run the contraption.

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