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翻译：Darren
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
The ancient city of Babylon must have been a wonder to traveler’s eyes. “In addition to its size,wrote 1)Herodotus, “Cabylon 2)surpasses in 3)splendor any city in the known world.
Herodotus claimed the outer walls were 56 miles (90km) in length, 80 feet (24m) thick and 320 feet (97m) high. The inner walls were “not so thick as the first, but hardly less strong.Inside the walls were 4)fortresses and temples containing huge statues of solid gold. Rising above the city was the famous Tower of Babel注 that seemed to reach to the heavens.
While5)archaeological examination has 6)disputed some of Herodotus’s claims, his description does give us a sense of how 7)awesome the features of the city appeared to those that visited it. Interestingly enough, though, one of the city’s most 8)spectacular sites is not even mentioned by Herodotus The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Accounts indicate that the garden was built by King 9)NebuchadnezzarII, who ruled the city for 43 years starting in 605 BC. This was the height of the city’s power and influence, and King Nebuchadnezzar IIbuilt an astonishing amount of temples, streets, palaces and walls.
It is believed that the gardens were built to cheer up Nebuchadnezzar’s homesick wife, Amyitis. Amyitis, daughter of the king of the 10)Medes, was married to Nebuchadnezzar. The land she came from was green and mountainous, and she found the flat, sun-baked landscape of 11)Mesopotamia depressing. The king decided to recreate her homeland by building an 12)artificial mountain with rooftop gardens.
The Hanging Gardens probably did not really “hangin the sense of being 13)suspended from ropes. The name comes from an 14)inexact translation of the Greek word “premastosor the Latin word “kensilis,which mean not just “hanging,but15)overhanging.
Lifting Water into the Air
The Greek geographer 16)Strabo, who described the gardens in first century BC, wrote: “It consists of 17)vaulted 18)terraces raised one above another, and resting upon cube-shaped pillars. These are hollow and filled with earth to allow trees to be planted...There are stairs to the highest level, and at their side are water engines. Persons are employed continually in raising water from the 19)Euphrates into the garden.
Strabo touches on what was probably the most amazing part of the garden. Babylon rarely received rain, and for the garden to survive, it would have had to been 20)irrigated by using water from the nearby Euphrates River. That meant lifting the water far into the air so it could flow down through the terraces, watering the plants at each level.
This was probably done by a “chain pump”.
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 21)dumped into an upper pool. The chain then carries the empty buckets back down to be refilled. The pump wheel below was 22)attached to a 23)shaft and a handle. By turning the handle, slaves provided the power to run the 24)mechanism.
Construction of the garden wasn’t only 25)complicated by getting the water up to the top, but also by having to avoid having the liquid ruin the foundation. Since stone was difficult to get on the Mesopotamian plain, most of the 26)architecture in Babel used brick. These bricks quickly 27)dissolved when soaked with water. For most buildings in Babel this wasn’t a problem, because rain was so rare. However, the gardens were continually exposed to irrigation and the foundation had to be protected.
28)Diodorus Siculus, a Greek historian, stated that the platforms on which the garden stood consisted of huge slabs of stone, covered with layers of 29)reed, 30)asphalt and 31)tiles. Over this was put “a covering with 32)lead, that the wet might not 33)rot the foundation. Upon all these was laid earth of a convenient depth, enough 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 34)spectators.
How big were the gardens? Diodorus tells us it was about 400 feet (121m) wide by 400 feet (121m) long and more than 80 feet (24m) high. Other accounts indicate the height was equal to the outer city walls.
Did the Hanging Gardens Really Exist?
In any case the gardens were an amazing sight: A green, leafy, artificial mountain rising off the plain. But did it actually exist? After all, Herodotus never mentions it.
This was one of the questions that 35)occurred to German archaeologist Robert Koldewey in 1899. For centuries before that, the ancient city of Babel was nothing but a mound of muddy 36)debris. Koldewey dug on the Babel site for some14 years and found many of its features including the outer walls, inner walls, foundation of the Tower of Babel, Nebuchadnezzar’s palaces and the wide roadway which passed through the heart of the city.
While 37)excavating the Southern 38)Citadel, Koldewey discovered a basement with fourteen large rooms with stone 39)arch ceilings. Ancient records indicated that only two locations in the city had made use of stone, the north wall of the Northern Citadel, and the Hanging Gardens. The north wall of the Northern Citadel had already been found and had, indeed, contained stone. This made it seem likely that Koldewey had found the 40)cellar of the gardens.
He continued exploring the area and discovered many of the features reported by Diodorus. Finally a room was found with three large, strange holes in the floor. Koldewey concluded this had been the location of the chain pumps.
While Koldewey was 41)convinced he’d found the gardens, some modern archaeologists call his discovery into question, arguing that this location is too far from the river. Also, 42)tablets recently found at the site suggest that the location was used for 43)administrative or storage purposes, not as a pleasure garden.
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
The ancient city of Babylon must have been a wonder to traveler’s eyes. “In addition to its size,wrote 1)Herodotus, “Cabylon 2)surpasses in 3)splendor any city in the known world.
Herodotus claimed the outer walls were 56 miles (90km) in length, 80 feet (24m) thick and 320 feet (97m) high. The inner walls were “not so thick as the first, but hardly less strong.Inside the walls were 4)fortresses and temples containing huge statues of solid gold. Rising above the city was the famous Tower of Babel注 that seemed to reach to the heavens.
While5)archaeological examination has 6)disputed some of Herodotus’s claims, his description does give us a sense of how 7)awesome the features of the city appeared to those that visited it. Interestingly enough, though, one of the city’s most 8)spectacular sites is not even mentioned by Herodotus The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Accounts indicate that the garden was built by King 9)NebuchadnezzarII, who ruled the city for 43 years starting in 605 BC. This was the height of the city’s power and influence, and King Nebuchadnezzar IIbuilt an astonishing amount of temples, streets, palaces and walls.
It is believed that the gardens were built to cheer up Nebuchadnezzar’s homesick wife, Amyitis. Amyitis, daughter of the king of the 10)Medes, was married to Nebuchadnezzar. The land she came from was green and mountainous, and she found the flat, sun-baked landscape of 11)Mesopotamia depressing. The king decided to recreate her homeland by building an 12)artificial mountain with rooftop gardens.
The Hanging Gardens probably did not really “hangin the sense of being 13)suspended from ropes. The name comes from an 14)inexact translation of the Greek word “premastosor the Latin word “kensilis,which mean not just “hanging,but15)overhanging.
Lifting Water into the Air
The Greek geographer 16)Strabo, who described the gardens in first century BC, wrote: “It consists of 17)vaulted 18)terraces raised one above another, and resting upon cube-shaped pillars. These are hollow and filled with earth to allow trees to be planted...There are stairs to the highest level, and at their side are water engines. Persons are employed continually in raising water from the 19)Euphrates into the garden.
Strabo touches on what was probably the most amazing part of the garden. Babylon rarely received rain, and for the garden to survive, it would have had to been 20)irrigated by using water from the nearby Euphrates River. That meant lifting the water far into the air so it could flow down through the terraces, watering the plants at each level.
This was probably done by a “chain pump”.
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 21)dumped into an upper pool. The chain then carries the empty buckets back down to be refilled. The pump wheel below was 22)attached to a 23)shaft and a handle. By turning the handle, slaves provided the power to run the 24)mechanism.
Construction of the garden wasn’t only 25)complicated by getting the water up to the top, but also by having to avoid having the liquid ruin the foundation. Since stone was difficult to get on the Mesopotamian plain, most of the 26)architecture in Babel used brick. These bricks quickly 27)dissolved when soaked with water. For most buildings in Babel this wasn’t a problem, because rain was so rare. However, the gardens were continually exposed to irrigation and the foundation had to be protected.
28)Diodorus Siculus, a Greek historian, stated that the platforms on which the garden stood consisted of huge slabs of stone, covered with layers of 29)reed, 30)asphalt and 31)tiles. Over this was put “a covering with 32)lead, that the wet might not 33)rot the foundation. Upon all these was laid earth of a convenient depth, enough 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 34)spectators.
How big were the gardens? Diodorus tells us it was about 400 feet (121m) wide by 400 feet (121m) long and more than 80 feet (24m) high. Other accounts indicate the height was equal to the outer city walls.
Did the Hanging Gardens Really Exist?
In any case the gardens were an amazing sight: A green, leafy, artificial mountain rising off the plain. But did it actually exist? After all, Herodotus never mentions it.
This was one of the questions that 35)occurred to German archaeologist Robert Koldewey in 1899. For centuries before that, the ancient city of Babel was nothing but a mound of muddy 36)debris. Koldewey dug on the Babel site for some14 years and found many of its features including the outer walls, inner walls, foundation of the Tower of Babel, Nebuchadnezzar’s palaces and the wide roadway which passed through the heart of the city.
While 37)excavating the Southern 38)Citadel, Koldewey discovered a basement with fourteen large rooms with stone 39)arch ceilings. Ancient records indicated that only two locations in the city had made use of stone, the north wall of the Northern Citadel, and the Hanging Gardens. The north wall of the Northern Citadel had already been found and had, indeed, contained stone. This made it seem likely that Koldewey had found the 40)cellar of the gardens.
He continued exploring the area and discovered many of the features reported by Diodorus. Finally a room was found with three large, strange holes in the floor. Koldewey concluded this had been the location of the chain pumps.
While Koldewey was 41)convinced he’d found the gardens, some modern archaeologists call his discovery into question, arguing that this location is too far from the river. Also, 42)tablets recently found at the site suggest that the location was used for 43)administrative or storage purposes, not as a pleasure garden.