What evidence is there in Babylonian writings that the hanging gardens of Babylon existed?
As far as I know the evidence for the Hanging Gardens comes from Greek literature, the writings of Strabo, to be exact. Herodotus (c 450 BC) described the City of Babylon, but did not mention the Gardens at all. “The Greek geographer Strabo, who described the gardens in first century BC, wrote, “It consists of vaulted terraces raised one above another, and resting upon cube-shaped pillars. These are hollow and filled with earth to allow trees of the largest size to be planted. The pillars, the vaults, and terraces are constructed of baked brick and asphalt.” “The ascent to the highest story is by stairs, and 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.” Strabo touchs on what, to the ancients, 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 irrigated by using water from the
