In 60 AD, the historian Diodorus Siculus writes, “The approach to the Garden sloped like a hillside and the several parts of the structure rose from one another like tier on tier… and was thickly planted with trees of every kind that, by their great size and other charm, gave pleasure to the beholder” (Donnan, para. 3). This fantastical description of the fabled Hanging Gardens of Babylon, along with many others, has enamoured archaeologists for years. Where and by whom were they built by? More importantly, for what reason were they built? However, some archaeologists have dismissed the notion of the gardens existing by claiming that there is not enough substantial evidence from Babylon to support the ancient world wonder’s corporeality (Dalley, para. 2). Fortunately, there are so many accounts of the gardens that it is not plausible that they were nonexistent (Dalley, …show more content…
In fact, new research suggests that the Hanging Gardens of Babylon existed, but were actually located in Assyria. Because the historic accounts of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon claim that the gardens were in Babylon, many archaeologists have focused on this region to search for evidence. No evidence of substance has been found, but many archaeologists still insist on this theory and continue excavation to this day (“Hanging Gardens of Babylon,” para. 1). One of the foremost original theories regarding the garden’s construction at Babylon was that they were built by Queen Sammu-ramat, a mythical figure credited with the creation of the kingdom of Babylonia (“Hanging Gardens of Babylon,” para. 1). This claim proposes that she built the gardens sometime between her rule of 810 to 783 BC