Hanging Gardens of Babylon Discovered in Ancient City of Nineveh

The ancient Hanging Gardens of Babylon were heralded as one of the Seven Wonders of the World in their time. Documented by Roman and Greek writers, the gardens were terraced and planted with flowers and trees. Yet until now, archaeologists have been unable to find traces of this great work among the remains of Babylon. In fact, some even doubted the garden's existence.

Now, a British academic, Stephanie Dalley, has found solid proof that there's a reason why archaeologists haven't been able to find the garden in Babylon--it simply wasn't there. Using textual evidence, she has shown that the garden was instead located at Nineveh, about 300 miles from Babylon.

Using Babylonian and Assyrian cuneiform scripts and then reinterpreting later Greek and Roman texts, Dalley found that the gardens were built around the 7^th-century BC. The gardens were constructed with the use of novel technology for the time. A complex system of canals, dams and aqueducts brought water to Nineveh to feed the hanging garden, which astounded ancient academics.

It's not all speculation, either. There's actually archaeological evidence to support Dalley's claim. Recent excavations have revealed some huge aqueducts near the remains of ancient Nineveh. In fact, one was so vast that it looked like a stretch of highway from the air. This particular aqueduct also possessed the inscription, according to The Guardian: "Sennacherib king of the world...Over a great distance I had a watercourse directed to the environs of Nineveh."

If these gardens were actually located in Nineveh, then King Sennacherib would have been the one to have built them. This ruler possessed an opulent palace with steps of semi-precious stone and an entrance guarded by copper lions. His city was actually renamed "New Babylon" when Assyria conquered Babylon in 689 BC--a fact that could explain why later account said that the gardens were located in Babylon.

The gardens themselves would have recreated a mountain landscape. With terraces, pillared walkways, exotic plants and trees, the gardens would have been the height of beauty and technology. It even had streams that were created with the use of the aqueducts that brought water to the city.

"It's taken many years to find evidence to demonstrate that the gardens and associated system of aqueducts and canals were built by Sennacherib at Nineveh and not by Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon," said Dalley in an interview with Mail Online. "For the first time, it can be shown that the Hanging Garden really did exist."

The findings are being published in a book called "The Mystery of the Hanging Garden of Babylon."