Early World Civilizations: Supplemental Guide 4A | The Hanging Gardens of Babylon 8115 Who is narrating the story now
that Ili has left us? (the narrator)
We have gone only one block more when you glance over the
rooftops ahead and stop in your tracks.^15
Show image 4A-7: Hanging Gardens of Babylon 16
“Look!” you exclaim, your eyes opening wide in wonder. When
I look up, I have the same reaction. There, rising above the roofs
of the city, we see the famous man-made hill. Many stories high,
it is a series of level platforms built one on top of another, and
connected by ramps and stairways.^17 Narrowing in size the
higher you look, the platforms are almost completely covered
with trees, vines, and blooming fl owers. The fl owers are in such
abundance that they hang over the sides and give the place its
name. We stand amazed at this sight. How on earth can King
Nebuchadnezzar grow all these plants in the middle of hot, dry
Babylon?^18
Show image 4A-8: Watering of the Hanging Gardens
That night when we are at dinner, Ili explains. “The level parts of
the garden are made of mud bricks covered in lead, so that water
does not leak through. Workers had to carry up the tons of dirt to
cover those parts, and then they set all the plants in place. The
water for the plants is lifted up in buckets attached to a long chain.
This chain runs around the edges of two great wheels, one at the
bottom of the building and one at the top. Workers turn these
wheels with cranks, and the buckets dip into a pond of water at
the bottom that is fi lled from the river nearby. As the wheels keep
turning, the buckets become full and are lifted up to the top of the
chain, where they empty their contents into another pond. From
this pond, channels direct the water down to the different garden
levels and out among the plants.”^19
I tell Ili and his family, “I am amazed at how clever all this is, and
how rich King Nebuchadnezzar must be!” But you ask, “And does
his queen like it?”
Ili just smiles at us and says, “Wouldn’t you?”19 Who is telling us about the
Hanging Gardens? (Ili)
16 When something hangs, it dangles
down, like the way long earrings
hang from someone’s ears. By
looking at the picture, can you tell
why these gardens were called
“hanging gardens”?
17 The platforms are a little like
bleachers at a ballpark.
18 What is needed to help plants
grow that is not usually found in a
desert?