Were the Hanging Gardens of Babylon Actually in Nineveh?

Welcome to a bonus episode of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World Series! Today we're tackling the hunt for the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Were they actually in Nineveh instead?
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○ The Hanging Gardens of Babylon - The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World | Part 2 • The Hanging Gardens of...
○ The Great Pyramid of Giza - The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World | Part 1 • The Great Pyramid of G...
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RESOURCES
The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World by Peter A. Clayton amzn.to/3ljtjS4
Bernd von Droste, (2011),"The concept of outstanding universal value and its application", Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development, Vol. 1 Iss 1 pp. 26 - 41 Permanent link to this document: dx.doi.org/10.1108/20441261111...
The Mystery of the Hanging Garden of Babylon: An Elusive World Wonder Traced by Stephanie Dalley (2015) amzn.to/3yRZGKq
A new theory by Stephanie Dalley claims that the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were never in Babylon, or built by Nebuchadnezzar. Instead, her research shows that they were probably located in Nineveh and were built by Sennacherib, over 100 years earlier!
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#mesopotamia #Archaeology #babylon #ancienthistory #wondersoftheworld

[@DigItWithRaven]

Watch the entire Ancient Wonders of the World playlist (including my original video on the Hanging Gardens of Babylon here: kzbin.info/aero/PLckdsYfo5EkdgfiMYeiXUeuGU-Bzzs4TO

[@josephanthro]

Raven's out here looking for the Hanging Gardens when the real garden is the friendships we cultivate along the way.

[@DigItWithRaven]

Omg I love this!!

[@redhcivic92]

G he y

[@wasmeerdftgreensepa9250]

I cried

[@PineappleHalo]

This is the kind of video that should be reaching millions of people

[@pattheplanter]

Trees that bear wool sounds like _Calotropis procera_ - a small tree with gorgeous fragrant flowers that has the seeds in the fruit surrounded by a soft silky fluff resembling fine cotton that was highly regarded for stuffing pillows and cushions. Also somewhat poisonous. Found in Syria, Iraq and Iran, as well as being widespread across Africa, Arabia and south Asia. It is related to the milkweeds whose fluff may be familiar to North Americans. The local species of cotton was a shrub called _Gossypium herbaceum_ that also reached about 6 feet in height. Depends on their definition of tree.

[@bugsby4663]

Brilliant video. It amazes me that the Assyrians were so ruthless and savage when it came to war and punishment, yet could create such a great civilisation with gardens and libraries. I think it was deserted for a while because I believe Xenophon stumbled across it on his epic journey back to Greece.

[@TheDoctorMonkey]

Seems a very plausible hypothesis - I'd heard it (but not widely) before but I think you've summed it up really nicely here, thank you 🙂

[@DigItWithRaven]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@DoomMomDot]

I really hope they can find evidence of the gardens. that would be so cool.

[@feralfoods]

this is such a great vid, so well researched and presented. one important thing about ancient history: it was often more about telling a good story than actual hard facts. -i sometimes think it's amazing we know anything at all from such ancient times. -i support the theory for the Gardens at Nineveh! -thank you for all you do, peace!

[@michaelcrone2333]

Thank you so much for joining the small group of people (0,00% in academia and mainstream media) who found out about Dr Stephanie Dalley and her work to expose the hanging gardens of NINEVEH.

[@bobsebbo]

delightful! looking forward to another ancient wonder explained.

[@davidhawkins7138]

I watch your videos over my morning tea. Your enthusiasm is a great way to charge my batteries, and get me ready for the day. I also love your content. Thank you so much.

[@beefarren]

That translation, and the later descriptions of the water-moving mechanisms being hidden from the public eye, make me wonder if the Archimedes screws were hidden in wood or clay cylinders that were literally carved and decorated to look like palm trees. If they were painted a bit to enhance the illusion, they might have been indistinguishable from real trees at a distance, especially by a non-expert viewer. No evidence, just a neat thought that popped into my head!

[@Salt_and_ash]

I love this idea!

[@elihinze3161]

Yesss I've been so excited for this video! Fascinating to hear about the 'Archimedes' screw, too.

[@walteringle2258]

There's been a lot of work towards digitizing and using AI to quickly transliterate the cuneiform over the last couple of decades. This a good use of tech and with human eyes translating, we are slowly gaining access to IDK how many cuneiform clay pieces that have barely been looked at except during their excavation.

[@ralph90009]

I'm 90% sure my Ancient Neat East teacher told us all this back at the turn of the century, it never occurred to me that it was still disputed… great work!

[@MaryAnnNytowl]

I think I've mentioned it before, but I love that neon sign behind you! It works for one of my favorite hobbies, too, gardening. 😊 You do excellent work, Raven; thank you! ❤❤

[@loopernoodling]

And you wouldn't need to cast a whole length of (Archimedes) screw - you could just make a load of small castings, each of one complete loop, and then join them all together with a long pole down the central hole. You could weld the edges, or just staple them together and waterproof with tar. Then slide the assembled length of screw into a pipe of suitable diameter. Or, lay a long half pipe along the slope you want to lift the water up, place the joined screw sections in it, and then put the other half of the pipe over it. Having the pipe in two halves would give you access in case of jams and blockages.

[@jerrycratsenberg989]

Wow! Once again, a marvelous informative and entertaining story, thank you for being so generous as to share you incites with us!

[@tecumsehcristero]

I saw this on a documentary like 10 years ago but you make a far more convincing argument. Thanks

[@macgonzo]

Just discovered your channel, very much enjoying your content and the work you've put into each video ❤ I have a bit of an odd request... I'm running a Cthulhu-based WW2 RPG, and I'm always on the lookout for inspiration - do you have any recommendations for books or other resources that examine lesser-known ruined temples, etc?

[@1perspective286]

There's the Ruin, book and movie, haven't read the book but the movie was decent.

[@cbx_]

Hi Raven, very cool and interesting video. Love your channel!

[@DigItWithRaven]

Thanks so much!!

[@jonathandill3557]

Your writing skills impress me, very succinct and clear. 👏👏👏

[@thejohnwhiteproject5202]

Found your channel by chance. Now a new sub and fan! Outstanding work! 🇨🇦

[@azzasix7843]

Who knew this stuff was so interesting. Love your channel

[@DigItWithRaven]

So glad you like it!!

[@Louis--]

Wow, I didn't expect that to come to such a clear solution.

[@DigItWithRaven]

Right!? The research that was done was SO thorough, I loved it

[@satinthrone]

whoa! stellar stuff as always ♥

[@DigItWithRaven]

Thanks for watching!! :)

[@GoldenEmperor5Manifest]

Very fascinating! By the way, Josephus should probably be taken by historians and archaeologists with some higher level of skepticism. His sources are often not well-vetted for periods of history outside of his own.

[@JulianPatrickMiller]

This is the best channel ever

[@AmySoyka]

I had to go onto Google Maps after this. I'm assuming the place called 'hanging rockeries' (الجنائن المعلقة) is the location? Pretty cool. Sad to see so little archaeology remaining though.

[@Davlavi]

nice follow up.

[@felixcorona13]

Love the neon sign 🤣

[@brianlafrazia8237]

Great video! It all makes sense!

[@marmieRH]

Hey merci du Québec I love it and just subscribed 😊

[@vicky4112]

Excellent lesson. Thanks. I just subscribed and look forward to more.

[@classicslover]

Stephanie Dalley does clues as good as Sherlock! Nineveh for the WIN! And your passion is contagious, Raven! Also...I am stealing decorating ideas from you. "Bob The Builder" Ha! OF COURSE my fellow Canadian and girl who is a 90's kid would reference Bob The Builder. When you watch it over there (you know you do) in the original British, do they say "spanner" instead of "wrench"? You are SUCH an excellent lecturer! (Although, you probably have guys writing things on their eyelids like in "Raiders" = ) Anymore virtual university lectures coming up? I may or may not be going to Ottawa to testify before a Parliamentary Committee. If I do, I'll wave to your Mom and Disney loving Sis in (cough) Toronto on the way by!

[@craignedoff991]

As an Assyrian, thank you for your work.

[@finneire1282]

"A garden without a water feature is a garden without a soul" Derek T, a landscaper I know

[@mjlamey1066]

Raven, I love your nails!

[@DigItWithRaven]

Thanks you!! My new guilty pleasure

[@ArmyK9]

Yes! Time travel exists! @ 10:09, we can see Sennacherib holding a microphone for karaoke! 😀

[@grapeshot]

Interesting and informative.

[@DigItWithRaven]

Glad you liked it!

[@spankflaps1365]

It’s easy to create an elevated water feature. Just go to your local hardware store and ask for a cordless hosepipe.

[@franksn6647]

i like how you explain things 💎

[@sharynhughes1061]

Hi!!! Amazing Story.. i think the guy with the rope is a fisherman.

[@willkrummeck]

babylon meant the main city to some people at the time the story was popular, could even have been istanbul or someowhere near turkey, someone told me this as a child. the gardens were destroyed in an earthquake. The things wasnt just a garden it was that they had gardens that were hanging because and they had water on the roof. The main thing that was a wonder was the water on the roof so that is probably a clue to were it is.

[@welcometonebalia]

Thank you.

[@jacobvardy]

Just digging up a comment for the algorithm.

[@willkrummeck]

amazing

[@christofferraby4712]

I had good Assyrian friends from the Nineveh Plains who I knew when I lived in Damascus, Syria.

[@danielmalinen6337]

It may be that the first person to mention the gardens, Josephus, made the gardens Babybylonians because the Judeans hated Nineveh for their religiopolitical reasons but had been captive in Babylon during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. So the naming and honoring the gardens to Nebuchadnezzar would then make sense and all later sources about the gardens copied this from Josephus and then added a lot of their own to the tecords that had not been told previously which was common practice in ancient times.

[@jasoncuculo7035]

Rope climbing for both exercise and training in covert special forces techniques is a military training operation.

[@supernautacus]

YES!

[@vomeronasal]

Brought here by the Almighty Algorithm (All Praise Be to the Algorithm!). Instasubscribed. Going now to binge on you 😮.

[@AlyxGlide]

some nomadic pastoralists probably passed some Babylonian raised garden beds for the first time & were like: yo these agriculturalists be growing crops over ROCKS & other countries were like *oh yeah? where I don't see anything unusual over there in Babylon* & the pastoralists they were in another continent by then, well they were like y'all be lyin I saw them orchards my goats be drooling the Euphrates last we passed the Tigris but the Babylonians were like nah fam we'll have your praise but you must have us confused with Northern Syria & they might've been like oh ya maybe

[@diegofianza3525]

Eureka!!! New facts!!!

[@ice9snowflake187]

With those water-raising screws- who was turning them? A bunch of slaves on a circular track all day? A couple donkeys?

[@martindrewelius2425]

On Wikipedia it says that hanging gardens of Babylon were actually in Babylon.

[@kaloarepo288]

The 7 wonders of the world list was compiled in Hellenistic times -i.e. the decades after Alexander the Great and before the huge Roman expansion - would Babylon still have been a thriving metropolis during this era? - I believe the Seleucid Greeks replaced it with Seleucia (eventually destroyed by the Romans under Trajan) and the Parthian capital of Ctesiphon replaced Seleucia until the Sassanian Persians adopted it as their capital.

[@suzscully]

Yay!!!

[@sapientisessevolo4364]

The mesopotamians were obsessed with innovation? I wonder why, maybe sargon knows... Also I guess it's time for garden dig (it) with raven!

[@jonathandorr2234]

I had to srop after 8 mins, and I’m sry to react. You are are likely more familiar, with the subject than I. Babylon represents, different things to different folks. For me it’s about, the journey, from a good thing into a disaster. That the hanging gardens are.. multiples of existing thought.. we can imagine. So, simply, your description, baffles me, in it’s focus. I live @ 1300 ft above sea level, and water at my house flows from the ground, and we guard the quality and direction of the supply, of water, west of Boston. 🤔

[@shaolin1derpalm]

It makes sense. Everyone conflates, Assyrian, Babylonian and sumerian. So perhaps even in the ancient world would also conflate it.

[@wewenang5167]

the only comment i have on the reconstruction drawing is the shape...i dint think its accurate to make it exactly half round like Greek theater because Assyrian and most Mesopotamian architecture dint really used much of that style of shapes, it would be proper for it to be just half rectangular

[@censusgary]

Were you kidding when you said “tides”? I don’t think the Euphrates at Babylon had tides.

[@gcanaday1]

No tides in rivers, especially so far inland. Spring floods are a different matter.

[@willkrummeck]

wax = marble, you see those panels, the on naked guy is cutting a stalagtite.

[@gluuuuue]

Kinda fascinating the lion-hunting kings of Assyria were the earliest ones (known) to do rooftop landscape architecture. Part o' me still wishes they had been in actual Babylon given the even more impressive level of civil engineering that would take, especially with the preoccupation with rulers showing how much they controlled water, the source of life, especially in that environment. One thing I noticed is archaeology's very western origins and roots seem to have left us with the obstacle of viewing other civilizations through the eyes (and contextual assumptions) of Westerners. Europeans probably viewed that Assyria and the other Akkadian-speaking regions as all "Babylon(ia)", and the Christians viewed things like the Etemenanki as human hubris-attempting to reach the heavens-and the later decline of the city from various invasions as God's punishment, and as an explanation for humans being scattered and speaking different languages. "Babel" *still* has that meaning as the etymological root of "babbling" or in that language-learning software.

[@gluuuuue]

Also, when cities get sacked, anything valuable, either economically, like treasure, or utilitarian, will usually get cannibalized, taken, or repurposed by the conquerors or surviving scavengers, unless the thing itself is seen as so valuable, the new controllers want to keep, hold, and maintain it for themselves.

[@gluuuuue]

If they’re still looking for the best locations within the city site to try digging, just consult a landscape architect, especially at the major commercial/municipal level. Any massive land and waterscaped botanical system of that scale would require not only a sustained source of water, but soil, whatever was known as plant food/fertilizer at the time, as well as an energy source for driving the various screws. Did they run 24/7 or only parts of the day/night?

[@pattheplanter]

@@gluuuuue I would think the pumps were almost certainly powered by animals or humans.

[@gluuuuue]

@@pattheplanter Seems difficult to sustain for a reliable period of time. Although if they had sufficient volume water flow, seems possible they could have used the major flow (for the city's general needs) to power a slow water wheel, and still used that major flow for human use.

[@celiabrickell2500]

Archeology was started in the West (Europe & USA/Canada), which caused a bias toward other so called primitive peoples in the past. Recently archeologists are trying to get rid of those biases. In the times of the Greek and Roman empires all areas of Mesopotamia were called Babylon by them. They made no distinction between Babylon and other places in Mesopotamia, thus their saying that the hanging gardens were of Babylon, not Nineveh where they actually were.

[@noreligion2]

Yes, I agree that Nineveh is where the “Hanging Gardens” were. I wonder if one of the reasons for saying it was in Babylon, is because since the Assyrians conquered Babylon several times, especially during the Gardens existence, and called Babylon theirs, but Babylon lived longer than Nineveh, the writers assumed it was in Babylon. Plus, if it was in the bible, it’s probably not true!!🫢🫢🫢

[@GoldenEmperor5Manifest]

If it was in the bible, I definitely wouldn't take it as any sort of historical evidence in and of itself.

[@wesdale1753]

Thank you. You are adorable❤

[@charlenegraham1923]

Senacareb/ Se a Aten (She of Aten) - Scarab. A woman's totem in Kemet also. Look closely and you will find wonderous and creative women, their arts, sciences, and cities EVERYWHERE either dismissed as "mythical" or whitewashed as men. Thank you for this.

[@TheObserversTV]

Sennacherib's name in his native Assyrian tongue is Sin-Akhi-Eriba (god-Sin has replaced the brothers)

[@martindrewelius2425]

What does Prof. Niven says about this?

[@gbtriumph3216]

The "Hanging Gardens of Kansas" are not necessarily in Kansas City.

[@WillWilsonII]

Holy jump-cut, Batman

[@JenniferinIllinois]

Nebuchadnezzar the Builder 🤣🤣🤣

[@smellymala3103]

Is Babylon a location or a classification 😱

[@SpeedLockedNZ]

over grown, old walls the siZe that were there earlier know ones, would/could appear to be or altered to become "gardens" that would Hang down from the Known earlier walls

[@phantompanther648]

If you will just clarify , which work of Josephus.......you are finding this quote in........(.please....? )

[@danielpalmer643]

So why do all of these biographies of Alexander the Great talk about the gardens? Xenophon saw Nineveh abandoned, so wasn’t it still deserted by the time of Alexander? Anyway, nicely done!

[@brot5246]

"they used to receive and introduce all reports from the astrologers into the presence of the father of the king, my lord. Afterwards, a man whom the father of the king, my lord. knew used to read them to the king (esarhaddon) IN A PRIVATE GARDEN ON THE RIVERBANK. Nowadays, it should be done as it best suits the king, my lord. a letter from an assyrian official to ashurbanipal.

[@jasoncuculo7035]

I think it us at Nineveh

[@martindrewelius2425]

They are called the hanging gardens of Semiramis. Who was Semiramis?

[@garyliu6589]

Why build a super garden in Nineveh?

[@christopherlawley1842]

"The Hanging Gardens of Ninevah" - Works for me

[@ninveh1]

Of course they was in ninveh- ninua build by Assyrian Kings Sargon or Sanherib. ❤

[@TeethToothman]

🪳🛵🪳

[@ancient_Iraqi_Mesopotamian]

🇮🇶Civilizations of Mesopotamia(Iraq)🇮🇶Babylon🇮🇶Sumer🇮🇶Abbasid🇮🇶Akkad🇮🇶and Assyria🇮🇶Arabian Gulf❤️

[@fisch69]

Great video. I was quite interested even in junior high about ancient history. I think I would have been even more interested and excited if my teacher was as gorgeous and sexy as Raven!!😂👍💯❤️

[@TalkToMeAboutJesus]

How can we be sure that the city of Babylon was 60 miles south of Baghdad? Could this be nonsense?

[@decimustv4257]

I am not sure why your video came on my feed as I hate learning about anything. I just like to play games and eat junk food. Having said that, I watched your video for a bit because I like the colour of your eyes.

[@pattheplanter]

You didn't mentions that Nineveh probably means "Nina's Place".

[@willkrummeck]

ancient were always fronting and claiming other peoples stuff, the other thing people did was copy stuff from afar and claim it as their own.

[@willkrummeck]

much like academics did in the west with russian and chinese phds in the early 2000s

[@Lethgar_Smith]

History is not written in stone.

[@iqsculptor3229]

There is nothing called northern or southern Mesopotamia it is just IRAQ still the city called babilon and the other city is Ninava until today and iraq is uruk

[@theenchiladakid1866]

No, because thy was called the Hanging Gardens of Babylon not the Hanging Gardens of Nineveh

[@kalibduarte536]

Vocal fry is distracting

[@frenkenberg]

YES, they could IF, Niniveh was part of Babylonian EMPIRE. However, the King Nabuchadnezzar built it for his Queen, not himself. And since HE RESIDED in Babylon, because it was capital of Babylon, WHY would He built the Gardens in Niniveh for his Queen somewhere Else?! So, while the gardens Could be in Niniveh, it's IMPROBABLE.

[@skrame01]

Why the funny faces on thumbnails. 🤔