The Hanging Gardens of Babylon

Nebuchadnezzar, the great king of Babylon, sat on his throne and worried. He had a great empire—but what if another country attacked him? He wasn’t sure that his army could defend Babylon from invaders.

“I know what I’ll do,” he thought to himself. “I will ask the king of Persia if I can marry his daughter. Then he will be my father-in-law, and he won’t want to attack me!”

Nebuchadnezzar had never seen the daughter of the Persian king. But that didn’t matter to him. He was willing to marry a stranger to keep Babylon safe. So he sent messages to the king of Persia, offering to marry the princess.

Meanwhile, the king of Persia was sitting on his throne, worrying about Babylon. “What will I do if Babylon attacks me?” he thought. “Their soldiers are such good fighters! I’m not sure that we could defeat them. How can convince Nebuchadnezzar to leave me alone?”

Just then his servant entered with the message from Nebuchadnezzar. “Sir,” he said, “the king of Babylon has sent you a message. He wishes to know if you will give him your daughter in marriage.”

The king of Persia was greatly relieved. “Of course I will!” he said. “Nebuchadnezzar would never attack his own father-in-law!” And he sent for his daughter, the princess Amytis. “My dear,” he said, “the king of Babylon wishes to marry you.”

“But I’ve never even met him!” Amytis protested. “And I don’t want to leave my home in the mountains to live in Babylon. It’s down on flat land, where the air is still and thick.”

“If you marry him,” the king of Persia said, “Persia will be safe from attack.

Finally, Amytis agreed. She traveled to Babylon for the great wedding ceremony. As soon as Nebuchadnezzar saw her, he fell in love with her. He built her the most beautiful rooms to live in and filled them with lovely things. He gave her gold jewelry, clothes of silk, pet monkeys from China to play with, beautiful flowers to make her rooms colorful, and servants to do her every wish.

But Amytis wasn’t happy. She missed the cliffs and valleys of the Persian mountains. Most of all, she missed the gardens that the Persian people built on the hillsides. “I want to go home!” she said. “I don’t want to live in Babylon anymore. It’s so flat and dull here!”

“How can I make Amytis happy?” Nebuchadnezzar thought. And then he had an idea. He would built her a garden—a mountain garden, right in the middle of the city of Babylon.

Nebuchadnezzar set to work at once. He ordered his slaves to haul huge slabs of rock in from far away. Out of this rock, he built an enormous hill—an artificial mountain! He covered the rock with dirt and planted it thickly with trees, flowers, and bushes. He had plants brought from Persia, so that Amytis could see familiar flowers again. Nebuchadnezzar’s men even built a pump that would pull water up from the Euphrates River to the very top of the garden. Then the water ran down the garden, just like a mountain river. Nebuchadnezzar ordered paths built up and down the mountain. Then he brought Amytis out to see what he had done.

“My dear,” he said, “you cannot return to Persia. But I have brought a little bit of Persia to you. Now you can walk in your hillside garden whenever you want.”

Amytis’s garden became known as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. People came from all over to admire the mountain Nebuchadnezzar had built in the middle of flat, hot Babylon. And every day, Amytis walked in her garden and pretended that she was back home in Persia.

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were so beautiful and so huge that they are now called one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The Seven Wonders are things that ancient people made or built that we still think are incredible, even today! You have already studied about one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World—the Great Pyramid of Giza. Today you’ve learned about the second of the Seven Wonders: The Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

Note to Parent: Nebuchadnezzar reigned from 605–561 BC/BCE.