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Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology

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I find the intersection of history and myth intriguing, so I will be exploring the legendary “Hanging Gardens of Babylon” and the implications of memory and myth-making. In particular, I want to discuss what it is about gardens in general (and those of Babylon in particular) that has captured ancient and modern people’s imaginations alike. Cultivation is nothing unique to the "Fertile Crescent," a region with a long history of agriculture, irrigation technology and the like, so it will be interesting to see where the concepts of "pleasure" and "paradise" and "luxury" come into the mix.

Working Bibliography:

’Alwan, K. 1979. "The Vaulted Structures or the So-called Hanging Gardens.” Sumer 35, 134-136.

Clayton, P. and M. Price. 1988. The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. London: Routledge, 38-58.

Dalley, S. 1993. “Ancient Mesopotamian Gardens and the Identification of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon Resolved.” Sumer 21 (1), 1-13.

Dalley, S.; 1994. “Nineveh, Babylon and the hanging gardens: cuneiform and classical sources reconciled.” Iraq 56, 45-58.

Nagal, W. 1979. “Where Were the Hanging Gardens Situated in Babylon?” Sumer 35, 241-242.

Novák, M.; 2002. “The artificial paradise: programme and ideology of royal gardens,” In: Parpola, S. and R.M. Whiting (eds.), Sex and Gender in the Ancient Near East, Helsinki, The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, Part II, 443-460.

Semple, E. C. 1929. “Ancient Mediterranean Pleasure Gardens.” Geographical Review 19 (3), 420-443.

Wiseman, D. J. 1984. “Mesopotamian Gardens.” Anatolian Studies 33, 137-144.

Wiseman, D. J. 1984. “Palace and Temple Gardens in the Near East.” Bulletin of Middle Eastern Culture Center in Japan 1, 37-43.