Hanging GARDENS. In antiquity, gardens raised on arches by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, in order to gratify his wife Amyctis, daughter of Assyages king of Media. Quintus Curtius makes them equal in height to the walls of the city, viz. 50 feet. They contained a square of 400 feet on every side, and were carried up into the air in several terraces laid above one another, and the ascent from terrace to terrace was by stairs 10 feet wide. The arches sustaining the whole pile were raised above one another, and it was strengthened by a wall, surrounding it on every side, of 22 feet in thickness. The floors of each of the terraces were laid in the following manner; on the top of the arches were first laid large flat stones 16 feet long and 4 broad, and over them was a layer of reeds
mixed with a great quantity of bitumen, over which were two rows of bricks closely cemented together by plaster, and over all were laid thick sheets of lead; and lastly, upon the lead was laid the mould of the garden. The mould or earth was of such a depth as to admit the largest trees to take root and grow; and it was covered with various kind of trees, plants, and flowers. In the upper terrace there was an aqueduct or engine, whereby water was drawn up out of the river for watering the whole garden.