Did the Hanging Gardens Really Exist?
Explore the ancient empire that built one of the Seven Wonders of the World — for love. Under Nebuchadnezzar II (605–562 BC), Babylon was rebuilt into the greatest city on earth: the Ishtar Gate sheathed in blue glazed tile, the 91-meter Etemenanki ziggurat (the model for the Tower of Babel), and the legendary Hanging Gardens — reportedly built to cure his Median queen Amytis's homesickness for her mountain homeland. In 586 BC, Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem's Temple and brought the Israelites to Babylon. In 539 BC, Cyrus the Great conquered the city without a fight. One empire built for love — ended by a greater conqueror's mercy.