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Friday, September 5, 2008

Photo Gallery: New 7 Wonders vs. Ancient 7 Wonders

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Photo Gallery: New 7 Wonders vs. Ancient 7 Wonders

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The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Iraq

The hanging gardens are said to have stood on the banks of the Euphrates River in modern-day Iraq, although there's some doubt as to whether they ever really existed.

The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II supposedly created the terraced gardens around 600 B.C. at his royal palace in the Mesopotamian desert. It is said the gardens were made to please the king's wife, who missed the lush greenery of her homeland in the Medes, in what is now northern Iran.

Archaeologists have yet to agree on the likely site of the hanging gardens, but findings in the region that could be its remains include the foundations of a palace and a nearby vaulted building with an irrigation well.

The most detailed descriptions of the gardens come from Greek historians. There is no mention of them in ancient Babylonian records.

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—Color lithograph by Ferdinand Knab/The Bridgeman Art Library/Getty Images