THE HANGING GARDENS OF BABYLON.
These were built by Nebuchadnezzar to gratify his wife, Amytis, a native of Media, and who longed for something to remind her of her mountain home. They consisted of an artificial hill 400 feet square at the base, and rising in terraces to a height which overtopped the walls of the city. These terraces were filled with luxuriant vegetation of all kinds, even large trees, and were watered by a fountain at the summit, fed with water drawn from the Euphrates.