Notice: This is the official website of the All Empires History Community (Reg. 10 Feb 2002)

  FAQ FAQ  Forum Search   Register Register  Login Login

hanging gardens of babylon?

 Post Reply Post Reply Page  <12
Author
Aster Thrax Eupator View Drop Down
Suspended
Suspended

Suspended

Joined: 18-Jul-2006
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1929
  Quote Aster Thrax Eupator Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: hanging gardens of babylon?
    Posted: 13-Jul-2007 at 17:27
As Napoleon said "what is history but a fable which has been agreed upon?" and that is how we must proceed. All of the collective legends about Babylon give us one semi-solid piece of evidence- that there was some large structure of great symbolistic significance to the Babylonians. From that piece of information alone, it would seem to indicate that there must be something there. If it was indeed a Ziggurat, it may have not survived the test of time - once the outer coating had gone, the mud packing inside could easily have collapsed. It was only the bricks and the packed mud that kept the thing together. We've just got to assume that there's something there, MarcoPolo- the ruins are extensive and so there's much more digging to be done. The problem with the archeology, though is that since many mesopotamian buildings are made of mud, they do not survive history and collapose into a tell which itself can simply become buried so deep that there's no point in excavating it. Excavation can be costly and if the slightest part of the sounding (examination trenches which are dug into a tell to examine the layers like a cake) goes wrong, it can be ruined. Most of mesopotamian archeology is simply speculation with highly advanced archeology - the unforgiving landscape makes archeology hard and highly technical, and the sheer age means that much evidence is gone for ever. We've just got to proceed on guesswork and whatever the archeologists can find for us. Whatever the case, we can't deny that there was something big and zigguratesque in Babylon- with that amount of evidence, the "fable" must have some truth behind it!
Back to Top
 Post Reply Post Reply Page  <12

Forum Jump Forum Permissions View Drop Down

Bulletin Board Software by Web Wiz Forums® version 9.56a [Free Express Edition]
Copyright ©2001-2009 Web Wiz

This page was generated in 0.094 seconds.