The story is that the gardens were built for Nebuchadnezzar's queen, Amytis. She was the daughter of the king of the Medes, married to Nebuchadnezzar to create an alliance between the nations. The land she came from was green, rugged and mountainous in contrast to the flat, sun-baked landscape around Babylon. The king decided to make her feel more at home by building a small mountain with rooftop gardens.
Hydroponic?
From the basic definition of hydroponics as ‘soilless culture’, the Hanging Gardens obviously couldn’t be considered to be strictly hydroponics as they were soil-based. However, they did use the technique of having soil as a growing medium in containers separated from the general soil. They also used relatively sophisticated irrigation techniques. Both of these indicate that this is an admirable predecessor of hydroponics, and worth its place in the history of hydroponics.Click here to find out the truth about The Hanging Gardens of Babylon that has been published in Practical Hydroponics & Greenhouses magazine: May 2014 / Issue 143
Article given by www.hydroponics.com.au
