巴比伦空中花园

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翻译：Darren

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon

The ancient city of Babylon must have been a wonder to traveler’s eyes. “In addition to its size,wrote 1)Herodotus, “Cabylon 2)surpasses in 3)splendor any city in the known world.

Herodotus claimed the outer walls were 56 miles (90km) in length, 80 feet (24m) thick and 320 feet (97m) high. The inner walls were “not so thick as the first, but hardly less strong.Inside the walls were 4)fortresses and temples containing huge statues of solid gold. Rising above the city was the famous Tower of Babel注 that seemed to reach to the heavens.

While5)archaeological examination has 6)disputed some of Herodotus’s claims, his description does give us a sense of how 7)awesome the features of the city appeared to those that visited it. Interestingly enough, though, one of the city’s most 8)spectacular sites is not even mentioned by Herodotus The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Accounts indicate that the garden was built by King 9)NebuchadnezzarII, who ruled the city for 43 years starting in 605 BC. This was the height of the city’s power and influence, and King Nebuchadnezzar IIbuilt an astonishing amount of temples, streets, palaces and walls.

It is believed that the gardens were built to cheer up Nebuchadnezzar’s homesick wife, Amyitis. Amyitis, daughter of the king of the 10)Medes, was married to Nebuchadnezzar. The land she came from was green and mountainous, and she found the flat, sun-baked landscape of 11)Mesopotamia depressing. The king decided to recreate her homeland by building an 12)artificial mountain with rooftop gardens.

The Hanging Gardens probably did not really “hangin the sense of being 13)suspended from ropes. The name comes from an 14)inexact translation of the Greek word “premastosor the Latin word “kensilis,which mean not just “hanging,but15)overhanging.

Lifting Water into the Air

The Greek geographer 16)Strabo, who described the gardens in first century BC, wrote: “It consists of 17)vaulted 18)terraces raised one above another, and resting upon cube-shaped pillars. These are hollow and filled with earth to allow trees to be planted...There are stairs to the highest level, and at their side are water engines. Persons are employed continually in raising water from the 19)Euphrates into the garden.

Strabo touches on what was probably the most amazing part of the garden. Babylon rarely received rain, and for the garden to survive, it would have had to been 20)irrigated by using water from the nearby Euphrates River. That meant lifting the water far into the air so it could flow down through the terraces, watering the plants at each level.

This was probably done by a “chain pump”.

A chain pump is two large wheels, one above the other, connected by a chain. On the chain are hung buckets. Below the bottom wheel is a pool with the water source. As the wheel is turned, the buckets dip into the pool and pick up water. The chain then lifts them to the upper wheel, where the buckets are tipped and 21)dumped into an upper pool. The chain then carries the empty buckets back down to be refilled. The pump wheel below was 22)attached to a 23)shaft and a handle. By turning the handle, slaves provided the power to run the 24)mechanism.

Construction of the garden wasn’t only 25)complicated by getting the water up to the top, but also by having to avoid having the liquid ruin the foundation. Since stone was difficult to get on the Mesopotamian plain, most of the 26)architecture in Babel used brick. These bricks quickly 27)dissolved when soaked with water. For most buildings in Babel this wasn’t a problem, because rain was so rare. However, the gardens were continually exposed to irrigation and the foundation had to be protected.

28)Diodorus Siculus, a Greek historian, stated that the platforms on which the garden stood consisted of huge slabs of stone, covered with layers of 29)reed, 30)asphalt and 31)tiles. Over this was put “a covering with 32)lead, that the wet might not 33)rot the foundation. Upon all these was laid earth of a convenient depth, enough for the growth of the greatest trees. When the soil was laid even and smooth, it was planted with all sorts of trees, which both for greatness and beauty might delight the 34)spectators.

How big were the gardens? Diodorus tells us it was about 400 feet (121m) wide by 400 feet (121m) long and more than 80 feet (24m) high. Other accounts indicate the height was equal to the outer city walls.

Did the Hanging Gardens Really Exist?

In any case the gardens were an amazing sight: A green, leafy, artificial mountain rising off the plain. But did it actually exist? After all, Herodotus never mentions it.

This was one of the questions that 35)occurred to German archaeologist Robert Koldewey in 1899. For centuries before that, the ancient city of Babel was nothing but a mound of muddy 36)debris. Koldewey dug on the Babel site for some14 years and found many of its features including the outer walls, inner walls, foundation of the Tower of Babel, Nebuchadnezzar’s palaces and the wide roadway which passed through the heart of the city.

While 37)excavating the Southern 38)Citadel, Koldewey discovered a basement with fourteen large rooms with stone 39)arch ceilings. Ancient records indicated that only two locations in the city had made use of stone, the north wall of the Northern Citadel, and the Hanging Gardens. The north wall of the Northern Citadel had already been found and had, indeed, contained stone. This made it seem likely that Koldewey had found the 40)cellar of the gardens.

He continued exploring the area and discovered many of the features reported by Diodorus. Finally a room was found with three large, strange holes in the floor. Koldewey concluded this had been the location of the chain pumps.

While Koldewey was 41)convinced he’d found the gardens, some modern archaeologists call his discovery into question, arguing that this location is too far from the river. Also, 42)tablets recently found at the site suggest that the location was used for 43)administrative or storage purposes, not as a pleasure garden.

Wherever the location of the gardens were, we can only wonder if Queen Amyitis was happy with her fantastic present, or if she continued to 44)pine for the green mountains of her homeland.

在旅游者眼中，巴比伦古城无疑是一个奇迹。希罗多德曾说过：“除了它的规模之外，巴比伦的宏伟壮丽也胜过世上任何一个城市。”

希罗多德声称其外城墙有56英里（90公里）长，80英尺（24米）厚，320英尺（94米）高。内城墙“虽然没有外城墙那么厚，但几乎和它一样坚固”。在巴比伦城的内部有大量堡垒和寺院，这些寺院里陈列着巨大的纯金雕像。在巴比伦城拔地而起的就是闻名于世的“巴比伦通天塔”，直插云霄，仿佛要通向天堂。

虽然考古学方面的一些考证让人们怀疑希罗多德所言的真实性，但他关于巴比伦城的描述确实给我们留下了这样的印象：但凡参观过这座城市的人都会领略到它的宏大雄伟。不过有趣的是，希罗多德却没有提及这座城市中最为神奇的景点之一―被公认为古代文明七大奇迹之一的巴比伦空中花园。

根据有关记载，巴比伦空中花园是由国王尼布甲尼撒二世建造的，他从公元前605年开始统治这座城市，在位43年。这一时期是巴比伦的势力和影响力最为强盛的时期。在这个时期，尼布甲尼撒二世修建了数量惊人的寺院、街道、宫殿和城墙。

据说，尼布甲尼撒二世修建这座花园是为了取悦他犯了思乡病的妃子安美依迪丝。她是米堤亚国国王的女儿，嫁给了尼布甲尼撒。她的故国花木繁茂，山峦起伏，而一望无际、炎热干燥的美索不达米亚平原让她郁郁寡欢。于是国王决定建造一座人造假山，在山的顶端建造一个花园，再现她家乡的一草一木。

空中花园并不是说真的把一个花园用绳索吊起来悬在空中。这个名字是由于人们把原本除了有“悬挂”之意以外，还有“突出”之意的希腊文remastos踊蛘呤抢∥牡囊pensilis游笠攵斐傻摹?

把水引到半空中

公元前一世纪，希腊地理学家斯特雷波在描述这个花园时写道：“它由无数拱形露台层层叠加而成，所有这些露台都由正方形的石柱支撑。这些露台都是空的，上面填满了泥土以栽种各种树木。通过台阶人们可以到达花园的最高处，在台阶的一侧是用来引水的装置。通过人力，水流被源源不断地从幼发拉底河引到这个花园。”

斯特雷波在这里点到了巴比伦花园中最令人感到不可思议的东西。由于巴比伦常年干旱少雨，为了使这个花园中的植物存活，必须要从附近的幼发拉底河引水灌溉。这就意味着要把水引到半空中，然后让它流经各层露台，浇灌露台上的植物。

这个过程可能是通过一个“链式泵”来实现的。

链式泵由两个大轮子构成，一个位于另一个的上方，它们之间由链条连接。链条上挂着许多水桶。底下的轮子下面是一个储水池，当轮子被转动的时候，水桶就浸到池中装满水，然后链条把这些桶运送到上面的轮子。在这里水桶被倾斜，水便注入上面露台的水池中。接着链条又把空桶带到下面继续装水。泵下方的轮子连有一根传动轴和一个把手，通过转动把手，奴隶们为这个装置提供了动力。

建造这个花园的复杂性并不仅仅表现在要把水引到半空中，同时还要考虑如何防止水流对花园地基造成侵蚀。由于在美索不达米亚平原石块并不多见，因此巴比伦的建筑物大多数是用砖块建造的。这些砖块一旦被水浸泡，很快就会溶解。不过因为这里常年干旱少雨，对于绝大多数的建筑物来说这不是问题。然而，巴比伦花园要长期经受水流的冲刷和灌溉，其地基就必须加以保护。

希腊历史学家狄奥多罗斯・西库鲁斯认为，支撑花园的各层露台由巨型石块组成，上面铺上层层芦苇、沥青和瓦片。在外面“还铺上了铅，以防止水分损坏地基。在这些物质上面覆盖着一层厚度适中的土壤，足以满足最高大的树木生长的需要。当土壤被平整地铺好之后，就种上各种花草树木，从而建造出一个让人叹为观止的空中花园。”

花园究竟有多大？狄奥多罗斯告诉我们，它大约有400英尺（121米）宽，400英尺（121米）长，高逾80英尺（24米）。其它的一些记载称它和（巴比伦）外城墙一样高。

空中花园真的存在吗？

不管从哪个角度来看，空中花园都是一道令人叹为观止的景观：一座绿意葱葱的人造假山矗立在平原之上。但它真的存在过吗？毕竟希罗多德从来没有提到过它。

1899年，德国考古学家罗伯特・科尔德威想到了这个问题。在那之前的多个世纪里，巴比伦古城的所在地只是一片废墟。科尔德威在巴比伦古城的遗址所在地进行了长达14年的发掘工作，并找到了许多遗迹，包括外城墙、内城墙、巴比伦通天塔的地基、尼布甲尼撒二世的宫殿和穿过城市中心的康庄大道。

在挖掘南宫的时候，科尔德威发现了一个内有14间大房间的地下室，每个房间都有石制的拱形天花板。根据古代史料记载，巴比伦古城只有两个地方使用了石头，一处是北宫的北墙，另一处就是空中花园。北宫的北墙已经被发掘并被证实确实有石头成分。如此看来，科尔德威很可能是发现了空中花园的地窖。

他继续在那里挖掘，接着发现了与狄奥多罗斯的记载相符的许多遗迹。最后，他发现了一间大房间，这个房间的地板上有三个巨大的怪洞。科尔德威推测说这可能是放置链式泵的地方。

虽然科尔德威相信自己找到了空中花园，一些现代考古学家却对他的发现表示质疑，他们认为这个位置离幼发拉底河太远了。另外，最近在这个地点出土的石碑显示这里曾经被用作行政或者储物之用，而不是为了建造一个让人赏心悦目的花园。

不管空中花园的位置在哪里，我们只能猜测安美依迪丝皇后是醉心于眼前这美仑美奂的礼物，还是继续思念她家乡那青葱起伏的山峦。

注：巴比伦通天塔(Tower of Babel)，塔内供奉了马都克神(巴比伦人崇拜的众神神主)。“Babel”是巴比伦的希伯来语发音，意为“神之门”。有关巴比伦通天塔最广为人知的故事来自《圣经・旧约》：诺亚的子孙想修建一座可以通往上天的塔。上帝耶和华得知此事后大为愤怒。于是他决定把他们的语言扰乱，让人们言语不通，然后把他们驱散到世界各地。

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