克里斯托弗·克萊因

Greek and Roman texts paint vivid pictures of the luxurious Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Amid the hot， arid landscape of ancient Babylon， lush vegetation cascaded like waterfalls down the terraces of the 75-foot-high garden. Exotic plants， herbs and flowers dazzled the eyes， and fragrances wafted through the towering botanical oasis dotted with statues and tall stone columns.

Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II was said to have constructed the luxurious Hanging Gardens in the sixth century B.C. as a gift to his wife， Amytis， who was homesick for the beautiful vegetation and mountains of her native Media （the northwestern part of modern-day Iran）. To make the desert bloom， a marvel of irrigation engineering would have been required. Scientists have surmised that a system of pumps， waterwheels and cisterns would have been employed to raise and deliver the water from the nearby Euphrates River to the top of the gardens.

The multiple Greek and Roman accounts of the Hanging Gardens， however， were second-hand—written centuries after the wonder’s alleged destruction. First-hand accounts did not exist， and for centuries， archaeologists have hunted in vain for the remains of the gardens. A group of German archaeologists even spent two decades at the turn of the 20th century trying to unearth signs of the ancient wonder without any luck. The lack of any relics has caused skeptics to question whether the supposed desert wonder was just an “historical mirage”.

However， Dr. Stephanie Dalley， an honorary research fellow and part of the Oriental Institute at England’s Oxford University， believes she has found evidence of the existence of the legendary Wonder of the Ancient World. In her book The Mystery of the Hanging Garden of Babylon： An Elusive World Wonder Traced， published by Oxford University Press， Dalley asserts that the reason why no traces of the Hanging Gardens have ever been found in Babylon is because they were never built there in the first place.

Dalley， who has spent the better part of two decades researching the Hanging Gardens and studying ancient cuneiform texts， believes they were constructed 300 miles to the north of Babylon in Nineveh， the capital of the rival Assyrian empire. She asserts the Assyrian king Sennacherib， not Nebuchadnezzar II， built the marvel in the early seventh century B.C.， a century earlier than scholars had previously thought.

According to Oxford University， Dalley， who is a scholar in ancient Mesopotamian languages， found evidence in new translations of the ancient texts of King Sennacherib that describe his own “unrivaled palace” and a “wonder for all peoples”. She also mentioned a bronze water-raising screw—similar to Archimedes’ screw developed four centuries later—that could have been used to irrigate the gardens.

Recent excavations around Nineveh， near the modern-day Iraqi city of Mosul， have uncovered evidence of an extensive aqueduct system that delivered water from the mountains with the inscription： “Sennacherib king of the world… Over a great distance I had a watercourse directed to the environs of Nineveh.” Bas reliefs from the royal palace in Nineveh depicted a lush garden watered by an aqueduct， and unlike the flat surroundings of Babylon， the more rugged topography around the Assyrian capital would have made the logistical challenges in elevating water to the gardens far easier for an ancient civilization to overcome.

Dalley explains that the reason for the confusion of the location of the gardens could be due to the Assyrian conquering of Babylon in 689 B.C. Following the takeover， Nineveh was referred to as the “New Babylon”， and Sennacherib even renamed the city gates after those of Babylon’s entrances. Dalley’s assertions could debunk thoughts that the elusive ancient wonder was an “historical mirage”， but they could also prove that the Hanging Gardens of Babylon are mislabeled and should truly be the Hanging Gardens of Nineveh.

希臘和羅馬文獻(xiàn)描繪了一幅幅巴比倫豪華空中花園的生動畫面。在古巴比倫炎熱干燥的環(huán)境中，蒼翠欲滴的植被從75英尺高的花園臺地上瀑布似的傾瀉下來。異域植物、禾草和花卉耀眼奪目，陣陣芬芳飄過高聳入云的植物綠洲，周圍點綴著雕像和高大石柱。

據(jù)說，因妻子阿米蒂斯思念故鄉(xiāng)米堤亞（今伊朗西北部）的秀美植被和山川，巴比倫國王尼布甲尼撒二世就在公元前6世紀(jì)建造了這座豪華的空中花園作為禮物送給她。要使沙漠上草木茂盛，宏大的灌溉工程必不可少?？茖W(xué)家猜想，為把水從附近的幼發(fā)拉底河打出并輸送到花園頂部，古人可能用過包括泵、水輪和水槽在內(nèi)的整套設(shè)施。

但是，希臘和羅馬關(guān)于空中花園的諸多記載都是間接的，是傳聞中該奇跡被毀幾世紀(jì)后的文字記載。因為沒有直接記載，考古學(xué)家尋找花園遺址達(dá)數(shù)世紀(jì)之久，卻徒勞無功。19世紀(jì)末20世紀(jì)初，一個德國考古小組甚至花了20年試圖挖掘這一遠(yuǎn)古奇跡的遺址，卻無功而返。由于缺少殘留遺跡，持懷疑態(tài)度的人質(zhì)疑這所謂的沙漠奇跡是否只是“歷史上的海市蜃樓”。

但是，牛津大學(xué)東方研究所的榮譽(yù)研究員斯蒂芬妮·達(dá)利博士認(rèn)為自己找到了這一傳說中的遠(yuǎn)古世界奇跡存在的證據(jù)。達(dá)利在牛津大學(xué)出版社出版的《巴比倫空中花園之謎：尋找捉摸不透的世界奇跡》一書中聲稱，之所以在巴比倫找不到空中花園的任何蛛絲馬跡，首先是因為那里根本沒有建過空中花園。

達(dá)利用了近20年時間研究空中花園和古代楔形文字文獻(xiàn)，她認(rèn)為空中花園修建在巴比倫以北300英里處的尼尼微——與巴比倫抗衡的亞述帝國的都城。她斷言，是亞述國王辛那赫里布而非尼布甲尼撒二世在公元前7世紀(jì)初建造了這一奇跡，時間上也比學(xué)者們先前料想的早一個世紀(jì)。

達(dá)利是研究美索不達(dá)米亞古代語言的學(xué)者，據(jù)牛津大學(xué)介紹，她是在辛那赫里布王古文獻(xiàn)的新譯文中找到了證據(jù)，這些古文獻(xiàn)描述了他自己“無比輝煌的王宮”和“全人類的奇跡”。她還提到一種可以抬高水位的青銅螺旋，類似于4個世紀(jì)以后發(fā)現(xiàn)的阿基米德螺線，可能用作灌溉這些花園。

尼尼微位于今伊拉克摩蘇爾城附近，近年在其周圍的挖掘發(fā)現(xiàn)了巨大渡槽存在的證據(jù)，是它把水從山崗上輸送到這里。山崗上有這樣的銘文：“世界之王辛那赫里布……我從很遠(yuǎn)處開鑿溝渠，將水引到尼尼微附近?！蹦崮嵛⑼鯇m中的淺浮雕描繪了一座用渡槽澆灌的欣欣向榮的花園。與巴比倫的平坦地勢不同，亞述都城附近的地貌更崎嶇起伏，這可能極大降低了給花園提灌的困難，而這可是遠(yuǎn)古文明需要克服的后勤上的挑戰(zhàn)。

達(dá)利解釋說，空中花園的地理位置之所以混淆不清可能是因為亞述在公元前689年征服過巴比倫。巴比倫被征服后，尼尼微被稱作“新巴比倫”，辛那赫里布甚至以巴比倫各個城門的名字為尼尼微的城門重新命名。達(dá)利的論斷可能不僅駁斥了這個捉摸不透的遠(yuǎn)古奇跡是“歷史上的海市蜃樓”之類的觀點，而且證明了巴比倫的空中花園是誤導(dǎo)，其真實身份應(yīng)是尼尼微的空中花園。