CLASSIC PLEASURE GROUNDS n 



placed on the east wall of the Assyrian basement, and Asshur- 



bani-pal 



depicts a grove of trees where both King Asshur-bani- banqueting 

 pal reclining upon a couch and his queen sitting beside bower* 

 him erect in an arm-chair are banqueting. Above, a 

 bower of grape-vine shades their heads, and behind 

 each stand attendants waving fans to cool the air. 

 Others bring plates of food and play upon musical 

 instruments. Birds are perched on the trees, a part 

 of whose foliage is being devoured by a huge grass- 

 hopper, while from one of the branches swings the cap- 

 tured head of an enemy. 1 



At Babylon, the Hanging Gardens built or restored 

 under the Persian dynasty in the sixth century B.C., 

 famous as one of the Seven Wonders of the world, 

 were located in the heart of a crowded city and 

 raised above the traffic of the streets upon massive The Hanging 



Gardens at 



arcades. The gardens were formed of four terraces Babylon, 

 covered with trees, shrubs, and flowers. Each terrace 

 diminished in extent as its height above the ground 

 increased; thus the shape of the whole had somewhat 

 the appearance of a pyramid. Strabo mentions the 

 lowest of these platforms or terraces as being four hun- 

 dred feet square with a height from the base to the 

 apex of about one hundred feet. These dimensions, 

 however, vary greatly according to different authorities. 

 Indeed, our idea of both their age and appearance is 



1 This is shown in the illustration at the beginning of this chapter. 



