<Li> Sennacherib called his new palace and garden "a wonder for all peoples". He describes the making and operation of screws to raise water in his garden . </Li> <Li> The descriptions of the classical authors fit closely to these contemporary records . Before the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC Alexander the Great camped for four days near the aqueduct at Jerwan . The historians who travelled with him would have had ample time to investigate the enormous works around them, recording them in Greek . These first - hand accounts do not survive into our times but were quoted by later Greek writers . </Li> <P> King Sennacherib's Hanging Garden was considered a world wonder not just for its beauty--a year - round oasis of lush green in a dusty summer landscape--but also for the marvelous feats of water engineering that maintained the garden . </P> <P> There was a tradition of Assyrian royal garden building . King Ashurnasirpal II (883--859 BC) had created a canal, which cut through the mountains . Fruit tree orchards were planted . Also mentioned were pines, cypresses and junipers; almond trees, date trees, ebony, rosewood, olive, oak, tamarisk, walnut, terebinth, ash, fir, pomegranate, pear, quince, fig, and grapes . </P>

When were the hanging gardens of babylon made