<P> The last of the classical sources, thought to be independent of the others, is A Handbook to the Seven Wonders of the World, authored not by Philo of Byzantium, but by another author of the same name who flourished in the 4th to 5th century AD . The method of raising water by screw matches that described by Strabo . The author marvels at the engineering and ingenuity of building vast areas of deep soil, which had a tremendous mass, so far above the natural grade of the surrounding land, as well as the irrigation techniques . </P> <P> There is some controversy as to whether the Hanging Gardens were an actual construction or a poetic creation, owing to the lack of documentation in contemporaneous Babylonian sources . There is also no mention of Nebuchadnezzar's wife Amyitis (or any other wives), although a political marriage to a Median or Persian would not have been unusual . Many records exist of Nebuchadnezzar's works, yet his long and complete inscriptions do not mention any garden . </P> <P> Herodotus, who describes Babylon in his Histories, does not mention the Hanging Gardens . </P> <P> To date, no archaeological evidence has been found at Babylon for the Hanging Gardens . It is possible that evidence exists beneath the Euphrates, which cannot be excavated safely at present . The river flowed east of its current position during the time of Nebuchadnezzar II, and little is known about the western portion of Babylon . Rollinger has suggested that Berossus attributed the Gardens to Nebuchadnezzar for political reasons, and that he had adopted the legend from elsewhere . </P>

What is special about the hanging gardens of babylon