The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were said to have been built by King Nebuchadnezzar II after he married a mountain princess. He hoped the gardens would make her feel at home.
Credit: World Book illustration by Birney Lettick

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, a listing of notable objects built between about 2500 and 250 B.C. The plants in the gardens spilled over terraces, giving them the appearance of hanging. The gardens probably were built by King Nebuchadnezzar II, who ruled Babylon from 605 to 562 B.C. Babylon was a great city on the banks of the Euphrates River near present-day Al Hillah, Iraq. Archaeologists have not been able to find the remains of the gardens.

The gardens are considered to be a great architectural achievement. Nebuchadnezzar was said to have built the gardens for his wife Amytis, who missed the lush mountains of her homeland of Media, an ancient country in what is now northern Iran. Nebuchadnezzar’s palace had stone arches and brick terraces on squared-off pillars. Plants filled the terraces. To irrigate the flowers and trees, enslaved people worked in shifts turning handles to lift water from the Euphrates River.

This map shows the locations of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Credit: WORLD BOOK map

Knowledge of the gardens comes from an account written around 280 B.C. by Berossus, a Babylonian priest. Later writers, who may have only read about the gardens, described them as laid out on a brick terrace about 400 feet (120 meters) square and 75 feet (23 meters) above the ground. Strabo, a Greek geographer who lived from about 63 B.C. to A.D. 24, described the irrigation system for the gardens and vaulted terraces. He wrote of screws that drew the water up from the river. Diodorus Siculus, a Greek historian who lived sometime between 100 B.C. and the birth of Jesus Christ, described the gardens as a green, forested, artificial mountain that resembled a ziggurat (stepped tower).

Some historians believe that accounts of the gardens may be inaccurate or untrue. The British scholar Stephanie Dalley, for example, concluded that the gardens never existed in Babylon. Dalley believed the gardens were built in the city of Nineveh, about 300 miles (500 kilometers) north of Babylon, by the Assyrian King Sennacherib in the early 600’s B.C. In ancient texts, Sennacherib described his royal palace gardens as having an irrigation system powered by a water-raising device often referred to as the Archimedean screw. Modern excavations in the area found an aqueduct system for delivering water from the mountains. The historical confusion could be due to Nineveh being referred to as “old Babylon” in Assyrian sources.

Mary Reibey, Australian convict and merchant
State Library of New South Wales

Australia is famous for its unique culture, metropolitan cities, and unusual wildlife, among other things. Each week, this seasonal feature will spotlight one of Australia’s many wonders.

Mary Reibey was a famous woman convict in the history of Australia. A convict is a person found guilty of a crime. From 1787 to 1868, more than 162,000 convicts were sent from Britain (now the United Kingdom) to colonies in Australia. In Australia, Reibey became a successful merchant and trader.

Reibey’s parents died when she was young, and she was sent to live with her grandmother. At the age of 13, Reibey ran away from home. She dressed as a boy and gave her name as James Burrow. She was arrested for stealing a horse and sent to Australia for seven years. In 1794, at the age of 17, she married Thomas Reibey, an Irish trader with the East India Company. The Reibeys lived together along the Hawkesbury River near Sydney, New South Wales. Thomas was granted land and founded a trading estate named Entally House.

Reibey was born Molly Haydock on May 12, 1777, in Bury, near Manchester, England. Little is known about her childhood before she ran away. After her arrest, she arrived in Sydney on the Royal Admiral, a trading ship that also transported convicts, in 1792. She worked for two years as a nursemaid for Major Francis Grouse, the English lieutenant-governor of New South Wales, before marrying Thomas Reibey.

The Reibeys’ business interests expanded to include multiple farms and a cargo business. When Thomas died in 1811, Mary assumed all responsibility for the businesses. Mary had experience managing the businesses while Thomas was absent from Sydney for months on trips. She became known as a community role model and prosperous businesswoman. She was also respected for her interest in education and the church.

Mary invested in Sydney by building in Macquarie Place. In 1825, she was appointed one of the governors of the Sydney Public Free Grammar School, an early college-preparatory school. She expanded the family business and eventually retired in 1828. In 1835, Mary built a cottage outside Hunters Hill, New South Wales. She later built a house in Newtown, Sydney, where she died from pneumonia in 1855. Reibey is featured on the Australian 20-dollar note.

August 14, 2019

Tomorrow, August 15, is the 500th anniversary of the founding of Panama City, the capital and largest city of the Central American country of Panama. The city, which lies at the Pacific Ocean end of the Panama Canal, is the oldest European settlement on the Pacific coast of the Americas. Panama City has been a crossroads of world trade and travel since its founding in 1519, and it has grown into a modern international banking, cultural, and tourist center.

Panama City was founded 500 years ago, on Aug. 15, 1519. The city overlooks the Bay of Panama, part of the Pacific Ocean. Credit: © AFP/Getty Images

Panama City’s 500th birthday celebrations, titled Panamá 500, began in May with an urban art project known as the Panama Mural Fest. The project decorated the walls of each of the city’s 26 districts with paintings depicting the area’s diverse culture and history. In July and August, retrospectives on Panamanian cinema and photography took place, along with a variety of academic, cultural, dance, gastronomic, and musical activities. Tomorrow, August 15, the birthday party peaks with a boisterous parade and an elaborate fireworks show.

People stroll the Avenida Central in Panama City. The city is celebrating its 500th birthday in 2019. Credit: © JJM Stock Photography/Panama/Alamy Images

Pedrarías Dávila, a Spanish adventurer also called Pedro Arias de Ávila, founded Panama City in 1519, just six years after Vasco Núñez de Balboa became the first European to see the Pacific coast of the New World in 1513. At the time, Pedrarías was governor of an area that included parts of present day Panama. (A feud between Balboa and Pedrarías resulted in Balboa’s execution in 1519.) The newly constructed port, which became Panama’s capital in 1524, served ships that were exploring and exploiting the Pacific coasts of present day Ecuador, Peru, and Chile.

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Panama City is home to a number of cultural attractions, including the Museum of Religious Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art. Credit: WORLD BOOK map

In 1671, the English pirate Henry Morgan led a force of 1,400 men against Panama City, and much of it was destroyed. (The ruins of the original city, known as Panamá Viejo [Old Panama], are a popular tourist attraction.) In 1673, Panama City was rebuilt about 5 miles (8 kilometers) away, and buildings from this time remain in the city’s Casco Viejo (Old Quarter). Casco Viejo was named a World Heritage Site in 1997, and Panamá Viejo was added in 2003. Such sites are places of unique cultural or natural importance, as designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Panama City prospered as Panama was increasingly used as a shortcut between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans (an alternative to traveling by ship around the tip of South America). In the mid-1800′s, a railroad was built across Panama to carry the many people traveling west during the California gold rush. Construction of the Panama Canal, which followed the railway route and opened in 1914, gave Panama City increased importance and made it a center for world trade.

Today, treelined boulevards cross downtown Panama City. This area contains a broad promenade along the seafront. Interesting downtown buildings include the Palace of Justice, the Presidential Palace, and the historic Museo del Canal (Canal Museum). The nearby ATLAPA (Atlantic and Pacific) Convention Center, which can hold more than 10,000 people, overlooks the ocean. The Panama Metro, Central America’s first urban rail system, opened in Panama City in 2014. The Biomuseo, designed by the American architect Frank Gehry, has exhibits about the history of the Isthmus of Panama and the region’s influence on world biodiversity. Outside the city, national parks protect the tropical rain forests, which are home to a wide variety of plants and animals.

April 15, 2019

On April 10, 1919, 100 years ago last week, the Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata was gunned down in Chinameca, a village in the Mexican state of Morelos. Zapata was an important leader of the Mexican Revolution, which began in 1910. Zapata’s main goal was to gain land for the people. He remains an important symbol for many peasants, agricultural workers, and others who struggle against social injustice. Zapata was born on Aug. 8, 1879, in Anenecuilco, Morelos.

Emiliano Zapata, a leader of the Mexican Revolution, died 100 years ago today on April 10, 1919. Credit: AP/Wide World

Zapata led an army of some 5,000 people early in the Mexican Revolution. His forces were part a larger revolutionary army that drove the dictator Porfirio Díaz from power in 1911. Zapata’s fellow revolutionary Francisco Madero then became president of Mexico, but he failed to fulfill promises of land redistribution. Zapata then issued a program of immediate land reform known as the “Plan de Ayala.” (Ayala is a city in Morelos.) Zapata later refused to recognize the authority of Victoriano Huerta, who overthrew Madero in 1913.

The Mexican Revolution of 1910 was a civil war in which Mexicans of various social classes demanded economic, political, and social reforms. This photograph shows a mounted army of farmers and peasants led by revolutionaries Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata. Credit: © Hulton Archive/Getty Images

The military leaders Zapata, Venustiano Carranza, Álvaro Obregón, and Pancho Villa rebelled against Huerta—“El Usurpador” (the Usurper)— and drove him from power in 1914. However, these men came from different parts of the country and had various goals and ambitions. Carranza took control of Mexico in 1914, but fighting among the revolutionary leaders continued for several years. On April 10, 1919, Zapata was betrayed and murdered by forces loyal to Carranza. Carranza was then killed in 1920 during fighting with forces loyal to Obregón—who then became president. The war ended and Obregón at last instituted the ideals of the revolution by distributing land to Mexico’s peasants, building many schools, and supporting a strong labor union movement. 

June 11, 2018

For today’s language—Latin—we move from the living to the dead, so to speak. Until now, Language Mondays have discussed “living” languages. Latin, however, is classified as a “dead” language—that is, one that does not change. Latin is a dead language because it exists almost exclusively as literature written centuries ago. To change, and thus be considered alive, a language must be used by many people in everyday life.

The poet Virgil, seated, wrote of Rome’s creation in his great Latin language epic, the Aeneid. Credit: Mosaic (A.D. 200′s); Bardo Museum, Tunis, Tunisia (Giraudon/Art Resource)

Latin once was alive. In fact, it was the principal language of western Europe for hundreds of years. It was the language of the Roman Empire, and Roman soldiers and traders took it wherever they went. It became especially important in law and government because of its precise expression. It was also the language used in a number of important works of literature and philosophy. Among the classics of Latin literature are the written orations of Cicero, who is sometimes called the greatest master of Latin prose: De rerum natura (On the Nature of Things), a philosophical and scientific poem by Lucretius; the Aeneid, an epic poem by Virgil; the Odes, a collection of poems by Horace; the Metamorphoses, a narrative poem by Ovid with more than 200 tales taken from Greek and Roman legends and myths; and Histories and Annals, descriptions of Roman history by Tacitus.

During the Middle Ages, a form of Latin called Medieval Latin became the language of the Christian church and of education. It was used by scholars in universities and schools throughout Europe. By the early 1500’s, however, Latin had stopped being a spoken language. Today, the Roman Catholic Church still considers Latin its official language, though Mass has been celebrated in the tongue of the local community since the mid-1960’s.

But Latin did not entirely go away. The Latin of the late Roman Empire developed into what are known as the Romance languages, including French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, and Spanish. The word romance comes from a Latin adverb that referred to speakers of Latin who were said to fabulare romanice, which means speak in the Roman way. The Romance languages developed from vernacular Latin, a form of Latin spoken by common people in certain European countries that were conquered by Rome and became Roman provinces.

English, though considered a Germanic language, has many words that have Latin words as their roots. For example, the English words equal, adequate, equable, and equate all have the Latin word aequus (fair) as their root. The word extinct comes from exstinguere (to extinguish). To say someone is in excruciating pain is to indicate that the person is suffering extreme pain. The word excruciating comes from the Latin word excruciare, meaning to torture or to crucify. Excruciare has as one of its own Latin roots, the word crux, meaning cross. Readers of J. K. Rowling’s series of books on the wizard Harry Potter (and the movies based on them) will notice that excruciare would be a root word of cruciatus. In Harry Potter’s world, the Cruciatus Curse is one of the Unforgivable Curses and inflicts severe pain on its victim. Rowling uses a number of other Latinate words for the charms and curses in the Potter books, including Accio (a summoning charm) and Expelliarmus (a charm used to disarm opponents).

A number of Latin terms and expressions continue to be used in their Latin forms. The language of scientific classification has always used Latin and Greek words. Early Western scholars gave organisms Latin and Greek names, and later scientists have kept them because their definitions do not change over time.

Latin terms, or abbreviations of them, are commonly used in bibliographies at the end of nonfiction books. For instance, et al. (for et alii or et alia) means and others. So if the term et al. appears after the name of an author, it means that others were involved in writing the cited book.

Latin expressions and abbreviations occur in a number of other places as well. Have you ever used the initials A.D. when giving a date? They stand for anno Domini—in the year of our Lord. How about i.e. (for id est—that is), e.g. (exempli gratia —for example), circa (about), or etc. (et cetera—and so forth)?

Some Latin expressions have become commonplace. For example, the ancient Roman leader Julius Caesar sent this famous dispatch to the Senate after he defeated King Pharnaces II of Pontus: Veni, vidi, vici (I came, I saw, I conquered). The image of a roaring lion—a symbol of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer motion-picture studios—is accompanied by the Latin motto, Ars Gratia Artis (Art for Art’s Sake). The expression Amor vincit omnia (Love conquers all) is also well known.

So, even though technically Latin is considered a dead language, its legacy lives on. It does not entirely RIP (requiescat in pace, or rest in peace).

May 17, 2018

On Tuesday, May 15, one of the world’s most beautiful and historic diamonds, the Farnese Blue, sold at auction in Switzerland for $6.7 million. The Farnese Blue is not the most expensive diamond on the planet—that honor currently goes to the $57.5-million Oppenheimer Blue, the world’s largest blue diamond. But $6.7 million is still a lot for a single gem, and the 6.16-carat pear-shaped Farnese Blue has had a fascinating journey that goes right along with the history books.

A silver marker is included in the box with the Farnese Blue diamond. In French, it reads: “Remarkable blue brilliant. This historical stone was offered by the Philippine Islands to Elisabeth Farnese, Queen of Spain, wife of Philippe V, great grandfather of the Comte de Villafranca, current owner of that stone.” Credit: © Sothebys

Tuesday’s auction at Sotheby’s in Geneva was the first public sale of the Farnese Blue, which had remained in the same family for centuries. Part of a bank-busting sale collection called “Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels,” the Farnese Blue was purchased by an unnamed private collector. Like many other famous diamonds, the Farnese Blue came from the historic Golconda mines of southern India.

Historically, the Farnese Blue can be traced back to Elisabeth Farnese, the queen of Spain from 1714 to 1746. At the time of her marriage to King Philip V in 1714, the Spanish monarchy was reeling from years of fighting in the War of the Spanish Succession. Badly in debt, the king appealed to Spain’s colonies around the world to provide wedding gifts for his new bride. Eventually, an enormous amount of gold and gems was loaded onto 12 ships, a so-called “Golden Fleet” that set sail from Cuba in August 1715, bound for Spain. Not long after leaving port, however, a hurricane destroyed all but one ship of the Golden Fleet—a ship carrying treasures, the Blue Farnese among them, collected by the governor of the Philippines, a Spanish colony at the time. Queen Elisabeth (and no doubt a frustrated King Philip) missed out on the bulk of the expensive gifts, but she had a shiny new blue diamond.

The Farnese Blue then passed down through Philippe, a younger son of Elisabeth and Philip who became the duke of Parma, Elisabeth’s hometown in Italy. The stone then went to Philippe’s son Ferdinand, the second duke of Parma. Ferdinand’s son Louis got the diamond before his brief reign as king of Etruria (present-day Tuscany, Umbria, and Latium) during the tumultuous years of the Napoleonic Wars (1796-1815). Louis’s son Charles, who after a roundabout path ended up as the Comte de Villafranca, left the Farnese Blue to his grandson, Robert, the last duke of Parma.

After the Risorgimento (the unification of Italy in the 1860′s), Robert lived with other deposed Italian dukes in neighboring Austria-Hungary, which was then ruled by Robert’s cousin, the Habsburg Emperor Franz Joseph. Robert’s son, Prince Elie, included the diamond in the wedding presents to his wife Maria Anna in 1903. The Austro-Hungarian Monarchy fell at the end of World War I (1914-1918), and with it went the royal status of the House of Habsburg. Maria Anna kept the Farnese Blue in the now private family, however, and the diamond passed down through successive generations until its eventual sale this week.

December 28, 2017

One hundred and fifty years ago today, on Dec. 28, 1867, the United States formally annexed Midway Island, a small Pacific atoll that would be the site of a significant battle during World War II (1939-1945). The United States had taken possession of the largely barren atoll in August 1867. Midway, among the furthest points north and west of the Hawaiian archipelago, became a U.S. territory 33 years before the rest of the Hawaiian Islands. Midway is the only part of the archipelago that did not become part of the U.S. state of Hawaii in 1959.

Midway Island is made up of two islands in an atoll in the Pacific Ocean. The United States Department of the Interior controls the island. Credit: © Photo Resource Hawaii/Alamy Images

As its name suggests, Midway lies roughly halfway between Asia and North America. It lies 1,250 miles (2,010 kilometers) northwest of Honolulu. It is made up of two islands in an atoll 6 miles (10 kilometers) in diameter. It has an area of 2 square miles (5 square kilometers) and a total coastline of about 9 miles (15 kilometers). Midway has a population of about 40. United States companies built a telegraph cable relay station there in 1903, and an airport in 1935. A U.S. Navy air station operated on Midway Island from 1941 to 1993. The U.S. Department of the Interior now controls the island, which is part of the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge is part of the massive Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.

The aircraft carrier USS Yorktown is hit by a Japanese aerial torpedo during an attack by planes from the Japanese carrier Hiryu on June 4, 1942, during the Battle of Midway. Black clouds of antiaircraft fire clog the surrounding sky. Yorktown was abandoned, sinking early on June 7 after being torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. Credit: NARA

The Battle of Midway was one of the main naval battles during World War II. From June 4 to June 6, 1942, U.S. land- and carrier-based planes attacked a Japanese fleet approaching the islands. They sank four Japanese aircraft carriers and one heavy cruiser. Japanese forces destroyed the U.S. destroyer Hammann and the aircraft carrier Yorktown.

The Battle of Midway was the first decisive U.S. naval victory over the Japanese in World War II. It crippled Japan’s naval air power and ended Japan’s attempt to seize Midway as a base from which to strike Hawaii. Many military experts believe it was the turning point in the Pacific campaign.

December 22, 2017

On Dec. 22, 1937, 80 years ago today, the center tube of the Lincoln Tunnel opened to motor traffic, connecting midtown New York City with Weehawken, New Jersey. Funded by the the Public Works Administration (PWA), the tunnel was built beneath the Hudson River by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, putting thousands of people to work during the Great Depression. A terrific engineering feat, the tunnel eased commutes in the burgeoning metropolis. Named after Abraham Lincoln, the tunnel followed the completion of the Holland Tunnel, also under the Hudson, in 1927.

Workers load rubble onto tram cars during the excavation of the Lincoln Tunnel in April 1935. Credit: The Port Authority of New York

Construction on the Lincoln Tunnel began in March 1934, and crews worked from both sides of the Hudson River. The work of the sandhogs—as workers who dig tunnels are sometimes known—was dangerous and claustrophobic. To reach the construction sites beneath the river, crews had to pass through air locks that eased them in and out of the high pressure areas. Dynamite exploded, giant drills roared, and tram cars rattled as workers braced the tunnel’s excavation with concrete and hundreds of giant iron rings. The New Jersey and New York workers met beneath the river for the first time in August 1935.

Temporary lighting illuminates the Lincoln Tunnel in October 1937, two months before it opened to motor traffic. Credit: The Port Authority of New York

Today, the Lincoln Tunnel has three tubes, each with two traffic lanes. The 8,216-foot (2,504-meter) center tube carries vehicles in either or both directions, depending on traffic needs. Westbound vehicles travel in the 7,482-foot (2,281-meter) north tube, opened in 1945. The 8,006-foot (2,440-meter) south tube is for eastbound traffic. The completion of the south tube of the Lincoln Tunnel in 1957 brought the total cost to about $190 million. More than 20 million vehicles use the tunnel every year. Today’s cash toll for using the bridge—$15 for cars—is slightly higher than the original fare of 50¢.

As late as 1900, Manhattan was not connected with New Jersey by either bridge or tunnel. A few bridges crossed the narrow Harlem River on the north, connecting Manhattan with the Bronx. Brooklyn Bridge, across the East River, connected the lower end of Manhattan with Long Island. But the thousands of New Jersey people who worked in Manhattan had to cross the Hudson River every day by ferryboat. This was the same method that the Dutch settlers had used nearly 300 years before. Today, seven tunnels under the Hudson River connect Manhattan with New Jersey. The tunnels are used for rail, automobile, truck, and bus traffic. Construction of other routes beneath the river is ongoing.