A piece of heaven on earth
The Assyrian kings created a piece of paradise on earth with their exotic botanical gardens, gardens worthy of the grandeur of the Assyrian Empire.
King Ashurbanipal's capital at Nineveh was a large city and its lavish palaces were a symbol of the king's wealth and power. However, it was not only the architecture that made the royal palaces a source of awe and wonder. Rather, the palaces were surrounded by orchards, game parks and vast and exotic green gardens that evoked paradise on earth with their abundant trees and plants brought by the kings from various countries.
The Assyrian kings bragged in their texts about collecting plants and animals from all over the empire in order to enrich the gardens.
We find a text by King Ashurbanipal that says:
I built a vegetable garden next to the palace containing all kinds of trees and all fruits and vegetables.
The gardens of Nineveh were irrigated with unprecedented engineering technology by an enormous network of canals, built by Sennacherib, the grandfather of Ashurbanipal, who brought water to the city over a long distance using new technology and water canals to form a flowering oasis throughout the year!
Source: Paradise on earth, the gardens of Ashurbanipal_The British Museum