It has fired the imagination of historians and archaeologists for centuries, but the mystery of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon may finally have been solved - with a surprising twist. A leading Oxford-based historian says the fabled gardens, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, were not built in Hillah by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. In fact they weren’t in Babylon at all. Dr Stephanie Dalley, of Oxford University’s Oriental Institute, says the gardens were actually located 300 miles to the north in Nineveh, Babylon's rival, by the Assyrian ruler Sennacherib. Glory of the ancients: A sixteenth century illustration of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, which may not have been in Babylon at all. An Oxford historian claims they were actually built in the Assyrian city of Nineveh
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Prominent historian claims lost Ancient Wonder was not built in Babylon
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Her research shows the gardens were in neighbouring Assyria
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The evidence shows Babylon's conquerors were the likely architects
She said: 'It’s taken many years to find the evidence to demonstrate that the gardens and associated system of aqueducts and canals were built by @placeholder at Nineveh and not by Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon.