[24]

Identification with Sennacherib's gardens at Nineveh
See also: Nineveh § Sennacherib's Nineveh
Oxford scholar Stephanie Dalley has proposed that the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were actually the well-documented gardens constructed by the Assyrian king Sennacherib (reigned 704 – 681 BC) for his palace at Nineveh; Dalley posits that during the intervening centuries the two sites became confused, and the extensive gardens at Sennacherib's palace were attributed to Nebuchadnezzar II's Babylon.[1] Archaeological excavations have found traces of a vast system of aqueducts attributed to Sennacherib by an inscription on its remains, which Dalley proposes were part of an 80-kilometre (50 mi) series of canals, dams, and aqueducts used to carry water to Nineveh with water-raising screws used to raise it to the upper levels of the gardens.[25]
Dalley bases her arguments on recent developments in the analysis of contemporary Akkadian inscriptions. Her main points are:[26]

The name Babylon, meaning "Gate of the Gods",[27] was the name given to several Mesopotamian cities.[28] Sennacherib renamed the city gates of Nineveh after gods,[29] which suggests that he wished his city to be considered "a Babylon".
