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Why do some researchers think the Hanging Gardens may have been located at Nineveh rather than Babylon?

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Reconstructed Ishtar Gate at Babylon near Al-Hillah, Iraq, featuring blue walls decorated with rows of yellow and white animal reliefs and a central arched entrance. — Babylon A reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate at the ruins of Babylon, near modern Al-Ḥillah, Iraq.

While the Hanging Gardens of Babylon are traditionally associated with Babylon, no conclusive archaeological evidence has confirmed their location at that site.12

Some researchers propose that the gardens were actually located at Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire, rather than in Babylon. This theory suggests that confusion among classical sources led to the misattribution of the gardens to Babylon. Proponents of this view argue that the gardens were constructed by the Assyrian king Sennacherib.12

According to this hypothesis, the Nineveh gardens were designed as a sloping construct intended to imitate a natural mountain landscape. They were reportedly watered by an advanced irrigation system that may have utilized an early version of the Archimedes screw. Because no definitive remains have been discovered at either location, the true site of this Seven Wonders of the World entry remains a subject of ongoing historical and archaeological debate.12