ITTHOBAAL’S INVENTIONS 16 – IRRIGATION.
MUSIC
ITTHOBAAL'S STUDY
(SOUND OF A QUILL)
(ITTHOBAAL IS MELANCHOLY)
ITTHOBAAL
Dear parchment of pondering,
It is the Year of the Consulship of Socius and Ericius and today is a sad Sunday.
I just heard that the Hanging Gardens of Babylon are no more. First ravished by war, then rebuilt, then ravished again and rebuilt again, and now, finally, torn apart by storms. Storms unlike any the Babylonians can remember. Now the gardens lie in ruins, and will not be rebuilt. Or so I have been told.
What a waste. Such beauty... Such colours... The flowers, the trees, a meadow on the roof!
(SIGHS)
One of the most tranquil places on the planet. A pinnacle of man's creation, yet abundant with wild, untameable nature.
I loved those gardens! Wandering around there calmed my senses, yet aroused my mind! The Hellenian's are right: The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were truly one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
The other six rightfully being the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Colossus of Rhodes, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, Cleopatra's nose, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia...
...and my brain.
(INTRIGUED, HIS ANALYTICAL, SCIENTIFIC SIDE WORKING) Since the news of the gardens' ruin I have been thinking back to when I was there. What intrigued me the most about the gardens was not their vivacious splendour. No, what I was most fascinated by was hidden far below petals, leaves and stems, far below walls and ceilings, stairs and balconies.
The architecture of the gardens was impressive, I do not question that. But that was simply what met the eye... Hidden in the depths of that construction was... the irrigation system!
And that was a feat of engineering worth a mention among the wonders of the world!
How to ensure the gardens are always bountiful, no matter the weather? How to withstand dry spells and droughts?
Irrigation!
As payment for faking the death of his pet shelduck, Apsu, the lead engineer of the gardens, let me into the secret rooms and hallways where he worked, showing me how it was all put together.
What I learned on that walk was worth the fake death of a thousand waterfowl.
But the irrigation system of the Hanging Gardens inspired not only the engineer in me, but also the philosopher...
Have you ever considered how the body has a sort of irrigation system? Our blood vessels are like the aqueducts and tubes, and the blood itself like water.
Apsu told me that he sometimes mixed healing powders into the water when the plants were sick, or blended the water with agave or honey if the plants looked sad.
I am convinced - though I have yet to prove it - that our blood transports the food we eat and the medicine we swallow to our various limbs!
Irrigation...
But! Let us not stop the thought there! Must the human body not also be an irrigation system of thought?
When you think "I will pick that apple", must there not be some system of dispersion of intent, that makes your arm then follow your decision?
And yet again, let us advance this thought... for is this not a perfect ideal for a society?
And I am not talking of the spreading of decrees and laws. That is more akin to the culling of the crop. It may stop unwanted actions, but it may not inspire new, positive, profitable action.
No, I am talking about an irrigation system of knowledge! Spread out to the people, accessible to all! Imagine! How knowledge could then grow and flourish, and inspire new thoughts and ideas, which could be disseminated again and made manifest in action!
I believe a society should make itself flourish like the hanging gardens. Become a place of tranquillity that may calm the senses, yet arouse the mind. And for that to happen, we need an irrigation system of ideas.
(SOFT) I can but dream.
Till next time, dear catalogue of creations... Till next time.
END.