| The word "hydroponics" is derived from two | | | | Century CE and introduced pasta to Italy, |
| Greek words: cidra, meaning water, and punikos, | | | | commented on what he called the "Floating |
| meaning labor; thus, literally "waterworks." | | | | Gardens." Around the same time on the other |
| Contrary to popular belief, the grow system we | | | | side of the world, the Mexica - one of the native |
| have come to know as hydroponic gardening is an | | | | peoples who later formed the Aztec Empire of |
| ancient form of agriculture, going back 3,000 | | | | Mexico - built a city called Tenochtitlan on the |
| years. There are references to the cultivation of | | | | shores of Lake Texcoco. Where Mexico City |
| plants directly in water in Egyptian records dating | | | | stands today, the Mexica constructed an |
| back to the time of the New Kingdom and the | | | | extensive urban center that included a type of |
| "Woman-King," Pharoah Hatshepsut around 1460 | | | | early hydroponic system upon which plants were |
| BCE. | | | | cultivated on the surface of the water. These |
| The best-known hydroponic gardens of the | | | | early Mexican "floating gardens" were developed |
| ancient world were the Hanging Gardens of | | | | out of necessity, because arable land was at a |
| Babylon. Also known as the Gardens of | | | | premium in the area. Called chinampas, they were |
| Semiramis, the Hanging Gardens are reputed to | | | | actually small, artificial islands that were created |
| have been located near Al-Hillah in present-day | | | | by scooping up mud from the marshy areas |
| Iraq. These hydroponic gardens were regarded as | | | | bordering the lakes. This mud was ultimately held |
| one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. | | | | together by tree roots; food plants were |
| The Hanging Gardens grow system was built by | | | | cultivated on these "islands," and were amazingly |
| King Nebuchadnezzar around 600 BCE. His wife, | | | | productive. |
| Amytis, was from Media, whose people were the | | | | The modern history of hydroponics actually begins |
| ancestors of the modern Kurds. The country of | | | | in 1627, when Sir Francis Bacon's Sylva Sylvarum |
| Medea was a mountainous one, roughly | | | | was published posthumously. In this treatise, |
| corresponding to present-day Kurdistan, northern | | | | Bacon - an English philosopher and contemporary |
| Iran and Azerbaijan. Legend says Amytis became | | | | of Shakespeare - wrote about the cultivation of |
| homesick for the mountains and the flora of her | | | | terrestrial plants without soil. Although Bacon died |
| homeland; Nebuchadnezzar had the Gardens | | | | before his theories could be explored, the idea of |
| constructed for her. According to Greek historians | | | | water culture caught on as an area of scientific |
| of the time, the Hanging Gardens, a water pipe | | | | study throughout the remainder of the 17th |
| led into a well tower, which supplied water via a | | | | Century. By the 1860s, German botanists Julius |
| number of vaults for fruit trees growing in a layer | | | | von Sachs and Wilhelm Knop had perfected the |
| of asphalt. | | | | first nutrient solutions for soilless agriculture, and |
| Centuries later, Italian traveler Marco Polo, who | | | | modern hydroponic gardening was born. |
| reportedly visited China during the late 13th | | | | |