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In Ctesias, the Iranian princess Amytis, daughter of Astyages, secures the transition from the Median to the Persian world empire. She marries Cyrus, reconciles him with her father, and secures the eastern half of his empire for him (Haubold 2013a: 174–176). This powerful woman reappears in Berossos’s account as the wife of Nebuchadnezzar and recipient of the Hanging Garden. The point of the reshuffle seems clear: by marrying Amyitis just before the sack of Nineveh, Nebuchadnezzar becomes the legitimate heir of the Assyrian Empire, replacing the Medes, or rather incorporating them into his realm. Berossos overwrites the Ctesianic myth of a succession of empires while preserving some of its constituent parts. Moreover, he feeds Greek fantasies about Babylon as a source of oriental wonders, and advertises Nebuchadnezzar as a suitably romantic role model for the Seleucid kings. The legend of an Assyrian king presenting his Iranian wife with a special garden was probably older than Berossos, and seems to have been popular with the Alexander historians (Bichler and Rollinger 2005; Rollinger 2013: 151; Haubold 2013a: 173–174). By attaching it to Nebuchadnezzar, Berossos secured a central place for him in the Greek imagination: from now on, Nebuchadnezzar was not just a great conqueror king but also a devoted husband. Like his Seleucid patrons, he combined world rule with domestic romance. The story of the Hanging Garden thus illustrates how Berossos combined Greek and Mesopotamian historical registers to connect to, and educate, his Greek readers. Far from betraying the hand of an interpolator, it illustrates his approach throughout the Babyloniaca.