Seven Wonders
of The Ancient World is a listing of notable objects built
between about 3000 B.C. and A.D. 476. The practice of listing the seven wonders
probably began in ancient Greece. The ancient Romans also listed memorable
things that travelers should see. Many such lists were made and they included
many different objects. But all the lists of ancient wonders included only
objects made by human beings and considered notable because of their great size
or some other unusual quality. This article discusses the seven most commonly
listed wonders of the ancient world.
The pyramids of Egypt at Giza,
built as tombs for Egyptian kings, are the oldest and best preserved of all the
ancient wonders. Three famous pyramids
there were built about 2600 to 2500 B.C.
The Great Pyramid of Giza, the only wonder of the ancient world still in existence.
The largest pyramid, called
the Great Pyramid, stands about 450 feet (137 meters) high. Its base occupies
about 13 acres (5 hectares). The Greeks and Romans marveled at the size of the
pyramids. They were unaware of the religious importance of the pyramids as
tombs, and considered the pyramids to be foolish extravagances of the Egyptian
kings.
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
were probably built by king Nebuchadnezzar II for one of his wives. Nebuchadnezzar
ruled Babylon from 605 to 562 B.C. Babylon was located near modern Baghdad in
Iraq. Scientists have been unable to identify positively the remains of the
gardens. Our information about the gardens comes from an account by Berossus, a
Babylonian priest of the 200’s B.C. Berossus described gardens that were laid out
on a brick terrace about 400 feet (120 meters) square and 75 feet (23 meters)
above the ground. In order to irrigate the flowers and trees in the gardens,
slaves worked in shifts turning screws to lift water from the Euphrates River.
The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus,
built about 550B.C., was one of the largest and most complicated temples built
in ancient times. It stood in the Greek city of Ephesus, on the west coast of
what is now Turkey. The temple was entirely marble, except for its tile-covered
wooden roof. It was dedicated to the Greek goddess Artemis and was designed by
the architect Chersiphron and his son, Metagenes. Its foundation measured 377
by 180 feet (115by 55 meters). It had 106 columns, about 40 feet (12 meters)
high, in a double row around the cella (inner space). Wealthy King Croesus of
Lydia donated some of the columns.
The temple Burned down in
356 B.C., and another one like it was built on the same foundation. Goths
burned down the second temple in A.D. 262. Only the foundation and parts of the
second temple remain. The British Museum in London contains sculptures from the
second temple.
The statue of Zeus at Olympia,
Greece, was perhaps the most famous statue in the ancient world. The Greek
sculptor Phidias made it about 435 B.C., and dedicated it to Zeus, the king of
the gods. The statue, 40 feet (12 meters ) high, showed Zeus on his throne.
Phidias made Zeus’S robe and ornaments out of gold, and he made the god’s flesh
of ivory. In the statue, Zeus had a wreath around his head and held a figure of
Nike, his messenger, in his right hand. He held a scepter (King’s rod) with an
eagle in his left hand. The statue no longer exists.
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The Mausoleum at
Halicarnassus, in what is now southwestern Turkey, was a huge, white marble
tomb. It was built about 353 B.C. to hold the remains of Mausolus, a provincial
ruler in the Persian Empire. Its size and decorations made it so famous that
all large tombs are now called mausoleums. The tomb was about 135 feet (41
meters) high. It had a rectangular basement beneath a colonnade formed by 36
columns. A stepped pyramid rested on the colonnade, and a statue of Mausolus in
a chariot probably stood on top of the pyramid. The Greek architects Satyros
and Pythios designed the tomb. Four famous Greek sculptors-Bryaxis, Leochares,
Scopas, and Timotheus-carved the frieze (decorated band) on the building. The
top part of the mausoleum was destroyed by an earthquake, and only pieces of
the building and its decorations remain. The British Museum in London contains
some sculptures from the mausoleum.
The Colossus of Rhodes was a huge bronze statue that stood near the harbor of Rhodes, an island in the Aegean sea. The statue honored the sun god Helios. It stood about 120 feet (37 meters) tall-about as high as the Statue of Liberty. The Greek sculptor Chares worked 12 years on it in the early 200’s B.C. He used stone blocks and about 71/2 short tons (6.8 metric tons) of iron bars to support the hollow statue. In 224 B.C., the Colossus was destroyed by an earthquake. The metal supports were sold for scrap in A.D. 653.
The Lighthouse of Alexandria,
over 400 feet (122meters) high, stood on the island of Pharos in the harbor of
Alexandria, Egypt. It became so famous that the word pharos came to mean
lighthouse. The lighthouse is also called the Pharos of Alexandria. The
structure , completed during the reign of Ptolemy II (283-246 B.C.) from a
design by the Greek architect Sostratos, rose from a stone platform in three
sections. The bottom section of the lighthouse was square, the middle
eight-sided, and the top circular. A fire burning at the top of the lighthouse
provided light. The Lighthouse of Alexandria stood for about 1500 years before
it was finally toppled by an earthquake.
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