Nevertheless, their passing only strengthens their hold on our imaginations, and for some the pursuit of these Wonders never ceases.
The Great Pyramid in Egypt - c. pre-450 B.C.E
The Great Pyramid was built in modern-day Egypt by the Pharoah Khufu, and is the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World that survives to this day. Perhaps this is partly because its builders were able to draw on all the experience of a long building tradition in this exact vein to perfect the process in this greatest work.
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon - c. 600 B.C.E
The Hanging Gardens were built by King Nebuchadnezzar II for his ailing wife, in what is now present-day Iraq. His wife, who hailed from Persia, longed for the fragrant trees and lush plants of her home, and so in this style the luxurious garden was established and thrived until its destruction by earthquakes soon after 200 B.C.E.
The Statue of Zeus at Olympia - c. 456 B.C.E
The Statue of Zeus at Olympia was sculpted of ivory and gold by Phideas more than 300 years after the start of the Olympic Games. As the Olympics grew in importance, the need for a larger and more splendid temple became evident. Work began in 470 B.C.E and was completed fourteen years later, crowning what would become the standard for many of our own contemporary monuments, including the Lincoln Memorial.
The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus - c. 550 B.C.E
The first Temple of Artemis was probably built in 800 B.C.E, but two more temples would come and go before the great Temple of Artemis would finally be built at Ephesus by the architect Scopas of Paros. The building may have taken anywhere from 60 to 120 years to complete, but was still in construction when Alexander the Great passed through the city.
The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus - c. 350 B.C.E
Built by his grief-stricken queen to honor him in death, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus was meant to be a tomb of unequalled magnificence for the ruler Mausolus. The tomb gained such great notoriety that the ruler's name has been lent to all grand tombs in the form of the word "mausoleum" for a building, especially a large and stately one, housing a tomb or tombs.
The Colossus of Rhodes - c. 282 B.C.E
Rhodes was an important trade port in the ancient world, and the statue of the Colossus was once said to have stood, straddling the entrance to the harbour, there. It is now believed that the statue actually stood closer to the mainland, and upright, on a pedestal probably. Unfortunately, the statue only remained standing for about 56 years.
The Great Lighthouse at Alexandria - c. 270 B.C.E
The Pharos was the great lighthouse at Alexandria, built in the time of Ptolemy II, in a design that would thereafter be the template for the majority of lighthouses built throughout the ages. Alexandria is the last surviving city thus named by Alexander the Great in the course of his conquests. The city harbour was carefully selected as one that would remain both deep and clear despite the massive amounts of silt yielded by the rise and fall of the Nile River. The lighthouse was topped by the sculpted figure of Poseidon, god of the Sea. It was the last of the six wonders to vanish, with only Khufu's Great Pyramid surviving it to the modern day.
It is true that some ancient spectacles have been overlooked, however it remains a wondrous list compiled by the Greeks within their knowledge of what they had encountered.
Images Cited:
(1) www.hisdudeness.com/Egypt/images/The%20Great%20Pyramid%20of%20Giza%202
(2) www.skepticworld.com/ancient-monuments/images/hangingardens
(3) www.ba.metu.edu.tr/~adil/BA-web/seven%20wonders/zeus_color
(4) i168.photobucket.com/albums/u188/Chesterthegreat12/Artemis
(5) www.faculty.fairfield.edu/ jmac/rs/7mausoleum
(6) www.7wonders.info/colossus
(7) www.love-egypt.com/ images/pharos
(8) www.ba.metu.edu.tr//7wonders
No comments:
Post a Comment