During a conversation recently, it came up that I\u2019d been to the Great Wall of China. Someone said, \u201cgee, that\u2019s one of the 7 wonders of the world.\u201d Well, that\u2019s kind of correct and kind of not correct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The original<\/em> Seven Wonders of the World (now referred to as the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World) were remarkable, humanly-constructed \u201clandmarks\u201d from ancient civilizations and didn’t include the Great Wall of China.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Back in, I think, about 2000 a campaign was started to decide on seven new<\/em> \u201cWonders of the World.\u201d Over 100 million people cast their votes to trim the list (of over 200 places) down to seven. All interesting \u2014 and \u2014 wonderful, but maybe not as much as the ancient wonders\u2026. 2. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon \u2014 located in ancient Babylon, near present-day Baghdad in Iraq. 3. The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus \u2014 located in the ancient city of Ephesus, near modern Selcuk in Turkey. King Croesus, the the guy from who we get the term \u201crich as Croesus,\u201d was the heaviest contributor to the shrine to Artemis, the Greek goddess of the hunt and wild nature that was built about 550 B.C. 4. The Statue of Zeus \u2014 located in Olympia, Greece \u2014 the site of the ancient Olympic Games. The Greeks wanted visitors to the ancient Olympics to be impressed, so what was originally a simple temple to Zeus was turned into the home of an enormous statue of Greece\u2019s most powerful god. 5. The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus \u2014 located in Southwester Turkey, Queen Artemisia built it as a tribute to her husband, King Mausolus in about 353 B.C. 6. The Colossus of Rhodes \u2014 overlooks the harbor of Rhodes, a Greek island in the Aegean Sea. The people of Rhodes built it in honor of Helios, the sun god, to celebrate a military victory, around 282 B.C. 7. The Lighthouse of Alexandria \u2014 located on the ancient island of Pharos, in Alexandria harbor in Egypt \u2014 built in about 270 B.C. So there have been, and are, many wonders in the world built by man, and many more thanks to the work of Mother Nature, but I think someone had it right, when they said that the world\u2019s seven wonders taht stand the test of time are \u2014 truth, love, joy, faith, peace, virtue, and wisdom. During a conversation recently, it came up that I\u2019d been to the Great Wall of China. Someone said, \u201cgee, that\u2019s one of the 7 wonders of the world.\u201d Well, that\u2019s kind of correct and kind of not correct. The original … Continue reading
The \u201cmodern\u201d list of the Seven Wonders of the World (that does list the Great Wall) consists of:
1. The Great Wall of China
2. The Taj Mahal, in India
3. Petra, Jordan (an ancient city carved into rock)
4. The Colosseum, Italy
5. Christ the Redeemer, Brazil (statue at the summit of Corcovado Mt. in Rio)
6 Chich\u00e9n Itz\u00e1 in Mexico (a city built by The Maya people over 1,500 years ago)
7. Machu Picchu, Peru (the ruins of a city from the Incan empire \u2014 in the Andes Mountains)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here the ancient wonders:
1. The great Pyramid at Giza \u2014 located in the greater metropolitan area of Cairo, Egypt. Pharaoh Kufu built it for his tomb around 2500 B.C.
This is the oldest of the seven ancient wonders and the only one still standing. Each of the pyramid\u2019s four sides is perfectly oriented to north, south, east and west. The base covers 13 acres. The Great Pyramid was the tallest structure on earth for more than 4,000 years. It was topped by the Cologne Cathedral in 1880, and later the Washington Monument and Eiffel Tower.
The pyramid was originally 481 feet high, but time and weather have worn the pyramid down to about 450 feet. Today, it\u2019s one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Babylon was very flat, so King Nebuchadnezzar built it for his wife, Amities, who was homesick for the mountains of her native land \u2014 about 600 B.C.
The gardens were like a terraced garden, built on higher and higher levels, covered with trees, flowers, fountains, and waterfalls. Some estimates say it probably covered and area about 100 by 150 feet. The whole thing was supported by columns 75 feet high. It\u2019s thought that slaves worked around the clock to irrigate the garden with water from the nearby Euphrates River.
There is no concrete proof that the gardens were real, but if they were, time has eroded them. There is virtually nothing left of the gardens, but archaeologists are still digging in the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Except for the roof, the temple was made entirely of marble. it was considered the most beautiful structure on earth, with pillars of gold, magnificent frescoes on the walls, and its most famous feature \u2014 four bronze statues of Amazons, the women warriors who were Artemis\u2019s most faithful followers. The temple was a tourist center, where everyone was expected to leave gifts for the goddess. Outside the temple, souvenir stands sold little statutes of her. In one of her forms, Artemis was the goddess of the moon.\u00a0
A fire set by a pre-Christian publicity seeker destroyed the temple in 356 B.C. It was rebuilt, then burned down by invading Goths. Early Christians demolished what remained.
Excavations have uncovered the foundation and some columns. Some of the columns that were excavated can be seen at the British Museum in London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 40-foot high statue of Zeus sitting on a throne made the temple look like a playhouse. Zeus\u2019s head was just below the ceiling, giving the impression that if he stood up, he\u2019d go right through the roof. His body was made of ivory, and his beard, robe, and sandals were made of gold. His throne, also made of gold, was encrusted with precious stones.\u00a0
The structure was destroyed by a fire in A.D. 426 \u2014 nothing is left of the statue. The temple is one of those picturesque ruins you can visit on vacation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Except for the fact that Artemisia was King Mausolus\u2019s sister as well as his wife, the only interesting thing about him was his death. The word for a large above-ground tomb, \u201cmausoleum,\u201d comes from his name.
Some of the original foundation remains visible and some statues from the tomb can be seen at the British Museum in London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Colossus was a colossal statue of Artemis\u2019s brother, Helios. No-one knows exactly what it looked like, but most artists\u2019 renditions show him naked, or at least scantily clad, which must have been quite a sight at 120 feet high from his toes to his sunburst-shaped crown. It\u2019s interesting that Frenchman Fr\u00e9deric Bartholdi used the statue for inspiration when he designed the \u201cNew Colossus\u201d \u2014\u00a0 America\u2019s Statue of Liberty \u2014 who wears the same pointy headdress.
An earthquake hit around 226 B.C. and the statue broke off at its weakest point \u2014 the knee. There is nothing left of the statue today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This was a wonder that actually served a purpose. Designed to guide ships into the harbor, it was completed during the reign of King Ptolemy II. It wasn\u2019t just any puny little lighthouse. It was covered in marble and close to 400 feet high \u2014 the height of a 40-story skyscraper. The lighthouse was famous enough to be pictured on Roman coins minted in Alexandria in the second century A.D. During the day, an enormous mirror reflected the sun \u2014 at night, a fire at the top did the job. It was apparently also a tourist attraction \u2014 food was sold on the first floor, and there was a balcony above for climbers who wanted the scenic view. After 1,500 years as a working lighthouse, it became the last of the 7 Wonder of the World to disappear \u2014 destroyed by another earthquake, this one in the 14th century A.D.
Deep-sea divers may have found the ruins in 1996\u2026 there are plans to turn it into a tourist attraction again, although most of the best stuff will be underwater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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