The Seven Wonders Of The Ancient World

The amazing works of art and architecture known as the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World serve as a testament to the ingenuity, imagination, and sheer hard work of which human beings are capable. They are also, however, reminders of the human capacity for destruction. Ultimately, human hands joined with natural forces to destroy all but one of the wonders. Still, all seven continue to inspire and be celebrated as the remarkable products of the creativity and skill of Earth's early civilizations. 1. The Great Pyramid of Giza, Egypt The Great Pyramids of Giza are the only wonder of the ancient world that has survived to the day. The three pyramids, Khufu, Khafra, and Minkara, were built between 2700 BC and 2500 BC as royal tombs. The largest and most impressive is Khufu. It is believed to contain more than 2 million stone blocks that weigh from 2 to 30 tons each. For more than 4000 years, Khufu reigned as the tallest building in the world. The interior of the pyramids included narrow corridors and hidden chambers in an unsuccessful attempt to foil grave robbers. Although modern archaeologists have found some great treasures among the ruins, they believe most of what the pyramids once contained was looted within 250 years of their completion. 2. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon According to ancient Greek poets, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were built near the Euphrates River in modern-day Iraq by the Babylonian king Nebuchadrezzar II around 600 BC. The gardens were said to have been planted as high as 75 feet in the air on a huge square brick terrace that was laid out in steps like a theater. Though there are multiple accounts of the gardens in both Greek and Roman literature, none of them are firsthand, and no mention of the gardens has been found in Babylonian cuneiform inscriptions. As a result, most modern scholars believe that the existence of the gardens was part of an inspired and widely believed but still fictional tale. 3. Statue of Zeus at Olympia The famed statue of Zeus was crafted by the Athenian sculptor Phidias and completed and placed in the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, site of the ancient Olympics, around the mid-5th century BC. The statue depicted the god of thunder seated bare-chested at a wooden throne. At 40 feet, it was so tall that its head nearly touched the top of the temple. The Zeus statue graced the temple at Olympia for more than eight centuries before Christian priests persuaded the Roman emperor to close the temple in the 4th century AD. At that time, the statue was moved to a temple in Constantinople, where it is believed to have been destroyed in a fire in the year 462. 4. Temple of Artemis at Ephesus There was actually more than one Temple of Artemis. A series of several altars and temples was destroyed and then restored on the same site in Ephesus, a Greek port city on the west coast of modern-day Turkey. The most fabulous of these structures was a marble temple built around 350 BC. The building burned on July 21, 356 BC, according to legend, the same night that Alexander the Great was born. About six years later, the building of a new temple to replace it was begun. The new building was surrounded by marble steps that led to a more than 400-foot-long terrace. Inside stood 127 60-foot marble columns and a statue of Artemis. The temple was largely destroyed by Ostrogoths in AD 262. 5. Lighthouse of Alexandria The Lighthouse of Alexandria was located on a small island called Pharos near the city of Alexandria. Designed by the Greek architect Sostratos and completed around 270 BC, during the reign of Ptolemy II, the lighthouse helped to guide the Nile River ships in and out of the city's busy harbor. Above that stood a 16-foot statue, most likely of Ptolemy II, or Alexander the Great, for whom the city was named. Although estimates of the lighthouse's height have ranged from 200 to 600 feet, most modern scholars believe it was about 380 feet tall. The lighthouse was gradually destroyed during a series of earthquakes from 956 to 1323 AD. Some of its remains have since been discovered. 6. Mausoleum at Halicarnassus Located in what is now southeastern Turkey, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus was a tomb built by Artemisia for her husband Mausolus, the king of Carnia in Asia Minor, after his death in 353 BC. Mausolus was also Artemisia's brother, and according to legend, she was so grief-stricken at his passing that she mixed his ashes with water and drank them in addition to ordering the mausoleum's construction. The massive mausoleum was made entirely of white marble and is thought to have been about 135 feet high. The mausoleum was largely destroyed in an earthquake in the 13th century, and its remains were later used in the fortification of a castle. In 1846, pieces one of the mausoleum's friezes were extracted from the castle and now reside, along with other relics, from the Halicarnassus site in London's British Museum. 7. Colossus of Rhodes The Colossus was an enormous bronze sculpture of the sun god Helios, built by the Rhodians over 12 years in the 3rd century BC. The city was the target of a Macedonian siege early in the 4th century BC. The statue was, at 100 feet, the tallest of the ancient world. It was once believed that the statue stood with one leg on each side of the harbor, but most scholars now agree that the statue's legs were most likely built close together to support its immense weight. It was completed around 280 BC and stood for 60 years until it was toppled in an earthquake. It was never rebuilt. Thank you for watching, don't forget to subscribe, see you next time!