Seven Wonders of the Ancient World Explained | Daily Bellringer

Today we're looking at the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Hello, welcome to the Daily Bellringer World History. Please don't forget to subscribe and take a look at the questions down in the description. Also, don't forget to check out DailyBellringer.com where you'll find more resources that go with many of the Bellringer videos. Long ago, before modern skyscrapers and huge bridges, people built amazing structures using simple tools and great ingenuity. These incredible creations became known as the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. They were all man-made and built in different parts of the world. The only one of the Seven Wonders that still exists today is the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. It was built over 4,500 years ago around 2600 BC as a tomb for the Egyptian pharaoh Khufu. The pyramid was constructed with over 2 million stone blocks, each weighing several tons. For many years, it was the tallest structure in the world, standing 481 feet tall. No one knows exactly how the ancient Egyptians built it, but many believe they used ramps and a large workforce of between 5,000 to 7,000 Egyptians to build the structure. It is a symbol of how powerful and innovative the ancient Egyptians were. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were said to be located in present-day Iraq in the ancient city of Babylon. According to ancient stories, the gardens were built by King Nebuchadnezzar II for his wife who missed the green hills of her homeland. It was built somewhere between 600 to 550 BC and stood close to 70 feet tall. The gardens were described as a large series of terraces filled with trees, flowers, and waterfalls. It was said the water was lifted up from the Euphrates River to water the plants using a special system like a screw that rotated and lifted water upwards. Despite numerous descriptions of the gardens in antiquity, no one has ever found the remains of the gardens, so some people believe that it may have been a legend or built somewhere else. In ancient Greece, the statue of Zeus at Olympia was a massive sculpture of the god Zeus. It was created by a famous sculptor named Phidias around 435 BC. The statue was around 40 feet tall and made of ivory and gold. Zeus was shown sitting on a throne holding a scepter and a statue of Nike, the goddess of victory. It stood inside a temple for hundreds of years before it was destroyed, possibly by fire, somewhere around 425 AD. It was one of the most famous religious images in the ancient world, but like many of the other wonders, it faded into history. The temple of Artemis was located in what is now Turkey. It was built to honor the Greek god Artemis, who was the goddess of hunting and nature. Constructed around 550 BC, the temple was one of the first Greek structures made from marble and had over 100 large columns, each standing 40 feet tall. It was so beautiful that people traveled from all over the ancient world to see it. Over the centuries, the temple was destroyed and rebuilt several times before being destroyed for good by an invasion around 268 AD. Today, only a few columns remain standing as evidence of the grand temple. The mausoleum at Halicarnassus was a grand tomb built for King Maesolus of Caria, also in present-day Turkey, around 350 BC. It stood about 135 feet tall and was lined with marble. Decorated with dozens of statues and carvings and a statue of a chariot on top, the building was so famous that the word mausoleum now means any grand tomb. Around 1404 AD, earthquakes caused parts of the structure to collapse, and soon after, crusaders during the Middle Ages used materials from the ruins to build fortifications. Some of the statues from the tomb can now be found in museums. The Colossus of Rhodes was a giant statue that stood at the entrance to the harbor of the island of Rhodes in Greece. It was completed in 280 BC to celebrate a victory in war and stood about 108 feet tall, about two-thirds of the height of the Statue of Liberty. The statue showed the sun god Helios and was made of bronze. It only stood for barely 50 years as in 226 BC it was destroyed by an earthquake. The remains of the statue laid on the ground for the next 800 years before being completely destroyed in 653 AD. The Lighthouse of Alexandria, also known as the Pharos of Alexandria, was built on the island of Pharos in Egypt. It helped guide ships safely into the busy harbor of Alexandria. The lighthouse was constructed around 300 BC and was over 300 feet tall, making it one of the tallest buildings in the ancient world. It had mirrors to reflect sunlight during the day and a furnace at the top of the tower for fire at night. Several earthquakes eventually weakened the structure and eventually it completely collapsed by 1480 AD. Sections of the lighthouse were discovered in 1994 at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World were amazing achievements that showed how creative, skilled, and determined people were thousands of years ago. Even though most of them are gone, they continue to inspire architects, artists, and travelers today. So with that, hopefully you learned something, and thanks for watching.