Salvete Romani,
finally, after a lot of problems, broken links, forgetting and working. It's finished. I'm proud to present the first parts of my "Seven world Wonders".
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The Wonders of the Ancient World.
Introduction.
The list of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World was originally compiled around the second century BC. Greek historians wrote about the greatest monuments at the time. They did not initially conceive of these monuments as "Wonders" (Greek thaumata) but rather as "sights" or "things to be seen" (theamata); in essence, they were the dramatic monuments that filled the travel guidebooks of the ancient world.
Callimachus of Cyrene (305BC-240BC), Chief Librarian of the Alexandria Mouseion, wrote "A Collection of Wonders around the World". All we know about the collection is its title, for it was destroyed with the
Library of Alexandria.
The List
Here is the list of the Seven world wonders which I will write about in the following posts:
1. The Great Pyramids of Giza
2. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
3. Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
4. The Mausoleum at Halicarnassos
5. The Colossus of Rhodes
6. The Lighthouse of Alexandria
7. The Statue of Zeus at Olympia
1. The Great Pyramids of Giza
The great pyramid of Giza, is the only world wonder that still exists today. Contrary to the common belief, only the great pyramid of Khufu (Cheops), not all three great pyramids, is on top of the list of Wonders. The monument was built by the Egyptian pharaoh Khufu of the Fourth Dynasty around the year 2560 BC to serve as a tomb when he dies.
The great pyramid is believed to have been built over a 20 year period. The site was first prepared, and blocks of stone were transported and placed. A fine white limestone casing (which was later stripped of the pyramid by the Arabs to build buildings in Cairo) was then used to smooth the surface. Although it is not known how the blocks were put in place, several theories have been proposed. One theory involves the construction of a straight or spiral ramp that was raised as the construction proceeded. This ramp, coated with mud and water, eased the displacement of the blocks which were pushed (or pulled) into place. A second theory suggests that the blocks were placed using long levers with a short angled foot. However none of these have as yet been proven to be true.
There are also different theories about the actual purpose of the great pyramid itself. Astronomic observatories... Places of cult worship... Geometric structures constructed by a long-gone civilization... Even extraterrestial-related theories have been proposed with little evidence in support... The overwhelming scientific and historic evidence still supports the conclusion that, like many smaller pyramids in the region, the Great Pyramids were built by the great Ancient Egyptian civilization off the west bank of the Nile as tombs for their magnificent kings... Tombs where Khufu, Khefre, and Menkaure could start their mystic journey to the afterlife.
2. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
The ancient city of Babylon, under King Nebuchadnezzar II, must have been a wonder to the traveler's eyes. "In addition to its size," wrote Herodotus, "Babylon surpasses in splendor any city in the known world."
Herodotus claimed the outer walls were 56 miles in length, 80 feet thick and 320 feet high. Wide enough, he said, to allow a four-horse chariot to turn. The inner walls were "
not so thick as the first, but hardly less strong." Inside the walls were fortresses and temples containing immense statues of solid gold. Rising above the city was the famous Tower of Babel, a temple to the god Marduk, that seemed to reach to the heavens.
Interestingly enough, though, one of the city's most spectacular sites is not even mentioned by Herodotus: The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, whom were said to be built by King Nebuchadnezzar II.
According to accounts, the gardens were built to cheer up Nebuchadnezzar's homesick wife, Amyitis. Amyitis, daughter of the king of the Medes, was married to Nebuchadnezzar to create an alliance between the nations. The land she came from, though, was green, rugged and mountainous, and she found the flat, sun-baked terrain of Mesopotamia depressing. The king decided to recreate her homeland by building an artificial mountain with rooftop gardens.
However, while the most descriptive accounts of the Gardens come from Greek historians such as Berossus and Diodorus Siculus, Babylonian records stay silent on the matter. Tablets from the time of Nebuchadnezzar do not have a single reference to the Hanging Gardens, although descriptions of his palace, the city of Babylon, and the walls are found. Even the historians who give detailed descriptions of the Hanging Gardens never saw them. So did they reallt exist? Or did it only exist in the imagination of poets and ancient historians?
This was one of the questions that occurred to German archaeologist Robert Koldewey in 1899. For centuries before that the ancient city of Babel was nothing but a mound of muddy debris. Though unlike many ancient locations, the city's position was well-known, nothing visible remained of its architecture. Koldewey dug on the Babel site for some fourteen years and unearthed many of its features including the outer walls, inner walls, foundation of the Tower of Babel, Nebuchadnezzar's palaces and the wide processional roadway which passed through the heart of the city.
While excavating the Southern Citadel, Koldewey discovered a basement with fourteen large rooms with stone arch ceilings. Ancient records indicated that only two locations in the city had made use of stone, the north wall of the Northern Citadel, and the Hanging Gardens. The north wall of the Northern Citadel had already been found and had, indeed, contained stone. This made it seem likely that Koldewey had found the cellar of the gardens. He continued exploring the area and discovered many of the features reported by Diodorus. Finally a room was unearthed with three large, strange holes in the floor. Koldewey concluded this had been the location of some kind of pumps that were used to raise the water to the garden's roof.
However, the Greek historian Strabo had stated that the gardens were situated by the River Euphrates. So others argue that the site is too far from the Euphrates to support the theory since the Vaulted Building is several hundreds of meters away.
Wherever the location of the gardens were, we can only wonder if Queen Amyitis was happy with her fantastic present, or if she continued to pine for the green mountains of her homeland.
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If you have comments or suggestions, or if you would simply like more information, feel free to post it here.
Valete,