Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

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Wanderlust is the trending swag among the youth. People are going distant places to explore the world. The ‘must see’ places took the first place on the Bucket List of many people. Do you aware of the fact that the gene of wandering and having a “Must See” list has come from our forefathers. They described the phenomenon of ‘must see’ list as the “Themata”. In Greek, “Themata” means ‘things to be seen’. Philo of Byzantium was the person who defines “The Seven Wonders” as the Themata (in his work on the seven wonders).

It was the first ever known list of the miraculous establishment of the classical antiquity. The work of ancient wonders or old wonders is stationed around the Mediterranean rim and in Mesopotamia.

You will be amazed by knowing the fact that the number seven was chosen because it represented the perfection in the ancient world. Actually, in the ancient world, it was believed to be marked as the symbol of plenty and perfection. It also represents the number of planets (only five were known at the ancient time), including the Sun and Moon.

This article is totally dedicated to the marvelous Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

The list of seven wonders of the ancient world is:

Colossus of Rhodes

Great Pyramid of Giza

Hanging gardens of Babylon

Lighthouse of Alexandria

Mausoleum at Halicarnassus

Statue of Zeus at Olympia

Temple of Artemis at Ephesus


The Colossus of Rhodes

The Colossus of Rhodes was a statue of the Greek titan-god of the sun, named Helios. It was erected (by the Charles of Lindas in 280BC) in the city of Rhodes on the Greek Island. The Island was also named after the Rhodes. In the Greek Mythology, the Helios was the personification of the Sun. The Sun is treated as the God of the ancient world. Therefore, its personification is the utmost importance of the ancient world people.

You must be wondering why they erected this momentous sculpture of the Helios. According to the historians, it marked the victory of Rhodes over the rulers of Cyprus. King Antigonus I Monopthalmus son besieged the Rohdes in 305 BC but it was an unsuccessful besiege.

The sculpture of the Rhodes was destroyed by the earthquake of 225BC. It was said that the thumb of the Rhodes statue cannot be hugged by the people. The fingers of the Rhodes statue were higher than many sculptors. It was the tallest statue of the ancient world with a height approximate to the Statue of Liberty.

The Colossus of Rhodes(The Colossus of Rhodes)  Pic Credit:

Great Pyramid of Giza

The Mummy (a movie) and Egypt come into our mind whenever we think about the Pyramids. The big ancient world structure is of significant importance. People always get amazed whenever they visit the Great Pyramid of Giza. The structure perfect symmetry and imposing height force us to appreciate the work of ancient people. How they manage to place the big rock and able to complete such humungous task without the modern technology.
The Great Pyramid of Gaza also known as the Pyramid of Khufu (the owner or the king) or the Pyramid of Cheops.
The Great Pyramid of Giza is the oldest and largest of 3 pyramids in the Giza pyramid complex. It is the only ancient world wonder that still exists and also got a place in the list of new wonders of the world. It remained the tallest building that is made by the man for almost 4000 years.

There are many theories and hypotheses behind the construction of this historic building but the most accepted hypotheses are based on the ideas that it was built by moving the huge stones from a quarry and dragging lifting them into pieces.

Great Pyramid of GizaGreat Pyramid of Gaza

Hanging Gardens of Babylon

In the world, we saw the Taj Mahal as the symbol of love. It was made by a husband in the memory of its wife. This is the similar story or we can say that similar enthusiasm or idea behind the making of the Hanging Gardens. It was said that King Nebuchadnezzar II built the hanging gardens for his Median Wife. She missed the green hills and valley of her homeland. Therefore, to make her wife happy the king gave the order to make the Hanging Gardens, which were described as “a remarkable feat of engineering with a beautiful ascending series of tiered gardens”. They contain a wide variety of trees, shrubs, and vines.

From the history, there is a controversy over the existence of the Hanging Gardens. This controversy comes from the fact that “The Father of History” i.e. Herodotus did not mention about it nowhere in his work ‘description of Babylon’.

Hanging Gardens of Babylon(Hanging Gardens of Babylon) Pic Credit:

Lighthouse of Alexandria

The structure of the lighthouse of Alexandria was the third tallest human man-made structure in the ancient world. Its light could be seen as far as 35 miles out to sea. The mirror reflects the sun rays during day and fire during the night. The structure was rose from a square base to a middle octagonal section up to the circular top. The glory of the lighthouse was such that people were not able to describe it in words.

The lighthouse also sometimes called the Pharos of Alexandria. It was built by the Ptolemaic King between 280-247BC. Its estimated height was around 100m. It was badly damaged by 3 earthquakes between AD 956 and 1323. The last of its remnant stones were used to build the Citadel of Qaitbay on the site.

Lighthouse of Alexandria(lighthouse of Alexandria) Pic Credit:

Mausoleum at Halicarnassus

The love is eternal and it does not matter how old is our civilization. Love never treated as Orthodox. We have seen many monuments in the world that were built by the husbands for their wives. But the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus is the symbol of love, where a wife wished to create a final resting place for her husband and a great king.

The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus was the tomb of the Persian Satrap built in 351 BCE. Halicarnassus was the capital of the Mauslos. The beauty of the city was unmatched in the ancient world. The Mauslos was died in 353BC and his beloved wife Artemisia build a final resting place for her husband. You will be amazed by knowing, the English word Mausoleum derived from the tomb of Mauslos.

As the many monuments of the ancient world or old world meet with their destiny i.e. damaged or destroyed by an earthquake. The same is the fate of the Mouslos tomb. But in 1494CE, it was completely dismantled. The Knights of St. John of Malta used the tomb remnants to build their castle at Bodrum.

Mausoleum at Halicarnassus(Mausoleum at Halicarnassus) Pic Credit:

Statue of Zeus at Olympia

One of the magnificent structures in the ancient world was “the statue of Zeus”. It was built by the sculpture named Phidias at Olympia. The Phidias was the finest sculpture of the ancient world. He also worked on the Parthenon and the statue of Athena in Athens.

The statue of Zeus at Olympia was a giant seated figure. Its height was about 13 m. It was built around the 435BC at the sanctuary of Olympia Greece.

There were some critics in the ancient world that wrote against this marvelous sculpture.  Strabo reports, “Although the temple itself is very large, the sculptor is criticized for not having appreciated the correct proportions. He has shown Zeus seated, but with the head almost touching the ceiling, so that we have the impression that if Zeus moved to stand up he would un-roof the temple”.

The Temple at Olympia was destroyed after the rise of Christianity and the ban on the Olympic Games as `pagan rites’.

Statue of Zeus at Olympia(statue of Zeus at Olympia) Pic Credit:

The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus

The temple of Artemis is sometimes also known as the Temple of Dianna.  It was a Greek Temple, dedicated to the goddess Artemis. It was located in the Greek colony in Asia Minor (present-day Turkey). Before its final destruction in 1401AD, it was built 3 times. The making of the temple was sponsored by the mighty and wealthy king Croesus of Lydia. It was said that a man named Herostratus set fire to the temple in order to achieve lasting fame by forever being associated with the destruction of something so beautiful (it seems that he achieved his objective, man obsession is very harmful sometimes).

The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus(The temple of Artemis at Ephesus) Pic Credit:

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