Today we know great structures of our ancestors in one breathtaking list, the seven wonders of the ancient world. However the Greeks loved to make lists about marvelous structures and there were several combined to create the final list of seven. Even then the list of seven was adapted a few times to create the seven we know today; six structures were agreed upon but the seventh was contested between the palace of Cyrus the Persian King, the great walls of the city of Babylon and finally the seventh as we know it today, the Lighthouse at Alexandria. In case you weren't aware, here is the commonly accepted list of the seven wonders of the Ancient World:
- The Great Pyramid at Giza (Khufu) is the only wonder of the ancient world still standing.
- The Hanging Gardens of Babylon is mysterious as no one is entirely sure of its location or that it even ever truly existed! The descriptions of it made it a wonder of the ancient world.
- The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus was burnt and plundered thousands of years ago.
- The statue of Zeus at Olympia was purposely dissasembled and reassembled at Constantinople where it was later destroyed by a fire.
- The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus was destroyed over time by several earthquakes
- The Colossus at Rhodes (the original Statue of Liberty) was destroyed by the Rhodes Earthquake in 226BC and the remnants sold as scrap metal by invading Arabs
- Finally the Lighthouse of Alexandria fell to the Crete Earthquake in 1303 in the early middle ages.
Many of the items are of Hellenic origin probably because the list was created by Greeks and they had not lain witness to such ancient constructions as Stone Henge for example here in the UK. Despite their place on a list of wonders many of these buildings only lasted a century or two and the Colossus of Rhodes was destroyed after only about 50 years. The great pyramid was the first wonder built and the final surviving one today; 10 points to the Ancient Egyptians! More articles will soon follow giving you more information about each of the seven wonders of the Ancient World; comment below which you would like to hear about first if you have any preference. Hope to hear from you!
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