Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
The Seven Wonders of the World or the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World refers to remarkable constructions of classical antiquity listed by various authors in guidebooks popular among the ancient Hellenic tourists, particularly in the 1st and 2nd centuries BC. The most prominent of these, the versions by Antipater of Sidon and an observer identified as Philo of Byzantium, comprise seven works located around the eastern Mediterranean rim. The original list inspired innumerable versions through the ages, often listing seven entries. Of the original Seven Wonders, only one—the Great Pyramid of Giza, the oldest of the ancient wonders—remains relatively intact. The Colossus, Lighthouse and Mausoleum were destroyed in earthquakes, and the Temple of Artemis and Statue of Zeus deliberately destroyed. The location and ultimate fate of the Hanging Gardens is unknown.
1. Great Pyramid of Giza
The Great Pyramid of Giza (also known as the Pyramid of Khufu or the Pyramid of Cheops) is the oldest and largest of the three pyramids in the Giza Necropolis bordering what is now El Giza, Egypt. It is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the only one to remain largely intact.
Based on a mark in an interior chamber naming the work gang and a reference to fourth dynasty Egyptian Pharaoh Khufu,Egyptologists
believe that the pyramid was built as a tomb over a 10 to 20-year
period concluding around 2560 BC. Initially at 146.5 metres (481 feet),
the Great Pyramid was the tallest man-made structure
in the world for over 3,800 years. Originally, the Great Pyramid was
covered by casing stones that formed a smooth outer surface; what is
seen today is the underlying core structure. Some of the casing stones
that once covered the structure can still be seen around the base. There
have been varying scientific and alternative theories about the Great
Pyramid's construction techniques. Most accepted construction hypotheses
are based on the idea that it was built by moving huge stones from a quarry and dragging and lifting them into place.
There are three known chambers inside the Great Pyramid. The lowest
chamber is cut into the bedrock upon which the pyramid was built and was
unfinished. The so-called
Queen's Chamber and King's Chamber are higher up within the pyramid
structure. The Great Pyramid of Giza is the only pyramid in Egypt known
to contain both ascending and descending passages. The main part of the
Giza complex is a setting of buildings that included two mortuary temples
in honour of Khufu (one close to the pyramid and one near the Nile),
three smaller pyramids for Khufu's wives, an even smaller "satellite"
pyramid, a raised causeway connecting the two temples, and small mastaba tombs surrounding the pyramid for nobles.
History and description
It is believed the pyramid was built as a tomb for Fourth Dynasty Egyptian pharaoh Khufu and was constructed over a 20-year period. Khufu's vizier, Hemon, or Hemiunu, is believed by some to be the architect of the Great Pyramid.It is thought that, at construction, the Great Pyramid was originally 280 Egyptian cubits tall, 146.5 metres (480.6 ft) but with erosion and absence of its pyramidion, its present height is 138.8 metres (455.4 ft). Each base side was 440 cubits, 230.4 metres (755.9 ft) long. The mass of the pyramid is estimated at 5.9 million tonnes. The volume, including an internal hillock, is roughly 2,500,000 cubic metres (88,000,000 cu ft).Based on these estimates, building this in 20 years would involve
installing approximately 800 tonnes of stone every day. Similarly, since
it consists of an estimated 2.3 million blocks, completing the building
in 20 years would involve moving an average of more than 12 of the
blocks into place each hour, day and night. The first precision
measurements of the pyramid were made by Egyptologist Sir Flinders Petrie in 1880–82 and published as The Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh.Almost all reports are based on his measurements. Many of the casing
stones and inner chamber blocks of the Great Pyramid fit together with
extremely high precision. Based on measurements taken on the north
eastern casing stones, the mean opening of the joints is only 0.5
millimetres wide (1/50th of an inch).
Great Pyramid of Giza from a 19th-century stereopticon card photo
The pyramid remained the tallest man-made structure in the world for over 3,800 years, unsurpassed until the 160-metre-tall (520 ft) spire of Lincoln Cathedral
was completed c. 1300. The accuracy of the pyramid's workmanship is
such that the four sides of the base have an average error of only
58 millimetres in length.The base is horizontal and flat to within ±15 mm (0.6 in).[10] The sides of the square base are closely aligned to the four cardinal compass points (within four minutes of arc) based on true north, not magnetic north,[12] and the finished base was squared to a mean corner error of only 12 seconds of arc.The completed design dimensions, as suggested by Petrie's survey and
subsequent studies, are estimated to have originally been 280 Royal cubits
high by 440 Royal cubits long at each of the four sides of its base.
The ratio of the perimeter to height of 1760/280 Royal cubits equates to
2π to an
accuracy of better than 0.05% (corresponding to the well-known
approximation of π as 22/7). Some Egyptologists consider this to have
been the result of deliberate design proportion. Verner wrote, "We can
conclude that although the ancient Egyptians could not precisely define
the value of π, in practice they used it". Petrie, author of Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh
concluded: "but these relations of areas and of circular ratio are so
systematic that we should grant that they were in the builder's design". Others have argued that the Ancient Egyptians had no concept of pi
and would not have thought to encode it in their monuments. They
believe that the observed pyramid slope may be based on a simple seked slope choice alone, with no regard to the overall size and proportions of the finished building.
Materials
The Great Pyramid consists of an estimated 2.3 million blocks which most believe to have been transported from nearby quarries.
The Tura limestone used for the casing was quarried across the river.
The largest granite stones in the pyramid, found in the "King's"
chamber, weigh 25 to 80 tonnes and were transported from Aswan,
more than 800 km (500 mi) away. Traditionally, ancient Egyptians cut
stone blocks by hammering wooden wedges into the stone which were then
soaked with water. As the water was absorbed, the wedges expanded,
causing the rock to crack. Once they were cut, they were carried by boat
either up or down the Nile River to the pyramid. It is estimated that 5.5 million tonnes of limestone, 8,000 tonnes of
granite (imported from Aswan), and 500,000 tonnes of mortar were used in
the construction of the Great Pyramid.
2. Hanging Gardens of Babylon
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the only one whose location has not been definitely established.
Traditionally they were said to have been built in the ancient city of Babylon, near present-day Hillah, Babil province, in Iraq. The Babylonian priest Berossus, writing in about 290 BC and quoted later by Josephus, attributed the gardens to the Neo-Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II,
who ruled between 605 and 562 BC. There are no extant Babylonian texts
which mention the gardens, and no definitive archaeological evidence has
been found in Babylon.
According to one legend, Nebuchadnezzar II built the Hanging Gardens for his Median wife, Queen Amytis,
because she missed the green hills and valleys of her homeland. He also
built a grand palace that came to be known as 'The Marvel of the
Mankind'.
Because of the lack of evidence it has been suggested that the
Hanging Gardens are purely legendary, and the descriptions found in
ancient Greek and Roman writers including Strabo, Diodorus Siculus and Quintus Curtius Rufus represent a romantic ideal of an eastern garden. If it did indeed exist, it was destroyed sometime after first century AD.
Alternatively, the original garden may have been a well-documented one that the Assyrian king Sennacherib (704–681 BC) built in his capital city of Nineveh on the River Tigris near the modern city of Mosul.
Ancient texts
Hanging Gardens of Babylon, 20th-century interpretation
In ancient writings the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were first described by Berossus, a Babylonian priest of Marduk who wrote around 290 BC, although his books are known only from quotations by later authors (e.g., Flavius Josephus).
There are five principal writers (including Berossus) whose
descriptions of Babylon are extant in some form today. These writers
concern themselves with the size of the Hanging Gardens, why and how
they were built, and how the gardens were irrigated.
Josephus (ca. 37–100 AD) quoted Berossus (writing ca. 290 BC), when he described the gardens. Berossus described the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II, and is the only
writer to credit that king with the construction of the Hanging Gardens.
In this palace he erected very high walks, supported by stone pillars; and by planting what was called a pensile paradise, and replenishing it with all sorts of trees, he rendered the prospect an exact resemblance of a mountainous country. This he did to gratify his queen, because she had been brought up in Media, and was fond of a mountainous situation.
3. Temple of Artemis
The Temple of Artemis or Artemision (Greek: Ἀρτεμίσιον, Turkish: Artemis Tapınağı), also known less precisely as the Temple of Diana, was a Greek temple dedicated to the goddess Artemis and is one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It was located in Ephesus (near the modern town of Selçuk in present-day Turkey), and was completely rebuilt three times before its eventual destruction in 401.[1] Only foundations and sculptural fragments of the latest of the temples at the site remain.
The first sanctuary (temenos) antedated the Ionic immigration by many years, and dates to the Bronze Age. Callimachus, in his Hymn to Artemis, attributed it to the Amazons. In the 7th century BC, the old temple was destroyed by a flood. Its reconstruction began around 550 BC, under the Cretan architect Chersiphron and his son Metagenes, at the expense of Croesus of Lydia: the project took 10 years to complete, only to be destroyed in an act of arson by Herostratus. It was later rebuilt.
Antipater of Sidon, who compiled the list of the Seven Wonders, describes the finished temple:
I have set eyes on the wall of lofty Babylon on which is a road for chariots, and the statue of Zeus by the Alpheus, and the hanging gardens, and the colossus of the Sun, and the huge labour of the high pyramids, and the vast tomb of Mausolus;
but when I saw the house of Artemis that mounted to the clouds, those
other marvels lost their brilliancy, and I said, "Lo, apart from
Olympus, the Sun never looked on
Location and history
The fame of the Temple of Artemis was known in the Renaissance, as demonstrated in this imagined portrayal of the temple in a 16th-century hand-coloured engraving by Martin Heemskerck
The Temple of Artemis was located near the ancient city of Ephesus, about 75 km south from the modern port city of İzmir, in Turkey. Today the site lies on the edge of the modern town of Selçuk.
The sacred site (temenos) at Ephesus was far older than the Artemision itself. Pausanias was certain that it antedated the Ionic immigration by many years, being older even than the oracular shrine of Apollo at Didyma. He said that the pre-Ionic inhabitants of the city were Leleges and Lydians. Callimachus, in his Hymn to Artemis attributed the earliest temenos at Ephesus to the Amazons, whose worship he imagines already centered upon an image (bretas) of Artemis, their matron goddess.
Modern archaeology cannot confirm Callimachus's Amazons, but
Pausanias's account of the site's antiquity seems well-founded. Before
World War I, site excavations by David George Hogarth identified three successive temple buildings. Re-excavations in 1987–88 confirmed that the site was occupied as early as the Bronze Age, with a sequence of pottery finds that extend forward to Middle Geometric times, when a peripteral temple with a floor of hard-packed clay was constructed in the second half of the 8th century BC. The peripteral
temple at Ephesus offers the earliest example of a peripteral type on
the coast of Asia Minor, and perhaps the earliest Greek temple
surrounded by colonnades anywhere.
In the 7th century BC, a flood
destroyed the temple, depositing over half a meter of sand and flotsam
over the original clay floor. Among the flood debris were the remains of
a carved ivory plaque of a griffin and the Tree of Life,
apparently North Syrian, and a number of drilled tear-shaped amber
drops of elliptical cross-section. These probably once dressed a wooden
effigy (xoanon)
of the Lady of Ephesus, which must have been destroyed or recovered
from the flood. Bammer notes that though the site was prone to flooding,
and raised by silt deposits about two metres between the eighth and 6th
centuries, and a further 2.4 m between the sixth and the fourth, its
continued use "indicates that maintaining the identity of the actual
location played an important role in the sacred organization".
Second phase
The new temple was sponsored at least in part by Croesus, who founded Lydia's empire and was overlord of Ephesus, and was designed and constructed from around 550 BC by the Cretan architect Chersiphron and his son Metagenes. It was some 115 m (377 ft) long and 46 m (151 ft) wide, supposedly the first Greek temple built of marble. Its peripteral columns stood some 13 m (40 ft) high, in double rows that formed a wide ceremonial passage around the cella
that housed the goddess' cult image. Thirty-six of these columns were,
according to Pliny, decorated by carvings in relief. A new ebony or
blackened grapewood cult statue was sculpted by Endoios, and a naiskos to house it was erected east of the open-air altar.
A rich foundation deposit from this era yielded more than a thousand
items, including what may be the earliest coins made from the
silver-gold alloy electrum.
Fragments of bas-relief on the lowest drums of the temple, preserved in
the British Museum, show that the enriched columns of the later temple,
of which a few survive (illustration below) were versions of this earlier feature. Pliny the Elder,
seemingly unaware of the ancient continuity of the sacred site, claims
that the new temple's architects chose to build it on marshy ground as a
precaution against earthquakes.
The temple became an important attraction, visited by merchants,
kings, and sightseers, many of whom paid homage to Artemis in the form
of jewelry
and various goods. It also offered sanctuary to those fleeing
persecution or punishment, a tradition linked in myth to the Amazons who
twice fled there seeking the goddess' protection from punishment,
firstly by Dionysus and later, by Heracles.
4. Ancient Site Meghaliticum of Gunung Padang (Padang Mount)
Gunung Padang is a pyramide of archaeological site located in Karyamukti, West Java, Indonesia, 50 kilometres (31 mi) southwest of Cianjur. Located at 885 metres (2,904 ft) above sea level, the site covers a hill—an extinct volcano—in a series of five terraces bordered by retaining walls of stone that are accessed by 370 successive andesite steps rising about 95 metres (312 ft). It is covered with massive hexagonal stone columns of volcanic origin. The Sundanese people consider the site sacred and believe it was the result of King Siliwangi's attempt to build a palace in one night.
Gunung Padang consists of a series of five artificial terraces, one rectangular and four trapezoidal, that occur, one through five, at successively higher elevations. These terraces also become successively smaller with elevation, with the first terrace as the lowest and largest and the fifth terrace as the highest and smallest. These terraces lie along a central, longitudinal NW–SE axis. They are artificial platforms created by lowering high spots and filling in low spots with fill until a flat surface was achieved. The terrace perimeters consist of retaining walls formed by volcanic polygonal columns stacked horizontally and built vertically as posts. The terrace complex is accessed by a central stairway with 370 steps, an inclination of 45 degrees, and a length of 110 m (360 ft).
History of study
Dutch historian Rogier Verbeek mentioned the existence of the Gunung Padang site in his book Oudheden van Java: lijst der voornaamste overblijfselen uit den Hindoetijd op Java, based on a visit and report by M. De Corte in 1890[4]
Goenoeng Padang : Op den bergtop Goenoeng Padang, nabij Goenoeng Melati, eene opeenvolging van 4 terrassen, door trappen van ruwe steenen verbonden, met ruwe platte steenen bevloerd en met talrijke scherpe en zuilvormige rechtopstaande andesietsteenen versierd. Op ieder terrasse een heuveltje, waarschijnlijk een graf, met steenen omzet en bedekt, en van boven met 2 spitse steenen voorzien. In 1890, door den heer De Corte bezocht.
Goenoeng Padang : On the mountain top Goenoeng Padang, near Goenoeng Melati, a succession of 4 terraces, connected by steps of rough stone, paved with rough flat stones and decorated with numerous sharp and columnar upright andesite stones. On each terrace a small mound, probably a grave, surrounded and covered with stones and topped with 2 pointed stones. In 1890, visited by Mr. De Corte.
—Rogier Verbeek, Oudheden van Java,1891.
The notes on the Gunung Padang site in Verbeek's book are similar to those made by Dutch archaeologist Nicolaas Johannes Krom in the 1914 "Rapporten van de Oudheidkundige Dienst" ("Report of the Department of Antiquities").
After 1914, the site was largely forgotten until 1979, when a group of local farmers rediscovered Gunung Padang. This discovery quickly attracted the attention of the Bandung Institute of Archaeology, the Directorate of Antiquities, PUSPAN (now the Center for Archaeological Research and Development), the local government, and various community groups. Throughout the 1980s, these organizations conducted joint archaeological research and restoration work at Gunung Padang. In 1998, the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture declared it a heritage site of local interest At the end of June 2014, the ministry declared Gunung Padang a National Site Area, covering a total of 29 hectares (72 acres).
On 1 October 2014, surveyors halted excavation activities temporarily, hoping to begin them again under the new government. The 2014 excavation has been criticized for being improperly conducted.
Age estimates
Archaeologist Lutfi Yondri from the bureau of archaeology in Bandung has estimated that the structures at Gunung Padang may have been built sometime between the 2nd and 5th centuries CE, thus in the Indonesian late prehistoric period, whereas Harry Truman Simanjuntak has suggested a later date in historical times, between the 6th and 8th centuries CE. Pottery fragments found at the site were dated by the bureau of archaeology in the range 45 BCE–22 CE.
Fringe date hypothesis
Danny Hilman Natawidjaja, an Indonesian geologist, has claimed that the site had been built as a giant pyramid 9,000 to 20,000 years ago, implying the existence of an otherwise-unknown advanced ancient civilization. Natawidjaja's analysis has been rejected by other scientists. Volcanologist Sutikno Bronto concluded that Gunung Padang is the neck of an ancient volcano and not an artificially created pyramid. Archaeologist Víctor Pérez has described Natawidjaja's conclusions as pseudoarchaeology.[2]
Natawidjaja's ideas gained the attention of Indonesia's president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who set up a task force.[2] An archaeologist who did not wish to be named due to the involvement of the country's president stated:
Natawidjaja has been joined by activist-turned-politician and member of Yudhoyono's Democratic Party, Andy Arif, in advancing these pseudoarchaeological ideas. Thirty-four Indonesian archaeologists and geologists signed a petition questioning the motives and methods of the Hilman-Arif team and submitted it to Yudhoyono.[13]
In October 2023, an article by Natawidjaja et al., published in Archaeological Prospection, claimed that Gunung Padang is the oldest pyramid in the world, dating as far back as 27,000 years ago. In March 2024, the publisher of Archaeological Prospection, Wiley, and the editors, retracted that paper, stating that:
5. Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus or Tomb of Mausolus (Modern Greek: Μαυσωλείο της Αλικαρνασσού; Turkish: Halikarnas Mozolesi) was a tomb built between 353 and 350 BC at Halicarnassus (present Bodrum, Turkey) for Mausolus, a satrap in the Persian Empire, and Artemisia II of Caria, who was both his wife and his sister. The structure was designed by the Greek architects Satyros and Pythius of Priene.
The Mausoleum was approximately 45 m (148 ft) in height, and the four sides were adorned with sculptural reliefs, each created by one of four Greek sculptors—Leochares, Bryaxis, Scopas of Paros and Timotheus. The finished structure of the mausoleum was considered to be such an aesthetic triumph that Antipater of Sidon identified it as one of his Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It was destroyed by successive earthquakes from the 12th to the 15th century.
The word mausoleum has now come to be used generically for an above-ground tomb.
Conquest
In the 4th century BC, Halicarnassus was the capital of a small regional kingdom in the coast of Asia Minor. In 377 BC, the ruler of the region, Hecatomnus of Milas,
died and left the control of the kingdom to his son, Mausolus.
Hecatomnus, a local satrap under the Persians, took control of several
of the neighboring cities and districts. After Artemisia and Mausolus,
he had several other daughters and sons: Ada (adoptive mother of Alexander the Great), Idrieus and Pixodarus.
Mausolus extended its territory as far as the southwest coast of
Anatolia. Artemisia and Mausolus ruled from Halicarnassus over the
surrounding territory for twenty-four years. Mausolus, although
descended from local people, spoke Greek and admired the Greek way of
life and government. He founded many cities of Greek design along the
coast and encouraged Greek democratic traditions
Halicarnassus
Mausolus decided to build a new capital; a city as safe from capture
as it was magnificent to be seen. He chose the city of Halicarnassus. If
Mausolus' ships blocked a small channel, they could keep all enemy warships out. His workmen deepened the city's harbor and used the dredged sand to make protecting breakwaters in front of the channel[citation needed]. On land they paved streets and squares,
and built houses for ordinary citizens. And on one side of the harbor
they built a massive fortified palace for Mausolus, positioned to have
clear views out to sea and inland to the hills — places from where
enemies could attack.
On land, the workmen also built walls and watchtowers, a Greek–style theatre and a temple to Ares — the Greek god of war.
Artemisia and Mausolus spent huge amounts of tax money to embellish
the city. They commissioned statues, temples and buildings of gleaming marble. On a hill overlooking the city Artemisia planned to place a resting place for her body, and her husband's, after their death.
In 353 BC, Mausolus died, leaving Artemisia to rule alone. As a
tribute to him, she decided to build him a tomb so famous that
Mausolus's name is now the eponym for all stately tombs, in the word mausoleum. The construction was also so beautiful and unique it became one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Artemisia lived for only two years after the death of her husband. The urns with their ashes were placed in the yet unfinished tomb. As a form of sacrifice ritual
the bodies of a large number of dead animals were placed on the stairs
leading to the tomb, and then the stairs were filled with stones and
rubble, sealing the access. According to the historian Pliny the Elder, the craftsmen decided to stay and finish the work after the death of their patron "considering that it was at once a memorial of his own fame and of the sculptor's art."
Construction of the Mausoleum
Artemisia spared no expense in building the tomb. She sent messengers
to Greece to find the most talented artists of the time. These included
Scopas, the man who had supervised the rebuilding of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. The famous sculptors were (in the Vitruvius order): Leochares, Bryaxis, Scopas and Timotheus, as well as hundreds of other craftsmen.
The tomb was erected on a hill overlooking the city. The whole structure sat in an enclosed courtyard.
At the center of the courtyard was a stone platform on which the tomb
sat. A stairway flanked by stone lions led to the top of the platform,
which bore along its outer walls many statues of gods and goddesses. At
each corner, stone warriors mounted on horseback guarded the tomb. At
the center of the platform, the marble tomb rose as a square tapering
block to one-third of the Mausoleum's 45 m (148 ft) height. This section
was covered with bas-reliefs showing action scenes, including the battle of the centaurs with the lapiths and Greeks in combat with the Amazons, a race of warrior women.
On the top of this section of the tomb thirty-six slim columns, ten
per side, with each corner sharing one column between two sides; rose
for another third of the height. Standing between each [pair of]
column[s] was a statue. Behind the columns was a solid cella-like
block that carried the weight of the tomb's massive roof. The roof,
which comprised most of the final third of the height, was pyramidal. Perched on the top was a quadriga: four massive horses pulling a chariot in which rode images of Mausolus and Artemisia.
History
Colossal statue of a man from the north side of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus.
Modern historians have pointed out that two years would not be enough
time to decorate and build such an extravagant building. Therefore, it
is believed that construction was begun by Mausolus before his death or
continued by the next leaders. The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus resembled a temple and the only way to
tell the difference was its slightly higher outer walls. The Mausoleum
was in the Greek-dominated area of Halicarnassus, which in 353 was
controlled by the Persian Empire. According to the Roman architect Vitruvius, it was built by Satyros and Pytheus who wrote a treatise about it; this treatise is now lost. Pausanias adds that the Romans considered the Mausoleum one of the
great wonders of the world and it was for that reason that they called
all their magnificent tombs mausolea, after it.
It is unknown exactly when and how the Mausoleum came to ruin: Eustathius,
writing in the 12th century on his commentary of the Iliad says "it was
and is a wonder". Because of this, Fergusson concluded that the
building was ruined, probably by an earthquake, between this period and
1402, when the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem arrived and recorded that it was in ruins. However, Luttrell notes
that at that time the local Greek and Turks had no name for - or
legends to account for - the colossal ruins, suggesting a destruction at
a much earlier period.
Many of the stones from the ruins were used by the knights to fortify their castle at Bodrum; they also recovered bas-reliefs
with which they decorated the new building. Much of the marble was
burned into lime. In 1846 Lord Stratford de Redcliffe obtained
permission to remove these reliefs from the Bodrum.
At the original site, all that remained by the 19th century were the
foundations and some broken sculptures. This site was originally
indicated by Professor Donaldson and was discovered definitively by
Charles Newton, after which an expedition was sent by the British
government. The expedition lasted 3 years and ended in the sending of
the remaining marbles.
At some point before or after this, grave robbers broke into and
destroyed the underground burial chamber, but in 1972 there was still
enough of it remaining to determine a layout of the chambers when they
were excavated.
This monument was ranked the seventh wonder of the world by the
ancients, not because of its size or strength but because of the beauty
of its design and how it was decorated with sculpture or ornaments.
The mausoleum was Halicarnassus' principal architectural monument,
standing in a dominant position on rising ground above the harbor.”
6. Colossus of Rhodes
The Colossus of Rhodes (Ancient Greek: ὁ Κολοσσὸς Ῥόδιος ho Kolossòs Rhódios) was a statue of the Greek titan-god of the sun Helios, erected in the city of Rhodes, on the Greek island of the same name, by Chares of Lindos in 280 BC. It is considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It was constructed to celebrate Rhodes' victory over the ruler of Cyprus, Antigonus I Monophthalmus, whose son unsuccessfully besieged Rhodes in 305 BC. Before its destruction in the earthquake of 226 BC, the Colossus of Rhodes stood over 30 meters (98 feet) high, making it one of the tallest statues of the ancient world.
Siege of Rhodes
Main article: Siege of Rhodes (305 BC)
In the late 4th century BC, Rhodes, allied with Ptolemy I of Egypt, prevented a massive invasion staged by their common enemy, Antigonus I Monophthalmus.
In 304 BC a relief force of ships sent by Ptolemy arrived, and
Antigonus's army abandoned the siege, leaving most of their siege
equipment. To celebrate their victory, the Rhodians sold the equipment
left behind for 300 talents[4] and decided to use the money to build a colossal statue of their patron god, Helios. Construction was left to the direction of Chares, a native of Lindos in Rhodes, who had been involved with large-scale statues before. His teacher, the sculptor Lysippos, had constructed a 22 meters (72 feet) high[5] bronze statue of Zeus at Tarentum.
Construction
The construction began in 292 BC. Ancient accounts, which differ to
some degree, describe the structure as being built with iron tie bars to
which brass plates were fixed to form the skin. The interior of the
structure, which stood on a 15-meter (49-foot) high white marble pedestal near the Mandraki harbour entrance, was then filled with stone blocks as construction progressed
Other sources place the Colossus on a breakwater in the harbour. The
statue itself was over 30 meters (98 feet) tall. Much of the iron and bronze was reforged
from the various weapons Demetrius's army left behind, and the
abandoned second siege tower may have been used for scaffolding around
the lower levels during construction. Upper portions were built with the
use of a large earthen ramp. During the building, workers would pile
mounds of dirt on the sides of the colossus. Upon completion all of the
dirt was removed and the colossus was left to stand alone. After twelve
years, in 280 BC, the statue was completed. Preserved in Greek
anthologies of poetry is what is believed to be the genuine dedication
text for the Colossus.
The Colossus of Rhodes as imagined in a 16th-century engraving by Martin Heemskerck, part of his series of the Seven Wonders of the World.
To you, o Sun, the people of Dorian Rhodes set up this bronze statue reaching to Olympus, when they had pacified the waves of war and crowned their city with the spoils taken from the enemy. Not only over the seas but also on land did they kindle the lovely torch of freedom and independence. For to the descendants of Herakles belongs dominion over sea and land.
Modern engineers have put forward a plausible hypothesis for the
statue construction, based on the technology of those days (which was
not based on the modern principles of earthquake engineering), and the accounts of Philo and Pliny who both saw and described the remains.
The base pedestal was at least 60 feet (18 m) in diameter and either
circular or octagonal. The feet were carved in stone and covered with
thin bronze plates riveted together. Eight forged iron bars set in a
radiating horizontal position formed the ankles and turned up to follow
the lines of the legs while becoming progressively smaller. Individually
cast curved bronze plates 60 inches (1,500 mm) square with turned in
edges were joined together by rivets through holes formed during casting
to form a series of rings. The lower plates were 1 inch (25 mm) in
thickness to the knee and 3/4 inch thick from knee to abdomen, while the
upper plates were 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick except where additional
strength was required at joints such as the shoulder, neck, etc.
7. Lighthouse of Alexandria
The Lighthouse of Alexandria, sometimes called the Pharos of Alexandria (/ˈfɛərɒs/; Ancient Greek: ὁ Φάρος τῆς Ἀλεξανδρείας), was a lofty tower built by the Ptolemaic Kingdom
between 280 and 247 BC and between 393 and 450 ft (120 and 137 m) tall.
It was one of the tallest man-made structures on Earth for many
centuries, and was regarded as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Badly damaged by three earthquakes between 956 and 1323, it then became
an abandoned ruin. It was the third longest surviving ancient wonder
(after the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus and the still extant Great Pyramid of Giza) until in 1480 the last of its remnant stones were used to build the Citadel of Qaitbay
on the site. In 1994, French archaeologists discovered some remains of
the lighthouse on the floor of Alexandria's Eastern Harbour.
Origin
Three-dimensional reconstruction based on a comprehensive 2006 study
Pharos was a small island just off the coast of the Nile Delta's western edge. In 332 BC when Alexander the Great founded the city of Alexandria on an isthmus opposite to Pharos, he caused the island to be united to the coast by a mole more than three-quarters of a mile long (1260 m/4,100+ feet) called the Heptastadion ("seven stadia"—a stadium was a Greek unit of length
measuring approximately 180 m). The east side of the mole became the
Great Harbour, now an open bay; on the west side lay the port of
Eunostos, with its inner basin Kibotos, now vastly enlarged to form the
modern harbour. Today's city development lying between the present Grand
Square and the modern Ras al-Tiin quarter is built on the silt which
gradually widened and obliterated this mole, and Ras al-Tiin represents
all that is left of the island of Pharos, the site of the lighthouse at
its eastern point having been weathered away by the sea.
Construction
The Lighthouse on coins minted in Alexandria in the second century (1: reverse of a coin of Antoninus Pius, and 2: reverse of a coin of Commodus).
The lighthouse was constructed in the 3rd century BC. After Alexander the Great died of a fever at age 32, the first Ptolemy (Ptolemy I Soter)
announced himself king in 305 BC, and commissioned its construction
shortly thereafter. The building was finished during the reign of his
son, the second Ptolemy (Ptolemy II Philadelphus). It took 12 years to complete, at a total cost of 800 talents, and served as a prototype for all later lighthouses
in the world. The light was produced by a furnace at the top and the
tower was said to have been built mostly with solid blocks of limestone.
Strabo reported that Sostratus had a dedication inscribed in metal letters to the "Saviour Gods". Later Pliny the Elder wrote that Sostratus was the architect, which is disputed. In the second century AD the satirist Lucian
wrote that Sostratus inscribed his name under plaster bearing the name
of Ptolemy. This was so that when the plaster with Ptolemy's name fell
off, Sostratus's name would be visible in the stone.
Height and description
Judith McKenzie writes that "The Arab descriptions of the lighthouse
are remarkably consistent, although it was repaired a number of times
especially after earthquake damage. The height they give varies only
fifteen per cent from c 103 to 118m [338' to 387'], on a base c. 30 by
30m [98' by 98'] square... the Arab authors indicate a tower with three
tapering tiers, which they describe as square, octagonal and circular,
with a substantial ramp".
The fullest description of the lighthouse comes "from the Arab
traveler Abou Haggag Youssef Ibn Mohammed el-Balawi el-Andaloussi, who
visited the Pharos as a tourist in AH 561 (A.D. 1166)."
Constructed from large blocks of light-coloured stone,
the tower was made up of three stages: a lower square section with a
central core, a middle octagonal section, and, at the top, a circular
section. At its apex was positioned a mirror which reflected sunlight
during the day; a fire was lit at night. Extant Roman coins struck by
the Alexandrian mint show that a statue of a Triton was positioned on each of the building's four corners. A statue of Poseidon or Zeus stood atop the lighthouse. The Pharos' masonry blocks were interlocked, sealed together using molten lead, to withstand the pounding of the waves.
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