Discovering the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
When we think about the Seven Wonders of the World, we can all recall some -if not all- the seven wonders that define our modern world. There’s the Great Wall of China, Petra (Jordan), the Colosseum (Italy), Chichén Itzcá (Mexico), Machu Picchu (Peru), the Taj Mahal (India) and Christ the Redeemer (Brazil).
But what most of us are not familiar with, is that there was once a list of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Phenomenal structures and architectural feats conducted over thousands and thousands of years ago. As I was fleshing out the story of The Olympian Artifacts, I knew that Clara and her grandfather had an obsession with some part of history. But I wanted it to be more than just a fascination with a period in time, say the Renaissance or the Middle Ages), I wanted their passion and connection to history to be with something that could still be disputed and debated over. That one person can spend their entire life researching and analyzing to find out the truth of its nature. And as I feel into the deep rabbit holes and branches of civilization, I came across the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and knew I found exactly what I was looking for.
As I was only able to provide limited detail and history about the wonders in The Olympian Artifacts, I wanted to give readers more insight into them here in my blog.
The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World are made up of these amazing historical feats: the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Lighthouse of Alexandria.
Now you may be thinking, “Why should we care about these wonders? Aren’t they all still around anyways?” and that’s partially true. Out of all seven ancient wonders, only one of them still stands today, and that is the Great Pyramid of Giza. The remaining six have all been destroyed over history. What’s makes these destroyed six wonders so fascinating, is from a lack of record keeping (due to limited technology) there is no way for us to know what these wonders truly looked like, where they once stood or if they truly existed at all.
For some, like the Hanging Gardens, most academics questioned if they ever did exist or if they were simply made up like a fairy tale. While for others like the Status of Zeus at Olympia, we don’t truly know what exactly destroyed it. Was it from a fire? The wraith of Zeus himself? Despite all the advancement in modern technology, there is a possibility that we may never find out the answers to all these questions. But from my research this is what I was able to find out about each forever gone wonder:
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon: resided near the Euphrates River in what is now Iraq, built for the Babylonian king around 600 B.C. It allegedly was destroyed in the 1st century A.D.
The Statue of Zeus at Olympia: resided in Olympia and built as a temple to Greek god Zeus around 435 B.C. This site was used in the original Olympic games. It is alleged to be destroyed by a fire in 462 in Constantinople.
The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus: resided in Ephesus in what is now Turkey, built as a temple to the Greek goddess Artemis, built around 500 B.C. It was then burned in 356 B.C. A second temple was then built but that one was then destroyed in 262 A.D.
The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus: resided in now southeastern Turkey. Built in 351 B.C, the massive mausoleum was a tomb for Mausolus, the king of Carnia in Asia Minor, and made up entirely of white marble. The building was destroyed in the 1300s by a large earthquake.
The Colossus of Rhodes: resided in Rhodes, Greece. It was a bronze sculpture of the sun god Helios standing in the harbor of Rhodes, built in 280 B.C., and was later destroyed by an earthquake in 226 B.C. Since the remains of the sculpture were sold and used as scrap metal, archaeologists have not been able to figure out where exactly the sculpture stood and what exactly it looked it.
The Lighthouse of Alexandria: resided on a small island near Alexandria, Egypt. Built in 280 B.C. it was built to help guide ships around the harbor. This wonder was gradually destroyed from earthquakes between 956 to 1323.
Given there was so much mystery around these ancient marvels, I knew it was the perfect subject matter for my historians to be passionately obsessed and dedicate their academic careers to find out some answers. And I hope this short blog post helped to pique your interest about them too.
References:
https://www.history.com/articles/seven-wonders-of-the-ancient-world
https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/seven-wonders-ancient-world/