THE SEVEN WONDERS OF THE

ANCIENT WORLD

Duca Zlata
T H E H I S T O R I A N   H E R O D O T U S 
(484 – C. 425 BC) AND THE
S C H O L A R   C A L L I M A C H U S  O F  
C Y R E N E  ( C . 3 0 5 – 2 4 0 B C ) , A T T H E  
M U S E U M O F A L E X A N D R I A, M A D E
EARLY LISTS OF SEVEN WONDERS.
THEIR WRITINGS HAVE NOT
SURVIVED, EXCEPT AS
REFERENCES.
THE CLASSIC SEVEN WONDERS
WERE:

G R E A T P Y R A M I D O F G I Z A,   E L G I Z A,  
E G Y P T  T H E O N L Y O N E T H A T S T I L L
EXISTS.

C O L O S S U S O F R H O D E S, I N   R H O D E S,
ON THE GREEK 
I S L A N D O F T H E S A M E N A M E.

H A N G I N G G A R D E N S O F B A B Y L O N,
I N   B A B Y L O N, N E A R P R E S E N T D A Y  
H I L L A H,   B A B I L  P R O V I N C E , I N   I R A Q.

L I G H T H O U S E O F A L E X A N D R I A, I N  
A L E X A N D R I A,   E G Y P T.

M A U S O L E U M A T H A L I C A R N A S S U S,
I N   H A L I C A R N A S S U S,   A C H A E M E N I D
E M P I R E, M O D E R N D A Y   T U R K E Y.

S T A T U E O F Z E U S A T O L Y M P I A, I N  
O L Y M P I A , G R E E C E.

T E M P L E O F A R T E M I S  A T E P H E S U S ,
I N   E P H E S U S  ( N E A R T H E M O D E R N
T O W N O F   S E L Ç U K  I N P R E S E N T - D A Y  
T U R K E Y) .
GREAT PYRAMID OF GIZA
• Khufu's pyramid, known as the great
pyramid of Giza, is the oldest and largest,
rising at 481 feet (146 meters).
Archeologists say it was the tallest
structure in the world for about 3, 800
years.
• The sphinx is a 73.5-meter (241 ft.) long
monument built during the reign of
Khafra. The creature is a mythical being
commonly found in Greek, Egyptian and
even South Asian ancient architecture.

• Khafre and Menkaure’s pyramids are much smaller and simpler in design than
Khufu’s massive structure. When first built, the pyramids were covered in
white limestone much of which eroded over the years.
• Contrary to popular depictions, the Egyptian pyramidswere not built by large
groups of slaves or prisoners, many historians say. Egyptians were employed
and archeologists estimate the workers would have had to set a 2.5 to 15 ton
block every two and a half minutes to finish Khufu’s pyramid in about 30 years.
COLOSSUS OF RHODES
1) Its relation with the Statue of Liberty. Both monuments were built as
symbols of freedom. The Statue of Liberty has been referred to as the
“Modern Colossus” and is 34 meters tall. There is also a plaque inside
the pedestal of Statue of Liberty that is inscribed with a sonnet called
“The New Colossus, not like the brazen giant of Greek fame”.

2) There has been a debate among historians about whether the statue
was standing with one foot on either side of the Rhodes’ harbour. Some
have discounted this theory and believe that he stood in a more usual
Greek statue pose, on one side of the harbour. If Colossus was built with
its legs straddling the harbour, then the harbour would have had to been
closed for 12 years for the initial construction, and then it would have
been blocked for years when the statue fell.

3) The statue was actually built with an iron frame, and over this the
Rhodians used carved and sculptured brass plates to create the outer
structure of Helios.

4) The architect of the Colossus was Charles of Lindos; a student of the famous sculptor Lysippus, who had
previously created a 19 meter tall statue of Zeus.

5) In the 7th century A.D., the Arabs conquered the Rhodians, dismantled the leftovers of the destroyed Colossus, and
later sold it as scrap metal. It took approximately 900 camels to carry away all the scrap metal.

6) Finally, Ptolemy III, the king of Egypt, offered to pay for the Colossus’ reconstruction, but the Rhodians refused
because they believed that Helios; being angered by the construction of the statue, was the one who caused the
earthquake that destroyed it.
HANGING GARDENS OF BABYLON
The gardens were up to 75 feet high and it is thought that
the plants tumbled down over a kind of pyramid-shaped
stone structure.The whole thing looked like a mountain!
To make the gardens, the King had to build really deep
foundations.The Hanging Gardens were pretty heavy,
made of stone pillars and slabs, dirt and plants, so the
King needed to make sure it wouldn’t all collapse.
Some people think that the Hanging Gardens of Babylon
were destroyed, perhaps by an earthquake or by war, but
no one is sure.
In fact, not everyone believes the Hanging Gardens ever
actually existed. Some say they were just a legend.
Although archaeologists have looked, no one has yet
found any archaeological proof that they really did exist. Babylon was in a desert, so there wasn’t much water around.
All we have are ancient written descriptions of how they This meant that the Hanging Gardens needed their own watering
looked. The gardens were first written about by a priest system so the plants and trees got enough water. One theory is
called Berossus. He described high walkways, held up by that there was a pump system to transport water to the top of the
stone pillars. He said there were plants and trees and it gardens – water that possibly came from the nearby Euphrates
looked like a mountainous country. Other writers River. From the top, the water would cascade down over all the
described the gardens similarly. plants, trees and flowers.
The name Babylon means ‘Gate of God’ or ‘Gate of the Some researchers think that the gardens weren’t even in Babylon
Gods’. There are many references to Babylon in the at all, but near a city called Nineveh, which was further north
Bible. than Babylon. Like so much about the gardens, this has not yet
been proved.The city of Babylon itself also no longer exists. For
a long time, it was believed to be the biggest city in the world. It
was also the most famous city of the region called Mesopotamia.
LIGHTHOUSE OF ALEXANDRIA
The Lighthouse at Alexandria was built to guide boats into the
harbor at Alexandria. A fire was burnt at the top by night,
helping ships to safely enter the port, while a mirror was used
by day to reflect the sunlight.
It was built in three sections, each section slightly smaller than
the lower one. The lowest was square shaped, the second an
octagon and the third a cylinder.
It is thought that the lighthouse was around 350 feet (110
meters) tall with a spiral staircase to reach the top.
At the time of its construction it was one of the tallest
buildings in the World and it served as a model for future
lighthouses.
It is thought to have been built by Sostratus of Cnidus for
Ptolemy I of Egypt, although it was finished during the reign of
his son, Ptolemy II.The ruins of the lighthouse were used to
build Fort Qaitbay in 1477 and some of its stonework has also
been found in the harbor itself.

The lighthouse was partially cracked and damaged by earthquakes in 796 and 951, followed by structural collapse in
the earthquake of 956, and then again in 1303 and 1323. Damaging earthquakes propagate from two well known
tectonic boundaries, the African-Arabian and Red-Sea rift zones, respectively 350 and 520 km from the lighthouses
location. Documentation shows the 956 earthquake to be the first to cause structural collapse of the top 20+ metres of
the construction. Documented repairs after the 956 earthquake include the installment of an Islamic style dome after
the collapse of the statue that previously topped the monument. The most destructive earthquake in 1303 was an
estimated intensity of VIII+ originating from the Greek island of Crete (280–350 km from Alexandria). Finally, the
stubby remnant disappeared in 1480, when the then-Sultan of Egypt, Qaitbay, built a medieval fort on the larger
platform of the lighthouse site using some of the fallen stone.
MAUSOLEUM AT
HALICARNASSUS
The city of Halicarnassus where Mausolus and
Artemisia ruled is now known as Bodrum,
Turkey.
The word mausoleum originates from the name Mausolus.
The term mausoleum became the name used for tombs built
above ground from that time on.

Mausolus' wife Artemisia was also his sister. It was

common in those days for rulers to marry their sisters.

Artemisia hired famous Greek artists to build the

tomb. Two Greek architects Pytheos and Satyros
designed the shape of the tomb. There were also a
variety of artists who contributed various cultural
influences to the tomb, including Greek, Lycian and
Egyptian.

By 1401 AD, all that was left was the base of the
tomb.
STATUE OF ZEUS AT
OLYMPIA
• The statue depicted ‘Zeus’. Zeus is the
Greek god of the sky, lighting, thunder,
law, and order.
• The Statue of Zeus at Olympia holds Nike,
the goddess of victory in Greek mythology
in his right hand.

• There is a scepter with an eagle perched on

the top of it. A scepter like this is carried by
a king as a symbol of power. • The robe, shoes, hair, and beard of the statue
were made of gold. The exposed part of the
skin was made of ivory.
• The eyes of the statue were set with
precious jewels

• Phidias set up a workshop next to the temple

• The statue was destroyed by fire in the
of Zeus in which the statue was to be
fifth century.
placed.
• In the 1950s, that workshop was discovered
• It is believed that Phidias, the by archaeologists. His tools were also found
sculptor who made the statue during the excavation.
asked Zeus for a sign of
approval.
TEMPLE OF ARTEMIS AT
EPHESUS
 The temple had 127 columns, each with a
height of 60 feet.

Second time, the temple was burned to the

ground by Herostratus. He set the fire to make
himself famous.

The Temple of Artemis may have been the first

ever building which was constructed of Marble. The temple was rebuilt for the third
time but destroyed again in 268 A.D.

The temple was not rebuilt after the

It was used as a house of worship Artemis and
third time because the cost of
as well as a marketplace.
construction was too high.

This classic and iconic temple was designed by The remains of the structure were first
Cherisiphron, an architect from Crete along discovered in 1869 by John Turtle
with his son Metagenes. Wood, an English architect and engineer
on a deliberate search.