7 Wonders

2 Pages 401 Words

SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD

In the ancient world there were seven great man-made structures for travelers to see on a world tour. Lists of the so-called seven wonders of the world sometimes varied. The following list, dating from about the 6th century AD, was a commonly used and standard one: (1) the pyramids of Egypt; (2) the Hanging Gardens of Babylon; (3) the statue of Zeus at Olympia; (4) the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus; (5) the temple of Artemis (Diana) at Ephesus; (6) the Colossus of Rhodes; and (7) the Pharos (lighthouse) of Alexandria.
Greek colonists at Ephesus, in Asia Minor, built the famous temple of Artemis. The early settlers found the Asian inhabitants worshiping a many-breasted nature goddess whom they identified with their Artemis (called Diana by the Romans). They raised a shrine to her, which was rebuilt and enlarged from time to time. The fourth temple was the one regarded as the wonder of the world. Dedicated about 430 BC, it is said to have been built by contributions from all the great cities of Asia and to have taken 120 years to complete. This great temple was set on fire in 356 BC on the night Alexander the Great was born, according to tradition. The crime was committed by one Herostratus merely that his name might be remembered in after ages.
The statue of Olympian Zeus was erected at Olympia, in the Peloponnesus of Greece, by the great sculptor Phidias in the 5th century BC. It was a towering structure of ivory and gold, 40 feet high, majestic and beautiful. After about 10 centuries of existence the statue was destroyed. Our only idea of it is gained from coins of Elis, which are thought to bear copies of the original.
The Colossus of Rhodes was a great bronze statue, erected in about 280 BC by the citizens of Rhodes, capital of the Greek island of the same name. It represented their sun-god Helios and was said to be 105 feet high. According to legend, it straddled the harbor entrance, b...