We like to
believe that the list of the Seven Wonders of the World
in antiquity was well-established, but that is not entirely correct.
In the 1st
century BC, Diodorus
mentions them by name: the Great Pyramid of Giza,
the Hanging Gardens
of Babylon,
the statue of Zeus in Olympia,
the Temple of Artemis
in Ephesos,
the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus,
the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Lighthouse of Alexandria.
This is the list we follow nowadays, but the importance of each monument has been subject to personal taste and appreciation of its time.
Well before Diodorus,
many writers had their opinions on the matter. The oldest known is, for
instance, Herodotus
who, in the 5th century BC does not mention the Hanging
Gardens of Babylon
but provides a very detailed description of the Walls of Babylon
built with baked bricks cemented together with bitumen. The ramparts
were 72 kilometers
long, 10 meters
thick, and 22 meters
high! A striking feature is that the top of the wall was wide enough for two
four-horse chariots to pass each other. The intermittent towers were 27 meters high.
Callimachus
of Cyrene, who lived in the 3rd century BC,
chose to include the Ishtar Gate of Babylon
– a marvel that has been reconstructed inside the Pergamon Museum in Berlin (see: A
mental reconstruction of Alexander’s triumphal march into Babylon).
Philo of Byzantium in 225
BC lists the Walls of Babylon,
but not the Lighthouse of Alexandria,
which had not been built yet. He said he had
actually seen the Hanging Gardens but omitted to situate them in Babylon.
Their existence remains questionable, and there still is an unconfirmed theory that these gardens were in Nineveh. They were
described as vaulted terraces, raised one above another, and resting upon
cube-shaped pillars. These were hollow and filled with earth to allow trees of
the largest size to be planted. The pillars, the vaults, and the terraces were
constructed of baked brick and bitumen. The Gardens were initiated by King Nebuchadnezzar II around 575 BC. Philo tells of the Statue
of Zeus by Phidias
in Olympia,
the bronze Colossus of Rhodes featuring Helios (the Sun),
and the Temple of
Artemis in Ephesos.
He further includes the Tomb of King
Mausolos in Halicarnassus,
and the Pyramids of the Giza
plateau, not singling out the Great Pyramid.
Antipater of Sidon, who
lived in the 2nd/1st century BC writes that he laid eyes on the ‘walls of
lofty Babylon
on which is a road for chariots’, and the Hanging Gardens;
the statue of Zeus in Olympia,
the Colossus of the Sun in Rhodes, the huge
achievement of the high pyramids in Giza, the vast tomb of Mausolos
at Halicarnassus;
and the Temple of Artemis in Ephesos
saying ‘that [as] it mounted to the clouds those other marvels lost
their brilliancy’.
Strabo, in the 1st century BC, gives by far the most detailed description of
the Seven Wonders.
The Great Pyramid
of Giza in Egypt, the oldest and only wonder
that still exists, was erected around 2560 BC. It is the largest of the three
Pyramids at Giza,
which are all equally important, as stated by Philo of Byzantium. The proportions of the Great Pyramid are
colossal. The original height from the base to the peak was about 147
meters. The length of each side at the base averaged around 230 meters. The
theories about its construction and function are widespread and are by no means
conclusive.
The statue of
Zeus in Olympia stood inside the Temple
of Zeus. The large
sitting Zeus was made of ivory and gold by Phidias
in 436 BC. Although he was seated, Zeus stood 12.4 meters high,
meaning that his head nearly touched the ceiling. Nothing much of
the temple remains, but its impressive East and West pediments are exhibited
in full glory at the local museum (see: Olympia,
in the footsteps of Pausanias).
The first Temple of
Artemis in Ephesus goes back to the 7th century BC. After its destruction, it was completely rebuilt to an unheard scale of 115 x 55 meters, i.e., larger than
the Parthenon in Athens. The Artemis venerated in this temple is represented with
many breasts, and is clearly not of Greek origin but imported from the East (see: Alexander’s
presence in Ephesus). Nothing remains today to prove its grandeur
and glory.
The Mausoleum
of Halicarnassus (see: Halicarnassus,
capital of Caria) from about 350 BC was a rectangular monument
measuring 40 x 30 meters,
and about 45 meters
high. It was decorated with scenes from Greek mythology, such as the battle of
the Centaurs with the Lapiths and fighting Amazons, although scholars disagree on their precise position. It is certain, however, that the statues of King
Mausolos and his wife/sister Artemesia
riding in a four-horse chariot, now at the British Museum,
stood at the very top of the Mausoleum. The tomb survived in
pretty good condition for many years despite recurrent earthquakes, but the
final blow happened in 1494 when the Knights
of St John of Rhodes invaded the area and reused the stones of the
Mausoleum to build their castle. Remnants are still visible to modern visitors on
the walls of Bodrum Castle.
The Colossus
of Helios in Rhodes, the work of Chares of Lindos, was completed in 282
BC. It stood near the entrance of the harbor, although the exact location is
unknown. The Colossus wore a crown of sun rays – hence its name, Colossus of
Helios - and held up a torch. It was made of bronze and rested on a marble
pedestal. With a height of 33
meters, it is considered the tallest bronze from
antiquity. It was the
shortest-lived ancient wonder that disappeared 60 years after its construction due
to a severe earthquake. Its legend lives on, though.
The Lighthouse
or Pharos of Alexandria
was the last wonder added to the list of seven,
replacing the Walls of Babylon. It was conceived
in three stages: a square stone base, an octagonal middle section, and a
cylindrical shape at the top. Inside, a fire would guide the seafarers into the
harbor of Alexandria.
By day, they were led by the smoke, and at night by its bright light (see: Alexandria’s
past futures). The Lighthouse
stood over 100 meters
tall, and its light could be seen 50-60 kilometers out at
sea. Its construction was completed between 300 and 280 BC during the reigns of
Ptolemy
I Soter and his son, Ptolemy
II Philadelphus.
The ancient
historians of Alexander the Great
have spent very little ink on these Seven Wonders – or the texts simply have
not reached us. The Temple
of Ephesos,
which was burnt down the night Alexander
was born, was still under construction at the time of his visit. But the king must
have witnessed the grand Mausoleum of Halicarnassus
and the main features of Babylon,
such as its Walls, the Ishtar Gate (which he used to enter the city), and the
Gardens if they were indeed part of the Royal Palace.
Strangely enough, Giza
and its Pyramids are absent from all documents, as if they never existed!
