In the last few
weeks I have been searching YouTube for some older documentaries I had seen
when living in Britain. There is just something very comforting to me about
watching a documentary on the ancient or medieval world. Why is that?
Well, I suppose
that as I am passionate about history and love to travel, documentaries offer a
cheaper alternative to getting to those actual places. The good ones help me to
walk in peace among the ruins of far-off places and as a result, ignite my
creativity. The particular series I was looking for was one written by John
Romer, a British archaeologist and historian.
After the first
episode, I felt like I had reconnected with something. But it was not the documentary
itself, nor the host. It was the subject of the documentary that pulled me in:
The Seven Wonders
of the Ancient World
The mere
mentioned of the Seven Wonders stirs a longing in me for some vague but
powerful reason. Perhaps it is because it reminds me of bygone ages of which I
have often daydreamed?
The truth is, I
am not alone in this feeling, this fascination with a list of monuments created
so long ago. The Seven Wonders have captured the imagination of people since
the Hellenistic age. Sure, the list might have changed a little, but its
celebration of artistic and architectural inspiration and achievement most
certainly has not.
Where did the
list come from?
Consensus points
to two figures of the ancient world who may have compiled the most popular
list: Philo of Byzantium and Antipater of Sidon. Philo of Byzantium was a 3rd
century B.C. resident of Alexandria who wrote a compendium of mechanics and
Antipater of Sidon was a Greek poet of the 2nd century B.C.
It is no
coincidence that the two men were Greek. After the campaigns of Alexander and
the fall of the Persian Empire, the East opened up and Hellenic people and
ideas spread far from the homeland. Greeks had been living in Egypt and Persia
for a long time already by then but now they could move about more freely and
that meant one thing: tourism!
To that point in
time, Herodotus was the Lonely Planet guide of the day but people didn’t
necessarily want to travel. War with Persia kind of made that a risky
undertaking. But when the last embers of the Wars of Succession finally died
and the world was safe again, there was mass movement of people and ideas. The
list of the Seven Wonders could have been a wonderful itinerary or at least a
list of popular hotspots around the eastern Mediterranean.
It is no surprise
that Philo was a mathematician inclined to mechanics and that Antipater was a
poet. The Seven Wonders would have appealed to both as monuments of inspired
artistic beauty and incredible architectural achievement that many could not
even guess at how they were constructed.
Let’s have a
brief look at this wonderful list of monuments.
The Pyramids of Giza
It is ironic but the Pyramids of Giza which
were built around 2,600 B.C. are the oldest monuments on the list and yet they
are the only ones that survive to this day. I had a chance once to go to Egypt
on a dig but that was the year just after 9/11 and all hell had broken loose.
The dig was cancelled. No matter how many times I see the pyramids on
television, I can never get over their simple magnificence. And I’m sure they
are even more striking in real life. As the last remaining wonder on the list,
I hope I don’t miss out.
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Artist impression of the
Hanging Gardens |
Hanging Gardens of Babylon
The hanging gardens of Babylon are interesting and their existence is still
widely contested, the date of their possible building unknown. From what is
said, the Hanging Gardens were created by Nebuchadnezzar II (ruled 605-562
B.C.) for his Median wife, Amytis who was homesick in that dry land. So, he is
said to have built a sort of stepped pyramid with terraces that were covered
with lush gardens of flowers and fruit trees. It is said there was a complex
irrigation system for the entire gardens from top to bottom and that exotic
animals roamed its heights. I don’t know if this is truth or fable but I do
know that this was supposed to be one of the most ancient civilizations on the
planet. Here is what Quintus Curtius Rufus says about the Hanging Gardens:
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| Possible location of the Gardens today |
“On its summit [of the Babylonian citadel] are the hanging
gardens, a wonder celebrated by the fables of the Greeks. They are as high as
the top of the walls and owe their charm to the shade of many tall trees. The
columns supporting the whole edifice are built of rock, and on top of them is a
flat surface of squared stones strong enough to bear the deep layer of earth
placed upon it and the water used for irrigating it. So stout are the trees the
structure supports that their trunks are eight cubits thick and their height as
much as fifty feet; they bear fruit as abundantly as if they were growing in
their natural environment… It has a substructure of walls twenty feet thick at
eleven foot intervals, so that from a distance one has the impression of woods
overhanging their native mountains.” (Quintus Curtius Rufus, The History of Alexander)
The rest of the monuments on the list from now on are Greek. No
surprise since the compilers of the list were Greek. Nonetheless, these
monuments are indeed deserving of ancient accolades.
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Artist impression of the
Temple of Artemis |
Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, built in the sixth-century B.C. in what
is now modern Turkey, was one of the largest, most beautiful temples of the
ancient world. Its construction was paid for by the wealthy Lydian King,
Croesus. It took ten years to build and brought pilgrims to Ephesus for centuries.
The temple was said to be about 137 meters long, 69 meters wide and 18 meters
high with more than 127 columns. Sadly, the temple was destroyed by raiding
Goths in the third century A.D. However, the memory of the beauty of this
temple to the Goddess of the Hunt would live on.
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| Ruins of the Temple of Artemis |
For Antipater of Sidon, it was
the most beautiful of all the wonders:
“…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 aught so grand".” (Antipater, Greek Anthology)
 |
| Statue of Olympian Zeus |
Statue of Zeus, Olympia
Ancient Olympia is one of the few sites on
this list that I have been fortunate
enough to visit. It is one of my favourite
sites in Greece, this peaceful, green sanctuary nestled between the rivers
Alpheios and Kladeos in the eastern Peloponnese. Sadly, the twelve-meter, ivory
and gold statue of Olympian Zeus was looted from the sanctuary long ago to fall
victim to fire in another land.
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| Ruins of the Temple of Zeus |
However the fifth-century B.C. remains of the Temple of Zeus,
which contained this wonder, still exist. So too does the workshop where the
artist Pheidias laboured to shape the ivory that would create a giant,
life-like representation of the king of the gods. The column drums of the
temple now lie in domino lengths, grass-covered victims of earthquakes and the
workshop is bare and open to the sky. However, if you can make it there someday
try standing on the paving slabs of the temple floor. Imagine the thick Archaic
columns running the length of the interior to flank the giant statue of Zeus
seated upon his throne. Then imagine how small a person must have felt in that
space, the awe and the silence that resulted from being in the god’s presence.
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
Back to Asia Minor now to the fifth of the Seven Wonders. Now we find
ourselves in the ancient city of Halicarnassus, modern day Bodrum in Turkey.
This was the site of the tomb of King Mausolus of Caria. The tomb, built in the
mid-fourth century B.C., was not just any tomb. King Mausolus wanted to outdo
all previous memorials and so he commissioned the tomb by which all others
would henceforth be measured.
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| Artist impression of the Mausoleum |
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| Ruins of the Mausoleum |
King Mausolus’ ‘mausoleum’ was approximately 48 meters high and
adorned top to bottom with the most beautiful, columns, reliefs and statuary of
the day. The most talented artists and craftsmen of the Greek world were hired
to work on it. It had statues of gods and goddesses, centaurs and lapiths, men
and women, lions and other beasts. It rose into the sky to tower above
Halicarnassus and to top it off was a massive four-horse chariot driven by
Mausolus with his wife Artemisia at his side. Mausolus never lived to see his
tomb completed and so the task fell to Artemisia. But she died two years later.
It is a testament to the craftsmen that they stayed to finished the mausoleum
even then, after their patrons had gone into the afterlife.
Colossus of Rhodes
The island of Rhodes in the south-east Aegean is one of the larger Greek
islands and a place of great beauty. It was said to have been the domain of the
sun god, Helios. To commemorate the victory of Rhodes over Antigonous I of
Cyprus, the Rhodians erected the Colossus between 292 and 280 B.C. The bronze
statue of Helios was said to straddle the entrance to the harbour of Rhodes to
a height of 33.5 meters, making it one of the tallest statues in the world,
visible from far out at sea.
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| The Colossus of Rhodes |
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| Supposed bases of the Colossus |
Today, if you visit Rhodes, it is the medieval city that really
stands out to the visitor. The Colossus stood for only fifty-six years before
it fell victim to an earthquake. It must have been an awe-inspiring sight while
it stood. Now, the points where the feet of the statue were planted are marked
by two pedestals at the harbour entrance. Though it did not stand for long, the
influence of the Colossus of Rhodes lasted for ages, inspiring the Emperor Nero
to erect his own colossus, as well as the French-built Statue of Liberty in New
York, another beacon to guide and welcome travellers.
Lighthouse of Alexandria
The last structure on the list of the Seven Wonders was located in the most
famous city founded by Alexander the Great: Alexandria. The Lighthouse, or
‘Pharos’, of Alexandria was built between 280 and 247 B.C. Some sources say it
rose to a height of as much as 140 meters and that its reflected fires could
been seen from unimaginable distances out at sea. The lighthouse guided ships
into the city that had become the great metropolis of the world. For centuries
the Pharos was the tallest structure in the world and was actually the third,
longest-standing of the Seven Wonders after the Mausoleum and pyramids at Giza.
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| Artist impression of the Pharos |
In addition to
being inspired by a look at the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, I am also a
little saddened by it.
I think of what
was and what could have been had they stood to this day (we’re fortunate indeed
to have the Pyramids!). What would the
world be like if we could still look upon the statue of Zeus at Olympia, or
tour the Hanging Gardens of Babylon? Part of me thinks that it would be amazing
to sail up to Rhodes beneath the gaze of the Colossus or to walk the terraces
of the Mausoleum gazing upon the statuary as upon an outdoor museum.
However, another
part of me thinks that our modern world would ruin those things. I don’t want
to imagine these once-brilliant monuments stained by exhaust and pollution, or
surrounded by kiosks selling plastic souvenirs made in China. Would the names
of countless tourists be scratched into the marble of the Temple of Artemis, or
would the ankles of the Colossus be ringed with spray paint?
I think those things would be infinitely more
painful than looking upon the ruins of these wonders and imagining what once was.
These artistic and architectural wonders were more than just tourist
attractions. The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World were and are markers in the
timeline of human history, intended to inspire and to raise man from the dust
so that the gods might catch a glimpse of those achievements, those offerings,
and smile back with pride.
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To view John
Romer’s series on the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, you can check them
out on YouTube HERE.
For fiction
lovers, I highly recommend The Seven Wonders by Steven Saylor whose young Roman
character, Gordianus, travels to see all of the wonders while solving some
entertaining mysteries along the way.
