What are the Seven Natural Wonders of the World?

For centuries, archaeologists and historians have sought to uncover the mysteries of the past. With some of those mysteries, their path has been a smooth one, though dotted with popular superstitions and misconceptions. With others, however, they have run into the most discouraging of problems - lack of evidence that these pieces of history ever existed beyond the written page. Among this latter group reside six of the seven wonders of the ancient world, and the key to unlocking the past.

Towering above seas of endless sand and worn by constant desert winds, the pyramids of Egypt are the only of the ancient world’s seven greatest wonders which are still better than fifty percent intact. Huge tombs of stone, built to house both the bodies and the worldly wealth of Egypt’s rulers for centuries, the pyramids have been symbols of creation out of destruction for nearly five millennia. They are the palaces of deceased pharaohs, built to entertain their families and guests, as well as a myriad of gods, in the next world. This function of the tombs sprang out of the ancient Egyptian belief that worldly belongings could follow, and would be needed by, the deceased in the next world. Whatever the belief, however, they have endowed archaeologists with a rich and detailed understanding of ancient Egypt and its culture.

While two dynasties of Pharaohs presided over the construction of, and eventually resided in, the massive pyramids, the actual building was accomplished on the backs of a multitude of slaves and by utilising the talents of dozens of architects. Thus, the Egyptian pyramids are a true example of national accomplishment and pride which has lasted for over three millennia.

Second of the seven wonders of the ancient world is the magnificent Colossus of Rhodes, a one hundred-five foot bronze statue of the Mediterranean sun god, Helius, which stood at the entrance to the harbour of Rhodes. There are many mysteries surrounding this legendary tribute to the sun, and both the lack of adequate written record and of the statue itself leaves little to answer those questions. Why did the citizens of Rhodes choose to build it? How, exactly, did they accomplish this massive feat? These are but a few of those mysteries, though where they acquired the raw materials is not so much a mystery as a legend. It’s said, in one of the few surviving documents to mention the magnificent statue, that Colossus was built using the money earned from the sale of the weapons abandoned outside the city by an erstwhile besieger. Other sources have claimed, over the years, that the statue was forged from the very weapons the populace recovered after the besieger fled. Neither would have been a small feat.

The Colossus was a tribute to peace, among many things. Built only a few decades after the death of Alexander the Great (sometime around 292 BC, historians speculate), it towered over the harbour of Rhodes for only fifty-six years before it was demolished by an earthquake in around 224 BC. It lay where it fell, blocking the harbour of Rhodes, for nearly a millennium. Then, according to legend, during the Middle Ages it was melted down to once again forge weapons, though this is unlikely since bronze was no longer used so greatly in the making of weapons.

What was most remarkable about the Colossus was not its massive size, nor the fact that it was the largest monument to peace ever constructed. What is truly amazing is that it was the most expensive statue to ever be commissioned, costing something like three hundred talents, roughly the equivalent of several million U.S. dollars.

The third wonder of the ancient world was the legendary Hanging Gardens of Babylon. While speculation and fancy have run wild trying to depict what the Gardens must have looked like at the height of bloom, archaeological evidence suggests that the foundation was a series of terraces, filled with trees, flowers, and other exotic plants, which once resided along the banks of the Euphrates River.

Most of the information still available about this living wonder comes from Biblical accounts. In the Old Testament, the Bible states that the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, had a beautiful series of gardens built for his favourite wife, sometime during the Hebrew exile in Babylonia, around the sixth century BC.

For centuries, the ambiguity or scarce amount of information on these fascinating Gardens left historians and scholars baffled as to their exact location in Babylonia. Then, in 1913, an archaeologist by the name of Robert Kaldewey uncovered a series of stone and earth terraces along the Euphrates River which are all that remains today of the Hanging Gardens.

Unlike many of the other wonders of the ancient world, the Hanging Gardens, long after they were buried in the sands of the desert, inspired artists and storytellers for millennia. It was not only the greenness and florid plant life, blooming even in that dry Mediterranean climate, which has inspired dreamers for millennia, but also the sheer belief in its existence. Archaeological finds have proven exactly how enormous and elaborate the structure of terraces was, not to mention the remarkable discovery that its foundation was built of stone. The Mesopotamian plain has always been devoid of stone, making the presence of so much of it in one structure a true wonder. The best that archaeologists can surmise is that the stone for the Gardens was transported from distant

mountain regions to Babylon, a difficult and ambitious feat for the technologies of the day.

Next on the roster of ancient wonders is the tomb of a petty king in Asia Minor whose name has been passed down through the ages as a word synonymous with burial structures. This mausoleum at Halicarnassus was the very first mausoleum ever built, a memorial tomb for Mausolus, a king with ambitious policies and a devoted wife, Artemisia. Mausolus’ tomb was no cairn or hole in the ground, either. Instead, it was a magnificent marble structure, built sometime in the fourth century BC. Not only was it the very first of its kind, but it was also the greatest, at four hundred-forty feet around and one hundred-forty feet high. It consisted of a basic, if large, building, on top of which were rows of columns, upon which sat a pyramid of twenty-four steps. At the summit of it all stood the figures of Mausolus and Artemisia in a chariot. The entire structure was made of Parian marble, and towered above the city, visible even far out to sea.

This magnificent Mausoleum was commissioned by Artemisia, who was as devoted as a wife could be, according to legend. She held a contest of poets to celebrate Mausolus’ life and memory, and commissioned a tomb for him that would soon become so famous that the word “mausoleum” remains today. Afterward, legend says that Artemisia pined away in grief for her lost husband, and drank his ashes in her wine. Soon after, she followed him in death.

The Mausoleum remained in its glory until the Middle Ages, when Crusaders used material from it to build a castle. After that, this one world- wonder was little more than a half-forgotten ruin.

The fifth wonder was the world’s first lighthouse, the Pharos of Alexandria. It was a massive structure, rising four hundred-forty-five feet, higher than a thirty-six story skyscraper. The Pharos used a signal fire for a beacon, amplified by a mirror which reflected the light far out to sea.

The Pharos, unlike the flashy tombs of kings or the massive tributes to gods, served a very practical purpose. Alexandria, Egypt, was the greatest seaport of the ancient world, but its harbour’s entrance was tricky for the galleys and merchantmen of antiquity to navigate, particularly at night. Some source of light was needed to guide ships safely into the port.

Around 270 BC, after the death of Alexander the Great’s trusted general, Ptolemy, his son and successor to the throne of Egypt, Ptolemy Philadelphus, came up with the idea of building the massive beacon tower. He chose the tiny island of Pharos, at the entrance to Alexandria’s harbour, for its construction.

Not only was the Pharos the first of its kind, but it was also a highly-sophisticated structure for its time, with each level having a different geometrical form. It was truly an accomplishment worthy of genius, and was the largest lighthouse ever built.

Pharos would play an important part in the life and legends of Cleopatra, and many other famous lives, as well. In fact, it stood for around sixteen hundred years, until about AD 1130, when invading Arabs tore down the upper level. Then, in the 1300s, an earthquake demolished what remained.

Sixth among the seven wonders is the statue of Zeus at Olympia. This magnificent statue was over thirty feet high, and sat on a pedestal another twelve feet high, for a combined height of forty-two feet. A statue of an enthroned Zeus, it was made of wood, covered with gold and ivory, and set with precious stones. The upper half of the seated figure was naked and made of gleaming ivory. The eyes were set with precious gems. The lover half of the body was covered with a mantle, sculpted of gold, which fell in folds to the massive feet. In his right hand was a symbol of victory, and in the left, an eagle-topped sceptre.

Because Zeus was the honoured Patron of the Olympic Games, held in Olympia, the citizens of the city had the statue built to pay homage to the mighty King of Gods. According to the surviving written records, the statue was built sometime during the fifth century BC, and took the architect and sculptor five long years to create. That sculptor, Phidias, was the greatest of the Greek sculptors, and it was his duty to both design and craft the imposing statue inside of the great shrine to Zeus in Olympia. The sculpture of Zeus remained at Olympia for some seven hundred years. Its final fate remains a mystery, though one very plausible theory states that, at some point after Christianity was established in Europe, the statue was taken to Constantinople, where it was later destroyed during the great fire of AD 476.

The final of the ancient world’s seven greatest wonders was a marble temple to Artemis at Ephesus. It took one hundred-twenty years to build, and was four hundred-twenty-five feet long and two hundred-twenty-five feet wide upon completion. It had one hundred-twenty-seven columns, each sixty feet high and presented to the

temple by a different Mediterranean king.

Ephesus was a city dedicated to the Greek Goddess Artemis, and the temple was necessary to their religious function. This particular temple, however, had been built to replace the previous great temple, which had been nowhere near as large or impressive. The original great temple was destroyed by arson in 356 BC. Construction of the new temple began that same year, but the temple was not completed until around 236 BC. As far as historians can deduce, this magnificent edifice was constructed by the populace and workers of Ephesus, under the direction of an unspecified architect.

That temple was one of the greatest construction projects of all time, not to mention the largest temple ever built. It stood until the third century AD, when it was again burned, this time by ransacking Goths. Eventually, the city of Ephesus was abandoned, probably due to an epidemic, and the temple was forgotten.

Whether a temple or statue dedicated to a patron, a tomb of a king, or simply a practical guide or thing of beauty for a loved one, these wonders built by the ancients are immortalised in both the written word and in humanity’s collective imagination. Many of them have crumbled or been torn down over the millennia since their construction, but their spirit continues to inspire the human race to go beyond the simplistic, and to create new monuments of civilisation for future generations to recall with wonder.