Seven Ancient Wonders of the World
Jessica Alvez da Cruz, Katherine Berasategui, Mariana Sánchez
Fuente: http://www.history.com/topics/seven-ancient-wonders-of-the-world
The amazing works of art and architecture known as the Seven Wonders of
the Ancient World serve as a testament to the ingenuity, imagination and
sheer hard work of which human beings are capable. They are also,
however, reminders of the human capacity for disagreement, destruction
and, possibly, embellishment. As soon as ancient writers compiled a list
of "seven wonders," it became fodder for debate over which achievements
deserved inclusion. Ultimately, human hands joined with natural forces
to destroy all but one of the wonders. Furthermore, it is possible that
at least one of the wonders might not have existed at all. Still, all
seven continue to inspire and be celebrated as the remarkable products
of the creativity and skill of Earth’s early civilizations.
Great Pyramid of Giza, Egypt
The Great Pyramids,
located at Giza on the west bank of the Nile River north of Cairo, are
the only wonder of the ancient world that has survived to the present
day. The three pyramids--Khufu (Cheops), Khafra (Chephren) and Menkaura
(Mycerimus)--were built between 2700 B.C. and 2500 B.C. as royal tombs.
The largest and most impressive is Khufu, which covers 13 acres and is
believed to contain more than 2 million stone blocks that weigh from two
to 30 tons each. For more than 4,000 years, Khufu reigned as the
tallest building in the world. In fact, it took modern man until the
19th century to build a taller structure. Amazingly, the nearly
symmetrical pyramids were built without the aid of modern tools or
surveying equipment. Scientists believe that the Egyptians used log
rollers and sledges to move the stones into place.The sloped walls, which were intended to mimic the rays of Ra, the sun
god, were originally built as steps, and then filled in with limestone.
The interior of the pyramids included narrow corridors and hidden
chambers in an unsuccessful attempt to foil grave robbers. Although
modern archeologists have found some great treasures among the ruins,
they believe most of what the pyramids once contained was looted within
250 years of their completion.
Hanging Gardens of Babylon
According to ancient
Greek poets, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were built near the
Euphrates River in modern-day Iraq by the Babylonian king Nebuchadrezzar
II around 600 B.C. The gardens were said to have been planted as high
as 75 feet in the air on a huge square brick terrace that was laid out
in steps like a theater. The king allegedly built the towering gardens
to ease his lover Amytis’ homesickness for the natural beauty of her
home in Media (the northwestern part of modern-day Iran). Later writers
described how people could walk underneath the beautiful gardens, which
rested on tall stone columns. Modern scientists have deduced that for
the gardens to survive they would have had to be irrigated using a
system consisting of a pump, waterwheel and cisterns to carry water from
the Euphrates many feet into the air. Though there are multiple
accounts of the gardens in both Greek and Roman literature, none of them
are firsthand, and no mention of the gardens has been found in
Babylonian cuneiform inscriptions. As a result, most modern scholars
believe that the existence of the gardens was part of an inspired and
widely believed but still fictional tale.
Statue of Zeus at Olympia
The famed statue of Zeus
was crafted by the Athenian sculptor Phidias and completed and placed
in the temple of Zeus at Olympia, site of the ancient Olympics, around
the mid-fifth century B.C. The statue depicted the god of thunder seated
bare-chested at a wooden throne. Holding up the thrones’ armrests were
two carved sphinxes, mythical creatures with the head and chest of a
woman, the body of lion and the wings of a bird. The statue of Zeus was
richly decorated with gold and ivory. At 40 feet, it was so tall that
its head nearly touched the top of the temple. According to legend, the
sculptor Phidias asked Zeus for a sign of his approval after finishing
the statue; soon after, the temple was struck by lightning. The Zeus
statue graced the temple at Olympia for more than eight centuries before
Christian priests persuaded the Roman emperor to close the temple in
the fourth century A.D. At that time, the statue was moved to a temple
in Constantinople, where it is believed to have been destroyed in a fire
in the year 462.
Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
There was actually more than one Temple of Artemis: A series of several altars and temples was destroyed and then restored on the same site in Ephesus, a Greek port city on the west coast of modern-day Turkey. The most fabulous of these structures were two marble temples built around 550 B.C. and 350 B.C., respectively. The former was designed by the Cretan architect Chersiphron and his son Metagenes and decorated by some of the most celebrated artists of the ancient world. The building burned on July 21, 356 B.C., according to legend the same night that Alexander the Great was born. About six years later, the building of a new temple to replace it was begun. The new building was surrounded by marble steps that led to a more than 400-foot-long terrace. Inside stood 127 60-foot marble columns and a statue of Artemis. Archeologists disagree as to whether the building had an open-air ceiling or was topped with wood tiles. The temple was largely destroyed by Ostrogoths in A.D. 262, and it was not until the 1860s that archeologists dug up the first of the ruins of the temple’s columns at the bottom of the Cayster River.
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
Located in what is now southeastern Turkey, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus was a tomb built by Artemisia for her husband, Mausolus, the king of Carnia in Asia Minor, after his death in 353 B.C. Mausolus was also Artemisia’s brother, and, according to legend, she was so grief-stricken at his passing that she mixed his ashes with water and drank them in addition to ordering the mausoleum’s construction. The massive mausoleum was made entirely of white marble and is thought to have been about 135 feet high. The building’s complicated design, consisting of three rectangular layers, may have been an attempt to reconcile Lycian, Greek and Egyptian architectural styles. The first layer was a 60-foot base of steps, followed by a middle layer of 36 Ionic columns and a stepped, pyramid-shaped roof. At the very top of the roof lay the tomb, decorated by the work of four sculptors, and a 20-foot marble rendition of a four-horse chariot. The mausoleum was largely destroyed in an earthquake in the 13th century and its remains were later used in the fortification of a castle. In 1846, pieces of one of the mausoleum’s friezes were extracted from the castle and now reside, along with other relics from the Halicarnassus site, in London’s British Museum.
Colossus of Rhodes
The Colossus was an enormous bronze sculpture of the sun god Helios built by the Rhodians over 12 years in the third century B.C. The city was the target of a Macedonian siege early in the fourth century B.C. and, according to legend, the Rhodians sold the tools and equipment left behind by the Macedonians to pay for the Colossus. Designed by the sculptor Chares, the statue was, at 100 feet, the tallest of the ancient world. It was completed around 280 B.C. and stood for sixty years until it was toppled in an earthquake. It was never rebuilt. Hundreds of years later, Arabs invaded Rhodes and sold the remains of the statue as scrap metal. Because of this, archeologists do not know much about the exact location of the statue or what it looked like. Most believe that it depicted the sun god standing naked while he lifted a torch with one hand and held a spear in the other. It was once believed that the statue stood with one leg on each side of a harbor, but most scholars now agree that the statue’s legs were most likely built close together to support its immense weight.
Lighthouse of Alexandria
The Lighthouse of Alexandria was located on a small island called Pharos near the city of Alexandria. Designed by the Greek architect Sostratos and completed around 270 B.C. during the reign of Ptolemy II, the lighthouse helped to guide Nile River ships in and out of the city’s busy harbor. Archeologists have found ancient coins on which the lighthouse was depicted, and from them deduced that the structure had three tiers: a square level at the bottom, an octagonal level in the middle and a cylindrical top. Above that stood a 16-foot statue, most likely of Ptolemy II or Alexander the Great, for whom the city was named. Although estimates of the lighthouse’s height have ranged from 200 to 600 feet, most modern scholars believe it was about 380 feet tall. The lighthouse was gradually destroyed during a series of earthquakes from 956 to 1323. Some of its remains have since been discovered at the bottom of the Nile.
Actividad N° 1
MARCA CON UNA X LAS SIETE MARAVILLAS DEL MUNDO ANTIGÜO
Actividad N°2
MÚLTIPLE OPCIÓN
1) Las pirámides de Egipto se localizan en:
a)Alexandría
b)Guiza
c) El Cairo
2) Los Jardines Colgantes de Babilonia fueron construidos cerca de:
a) el río Éufrates, en Irán
b) el río Tigris, en Irak
c) el río Éufrates, en Irak
d) el río Tigris, en Irán
3) En qué año fue destruida la estatua de Zeus:
a) 462 a.C
b) 500
c) 462
d) 500 a.C
4) De qué material estaban hechos los templos:
a) Piedra
b) Madera
c) Mármol
d) Oro
5) Cuántos metros de altura medía aproximadamente el Mausoleo de Halicarnassus:
a) 135
b) 60
c) 1846
d) 20
6) Cuál de las siguientes maravillas está ubicada en Alejandría:
a) Las Pirámides
b) El Coliseo
c) Los Jardines Colgantes
d) El Faro
7) Quién era Helios
a) un emperador
b) el dios de los sueños
c) el dios del sol
d) un faraón
Actividad N°3
Elige a tu criterio cuáles serían las 7 maravillas del mundo actual.
