Visit the Seven Wonders of
the Ancient World
Great Pyramid at Giza
Hanging Gardens of Babylon
Statue of Zeus at Olympia
Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
Colossus of Rhodes
Lighthouse at Alexandria
The Great Pyramid at Giza
The Great Pyramid at Giza
Pyramid construction reached its climax with the building
of King Khufu’s tomb at Giza. It is known as the Great
Pyramid.
The Great Pyramid of Giza is about 4,500 years old, and
is the only ancient wonder still standing.
The Great Pyramid at Giza
Until the early 1800's, the Great Pyramid at Giza was
the tallest building in the world!
The Great Pyramid at Giza
The Great pyramid was made by
hand! It is nearly 800 feet long, 450
feet high. It was built with over two
million of blocks of stone.
The average weight of
each stone is about
2,500 pounds - around
the same weight as a
car!
The
Hanging
Gardens
of
Babylon
The Hanging Gardens
There was little argument
that the Hanging Gardens of
Babylon would be included
as a world wonder. It was on
nearly everyone’s list.
The thought of a huge and
magnificent garden, towering
300 feet above the desert
sands, appealed to the Greeks
sense of the incredible.
The Hanging Gardens
The Hanging Gardens were
supposedly built around 600
BCE, along the banks of the
Euphrates River in Babylon.
Constructed inside the palace
walls, the gardens were built
in a series of platforms, or
terraces, that created a
structure 400 feet long, 400
feet wide, and 380 feet high!
The Hanging Gardens
Wandering paths and a series of
steps connected the various
levels. The gardens were a
wonderland of greenery,
flowering plants, and waterfalls.
That alone would have greatly
impressed the ancient Greeks.
But a love story was attached
to the gardens that made them
even more interesting.
The Hanging Gardens
It was rumored that the king
King Nebuchadnezzar, ordered
the gardens built to honor his
queen.
The queen was homesick for
her land in the mountains. The
gardens were designed by the
king to make his queen feel
loved and welcomed in her
new land of Babylon.
The Hanging Gardens
No one knows if the love story
behind the Hanging Gardens
of Babylon is true, or if the
gardens ever really existed.
But it was a great story, and
the Greeks loved stories,
especially stories about war
and love.
The
Statue
of Zeus
at
Olympia
The Statue of Zeus at Olympia
There was absolutely no argument
about the Statue of Zeus. It was a world
wonder – everyone knew that!
Zeus was the king of the ancient Greek
gods. Olympia was the city that hosted
the Ancient Greek Olympic Games. The
statue could have been the size of a
peanut, and still the Ancient Greeks
would have selected it. But it truly was a
magnificent structure.
The Statue of Zeus at Olympia
The Temple of Zeus was
completed in 456 BCE.
It was built in Olympia
to honor Zeus and the
Greek Olympic Games.
Like the Parthenon and
the Temple of Artemis,
Doric columns were used
to support the structure.
The Statue of Zeus at Olympia
Today, little remains of the temple or the
once magnificent Statue of Zeus within
it. But the spirit of the Olympic Games
lives on!
The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
The Temple of Artemis was first built
around 800 BCE in the ancient Greek
city of Ephesus, on the coast of what is
now modern day Turkey.
The temple was destroyed and rebuilt several times. Each time, it
was rebuilt more impressively than the temple before it.
The first temple was destroyed around 550 BCE in a war. Years
later, the temple was burnt down by a man who wanted to be
remembered forever. (The town created a law that said anyone
who mentioned his name would be put to death immediately.)
The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
The temple was under construction (again) when some years
later Alexander the Great visited the town. Alexander had seen
many beautiful buildings in his travels, but this temple was so
beautiful that it impressed even Alexander the Great!
Alexander offered to give the town enough money to finishing
building it if the townspeople would put his name on it.
The town did not want to do that,
but they did thank Alexander very
nicely. (You would too if you were
facing Alexander's army!)
The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
In Alexander’s time, the ornately
decorated temple was 425 feet long,
225 feet wide, and 60 feet high. 127
columns supported the roof.
A constant stream of visitors came to see the temple. The
townspeople built shops around the temple. Some shops sold
little replicas of the temple for tourists to take home.
The city of Ephesus boomed for a while. But it did not last. The
temple was destroyed (again) around 200 CE by the Goths.
The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
This time, it was not rebuilt. Construction costs had increased
considerably. There was not enough money in the town treasury
to rebuild the temple to its former magnificence.
The remaining pieces slowly sunk in the marshy field until the
ruin disappeared from sight altogether.
The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
Hundreds of years later, in the 1800's, the British Museum sent a
team to search for the fabled Temple of Artemis. No one had
any idea where the temple used to stand. Short of digging up the
whole town and the surrounding countryside, the first team
found themselves rather stuck.
Another team, sent out a few years later,
dug up the remains of 5 temples, one built
on top of the other.
They believed they had found the Temple of Artemis!
The
Mausoleum
at
Halicarnassus
The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
King Mausolus was a ruler of a small
kingdom in Asia Minor. He was
married to Artemisia, who loved him
dearly.
When the king died, his wife decided
to build her husband the most
magnificent tomb in the world.
The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
The tomb was called the
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus.
It was so splendid that the Greeks
selected the tomb to be one of the
seven wonders of the world.
Today, there is nothing left of the
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
except a story about a queen who
loved her husband dearly.
The Colossus of Rhodes
Rhodes is an island in the
Mediterranean Sea. Once, it
was part of ancient Greece.
Alexander the Great conquered
Rhodes. When Alexander died,
his generals fought for control
of the island.
Rhodes was perfectly situated
to be a crossroads of trade.
The Colossus of Rhodes
The people of Rhodes did support one of the generals. But that
general won control of Egypt. Another general gained control of
Rhodes. To punish the people for not supporting him, he sent his
son to level Rhodes.
Help arrived from
Egypt! The general
they had supported
sent troops from
Egypt to help the
people of Rhodes
drive the son away.
The Colossus of Rhodes
With Egypt’s help, the people won!
With joy, they melted down the
bronze armor and war machinery
left behind by the son, and used it
to build a giant statue of their
patron god Helios, to thank Helios
for helping them save their city.
The statue was 110 feet high and
stood on a 50 foot base. Each
morning, the sun glittered off the
bronze plates that covered the
statue. It was quite a sight!
The Colossus of Rhodes
Only 56 years after the statue was
built, it was toppled by an
earthquake. Many pieces fell into the
harbor. Some pieces remained on
land, including the statue’s thumb.
People traveled great
distances to see the huge
thumb. They tried to put their
arms around it. The thumb
was bigger than their arms
could stretch.
The Colossus of Rhodes
The king of Egypt offered money to
rebuild the statue. But the people of
Rhodes said no. They believed their
god Helios was unhappy with the
statue, and had tossed it down in a fit
of anger. They left it alone.
Many years later, around 600 CE,
Arab traders finally removed the
remains of the Colossus to use as
scrap metal. Legend says ... it took
900 camels to ferry the pieces home.
The Colossus of Rhodes
Although the Colossus is no
longer in existence, another
famous work of art, inspired by
the Colossus, is still standing.
It is called
The Statue of
Liberty!
The
Lighthouse
at
Alexandria
The Lighthouse at Alexandria
Nearly everyone agreed that
the Lighthouse should be
included as one of the wonders
of the world.
It was built around 290 BCE
on the Island of Pharos in
the harbor of Alexandria,
Egypt.
The Lighthouse at Alexandria
It was a working lighthouse that helped
ships find their way safely into harbor.
It was also a tourist
attraction.
The Lighthouse at Alexandria
In ancient times, visitors could buy food
at the observation platform on the first
level.
Anyone who wished to do could climb
nearly to the top.
There were not many places in the
ancient world that visitors could climb
a man-made structure, 300 feet up, to
view the sea.
The Lighthouse at Alexandria
The Lighthouse at Alexandria
stood for over 1500 years.
Scientists believe an earthquake
topped the Lighthouse during the
12th century CE, about 250 years
before Columbus discovered
America!
Divers today search for remains of the Lighthouse at the
bottom of the Mediterranean Sea.