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Seven Wonder of the World - Ancient Times

Pyramid of Giza
Egypt is a place any one would like to go for a vacation. Tourism is such a great money earner for Egypt. And when somebody travels, one of the most preferred place to visit would be the Cairo and the Giza city.
This is one of the largest pyramids in the world and considered to be one of the great among the seven wonders of the world. There are actually 3 Pyramids located in this place along with a Sphinx. The biggest of all is The Great Pyramid of Khufu and this is the only one among the seven wonders of the world. These architectural marvels are found in Giza City which is located at the northern edge of the Giza Plateau, about 10 miles west of present day Cairo.
These architectural marvels are found in Giza City which is located at the northern edge of the Giza Plateau, about 10 miles west of present day Cairo. Cairo is the largest city in Africa and the 5th largest in the world. Giza city was the necropolis of Memphis (of old Egypt). This whole Giza Plateau is situated west of the Nile, bordering Sahara Desert. Hotels and accommodations can be found very easily in side the city of Cairo very easily. This place is a haven for 3 pyramids and a sphinx. The pyramids are

1. Great Pyramid of Khufu - One of the seven wonders of world

2. Great pyramid of Khafre

3. Great Pyramid of Menkaure

A journey to Egypt would be incomplete without visiting them.

Taj Mahal India
Taj Mahal, a mausoleum built on the southern bank of the Yamuna river, outside Agra in India. It was built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal whose real name was Arjumand banu beagum. She died in a child birth in Bhuranpur in 1631 A.D. They got married in 1612 A.D the building was planned to be built in 1632 A.D. It was built by a group of men from India, Persia, Central asia,and beyond. About 20,000 workman were employed daily to complete the complex at the expense of 40,000,000 rupees.
The complex consist of a rectangular plot measuring 1,902 feet x 1,002 feet on each side, bounded on north and south by two oblong sections. The southern oblong has a sand stone gateway to the complex while the northern oblong section terminates at the Yamuna’s edge directly to the mausoleum. The mausoleum is on the west and east by two symmetrically identical buildings, the mosque and the Jawab respectively.

The whole Taj complex was conceived as an entity because Mughal building architecture allowed no amendment in them. The mosque and Jawab of the Red Sikiri sand stone and some pietra duta (hard stone )surface decoration ,contrast in color and texture with the mausoleum of pure white marble. The mausoleum stands on a marble plinth 23 feet high and has four identical faces with a chamfered corner and a massive arch of height 108 feet on each face. Parapets create the skyline rhythm of the mausoleum over each arch and by pinnacle and domed kiosks on each corner.

The Islamic building activity of Shah Jahan period is marked by fresh emergence in India with Persian features that had been seen in the Humayun tomb at Delhi, began in 1564. The Taj Mahal has won a good praise virtually from the time of the erection. The beauty not only lies in its parts but also in the beauty that is seen when viewed from any angle near the complex. The marble surface reflects continuously sunlight during the daytime. All the resources of the emperor was put into the construction of the complex. In addition to the mausoleum the complex includes a wide variety of accessories building parts that gives the building a great appearance. The mausoleum rises on the four sides of the complex and gives it a great appearance.

The mausoleum of the Taj Mahal is a large impressive sceptural monument. The word is derived from the word mausols, which is a word of the ruler of caria, in memory of his dead wife. the most impressive mausoleum present now is the taj complex only .

The emperor wanted to build a black mausoleum opposite to the marble complex but unfortunately before he could finish it. Lord Curzon said the complex as “ triumphal “ on his return from India as the viceroy. He took a personal interest in renovation of the Indian art and architectural monuments. Diamonds and precious stones were depicted on the walls and all were lost during the course of time.

Hanging Gardens of Babylon
The King Hammurabi is the most famous king of the Babylonian kingdom. The whole kingdom flourished under his rule. His son Nebuchadnezzar is the one who built the Hanging gardens of , one of the Seven wonders of world.
Nebuchadnezzar ruled the country for 43 years from 605 BC. He constructed impressive array of temples, palaces and streets. It is being told that he built this garden to please his wife, Amyitis. Amyitis, daughter of the king Medes seems to have had a passion for mountainous surroundings. There are some other accounts which say that this wonder of the world was actually built by the Assyrian Queen Semiramis.
The ancient accounts of this hanging gardens (one of the seven wonders of the world) describes the structure to be a stairs like one. The Greek geographer Strabo, describes it as , "the garden consists of vaulted terraces raised one above another, and resting upon cube-shaped pillars. These are hollow and filled with earth to allow trees of the largest size to be planted. The pillars, the vaults, and terraces are constructed of baked brick and asphalt."
The irrigation system was supposedly the complex part built on this gardens. This region had very scarce rains. Slaves were used to push the water upwards using some ancient method of irrigation. Of course there must be some exploitation of slave labor to maintain one among the seven wonders of the world. The gardens did not really hang on the roof using cables or ropes. But this name from the sense that it was built on the roof top. Some accounts state that the gardens are 400 by 400 feet and 80 feet high

Statue of Zeus
Location- Olympia the ancient Greek city.
In ancient times the Greek city states used to play games every 4 years. This is what is now called as Olympic games. During those times truce is declared and wars are stopped. Players and athletes from all over the places traveled to a place in Greece called Peloponnesus. These Olympic games were started during 776 BC. Incidentally this is the period when Green calendar starts. These Olympic games were held in honour of their King of gods, Zeus. He is also known as God of Jupiter.
During the 5th century, they decided to have a temple for their king of gods and Libon was assigned the task of completing the work. Libon designed the temple and Pheidias was asked to build a big statue for Zeus. Pheidias had good techniques with him to build big statues. He used wooden frame to make the outer casings for the statues in gold. His workshop still remains and incidentally its size can accommodate building of such big statues. He built a statue of approximately 40 ft height.
The statue was so high that, even while sitting the head of the god Zeus was near the roof of the temple. This is what amazed the historians and poets of those times. This simply illustrates that the god Zeus is so big that even if he stands, the whole roof would come off its place. Zeus was seated on a throne, draped in gold robe. Zeus had a wreath around his head and held a figure of his messenger in his right hand.
The statue, one among the seven wonders of world was occasionally presented with gifts from rulers. The most notable one was the woolen curtain dedicated by the Syrian king.
In the I century AD, Roman emperor Caligula tried to take the statue to Rome but failed. But before 5th century AD, wealthy Greeks have moved it to Constantinople which saved the statue for some more years. After that a severe fire has destroyed the statue. Even before this the temple site was ravaged by floods, landslides and earthquakes to the extent that the structure was badly damaged. Now the remnants of this statue, one among the seven wonders of world have gone without even a small trace except for the reproduction in some of the medieval coins.

Colossus of Rhodes
This statue was located in the Harbor of the Mediterranean island Rhodes in Greece. The Island of Rhodes is located at the Southwestern tip of the Asia Minor, where the Aegean sea meets the Mediterranean.
This is a statue of the Sun god, Helios. On the Island of Rhodes 3 cities Ialysos, Kamiros and Lindos formed a unified city with their capital as Rhodes. During the period around 408 BC they had strong economic and commercial alliance with Ptolemy I Soter of Egypt.
In 357 B.C. this island was captured by Mausolus of Halicarnassus. It was then captured by Persians in 340 B.C. Then it fell into the hands of Alexander the Great in 332 B.C. After Alexander's death, 3 of his generals succeeded in dividing the kingdom for themselves. They are Ptolemy, Seleucus and Antigous. After this Rhodians supported Ptolemy which angered Antigous.
Antagonids in 305 BC, wanted to break their alliance and tried invading Rhodes and found this city to be impenetrable. Antagonids were fighting for almost one full year. By this time the support for Rhodes have started coming in from Egypt. So Antagonids started withdrawing their forces and fled, leaving behind lots of their arms and ammunitions, which lead to the construction of one of the seven wonders of world.
Rhodians sold some of those equipments and to celebrate their victory, erected a statue for their Sun God, Helios. Lot of the metals used in this construction came from the left off belongings of Antagonids. This is the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the seven wonders of world.
The construction took 12 years and the stature was erected in 282 BC. During the earthquake at about 226 BC, this Colossus of Rhodes (statue) was damaged and fell down. When they planned to rebuild it, the idea was dropped because some Oracle said the city will face misfortune if this statue is rebuilt. That was the final chapter to the story of this wonder of the world.

Temple of Artemis
This is located on the west coast of modern Turkey, south of Selcuk county about 50 km south of Smyrna. This place was called as Ephesus during ancient times.
This temple was destroyed and rebuilt over several hundred years. This was first built during 800 BC near the river at Ephesus. The God Artemis in Ephesus is a goddess of fertility. In some instances Artemis is linked closely to the Roman and Italian goddess, Diana. She also is goddess of night, fruitfulness, childbirth, beasts, bull and is an eternal virgin.
This earliest temple supposedly contained a sacred stone, probably fallen from Jupiter. By 600 BC, a Greek architect named Chersiphron (and his son, Metagenes) was engaged and the temple was built. The temple was decorated with beautiful bronze statues sculpted by artists Pheidias, Polycleitus, Kresilas and Phradmon. This was destroyed by the Lydian king Croesus when he conquered Ephesus. He later built a large temple at the same place with the help of Theodorus.
This temple was both a market place and a place of worship. For years this place was visited by lots of merchants, tourists, artisans, kings to pay their homage and share their profits with the Artemis goddess. Lots of scholars venerated to the extent that this came to be recognized as one of the seven wonders of the world.
On July 21, 356 BC, a man named HeroStratus burned the temple. He did this in order to gain a big name in the history. For an inquisitive info, Alexander was also born the same night. The reconstruction was commenced very shortly with an architect called Scopas of Paros. He was the best architect of those times. When Alexander conquered Asia Minor, he offered to rebuild the temple. The reconstruction was in progress when he reached this place. Even then, it was restored only after his death. When he came into this place in 333 BC, the temple was still being rebuilt.
This Temple was the last of the Great Goddess Temples to remain open and was the site of Goddess worship well into the Christian era. When St. Paul visited Ephesus to preach Christianity, he was not at all accepted by the local Artemisians. But after the temple was destroyed by Goths in AD 262, most of the people had got themselves converted to Christianity. In AD 401 St. John Chrysostom torn the whole structure down. That was the end to this wonder of the world. This site got excavated only in 19th century.
This one of the seven wonders of world supposed to have contained 106 columns and each of them believed to be from 40 to 60 ft height. foundation was approximately 200 feet by 400 feet.