The Seven Wonders of the Worlds (II)

The Colossus of Rhodes
Travelers to New York City harbor see marvelous sight. Standing on a small island in the harbor is an immense statue of a robed woman, holding a book and lifting a torch to the sky. The statue measures almost one-hundred and twenty feet from foot to crown. It is sometimes referred to as the "Modern Colossus", but more often called the Statue of Liberty. This awe-inspiring statue was a gift from France to America and is easily recognized by people around the world. What many visitors to this shrine to freedom don't know is that the statue the "Modern Colossus" is the echo of another statue, the original colossus that stood over two thousand years ago at the entrance to another busy harbor on the Island of Rhodes. Like the Statue of Liberty, this colossus was also built as a celebration of freedom. This amazing statue, standing the same height from toe to head as the modern colossus, was one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
The island of Rhodes was an important economic center in ancient world. It is located of the southwestern tip of Asia Minor where the Aegean Sea meets Mediterranean. The capitol city, also named Rhodes, was built in 408 B.C. and was designed to take advantage of the island's best natural harbor on the northern coast.
In 357 B.C. the island was conquered by Mausolus of Halicarnassus (whose tomb is one of the other Seven Wonders of the Ancient World), fell into Persian hands in 340 B.C., and was finally captured by Alexander the Great in 332 B.B.. When Alexander died of a fever at an early age, his generals fought bitterly among themselves for control of Alexander's vast kingdom. Three of them, Ptolemy, Seleucus, and Antigous, succeded in dividing the kingdom among themselves.
The Rhodians supported Ptolemy (who found up ruling Egypt) in this struggle. This angered Antigous who sent his son Demetrius to capture and punish the city of Rhodes.
The war was long and painful. Demetrius brought an army of 40.000 men. This was more than the entire population of Rhodes. He also augmented his force by using Aegean pirates.
The city was protected by a strong, tall, wall and the attackers were forced to use siege towers to try and climb over it. Siege towers were wooden structures often armed with catapult that could be moved up to defender's walls to allow the attackers to scale them. While some were designed to be rolled up on land, Demetrius used a giant tower mounted on top of six ships lashed together to make his attack. This tower, though, was turned over and smash when a storm suddenly approached. The battle was won by Rhodians.
Demetrius had a second supertower built. This one stood almost 150 feet high and some 75 feet square at the base It was equipped with many catapults and skinned with wood and leather to protect the troops inside from archers. It even carried water tanks that could be used to fight fires started by flaming arrows. This towers was mounted on iron wheels and could rolled up to the walls.
When Demetrius attacked the city, the defenders stopped the war machine by flooding a ditch outside the walls and miring the heavy monster in the mud. By then almost a year had gone by and a fleet of a ships from Egypt arrived to assist the city. Demetrius withdrew quickly leaving the great siege tower where it was.
To celebrate their victory and freedom, the Rhodians decided to build a giant statue of their patron god Helios. They melted down bronze from many war machines Demetrius left behind for the exterior of the figure and the super siege tower become scaffolding for the project. According to Pliny, a historian who lived several centuries after the Colossus was built, construction took 12 years. Other historians place the start of the work in 304 B.C.
The statue was one hundred and ten feet high and stood upon a fifty-foot pedestal near the harbor mole. Although the statue has been popularity depicted with its legs spanning the harbor entrance so that ships could pass beneath,it was actually posed in a more traditional Greek manner; nude, wearing a spiked crown, shading its eyes from the rising sun with its right hand, while holding a cloak over its left.
No ancient account mentions the harbor-spanning pose and it seems unlikely the Greeks would have depicted one of their gods in such an awkward manner. In addition, such a pose would mean shutting down the harbor during the construction, something no economically feasible.
The statue was constructed of bronze plates over an iron framework (very similar to the Statue of Liberty which is copper over a steel frame). According to the book of Pilon of Byzantium, 15 tons of bronze were used and 9 tons of iron, though these number seem low. The Statue of Liberty, roughly of the same size, weighs 225 tons. The Colossus, which relied on weaker materials, must have weighed at least as much and probably more.
The architect of this great construction was Chares of Lindos, a Rhodian sculptor who was a patriot and fought in defense of the city. Chares had been involved with large scale statues before. His teacher, Lysippus, had constructed a 60-foot high likeness of Zeus. Chares probably started by making smaller versions of the statue, maybe three feet high, then used these as a guide to shaping each of the bronze plates of the skin. It is believed Chares did not live to see his project finished. There are several legends that he committed suicide. In one tale he has almost finished the statue when someone points out a small flaw in the construction. The sculptor is so ashamed of it he kills himself.
In another version the city fathers decide to double the height of the statue. Chares only doubles his fee, forgetting that doubling the height will mean an eightfold increase in the amount of materials needed. This drives him into bankruptcy and suicide.There is no evidence that either of these tales are true.
The Colossus stood proudly at the harbor entrance for some fifty-six years. Each morning the sun must have caught its polished bronze surface and made the god's figure shine. Then an earthquake hit Rhodes and the statue collapsed. Huge pieces of the figure lay along the harbor for centuries.
"Even as it lies," wrote Pliny, "it excites our wonder and admiration. Few men can clasp the thumb in their arms, and its fingers are larger than most statues. Where the limbs are broken asunder, vast caverns are seen yawning in the interior. Within it, too, are to be seen large masses of rock, by the weight of which the artist steadied it while erecting it."
It is said that an Egyptian king offered to pay for its reconstruction, but the Rhodians refused. They feared that somehow the statue had offended the god Helios, who used the earthquake to throw it down. (http://unmuseum.mus.pa.us)

The Seven Wonders of the World (I)

The “seven wonders of the world” was list of spectacular building and structures, compiled by Greek authors. The list that we currently use today was compiled by historians in the 6^th century AD from original Greek writings. Because all the original source were Greek, all of the wonders in the list are located in Greece and surrounding areas by the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea.With the exception of the great pyramid all the seven wonders have been destroyed by natural disaster, predominantly fires and earthquakes.The first surviving Greek record of the seven wonders was given by Antipater of Sidon, who wrote about them in a poem :
“ I have set eyes on the wall of lofty Babylon on which is a road for chariots, and the statue of Zeus by the Alpheus, and the hanging gardens, and the Colossus of the Sun, and the huge labour of the high pyramids, and the vast tomb of Mausolus; but 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.”
This original list include Babylon’s Ishtar Gate instead of the lighthouse at Alexandria, although later lists exclude the gate in favor of the lighthouse.Every page is going to include at least historical vignette about one of the people (or a group of people) who are associated with that wonder. Because Antipater of Sidon is the earliest surviving record of the seven wonders being listed, we will discuss him here.

Great Pyramid of Giza
The Great Pyramid at Giza is the only one of the seven wonders that is still standing today. Built by the Egyptians in the third century BCE, the Great Pyramid is one of many large pyramid structures built to honor dead Pharaoh. The Giza Plateu, or “Giza Necropolis” in the Egyptian Valley of the Dead contains several pyramids (of which the great pyramid is the largest), several small tombs, several temples, and the great sphinx.
The great pyramid was created to honor the Pharaoh Khufu, and many of the smaller pyramids, tombs and temples were built to honor Khufu’s wives and family members.
Khufu was the son of King Sneeferu and Quenn Heteperes. Khufu is remembered as a cruel and ruthless Pharaoh in later folklore. Khufu had nine sons, one of whom, Djedefra, was his immediate successor.
It is generally thought that Khufu came to the throne in his twenties. Accounts differ on how long he was Pharaoh, with accounts claiming he ruled for anywhere between about 23 years to 65 years. He started

building his pyramid at Giza, the first to be built in that place. Based on inscriptional evidence, it is also likely that he led military expedition into Sinai, Nubia and Libya.
The Westcar Papyrus, which was written well after his reign during the Middle Kingdom or later, depicts the Pharaoh being told magical tales by his sons Khafra and Djedefra. This story cycle depicts Khufu as mean and cruel, and is ultimately frustrated in his attempts to ensure that his dynasty survives past his two sons. Whether or not this story cycle is true is unknown. But Khufu’s negative reputation lasted at least until the time of Herodotus, who was told further stories of that king’s cruelty to his people and to his own family in order to ensure the constuction of his pyramid. What is known for certain is that his funerary cult lasted until the 26^th Dynasty, which was one of the last native-Egyptian royal dynasties, almost 2000 years after his death.
Most likenesses of Khufu are lost to history. Only one miniature statuette has been fully attributed to this Pharaoh. Since he is credited with building the single largest building of ancient times, it is ironic that the only positively identified royal sculpture of his is also the smallest that has ever been found ; 7.6 cm (3 inch) ivory statue that bear his name. It was discovered not at Giza, but in a temple in Abydos during an excavation by William Matthew Flinders Petrie in 1903. Originally this piece was found without the head, but bearing the Pharaoh’s name. Realizing the importance of this discovery, Petrie halted all further excavation on the site until the head was found three weeks later. This statue is now on display in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo.
The Giza plateu is an area outside of modern day Cairo. Because of the several pyramids, tombs, and graveyards on the plateu, the area is commonly known as the “Giza Necroplex”. The plateu itself is part of the town of Giza.
Giza is 20 miles away from Nile river, and has become part of the Cairo metropolis. Many images of the Giza plateu show a vast desert, but modern day Giza is a thriving town with a substantial population. During British colonization in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries, many roads and building were constructed in the area to help support the local commerce. (http : //en.wikibooks.org)