Seven Wonders Of The Ancient World
By Sarah
The most common explanation for the Hanging Gardens of Babylons disappearance is an earthquake that struck around the second century (B.C). A Greek historian named Diordorus Siculus described the gardens as being 400 feet wide by 400 feet long.
The temple of Artemis was destroyed 3 times. Each time it was rebuilt it got bigger. In fact, The second temple was approximately four times larger in area than the previous one. The third time they did not rebuild it because of costs. Now the site is a swamp.
The Statue of Zeus at Olympia was created by a sculptor named Phidias. It took him 12 years to build and was about 42 feet tall. A collector took it after it was banned from the new leader. Eventually, a fire swept through and the statue was destroyed.
The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus was built by Artemisia after her husband Mausolus died. Artemisia died two years after Mausolus, before the tomb was completed. Alexander the Great took over the city in 334 BC but the Mausoleum was left untouched. When pirates attacked the city in 58 and 62 BC, the Mausoleum was again left undamaged. In the 13th century, earthquakes toppled the columns of the Mausoleum. It broke so it was used to rebuild houses, castles, e.t.c.
At 98.4 feet high, the Colossus of Rhodes was one of the tallest statues of the ancient world. It only stood for 56 years until it was destroyed by an earthquake in 226 BC. The Statue of Liberty has been referred to as the ‘Modern Colossus'. Both the Colossus of Rhodes and the Statue of Liberty were built as symbols to freedom. The Lighthouse of Alexandria was the first lighthouse in the world. Construction began in 290 BC and took twenty years to complete. When it was done the only building higher than it was the Great Pyramid.