Ep. 160: The 7 Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

October 19, 2024 Peter Jans

Intro

Hello and Welcome to this episode of the podcast, "The Mnemonic Tree", where we add a single mnemonic leaf to our Tree of Knowledge.

I’m Jans your Mnemonic Man and for today's episode we will be going way back in history well before Christ and will be on the seven wonders of the ancient world.

The Ancient Seven Wonders is a list of remarkable and extraordinary constructions located around the Mediterranean and Middle East. These structures were all built before the common era and certain structures suggest an advanced knowledge in engineering and architecture which scholars are still unable to fully explain.

I will use the remainder of the introduction to briefly describe each structure and approximately when it was built.

· The Great Pyramid of Giza was built around 2,600 BCE in Egypt and was a tomb for a pharaoh.

· The Hanging Gardens of Babylon was a series of tiered gardens said to have been built by King Nebuchadnezzar II for his homesick wife, though its existence is debated.

· The Statue of Zeus at Olympia was a seated figure of the god Zeus sculpted by Phidias around 435 BCE in Greece.

· The Temple of Artemis was a grand temple in honour of the goddess Artemis around 550 BCE in Turkey.

· The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus was a monumental tomb built for Mausolus who was the ruler of Caria around 350 BCE.

· Colossus of Rhodes was a giant bronze statue of the sun god Helios, erected around 280 BCE.

· The Lighthouse of Alexandria was a lighthouse which was also built around 280 BCE on the island of Pharos.

Of these seven wonders the pyramids are the oldest by far and the only wonder to still exist, now making up honorary status of the new 7 wonders of the world.

Today’s mnemonic will be on the seven wonders of the ancient world.

So, with that being said, we will begin with a summary from Wikipedia.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Great_Pyramid_of_Giza.jpg

Wikipedia Summary

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, also known as the Seven Wonders of the World or simply the Seven Wonders, is a list of seven notable structures present during classical antiquity. The first known list of seven wonders dates back to the 2nd–1st century BC.

While the entries have varied over the centuries, the seven traditional wonders are the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Colossus of Rhodes, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Temple of Artemis, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Using modern-day countries, two of the wonders were located in Greece, two in Turkey, two in Egypt, and one in Iraq.

Of the seven wonders, only the Pyramid of Giza, which is also by far the oldest of the wonders, still remains standing, while the others have been destroyed over the centuries. There is scholarly debate over the exact nature of the Hanging Gardens, and there is doubt as to whether they existed at all.

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World is the oldest known list of this type, documenting the most iconic and remarkable human-made creations of classical antiquity; it was based on guidebooks popular among Hellenic sightseers and as such only includes works located around the Mediterranean rim and in the ancient Near East.

The number seven was chosen because the Greeks believed it represented perfection and plenty and because it reflected the number of planets known in ancient times (five) plus the Sun and Moon.[1]

Extracted from: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Wonders_of_the_Ancient_World]

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Colossus_of_rhodes.jpg

Mnemonic

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World Mnemonic - your PC has a Zeal to use HTML language

(Picture the Great Pyramid of Giza full of PCs that already have the HTML language that web browsers use thousands of years ago!)

1. Pyramid of Giza – Egypt

2. Colossus of Rhodes – Greece

3. Statue of Zeus - Greece

4. Hanging Gardens of Babylon - Iraq

5. Temple of Artemis – Turkey

6. Mausoleum at Halicarnassus – Turkey

7. Lighthouse of Alexandria - Egypt

Five Fun Facts

1. Which brings us to the question of why the Seven Wonders? Well, apparently, the creators considered it a number of cosmic significance. The Greeks believed it represented perfection and plenty, and also because it reflected the number of planets known in ancient times which was five plus the Sun and Moon.

2. The Seven Wonders were originally referred to as “Theamata” – which in Greek means “Special Sights to See.” These wonders are all located around the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern world, as this is where the Greek travellers were exploring the conquests of other civilisations, such as the Egyptians, Persians, and Babylonians.

3. The Statue of Zeus was a 12.4 metre structure in Olympia, Greece, which was sculpted by Phidias around 435 BCE. The statue was built out of wood, ivory, gold, ebony and precious gemstones.

4. The Great Pyramid of Giza consists of well over two million blocks of limestone and took a total of 20 years to build. It was built around 2600 BCE and consists of as I said limestone but also mortar and granite. The average weight of a block of this limestone was around 2.5 tons.

5. Though the Hanging Gardens of Babylon are one of the ancient seven wonders there is doubt as to whether it existed at all. There has been no definitive location established as there is no archaeological evidence, and also no mention of the gardens in Babylonian texts. However, it has been said that evidence may exist beneath the Euphrates but unfortunately this cannot be excavated safely at present.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Le_Jupiter_Olympien_ou_l%27art_de_la_sculpture_antique.jpg

Three Question Quiz

Q.1. How many times was the Temple of Artemis built/rebuilt?

Q.2. Colossus of Rhodes was a giant 107-foot (about 32 metres) statue of which Greek Sun God?

Q.3. Which country did each of the Seven Ancient Wonders come from?

Pyramid of Giza

Colossus of Rhodes

Statue of Zeus

Hanging Gardens of Babylon

Temple of Artemis

Mausoleum at Halicarnassus

Lighthouse of Alexandria

Bonus Q. The Great Pyramid of Giza erected around 2600 BCE was for the tomb of which pharaoh?

Bonus Q. How many Egyptians can you fit in a pyramid?

Mnemonic Recap

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World Mnemonic - your PC has a Zeal to use HTML language

(Picture the Great Pyramid of Giza full of PCs that already have the HTML language that web browsers use thousands of years ago!)

1. Pyramid of Giza – Egypt

2. Colossus of Rhodes – Greece

3. Statue of Zeus - Greece

4. Hanging Gardens of Babylon - Iraq

5. Temple of Artemis – Turkey

6. Mausoleum at Halicarnassus – Turkey

7. Lighthouse of Alexandria - Egypt

Three Question Quiz Answers

Q.1. How many times was the Temple of Artemis built/rebuilt?

A. Three times. The first version was in the 7th century BCE and it was destroyed by a flood. The second version was around 550 BCE and it was destroyed by an arsonist.

While the third version work started around 323 BCE and it was firstly weakened by earthquakes and then burned by the Goths

Q.2. Colossus of Rhodes was a giant 107-foot (about 32 metres) statue of which Greek Sun God?

A. Helios

Q.3. Which country did each of the Seven Ancient Wonders come from?

A. Pyramid of Giza – Egypt

Colossus of Rhodes – Greece

Statue of Zeus - Greece

Hanging Gardens of Babylon - Iraq

Temple of Artemis – Turkey

Mausoleum at Halicarnassus – Turkey

Lighthouse of Alexandria – Egypt

Bonus Q. The Great Pyramid of Giza erected around 2600 BCE was for the tomb for which pharaoh?