How it was destroyed Suddenly, on 21 July, 356 BC, a man named, Herostratus, decided that he would like to be known forever. He had done something that nobody was supposed to do means for being famous in the world, he burned the temple. It was said that Artemis was unable to step in and stop from burning the temple because she was busy helping with the birth of Alexander the Great, who was born that same night. The Ephesians declared that his name should never be spoken again, but Strabo recorded it for history. Strabo was Greek geographer and philosopher.
Although rebuilding soon began, the temple was still not complete when Alexander visited Ephesus in 334 BC. He wanted to pay for the work to be completed but was stopped by the Ephesians who directly said that it was not a good idea for one god to place an offering to another god. The temple was used as a place of worship and also a market, as well as a tourist attraction. Hawkers sold small copies of the statue of Artemis that was housed in the central basement of the temple. It is believed to be a copy of the original statue can be seen in the Archaeological Museum of Tripoli.
Artemis was known as the “great mother”, but she was also the goddess of hunting, the wilderness, and wild animals. Goths destroyed this beautiful temple in 262 AD. The destroys were crushed and burned for lime by Christians. Archaeologists dig out a few column drums, one of which is now in the British Museum. Others were put up into a lone column, which stands in a marshy field to show where the temple of Artemis, one of the wonders of the world, once stood. Mausoleum at Halicarnassus Mausoleum at Halicarnassus was an unbelievable fancy tomb built for the king, the Mausolus.
Mausolus’ tomb was so gaudy that his name has been used to make the word mausoleum, which means ‘Gaudy tomb’. Mausolus’ wife, Artemisia, built the mausoleum after her husband’s death. The Mausoleum was built between 353 BCE and 350 BCE. This structure was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was constructed with highly polished marble. The Mausoleum was a four-sided structure which stood 45m tall. Each side had multiple statues that were created by four of the most famous sculptors in Greece. Tall columns supported each side of the pyramid-shaped roof.
The roof was decorated with a life-sized sculpture of a chariot and horses. Halicarnassus was a city in the Persian Empire. However, Mausolus went with Greek Culture and the Greek way of life. When he moved his capital city to Halicarnassus, he had the city designed by Greek architects and built in a Greek style. He even had a castle built so he could look out over the ocean and out over the land. Accidentally, these were the directions in which Mausolus’ enemies could attack his new city. He built the walls strong enough that they could withstand the attack of a new invention, the catapult.
Mausolus was a geographical ruler of the Persian Empire, but he remained mostly independent of the Persian Empire. He was independent enough that he acted like a king and was called a king. So the Persian Emperor sent people to check up and see him why he acts like that. When Mausolus died, his wife, Artemisia, paid a lot of money to have the Mausoleum built near the castle of Halicarnassus. She hired the same architect that designed a famous temple of Artemis in the Greek city of Ephesus to design the Mausoleum.
She hired four famous sculptors, one for each side, to make statues for the sides and top of the Mausoleum. The entire structure was covered with bas-relief scenes from Greek Mythology and was not supported by another structure. Sculpted lions guarded the stairs leading up from the ground to the stairs on which the Mausoleum stood. Warriors riding on horses guarded the corners. On the sides, there were high platforms between the columns were sculptures of many different gods and goddesses. The top third of the building was shaped like a pyramid.
The top of the roof was crowned with a large two-wheeled vehicle which horses (or some kind of other animals) pull in which Mausolus and Artemisia rode. The whole structure was designed to show the world for all time just how rich Mausolus and Artemisia were. The Mausoleum survived the city being taken over by Alexander the Great. It survived an attack by pirates, and it was standing in the 1200s CE still. In the 1200s, a writer named Eustathius of Thessalonica wrote, “it was and is a wonder,” so the Mausoleum was still there. Sometime between when Eustathius saw the Mausoleum and in 1402 when the Knights of St.
John arrived. The Mausoleum was destroyed by an earthquake. The Knights of St. John completed the destruction of the Mausoleum by using the broken pieces to build their castle. Many pieces of the Mausoleum can still be seen in the ruins of the Knights’ castle. In conclusion, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus was amazing tomb constructed by the wife of a useless king to prove to the world just how much money she could waste for her love. The tomb was so overly detailed that King Mausolus’ name has been used to describe a fancy tomb. Colossus of Rhodes was one of the seven wonders of the world.
It was the most famous place in early time and tallest statue of the Hellenistic period. It was built to thank god Helios to their victory over their powerful enemy. This statue resembles Statue of Liberty. The Colossus of Rhodes was built less than 60 years when it was destroyed by an earthquake. It was a mystery to all where it was built exactly and what happened after it was destroyed. In Ancient times, the small Greek island of Rhodes has been the main meeting place between Aegean and the Mediterranean seas and was an important economic center in the ancient world.
The capital 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 defeated by Mausolus of Halicarnassus but fell in Persian hands in 340 B. C. and was finally captured by Alexander the Great in 332 B. C. In the late fourth century BC, Rhodes joined with Ptolemy I of Egypt against their common enemy, Antigonus | Monophthalmus of Macedonia. In 305 BC, Antigonus sent his son, Demetrius, to capture and punish the city of Rhodes for joining with Egypt to defeat him.
He attacked the island with 40,000 men and weapons and started a war which lasted a year. A relief force of ships sent by Ptolemy arrived in 304 BC, and Antigonus’ army encirclement all around, leaving behind most of their blockade tools. They win the war. To celebrate their victory, the Rhodians sold the tools of the war and decided to use the money to build a huge statue of their sun god, Helios, called the Colossus of Rhodes. But after some time, it was destroyed by an earthquake. In that earthquake, people who know where the Colossus of Rhodes was, were died like torturing.
It was left like the mystery. Conclusion If you didn’t really want to imagine but for a second, just think yourself that you are a builder of one of these wonders. Then you will know how precious and lovely these structures were to their builders. There were many more wonders in the Ancient world such as petra but can you guess why did the greeks choose these seven only? Because they think they have only five planets that are Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn but they also included the Sun and the Moon as the planets. This is how
