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The Pharos (lighthouse) of Alexandria

Posted by Unknown | vineri, 2 martie 2012 | Posted in ,




It was a monument, a tourist attraction, a brilliant business venture and a wonder of the ancient world. In many languages “Pharos” is still the word for lighthouse. The tiny island of Pharos was chosen by Ptolemy Soter around 290 BC to construct the great tower that would guide ships safely into the harbor of Alexandria (his capitol).It took twenty years to build and by the time it was completed Ptolemy Soter had died and been succeeded by Ptolemy Philadelphus  The architect was Sostratus, a contemporary of Euclid. One of the many legends surrounding the Pharos says that Sostratus wanted to have his name engraved on the monument but Ptolemy (which one?) said his name and only his was to be engraved upon it’s base. Sostratus got the last laugh by engraving his own name then covering it with plaster and engraving Ptolemy’s name over it. Long after the death of both men the plaster chipped away as Sostratus knew it would leaving his name for history.
    The lighthouse itself was either constructed of or covered with white marble. The tallest building of its time (except for the great pyramid) it was the equivalent of a modern 40 story building standing 384 ft (117m). It allowed visitors views that they could not get anywhere else in the ancient world from two observation levels. Tourists bought food and souvenirs while looking out across the Mediterranean Sea from up to 243 feet in the air.
   The true work of the lighthouse was accomplished by a giant polished metal mirror that could reflect the sun out to sea. At night a fire would illuminate the tower’s beacon which must have been left burning during the day as well because sailors report being able to see the smoke up to 100 miles out at sea. The mirror became the subject of many more legends as time went by. Some said that the mirror could be turned on enemy ships to burn them or even used to view the far off rival city of Constantinople. These legends while entirely impossible could have been of great advantage to the people of Alexandria. After all, who would attack a city with such an advantage?
   The end of the lighthouse seems to have come through earthquakes but no doubt also neglect. As time went by the capitol city changed and Alexandria was not the important port it had been. The last thing we know about it’s remains from history is that in AD 1480 the Egyptian Mamelouk Sultan, Qaitbay built a fort on the same spot where the Lighthouse once stood, using the fallen stone and marble. It was the last of the vanished wonders to disappear. Today there are plans to make the bay at Alexandria an underwater archaeological preserve. Large stone blocks have been found as well as statuary all believed to have once been pieces of the original Pharos lighthouse. The giant statue of Ptolemy believed to have stood at the Pharos gate has been recovered and now stands outside the new Library of Alexandria.

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THE TOMB OF KING MAUSSOLUS

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The wonder of King Maussolus tomb was not so much in it’s size but in it’s hundreds of beautiful sculptures. Conceived of and possibly even started during his lifetime by his wife/sister Artemesia it was completed in BC 350, three years after his death. In some ways it was a very different wonder than so many of the religious structures on the list. This was a tomb dedicated to one man and the decorative sculptures by Bryaxis, Leochares, Scopas, and Timotheus, were of people and animals rather than Greek gods. All four sides had continuing friezes depicting the mythical battle of the Amazons which was supposed to have been won by the King's ancestors. The structure was rectangular in plan, with base dimensions of about 40 m (120 ft) by 30 m (100 ft). Overlying the foundation was a stepped podium which sides were decorated with statues. The burial chamber and the sarcophagus of white alabaster decorated with gold were located on the podium and surrounded by Ionic columns. The colonnade supported a pyramid roof. On top of this whole structure was a statue of a chariot pulled by four horses (known as a quadriga). The total height of the Mausoleum was 45 m (140 ft). This is broken down into 20 m (60 ft) for the stepped podium, 12 m (38 ft) for the colonnade, 7 m (22 ft) for the pyramid, and 6 m (20 ft) for the chariot statue at the top.

The Mausoleum stood for some 1600 years with only light damage from earthquakes. In the early 15th century the Knights of St. John of Malta invaded the area and constructed a large castle. To fortify their castle they used much of the stone from the Mausoleum. Because they liked the friezes the knights placed them in prominent spots inside the walls of the castle. The castle itself still stands with much of the stonework remaining but the friezes were taken to the British Museum in London along with most of the surviving statues. The friezes are bare marble today but when they stood in the walls of the mausoleum they were painted. The backgrounds were blue while the figures were painted red with gold clothing and brass weapons.

Many archeological excavations have been undertaken at the site of the Mausoleum and together with the descriptions of the ancient historians give us a fairly clear picture of the tomb’s appearance. Many scale model recreations have been undertaken and are displayed in museums today. Our model is designed to give an idea of the all over appearance of the great monument but can not do justice to the amazing sculpture work that gave this tomb a place among the Seven Wonders of The Ancient World.

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THE TEMPLE OF ARTEMIS AT EPHESUS

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The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus

Known to historians as the Artemisian, this giant Greek temple was a wonder in it’s time not, just because of it’s size but because of its beautiful decoration and statuary. Other temples were built hoping to emulate it’s beauty but none ever really achieved the same notoriety as the Artemisian. This quote was written by Antipater of Sidon, “But when I saw the sacred house of Artemis that towers to the clouds, the [other Wonders] were placed in the shade, for the Sun himself has never looked upon its equal outside Olympus.”

The myths and misunderstanding that surround this wonder are many. The first is just whose temple this was. To simply say “Artemis” is a mistake. The traditional mother goddess of this area was Cybele, and the Greeks living in Ionia associated Cybele with their mother goddess Artemis. The resemblance lay mainly in the fact that both goddesses gave fertility to fields, humans, and animals. The goddess came to be called the Ephesian Artemis. Instead of the traditional Diana/Artemis figure of a beautiful woman with a bow that many of us recollect from studying mythology, the Ephesian Artemis is very different in appearance. Her statue in the temple wore a hat in the shape of a temple to show she was the patron goddess of the city and her body is covered with scores of breasts. All along the statue are carved bees and birds in very intricate work. Many reproductions of this figure were made and sold at the temple.

The next question is which temple was a wonder? Some Greek historians claimed that the temple was destroyed and rebuilt seven times. Archeological research has shown at least four temples were built on the same spot. In the 6th century BC the third temple appears to have fallen out of repair. The trouble was that the foundations constantly showed a tendency to sink in the marshy ground.. The city of Ephesus, then at the height of its power and wealth, determined to rebuild the temple on a scale of unexampled magnificence, and many neighboring States sent contributions of material and money. In particular we are told of the liberality of Croesus, King of Lydia, whose reign (560-546 BC) indicates the date for this rebuilding; besides other offerings, Croesus presented most of the columns. The reason why such special honor should be paid to what had hitherto been an unimportant sanctuary is unknown; but the result was that the temple at once took rank as one of the marvels of the age.

In the next century the traveler Herodotus compares this Croesus temple to the Pyramids. It covered four times the area of its predecessor, and was surrounded by Ionic columns with a portico of eight columns at each end. The columns had a peculiarity of great rarity in Greek architecture: at the base they were encircled with a band of sculpture. Part of such a band has been restored in the British Museum. This temple was burnt down, accidentally, about 400 BCE, but it was quickly rebuilt. Then, one night in 356 BC, the Artemision was burnt down again. This time by arson. The culprit was asked what possible motive he could have had for so senseless an act. He replied that he had done it in order to make his name immortal. Immediately it was decreed that his name be expunged from all records and that no one ever pronounce it. In vain! His name (or some name that purports to be his) is known. It is Herostratus and is still remembered over two thousand years later.
   Some Greek historians were fond of telling a the story that the night on which the Artemision was burnt down was the very night on which Alexander the Great was born -- though in view of the lack of accurate records in those days, it seems doubtful that this interesting coincidence can ever be verified. Eventually the Artemision was rebuilt. The world of Macedonian monarchies was far richer than the earlier world of Greek city-states had been, and the temple was rebuilt on a much larger scale and with much more elaborate ornamentation. This was the temple that it came to be considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It is probable that by about 323 BCE the new temple was finished.
  The Artemisian’s place in history continued. The city of Ephesus was still prosperous in 57 AD and was the destination for many pilgrims coming to view the temple. A souvenir business in miniature Artemis idols, had grown up around the shrine. It was one of these idol makers, a man named Demetrius, that gave St. Paul a difficult time when he visited the city. St. Paul came to the city to win converts to the then new religion of Christianity. He was so successful that Demetrius feared the people would turn away from Artemis and he would lose his livelihood. He called others of his trade together with him and gave a rousing speech ending with "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" They then seized two of Paul's companions and a near riot followed. Eventually the city was quieted, the men released, and Paul left for Macedonia. Eventually the great Temple of Artemis was destroyed during a raid by the Goths in 262 A.D. The city itself had been declining because it’s port had been silting up and the attempts to improve the city had fallen apart. The religion of Artemis was in disappearing just as the idol make Demetrius had feared 200 plus years earlier. When the Roman Emperor Constantine rebuilt much of Ephesus a century later, he declined to restore the temple. He also had become a Christian and had little interest in pagan temples. 

THE HANGING GARDENS OF BABYLON

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The name of the Gardens is actually incorrect. The name comes from a mistranslation of the Greek word kremastos or the Latin word pensilis, which does not mean "hanging", but "overhanging", as in the case of a terrace or balcony. This means the gardens were literally spilling over the walls. Of all the Ancient Wonders, the Gardens of Babylon remain the most mysterious. In fact, it's the only Wonder that's very existence has been called into question There are records and contemporary images of each of the other six wonders and even archaeological remains, but none have been found for the Gardens. Most historians believe that members of Alexander the Great's army brought the stories of the gardens back to Greece. Were they accurate descriptions of a real place or the tall tales of returning soldiers?

The gardens were said to be located on the east bank of the River Euphrates, about 50 km south of Baghdad, Iraq. King Nebuchadnezzar II (604-562 BC) is credited for building the legendary Hanging Gardens. The story says that Nebuchadnezzar built these elaborate gardens to please his wife Amytis who had been "brought up in Media (a mountainous region) and had a passion for mountain surroundings".

While the most descriptive accounts of the Gardens come from Greek historians, such as Berossus, Diodorus Siculus, Strabo and Philo of Byzantium, there are no Babylonian records. However, it is somewhat hard to believe that the Greek historians would include the Gardens among the other wonders without having great confidence in their existence. Archaeologists are still working to find evidence of the Gardens. Some researchers have recently suggested that the Hanging Gardens were built by Senaherib, not by Nebuchadnezzar II, one hundred years earlier. Because of the political climate of present day Iraq, it has not been feasible to mount extensive excavations of Babylon. It is possible that as life changes in Iraq more can be done to explore it's remains.

Here are some descriptions of the Gardens from Greek Historians

"The Garden is quadrangular, and each side is four plethra long. It consists of arched vaults which are located on checkered cube-like foundations… The ascent of the uppermost terrace-roofs is made by a stairway..."
"The Hanging Garden has plants cultivated above ground level, and the roots of the trees are embedded in an upper terrace rather than in the earth. The whole mass is supported on stone columns... Streams of water emerging from elevated sources flow down sloping channels... These waters irrigate the whole garden saturating the roots of plants and keeping the whole area moist. Hence the grass is permanently green and the leaves of trees grow firmly attached to supple branches... This is a work of art of royal luxury and its most striking feature is that the labor of cultivation is suspended above the heads of the spectators".
Diodorus tells us it was about 400 feet wide by 400 feet long and more than 80 feet high.

One has to imagine that such large and lavish gardens built in such a unique manner and in the middle of the desert would have been an awe inspiring sight.

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THE GREAT PYRAMID OF KHUFU

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We begin our tour of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World in Egypt. The
oldest Wonder and the only one still standing is the Great Pyramid of Khufu,
built in 2560 B.C. presumably to serve as a tomb for the Pharaoh. This
Wonder is often thought of as a sandy golden color, but for the first 3,000
years of its existence it was white. In 820 A.D. the Arab Caliph Abdullah
Al Manum decided to search the pyramid for the fabled treasure of Khufu, and
when he did not find it his men stole the limestone covering instead. When
it was built, the Great Pyramid was 145.75 m (481 ft) high. It ranked as
the tallest structure on Earth for more than 43 centuries, only to be
surpassed in height in the Nineteenth Century A.D.. It was covered with a
casing of limestone to smooth its surface. The sloping angle of its sides
is 51 degrees and 51 minutes. Each side is carefully oriented with one of
the cardinal points of the compass -- North, South, East, and West. The
horizontal cross section of the pyramid is square at any level, with each
side measuring 229 m (751 ft) in length. The maximum error between side
lengths is astonishingly less than 0.1%. It has been said that even today
it would not be possible to rebuild the Great Pyramid to this level of
precision.


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