Ancient Wonders Never Forgotten

Greek scholars first described the gardens as "vaulted terraces raised above one another and supported on pillars"(travel channel). The gardens were said to be eighty feet thick and three hundred twenty feet high. In any case the gardens were an amazing sight. "The Hanging Gardens of Babylon are said to have been built by Nebuchadnezzar II, a ruler of Babylon, around 600 B.C." They were built to "cheer up" Nebuchadnezzar's homesick wife, Amyitis. Amytis came from a land that was green rugged and mountainous and found that her new home was "sun-baked" and "depressing" (unmuseum). They are thought to have been filled with dirt and planted with trees and flowers. The Garden had an amazing irrigation system, "which brought water from Euphrates river to the gardens in an otherwise arid environment" (travel channel). This was quite the difficult task since the water would have to be lifted far into the air so it could flow down every level. Once the water came to the bottom of the structure, they had to worry about the foundation, which was made of clay mixture.

Scholars argue that there is no record of this in existence is because; they were gardens, plants and flowers are living things that will eventually die. Even if the actual structure still exists, would it be recognizable as a once beautiful temple? There is a report that they could have been destroyed by an earthquake in the second century B.C. Whatever the fate was of this ancient wonder of the world, we can only speculate on whether the amazing temple pleased a depressed wife.

The Statue of Zeus at Olympia was located in Peloponnesus (Modern Greece) and was built around 432 BC. This statue was a shrine to the Greek god Zeus and was twenty two feet wide and more than forty feet tall. For the Greeks, Zeus was "a sky god who controlled lightning and thunder" and was considered the protector of cities and homes (manmadestructure). The figure was "seated on an elaborate throne", "his head nearly grazed the roof" and with his head almost touching the ceiling, it gave an "impression that if Zeus moved to stand up he would unroof the temple" (unmuseum). People believed that Zeus presided over the Olympic games and "athletes would take an oath before the altar of Zeus that they would compete fairly in the games" (manmadestructure). The construction was by a "technique known as chryselephantine where gold-plated bronze and ivory sections were attached to a wooden frame" (unmuseum). Unfortunately Zeus was destroyed during a fire