All Seven Wonders of the Ancient World 世界七大奇跡英文介紹

1、The Seven WondersSelected by the Ancient GreeksWhen the ancient Greeks decided to select seven wonders from the many impressive structures that had been constructed throughout history, there was a lot of argument about which structures to select. Over the years, many different lists were created. Fi

2、nally, a list was presented that most Greeks agreed included the seven most wondrous wonders, each a unique achievement.Visit the Seven Wonders of Visit the Seven Wonders of the Ancient Worldthe Ancient WorldGreat Pyramid at Giza Hanging Gardens of Babylon Statue of Zeus at Olympia Temple of Artemis

3、 at Ephesus Mausoleum at Halicarnassus Colossus of Rhodes Lighthouse at Alexandria The Great Pyramid of Giza is about 4,500 years old, and is the only ancient wonder still standing. Until the early 1800s, the Great Pyramid at Giza was the tallest building in the world! The Great pyramid was made by

4、hand! It is nearly 800 feet long, 450 feet high. It was built with over two million of blocks of stone. The average weight of each stone is about 2,500 pounds - around the same weight as a car! There was little argument that the Hanging Gardens of Babylon would be included as a world wonder. It was

5、on nearly everyones list. The thought of a huge and magnificent garden, towering 300 feet above the desert sands, appealed to the Greeks sense of the incredible. The Hanging Gardens were supposedly built around 600 BCE, along the banks of the Euphrates River in Babylon. Constructed inside the palace

6、 walls, the gardens were built in a series of platforms, or terraces, that created a structure 400 feet long, 400 feet wide, and 380 feet high! Wandering paths and a series of steps connected the various levels. The gardens were a wonderland of greenery, flowering plants, and waterfalls. That alone

7、would have greatly impressed the ancient Greeks. But a love story was attached to the gardens that made them even more interesting. It was rumored that the king King Nebuchadnezzar, ordered the gardens built to honor his queen. The queen was homesick for her land in the mountains. The gardens were d

8、esigned by the king to make his queen feel loved and welcomed in her new land of Babylon.No one knows if the love story behind the Hanging Gardens of Babylon is true, or if the gardens ever really existed. But it was a great story, and the Greeks loved stories, especially stories about war and love.

9、 There was absolutely no argument about the Statue of Zeus. It was a world wonder everyone knew that! Zeus was the king of the ancient Greek gods. Olympia was the city that hosted the Ancient Greek Olympic Games. The statue could have been the size of a peanut, and still the Ancient Greeks would hav

10、e selected it. But it truly was a magnificent structure. The Temple of Zeus was completed in 456 BCE.Like the Parthenon and the Temple of Artemis, Doric columns were used to support the structure. It was built in Olympia to honor Zeus and the Greek Olympic Games. Today, little remains of the temple

11、or the once magnificent Statue of Zeus within it. But the spirit of the Olympic Games lives on!The Temple of Artemis was first built around 800 BCE in the ancient Greek city of Ephesus, on the coast of what is now modern day Turkey. The temple was destroyed and rebuilt several times. Each time, it w

12、as rebuilt more impressively than the temple before it. The first temple was destroyed around 550 BCE in a war. Years later, the temple was burnt down by a man who wanted to be remembered forever. (The town created a law that said anyone who mentioned his name would be put to death immediately.) The

13、 temple was under construction (again) when some years later Alexander the Great visited the town. Alexander had seen many beautiful buildings in his travels, but this temple was so beautiful that it impressed even Alexander the Great!The town did not want to do that, but they did thank Alexander ve

14、ry nicely. (You would too if you were facing Alexanders army!)Alexander offered to give the town enough money to finishing building it if the townspeople would put his name on it.In Alexanders time, the ornately decorated temple was 425 feet long, 225 feet wide, and 60 feet high. 127 columns support

15、ed the roof. A constant stream of visitors came to see the temple. The townspeople built shops around the temple. Some shops sold little replicas of the temple for tourists to take home. The city of Ephesus boomed for a while. But it did not last. The temple was destroyed (again) around 200 CE by th

16、e Goths. This time, it was not rebuilt. Construction costs had increased considerably. There was not enough money in the town treasury to rebuild the temple to its former magnificence. The remaining pieces slowly sunk in the marshy field until the ruin disappeared from sight altogether. Hundreds of

17、years later, in the 1800s, the British Museum sent a team to search for the fabled Temple of Artemis. No one had any idea where the temple used to stand. Short of digging up the whole town and the surrounding countryside, the first team found themselves rather stuck. Another team, sent out a few yea

18、rs later, dug up the remains of 5 temples, one built on top of the other. They believed they had found the Temple of Artemis! Today, all that remains of this incredible structure is a single column in the middle of a marshy field that marks the spot where the Temple once stood. King Mausolus was a r

19、uler of a small kingdom in Asia Minor. He was married to Artemisia, who loved him dearly. When the king died, his wife decided to build her husband the most magnificent tomb in the world. The tomb was called the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. It was so splendid that the Greeks selected the tomb to be o

20、ne of the seven wonders of the world. Today, there is nothing left of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus except a story about a queen who loved her husband dearly. Rhodes is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. Once, it was part of ancient Greece. Alexander the Great conquered Rhodes. When Alexander died

21、, his generals fought for control of the island.Rhodes was perfectly situated to be a crossroads of trade.The people of Rhodes did support one of the generals. But that general won control of Egypt. Another general gained control of Rhodes. To punish the people for not supporting him, he sent his so

22、n to level Rhodes. Help arrived from Egypt! The general they had supported sent troops from Egypt to help the people of Rhodes drive the son away. With Egypts help, the people won! With joy, they melted down the bronze armor and war machinery left behind by the son, and used it to build a giant stat

23、ue of their patron god Helios, to thank Helios for helping them save their city. The statue was 110 feet high and stood on a 50 foot base. Each morning, the sun glittered off the bronze plates that covered the statue. It was quite a sight!Only 56 years after the statue was built, it was toppled by a

24、n earthquake. Many pieces fell into the harbor. Some pieces remained on land, including the statues thumb. People traveled great distances to see the huge thumb. They tried to put their arms around it. The thumb was bigger than their arms could stretch. The king of Egypt offered money to rebuild the

25、 statue. But the people of Rhodes said no. They believed their god Helios was unhappy with the statue, and had tossed it down in a fit of anger. They left it alone.Many years later, around 600 CE, Arab traders finally removed the remains of the Colossus to use as scrap metal. Legend says . it took 900 camels to ferry the pieces home. Although the Colossus is no longer in existence, another famous work of art, i