Before I was twenty, I had seen five of the seven ancient wonders of the world – only lacking the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the Mausoleum of Halikarnassos. The site of the Mausoleum was too far inland for a sailor on Cinderella liberty to reach and, in the case of the Hanging Gardens, as Gertrude Stein said about her hometown of Oakland, California, “There’s no ‘there’ there.” Scholars can’t decide if the gardens were in Babylon or Ninevah.
To be honest, it really wasn’t that much of a feat, as I spent those three years before I was twenty on a ship homeported in the Mediterranean and all the “Wonders” are in the eastern reaches of that “wine dark sea.” All are only a few days apart steaming on a slow ship, and even as I visited them, I wondered about the significance of the number “7.”
Much later in my life, I had a biblical history professor at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, who was really into Numerology, or the possible divine relationship between a number and one or more coinciding events. Before the 20th century, it was known as “arithmancy,” and is also the study of the numerical value, via an alphanumeric system, of the letters in words and names. While this professor admitted that numerology was closely akin to astrology, it seemed to me that he spent an inordinate amount of class time discussing the more than 700 times the number “7” appears in the Bible.
For example, he would probably have said that the number seven signifies “completion” and “perfection” (God rested on the 7th day, Genesis 1:1), and Jesus spoke seven statements from the Cross at the completion of his earthly duties (Luke 23); it refers to “exoneration” and “forgiveness” (every seventh year, the Israelites were to forgive all debts (Deuteronomy 15:1-2), and when Peter asked Jesus how many times we should forgive each other, Jesus replied: “seventy times seventy times” (Matthew 18:21-22). Regarding God keeping His promises, He told Joshua that He would bring down the walls of Jericho if Joshua and his priests marched around the city once for six days and seven times on the seventh day with seven priests blowing seven trumpets ((Joshua 6:1-20). They did, and He did. In the context of “healing,” the prophet, Elisha, referenced the number seven when he directed Naaman, the leper, to bathe in the Jordan River seven times to be healed (2 Kings 5:9-10), and later, in the New Testament, Jesus healed seven people on the seventh day, as with the man with the deformed hand (Matthew 12:9-13).
It’s in the book of Revelation, however, that the biblical numerologist’s eyes would cloud over: seven letters to seven churches, John’s seven visions, seven seals, seven trumpets sounded by seven angels, and seven bowls of God’s wrath carried by seven angels; the Son of Man walking among seven lampstands holding seven stars in his right hand; etc. I don’t know that I’m a Numerologist, but I’m a “Believer,” and the number “7” in the Bible certainly has my attention.
The earliest known compilation of the seven ancient wonders, the “Berlin Papyrus 13044,” was created in Egypt 2200 years ago. It is a fragmentary “list of lists,” and contains not just the Seven Wonders of the World, but the seven most important islands, the seven highest mountains, the seven most beautiful rivers, etc. When you consider the “Wonders” all together, you realize that they have several things in common: most have some relationship to the “gods;” they are not that far apart geographically; and there is usually some connection with Alexander the Great (356-323 BCE), the Greek general who managed to conquer much of the western world in his short life. In any event, I have no idea why the compiler(s) of the list picked only seven wonders. Personally, I would have also added the Parthenon in Athens, making a total of eight. It was in existence and is more impressive to me than some which made the list. Let’s look at each one briefly in descending order, from the oldest to the youngest.
The Great Pyramid at Giza, Egypt (2580 BCE)
The Great Pyramid, on the Giza Plateau only 11 miles outside of Cairo, has survived virtually intact for almost 5,000 years. Once the tallest structure on earth and built as a tomb for the Egyptian king, Khufu, it was more than a feat of engineering – it was a summation of mankind’s journey through life and death, through time and space. Pharaohs (the term was not used until much later) believed that such giant, manmade monuments, if perfectly composed, could help them ascend to the sky. So, in many respects, it was a resurrection machine, a sacred power plant.
Using exact mathematics, based on such seemingly inexact measurements as cubits (tip of longest finger to bottom of elbow), digits (width of a finger), and palms (span of a palm), the structure stands 480 feet tall and employs 2.3 million limestone blocks. The estimated time of construction, utilizing at least 20,000 workers, was 24 years, at a time when the average lifespan for an Egyptian was 30 years. Although the ubiquitous “guides” will tell you all kinds of far-fetched stories about who built it (aliens, Noah, Jewish captivities, etc.), it was constructed by legions of ordinary Egyptians during a time when the Nile River lapped at its very foundations.
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Iraq (691 BCE)
While I made it to Iraq late in my Navy career, I missed King Nebuchadnezzar’s Hanging Gardens; however, I’ve read that they were sited on top on an awe-inspiring ziggurat, reminiscent of the Tower of Babel, like a gingerbread cake with seven ascending levels. The problem is that most of the ancient historians, like Herodotus, a Jewish scholar who is known as the “Father of History,” talk more about the beautiful royal gardens in Ninevah, on the outskirts of modern-day Mosul, rather than Babylon. We know more about Nebuchadnezzar than we do his gardens: he was the king who destroyed the temple in Jerusalem, who forced Daniel into the lion’s den, and who perpetuated the Jewish “Babylonian Captivity.” If you remember the popular song by the reggae band, “Boney M” back in the 1970s, he’s the king who made the Jews sit down and weep “By the Rivers of Babylon.” Herodotus did record that the walls of Babylon were a whopping 55 miles long and 335 feet high, which does seem to require a “fact checker.”
The Statue of Zeus at Olympia, Greece (423 BCE)
Zeus, a supreme, smiting father figure, the patriarch of the Olympic pantheon of gods, a twelve-strong divine family who inhabited Mount Olympus in Northern Greece, sat personified in the form of a 44 feet high statue coated with gold and hippopotamus ivory. His cult ran his sanctuary year-round. It is the only Wonder located on mainland Greece, and the location of the first Olympic games which were held in 776 BCE. Tradition says that the games were started by the superhero, Hercules, in honor of his father, Zeus. The site, only a few hours outside of Athens, takes its name from nearby Mount Olympus, and only one single upright marble column remains of his huge temple, which was as large as the Parthenon on the Acropolis. The original Olympic village site is littered with plastic bottles and other refuse left by tourists on day trips from Athens.
Only Greeks could participate in the early Olympic games. They were thought of as a religious pilgrimage, think Mecca or Lourdes, as well as an athletic event. The event was probably the largest peacetime migration of humans up until that time. For many Greek aristocrats, physical exercise was an act of worship, because their bodies “belonged” to the gods. The original games, all about male virtue, consisted of javelin and discus throwing, boxing, wresting, running, horse and chariot races, and a race in full armor. Crowds between 50,000 to 100,000 were common.
The Mausoleum of Halikarnassos, Turkey (351 BCE)
Visualize Abraham Lincoln’s tomb in Springfield, Illinois, or the tomb of Ulysses S. Grant in New York City, and you will have some idea of how the mausoleum of Halikarnassos looked, for both were modeled after it. It’s located in Southern turkey, sixty miles from Ephesus, and the burial place of Mausolos, king of the ancient kingdom of Kari. His giant tomb sparked a cultural phenomenon – the mausoleum. There are some famous mausoleums in the world - Lenin’s in Red Square, Mao’s in Beijing, but his tomb was the first to bear the name. Some might remember the mausoleum along Highway 90 on the Gulf Coast that was destroyed by Hurricane Camille, resulting in errant coffins floating away as far as Ship Island.
I’ve read that the only thing left in situ is a rock-cut rectangle for its foundation and countless fragments of friezes, columns, and broken sculptures. Like most of the Wonders, this one was stolen, disassembled, and cannibalized by Europeans in the 19th century and shipped off to the British Museum, the Louvre, and to Berlin. By its dimensions, archeologists estimate that it would have been the height of a modern fourteen story building. A complete four-horse chariot was in the top story and one of the horses is now in the British Museum in London.
The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, Turkey (340 BCE)
The New Testament book of Acts (Acts 19) tells us that Ephesus is the temple keeper of the great Artemis, favorite daughter of Zeus, goddess of the hunt, patron of beasts, and protector of women. The Apostle Paul came here twice, when the city had a population of over 200,000. There were at least two temples in her honor. The first temple was financed by Croesus, the richest man in the world, and the second was burned down in 356 BCE by a pyromaniac, Herostratus, an individual possibly seeking notoriety. “Heroscratic” fame has come to mean fame acquired at any cost – famous for being infamous, like Trump’s recent failed assassins.
Ephesus, and the adjacent temple dedicated to Artemis, was one of the original “sanctuary cities,” where anyone, especially women, could come and claim sanctuary. In fact, this is where Brutus and Cassius hid out for a while after murdering Julius Caesar. By the Apostle Paul’s time, Ephesus had become the administrative center of the province that the Romans called “Asia,” and the first gold coins in history were possibly minted there much earlier. The harbor, which could accommodate 800 ships, is now silted up and you must get off the ship at the nearby city of Izmir to visit what’s left of Ephesus.
The Colossus of Rhodes, Greece (302 BCE)
Why man, he doth bestride the narrow world
Like a Colossus, we petty men
Walk under his huge legs, and peep about ...
— Shakespeare, “Julius Caesar,” Act 1, Scene 2
This is the ancient Wonder that disappointed me the most. I’d always read how ships sailed between his massive legs which stretched across the harbor at Rhodes and was let down when I learned it wasn’t true or even possible. The statue was located on a hill overlooking the harbor, later the site of a Crusader castle. He was big, standing a stagging 108 feet high with a skeleton of iron and a skin of bronze. He was, however, the largest statue produced in antiquity and gave us the word “colossal,” just as the tomb of Mausolos, across the Mediterranean, gave us the word “mausoleum.” Although he only stood sixty or so years before being toppled by a massive earthquake, he was a representation of the Olympic god of the sun, Helios. The island of Rhodes enjoys an average of 3,000 hours of sunshine each year, and what could be more central to life there than sun worship? Supposedly, he was designed by the same sculpturer who crafted the famed bronze horses you might have seen in St. Mark’s Piazza in Venice, although they are just replicas. It took 12 years to build and was in sections, working from the feet up. Tradition says that in 654 A.D., with the help of 600 camels, a Jewish scrap dealer from Edessa carted off the Colossus’ remains.
The Pharos Lighthouse at Alexandria, Egypt (297 BCE)
As I write this, my feet are propped on a “camel saddle,” a type of leather footstool, that I bought on the pier within sight of where the Pharos lighthouse would have stood. It survived for over 1500 years, and many of its stones are visible today under the waters of the southern Mediterranean or built into the walls of a Renaissance-era fort. Standing over 400 feet, it was the second tallest structure in the ancient world. Alexandria was Rome’s gateway to its African “breadbasket.” The harbor could handle over 300 giant galleys. The lighthouse beam was generated by a furnace during the night, and by day, the rays of the sun reflected off giant mirrors of beaten bronze. The lighthouse beacon was said to be visible for at least 30 miles. Even today, the lighthouse is a symbol for the city, appearing on the official seal, on the crest of the University of Alexandria, etc. It, too, finally fell victim to earthquakes.
Sadly, I was probably too young to really appreciate what I was seeing so long ago. As the years passed, I was also privileged to see four of the “modern” wonders of the world: Chichen Itza (Mexico), Christ the Redeemer (Brazil), Petra (Jordan), and the Colosseum (Italy). Hopefully, I was more aware then of how fortunate I was.
Light a candle for me.
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Benny Hornsby of Oak Grove is a retired U.S. Navy captain. Visit his website, bennyhornsby.com, or email him: villefranche60@yahoo.com.
