The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1881-04-21
The Worlds Seven Wonders.

The seven wonders of the world are:
The Pyramids, the Colossus of Rhodes,
Diana's Temple at Ephesus, the Pharos
of Alexandra, the Hanging Gardens at
Babylon, the Statue of the Olympian
Jove, and the Mausoleum by Artemisia
at Halicarnassus. The Pyramids are
numerous, and space forbids anything
like even list of them. The great piles
were constructed of blocks of red or
syenitic granite, and of hard calcareous
stone These blocks were of extraordi-
| nary dimensions, and their transporta-
ton to the sites of the pyramids and their
adjustment in their places, indicate
surprising degree of mechanical skill.
The Great Pyramid covers an area of be-
tween twelve and thirteen acres. The
masonry consisted originally of 89,028,-
900 cubic feet, and still amounts to
J about 80, Ill, 900 feet. The present ver-
hcal height is $50 feet, against 479 feet
| originally, and the present length of the
sides is TAG feet, against 764 feet origi-
| nally. The total weight of the stone is
estimated at 6,316, 600, 600 tons. The
! city of Rhodes was besieged by Deme-
trius Poliorcetes, King of Macedon, but,
aided by Ptolomy Softer, King of Egypt,
the enemy were repulsed. To express
their gratitude to their allies and to the
tutelary deity, they erected a brazen
statue to Apollo. 1t was 105 feet high,
and hollow, with winding staircase that
ascended to the head. After stan ding
| fifty-six years, it was overthrown by an
earthquake, 224 years before Christ, and
| lay nine centuries on the ground, and
then was sold to Jew by the Saracens,
who had captured Rhodes, about the
| middle of the seventeenth century. It is
said to have required 900 camels to re-
move the metal, and from this statement
it has been calculated its weight was
720, 900 pounds. The Temple of Diana
at Ephesus was built at the common
charge of all the Asiatic States. The
chief architect was Chersiphon, and Pliny
says that 220 years were employed in
completing the temple, whose riches
were immense. 1t was 425 feet long, 225
broad, and was supported by 1877 col
umns of Parian marble (sixty feet high,
each weighing $50 tons), furnished by
as many kings. Itwas set on fire on the
night of Alexander's birth by an obscure
person named Erostratus, who confessed
on the rack that the sole motive which
prompted him was the desire to transmit
his name to future ages. The temple
was again built, and once more burned
by the Goths in their naval invasion A.
D. 256. The Pharos Of Alexandria and
the Hanging Gardens were described re.
Gently. The colossal statue of Jupiter
in the temple of Olympia, at Ellis, was
by Phidias. It was in gold and ivory,
and sat enthroned in the temple for SOC
years, and was finally destroyed by fire
about A. D. 475 From the best inform
alton il is believed that the MausOlcum al
Holicarnassus was rectangular build
ing surrounded by an Ionic portico O.
thirty-six columns, and surmounted b.
a pyramid, rising in twenty-four steps
upon the summit of which was colossa
marble quadriga with statue of Mauso
lus. This magnificent structure wal
erected by Artemisia, who was the sister
wife. and successor of Mausolus.