The Seven Wonders of the World

The Seven Wonders of the World comprise the greatest feats of ancient technology, architecture, and art as seen by Greek and Roman authors. The list has changed only slightly since it first appeared (c.130 ©) in a poem by Antipater of Sidon in the Greek Anthology. He praises the pyramids of Egypt, the Walls and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, and the Colossus of Rhodes.

The engineer Philo of Byzantium (fl. 146 BC) is said to have written the work entitled Peri ton hepta theamiton (Concerning the Seven Wonders of the World), although it may actually date from the Roman Empire. In his enumeration of the monuments the Pharos of Alexandria replaces the Walls of Babylon, which various later writers have listed together with the Hanging Gardens. Among other authors who described the seven wonders were Herodotus (5th century BC), Diodorus (1st century BC), and Strabo and Pliny the Elder (both 1st century AD.). The Pergamum Altar has also been included as one of the wonders. All those cited were visited during the Hellenistic Age (323-149 BC) and remained the most famous attractions of the Roman world. They can be reconstructed from archaeological evidence.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

San Simeon California

San Simeon, a village on the Pacific coast in southern California, is the site of La Cuesta Encantada (the "Enchanted Hill"), the retreat of William Randolph Hearst. Hearst inherited the nucleus of the large estate from his father, Senator George Hearst, and in 1919 commissioned architect Julia Morgan to design an elaborate complex of buildings there. The centerpiece, completed in 1939, was the twin-towered Spanish castle La Casa Grande, which Hearst filled with medieval treasures. Other features of the estate include three Italianate guest houses; the Neptune pool, abutted by a colonnade and a classical Roman temple; and formal Mediterranean gardens filled with statuary. After Hearst's death in 1951 the estate was given to the state of California as a memorial to his mother; it became known as the Hearst-San Simeon State Historical Monument.

The Seven Wonders of the World

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Tuesday, March 18, 2008

San Simeon California

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