Seven wonders of the world
Diana, Apollo's twin sister, was the goddess of the Moon. She was also the goddess of the chase and is pictured as a robust maiden in a hunting skirt with a bow and a quiver. The Temple of Diana at Ephesus was one of Seven Wonders of the World.
The pyramids of Egypt are built of huge blocks of limestone. The largest of three pyramids, the Great Pyramid, is believed to have been built for King Khufu (Cheops). The square base averages 230.4 m on a side. It rose to a height of 146.6 m. More than 2,500,000 blocks of granite and limestone were used in its construction, Its construction required the labour of 100,000 men for twenty years. It was built nearly five thousand years.
Babylon was one of the greatest cities of antiquity. The circumference of the city was forty miles, but the entire area was not covered with buildings. There were fields, orchards and gardens within the city limits. The whole city was enclosed by a great brick wall pierced by nearly one hundred gates, Outside the wall was a deep moat filled with water. Within tlie city there were-many magnificent buildings, including the great palace of the King, the Temple of the god Bel and the Hanging Gardens. The Hanging Gardens were built by the Great King to please his Median wife, who in her native, country was accustomed to mountain scenery. It was a square building of receding terraces supported by arches and columns. The terraces were covered with earth on which flowers, shrubs and trees grew.
Zeus or Jupiter (the Roman name) was represented as a man of gigantic size with curling hair and beard. Homer tells us that the movement of his eyebrows would shake Olympus to its base. The Greeks made many statues of this deity; the most celebrated was the colossal figure by Phidias at Olympia.
The other three Wonders of the World were a great Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, a great statue of Colossus at Rhodes and the Pharos or lighthouse at Alexandria. The Mausoleum was the tomb of King Mausolus (died in 353 BC), built by his widow. The Colossus of Rhodes was a bronze statue of the sun-god Apollo, over 100 feet high, erected in 292-280 BC.
The Pharos was a tower of white marble built 270 BC. Of all the Seven Wonders of the world only the pyramids have endured to modern times.