The seven wonders of the ancient world
The Great Pyramid of Giza, the only remaining wonder of the ancient world. Photo courtesy kyahl
By now, the news that Table Mountain is vying for a spot as one of the top seven natural beauties in the world should’ve reached you. If it hasn’t, check out our Vote for Table Mountain page and get your friends to support us, too!
A worldwide popular vote, which is already under way and will last well into next year, will determine if Cape Town’s most beloved icon makes the cut. News has just reached us that voting for the New7Wonders of Nature ends at midnight on November 10, 2011 and the results will be announced the very next day, on November 11, 2011 (or 11/11/11 – a lucky number if ever there was one).
So, you might wonder, if these are the new wonders, what were the old ones?
The first seven were all man-made monuments selected – literally – ages ago, in 200BC, by Philon of Byzantium (also known as Philo Mechanicus), who was an engineer and writer.
His ancient wonders are the Colossus of Rhodes (Greece), the Hanging Gardens of Babylon (Iraq), the Lighthouse of Alexandria (Egypt), the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus (Turkey), the Great Pyramid of Giza (Egypt), the Statue of Zeus (Greece) and the Temple of Artemis (Turkey).
It seems that fires, earthquakes and the odd spate of vandalism saw the demise of these ancient wonders. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon (described as having multi-level gardens 22 metres high), the Colossus of Rhodes (a 35-metre-tall statue of the Greek god Helios) and the Lighthouse of Alexandria (which is estimated to have been between about 115 and 135 metres high, and was among the tallest structures on Earth for many centuries) all met their demise via earthquakes, and all three were gone by 1480.
Fire destroyed the 12-metre-tall Statue of Zeus at Olympia in ancient Greece, and arson/plundering meant the end for the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus (which has the credit of being the origin of the word “mausoleum”) had a slightly more complicated demise: the original structure was destroyed by a flood; the replacement structure was damaged by an earthquake and then was eventually broken down during the Christian-led Crusades in the Middle East in the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries.
Table Mountain deserves a spot next to the world's most beautiful. Photo courtesy AleFlo
Of the seven, only the pyramid in Egypt is still around today … All the more reason to refresh our idea of a “wonder”, don’t you think? And this time, it’ll be the world’s citizens who decide what comes up tops – have you made your mark?
Click here to access the New7Wonders of Nature voting page – pick your seven favourites (we hope one is Table Mountain) and fill out the short form to submit your vote. Quick, easy and so the cool thing to do right now.
You can also vote by phone. Dial 0044 20 334 709 01 and then insert the code 7725 (Table Mountain’s voting code). Once you hear the “thank you” message, you have voted and may hang up.
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