I love writing my novels, being immersed in the story world; but I also love the work that comes before I write: the research. For my new novel, Aphrodite’s Tears, this was especially fascinating, not only because the story, set in the Greek islands, is rich with Ancient Greek mythology, which is so colourful and dramatic, but also because it gave me a reason to learn about some really amazing historic places.

It was the Ancient Greek historian Herodotus, ‘The Father of History’, who compiled the list of the Seven Wonders of the World, back in the fifth century BC. (Apparently, he did so at the Museum of Alexandria, of which the famous Library of Alexandria was a part; you can read about this ancient library in my birthplace at https://hannahfielding.net/staging/1129/the-roots-of-a-bibliophile-the-ancient-library-of-alexandria/.)

According to Herodotus, these were the Seven Wonders: 

Hanging Gardens of Babylon

The pride of Babylon (in modern-day Iraq), these gardens were built in the seventh century BC by King Nebudchadnezzar II for his wife, to remind her of her green homeland of Medina. They were named the ‘Hanging’ Gardens because the gardens were steeply terraced. In a feat of engineering for the time, a huge mountain was constructed from mud blocks, upon which were planted a wide range of trees and plants and vines.

No archaeological evidence has been found of the Hanging Gardens, leading some historians to think they were mythical; but others think they were destroyed and their exact location lost in the mists of time.

Colossus of Rhodes

The Colossus was colossal: a giant statue of Helios, the Greek sun god (the namesake for the island in my novel Aphrodite’s Tears). It was about the same height as the Statue of Liberty in New York, was situated in the city of Rhodes, and was built to celebrate a victory over Cyprus. In 226 BC, just 54 years after it was completed, it was decimated by an earthquake, and never reconstructed.

Plans are now underway to build a new Colossus at Rhodes Harbour.

Lighthouse (Pharos) of Alexandria

The Lighthouse of Alexandria was, like the Colossus, impressively tall, standing at around 100 metres. It was built in the third century by Ptolemy II Philadelphus, but it too was badly damaged by earthquakes and was abandoned. The last of the ruins survived until 1480, when they were used to build a citadel on the same site. But in the 1900s, archaeologists exploring underwater (just as my heroine does in Aphrodite’s Tears) discovered some submerged remains of the lighthouse, and there are talks of these and other ruins being incorporated into an underwater museum. (I do hope so!)

Mausoleum at Halicarnassus

This tomb, overlooking the city of Halicarnassus, was built in the fourth century BC by Artemisia II for her husband, Mausolus, ruler of Caria. From this the word mausoleum was derived.

The mausoleum was very big and very beautiful, with lots of sculptural detailing. It stood for many centuries, but then an earthquake – again – took its toll, and by the early 1400s it was in ruins. The Knights of St John of Rhodes took stone and marble from the site to build Bodrum Castle.

In the 19th century, a British archaeologist located the site, and today you can visit the foundations and a museum there. You can see the marble and stone from the tomb at Bodrum Castle, and in London, the British Museum houses some surviving sculptures and a frieze.

Statue of Zeus at Olympia

The Greek sculptor Phidias crafted this statue around 435 BC for the Temple of Zeus at the sanctuary of Olympia, Greece (see https://hannahfielding.net/staging/1129/olympia-greece/). It was a very imposing sculpture of Zeus on his throne, made with ivory and gold for Zeus and cedar-wood inlaid with precious stones for the throne. It survived some 800 years, but then was lost, and no account exists to explain its destruction.

According to a recent story in the Cyprus Mail, this statue may soon be re-created as part of the Amazing World project in Cyprus, which ‘plans to bring the ancient world with all its richness of history, legend and myth to the 21st century, with the main attraction being the recreation of the former wonder of the world’.

Great Pyramid of Giza

This is the oldest and largest of the three pyramids in the Giza pyramid complex in Egypt. It’s the oldest of the Ancient Wonders by far – dating back to around 2560 BC – and yet it is the only one that survives to this day. For 3,800 years, it was the tallest manmade structure in the world, standing at 146.5 metres.

The pyramid that we see today is in fact the underlying structure of the original construction, which had a limestone casing to create a smooth surface on the outside. It is believed that the building took around 20 years to complete; that the labour of 20,000 men was required; and that these men lifted somewhere in the region of 2 million stone blocks into place. Incredible!

Temple of Artemis at Ephesus

This great temple was built in the sixth century BC in Ephesus (in modern-day Turkey) to honour the Greek goddess of hunting and fertility, Artemis. It was (no surprise) very big, some 115 metres long and 46 metres wide, and it was said to be the first temple built from marble. In 356 BC, a man named Herostratus decided that he wanted to go down in history as the man who burned the Temple of Artemis to the ground – and he did. It was rebuilt, and survived some 600 years, until it was closed by the Christians and its marble repurposed. In the 1860s the British Museum sponsored an expedition to find the lost temple; it was located and excavations took place over the following decades.

The Ancient Greek poet Antipater of Sidon wrote this of the Temple of Artemis:

I have set eyes on the wall of lofty Babylon on which is a road for chariots, and the statue of Zeus by the Alpheus, and the hanging gardens, and the colossus of the Sun, and the huge labour of the high pyramids, and the vast tomb of Mausolus; but when I saw the house of Artemis that mounted to the clouds, those other marvels lost their brilliancy, and I said, ‘Lo, apart from Olympus, the Sun never looked on aught so grand.’