Thursday, July 12, 2007

Seven Wonders of the World Colossus of Rhodes

Seven Wonders of the World Colossus of Rhodes by Athanasius KircherImage by Athanasius Kircher (sometimes erroneously spelled Kirchner) (May 2, 1602–November 27 or 28, 1680) was a 17th century German Jesuit scholar who published around 40 works, most notably in the fields of oriental studies, geology and medicine. He made an early study of Egyptian hieroglyphs.
One of the first people to observe microbes through a microscope, he was thus ahead of his time in proposing that the plague was caused by an infectious microorganism and in suggesting effective measures to prevent the spread of the disease.

Kircher has been compared to Leonardo da Vinci for his inventiveness and the breadth and depth of his work. A scientific star in his day, towards the end of his life he was eclipsed by the rationalism of René Descartes and others. In the late 20th century, however, the aesthetic qualities of his work again began to be appreciated. One scholar, Edward W. Schmidt, has called him "the last Renaissance man". This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article, Athanasius Kircher

Seven Wonders of the World Colossus of RhodesColossus of Rhodes, imagined in a 16th-century engraving by Martin Heemskerck, part of his series of the Seven Wonders of the World

The Colossus of Rhodes was a huge statue of the Greek god Helios, erected on the Greek island of Rhodes
(approximate coordinates 36°27'04"N, 28°13'40"E) by Chares of Lindos, a student of Lysippos, between 292 and 280 BC. It was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Before its destruction, the Colossus of Rhodes stood 70 cubits tall, over 30 metres (100 feet), making it the tallest statue of the ancient world.

The statue stood for only fifty-six years until Rhodes was hit by an earthquake in 226 BC. The statue snapped at the knees and fell over onto the land. Ptolemy III offered to pay for the reconstruction of the statue, but the oracle of Delphi made the Rhodians afraid that they had offended Helios, and they declined to rebuild it. The remains lay on the ground as described by Strabo (xiv.2.5) for over 800 years, and even broken, they were so impressive that many traveled to see them. Pliny the Elder remarked that few people could wrap their arms around the fallen thumb and that each of its fingers was larger than most statues.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article, Colossus of Rhodes

These images are a faithful reproduction of two-dimensional works of art and thus not copyrightable in themselves in the U.S. as per Bridgeman Art Library v. Corel Corp.; the same is also true in many other countries, including Germany.The original two-dimensional works shown in these images are free content because: These images (or other media files) are in the public domain because their copyright has expired. This applies to the United States, where Works published prior to 1978 were copyright protected for a maximum of 75 years. See Circular 1 "COPYRIGHT BASICS" from the U.S. Copyright Office. Works published before 1923 are now in the public domain. and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years or less.

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Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Seven Wonders of the World Mausoleum of Halicarnassus

Seven Wonders of the World Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, by Marten Heemskerk (1498–1574)A fanciful interpretation of the Mausoleum of Maussollos, from a 1572 engraving by Marten Heemskerk (1498–1574), who based his reconstruction on descriptions
Mausoleum of Maussollos, From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Tomb of Maussollos, Mausoleum of Maussollos, or Mausoleum of Halicarnassus (Ancient Greek: Μαυσωλεῖον Ἁλικαρνασσεύς, Μαυσωλεῖον τοῦ Ἁλικαρνασσοῦ (Ἀλικαρνασσοῦ)), was a tomb built between 353 and 350 BC at Halicarnassus (present Bodrum, Turkey) for Mausolus, a satrap in the Persian Empire, and Artemisia II of Caria, his wife and sister. The structure was designed by the Greek architects Satyrus and Pythius. It stood approximately 45 meters (135 feet) in height, and each of the four sides was adorned with sculptural reliefs created by one of four Greek sculptors — Bryaxis, Leochares, Scopas and Timotheus.

The finished structure was considered to be such an aesthetic triumph that Antipater of Sidon identified it as one of his Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The word mausoleum has since come to be used generically for any grand tomb, though "Mausol – eion" originally meant "[building] dedicated to Mausolus".

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article, Mausoleum of Maussollos

This image is a faithful reproduction of a two-dimensional work of art and thus not copyrightable in itself in the U.S. as per Bridgeman Art Library v. Corel Corp.; the same is also true in many other countries, including Germany.The original two-dimensional work shown in this image is free content because: This image (or other media file) is in the public domain because its copyright has expired. This applies to the United States, where Works published prior to 1978 were copyright protected for a maximum of 75 years. See Circular 1 "COPYRIGHT BASICS" from the U.S. Copyright Office. Works published before 1923 are now in the public domain.

Grant's Tomb in New York is based on a more scholarly reconstruction of the Mausoleum
Grant's Tomb in New York, Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, [reproduction number, LC-USZ62-118686]TITLE: [Bird's-eye view of Grant's Tomb, New York] CALL NUMBER: U.S. GEOG FILE - New York--New York City--Monuments--Grant's Tomb [P&P] REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-USZ62-118686 (b&w film copy neg.) MEDIUM: 1 photographic print. CREATED/PUBLISHED: c1915.
Digital ID: cph 3c18686 Source: b&w film copy neg. Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-118686 (b&w film copy neg.) Retrieve higher resolution JPEG version (142 kilobytes)

NOTES: J206162 U.S. Copyright Office (EXPIRED). DIGITAL ID: (b&w film copy neg.) cph 3c18686 hdl.loc.gov/cph.3c18686 CARD #: 97506556

Credit Line: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, [reproduction number, LC-USZ62-118686]

Works published prior to 1978 were copyright protected for a maximum of 75 years. See Circular 1 "COPYRIGHT BASICS" from the U.S. Copyright Office. Works published before 1923 are now in the public domain.

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