Original subtitles

Narrator: The seven wonders -- the most Spectacular structures

Of the ancient world.

Higgs: the seven wonders of the Ancient world

Were amazing buildings Built by the best architects,

By the finest sculptors Of the day.

Narrator: These legendary monuments Are shrouded in mystery.

Today, only one survives.

What are the wonders?

Did they ever even exist?

What do we know about The seven wonders of the world?

Well, for the most part, They're just ruins.

Narrator: Today, investigators hunt for The truth behind the wonders.

They use innovative underwater Scanning technology

And engineering experiments To separate fact...

From fiction.

These were the einsteins And the newtons of their day.

Narrator: What makes the wonders the Greatest structures ever built,

And who decides which buildings Make it on to the list?

To solve these mysteries,

We'll digitally deconstruct Vanished cities,

Piece together epic statues Of ancient gods,

And unearth lost technology To rebuild the real

Seven wonders Of the ancient world.

--captions by vitac-- Www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by Discovery communications

Alexandria in egypt -- a vast Metropolis on the shores

Of the mediterranean sea.

Just over 2,000 years ago,

This port is the greatest City on earth...

...A greek colony in the land Of the pharaohs.

In alexandria's famous library,

Scribes gather knowledge From all over the known world.

Tens of thousands of papyrus Scrolls line its shelves.

They name the most astonishing Structures ever made,

The seven ancient wonders.

Higgs: for the greeks, the seven Wonders of the ancient world

Were a list of must-see Monuments, like a bucket list,

Something you must not miss If you were lucky enough

To go traveling around The mediterranean.

Narrator: like the statue Of liberty today,

Each wonder is A legendary landmark,

The ancient equivalent Of the eiffel tower.

They include a temple, tombs, Statues, and gardens.

For 30 short years,

All seven exist At the same time.

From 280 to 250 b.C., So ancient sources claim,

An enthusiastic traveler Can visit every one.

Today, mystery and romance

Surrounds the existence Of the seven wonders.

Almost all are lost or in ruins.

Allen: :what do we know about The seven wonders of the world?

Well, first, there's only one That still stands,

That's the great pyramid In egypt.

The rest of them, For the most part,

If there is anything left, They're just ruins.

Naunton: Before archaeology began,

What we had to work with Were classical texts,

Legends, ancient stories, And so for many archaeologists,

The job really was to go And find the evidence

That these monuments Really existed.

Narrator: How much of what we know About the wonders is true?

Why do the ancient greeks Consider them

The greatest buildings Of all time?

A clue lies in egypt With the first of the wonders --

The great pyramid of giza.

♪♪

The pyramid is the tomb

Of a powerful Egyptian pharaoh called khufu.

It rises more than 480 feet Into the sky.

Today, it's one of the most Visited sites in the world,

But its construction Remains a mystery.

Over the years, there have been Countless theories

About how the Great pyramid was built.

It's perhaps one of the most Scrutinized monuments

Anywhere in the ancient world,

And yet, we still don't know Exactly how the ancients did it.

♪♪

Narrator: Blowing apart the pyramid Reveals

The hidden glory Of khufu's magnificent tomb...

...Made from over two million Solid stone blocks.

Deep inside, mysterious Narrow tunnels

Lead to two massive Burial chambers.

This vast structure is more Than 4,500 years old.

How did the egyptians create Such a mammoth monument?

♪♪

Adel kelany is an egyptian Archaeologist and stonemason.

The precision of the Pyramid builders

Never fails to amaze him.

Narrator: The ancient egyptians

Don't have satellite-positioning Technology,

But they do have an intimate Knowledge of the night sky.

Their religion is based around The movements of the heavens.

Rah, the sun god, Is their chief deity.

Adel thinks they used the stars

To position the base Of the mighty pyramid.

Narrator: The construction of The pyramid's upper levels

Requires another Ingenious technique.

Today, engineers have Huge cranes

To help them build super tall,

But the pyramid builders Live in an age

Before the pulley or the winch.

How do they shift Massive blocks of stone?

Adel investigates a clue At a nearby tomb,

The remains of a 5,000-year-old Construction ramp.

Narrator: adel's own experiments Reveal how the workers can slide

The blocks along shallow ramps Like this one.

It's a complicated, Dangerous job.

Narrator: This ancient technique reveals How workers drag the massive

Limestone blocks into position, But it's just the first step.

♪♪

A single ramp works well For the lower levels,

But as the pyramid rises, The slope gets too steep.

To keep the ramp shallow,

It would have to be around 1/2 mile long

And need as much building Material as the pyramid itself.

So one theory is that the Egyptians use a shallow ramp

Until 2/3 of all blocks Are in the base.

Then they build a narrow Perimeter ramp

Up around the edge Of the pyramid

To lift blocks All the way to the top

Without making their ramp Too steep.

The genius of the Pyramid-building program

Is its simplicity --

Lots of men working hard doing Exactly what they're told to do.

Narrator: The construction of a pyramid

Is the easiest way to build tall In the ancient world,

But it also requires Vast resources and organization.

So how did the pharaohs find The manpower

To build the first wonder Of the world?

The answer lies with the river

That brings life To the desert --

The mighty nile.

Every july when the river nile Bursts its banks,

It drops silt on To the nile delta,

Transforming it into A fertile breadbasket,

But the floodwaters also prevent Farmers from working their land.

Narrator: The nile flood frees up Thousands of fit working-age men

Who form the construction gangs

That build The mighty 481-foot pyramid.

The greek historian herodotus Is the first to describe

The great pyramid as a wonder.

It's already ancient When he visits egypt

In the 5th century b.C.

Bennett: The history of the seven wonders Starts off with herodotus,

I mean, The first great world traveler.

He saw things like The egyptian pyramids.

He invented the term Hieroglyphs,

And he wrote a descriptive History of the ancient world

As he knew it at that time.

Narrator: The pyramid's sheer size is as Impressive to the ancient greeks

As it is to us today.

Naunton: It's no surprise that the Great pyramid of giza

Would be one of the seven Ancient wonders of the world.

It was well known throughout The ancient world for being,

You know, a massive Awe-inspiring monument.

Bennett: The pyramids were admired Because they were big.

The concept behind the wonders Was very much an idea of,

"You've got to see this. It's really big.

You can't see anything else Like it."

Narrator: The great pyramid is the tallest Building in the world

At the time of its construction,

A title it holds onto For more than 3,500 years.

It sets the benchmark For every wonder that follows.

But what do the other Six look like?

Do they ever exist?

The hunt for The second wonder leads

To one of the oldest cities Of the ancient world...

...Babylon,

Home to the most romantic And elusive wonder of all,

The fabled hanging gardens.

♪♪

Narrator: 2,500 years ago,

The greek historian herodotus Sets out on an epic voyage.

He travels to egypt Where he gazes

On the great pyramid of giza,

The first of the seven wonders Of the ancient world.

These iconic megastructures Are must-see sites

For the ancient greeks,

But how much of what they write About them is true?

A clue lies with one of the Oldest cities in history...

Babylon, in mesopotamia, Modern iraq,

Home of the mysterious Hanging gardens.

The babylonian capital is a city Like no other on earth.

Some consider its mighty Ishtar gate

As an eighth wonder Of the world,

But legend says the fabled Hanging gardens

Are the city's star attraction,

A lofty green oasis In the desert,

Multiple tiers supported By hundreds of pillars

Densely planted with Exotic trees and shrubs.

Overlooking it all is The mighty tower of babel,

A temple so tall it supposedly Reaches all the way to heaven.

♪♪

The hanging gardens are The most romantic

Of babylon's many sites.

Legend tells how

The ancient king Nebuchadnezzar the second

Builds them for his queen

To remind her of her Distant homeland,

But there's a mystery.

Herodotus never mentions The hanging gardens.

They only appear on lists Written hundreds of years later.

So are the stories about The second wonder true?

Allen: We don't know if the hanging Gardens of babylon existed.

It's uncertain because most of The seven wonders of the world

Show remnants or remains That there was something there,

But at babylon, There are no clues.

Narrator: Jeff allen leads a team From the world monuments fund

Trying to protect Babylon's unique remains.

Decades of war and turmoil mean

That most of the city Is unexplored.

In the 1980s, iraq's dictator,

Saddam hussein, Reconstructs this replica

And a private palace On top of the ancient ruins,

But jeff finds traces Of a sophisticated metropolis.

Allen: the babylonians were Prolific builders.

You can tell that by babylon Itself and other cities,

And part of that was a quest For irrigation,

Water management, control Through structures and buildings

That existed at no level similar In the ancient world.

Narrator: The ancient babylonians Are sophisticated

Hydraulic engineers.

Carvings reveal that their kings Create aqueducts

And private pleasure gardens, Each one known as a paradise.

Allen: many have debated The actual locality

Of the hanging gardens Of babylon,

Whether it was at babylon Or another site.

The answer is inconclusive.

We don't know, but there is Enough documentation to suggest

That it could've been At babylon.

Narrator: The idea of a hanging garden

Suspended in midair May sound outlandish,

But a grain of truth Might also lie behind

Another of babylon's Fabled buildings.

Jeff believes that This mound of earth

Is the base of A giant ziggurat pyramid,

The foundations For the tower of babel.

Babylon has a long And well attested description

Of its wonders Through history.

If the tower really existed, It would've been here.

Narrator: Babylon and its wonders Fascinate greek writers,

But many, like The historian herodotus

Never visit the city.

They gather their information From travelers

Who bring back tales Of huge towers and lush gardens.

Bennett: Gardens were an important aspect Of mesopotamian royalty,

A kind of pleasure garden,

But some of them could be Really quite large,

So you're creating A beautiful,

Fertile green space By the side of the river.

Narrator: Is it possible that ziggurats, Like the tower of babel,

Inspire the stories Of the hanging gardens?

Bennett: The whole of mesopotamia, All the major centers,

Had these ziggurat temples,

Which is basically Like a wedding cake,

A square wedding cake,

And so you've got a base tier, Another tier on top of that,

Another tier on top of that, A temple on the top,

And then you've got The stairways coming up to,

So those terraces kind of

Seem to be hanging In that particular sense.

My own personal idea is That somebody's confused

A report of a ziggurat temple, Possibly at babylon,

Possibly somewhere else, With one of these formal gardens

That were laid out By the persian rulers,

And somehow they, You know, the story got mixed up

When it came back To the greek-speaking world.

Narrator: the legend of the Hanging gardens

May be rooted In reality,

A story that grows More elaborate

The further it travels.

For the greeks, babylon, The largest city in the world,

Is a distant exotic legend.

So why does this remote Metropolis and egypt's pyramid

Appear on a greek list Of must-see wonders?

The answer lies with A momentous event,

One that brings the marvels Of the east closer to greece

Than herodotus Could ever have imagined --

The greek conquest Of the ancient world.

Narrator: The seven wonders of the world,

The most dazzling structures Known to the ancient greeks.

Egypt's great pyramid and The hanging gardens of babylon

Are the two oldest wonders.

Why do these treasures Top a list of must-see

Greek monuments?

Historian andrew chug thinks That a clue

Lies with alexandria In egypt.

This city owes its existence To an event

That reshapes The ancient world.

Chugg: The three centuries Before christ,

Alexandria was the greatest city In the world.

It rose to a population Of about half a million people.

Narrator: Alexandria is a special city.

It stands on the egyptian coast,

But it is founded by the most Famous greek ruler of all time,

Alexander the great.

♪♪

2,300 years ago, alexander,

The ruler of all greece, invades The mighty persian empire.

The two sides are bitter enemies With a history of rivalry

And conflict stretching back Hundreds of years.

A remarkable string of victories

Sees alexander's armies Conquer a vast empire

Stretching from egypt To mesopotamia

And the indus valley.

As they conquer, the greeks Encounter civilizations

Thousands of years older Than their own.

The marvels of the ancient east Are beyond their imagination.

Chugg: Babylon was a wondrous city To the greeks.

It was on a scale 10 times bigger

Than any equivalent Greek city at the time.

Narrator: these exotic wonders Are as mind-blowing

In the 4th century b.C.

As a visit to mars Would be today.

In egypt, the first wonder Is already more

Than 2,000 years old when Alexander and his men see it.

The conquering greeks Tread lightly,

But they still leave behind A mark wherever they go.

In egypt, they build a dazzling New metropolis, alexandria.

They intended it to be Their future capital.

It wasn't initially, But gradually they built it up

Into the most magnificent city In the world.

Narrator: The city's rulers construct An enormous library

And instruct its scribes To copy every book in existence.

The idea of a list of wonders Is born.

Chugg: Some of the men who traveled With alexander

Wrote wondrous accounts Of the journey.

These got to be very popular In the generation

After alexander's death,

And it's at that time Then we see other greek writers

Starting to compile lists Of wonders around the empire.

Narrator: Archaeologist penny wilson Thinks

That alexandria reveals How conquest changes the greeks.

♪♪

A clue lies beneath The city's busy streets.

♪♪

There's something amazing Down here.

Narrator: Penny investigates a tomb built During alexandria's heyday.

Fire destroys much of The old greek city in 47 b.C.,

But it leaves these Extraordinary catacombs in tact.

This burial chamber is The final resting place

Of one of alexandria's Wealthiest couples.

Their statues are a strange Hybrid of both egyptian

And classical sculpture.

This is probably a statue Of the owner of the tomb.

His body, with his left leg Starting forward

Wearing a short kilt, Is very egyptian in style

Whereas his head Is much more classical,

Its curly hair, The wrinkles on his forehead

And those Emaciated-looking cheeks.

These signs of realism Are things which very much

Come from classical sculpture.

Narrator: The protective gods that line The tomb's walls

Also reveal alexandria's Cultural mix.

So the snake himself is wearing

A double crown Of the king of egypt

To give him extra power From the egyptian perspective.

He's holding two symbols of Greek protection and well-being,

And his body Is actually in a knot,

Which is a powerful egyptian Magical symbol for protection.

So in this one scene, they're Pulling everything together

To give maximum protection To the tomb.

It's like the ultimate In life assurance.

♪♪

Narrator: Alexandria is a cultural Melting pot.

Two mighty civilizations fuse Together here

And create a new hybrid culture.

Wilson: The kinds of fusion that we see In this tomb

And the linking together Of different ideas

Was probably what you could see Across alexandria

In its buildings, Its architecture.

Narrator: In the greek imagination, The wonders of egypt and babylon

Now combine with their own.

Wilson: alexander the great Kicked off a period

When people saw What was possible.

That seems to be in the spirit Of alexandria in that

There were no bounds To what people could do.

Narrator: Conquest fuses the civilizations Of greece and the east.

In egypt, The rulers of alexandria

Become the new pharaohs.

In babylon, Alexander's successors

Live like persian kings.

The greeks see themselves As the new rulers of the world.

The greeks were confronted With technical wonders

And buildings They had never seen,

And they were sort of looking Also to their achievements.

It became competitive with all The exotic wonders of the world,

Which the greeks had seen In other countries

Like egypt and mesopotamia.

Narrator: The greeks are determined To prove

That their existing wonders Match those of the east,

But which ones should They choose and why?

The list continues with The third ancient wonder,

An enormous temple said to be The most beautiful

The world has ever seen.

♪♪

Narrator: The seven wonders -- The must-see sites

Of the ancient greek world.

The great pyramid in egypt and The hanging gardens of babylon

Captivate greek travelers,

But some claim the third wonder Is the greatest of all,

The temple of artemis At ephesus in turkey.

Archaeologist julian bennett Tracks down this lost wonder.

We're standing in an area is The main street to the harbor,

So anybody arriving in ephesus By ship

Would have to come walking All the way up here.

Narrator: In ancient times, ephesus is One of many greek colonies

On the coast of asia minor.

The city straddles a crossroads Between east and west.

Bennett: It was very much a bustling Metropolis,

A major trading port.

You've got people coming From all parts

Of the greek-speaking world.

Narrator: Ephesus is an ancient tourist Trap,

The new york city of its day,

And there's one site every Greek traveler wants to see.

Today, just one pillar Is all that remains

Of the third wonder Of the world,

But legend says The temple of artemis

Touches on architectural Perfection.

From an ornate base, More than 100 slender columns

Rise into the sky fluted Like the folds of a robe,

Each one topped With pearled capitals.

They support a solid roof that Towers 59 feet above the ground.

Is this temple really the Greatest in the ancient world?

How does it measure up To the wonders of the east?

The greek historian herodotus Says that a local ruler

Called croesus builds the temple In the 6th century b.C.

The ancient greeks are Immensely proud of his creation,

But today, Almost nothing remains.

Bennett: This is all that we see today,

But we're walking just inside A colonnade.

There would've been a row Of 21 columns,

But inside it,

You have the remains Of the earlier cult center.

Now as a visitor, We would be coming here.

We'd walk around and admire The height of this structure.

I mean, it's absolutely Enormous.

Just look at the size Of this column.

Narrator: The temple appears big,

But do ancient writers Exaggerate its size?

Julian's first step is to Compare the ruins

With surviving accounts.

Bennett: Well, after measuring it,

We can see that what pliny says About the size of the temple

Is, more or less, correct,

And we can see just how large A structure this was.

How large?

Well, everybody knows What the parthenon in athens

Looks like, the parthenon, A classic greek temple.

Well, the parthenon could fit Inside here with room to spare,

And the columns Of the parthenon

Wouldn't even reach the lower Part of the columns of this one,

This is A massive temple.

Narrator: next, julian examines The building material.

Here we have the footings, A local blue limestone,

And then on top Of these footings,

What you've got is temple Built of solid marble,

Not just the biggest blocks, Entirely of marble.

It's not marble on the facade Of the structure.

This is marble All the way through.

Narrator: The temple is an incredible Feat of technology.

It confirms the sophistication Of greek architecture.

♪♪

Robert hahn is an expert On greece's classical temples.

He explores a full-size replica Of one in nashville, tennessee.

The construction of these Ancient buildings

Is a monumental challenge.

Architects had to deal With enormously heavy objects,

Both to be transported And installed.

It produced a host Of technical problems.

How in the world were they able To get the stones

To reach more Than 60 feet off the ground?

Narrator: The builders at ephesus Are a father-and-son team,

Chersiphron and metagenes.

The sacred ground Is soft and marshy,

So they lay a base Of sheepskins and charcoal

To keep the foundation stable.

♪♪

To transport massive Marble blocks,

They design Ancient monster trucks

With stone lintels as axles.

And to lift these Huge stone blocks,

They use a new greek Invention -- the crane.

We know that when you erect A column out of column drums,

They have to be lifted To a great height,

And they have to be lowered Into place very carefully.

We have surviving examples,

Which shows the existence Of bosses,

And thereby shows That there were lifting devices

That enabled the drums To be put in place.

Narrator: the greeks invent Big wooden cranes

That can winch 10-ton marble pieces

Over three stories high.

They leave the drums uncarved

Except for the protrusions Called bosses.

The lifting ropes grip the Bosses and release with ease.

Afterwards, sculptors Chisel them away.

The construction site at ephesus Is like an ancient tech hub,

A hothouse of innovation.

Robert believes that the greeks Continually develop smart,

New engineering techniques.

He thinks the temple builders Are more than just architects.

They are the world's First scientists.

The monuments were monuments To their own ability,

Their own ingenuity, And their own command of nature.

It's a vision that nature's Principles could be discovered

And could be controlled.

Narrator: The temple of artemis Is a worthy addition

To the list of wonders.

It heralds the dawn Of a new greek age

Bursting with self-confidence.

The ancient greeks admire beauty As well as size.

The fourth wonder supposedly Combines both --

The giant statue of zeus At olympia.

But today, it's nowhere To be seen.

Does it really ever exist?

Narrator: Ancient descriptions of the Lost seven wonders

Could be far more accurate Than we realize.

In iraq, archaeologists are Discovering that babylon

And its treasures Are more than myth and legend.

At ephesus, the greeks Build a temple

That rivals The great monuments of egypt.

But size is not The only criteria for a wonder.

The fourth wonder of the world

Is the supreme example Of greek artistic genius.

It stands at olympia in greece,

Birthplace of the famous Olympic games.

Legend says the statue Of zeus at olympia

Is nearly 42 feet tall with skin

Made from ivory plates And gold panels.

It sits inside a huge temple

That appears almost too small To house it.

Is there any evidence That the statue ever exists?

♪♪

This is the stadium where The olympic games originated,

And it had a capacity For 40,000 visitors.

Narrator: Archaeologist reinhard senff Has excavated the sanctuary

At olympia For over a decade.

We are now walking through The southern colonnade

Of the temple of zeus.

Of course, when the building Was still complete,

There would be a high wall.

Narrator: today, little remains At olympia,

But the ruins reveal the outline Of a huge temple

Altered to accommodate A massive seated figure.

This is exactly the place

Where the giant seated Figure of zeus was set up.

The smaller inner rows Of columns

Were further moved to the walls

In order to enlarge the room For the giant figure.

One has to imagine That it stood something

Like 12-meter-50 height,

So the figure itself was even Larger than the columns outside,

And in antiquity, This led to the remark

That the figure was so big That he,

Had he risen from his throne,

He would definitely have crushed The ceiling with his head.

Narrator: Reinhard is also able To reconstruct

The appearance of the statue.

He examines fragments found At the workshop

Where the statue was made.

They match the ancient Descriptions.

They are pieces of ornaments Which were meant to be

Inserted into The throne of zeus.

For some reason, they were Broken and discarded.

With this material, we can get As close as possible

To the statue of zeus,

Which was made of the precious Materials gold and ivory.

Narrator: Legend says that the golden Statue of zeus dazzles

All who see it.

Herodotus says its sculptor Is a man called phidias,

The same artist responsible For creating the great statue

At the parthenon in athens.

The fragments here Come from his workshop.

But there's a mystery -- The sanctuary inside

A greek temple Has no windows.

How does phidias make his Wonder of the world shimmer?

Reinhard Uses a piece of marble

To reveal phidias' Lighting masterstroke.

What I have here is a thin Piece of marble,

The same type of marble that Made up the tiles of the roof

Exactly above the statues.

Narrator: This marble is found in just A few quarries in all of greece.

Phidias makes use of its special Ability to transmit light

To illuminate The statue of zeus.

Senff: you can see how the light Virtually pass

Through the marble

And therefore gives this Very special lighting effect,

Also, on the statue of zeus.

Narrator: Thousands of these marble tiles Formed the temple ceiling.

Each one shines as bright As a 200-lumens bulb,

Bathing zeus in sunlight.

The incredible effort With which greek artists

Executed their pieces of work,

The precision of The architecture

And the beauty of the sculptures Led to completely new horizons

In the art history Of the ancient world.

Narrator: The statue of zeus at olympia Is the zenith of greek artistry.

The custodians of olympia Build their wonder

To outdo their rivals in athens,

Who have a giant statue Dedicated to the goddess athena.

The whole statue, A vision of divine majesty,

Shimmers in the bright Greek sunlight.

The statue of zeus is the last Wonder built

In the lifetime of herodotus,

The historian whose work Inspires the list.

He never gets to see The next wonder

That rises in his home city --

The mausoleum of halicarnassus.

Narrator: in greece, The historian herodotus

Creates the ultimate travel Guide to the ancient world.

He describes the marvels Of egypt, babylon, and greece,

Must-see sights that become The seven ancient wonders.

The fifth wonder is In herodotus' home city.

It lies on the coast of asia Minor,

Now turkey, a gigantic tomb --

The mausoleum of halicarnassus.

Legend says this towering tomb Is a labor of love

Built by a queen To remember her dead husband,

A king called mausolus.

36 towering pillars stand on top Of a huge plinth crowned

By a horse-drawn chariot Carrying mausolus himself.

It's a wonderful romantic story, But how much of it is true?

Archaeologist julian bennett Is on a mission

To distinguish fact From fiction.

He begins by trying to piece Together

The mausoleum's appearance.

Well, here we are, At the mausoleum,

I mean, one of the wonders,

And what a wonderful Pile of stones

And some beautifully Half-complete columns.

Narrator: The mausoleum originally stands In the center of the old city.

Today, only fragments remain,

But a clue to what it looks like Lies in this nearby castle.

In the 15th century,

Crusader knights build a mighty Citadel overlooking the harbor.

The castle appears just as the Mausoleum vanishes from history.

Bennett: if you look closely At the castle,

There are blocks Of greenstone like this,

Which are cut to uniform Sort of standard

Based on an ionian foot Of 30 centimeters.

Just over there, 90 centimeters,

And then we look At the height of it --

30 centimeters, also.

Narrator: a standard ionian foot Is just over 11 1/2 inches.

So we can recognize blocks

That could've come From the mausoleum,

But they aren't cut To the same standard,

The same measurement That was used in the mausoleum.

Why wouldn't the knights Who built the castle

Use the mausoleum?

Narrator: Ancient marble and stone Blocks stud the castle walls.

More pieces lie inside.

What we have here is actually One of the most important pieces

Of the mausoleum That's built into the castle.

It's a block of marble,

And it gives us The spacing of the columns,

And it's exactly 2.99 meters long,

And from that, we can calculate Everything else.

This is a good piece Of clear evidence

That the builders of the castle In 1522 onward

Were using parts Of the mausoleum.

It's marble, but the dimensions Of this and the size of it

Fit in with what we know Would come from the mausoleum.

Narrator: The stones from the castle Reveal beyond a doubt

That the mausoleum Is a huge structure,

But it is supposedly The tomb's marble statues

That make it A wonder of the world.

Most are now missing -- The medieval knights

Who build the castle Crush them up to make lime.

Could they be the key to solving The mysterious origins

Of the mausoleum?

♪♪

Many pieces of the statues Are now here

At the british museum in london.

Curator peter higgs tries To reconstruct

This lost monument.

He detects the hand Of mausolus himself

Behind his own final Resting place.

I think most people know The word mausoleum

Is a great, grand tomb But forget that it was named

After the great King mausolus from caria.

Narrator: Some of the statues are huge.

This fragment Of a galloping horse

Is more than 6 1/2 feet high.

One statue may even Represent the king himself.

The statue that we call mausolus Is around 3 meters high,

Which is usually a scale Reserved for the gods,

Not for mortals,

So that just shows How he thought of himself

In terms of scale and magnitude.

He wanted to be seen like a god.

Narrator: Everything about this tomb Is larger than life,

But mausolus himself Is a minor ruler.

Why did he need Such a magnificent tomb?

Peter hunts for clues In the basement of the museum.

Here he keeps the majority Of the fragments.

To his trained eye, these are Works of exquisite beauty.

Higgs: Mausolus spared no expense

In employing The best sculptors of the day.

They're extremely fine quality.

As fragments, they are great, But joined together,

They become much more Of the original sculptural form.

Narrator: peter spends hours Examining the broken fragments

Trying to join The pieces back together.

This piece here from A human cheek

And left eye May belong to this head.

It's around the right scale.

The weathering pattern Looks very similar,

And we can't prove That they belong together,

But they would make A tangible composition.

Narrator: It's clear that mausolus' tomb

Is a monumental act Of self-promotion.

He obviously built up Great wealth

And was a megalomaniac, And he wanted to be remembered.

Narrator: the tomb is also The star attraction

Of a new capital city -- Halicarnassus.

Higgs: Sailors coming into the port Would've seen the mausoleum

Before any other building as it Rose up 40 meters into the sky.

It was a huge spectacle, and the Best way to be remembered

Was by moving his whole Capital into halicarnassus,

A wonderful natural harbor, And planning from the very start

This huge memorial To himself and his family.

Narrator: The ancient stories claim That the mausoleum

Is the work Of a grieving widow,

But all the evidence Points to the king.

When we look closely at The plan of halicarnassus,

It's there in the plan To start off with.

All ancient greek cities Would have a big monument

Known as a heroon,

Which was the monument To the founder of the city.

Where mausolus went One step different

Was to have this Enormous structure

Rising up almost In the center of the town.

You couldn't miss it.

He wants everybody to know, "I am mausolus."

Narrator: the mausoleum is A worthy wonder.

It also has an enticing story That ensures its lasting fame.

It's so impressive that its name

Becomes a byword For an aboveground tomb.

But the sixth wonder Of the world

Takes architectural ambition To even greater heights --

The astonishing Colossus of rhodes.

Why do the people of this tiny Greek island

Build the biggest statue In the world?

Narrator: By the reign of alexander The great,

Five huge monuments dominate The ancient world --

In egypt, the great pyramid;

Babylon's romantic Hanging gardens;

The temple of artemis At bustling ephesus;

The statue of zeus in olympia, Home of the famous games;

And the soaring mausoleum Of halicarnassus.

But the sixth wonder is so tall,

It redefines what it means To build big --

A gigantic statue On a tiny greek island,

The awe-inspiring Colossus of rhodes.

Legend describes the colossus As over 100 feet tall.

It towers over the island's Main harbor.

Sheets of bronze made From melted-down weapons

Create the giant's Shimmering skin.

With a crown of rays And windswept hair,

His eyes gaze skywards Towards the sun.

The statue is said to represent Helios, the greek sun god.

Why do the citizens of rhodes Build such a remarkable statue?

♪♪

Ancient writers say it's built To celebrate a great victory.

In 304 b.C., rhodes becomes Swept up in the civil wars

That tear apart the greek world

After the death Of alexander the great.

Ptolemy, the ruler of alexandria In egypt,

Rescues the island From a terrible siege.

In return, the islanders melt Down their enemies' weapons

And build the colossus To their patron god, helios.

Today, nothing remains Of this mighty bronze statue,

But the popular image of it Straddling rhodes' harbor

Is almost certainly wrong,

A romantic idea Invented centuries later

During the renaissance.

One theory is that the colossus Actually stands above the city,

Perhaps where The castle is today.

So how much do we really know About its origins?

♪♪

Historian andrew chugg thinks That there

Is a forgotten side To the colossus.

He believes it's really built To honor someone else.

The statue hides A secret identity.

He finds a clue among The ancient greek statues

At cambridge university In england.

Chugg: This statue is particularly Interesting

Because if I look up behind And look at the band

Around the hair, I can see holes in there,

And it looks as though they are The sockets for some rays

That fixed into those sockets

So surrounding the head Like the rays of a sun disk.

Narrator: the sun crown is A classic representation

Of the god helios.

Ancient writers say That the colossus

Has a similar headdress,

But the cambridge statue Portrays a human being --

Alexander the great.

Chugg: when we see rays emerging From the head

Of a male statue like this,

It's a well-known type In ancient sculpture,

And it refers to the sun god, Helios,

And that means that alexander Is being represented

In the guise of the sun god,

Helios, here as a kind of act Of flattery towards him.

Narrator: Alexander, the greatest Conqueror of the ancient world,

Is obsessed with his image.

Chugg: There was no photography,

There were no movies,

And so if you wanted to project Your presence

Amongst your people Across the great empire

Then some kind of Standardization,

To make the portraits Recognizable

Was an urgent necessity.

Narrator: Andrew believes that alexander Uses his court sculptor

To create an image that Everybody in the ancient world

Can recognize --

A vision of alexander as a god.

Chugg: his family told him He was descended from zeus

On both his mother's And father's side.

It was their family tradition.

The most famous helios statue Of all time

Was the colossus of rhodes, And we know it was sculpted

By a pupil Of alexander's court sculptor.

I believe that the colossus Of rhodes

Was a portrait of alexander In the guise of the god helios.

Narrator: But there's a mystery --

Alexander the great is long dead

When the people of rhodes Build their colossus.

Why do they immortalize him With a supersize statue?

Andrew believes that the answer Lies across the sea

With their allies in egypt.

At the same time as the colossus Is being built at rhodes,

The greeks here embark On their own wonder,

The lighthouse of alexandria.

This new greek powerhouse honors Alexander the great.

Andrew believes that A statue of the dead king

Even crowns The city's new lighthouse.

Any image that shows the statue On top of the lighthouse

With any definition, That's extremely rare.

This is my favorite one here,

And this time, we can see The statue in great definition.

We can see that he's holding in His hand a great sphere or orb,

And on his head, He has a crown

That represents The rays of the sun.

These are unmistakable.

This is the god Alexander helios.

It is a statue Of alexander helios

That we have at the summit Of the lighthouse.

Narrator: the people of rhodes Build the colossus to grab

A little piece of alexander's Legacy for themselves.

Chugg: at the same time as the Lighthouse is being erected,

The citizens of rhodes Are celebrating

Having withstood a great siege With the help of their allies,

The ptolemies, in alexandria,

And they're building an enormous Colossus of alexander helios

On an even larger scale,

Another wonder Of the ancient world.

Narrator: The wonders reach new heights With the colossus of rhodes

And the lighthouse Of alexandria.

Both are built to herald a new Civilization --

The greeks of alexandria.

The scribes who write the list Believe

They are living In a new golden age.

What is it about this remarkable City

That reshapes the ancient world And inspires its citizens

To create the final Ultimate wonder --

The lighthouse of alexandria?

Narrator: in 280 b.C., The city of alexandria in egypt

Is at its glorious peak,

A greek metropolis In the land of the pharaohs.

In its enormous library,

Writers record the ancient World's greatest wonders.

They catalog the marvels Of greece and persia,

But the final Magnificent monument

Emerges in their own city.

Legend has it that alexandria Is home

To the ultimate wonder...

...A mighty megastructure

That no other ancient city Could build.

At the entrance to alexandria's Harbor

Stands the tallest tower In the world,

The famous lighthouse.

Immense bronze tritons, Greek gods,

Keep watch over the harbor below

While mirrors that beam A blazing light across the sea

Supposedly make Alexandria visible to ships

Still a day's sail away.

The lighthouse builders top off The tower

With a statue of alexander As the god helios,

And rumors even tell of A deadly death ray weapon

At the tower's summit.

Modern high-rise buildings now Dominate alexandria's skyline,

But the lost lighthouse Is one of the most written

About of all the wonders.

Its reputation casts a spell Over those who hunt for it.

Em ad hall is a marine

Archaeologist at Alexandria university.

He's spent the last 25 years Tracking down

This city's lost wonder.

In the 1990s, Emad is part of a team

That investigates Mysterious ruins on the seabed.

What they discover stuns the World --

Thousands of ancient Stone blocks.

Khalil: we didn't really know What we're going to find there.

We knew that there are artifacts There,

But what exactly is going on, We didn't really know.

Seeing sphinxes underwater Was something

That none of us Have ever seen before.

Seeing pieces of obelisks Underwater with hieroglyphics

Written on it, Huge blocks like this one,

This is something that none Of us have experienced before.

Narrator: Archaeologists think these Sunken stone blocks

Could be the remains Of the fallen lighthouse,

But they can't be sure.

Only a few precious images Of the lighthouse survive.

It's a huge puzzle, basically, And you want to put it back

Together without a picture To base your reconstruction on,

And this is where digital Imaging

And computer simulation came in,

And this is being done Until the present.

Narrator: Today, emad continues his hunt

For the lost lighthouse Above water.

This is the ideal place to start Hunting for the lighthouse

Mainly because Of the material we have here.

Narrator: Emad explores the citadel Of qaitbay

On alexandria's waterfront.

Narrator: Emad believes these Ancient stones

Match the blocks Found underwater.

Parts of alexandria's Fabled lighthouse still survive,

Standing on the spot Where legends say

The ancient structure Once stands.

The fortress of qaitbay Was built using

Some of the blocks That existed in the lighthouse.

Narrator: So what does the lighthouse Look like?

Beneath the blocks lies a clue.

Inside the fort stands A sacred mosque.

It should be facing mecca To the southeast,

But this mosque faces north Towards the sea,

More proof that it stands on The old lighthouse foundations.

On the roof of the mosque Is a strange octagonal opening.

Could this help emad work out

What the ancient lighthouse Looks like?

♪♪

The structure of this mosque Is quite typical

Until you start looking up, And this is very unusual.

It's very unusual to have A square minaret, basically,

And part of it is octagonal,

And then another part Is cylindrical.

That doesn't happen in Islamic architecture.

Narrator: Emad is convinced the Mosque's distinctive design,

A square base topped With an octagon and a circle,

Copies the shape Of the original lighthouse.

That's because 30 miles West of alexandria,

There's an ancient structure That follows this blueprint,

Abusir lighthouse.

It stands guard over An ancient necropolis.

What we have here, basically, Is a typical hellenistic tomb,

An altar in the middle And couches,

Two couches, one on each side To be used by the visitors,

And then we have The burial chamber.

You can still see the remains And the bones

And the remains of the deceased.

Narrator: on some of the walls, Snake carvings offer protection

To the spirits of the dead, Typical of a greek-style burial.

Khalil: all around us, There are plenty of them.

There are, I think, over 13 of Them, very much the same design,

Greek tombs, And this is a building

Which was built During the same period,

During the same era, In the shape of a lighthouse.

Narrator: Emad thinks the builders Of this tomb take inspiration

From the lighthouse Of alexandria.

Khalil: it's an evidence.

It gives us indication That this is the shape

Of the original lighthouse Of alexandria.

Narrator: Abusir lighthouse is a miniature Copy of the lighthouse

At alexandria.

It confirms that ancient images

Offer a true glimpse Of the lost wonder.

So the builders of this Were actually able to see

The original Lighthouse of alexandria

And copy the design Into this structure.

The ancient alexandria Lighthouse had three levels --

A square one, an octagonal one, And a cylindrical one very much

Similar to this monument We have here.

Narrator: The lighthouse of abusir Is a crucial piece of evidence.

It shines new light

On the lighthouse Of alexandria's appearance.

It affirms that the lighthouse Is an immense building

With a distinctive Three-level design...

A square base with An octagonal central section

And a cylindrical turret.

The final wonder is perhaps The greatest of them all,

An ancient skyscraper not Matched until the modern age,

But the lighthouse Is a curiosity.

Why does this city need Such an elaborate

And oversized warning beacon,

And why is it the last wonder Of the ancient world?

Narrator: The lighthouse of alexandria

Is the last of the seven wonders Of the ancient world.

Why do the people of this city Build a stone skyscraper taller

Than any in history?

A lighthouse is supposed To guide ships

And warn them Of approaching danger,

But the most perilous waters In ancient alexandria

Lie inside the harbor.

A clue lies nearly 125 miles

Along the alexandrian coastline At marsa bagoush.

Beneath the calm surface Lurk deadly rocks

And shifting sand bars.

Half buried in the sand Lie the shattered remains

Of countless amphorae,

Ancient clay pots For carrying wine and oil.

These shards span 900 years of history

And hint that this bay Is a ship's graveyard.

How treacherous Is the egyptian coast?

Is the purpose of this Colossal lighthouse

Simply to prevent Endless shipwrecks?

Archaeologist emad khalil And his team dive the site.

♪♪

They find undisturbed jars On each descent to the seafloor.

♪♪

During diving, we just came Across some shards of pottery

Inside the bay, And the further we look,

We discover more pottery, More ceramic,

And then we started discovering Single amphora, intact amphora.

Narrator: The sheer number of amphorae On the seabed is a surprise.

Are they all from wrecked ships?

Khalil: finding an amphora Or a few amphoras

Does not definitely indicate An existence of a shipwreck

Because amphoras Could have fallen off a ship,

Thrown over the ship.

Narrator: Emad must investigate further.

The team takes thousands Of high-resolution photos

To build a digital model Of the seabed.

The scan reveals a surprising Clue --

The distinct forms Of anchors from ancient ships.

The team discovers a total Of 14 in the bay.

Khalil: Finding more than one anchor In the same place

Means that this had been Used frequently by ships.

Narrator: this coastline is not Without danger,

But the concentration Of anchors here suggests

That ancient ships traveled To marsa bagoush on purpose.

Marsa bagoush is an ideal Example for a safe haven

Or a safe natural anchor.

First of all, it's deep enough For ships to come in.

Secondly, the entire bay Is protected from both sides

By reefs,

So wherever the wind comes from, It's still protected.

Narrator: marsa bagoush is not A ship's graveyard

But a refueling stop On the way to alexandria.

This discovery transforms emad's View of the lighthouse.

Ancient sailors do not need A megatower

To warn them Of hidden dangers.

The alexandrians build The lighthouse

To capture lucrative trade.

The seventh wonder exists To draw sailors into a new city.

It's visible From many miles away.

♪♪

It would be a banner basically To draw the attention of ships

And sailors coming into egypt.

They would head For this new town,

The new town with this big, Huge monument, alexandria.

♪♪

Narrator: Historian andrew chugg Thinks the lighthouse is really

A deliberate attempt to promote A new city and a new ruler,

A greek general called ptolemy.

Ptolemy is one of alexander The great's

Most trusted companions.

He emerges victorious In the civil wars

That follow alexander's death.

Ptolemy declares himself To be king of egypt

And founds A new dynasty of pharaohs,

And they last for 300 years.

Narrator: Ptolemy has big plans For his new metropolis.

He builds a city larger Than any in greece.

So here's a massive Ancient fragment of wall.

It's made out of immense blocks.

They're 1 1/2 meters Long and 3/4 of a meter tall.

They have drafted margins Where the edges of the block

Are cut smoother All the way around.

This is highly characteristic Of masonry from the period

Just after the death Of alexander the great.

Narrator: Ptolemy even steals alexander's Body and brings it here.

About 30 years after Alexander's death,

Ptolemy's son moves the tomb Of alexander himself

To lie At the heart of alexandria.

The ancient sources place An enclosure

In which alexander's tomb lay in Exactly this part of the city.

Narrator: Alexandria is meant to be An entire city of wonders.

Chugg: It's clear that the ptolemies Had similar aspirations

For alexandria as alexander Had had for babylon.

He builds immense buildings Like the lighthouse,

And he builds the walls Of alexandria

On a scale comparable With the walls of babylon.

Narrator: But ptolemy's ambitions Go beyond stone and mortar.

He wants his city to be The intellectual capital

Of the known world.

So here we are in one of the Classrooms of what

Was effectively a university In 4th century a.D. Alexandria.

Alexandria has been a place Of learning,

A center of scholarship In the world

For nearly 7 centuries At this point.

It's a really embedded part Of the culture of the place.

Narrator: The center of alexandria's Learning is the great library

Where scholars make copies Of every manuscript

Entering the city's port.

This vast store of ancient Knowledge

Attracts the greatest minds From across the ancient world.

♪♪

It's here that the philosopher Eratosthenes

First calculates the Circumference of the earth...

♪♪

...And the celebrated Mathematician

Euclid first sets out

The fundamental principles Of geometry.

Chugg: The scholars from the library Were the einsteins

And the newtons of their day.

They were making dramatic Breakthroughs,

Which are remembered now

As the foundations Of much of the scholarship

And the way That we approach science,

Technology in the modern world.

Narrator: 2,300 years ago,

Alexandria is the most Sophisticated city

In the mediterranean.

Andrew believes its scholars Are responsible

For the incredible feats of Engineering at the lighthouse.

There's a link, I think, between The magnificent buildings

And the spirit of alexandria as A place of study and learning.

Many of the principles that Were being explored and advanced

At the library Were feeding the architecture

And the engineering principles

On which great buildings Like the lighthouse were based.

♪♪

Narrator: The scholars of alexandria Have access to vast

Swaths of ancient knowledge From egypt,

Greece, and every other corner Of the known world.

The greeks of egypt build The lighthouse so high

Simply because they now Have the technical expertise.

Alexandria's lighthouse Proclaims it

As the greatest city on earth.

It's an extraordinary Statement of power.

Each one of the wonders Glorifies its creator --

The pharaoh khufu of egypt,

The mighty king nebuchadnezzar,

And the megalomaniacal King mausolus

With ideas above his station, But there's a surprise.

Alexandria's own wonder, The lighthouse,

Is not on The original list of seven.

Why does it join them Only centuries later,

And is there a forgotten Eighth wonder of the world?

Narrator: The lighthouse of alexandria is The last of the seven wonders,

But it only receives this title More than 900 years

After its construction.

So what else do the ancients

Consider to be A wonder of the world?

The notion of a wonder As a must-see site

Stretches back To the days of herodotus.

The scholars of alexandria's Great library continue his work,

But the oldest list That survives dates

To the 2nd century b.C. When the city is past its prime.

A greek poet called antipater Of sidon writes it.

He selects the walls of babylon As his seventh wonder.

Chugg: Babylon was an immense city.

It had huge walls made out Of baked brick,

Which were glazed with brightly Colored images of animals,

Animals that the babylonians Regarded as gods.

Narrator: Today, the only walls That survive at babylon

Are modern replicas,

But the most impressive section Of the city's defenses

Is the ishtar gate, Now kept at a berlin museum.

Chugg: We have its walls.

They're accounted a wonder In themselves sometimes.

They are on a huge scale, Tens of kilometers of circuit

And 100 feet tall Or of that order.

They were covered with colored, Glazed tiles

And decorated with images Of animals and gods.

Narrator: The list of wonders changes Many times over the centuries.

The greek historian herodotus

Originally includes The lost maze at hawara

As one of his must-see sites.

He visits This remarkable structure

In egypt 2,500 years ago.

The maze is actually An elaborate temple

Next to a pyramid.

Today, almost nothing remains, But herodotus says

That it contains 3,000 interconnected rooms

And courtyards giving it The appearance of a labyrinth.

Later writers select other Ancient monuments

As their wonders.

They include the colosseum, Rome's huge amphitheater

Where gladiators fight To the death,

And the ancient egyptian City of thebes,

Home to the mighty Karnak temple.

At olympia,

The temple that houses The statue of zeus,

Is itself seen as a wonder.

I personally think that This idea of seven wonders

Fitted in with the idea Of the universe at that time,

You've got the seven planets Including the sun and the moon.

Seven has always been A mystical number.

Narrator: Surprisingly, the list of Wonders that we know today

Isn't fixed Until the middle ages.

A french bishop called Gregory of tours

Is the first to name The lighthouse as a wonder.

When we look at the history of The seven wonders of the world,

We see different ones included.

It's sort of like They're the seven hills of rome,

And romans couldn't agree which Were the seven hills of rome.

In the ancient world, They couldn't agree

Which were the seven Main wonders.

We've inherited the tradition That the monks

Of the medieval period,

That's what they thought From their reading

Were the seven main wonders.

Narrator: So why do later generations Choose the lighthouse

As the seventh wonder?

The tower's remarkable Construction holds a clue.

The lighthouse builders Lock thousands of stone

Blocks together.

They carefully shape the stones For a perfect fit,

Chiseling holes Into neighboring blocks

And connecting them with dowels.

Metal clamps lock the blocks Together,

And a special lead mortar fills Any remaining gaps to seal

The walls against the pounding Waves of alexandria's harbor.

Could this clever engineering Explain why the lighthouse

Claims the final spot On the list of wonders?

♪♪

At the university of memphis,

Structural engineer Adel abdelnaby

Investigates Its unique construction.

He wants to know how a stone Tower is able to survive

For nearly 1,500 years.

If you ask an engineer if he Or she can build a skyscraper

From stone, They would think you're crazy.

You know, we don't do that.

Narrator: Stone is heavy, expensive, And hard to work...

...And the higher you build, The greater the risk

The building will collapse Under its own weight.

Adel uses a powerful vice In his lab

To test which type Of egyptian stone

Is tough enough to support A 330-foot-tall lighthouse.

So what this does, it applies A compression force

Until it crushes the sandstone.

Narrator: At first, sandstone holds Strong...

...Only to shatter At 57,000 pounds.

We're going to do a crush test For the limestone.

-limestone is stronger. -and we're good to go...

♪♪

Narrator: but it still fails At 134,000 pounds.

♪♪

The only material that's up To the job is pink granite.

This is the stone that Egyptian masons

Used to carve out huge obelisks.

The vice maxes out at over A 1/4 of a million pounds...

...And the granite Is still going strong.

So you don't have a choice.

The best material to use Is granite.

That's the only type of masonry Or blocks

That can survive These conditions.

Narrator: Superhard granite allows The lighthouse of alexandria

To survive for centuries.

It is still going strong More than 1,000 years

After its construction.

Medieval writers who finalized The list are in no doubt

That the lighthouse should be Judged a wonder of the world.

They can see the proof With their own eyes.

The fame of the lighthouse rests

With its extraordinary Longevity.

So why does this golden age Of the seven wonders

Of the world come to an end,

And what are the wonders Of the modern era?

Narrator: The seven wonders are The greatest sites

Of the ancient greek world,

A group Of extraordinary monuments,

Each one huge and unique.

Today, our list of ancient Wonders is far broader

Than that of the greeks.

In the 15th century,

European explorers Head out across the globe.

They reach the americas, where They encounter civilizations

That are the equal of ancient Egypt and babylon --

The maya, the incas, And the aztecs.

They admire the stepped Pyramid of cichen itza

And the mountainous Machu picchu,

And on the other side Of the planet,

Later travelers gaze in awe At the great wall of china.

But the original seven continue To cast a spell

Over archaeologists And historians.

Only one remains --

The great pyramid at giza.

How do the other six Come to an end?

In the 5th century a.D.,

Christians move the statue Of zeus to constantinople

Where it's consumed by fire In the year 462.

Babylon falls into ruin Following alexander's death,

Its hanging gardens left To rot and disappear,

While christians shut down The temple of artemis.

Earthquakes claim the colossus Of rhodes 56 years

After its completion,

And the mausoleum is lost To tremors centuries later.

Engineering brilliance keeps The lighthouse of alexandria

Standing for more than 15 Centuries,

But it can't stand forever.

A series of earthquakes Hits the ancient wonder

During the middle ages.

In 1303, the stone skyscraper Finally topples over.

The great blocks of granite Plunge into the harbor,

Sinking to the seabed Where most still lie today.

Egypt's rulers reuse The foundations

To build qaitbay fort And mosque.

The destruction of the Lighthouse of alexandria

Is the final chapter Of a lost age,

The age of the seven wonders Of the ancient world,

An astonishing era Of new discoveries

That flourishes in the great Metropolis of alexandria.

I think there's little doubt That alexandria at its peak

Was probably the greatest city In the world.

Narrator: Each wonder of the world

Expresses humankind's urge To greatness...

...A quest to control the world Through artistry and stone.

All of the seven wonders could Be seen as attempts by mankind,

By groups of men and women,

To go a bit further Than anyone has gone before.

Narrator: The construction of the seven Wonders is

The start Of a 2,000-year journey

That begins with The great pyramid of giza...

...And the hanging gardens Of babylon.

The ancient greeks take on the Baton with the temple of artemis

And the statue of zeus At olympia.

The massive mausoleum At halicarnassus

And the colossus of rhodes

Take ancient engineering And sculpture

To even greater heights.

Finally, the wonders are Complete with the construction

Of the astonishing lighthouse Of alexandria.

The great pyramid of giza Might be the only survivor

Of the original seven wonders,

But each one casts A long shadow.

They inspire the architects And engineers

Who build the modern world.

The great cathedrals of europe Surpassed the pyramid

In the middle ages,

But the race to build the Tallest structure on the planet

Continues with the eiffel tower,

The empire state building, And the burj khalifa.

The mausoleum of halicarnassus Influences

The design of landmark Buildings across america...

♪♪

...And the designer of the Statue of liberty in new york

Takes inspiration from the lost Colossus of rhodes.

He even gives lady liberty A sun crown just like the one

Worn by the awe-inspiring Statue in greece.

The idea of the seven wonders Endures

As a vision of the heights Humankind can reach.

Today, we continue to compile Our own new lists

Just like the alexandrians, Convinced that our own age

Will outlive that age of wonders As the greatest of them all.

♪♪

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