Google Earth comes with a “starter kit” that includes all the wonders of the world, and I don’t mean just the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. You got yer modern, yer mediaeval, yer underwater and, um, yer “new” wonders of the world too.

Here’s the first in a series of Dorseyland tours of these spots for poor folks who can’t come up with the zero cents that Google Earth costs. Of course, some of the satellite images are crap, and some of the wonders have been paved over for parking lots, but we’ll kick off in ancient times and see how far we get.

W ~ O ~ W

The Colossus of Rhodes was a huge statue of the god Helios, erected on the Greek island of Rhodes by Chares of Lindos in the third century BC.

It was roughly the same size as the Statue of Liberty, although it stood on a lower platform.

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, also known as the Hanging Gardens of Semiramis, and the walls of Babylon were supposedly built here in present-day Iraq by King Nebuchadnezzar around 600 BC, but there are doubts as to whether they ever physically existed.

The Mausoleum of Maussollos, the Persian satrap of Caria, was built in 351 BC at Halicarnassus, Turkey (today’s Bodrum). The word “mausoleum” came to be used for any grand tomb.

Maussollus was was interred here with his wife Artemisia. Greek architects Satyrus and Pythius designed the 45-metre-high tomb and four Greek sculptors added an ornamental frieze around its exterior.

The Lighthouse of Alexandria, often called the Pharos of Alexandria after the island on which it sat, was built in the third century BC and remained operational until it was largely destroyed by two earthquakes in the 14th century.

It was a tower estimated to have been 134 metres high, at the time one of the tallest man-made structures on Earth, and was built of blocks of white stone. At its apex was a mirror that reflected sunlight during the day; a fire was lit at night.

As can be seen from images of the lighthouse on Roman coins struck by the Alexandrian mint, there were four statues of tritons blowing horns, one on eeach corner. Also in the Roman period there was a statue atop the tower.

The Great Pyramid of Giza, seen at the top of this post, is the oldest and only remaining Wonder of the World. It is presumed to have served as the tomb of the Fourth Dynasty Pharaoh Khufu, also known by his Greek name Cheops, and is often called “Khufu’s pyramid”.

The Temple of Artemis, called Artemision in Greek and Artemisium in Latin, was completed around 440 BC at Ephesus (present-day Turkey), taking 120 years to build.

It was started by King Croesus of Lydia. Scarcely anything remains at the site.

The 13-metre-tall Statue of Zeus at Olympia, 150 kilometres west of Athens, was designed by the architect Libon and built the sculptor Pheidias around 450 BC in honour of the god in whose name the Olympic games were originally held.

In the first century AD Emperor Caligula failed to transport the statue to Rome, and in 391 when the Olympics were banned as pagan by Emperor Theodosius I, the temple was ordered closed.

The statue was moved to a palace in Constantinople by wealthy Greeks, and there was destroyed by fire in 462.

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If you’re still wondering:
* Mediaeval Wonders
* Natural Wonders
* Underwater Wonders
* Modern Wonders
* Forgotten Wonders
* Endangered Wonders
* “New” Wonders