The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

Description

Michael Higgins broadens our understanding of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World by bringing science, engineering, and technology together with ancient documentation and archaeological findings.

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (Pyramids of Giza, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Statue of Zeus at Olympia, Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, Colossus of Rhodes, and the Pharos Lighthouse at Alexandria) have been a source of fascination for more than two thousand years. Even though six of the Wonders are now gone, historians and archaeologists have attempted to explain how and why these ancient monuments were created. However, never before have these attempts been synthesized with the contributions of science, engineering, and technology.

In The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, Michael Higgins combines scientific research together with ancient documentation and archaeological findings to present a rich, multi-layered portrait of each monument. To build a Wonder took advanced social organization and wealth generated by agriculture and trade, both of which depended on regional geography and climate. It also took natural resources, as well as an understanding of the environment where the Wonder would stand. Even the natural processes often responsible for a Wonder's destruction sometimes contributed to the preservation of its ruins. These and other topics are accessibly explored in this book. After using science, engineering, and technology to answer key questions about the Wonders, Higgins speculates on how we could recreate these ancient monuments and make new wonders that could withstand environmental changes and natural disasters for the next two thousand years.

About the author:

Michael Denis Higgins is Professor Emeritus of Earth Science at the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi and the author of Quantitative Textural Measurements in Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology, and, with his father Reynold Higgins, A Geological Companion to Greece and the Aegean.

Reviews

"Here is a refreshing treatment of a topic that goes back to antiquity: what were the methods and conditions that made possible the construction of the renowned Seven Wonders? With a light touch, Higgins brings to bear geology, metallurgy, ancient craft and engineering, archaeology, and historical scholarship to reveal how grand projects were achieved in ancient Egypt, the Near East, and Greece." - Alexander Jones, author of A Portable Cosmos

"In this wide-ranging book Higgins, a geologist, presents a refreshing, personal approach to The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. His energetic and well documented presentation differs from the many other discussions of the Wonders by carefully considering the associated influences of geology, tectonics, and the environment. An engaging final chapter on rebuilding the Wonders provides an engineer's view of how modern materials and techniques might have guaranteed the monuments a longer life." - John Peter Oleson, editor of The Oxford Handbook of Engineering and Technology in the Classical World

"The Seven Wonders of The Ancient World: Science, Engineering, and Technology, Michael Denis Higgins,...Higgins ends his work with a theoretical discussion of how the ancient Wonders could be reconstructed with modern engineering...Professor Higgins's desire to rebuild the wonders of the ancient world is interesting." - Jesse Russell, Voegelinview

Table of contents

Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: The Pyramids of Giza
Chapter 3: The Hanging Gardens
Chapter 4: The Statue of Zeus at Olympia
Chapter 5: The Mausoleum
Chapter 6: The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
Chapter 7: The Colossus of Rhodes
Chapter 8: The Pharos of Alexandria
Chapter 9: Rebuilding the Wonders