Beyond Western Civilization
The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (from left to right, top to bottom): Great Pyramid of Giza, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Temple of Artemis, Statue of Zeus at Olympia, Mausoleum of Maussollos, Colossus of Rhodes and the Lighthouse of Alexandria as depicted by sixteenth-century Dutch artist Maarten van Heemskerck.
"Seven Wonders" can be traced to a Hellenistic recognition of trans-cultural human achievement that found expression throughout the Hellenistic world. The historian Herodotus and the scholar Callimachus of Cyrene (c. 305 – 240 B.C.E.) made early lists of "seven wonders," but these writings have not survived, except as references. The earliest extant version of a list of seven wonders was compiled by Antipater of Sidon, who described the structures in a poem around 140 B.C.E.:
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 labor 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" (Greek Anthology IX.58).
Centered in around the Mediterranean Rim, leaving out accomplishments of India, China, Japan, Mezzo America etc. Scholar created the new 7 Wonders of the Ancient world. There are still many examples similar to or totally different but all wonders of the world.
The New Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
The Colosseum / Machu Picchu / Great Wall of China
Mayan Ruins
EXAMPLES OF WONDERS BEYOND THE 7 ORIGINAL AND NEW WONDERS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD
Petra, Petra, Jordan: Also known as “rose red city, half as old as time”, is Jordan’s most valuable treasure and greatest tourist attraction. The most elaborate building in Petra is Al Khazneh (”The Treasury”), carved out of a sandstone rock face, it’s massive façade dwarfing everything around it.
Lycian Tombs, Tuekey: Lycian Tombs are carved directly on the face of rock.
Ellora Caves, India:. The 34 Buddhist, Hindu and Jain rock cut temples and monasteries were built between the 5th century and 10th century. The Buddhist caves consist mostly of large, multi-storey buildings carved into the mountain face, including living quarters, sleeping quarters, kitchens, and other rooms.
Bamiyan Buddhas The larger Buddha was 174 feet high, the smaller 115 feet. The arch above both Buddhas had been richly painted, reflecting the cultures of the Persians, Indians, Chinese, and Greece, all meeting at one place around the 5th or 6th centuries A.D.
6. Longmen Grottoes, China: The Longmen Grottoes are densely dotted along the Xiangshan and Longmenshan mountains in the the eastern central part of China. From north to south, the distance covered by grottoes is about one km.
Lalibela Churches, Ethiopia: Lalibela is one of Ethiopia’s holiest cities, second only to Aksum, and is a center of pilgrimage for much of the country. The Church of St. George is the most well known and last built of the eleven churches. The dimensions of the complex are 25 meters by 25 meters by 30 meters, and there is a small baptismal pool outside the church, which stands in an artificial trench.
Tomb of the Kings, Paphos: Built in 4th century, Tomb of the Kings is carved out of the solid rock and decorated with Doric columns.
Valley of the Kings, Egypt: The Valley of the Kings is a valley in Egypt where kings were buried after death. The valley contains 63 tombs and chambers, ranging in size from a simple pit to a complex tomb with over 120 chambers. Only the famous tomb of Tutankhamun was spared from the worst of the tomb depredations.
Ajanta Caves, India: Ajanta Caves are rock-cut cave monuments dating from the 2th century BC. The monastic complex of Ajanta consists of several viharas (monastic halls of residence) and chaitya-grihas (stupa monument halls) cut into the mountain scarp. By 480 AD the caves at Ajanta were abandoned.
Astronomy in Ancient India
Jantar Mantar
Jantar means "instrument." Mantar (the same word as "mantra") is usually translated "formula," but here it means "calculation." So, "Jantar Mantar" means something like "instrument for calculation."
Sawai Jai Singh, the first Maharaja of Jaipur, succeeded to the throne of Amber in 1700 at the age of thirteen. Abandoning that capital, he founded the city of Jaipur in 1727. A soldier, ruler, and scholar with a lifelong interest in mathematics and astronomy, Jai Singh built observatories in Delhi, Jaipur, Ujjain, Mathura and Benares. Jai Singh was conversant with contemporary European astronomy through his contacts with the Portugese Viceroy in Goa. He supplied corrections to the astronomical tables of de la Hire, and published his own tables in 1723.
Ancient India's contributions in the field of astronomy are well known and well documented. The earliest references to astronomy are found in the Rig Veda, which are dated 2000 BC. During next 2500 years, by 500 AD, ancient Indian astronomy has emerged as an important part of Indian studies and its affect is also seen in several treatises of that period.
· The calculation of occurrences of eclipses
· Determination of Earth's circumference
· Theorizing about the theory of gravitation
· Determining that sun was a star and determination of number of planets under our solar system
Yajnavalkya (perhaps 1800 BC) advanced a 95-year cycle to synchronize the motions of the sun and the moon.A text on Vedic astronomy that has been dated to 1350 BC, was written by Lagadha.
In 500 AD, Aryabhata presented a mathematical system that took the earth to spin on its axis and considered the motions of the planets with respect to the sun (in other words it was heliocentric). His book, the Aryabhatya, presented astronomical and mathematical theories in which the Earth was taken to be spinning on its axis and the periods of the planets were given with respect to the sun.
Aryabhata wrote that 1,582,237,500 rotations of the Earth equal 57,753,336 lunar orbits. This is an extremely accurate ratio of a fundamental astronomical ratio (1,582,237,500/57,753,336 = 27.3964693572), and is perhaps the oldest astronomical constant calculated to such accuracy.Brahmagupta (598-668) was the head of the astronomical observatory at Ujjain and during his tenure there wrote a text on astronomy, the Brahmasphutasiddhanta in 628.
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Sun Dial
Daytime telescope!!!
This is an equitorial sundial of a different design from the Laghu Samrat Yantra, but performing the same function - it measures the local solar time at the latitude of Jaipur. There are actually two paired instruments, one for use in winter (when the sun is in the southern hemisphere) and the other for use in summer, when the sun is in the northern hemisphere.