Two of the seven wonders of the [ancient] world: The Colossus of Rhodes and The Temple of Artemic

On our trip to Turkey, and Greece, we visited the sites of two of the "wonders of the ancient world [1]." The first, was the Colossus of Rhodes, and the second, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus.

The Colossus of Rhodes was a colossal statue of the Greek god Helios, built on the Greek island of Rhodes between 292 and 280 BC. Before its destruction, the Colossus of Rhodes stood over 107 feet high, which made it one of, if not the tallest, statues in the world. The statue stood for only 54 years until Rhodes was hit by an earthquake in 226 BC. Ptolemy III offered to pay to rebuild it, but the Delphic oracle made the Rhodians believe they had offended Helios, and they never restored the statue. The bronze scrap from the statue was sold off eventually, possibly in the 7th century by invading Arabs. By the time we stood on its site, there was nothing left but the legends.

The temple of Artemis has a little more to show for itself, but not much. The column you see in this photo I took is it. The site of the temple was rediscovered in 1869 by an expedition sponsored by the British Museum. A few further fragments of sculpture were found during the 1904-06 excavations and were assembled and displayed in the "Ephesus Room" of the British Museum. The single remaining column is constructed of dissociated fragments discovered on the site.

Colossus of Rhodes, from a 16th-century engraving by Martin Heemskerck, part of his series of the Seven Wonders of the World. This is a fanciful depiction, based on only the loosest of historical descriptions.

[1] The wonders of the ancient world are:

Great Pyramid of Giza
Hanging Gardens of Babylon
Statue of Zeus at Olympia
Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus
Colossus of Rhodes
Lighthouse of Alexandria

Wonders of the medieval world (I've seen two - The colosseum in Rome, and the Tower of Pisa):

Stonehenge
Colosseum
Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa
Great Wall of China
Porcelain Tower of Nanjing
Hagia Sophia
Leaning Tower of Pisa

USA Today's "new" seven wonders (plus a viewer voted for eighth). Of these wonders, well, I've used the internet, and flown over the North Pole three times in the last three months:

1
Potala Palace
Lhasa, Tibet, China
2
Old City of Jerusalem
Jerusalem
3
Polar ice caps
Polar regions
4
Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument
Hawaii, United States
5
Internet
N/A
6
Mayan ruins
Yucatán Peninsula, México
7
Great Migration of Serengeti and Masai Mara
Tanzania and Kenya
8
Grand Canyon (viewer-chosen eighth wonder)
Arizona, United States
---o0o---

Photo: The Brummet-Curran clan dine al fresco at sunset with a view of the Santorini caldera

Click to enlarge

---o0o---

Bronze statuary group by the beach in Rhodes

click to enlarge The last thing we saw in Rhodes.

This bronze statuary group sat near the beach in Rhodes, fifty feet from where we caught a bus to the port, to sail to the wonderful madhouse that is Santorini/Thira. I have no idea what the subject matter is, or the provenance of the sculpture. . .but I liked it. Then again, I am a sucker for bronzes...

---o0o---

The Island of Rhodes, Greece

The fortress of the Knights of Malta

Rhodes was an interesting and fairly frantic stop on our trip (we were there two nights). Aside from the convergance of tour buses on some archaeological sites, this was by far the most touristy part of our trip so far. There weren't many Americans in Rhodes, but there were thousands of Danes, Germans, Brits, Swedes, Italians, and Greek tourists as well. The beach was crowded and intense. There were a fair number of topless sunbathers, most of them 65 year old Dutch women.

The tourist part of the new town is predicatably garish and crowded. The old town--inside the old Knights of Malta fortress was also heavily touristed, but the fortress was so incredible, you lived with it. For a short period of time, The Knights ruled Rhodes, with seven Garrisions that each spoke a different language. They controlled politics and trade until the Sultan Suleyman sent them packing and claimed the Island for his own empire. The fortress is an incredible stone affair, with a moat that is unbelievably deep and wide. I'd never really toured castles much, so I don't think I'd seen a moat before. Wow. I'll put in a picture of it.

Aside from the fortress and fortification walls, Rhodes has the remnants of an Acropolis, and a heavily reconstructed theatre and stadium. We walked up the hill one night on our way to dinner to check out these ruins (even some of the kids have become ruins buffs by now).

After that, we went to a local place our landlord had recommended for the best chicken and potatoes in Rhodes...in the form of the ubiquitous "gyro." It was great...so great, we went back the next night. In addition to being the cheapest food on our trip, it was a real treat for us on Rhodes, because it was absolutely not a tourist joint. Fortunately, our waiter spoke great English and steered us through ordering. She was also a fan of America in general (as many Greeks seem to be...excepting any love for our President), and asked us lots of questions, and expressed a desire to visit the US soon. And she was incredibly beautiful...appropos of nothing at all.

After two days in Rhodes, we were ready to depart on a turbo-prop for Crete. It was great to be back in Greece, and it was everything I remembered. The retsina, the great salads, and most of all the exuberant and warm Greek people (Hellenikis)...it was nice to renew our acquantance. We flew to Heraklion, Crete, stopped at the ruins at Knossos, and drove a winding mountain pass along the coastline to Sitia, a coastal town with virtually no tourists. We have an apartment here, a block from the beach. That is most welcome because the temperature is hovering in the low 100s. The water is warm, the waves gentle, and there are some great ruins to explore, both in town, and in Zakros (where the second largest Minoan palace is being excavated).

Tomorrow afternoon, we depart Sitia for Santorini, a/k/a Thira, to see that amazing geography for one day and night. Then, we take another boat, and head to Naxon, another small island, and the next to last stop on our trip (Athens is the last). More soon...



Claire's friend, who lives in the hotel courtyard, with her mom and seven siblings - click to enlarge


The moat at the Knights of Malta fortress - click to enlarge

Backpacks on, the Brummet-Curran clan get ready to depart the Island of Rhodes for the Island of Crete via turbo-prop airplane

Ruins at the Acropolis of Rhodes

---o0o---

Happy Birthday, America, more or less

And, yes, I know, many people say it is jingoistic and/or ethnocentric of us to call our homeland America. But::::::::that is how we are known in Europe and at least the part of Asia I have spent time in now. When they ask you where you are from and you say United States, they usually respond, "America." Most people have relatives there, and a fair number have actually been there. On that note, I often try to tell them I am from Seattle, but once someone said "Oh! all the snow in Alaska!" Other times, I try to explain...West Coast, on The Pacifico...near Canada...northwest U.S...and about half the time now I just say California, which registers instantly. It's not too big a jump after all...I've lived there and been there at least 20 times in the last 18 months.

This is the second time I've been away from the States on the 4th of July. The first time, we were with our long-time vacation pals the Hokits on Salt Spring Island in Canada. Our kids (minus Claire, she claims) put on red, white and blue facepaint and were very cranky about Canadians ignoring the 4th, not to mention the fact that they had no fireworks. Yes, they were unable to make the almost sacred Hejira to Boom City to buy the real (aka not "Safe and Sane"), dangerous, fireworks. I think somehow the Tulalip Tribe was still somehow able to make their payroll, and that massive pre-4th logjam on Interstate 5 probably still occurred.

As Henry Gibson said in his song in the great Altman movie Nashville, "We must be doing something right to last 200 years." Over here you realize what an infintesimal drop in the bucket that 200 years really is (sorry to end with a preposition...sometimes it's just easier).

Jack, July 4th, 2007, Ródhos, Hellas, Europa

---o0o---

Datca, Turkey to Rhodes, Greece

The Isle of Rhodes


This morning we sailed from Datca, Turkey to the Island of Rhodes in Greece. It was a one hour boat ride across the sea.

This very minute I am sitting with Keelin at the cafe our hotel owner has outside the hotel. We are talking to him about the ruins of Greece...and he is expressing his anger and sadness that Turkey is not still part of Greece ("the part, not the east...that's the Kurds and others.").

I just asked him if other Greeks feel the same way. "No. Many are much more angry about this."


The castle of the Knights of Malta in Rhodes

It's nice to be back in Greece, after 26 years. Rhodes itself seems very European and Cosmopolitan, compared to mich of Turkey at least. In fact, Keelin and I are celebrating our return this afternoon (it's 5:30) with a glass of Retsina in the garden of our hotel. We were half our age when we came here last( a pre-honeymoon of sorts).

One thing that has definitely changed in Turkey is the money and the prices. When we were here in 1982, it was very very cheap. The currency was then based on the Greek drachma. They now use the Euro, and you can just imagine how the dollar is faring against the Euro. (a Euro is now worth about $1.60). More sticker shock. Since we got up at five AM, I spent much of the afternoon napping, and recovering from a touch of what you might call the Sultan's Revenge).

In case you're wondering about the Colossus of Rhodes (one of the "seven wonders of the world")...don't bother. Yes, this is where one of those seventh wonders was, but it no longer exists. It was destroyed in an earthquake fifty-four years after it was built. (According to the Wikipedia: "Media reports in 1989 initially suggested that large stones found on the seabed off the coast of Rhodes might have been the remains of the Colossus; however this theory was later shown to be without merit.

Another theory published in an article in 2008 by Ursula Vedder suggests that the Colossus was never in the port, but rather on a hill named Monte Smith, which overlooks the port area. The temple on top of Monte Smith has traditionally thought to have been devoted to Apollo, but according to Vedder, it would have been a Helios sanctuary. The enormous stone foundations at the temple site, the function of which is not definitively known by modern scholars, are proposed by Vedder to have been the supporting platform of the Colossus."
---o0o---