Seven Wonders of the Ancient World Essay Example Essay Example

Seven Wonders of the Ancient World Essay Example Paper Seven Wonders of the Ancient World Essay Introduction The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus was the tomb of king Mausolus. Halicarnassus (Modern Bodrum, Turkey) was the capital of a small Mediterranean kingdom. In 377 B. C. , Hecatomnus of Mylasa, the ruler of this land, died and left control of the kingdom to his son, Mausolus. Mausolus’ reign lasted for 24 years. He loved and adored the Greek culture and founded several cities of Greek design along the coast. In 353 B. C. , Mausolus died, leaving his queen Artemisia broken hearted. She decided to build the most splendid tomb in the known world as a tribute to him. The tomb became so famous that Mausolus’s name is now associated with all stately tombs throughout the world as Mausoleum. It became one of the seven wonders of the ancient world because of its rich statuary and carvings in relief. Artemisia sent messengers to Greece to find the most talented sculptors; she decided that no expense was to be spared in building the tomb. The tomb was errected on a hill overlooking the c ity. Seven Wonders of the Ancient World Essay Body Paragraphs The entire structure sat in the center of an enclosed courtyard on a stone platform. A staircase, flanked with stone lions, led to the top of this platform. There were many statues of gods and godesses along the outer wall of the courtyard. The tomb was guarded by stone warriors mounted on horseback at each corner stone. [pic] The tomb itself was at the center of the platform. The marble structure rose as a square, tapering block to about one-third of the Mausoleum’s 1140 feet height. This section was covered wit relief sculptures showing action scenes from Greek mythology. Thirty-six slim columns rose on top of this section for another third of the height. Between each column were more statues. A solid block behind the columns carried the weight of the tomb’s massive roof. [pic] Map showing the layout of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus Artemisia died two years after Mausolus’s death. Both of them were buried in the yet unfinished tomb. The craftsmen took up the r esponsibility of completing the structure. The Mausoleum overlooked the city for several centuaries before it was damaged and destroyed by attacks from pirates, invaders and series of earthquakes. Very similar to this ancient wonder is the Taj mahal in India. TAJ MAHAL Like the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Taj was built in the memory of Shah Jahaan’s beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal. It was and still continues to be a symbol of eternal love. The Taj also is a marble structure standing on the banks of River Yamuna. It rises ona high sandstone base topped by four tappering minarets. The jewel-inlaid cenotaph of the queen lies within the dome. The design on the stucture is said to be so exquisite that the Taj has been described as â€Å" having been designed by giants and finished by jewellers† pic] STATUE OF ZEUS [pic] The statue of Zeus is located in Peloponnesus. The statue stands 40 feet high and is made of ivory and gold. Zeus is depicted sitting with olive wreath on hi s head, a sceptre (with an eagle sitting on it) in his left hand, and his messenger Nike in his right hand. The temple is built on a raised rectangular platform. Thirteen large columns support the roof along the sides and six support it on each end. A gently peaked roof the topped the building, which was filled with sculpture. However, now the statue stands destroyed by numerous earthquakes and conquests. SHIVA STATUE AT MURUDESHWARA [pic] The Shiva statue at Murudeshawara is very similar to the statue of Zeus. However, in this case, the statue is outside the temple. The statue of Shiva measures 123 feet in height. The statue is constructed in such a way that it gets sun light and thus appears sparkling. The temple has the tallest gopura in the world too. It is 249 feet high and is called the Raja Gopura. There are other small statues surrounding the main Shiva statue. There is one depicting Ravan giving the atma-lingam to a Brahman. There are many statues of elephants (life size ), and the holy bull, Nandi. TEMPLE OF ARTEMIS [pic] The temple of Artemis was built in the honour of Artemis. It is 425 feet long and 225 feet wide. The foundation of the temple was rectangular in form, similar to most temples at the time. Unlike other sanctuaries, however, the building was made of marble, with a decorated facade overlooking a spacious courtyard. 127 columns, each of which is 60 feet high, support the roof. This temple was built and destroyed several times. The temple was built in such a way that one could see the other side through the temple; it was like a hollow structure. Thus, when the sun rose and set it felt as though it was happening inside the temple. PARTHENON [pic] The Parthenon was built for the Greek goddess, Athena. Structurally, it is very similar to the temple of Artemis at Ephesus. The Parthenon is a temple of the Doric order with eight columns at the facade, and seventeen columns at the flanks, conforming to the established ratio of 9:4. This ratio governed the vertical and horizontal proportions of the temple as well as many other relationships of the building like the spacing between the columns and their height. The Parthenon, in comparison with the temple of Artemis however, is only 100 feet wide, 230 feet long, and has 58 pillars. Ubud Hanging Gardens, Bali If Babylon’s ancient Hanging Gardens existed today, they could definitely look something like this. Perched around an Eden-like gorge are 38 serene villas, a soothing double-tiered pool, and a Hindu temple; you’ll need to take a funicular from reception to your suite, and most everywhere else (though a few hundred stairs will take you to the bottom of the valley if you are up to adventure. Each villa has its own private heated infinity pool, looking out over the verdant gardens of the valley and bordered by an outdoor terrace. There is step greenery and vegetation just like the supposedly floored gardens of Babylon. It is today one of the hottest tourist destinations in Bali. [pic] [pic]Bottom of Form The Lighthouse of Alexandria, Egypt. (Ancient wonder) [pic] One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Lighthouse of Alexandria was built in 200 BC on the small island of Pharos and was connected to the mainland by a massive causeway. Thought to have stood 492 feet high, it is considerably taller than any modern-day lighthouses. Though it has been lost in the pages of history and there is no concrete proof about whether it really existed or not, many claim you could see the light beacon from 35 miles away and that the structure had unique Roman features including a statue of Poseidon, a mirror that would reflect the sunlight, four statues of Triton on each corner and a church located at the top. Unfortunately, after years of destruction from earthquakes, the building collapsed in the 4th century, most probably due to an earthquake. The lighthouse served the purpose of warning the ships and showing them the way. At that time, it was an architectural marvel, indigenous and with a well-defined new idea. Lighthouse of Alexandria, Shenzhen, China. The Window of the World is a theme park located in the western part of the city of Shenzhen in the People’s Republic of China. It has about 130 reproductions of some of the most famous tourist attractions in the world including an exact replica of the Lighthouse of Alexandria. Built by an eccentric businessman, it does or does not do justice to the original monument that has long been destroyed, is debatable. The monument though has been built to scale in comparison of the original Lighthouse of Alexandria. Due to the prevalence of other replicas of ancient wonders and modern wonders of the world, Window of the World is a major tourist hotspot of Shenzhen. [pic] The inspiration for the statue of liberty the Colossus of Rhodes. How often do New Yorkers and other Americans gaze at the Statue of liberty with pride and amazement! Standing on a small island in the harbour, the statue is of a robed and crowned woman, holding a book in one hand and lifting a torch to the sky. The statue measures almost one-hundred and twenty feet from foot to crown. This awe-inspiring statue was a gift from France to America as a symbol of friendship. It is often referred to as â€Å"The modern colossus. † However what most people don’t know is that there stood an ancient statue in Rhodes named â€Å"The Colossus of Rhodes†; The original colossus. Like the Statue of Liberty, this colossus was also built as a celebration of freedom. This amazing statue, standing the same height from toe to head as the modern colossus, was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The statue was built sometime between 292-280 BC to celebrate the surprising victory of Rhodesians against many attackers. It was the statue of HELIUS The Sun God to The Rhodesians. The engineering of the colossus was done by a local sculptor named Harrays. First a wooden frame was made and then bronze plates of over 200 tons were put up surrounding it. This took about 12 years and innumerable labour to complete the construction. However in about 226 BC there was an earthquake in Rhodes that the statue couldn’t survive. On the other hand The Statue of Liberty was built around 2000 years later and still stands with pride looking over the sea. [pic] | | | | The inspiration for the pyramids of louvre- Paris. The pyramids of Giza. The Great Pyramids were built between 2650-2500BC. It is said that they were a tomb of Pharaoh Khufu. They are located in Giza, Egypt. The largest pyramid is 756 feet long on each side and 450 feet high and is composed of 2,300,000 blocks of stone, each averaging 2 1/2 tons in weight. The sides are oriented to the four cardinal points of the compass and the length of each side at the base is 755 feet (230. 4 m). They rise at an angle of 51 52†² to a height, originally, of 481 feet (147 m) but nowadays 451 feet (138 m). D espite the makers’ limited surveying tools, no side is more than 8 inches different in length than another, and the whole structure is perfectly oriented to the points of the compass. Even in the 19th century, it was the tallest building in the world and, at the age of 4,500 years, it is the only one of the famous â€Å"Seven Wonders of the Ancient World† that still stands. Even today it remains the most massive building on Earth. About 4000 years later, in 1989 The pyramid of Louvre museum was built by the renowned American architect I. M. Pei. This time a pyramid made up of crystal clear glass to allow the sunlight to come in on the underground floor. It is made up of rhombus shaped glass sheets fitted in a triangular shaped framework. The modern addition originally received mixed reviews, as it contrasts sharply with the classical design of the surrounding buildings of the museum of Louvre, but today it is generally accepted as a clever solution which has given the museum a spacious central entrance without the need to touch the historic patrimony. Surprisingly it too serves as an entrance to the museum like the pyramids of Giza serve as entrances to the tomb of Pharaoh Khufu. Hence because of the similarities one comes to believe that it was built by the inspiration by the pyramids of Giza. 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Jay’s Treaty, Between Britain and the U.S.

Jay’s Treaty, Between Britain and the U.S. Jay’s Treaty was an agreement between the United States and Great Britain signed on November 19, 1794 intended to avert war and resolve issues between the two countries that had lingered since the end of the American Revolutionary War. While it was unpopular with the American public, the treaty succeeded in ensuring a decade of peaceful and mutually profitable trade between the United States and Britain during the French Revolutionary Wars. The treaty was signed by President George Washington on November 19, 1794 and approved by the U.S. Senate on June 24, 1795. It was then ratified by the British Parliament and took effect on February 29, 1796. Officially titled, â€Å"Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation, Between His Britannic Majesty and the United States of America,† and also called â€Å"Jay Treaty,† the pact draws its name from John Jay, its chief U.S. negotiator. Key Takeaways: Jay's Treaty Jay’s Treaty was a diplomatic agreement reached in 1794 between the United States and Great Britain.Jay’s Treaty was intended to resolve disputes between the two nations that remained after the 1783 Treaty of Paris had ended the American Revolutionary War.The treaty was signed on November 19, 1794, approved by the U.S. Senate on June 24, 1795, and approved by the British Parliament, thus placing it into full effect on February 29, 1796.The treaty draws its name from its chief U.S. negotiator, first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Jay.   Bitter objections to the treaty by the French government led to the XYZ Affair of 1797 and the 1798 Quasi-War with France. In the United States, political conflict over ratification of the treaty contributed to the creation of America’s first two political parties: the pro-treaty Federalist Party, led by Alexander Hamilton, and the anti-treaty Democratic-Republican Party led by Anti-federalists Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. International Issues Driving Jay’s Treaty After the American Revolutionary War ended, tensions between the United States and Great Britain remained understandably high. Specifically, three main issues remained unresolved even after the 1783 Treaty of Paris had ended military hostilities: Goods exported from America were still being blocked by Britain’s wartime trade restrictions and tariffs. At the same time, British imports were flooding American markets, leaving the U.S. facing a significant trade deficit.  Ã‚  British troops were still occupying several forts on U.S.-claimed territory from the Great Lakes region to modern-day Ohio, which they had agreed to vacate in the Treaty of Paris. The British occupation of the forts left American frontier settlers living in those territories open to recurrent attacks by Indian tribes.Britain continued to seize American ships carrying military supplies and force or â€Å"impress† the American sailors into the service of the British Royal Navy to fight against France. When France went to war with Great Britain in 1793, the long period of global peace that had helped the newly-independent United States flourish in both trade and revenue ended. America’s intent to remain neutral in the European war was tested when between 1793 and 1801, the British Royal Navy, without warning, captured nearly 250 American merchant ships carrying goods from French colonies in the West Indies. The combination of these and other lingering issues and animosities brought the U.S. and Britain back to the brink of war in the late 1700s. US Response and Politics The American public was outraged, especially by Britain’s seizure of American ships, cargo, and impressment of sailors. In Congress, Thomas Jefferson demanded passage of a declaration of war. James Madison, however, called for a trade embargo on all British goods as a more moderate response. At the same time, British officials made matters even worse by selling rifles and other weapons to the First Nations Indian tribes near the Canadian- American border and telling their leaders that they no longer needed to respect the border. American political leaders were bitterly divided on how to respond. Led by Jefferson and Madison, the Democratic-Republicans favored aiding the French in its war with Britain. However, Hamilton’s Federalists argued that negotiating for peaceful relations with Britain- especially trade relations- could turn the British into a lasting and powerful ally. President George Washington agreed with Hamilton and sent Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Jay to London to negotiate an all-encompassing treaty- Jay’s Treaty. Negotiations and Terms of the Treaty Despite his well-known command of diplomacy, Jay faced a daunting negotiating task in London. He believed that his best bargaining chip was the threat that America would assist the neutral Danish and the Swedish governments in preventing the British from forcibly seizing their goods. However, what Jay did not know was that in a well-intentioned attempt to establish good-will with Britain, Hamilton had independently informed British leadership that the U.S. government had no intention of helping any of the neutral European nations. In doing this, Hamilton left Jay with little clout in demanding concessions from the British. When Jay’s Treaty was finally signed in London on November 19, 1794, the American negotiators had won only two immediate concessions. The British agreed to vacate its forts in the northern United States territories by June 1796. In addition, Britain agreed to grant the United States the advantageous â€Å"most favored nation† trading status, but greatly limited U.S. trade to emerging lucrative markets in the British West Indies.   Most other outstanding issues, including British seizures of American ships and repayment of U.S. pre-Revolutionary War debts to Britain, were left to be decided later through the relatively new process of international arbitration. Jay was forced to concede that during the undefined period of arbitration, Britain could continue to seize U.S. goods headed for France on American ships if they paid for them and could seize French goods transported on American ships without payment. However, Jay failed in his attempt to negotiate an end to Britain’s impressment of American sailors into the Royal Navy, a sore point which would slowly fester into a key issue driving the War of 1812. While the American public, feeling it overly advantageous to Britain loudly objected to Jay’s Treaty, it passed in the U.S. Senate by a 20 to 10 vote on June 24, 1795. Despite the many objections against doing so, President Washington implemented the treaty, considering it to be the price of a period of peace during which the United States could rebuild its funds and military forces in the event of future conflicts. Jay’s Treaty and Indian Rights Article III of Jay’s Treaty granted all Indians, American citizens, and Canadian subjects the perpetual right to freely travel between the United States and Canada, then a British territory, for purposes travel or trade. Since then, the United States has honored this agreement by codifying its provision in Section 289 of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, as amended. As a result of Jay’s Treaty, â€Å"Native Indians born in Canada are therefore entitled to enter the United States for the purpose of employment, study, retirement, investing, and/or immigration.† Today, Article III of Jay’s Treaty is cited as the basis of many legal claims filed against the U.S. and Canadian governments by Indians and Indian tribes. Impact and Legacy of Jay’s Treaty Historians generally agree that in terms of modern international diplomacy, Jay got the â€Å"short end of the stick,† by having achieved only two minor immediate concessions from the British. However, as Historian Marshall Smelser points out, Jay’s Treaty did achieve President Washington’s primary goal- preventing another war with Great Britain, or at least delaying that war until the United States could become financially, politically, and militarily able to fight it.   In 1955, historian Bradford Perkins conclude that Jay’s treaty brought the United States and Great Britain from within a sword’s point of war in 1794 to the brink of the true and lasting friendship and cooperation that endures today. â€Å"Through a decade of world war and peace, successive governments on both sides of the Atlantic were able to bring about and preserve a cordiality which often approached genuine friendship,† he wrote.   Sources Bemis, Samuel Flagg. â€Å"Jays Treaty and the Northwest Boundary Gap. Harvard College Library First Nations and Native Americans United States Embassy, Consular Services Canada.Karl S. Hele.Lines Drawn upon the Water: First Nations and the Great Lakes Borders and Borderlands Wilfrid Laurier University PressElkins, Stanley M. and Eric McKitrick. The Age of Federalism: The Early American Republic, 1788–1800 February 1, 1995. Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN-13: 978-0195093810Smelser, Marshall. The Democratic Republic, 1801-1815 Waveland Press. March 1, 1992. ISBN-13: 978-0881336689Perkins, Bradford. The First Rapprochement: England and the United States, 1795–1805 University of California Press. ISBN-13: 978-052000998

Fredrickson's Various Models Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Fredrickson's Various Models - Essay Example Sherman Alexie’s assimilation story revolves around an Indian woman named Mary Lynn. She is married to a white man, Jeremiah, and they are blessed with three children. Due to conflicting cultures, she finds herself at a cross-road since she cannot find her own identity (McClinton-Temple & Velie 44). Her husband is such a racist man who even extends his hatred of other ethnic groups onto his own sons. He only loves his daughter who looks more like him. In addition, he does not just associate with all the whites, but with a subset of people, most of them being educated and affluent whites. He, however, successfully manages to get rid of some social burdens in one way or the other. Lynn spent most of her free time listening to Indian songs. This means that she could not let her culture go off her. Jeremiah believes that his wife can be fully assimilated into the white culture, if only she changes her behaviors and attitudes (McClinton-Temple & Velie 44). Ethnic Hierarchy  The a ncient American society categorized ethnic groups into different levels and classes. There was the predominant group, the whites, who are perceived as superior to other ethnic groups. The whites claimed that other ethnic groups were unfit and unready to acquire equal rights and full citizenship (Frederickson 633). Frederick’s hierarchical model can be traced back to the colonial period when blacks were enslaved and Indians were conquered. From Alexie’s assimilation story, it is obvious that all the problems that existed.... Lynn spent most of her free time listening to Indian songs. This means that she could not let her culture go off her. Jeremiah believes that his wife can be fully assimilated into the white culture, if only she changes her behaviors and attitudes (McClinton-Temple & Velie 44). Ethnic Hierarchy The ancient American society categorized ethnic groups into different levels and classes. There was the predominant group, the whites, who are perceived as superior to other ethnic groups. The whites claimed that other ethnic groups were unfit and unready to acquire equal rights and full citizenship (Frederickson 633). Frederick’s hierarchical model can be traced back to the colonial period when blacks were enslaved and Indians were conquered. From Alexie’s assimilation story, it is obvious that all the problems that existed between Jeremiah and Lynn were triggered by their cultural and religious differences. None of them was willing to abandon his or her culture and adopt other p eople’s culture. This is the reason why Lynn cheated on her husband with a fellow Indian man (McClinton-Temple & Velie 44). In the early 20th century, Americans of English ancestry, the dominant group, were not simply whites but Anglo-Saxon White Protestants. Mary Lynn found it difficult to accept and adopt Anglo-Saxon’s culture her husband belongs to; because she believes she does not qualify to join the dominant group. Jeremiah, on the other hand, believes that her wife can get fully assimilated into their culture if she changes her behaviors (McClinton-Temple & Velie 44). In the contemporary American society, the presence of socially deprived, physically unsafe and improvised barrios, ghettos and Indian reservations, indicate that