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Post by simon darkshade on Aug 3, 2021 11:12:01 GMT
How can as many of the Great Wonders of the Ancient World survive to the present day?
What would the consequences be?
Specifically, what would be the result of a surviving Great Library?
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stevep
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Post by stevep on Aug 3, 2021 12:13:12 GMT
How can as many of the Great Wonders of the Ancient World survive to the present day? What would the consequences be? Specifically, what would be the result of a surviving Great Library?
Well I can't really see the Colossus of Rhodes surviving, nor the Pharos of Alexandria due to problems with earthquakes in those regions. That's what gave the Colossus such a short life-span OTL.
Of the others the temples of Zeus and Diana/Artemis were religious so it really needs their religions continuing to survive. Or at least not be replaced by a bitterly exclusive system like the Abrahamic faiths which would be committed to stamping out such alternatives as unacceptable to them. Also Ephesus, where Artemis's temple was seems to have suffered from the silting up of the harbour so it could have ended up as a largely isolated backwater - which might have saved it from attack but left it somewhat dilapidated.
According to its wiki entry the Mausoleum_at_Halicarnassus was also destroyed by earthquakes although it seems to have lasted until the 12th-15th centuries. Possibly again with more stability in the region might have helped. Especially since much of the remains seem to have been plundered by the Knights of St John to build a fortress nearby to oppose the Turks from 1494 onward.
Other that the Great Pyramid at Gaza, of the formal 7 ancient wonders that only leaves the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Reading the wiki link for this its the only wonder that we don't know the location of for which there are three theories.
Assuming that they did exist then their survival would really need the survival of the city, either Babylon or Nineveh which would be a real challenge in the latter case given the violence of the destruction of the Assyrian empire. If they actually existed in Babylon that might be the best option although apart from other items of decline I think the city was largely depopulated when the remaining population moved to the Seleucid capital of Seleucia in 275BC.
In terms of other great wonders of the ancient world a lot would depend on circumstances, especially political and religious. You mentioned the Library of Alexandria but there is uncertainty as to when it was destroyed and by whom. Again there are a number of problems here Library_of_Alexandria. As such it appears that problems occurred even before Julius's accidental destruction of part of it in 48BC and a gradual decline followed. You would need greater stability in Egypt, or whoever ruled the country and also a longer lasting prestige for the institution which is possible. Possibly also differences in religious development as again Abrahamic faiths tended to be hostile to earlier teachings and sources.
Anyway a longer post than I intended and it looks rather dubious that several of the wonders, or the Library could survive until the present day without major political/religious changes. Earthquakes also seem to have doomed three of them although under different circumstances possibly the Mausoleum could have been repaired and maintained if protected.
Steve
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