Reconstructing the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World with Coins

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World is a list of seven notable structures present during Classical Antiquity (between 8th century BC and the 5th Century AD). The first known list of the seven wonders dates back to the 2nd -1st century BC. They include, the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Colossus of Rhodes, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Temple of Artemis, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

                       

Claudius and the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, 41-54 AD.                      

There are countless avenues in collecting ancient coins. These are as per the collector's interests. A collection can be built around the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. This list was compiled in the 2nd century BC. Six of these seven original wonders no longer exist, which makes a coin collector focused on them even more intriguing. In fact, coins have been instrumental in the pursuit of reconstructing the Seven Wonders. They help us better understand what they looked like and appreciate why they were so meaningful to these ancient cultures.  

                       

Timeline, and the map of the Seven Wonders, Dates in bold green and dark red are of their construction and destruction, respectively.

                      

The Statue of Olympian Zeus, sculpted by Phidias in the 5th century BC, the statue of Zeus was the Ivory and gold talisman of the sanctuary at Olympia about 12.4 m (41 feet) tall made by sculptor Phidias around 435 BC. The statue was a chryselephantine sculpture of ivory plates and gold panels on a wooden framework Olympia was a major religious center, the proverbial ''hub of Hellas'' which hosted the Olympic Games every four years. The statue was lost and destroyed before the end of the 6th century AD.  At the center of this city was a massive Doric temple, which boasted within its walls a wonder of the world. Olympia was a bustling and wealthy center at which two mints struck silver coins bearing the images of Zeus. The original statue of Phidias is no longer extant, its portrait is believed to be preserved on silver staters of 416 BC. 

                         

Reconstruction of Phidias' statue of Zeus, engraving by Philippe Galle in 1572, from a drawing by Maarten van Heemskerck.

                       

Stater of Olympia showing Zeus and an eagle, 276-260 BC. weight 11.9 gm, Obverse: Head of Zeus right, wearing laurel wreath, Reverse: Eagle standing right on rock, FA flanking head, thunderbolt to left to right wreath. 

                       

The Stater shows the head of Phidias's Zeus.

                      

Alexander III, Drachm, silver, weight 4.2 gm, Obverse: Head of Herakles, wearing lion skin, Reverse: Zeus seated left, in left field, monogram above torch, Coin struck immediately after the death of Alexander the Great.

              

The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. Olympia was to Zeus as Ephesus was to the goddess Artemis. Ephesus, located in western Anatolia, remained an important site for religious pilgrimage for close to 1,000 years during the eras of the Greek and Romans. The ancient sanctuary played host to the kings Croesus and Alexander the Great, as well as to the Roman Emperors. The 4th century BC temple to Artemis was one of the most spectacular buildings in the Hellenistic sphere. The sanctuary's significance to the Greeks and the Romans is frequently reflected on Roman coins. Its image on coins has proven useful for understanding the structure, which today exists only in a few fragments It appears on the reverse of a medallic bronze, minted at Ephesus for Emperor Hadrian (117-138 AD) on which the temple has eight frontal columns and the statue inside. The small, round roof and details is believed to be an image of Medusa.  By AD 401 it had been ruined or destroyed. Only foundation and fragments of the temple remain at the site.

                        

Model of the Temple of Artemis, at Miniaturk Park, Istanbul, Turkey.

                         

The site of the Temple in 2017.
           

                       

Hadrian and the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus.            

                        

Claudius and the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. Claudius, 41-54 AD, silver, weight 11.0 gm, Obverse: Bare head of Claudius to left, Reverse: Temple on podium of four steps with cult statue of Diana of Ephesus.  

However, on the silver cistophorus minted nearly a century earlier under Emperor Claudius (AD 41-54), the temple is shown with four Ionic columns with scroll capitals. Square shapes that appear are believed to be windows. 

The Colossus of Rhodes. Not far from the Ephesus, just off the southwest coast of Asia Minor, was the island of Rhodes, home to the giant Colossus. Construction of this bronze statue, which depicted the Sun God Helios, perhaps began in 280 BC to commemorate the defeat of the Greek King Antigonus Monophthalmos. It stood at the entrance of the city's harbour as a reminder of victory and freedom from tyranny. The Colossus stood approximately 33 meters (108 feet) high, it collapsed during the earthquake of 226 BC. In 653 AD, the Arab force conquered Rhodes, and the statue was completely destroyed and remains sold. Many coins from Rhodes feature the image of Helios, as he was a patron of God on the Island. However, some scholars believe that silver didrachms attributed around 280 BC represent the head of the statue. 

                         

The Colossus as imagined in a 16th century engraving by Martin Heemskerck,  

                        

Head of Helios resembles the Colossus of Rhodes.

                        

Head of Helios from Rhodes. Carian Island, Rhodes, AD tetradrachm, weight 15.1 gm, Obverse: Head of Helios facing slightly right, hair parted in the center, Reverse: Rose with single bud on tendril to right, E to left bottom.

The Lighthouse of Alexandria was built at the mouth of the River Nile on the Mediterranean, perhaps as early as 280 BC, during the reign of Ptolemy II (280-247 BC). It has been estimated to have been at least 100 meters (330 feet) in height. For many centuries, it was one of the tallest man-made structures in the world. A 16-foot statue, most likely of Ptolemy II or Alexander the Great stood on the top.  As a valuable navigational aid, it stood for more than a millennium, until it was toppled by a series of earthquakes from 956 to1323 AD. Roman coins document the image of the Pharos with great refinement. These coins often use the Pharos to symbolize a powerful navy and a growing empire. It features prominently on a copper coin of 133 AD for Emperor Hadrian. The Pharos is depicted with Isis, patron goddess and keeper of the lighthouse. The coin reveals the design of the tower, with an entrance at the base, small windows on sides, a lantern room on top adorned with three statues. 

                       

Lighthouse of Alexandria by Philip Galle, 1572 AD, Rijksmuseum.

                         

The Pharos appears before the figure of the goddess Isis, who holds a billowed sail. AE Drachm, Hadrian, 133-134 AD, Alexandria mint, Obverse: Laureate head right, slight drapery on left shoulder, Reverse: Isis Pharia sailing right, holding sistrum, the Pharos Lighthouse to right with three figures on its summit.

                         

Bi-metallic medallion of Commodus shows the Pharos within a maritime composition.   

A more elaborate medallion issued by Emperor Commodus (AD 177-192), weight 60. gm, depicts several ships advancing towards the four-tiered lighthouse. 

The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, a tomb named for the Carian Satrap Maussollius, was a tomb built between 353 and 359 BC in Halicarnassus (present Bodrum, Turkey). The Mausoleum was 45 meters (148 feet) in height, and four sides were adorned with reliefs. It contained 400 freestanding sculptures. It was destroyed by successive earthquakes from 12th to 15th century. The word mausoleum has now come to be used generically for an above-ground tomb. and can be represented by silver coins of the 4th century BC, minted in the name of that famous ruler. 

                         

Model of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, at Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology.

                        

The word mausoleum is derived from the name of the Carian ruler, Maussollus, who issued this silver tetradrachm.

The coin depicts the crowned head of God Apollo on the Obverse and a figure of Zeus on the Reverse, with the inscription bearing the name of the Satrap to his side. 377-353 BC, weight 15.1 gm, Tetradrachm.

The Great Pyramid of Giza are the oldest of the Seven Wonders, and the only ones standing. Built 2600 BC, over a period of about 27 years, it is situated at the northeastern end of the three main pyramids at Giza. It was the tallest in the world from 2600 BC to 1311 AD, standing at 146 meters (481 feet). The earliest coins of Egypt were not minted until about 2,000 years after the construction of the Pyramids. So, a coin minted under the Persians, Greeks or Romans who ruled Egypt could stand in for the pyramids in a collection. One such silver tetradrachm, is depicting Ptolemy, Egypt, one of the first Greeks to rule over Egypt.

                          

The Great Pyramid in March 2005.

                     

The silver tetradrachm was issued for one of the first Greeks who ruled Egypt, Ptolemy I, 305-282 BC, Alexandria mint, Obverse: Diademed head of Ptolemy I right, wearing aegis around neck, Reverse: Eagle standing left on thunderbolt, wings closed, monogram to left.

  

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon are the only one of the Seven Wonders for which the location has not been definitively established.  There are no extant Babylonian texts that mention the gardens, and no definitive archaeological evidence has been found in Babylon. Three theories have been suggested. First, that they were purely mythical, second that they existed in Babylon, but were destroyed in the 1st century AD, and third, that the legend refers to a well-documented garden that the Assyrian King Sennacherib (704-681 BC) built in his capital city of Nineveh, near Mosul.  Some numismatics believe that the Hanging Gardens were located south and southeast of Babylon, at Susa, in the ancient kingdom of Elam. Archaeological evidence suggests that Elam was once a matriarchy, and its kings appeared to have had to descend from a favoured mother in order to inherit her throne. 

                        

The hand coloured engraving, made in the 19th century after the first excavations in the Assyrian capitals, depicts the Hanging Gardens.                

                               

Then there is the matter of the ''pellets'', the strange dash like markings on the reverse of these coins. The new theory suggests that the ''pellets'' are artistic renderings of the plants in the Hanging Gardens. 

Drachm, Phraates, Kingdom of Elymais, 100-150 AD, weight 3.7 gm, Dia 16 mm, Obverse: Long bearded bust of king facing left, wearing tiara decorated with pellets in crescent, diadem and earring, pellets in crescent and anchor behind bust, Reverse: Parallel dashes.