I found out that the original 7 wonders were of the ancient world, dated from hundreds of years BC that was recorded by a lot of historians including Herodotus and Callimachus. Originally, the Greeks didn’t call them “wonders” but “theamata”, which translates closer to “must-sees”.
These were the wonders that was in the novel i read.they are;
- the Great Pyramid of Giza
- Hanging Gardens of Babylon (at which some people say never really exist since there are no records)
- the Temple of Artemis
- the ever famous Statue of Zeus at Olympia
- the Mausoleum of Mausolus
- Colossus of Rhodes
- the Lighthouse of Alexandria
The story of each wonder itself was very interesting and according to the writer, he got his idea by reading those facts. He really did his research on the subject. Therefore, I did my own internet search solely on the Hanging Gardens because it piqued my interest and found out many interesting facts about it. For example, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon was built as a token of love by Nebuchadnezzar II for his home sick wife. This is my most favorite wonder of all because of it’s mystery.Tthere are no recorded Babylonian document from that time stating the existence of this most spectacular garden. Some say that it was the imagination of poets and ancient historians that blended all these elements from the places that they have been to produce one of the World Wonders since they themselves have never really seen it-I think(heck, it might have just been a normal garden,only filled with exotic flowers and fruits…but then how can it be hanging???).
Different poets described the basics the same…that it is above ground level but that is all to it. They then vary on describing it in particular. fruits and flowers… Waterfalls… Gardens hanging from the palace terraces… Exotic animals… this is the picture of the hanging gardens of Babylon in most people’s minds. It may be surprising to know that they might have never existed except in the minds of Greek poets and historians!
Most historians described it like a normal garden, elaborating only on how indescribably beautiful it was but the foundation of the garden is always on solid ground. But then if it is so, is it still considered as a “hanging” garden? There must be a reason why they call it the “hanging” garden instead of the “elevated” garden. True, since it was translated from a different language, it might not really mean hanging but overhanging…in which case is already a different story. I mean, what is so interesting about an overhanging garden that it became one of the wonders of the ancient world? the fact that such a garden could grow in the plain terrains of Mesopotamia? if they had created a system that could water the lands, anything could grow…cant it???
So this is where creativity kicks in. What if, just for the sake of creative argument, we take the word “hanging” literally? How would the garden look like then? The writer described it as a garden carved into a very large stalactite hanging from a huge cavern, therefore having the name the hanging garden. Hence, maybe, that is the reason why nobody ever actually saw the garden before since it might be hidden inside a mountain. Whatever it is, this book would be a must read for those who likes fast-paced action and for those who would like to feel a twisted sense of reality.
Implementation of syllabus:
In this post, I tried to apply the six thinking hats. at the beginning of the post, i put on the white hat and tried to be neutral. i tried to find out facts after reading the novel to find out which was true and which was not. later on, i put on the green hat and tried to follow the writer to think creatively. since there is no recorded account on how the garden actually looked like, we used word definition and took the word "hanging" in it's literal meaning, and try to envisioned how the garden would look like then.
No comments:
Post a Comment