h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Well, here's the thread.

Here are some of my initial suggestions:

Structures: The Taj Mahal, the Colloseum, the Pantheon, the Great Wall of China, the Hagia Sophia...

Systems: Incan roads, Roman roads, Roman aquaducts...

Primitive: Easter Island statues, Stonehenge, the Nazca Lines...

Miscellenious: the Library of Alexandria, the Ming Treasure Fleet...


Any opinions on these? Any more ideas?

I wonder if natural wonders shouldn't be included as well? The edge of the Arctic and Antarctic ice shelf is one, perhaps Gilbralter, Victoria Falls, the Rockies, the Great Barrier Reef?

As far as man-made I would add the giant pictographs of Peru, the Millenium Tower in Indonesia, the CN tower in Toronto, Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower, Red Square, the temples of Ankor Wat, the Empire State Building, or the Dutch dams?

Ooh its ambitious. Why not start with a few from Civilization? I'll just filter out the modern ones...

The Great Lighthouse (is this the Pharos?)
The Oracle at Delphi
Copernicus' Observatory
Isaac Newton's College
J. S. Bach's Cathedral
Magellan's Expedition (not sure if that one would count really...)
Michelangelo's Chapel (Sistine Chapel I guess)
Shakespeare's Theatre
Great Library of Alexandria
Leonardo's Workshop
Marco Polo's Embassy (did this exist?)

A couple of corrections and oddities.

The Pantheon (above) should surely be the Parthenon?
The Mausoleum is the Tomb *of* Mausolus *at* Halicarnassus.
And the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were probably not at Babylon at all, but at Nineveh.

Suggestions.

The Temple of Karnak at Thebes in Egypt.
The Pyramid of the Sun
The Temple at Baalbek
Macchu Picchu (sp?)


Noggin

Cl Zoomer:

I don't think natural wonders ought to be on the same list because a) they weren't produced by human skill and b) I'm trying to stay true to the origional intent of the list--note that the origional 7 are all artificial.

"As far as man-made I would add the giant pictographs of Peru, the Millenium Tower in Indonesia, the CN tower in Toronto, Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower, Red Square, the temples of Ankor Wat, the Empire State Building, or the Dutch dams?"

I'm leaving out things made in the last two centuries because modern nechnology has made so many things possible that would have been rediculous to imagine in ancient times. A seperate list is needed for modern things.

The Dutch dams, Ankor Wat, the Nazca Lines (ie the pictographs in Peru) definitely belong. When wa Red Square constructed?

***********

Bouncy Bit:

The great lighthouse is the pharos. I've never heard of Marco Polo's embassy--I'll have to look into it (can anyone post a URL if they know of a website about it?) Magellin's expedition might fit in under miscellenious--after all, I already suggested Zeng He's treasure fleet. The others make sence, too--though maybe ancient ought to be taken out of the name.

*******
Noggin:

The Parthenon may belong on the list as well, but the Pantheon in Rome was one of the largest free domes built in ancient times, so I think it qualifies.

THanks for the correction about the maloseum.

I didn't know that about the hanging gardens. Still, I think we should use the origional name for clarity--maybe add "at Ninevah" to the end of the name.

THanks everyone--I'll add these to the proposed list.

nechnology???

Sorry, just teasing (knew it was a typo but it still struck me as funny). I like this thread and am still thinking of things to add. I agree that natural wonders are outside this particular list of yours. Anyhow, will think a bit and get back . . .

az

I did a quick check on Marco Polo. He wasn't in any way responsible for building an embassy, instead he was part of a papal embassy to China. Back in the day and all. IMO not good enough to get in, after all the Chinese had already visited China I'm sure. Blame Sid Meier.

<>

Yeah, I hit the "h" and "n" keys (they're sort of next to each other when I meant to hit the "k" key. It should have been neckology--the study of necks.


---btw, if noone noticed, I'm adding people who contribute suggestions to the researcher list on this entry.

<>

I agree about not listing it. Also, I checked on Encarta and couldn't find any reference to Copernicus having an observatory, so I assumed that was supposed to be a reference to Tycho Brahe's observatory at Uraniborg.

I also added the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Should the Walls of Constantinople qualify as a building or as a system?

Although the Tower of Pisa is certainly a wonder, I'm not sure it should be included since it's more an example of human un-skill?

Unfortunately, I can't think of anything new to add to the list at the moment, but I'll try!

<>

I'll put it up; we can vote on it when the time comes.

BTW, I think the best way to handle voting, since the list will have 70 items (not counting the seven obligatory origionals) may be negative voting. Once we have over 70 non-traditional items, we vote things off the list to keep it down to 70. If something new is added then, something else will have to be voted off.

The Terracotta Army should certainly be included.

What about those big statues of the Buddha in Afghanistan (that got blown up a few years back)? And isn't there one on top of a mountain in Ceylon somewhere?

The Potala Palace/Monastery
Great Zimbabwe
And that big dam in Yemen (Not very precise, I know, but the name escapes me just now)

Noggin

oh darn! Noggin beat me to the Buddha statue suggestion - I may never get my name on the contributors list!



az

What about the Silk Road? Though I'm not quite sure what category it would come under.

Noggin

I saw a show once about this pyramid in China that had such a wide base and shallow slope that from the ground it seems like just a huge hill, and buried in the earth surrounding the pyramid were many, many rows of statues of soldiers and other people. Is that what Noggin means by the "Terracotta Army"? If not, this should be added as well, though I'll have to look up the name.

Noggin:

I agree about the Terracotta Army--but I'm going to look it up and see if it has a name--all I remember is I think the Qin emperor was responsible for it.

Do we need a catagory for statues, maybe? I'm not sure how to classify the big Buddhas.

As for Ceylon--all I know comes from and Arthur C. Clarke SF book--I'll have to look it up, it may not be quite real. Something about Kalidasa.

<> What's that? Nevermind, I'll look it up.

Great Zimbabwe--Which catagory do you think it goes in? It's either a structure or in the "primative" catagory; I don't know enough about it to be sure.

<> Let me know when you know it; I've never heard of it so I can't look it up really.

The silk road might be a system--but do trade routes count? We'll have to vote on it--everyone let me know your opinion in your next post.

*****
MuseSusan:

That's the terricota army you're describing, unless I'm much confused about what Noggin means.

*****
Azahar:

I'll add you to the list, and MuseSusan, too, since you two tried to suggest things, but got beaten by such a short time.

Ah, it's the Dalai Lama's palace. Good one. But I still need to find out about Ceylon and Yemen.

Ceylon, you probably mean the Monastary on Sri Pada (Adam's Peak).

That's probably what I'm thinking of.

And I'm sure MS's army of statues is the same as I mean by the Terracotta Army.

I don't know if you need a separate category for statues - but Zeus Olympus (and presumably the Colossus of Rhodes) are statues. You could add the colossi of Rameses II at Abu Simbel as well.

The Silk Road is a tricky one, but the richest cities in the world at the time were on it - Bakht, Samarkand, Tashkent and others.

Noggin