Seven Wonders Of The New World

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The New Seven Wonders Of The World Matthew Smith M/W 7:30 The new seven wonders of the world, how mysterious are they? Do the ones that have been hand picked deserve the title as wonder of the world? Maybe not as wonderful as the statue of Zeus or the hanging gardens of Babylon, but these new wonders are worth looking into discovering their secrets. The Chichen Itza was a Maya civilization founded in 400 AD and is located seventy five miles from the city of Merida, Mexico. Chichen standing for “at the mouth of the well of Itza,” and Chi standing for ‘mouth’, Chen for ‘well’, and Itza for ‘the Itza tribe’. (Famouswonders.com) It is believed that people were thrown from the top of the main temple as a sacrifice to make their God happy, and if you were to live you were believed to be a seer. Like most other Maya temple cities built in this time they were positioned according to the astrological signs. One section of Chichen Itza called Grupo de las Mil Columnas, which means group of a thousand columns and was used as an arcade. This area of the temple city spreads three hundred and sixty three feet. The Observatorio or Observatory in Chichen Itza, called Caracol was quite sophisticated for its time. This structure really allows one to appreciate the scientific and astronomical achievements of the Mayan civilization. A church was also apart of this magnificent city, it was called La Iglesia. The building was made from stone and had images imprinted of the Rain-God Chaac imprinted into the stone. Temple of Kukulkan or Pyramid of Kukulcan, the main temple in Chichen Itza is one of the most interesting structures in the city. The staircase is lined with stone statue heads of the Mayan God Kukalcan (Feathered serpant) all down the sides of the steps. Pelota Court is the ball court in Chichen Itza. Today it is one of the best perserved and also largest ball courts in

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