Product Details

• Actors: John Romer
• Directors: Peter Spry-Leverton
• Writers: John Romer
• Producers: Peter Spry-Leverton, Nicholas Barton
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Live / Artisan
• VHS Release Date: June 27, 2000
• Run Time: 95 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0784017298
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #284,199 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The Seven Wonders of the World were chosen in the second century B.C., and little is left but ancient descriptions. Still, antiquities scholar John Romer takes viewers on a vibrant tour of the locations of three of the legends, ably assisted by paintings and artistic models. First it's off to modern-day Iraq, said to be the site of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Walking through the streets that once looked upon the palace walls from which the exquisite flora were said to have grown, Romer details the debate over whether the gardens ever existed. Then it's on to Turkey, to view the scattered remains of the gigantic Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, built to honor a woman who inspired cult-like devotion. He recounts the dogged efforts of an obsessed English couple to uncover the ruins. Then it's a visit to the only one of the seven still substantially in existence today: the Pyramids of Giza. In an epilogue to this 87-minute tape from The Learning Channel, Romer explores artwork and structures inspired by the seven wonders, from a Las Vegas gambling casino to a garden amidst sculptures of monster heads. Volume 1 examines the remaining four wonders. --Kimberly Heinrichs

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars David Lawson, August 22, 2003

By 

D. D Lawson (Pasadena, Calif. USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Seven Wonders of the World - Vol. 2 [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The Mr. Romer really knows his stuff and presents it with the heart of a poet. You can not help but be seduced by his love of history coupled with good humor. The man takes you places that most people can only dream of and makes you feel that you are there yourself.

2 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not focused on topic, November 29, 2003

By 

Raphael Collin "Rafe" (Jersey City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Seven Wonders of the World - Vol. 1 [VHS] (VHS Tape)

John Romer has replaced the traditional "talking heads" in historical documentaries with a single head, his own, and he is always talking. Unfortunately, half of what he says has nothing to do with the Seven Wonders. Romer incessantly repeats a few pet phrases: "the ancestor of all ...", "here we find the origins of the modern world ..." Nothing can simply be of its own time; everything must be relevant to our modern lives. The video makes a visually attractive and intellectually stimulating introduction to the multi-cultural world of the Hellenistic Greeks, but it can go for ten minutes without a mention of its nominal subject: the Seven Wonders. Without a real focus, the film comes to seem more a meandering home video of Romer's summer vacation traveling about the Mediterranean.