The Seven Wonders of the World, also known as the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (simply known as Seven Wonders), is a list of notable classical antiquity structures given by various authors in guidebooks or poems popular among ancient Hellenic tourists. Although the list did not become stable until the Renaissance, the first lists of seven wonders date from the 2nd–1st centuries BC. The original list spawned countless variations over the years, with seven entries being the most common. Only one of the original Seven Wonders, the Great Pyramid of Giza, the oldest of the ancient wonders, is still relatively intact. The list only included sculptural and architectural monuments from the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern regions, which comprised the Greeks’ known world at the time. Check the list of The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
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The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
As a result, extant sites outside of this realm were not included in contemporary accounts. The primary accounts, which came from Hellenistic writers, also had a large influence on the locations included in the list of wonders. Five of the seven entries honor Greek achievements in the arts and architecture (the exceptions being the Pyramids of Giza and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon). The incredible works of art and architecture known as the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World serve as a testament to human ingenuity, imagination, and sheer hard work. They are also reminders of humanity’s capacity for disagreement, destruction, and, possibly, embellishment.
When ancient writers compiled a list of “seven wonders,” it became fodder for debate over which accomplishments deserved to be included. The original list comes from Philo of Byzantium’s work On The Seven Wonders, written in 225 B.C. Human hands eventually joined forces with natural forces to destroy all but one of the wonders. Furthermore, it is possible that one or more of the wonders did not exist at all. Nonetheless, all seven continue to inspire and be celebrated as remarkable products of Earth’s early civilizations’ creativity and skill. Read about The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
1. Great Pyramid of Giza, Egypt
The Great Pyramid of Giza, located on the west bank of the Nile River north of Cairo in Egypt, is the only ancient world wonder that has survived to the present day. It is one of three pyramids–Khufu (Cheops), Khafra (Chephren), and Menkaura (Mycerimus)–that were built as royal tombs between 2700 and 2500 B.C. The largest and most impressive is Khufu, also known as “The Great Pyramid,” which covers 13 acres and is thought to contain over 2 million stone blocks weighing between two and 30 tonnes each. Khufu was the world’s tallest building for more than 4,000 years. In fact, modern man did not build a taller structure until the nineteenth century.
2. Hanging Gardens of Babylon
According to Greek poets, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were built around 600 B.C. by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II near the Euphrates River in modern-day Iraq. The gardens were said to be planted up to 75 feet in the air on a massive square brick terrace laid out in steps like a theatre. The king is said to have built the towering gardens to alleviate his lover Amytis’ homesickness for the natural beauty of her home in Media (the northwestern part of modern-day Iran). Later writers described how visitors could walk beneath the lovely gardens, which were supported by tall stone columns.
3. Statue of Zeus at Olympia
The famous statue of Zeus, the king of the gods in Greek Mythology, was created by the Athenian sculptor Phidias and completed and installed in the temple of Zeus at Olympia, the site of the ancient Olympics, around the mid-fifth century B.C. The statue depicted the thunder god sitting bare-chested on a wooden throne. Two carved sphinxes, mythical creatures with the head and chest of a woman, the body of a lion, and the wings of a bird, held up the thrones’ armrests. Zeus’ statue was lavishly decorated with gold and ivory. It was 40 feet tall, and its head nearly touched the top of the temple.
4. Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
There was more than one Temple of Artemis: a series of altars and temples were destroyed and then rebuilt on the same site in Ephesus, a Greek port city on modern-day Turkey’s west coast. The most spectacular of these structures were two marble temples constructed around 550 and 350 B.C., respectively. The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus was described by the writer Antipater of Sidon as “apart from Olympus, the Sun never looked on anything so grand.”
5. Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, located in what is now southeastern Turkey, was a tomb built by Artemisia for her husband, Mausolus, king of Carnia in Asia Minor, after his death in 353 B.C. Mausolus was also Artemisia’s brother, and legend has it that after his death, she mixed his ashes with water and drank them, in addition to ordering the mausoleum’s construction. The massive mausoleum was constructed entirely of white marble and stood approximately 135 feet tall. The complex design of the building, which consists of three rectangular layers, may have been an attempt to reconcile Lycian, Greek, and Egyptian architectural styles.
6. Colossus of Rhodes
The Colossus of Rhodes was a 12-year-long bronze sculpture of the sun god Helios erected by the Rhodians in the third century B.C. The city was the target of a Macedonian siege early in the fourth century B.C., and legend has it that the Rhodians sold the Macedonians’ tools and equipment to pay for the Colossus. The statue was designed by the sculptor Chares and stood 100 feet tall, making it the tallest in the ancient world. It was finished around 280 B.C. and stood for sixty years before being destroyed by an earthquake. It was never reconstructed. Hundreds of years later, Arab invaders invaded Rhodes and sold the statue’s remains as scrap metal.
7. Lighthouse of Alexandria
The Alexandria Lighthouse was located on a small island called Pharos near the city of Alexandria. The lighthouse, designed by the Greek architect Sostratos and completed around 270 B.C. during the reign of Ptolemy II, assisted in guiding Nile River ships into and out of the city’s busy harbour. Archaeologists discovered ancient coins depicting the lighthouse and deduced that the structure had three levels: a square level at the bottom, an octagonal level in the middle, and a cylindrical top. Above that was a 16-foot statue of Ptolemy II or Alexander the Great, after whom the city was named.
New Wonders of The World
The New 7 Wonders Foundation held a contest to name the “New 7 Wonders of the World” in 2007. Tens of millions of people voted to include the UNESCO World Heritage Sites on the list. They span four continents and draw tens of thousands of visitors each year. They are as follows:
- The Great Wall of China (Built from 220 BC to 1644 AD)
- The Taj Mahal, India (Built 1632-1648 AD)
- Petra, Jordan (Built 4 Century BC-2 Century AD)
- The Colosseum in Rome, Italy (Built AD 72-82)
- Christ the Redeemer statue, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Built 1926-1931)
- Chichen Itza, Mexico (Built 5-13 century AD)
- Machu Picchu, Peru (Build mid-15 century AD)
Conclusion
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