The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

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The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

Listings of the greatest architectural achievements of the world date at least as far back as the time of Herodotus (484–425 b.c.e.), who mentions such an inventory. Later Greek historians wrote about the great monuments of their time, and the list of seven ancient wonders of the world was finalized from among those opinions during the Middle Ages. The Seven Wonders include:

• The Great Pyramid of Khufu (Cheops). The oldest of the Seven Wonders and the only surviving one, constructed about 2630 b.c.e.

• The Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Part of the palace of King Nebuchadnezzar II and built about 600 b.c.e., it featured a series of terraces with stone arches. The terraces were filled with plants, and an elaborate tunnel and pulley system brought water from the nearby Euphrates River.

• The Statue of Zeus. Dated to the mid-fifth century b.c.e. and credited to the Greek sculptor Phidias, it was located at the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, Greece.

• The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus in Greece. Erected in 356 b.c.e. in a marshy area where several earlier temples had stood, it was destroyed by the Goths in 262.

• The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus. Built around 353 b.c.e., it was a marble tomb for King Mausolus of Caria in Asia Minor. It was damaged by an earthquake, and during medieval times its marble was used to fortify a castle.

• The Colossus of Rhodes. A 100-foot-high bronze statue of the Greek Sun god Helios, it was erected about 280 b.c.e. to guard the entrance to the harbor at Rhodes, a Mediterranean island, but it was destroyed about 55 years later.

• The Pharos of Alexandria. A lighthouse erected around 280 b.c.e., it fell into ruins by the mid1300s because of a series of earthquakes. Located on an island in the harbor of Alexandria, Egypt, and rising 440 feet, it was the tallest building of the ancient world.