Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, also known as the Seven Wonders of the World or simply the Seven Wonders, is a famous list of remarkable buildings and structures from long ago. This list was first put together in the year 1572 in a book called Octo Mundi Miracula. It used many old stories and writings to choose the most amazing places people had ever seen.

The seven wonders are the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Colossus of Rhodes, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Temple of Artemis, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. These amazing places were spread across different lands—two were in Greece, two in Turkey, two in Egypt, and one in Iraq. Today, only the Great Pyramid of Giza still stands. The others were destroyed over many years, but we can still see pieces of the Lighthouse, the Temple of Artemis, and the Mausoleum in museums or where they were built. Some people even wonder if the Hanging Gardens of Babylon ever really existed.

Different lists of wonders existed long before the Octo Mundi Miracila. The very first list we know about was made hundreds of years ago, between the 2nd and 1st century BC. Many lists have been found, and some other wonderful places, like the Walls of Babylon, the Palace of Cyrus the Great, and the Pergamon Altar, were mentioned in more than one of them.

Background

Alexander the Great conquered much of the western world in the 4th century BC, which allowed Greek travelers to visit the lands of the Egyptians, Persians, and Babylonians. These travelers were amazed by the amazing sights they saw and began making lists to remember them.

The ancient Greeks called these sights "theamata" (θεάματα), meaning "sights" or "things to be seen." Later, they used the word "thaumata" (θαύματα), meaning "wonders." This list of wonders was like an ancient travel guidebook, showing the most amazing places to visit.

Known lists

The idea of listing seven amazing monuments began with ancient writers. Diodorus Siculus mentioned the Walls of Babylon and the Pyramids but did not give a full list. Later, Antipater of Sidon listed seven wonders, including most of those we know today but replacing the Lighthouse of Alexandria with the Walls of Babylon.

Other ancient writers, like Philo of Byzantium, also made lists of wonderful sights, though some of these lists are incomplete. Over time, many different lists of wonders were created, including ones from the Roman Empire and the Middle Ages. These lists sometimes included new sites like the Colosseum or Noah's Ark, showing how tastes and times changed.

Canonical seven wonders

Main article: Octo Mundi Miracula

The list of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World was first created in 1572 in a book called Octo Mundi Miracula. It included structures from places around the Mediterranean Sea and the Middle Eastern regions, which were the known world at that time. Most of these wonders showed off great achievements in building, except for the Pyramids of Giza and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

Only the Great Pyramid of Giza still stands today. The others were destroyed by events like fires and earthquakes over many years. People have been very interested in these wonders for centuries, creating art and traveling to see the remaining sites.