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The Seven Wonders of the World (or the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World) is a widely-known list of seven remarkable constructions of classical antiquity. The earliest known version of the list was compiled in the 2nd century BC by Antipater of Sidon; it appears to be based on the guide-books popular among Hellenic sight-seers and only includes works located around the Mediterranean rim.

Contents 1 The Seven Wonders 2 More recent lists 2.1 Modern wonders 2.2 Natural wonders 2.3 Underwater wonders 3 Alternative list 4 Notes 5 See also 6 External links and references 7 Further reading

The Seven Wonders

Listed in order of their construction, the seven wonders are:

Wonder	Date	Builder	Destroyed	Cause
Great Pyramid of Giza	2550 BC	Egyptians	-	-
Hanging Gardens of Babylon	600 BC	Babylonians	?	earthquake
Temple of Artemis at Ephesus	550 BC	ancient Greeks	BC 356	fire
Statue of Zeus at Olympia	435 BC	ancient Greeks	?	fire
Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus	351 BC	Hellenized Carians	?	earthquake
Colossus of Rhodes	292-280 BC	Hellenistic civilization	BC 380	earthquake
Lighthouse of Alexandria	3rd century BC	Hellenistic civilization	?	earthquake

Antipater's original list replaced the Lighthouse of Alexandria with the Walls of Babylon. It wasn't until the 6th century AD that the list above was used. Of these wonders, the only one that has survived to the present day is the Great Pyramid of Giza. The existence of the Hanging Gardens has not been definitively proven. Records show that the other five wonders were destroyed by natural disasters. The Temple of Artemis and the Statue of Zeus were destroyed by fire, while the Lighthouse of Alexandria, Colossus, and Mausoleum of Maussollos, were destroyed by earthquakes.

A curious piece of trivia about the Seven Wonders is that all the sites of the seven wonders were located in the Ottoman Empire at one time or another.

More recent lists

In the tradition of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, many other lists of wonders have been proposed, including both human feats of engineering and wonders of nature. However, these lists are rather informal, and there is no consensus on any particular list.

Modern wonders

The following list of the top seven existing wonders was compiled by Hillman Wonders:^[1]

• Great Pyramid of Giza
• Great Wall of China
• Taj Mahal
• Serengeti Migration
• Galapagos
• Grand Canyon
• Machu Picchu

The American Society of Civil Engineers compiled another list of wonders of the modern world:

• Channel Tunnel
• CN Tower
• Empire State Building
• Golden Gate Bridge
• Itaipu Dam
• Netherlands' Tidal Defences
• Panama Canal

Natural wonders

Similar to the other lists of wonders, there is no consensus on a list of seven natural wonders of the world, as there has been debate over how large the list should be. One of the many lists was compiled by CNN ^[2] :

• Grand Canyon
• Great Barrier Reef
• Harbor of Rio de Janeiro
• Mount Everest
• Northern Lights
• Paricutín volcano
• Victoria Falls

Underwater wonders

This list of underwater wonders is of unknown origin but has been repeated sufficiently often to acquire a degree of notability:^{[3] [4]}

• Palau
• Belize Barrier Reef
• Great Barrier Reef
• Deep-Sea Vents
• Galapagos Islands
• Lake Baikal
• Northern Red Sea

Alternative list

The New 7 Wonders foundation has launched a poll to decide another new list of 7 Wonders, with 21 sites on its shortlist, as follows^[5] :

• Acropolis (Athens, Greece)
• Alhambra (Granada, Spain)
• Angkor (Cambodia)
• Chichen Itza (Yucatán, Mexico)
• Christ Redeemer (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
• Colosseum (Rome, Italy)
• Easter Island Statues (Chile)
• Eiffel Tower (Paris, France)
• Great Wall (China)
• Hagia Sophia (Istanbul, Turkey)
• Kremlin (Moscow, Russia)
• Kiyomizu Temple (Kyoto, Japan)
• Machu Picchu (Peru)
• Neuschwanstein Castle (Füssen, Germany)
• Petra (Jordan)
• Pyramids of Giza (Egypt)
• Statue of Liberty (New York, United States)
• Stonehenge (Amesbury, United Kingdom)
• Sydney Opera House (Australia)
• Taj Mahal (Agra, India)
• Timbuktu (Mali)

Notes

1. ^ Hillman Wonders
2. ^ CNN Natural Wonders
3. ^ Underwater Wonders of the World
4. ^ 2nd list of Underwater Wonder
5. ^ New 7 Wonders

See also

• Wonders of the World
• Eighth Wonder of the World

External links and references

• Seven Ancient Wonders
  • The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World — an in-depth look from a professor of civil engineering at the University of South Florida
  • Map of the Seven Wonders
  • Parkin, Tim, Researching Ancient Wonders: A Research Guide, from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. - a collection of books and Internet resources with in-depth information on seven ancient wonders.
• Other Wonders
  • Official web site for voting new wonders of the World
  • The World's Top 100 Wonders - a list of architectural, engineering and natural wonders by Howard Hillman, a renowned travel writer.
  • WonderClub.com - a "list of lists", with information about most wonders.
  • Seven Wonders of the Modern World - a list of modern wonders compiled by the American Society of Civil Engineers
  • Seven Wonders of Chicago - A list compiled by the Chicago Tribune and voted on by residents of the Chicagoland area.

Further reading

• Cox, Reg, and Neil Morris, "The Seven Wonders of the Modern World". Chelsea House Publications: Library. October, 2000. ISBN 079106048
• Cox, Reg, Neil Morris, and James Field, "The Seven Wonders of the Medieval World". Chelsea House Publications: Library. October, 2000. ISBN 0791060470
• D'Epiro, Peter, and Mary Desmond Pinkowish, "What Are the Seven Wonders of the World? and 100 Other Great Cultural Lists". Anchor. December 1, 1998. ISBN 0385490623
• Morris, Neil, "The Seven Wonders of the Natural World". Chrysalis Books. December 30, 2002. ISBN 184138495X