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Seven Wonders of the World
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The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (from left to right, top to bottom): Great Pyramid of Giza, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Temple of Artemis, Statue of Zeus at Olympia, Mausoleum of Maussollos, Colossus of Rhodes and the Lighthouse of Alexandria.
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. It was based on guide-books popular among Hellenic sight-seers and only includes works located around the Mediterranean rim. Later lists include those for the Medieval World and the Modern World.
Contents[hide]
1 Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
2 Seven Wonders lists about the Middle Ages
3 Modern lists
3.1 Modern wonders
3.2 Tourist travel wonders
3.3 Natural wonders
3.4 Underwater wonders
3.5 New Seven Wonders
4 See also
5 References
6 Further reading
7 External links
7.1 Seven Ancient Wonders
7.2 Other wonders
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[edit] Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
The historian Herodotus and the scholar Callimachus of Cyrene (ca 305–240 BC) at the Museum of Alexandria, made early lists of "seven wonders" but their writings have not survived, except as references. The earliest extant version of a list of seven wonders was compiled by Antipater of Sidon, who described the structures in a poem around 140 BC:
I have set eyes on the wall of lofty Babylon on which is a road for chariots, and the statue of Zeus by the Alpheus, and the hanging gardens, and the Colossus of the Sun, and the huge labour of the high pyramids, and the vast tomb of Mausolus; but when I saw the house of Artemis that mounted to the clouds, those other marvels lost their brilliancy, and I said, 'Lo, apart from Olympus, the Sun never looked on aught so grand.'
– Antipater, Greek Anthology IX.58
A later list, under various titles like De septem orbis spactaculis and traditionally misattributed to the engineer Philo of Byzantium, may date as late as the fifth century AD, though the author writes as if the Colossus of Rhodes were still standing.
These are given in the table below:
Wonder
Date of construction
Builder
Notable features
Date of destruction
Cause of destruction
Great Pyramid of Giza
2650-2500 BC
Egyptians
Built as the tomb of Fourth dynasty Egyptian pharaoh Khufu.
Still standing
-
Hanging Gardens of Babylon
600 BC
Babylonians
Herodotus claimed the outer walls were 56 miles in length, 80 feet thick and 320 feet high (although some archaeological findings suggest otherwise).
After 1st century BC
Earthquake
Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
550 BC
Lydians, Persians, Greeks
Dedicated to the Greek goddess Artemis, it took 120 years to build. Herostratus burned it down in an attempt to achieve lasting fame.
356 BC
Arson
Statue of Zeus at Olympia
435 BC
Greeks
Occupied the whole width of the aisle of the temple that was built to house it, and was 40 feet (12 meters) tall.
5th-6th centuries AD
Fire
Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus
351 BC
Persians, Greeks
Stood approximately 45 meters (135 feet) tall with each of the four sides adorned with sculptural reliefs. Origin of the word mausoleum.
by AD 1494
Earthquake
Colossus of Rhodes
292-280 BC
Hellenistic Greece
A giant statue of the Greek god Helios roughly the same size as today's Statue of Liberty in New York.
224 BC
Earthquake
Lighthouse of Alexandria
3rd century BC
Hellenistic Egypt
Between 115 and 135 metres (383 - 440 ft) tall it was among the tallest man-made structures on Earth for many centuries.
AD 1303-1480
Earthquake
The Greek category was not "Wonders" but "theamata", which translates closer to "must-sees". The list that we know today was compiled in the Middle Ages—by which time many of the sites were no longer in existence. Since the list came mostly from ancient Greek writings, only sites that would have been known and visited by the ancient Greeks were included. Even as early as 1600 BC, tourist graffiti was scrawled on monuments in the Egyptian Valley of the Kings.
Antipater's original list replaced the Lighthouse of Alexandria with the Ishtar Gate. 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. There are sculptures from the Mausoleum of Maussollos and the Temple of Artemis in the British Museum in London.

[edit] Seven Wonders lists about the Middle Ages
Seven Wonders lists about the Middle Ages are existing historical lists for which there is no unanimity of opinion about origin, content or name.[1] These historical lists go by names such as "Wonders of the Middle Ages" (implying no specific limitation to seven), "Seven Wonders of the Middle Ages", "Medieval Mind" and "Architectural Wonders of the Middle Ages". The lists are more properly seen as a continuing type or genre in the Seven Wonders tradition than a specific list.
It is unlikely the lists originated in the Middle Ages. Brewer's calls them "later list[s]"[2] suggesting the lists were created after the Middle Ages. This is supported because the word medieval was not even invented until the Enlightenment-era, and the concept of a "Middle Age" did not become popular until the 16th century. Further, the Romanticism movement glorified all things related to the Middle Ages, or more specifically anything pre-Enlightenment era, suggesting such lists would have found a popular audience in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Some items found on some of the lists are not technically from the Middle Ages (according to modern historical standards), but we know the lists were not created by modern medieval historians, so such standards did not apply.
Typically representative of the seven:[1][3][4][2]
Stonehenge
Colosseum
Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa
Great Wall of China
Porcelain Tower of Nanjing
Hagia Sophia
Leaning Tower of Pisa
Other sites that have been mentioned include:
Cairo Citadel[5]
Ely Cathedral[6]
Taj Mahal[7]
Cluny Abbey[8]

[edit] Modern 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.

[edit] Modern wonders
The American Society of Civil Engineers compiled another list of wonders of the modern world:[9]
Wonder
Date Started
Date Finished
Locations
Channel Tunnel
December 1, 1987
May 6, 1994
Strait of Dover, between England and France
CN Tower
February 6, 1973
June 26, 1976
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Empire State Building
January 22, 1930
May 1, 1931
New York, New York, USA
Golden Gate Bridge
January 5, 1933
May 27, 1937
Golden Gate Strait, north of San Francisco, California, USA
Itaipu Dam
January 1970
May 5, 1984
Paraná River, South America
Delta Works
1953
May 10, 1997
Netherlands, Europe
Panama Canal
January 1, 1880
January 7, 1914
Isthmus of Panama, Central America

[edit] Tourist travel wonders
The following list of the top seven tourist travel wonders (not including pilgrimages) was compiled by Hillman Wonders:[10]
Great Pyramids of Giza
Great Wall of China
Taj Mahal
Serengeti Migration
Galapagos
Grand Canyon
Machu Picchu

[edit] 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:[11]
Grand Canyon
Great Barrier Reef
Harbor of Rio de Janeiro
Mount Everest
Polar Aurora
Parícutin volcano
Victoria Falls

[edit] Underwater wonders
This list of underwater wonders is of unknown origin but has been repeated sufficiently often to acquire a degree of notability:[12] [13]
Palau
Belize Barrier Reef
Great Barrier Reef
Deep-Sea Vents
Galapagos Islands
Lake Baikal
Northern Red Sea

[edit] New Seven Wonders
Two "New Seven Wonders" lists have been promoted since 2000.
In 2001 an initiative was started by Swiss organization New Open World Corporation (NOWC) to choose the New Seven Wonders of the World from a selection of 200 existing monuments (ongoing).[14] Twenty-one finalists were announced January 1, 2006.[15] The results will be announced on 7 July 2007.
In November 2006 the American national newspaper USA Today in conjunction with the American television show Good Morning America revealed a list of "New Seven Wonders" as chosen by six judges.[16] The wonders were announced one per day over a week on Good Morning America. An eighth wonder was chosen on November 24 from viewer feedback.[17]
Number
Wonder
Location
1
Potala Palace
Lhasa, Tibet, China
2
Old City of Jerusalem
Israel
3
Polar ice caps
Polar regions
4
Northwestern Hawaiian Islands National Monument
Hawaii, United States
5
Internet
N/A
6
Mayan ruins
Yucatán Peninsula, Mesoamerica
7
Great Migration of Serengeti and Masai Mara
Tanzania and Kenya
8
Grand Canyon (viewer-chosen eighth wonder)
Arizona, United States

[edit] See also
Eighth Wonder of the World
Seven Blunders of the World -- a list by Mahatma Gandhi
New Seven Wonders of the World

[edit] References
^ a b Hereward Carrington (1880-1958), "The Seven Wonders of the World: ancient, medieval and modern", reprinted in the Carington Collection (2003) ISBN 0-7661-4378-3, page 14.
^ a b I H Evans (reviser), Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (Centenary edition Fourth impression (corrected); London: Cassell, 1975), page 1163
^ Edward Latham. A Dictionary of Names, Nicknames and Surnames, of Persons, Places and Things (1904), page 280.
^ Francis Trevelyan Miller, Woodrow Wilson, William Howard Taft, Theodore Roosevelt. America, the Land We Love (1915), page 201.
^ The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Crusades (2001, page 153))
^ The Rough Guide To England (1994, page 596))
^ Palpa, as You Like it, page 67)
^ The Catholic Encyclopedia, v.16 (1913), page 74
^ American Society of Civil Engineers Seven Wonders
^ Hillman Wonders
^ CNN Natural Wonders
^ Underwater Wonders of the World
^ 2nd list of Underwater Wonder
^ New Seven Wonders
^ Finalist Page
^ New Seven Wonders panel
^ ABC Good Morning America "7 New Wonders" Page

[edit] Further reading
Cox, Reg, and Neil Morris, "The Seven Wonders of the Modern World". Chelsea House Publications: Library. October 2000. ISBN 0-7910-6048-9
Cox, Reg, Neil Morris, and James Field, "The Seven Wonders of the Medieval World". Chelsea House Publications: Library. October 2000. ISBN 0-7910-6047-0
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 0-385-49062-3
Morris, Neil, "The Seven Wonders of the Natural World". Chrysalis Books. December 30, 2002. ISBN 1-84138-495-X

[edit] External links

[edit] 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
Image of the Seven Wonder locations
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.
Google Maps 7 Ancient Wonders of the World
Natural Wonders of America
"Eternal wonder of humanity's first great achievements", by Jonathan Glancey in The Guardian, March 10, 2007

[edit] Other wonders
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 readers.
Wonders of the World - a website with info and photographs, describing about 30 of the greatest human construction achievements.
Web site for voting new wonders of the world