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 list of seven notable structures present during classical antiquity, first established in the 1572 publication Octo Mundi Miracula using a combination of historical sources.^[1]^[2]

The seven traditional 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. Using modern-day countries, two of the wonders were located in Greece, two in Turkey, two in Egypt, and one in Iraq. Of the seven wonders, only the Pyramid of Giza, which is also by far the oldest of the wonders, remains standing, while the others have been destroyed over the centuries. There is scholarly debate over the exact nature of the Hanging Gardens, and there is doubt as to whether they existed at all.

The first known list of seven wonders dates back to the 2nd–1st century BC, but this list differs from the canonical Octo Mundi Miracula version, as do the other known lists from classical sources.

^ Clayton & Price 2013, p. 5: "It is perhaps only with the execution of these drawings that the list became fixed for all time , but the details of each monument have been scrutinised ever since under the scientific eye of such scholars as Johann Fischer von Erlach."
^ Tobin 2011, p. 6: "The 'canonical' list of the Seven Wonders that we use today was actually drawn up in the sixteenth century by Dutch artist Maarten van Heemskerck, who produced a set of drawings of the Seven Wonders compiled from his perusal of ancient authors. His list contained two statues, the Zeus from Olympia and the Colossus of Rhodes; two sets of tombs, the Pyramids of Egypt and the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus; and several buildings, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Walls and Hanging Gardens of Babylon (counted as one 'wonder'), and the Lighthouse of Alexandria."

[ClaytonPrice-1] Clayton & Price 2013, p. 5: "It is perhaps only with the execution of these drawings that the list became fixed for all time , but the details of each monument have been scrutinised ever since under the scientific eye of such scholars as Johann Fischer von Erlach."

[Tobin-2] Tobin 2011, p. 6: "The 'canonical' list of the Seven Wonders that we use today was actually drawn up in the sixteenth century by Dutch artist Maarten van Heemskerck, who produced a set of drawings of the Seven Wonders compiled from his perusal of ancient authors. His list contained two statues, the Zeus from Olympia and the Colossus of Rhodes; two sets of tombs, the Pyramids of Egypt and the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus; and several buildings, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Walls and Hanging Gardens of Babylon (counted as one 'wonder'), and the Lighthouse of Alexandria."

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