Seven Wonders of the World

Seven Wonders of the World in ancient classifications, were the Great Pyramid of Khufu (see pyramid ) or all the pyramids with or without the sphinx ; the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, with or without the walls; the mausoleum at Halicarnassus; the Artemision at Ephesus ; the Colossus of Rhodes ; the Olympian Zeus, statue by Phidias ; and the lighthouse at Pharos , Alexandria, or, instead, the walls of Babylon.

Bibliography: See L. Cottrell, Wonders of the World (1959).

Seven Wonders of the World The seven most spectacular man-made structures of the ancient world. The earliest extant list of these dates from the 2nd century; traditionally they comprise (1) the pyramids of Egypt, especially those at Giza; (2) the Hanging Gardens of Babylon; (3) the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus; (4) the temple of Diana (Artemis) at Ephesus in Asia Minor, rebuilt in 356 BC; (5) the Colossus of Rhodes; (6) the huge ivory and gold statue of Zeus at Olympia in the Peloponnese, made by Phidias c.430 BC; (7) the lighthouse built by Ptolemy II c.280 BC on the island of Pharos outside the harbour of Alexandria. Only the pyramids still exist.

Seven Wonders of the World Group of fabled sights that evolved from various ancient Greek lists. They were, in chronological order: the Pyramids of Egypt, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the statue of Zeus by Phidias at Olympia, the temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Pharos lighthouse at Alexandria.