The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

The ancient Greeks were probably the first to make up a list of the Seven Wonders—those marvelous structures that no traveler would want to miss. Through the ages, others added to or subtracted from the list, based on their opinions. Today, however, the following wonderworks are most often referred to as the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

· The Pyramids, tombs for the Egyptian pharaohs, are the oldest and best preserved of all the ancient wonders. The three most famous pyramids were built at Giza ('gēzə) about 2600 B.C. The largest of the three, the Great Pyramid, stands about 450 feet (137 m) high. Its base occupies about 13 acres (5 hectares).

· The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were built by King Nebuchadnezzar (nebjəkəd'nezə) who ruled Babylonia from 605 to 562 B.C. Babylon, the capital of Babylonia, was located near the city of Baghdad (bæg'dæd) in Iraq. The walls are in ruins today, but accounts describe beautiful gardens of flowers, fruit trees, and fountains. The gardens were laid out on brick terraces about 400 feet (120 m) square and 75 feet (23 m) above the ground.

· The Temple of Artemis (ɑːtɪmɪs) was built about 550 B.C. in the Greek city of Ephesus (efəsəs) on the west coast of what is now Turkey. Artemis was the Greek goddess of hunting. The temple was made entirely of white marble except for its tile-covered wooden roof. It was 377 feet (115 m) in length and 180 feet (55 m) in width. More than one hundred enormous stone columns, in a double row around the building, supported its huge roof.

· The Statue of Zeus at Olympia, Greece, was perhaps the most famous statue of the ancient world. It was made in about 435 B.C. and dedicated to the king of the Greek gods. The statue was made of ivory, 40 feet (12 m) high, and showed Zeus sitting on a huge golden throne set with precious stones.

· A The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus (halə'kärnəsəs) was located in what is now southwestern Turkey. It was a huge, white marble tomb for a king named Mausolus (môsô'ləs). Its size and gold decoration made it so famous that large tombs are called mausoleums even today.

· The Colossus of Rhodes was a huge bronzed statue that stood near the harbor of Rhodes, an island in the Aegean (i je' an) Sea. The statue honored the Greek god of the sun, Helios (hēlēäs). It stood about 120 feet (37 m) tail-about as high as our Statue of Liberty.

· The Lighthouse of Alexandria stood on the island of Pharos in the harbor of Alexandria, Egypt. The lighthouse rose from a stone platform in three sections: the bottom was square, the middle eight-sided, and the top circular. Light was provided by a bonfire burning continuously at the top of the tower.

· Except for the pyramids at Giza, none of the ancient wonders is standing today. They were destroyed by humans or nature. We can still play this game of listing wonders though, just as the Greeks did. What do you think the seven wonders of the modern world are?

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