sueannesaurus

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

The historian Herodotus (484 BC–ca. 425 BC), and the scholar Callimachus of Cyrene (ca 305–240 BC) at the Museum of Alexandria, made early on lists of "Seven wonders" but their writings have not survived, apart from as references. The seven wonders included:

* Great Pyramid of Giza
* Hanging Gardens of Babylon
* Statue of Zeus at Olympia
* Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
* Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus
* Colossus of Rhodes
* Lighthouse of Alexandria

The initial lists had the Ishtar Gate as the seventh wonder of the world in its place of the Lighthouse of Alexandria.

The Greek category was not "Wonders" but "thaumata"(Greek: Θαύματα), which translates earlier to "miracles". The list that we know today was compiled in the Middle Ages—by which time many of the sites were no longer in survival. Today, the only ancient world wonder that still exists is the Great Pyramid of Giza.