Seven Wonders of the World: Encyclopedia - Seven Wonders of the World

Seven Wonders of the World

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. The earliest known version of the list was compiled in the 2nd century BC by Antipater of Sidon; it appears to be based on the guide-books popular among Hellenic sight-seers and only includes works located around the Mediterranean rim.

Listed in order of their construction, the seven wonders are—

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

Of these, the only one which has survived to the present day is the oldest—the Great Pyramid at Giza. The Great Pyramid was built by the ancient Egyptians, the Hanging Gardens by the Babylonians, and the Maussollos Mausoleum by the Persians; the others were built by the ancient Greeks.

Seven Wonders of the World - More recent 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, there is no general consensus in any particular list.

Seven Wonders of the World - Modern wonders

The following list of the top seven existing wonders was compiled by Hillman Wonders:

• Great Pyramid of Giza
• Great Wall of China
• Taj Mahal
• Serengeti Migration
• Galapagos
• Grand Canyon
• Machu Picchu

The American Society of Civil Engineers compiled another list of wonders of the modern world:

• Channel Tunnel
• CN Tower
• Empire State Building
• Golden Gate Bridge
• Itaipu Dam
• Netherlands' Tidal Defences
• Panama Canal

Seven Wonders of the World - Natural wonders

Similar to the other lists of wonders, there is no consensus on a list of seven natural wonders of the world. One of the lists was compiled by CNN ^[1]:

• Grand Canyon
• Great Barrier Reef
• Harbor of Rio de Janeiro
• Mount Everest
• Northern Lights
• Paricutín volcano
• Victoria Falls

Seven Wonders of the World - Underwater wonders

This list of underwater wonders is of unknown origin but has been repeated sufficiently often to acquire a degree of notability:^{[2] [3]}

• Palau
• Belize Barrier Reef
• Great Barrier Reef
• Deep-Sea Vents
• Galapagos Islands
• Lake Baikal
• Northern Red Sea

Seven Wonders of the World - Alternative list

The New 7 Wonders foundation [4] has launched a poll to decide another new list of 7 Wonders, with 21 sites on its shortlist, as follows:

• Acropolis (Athens, Greece)
• Alhambra (Granada, Spain)
• Angkor (Cambodia)
• Chichen Itza (Yucatán, Mexico)
• Christ Redeemer (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
• Colosseum (Rome, Italy)
• Easter Island Statues (Chile)
• Eiffel Tower (Paris, France)
• Great Wall (China)
• Hagia Sophia (Istanbul, Turkey)
• Kremlin (Moscow, Russia)
• Kyomizu Temple (Kyoto, Japan)
• Machu Picchu (Peru)
• Neuschwanstein Castle (Füssen, Germany)
• Petra (Jordan)
• Pyramids of Giza (Egypt)
• Statue of Liberty (New York, United States)
• Stonehenge (Amesbury, United Kingdom)
• Sydney Opera House (Australia)
• Taj Mahal (Agra, India)
• Timbuktu (Mali)

See also

• Eighth Wonder of the World

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Seven Wonders of the World", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki