Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

1. Great Pyramids of Giza

The Great Pyramids of Giza was built as a tomb for pharaoh Khufu, some 26 centuries before Christ, comprising the only ancient wonder that remains largely intact.

2. Colossus of Rhodes

The Colossus of Rhodes was a statue of the Greek sun god Helios, erected in the city of Rhodes by Chares of Lindos in 280 BC, to celebrate the city’s successful repulsion of a year-long siege by Macedonian King Demetrius Poliorcetes.

3. Lighthouse of Alexandria

The Lighthouse of Alexandria—one of the tallest man-made structures of the ancient world—was built by Ptolemy the Great during his reign over Egypt from 280 to 247 BC.

4. Mausoleum at Halicarnassus

Built between 353 and 350 BC, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus was a massive tomb built in present-day Bodrum Turkey, as a tomb for Achaemenid ruler Mausolus and his sister-wife Artemisia the 2nd of Caria.

5. Temple of Artemis

The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, which was built around 550 BC near present-day Selçuk Turkey. The Temple of Artemis, also known as the Temple of Diana, was destroyed in 356 BC by Herostratus, who sought notoriety by burning down the temple.

6. Zeus Statue at Olympia

Sixth on the list is the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, who was the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion, which was a 41-foot-tall tribute to the king of the gods of Mount Olympus, created by the Greek sculptor Phidias around 435 BC.

7. Babylon’s Hanging Gardens

The last of the Seven Wonders was the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, and while some scholars have questioned the garden’s existence at all, records describe the Hanging Gardens as a remarkable feat of engineering, with an ascending series of tiered gardens lush with trees, shrubs and vines in the ancient city of Babylon, making the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, a bygone testament to the achievements of ancient man.