The 7 wonders of the ancient world
In Antiquity, the Greek poets Antipater of Sidon and Philo of Byzantium compiled a list of the most beautiful and imposing buildings of those times.Thus, the 7 great wonders of the ancient world appeared, namely: the Great Pyramid of Giza (Pyramid of Cheops), the Temple of Ephesus, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the Statue of Zeus in Olympia.
Located in Egypt, near Cairo, the Pyramid of Cheops was the only one of these imposing structures to survive and can still be visited today. The other wonders were completely destroyed by natural cataclysms.
1 Great pyramid of Giza
The Great Pyramid is both the oldest of the wonders and the only one that still survives today. It was built as a mausoleum for Pharaoh Kufu almost 4600 years ago, being the tallest building until the appearance of the main tower of Lincoln Cathedral in England in 1311. The pyramid was 147 meters high when completed, but today, because it has lost some of its stones, it is only 139 meters high. The interior contains a system of passages leading to a large gallery which in turn leads to a room with empty sarcophagi, often called the King's Chamber. Furthermore, the passages in the Great Pyramid lead to two other chambers which are known as the Queen's Chamber, but also an underground chamber, under the pyramid. The purpose of these two chambers is still debated. In 2017, specialists examining the pyramid found a large empty space above the great gallery, which may also contain other chambers.
2. The Hanging Gardens of Semiramide.
According to legend, the 6th-century Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II had a complex labyrinth of waterfalls and thick vegetation built into a palace for his wife, Amitis of Media, who missed her native Persia. However, archaeologists still have doubts about the existence of the garden. Photo credit: Shutterstock They were mentioned by several ancient writers. Archaeological excavations in the area of ancient Babylon, located approximately 100 kilometers from Baghdad, in the northern part of Iraq, could not accurately identify concrete evidence of the existence of gardens. There are no Babylonian records to attest to them either. 
3. Statue of Zeus in Olympia,
Greece Built in 450 BC, the statue is 12 meters tall. Built mostly of ivory, it belongs to the builder Phidias. The monument "depicts Zeus sitting, but nevertheless his head almost touched the ceiling, which gives the impression that the god could have uncovered the temple if he had stood up," says the writer Strabo. It is not known exactly when the statue was destroyed. Ancient documents from the 5th century show that during this period the official religion of the Roman Empire was Christianity, and traditional Greco-Roman beliefs were subject to persecution. The destruction may have taken place during this period.
4. Temple of Artemis in Ephesus,
Turkey Built around 550 BC by Croesus, king of Lydia, the temple was praised by the ancients for its beauty. A small temple, built in honor of the goddess Artemis, a deity associated with animals and hunting, existed in Ephesus, but the king who had conquered the region consolidated it. Photo source: Shutterstock In 262, the temple was damaged by an earthquake and looted by the Goths – a group of Germanic peoples who came from Scandinavia. What remains of the temple seems to have been abandoned and destroyed around the 5th century, as mentioned in Christian writings.
5. Mausoleum of
Halicarnassus,
Turkey Built for the satrap Mausolus of northern Anatolia in 353 BC, the tomb had a strong impact on ancient writers. The writer Pliny the Elder wrote that the monument had the most skilled builders of the time - Scopas, Briaxis, Timoteus and Leochares. When Mausolus' wife Artemisia died, the mausoleum was unfinished and it was not known whether the sculptors would be paid. "However, they did not leave their jobs until they finished the work, considering the construction as a crowning of their talent", Pliny also said.
6. The Colossus of Rhodes, Greece
The Colossus of Rhodes, a huge statue depicting the Greek sun god Helios. It was built in Rhodes, an island off the coast of present-day Turkey, around 226 BC. Today, nothing remains of this sculpture, and the exact location and height of the monument is still up for debate, according to Live Science. The statue itself appears to have been 34 feet tall and stood on a 15-foot pedestal, said Robert Kebric, a retired history professor at the University of Louisville in an article published in 2019.
7. The Lighthouse of Alexandria
Built on the orders of Pharaoh Ptolemy II, the lighthouse guided sailors from Alexandria in Egypt, one of the largest ports of the ancient world. It was built on the island of Pharos, located at the entrance to the port of Alexandria. A paved road was built to connect the island to the mainland. The lighthouse consisted of a mirror that reflected the sun's rays during the day and a fire for the night. It is estimated to have been 122 meters high.
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