seven wonders of the ancient world

Great Pyramid of Giza

The Great Pyramid of Giza is the oldest and largest of the three pyramids in the Giza Necropolis bordering what is now El Giza, Egypt. It is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the only one to remain intact. It is believed the pyramid was built as a tomb for Pharaoh Khufu, around 2560 BC. The Great Pyramid was the tallest man-made structure in the world for over 3,800 years, the longest period of time ever held for such a record. There have been varying scientific and alternative theories about the Great Pyramid's construction techniques. Most accepted construction hypotheses are based on the idea that it was built by moving huge stones from a quarry and dragging and lifting them into place.

Hanging Gardens of Babylon

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon are considered to be one of the original Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. They were built in the ancient city-state of Babylon, near present-day Al Hillah, Babil, in Iraq. The gardens were supposedly built by the Babylonian king 

Nebuchadnezzar II around 600 BC. He is reported to have constructed the gardens to please his homesick   wife, Amytis of Media, who longed for the trees and fragrant plants of her homeland Persia. However the gardens were destroyed by several earthquakes after the second century BC.

Statue of Zeus at Olympia

The Statue of Zeus at Olympia was made by the Greek sculptor Phidias, 432 BC on the site where it was erected in the Temple of Zeus, Olympia, Greece. The seated statue, some 12 meters tall, occupied half of the width of the aisle of the temple built to house it. The Zeus was a chryselephantine sculpture, made of ivory and gold-plated bronze. No copy in marble or bronze has survived. According to a legend, when Phidias was asked what inspired him—whether he climbed Mount Olympus to see Zeus, or whether Zeus came down from Olympus so that Pheidias could see him.  According to Suetonius, the Roman Emperor Caligula "gave orders that such statues of the gods as were especially famous for their sanctity or for their artistic merit, including that of Zeus at Olympia, should be brought from Greece, in order to remove their heads and put his own in their place."

Temple of Artemis at Ephesus 

The Temple of Artemis , also known less precisely as Temple of Diana, was a Greek temple dedicated to a goddess Greeks identified as Artemis that was completed, in its most famous phase, around 550 BC at Ephesus (in present-day Turkey). Though the monument was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, only foundations and sculptural fragments of the temple remain. There were previous temples on its site, where evidence of a sanctuary dates as early as the Bronze Age. The whole temple was made of marble except for the roof.

Mausoleum at Halicarnassus

The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus or Tomb of Mausolus was a tomb built between 353 and 350 BC at Halicarnassus (present Bodrum, Turkey) for Mausolus, a satrap in the Persian Empire, and Artemisia II of Caria, his wife and sister. The structure was designed by the Greek architects Satyros and Pythis. It stood approximately 45 m in height, and each of the four sides was adorned with sculptural reliefs created by each one of four greek sculptors Leochares, Bryaxis, Scopas of Paros and Timotheus. The finished structure was considered to be such an aesthetic triumph that Antipater of Sidon identified it as one of his Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Colossus of Rhodes

The Colossus of Rhodes was a statue of the Greek god Helios, erected in the city of Rhodes on the Greek island of Rhodes by Chares of Lindos between 292 and 280 BC. It is considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Before its destruction, the Colossus of Rhodes stood over 30 meters high, making it one of the tallest statues of the ancient world . The statue stood for only 56 years until Rhodes was hit by the 226 BC Rhodes earthquake, when significant damage was also done to large portions of the city, including the harbor and commercial buildings, which were destroyed.

Lighthouse of Alexandria

The Lighthouse of Alexandria, also known as the Pharos of Alexandria, was a tower built between 280 and 247 BC on the island of Pharos at Alexandria, Egypt to guide sailors into the harbour at night. With a height variously estimated at between 120 and 140 m. Pharos was a small island just off the coast of Alexandria, which was connected to the mainland by a man-made causeway named the Heptastadion, which formed one side of the city's harbor. The lighthouse was badly damaged in the earthquake of 956, and in the earthquakes of 1303 and 1323 was damaged to the extent that the Arab traveler Ibn Battuta reported no longer being able to enter the ruin.