Sunday 1 December 2002

The Seven Wonders

“The few wonders of the world only exist while there are those with the sight to see them” [Charles de Lint quotes]

A lot of people think that there are Seven Wonders of the World, which includes The Taj Mahal and The Great Wall of China. The purpose of this article is to clarify some of the “pre-conceived” knowledge that we all seem to posses. Ignorance is Bliss where as Knowledge is power. I intend to tweak your knowledge in the right direction at least on this count.

Seven wonders of the world as you will find out in this article is actually an ancient list compiled in 2nd Century B.C. and has never been updated after 6th Century AD. There is no “one” list that has been agreed upon by anyone ever, which includes Taj Mahal and Great Wall of China in “Seven” Wonders of the World. And after studying this topic for quite sometime – I would like to put forth the FACTS - loud and clear.

Today, archaeological evidence reveals some of the mysteries that surrounded the history of the Wonders for centuries. For their builders, the Seven Wonders were a celebration of religion, mythology, art, power, and science. For us, they reflect the ability of humans to change the surrounding landscape by building massive yet beautiful structures, one of which stood the test of time to this very day.

The list of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World was originally compiled around the second century BC. The final list of the Seven Wonders was compiled during the Middle Ages (around 6th Century AD). The list comprised of the seven most impressive monuments of the Ancient World, some of which barely survived the Middle Ages. Others did not even co-exist.

It is a fact that the ancient Greeks loved to compile lists of the marvelous structures in their world. Though we think of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World as a single list today, there were actually a number of lists compiled by different Greek writers. Antipater of Sidon (a poet, who is credited with compiling of the earliest known list of Seven Wonders of the World – way back in 2nd Century BC), and Philon of Byzantium (a Greek Engineer & mathematician – who compiled his own list in one of his books also during 2nd Century BC), drew up two of the most well known lists that have survived the ages. In fact most of the lists (made by various Greek Writers) agreed on six of the seven wonderful monuments. The final (seventh) place on some lists was awarded to the Walls of the City of Babylon. On others, the Palace of King Cyrus (King of Persia) took the seventh position. Finally, toward the 6th century A.D., the final item (Seventh Wonder) became the Lighthouse at Alexandria. Since it was Greeks who made the lists it is not unusual that most of the items on them were examples of Greek culture. The writers might have listed the Great Wall of China if they had known about it, or Stonehenge if they'd seen it, but these places were beyond the limits of their world.

It may come as a surprise to most of us to learn that not all the Seven Wonders existed at the same time. So even if you had lived in ancient times you would have still needed a time machine to see all seven. While the Great Pyramids of Egypt were built centuries before the rest and is still around today (in fact it is the only "wonder" still intact), most of the others only survived a few hundred years or less. The Colossus of Rhodes stood only a little more than half a century before an earthquake toppled it.

The Final Seven wonders of the Ancient world as compiled till 6th Century AD and that was built upon the 2nd Century BC lists of Antipater & Philon are listed below with a brief description of each.

1) The Colossus of Rodes  - Greece
Rhodes was a city, the capital of the Greek island Rhodes and the Colossus was a 120 foot high bronze statue of Helios, the sun god. The statue stood on a promontory overlooking the city. Erected in about 280 BC by the citizens of Rhodes, capital of the Greek island of the same name. It represented their sun god Helios and was said to be 105 feet high. Legend has it that it straddled the entrance to the harbor, but it probably stood to one side. It was built in 280 BC, knocked down by an earthquake in 224 BC but its huge pieces were looked upon with awe for centuries. Nearly a thousand years later, in AD 656, a scrap metal dealer bought the pieces and had them melted down.

2) The Pyramids of Egypt - Egypt
These magnificent structures are the only Ancient Wonders to still stand. They were built around 2700-2500 BC as tombs for pharaohs. The Great Pyramid of Khufu is the largest, covering 13 acres. It is constructed of around 2.3 million stones and the stones weigh from 2 to 30 tons each. These Pyramids survive even today.

3) The Temple of Artemis - Turkey
This was the largest and most complex temple of ancient times. It was made of marble with a tile covered wooden roof. Ephesus was one of the greatest Ionian cities. The early Greek colonists at Ephesus, in Asia Minor, built a temple to Artemis (called Diana by the Romans) which was rebuilt and enlarged from time to time. It is the fourth temple at that site that is considered to be one of the Seven Wonders. It took 120 years to build and was finished in 430 BC. In 356 BC, on the night Alexander the Great was born, it was destroyed by fire. (A young Ephesian man – Herostratus committed this crime so that he would be remembered in history.)

4) The Hanging Gardens of Babylon - Iraq
King Nebuchadnezzar II probably built the gardens in 600 BC. They were grown on a brick terrace 400 feet square and 75 feet above the ground. The trees, shrubs and flowers were watered by turning screws to lift water from the Euphrates River. (It must be stated here that existence of this wonder of the world has never been conclusively proven)

5) The statue of Zeus of Olympia - Greece
This 40-foot statue of the King of Gods had ivory flesh and robes made of gold. He was seated on a throne. It was made by Phideus around 475 BC and was erected at Olympia, in the Peloponnesus of Greece. It stood for ten centuries before being destroyed. The only idea we have of what it looked like comes from the pictures on the coins of Elis. This statue was destroyed in a fire accident.

6) The Mausoleum of Halicarnassos - Turkey
Artemisia built, in 353 BC, this marble tomb for her husband King Mausolus of Caria in Asia Minor. This area is now S.E. Turkey. The tomb, from which we get our word mausoleum, was 135 feet high and featured the artwork of four sculptors. At the top of the pyramid shaped roof was a statue of a four-horse chariot in which were statues of the king and queen. The structure was destroyed by Earthquake. Some pieces of the original Mausoleum are preserved in the British Museum.

7) The Lighthouse of Alexandria - Egypt
During the reign of King Ptolmy II of Egypt, about 270 BC, the Greek architect Sostratos designed this lighthouse, estimated to have been between 200 and 600 feet high. For more than 1,000 years it guided Mediterranean ships. It was severely damaged by an earthquake in 955 and disappeared completely by 1500.

As stated earlier, six out of seven Ancient Wonders did not survive to this present day. Human imagination urged poets, writers, and historians to seek "replacements" for the fallen monuments. As Strabo (a famous Geographer) aptly stated – "Sights seen in the mind's eye can never be destroyed". And what you have not seen – you cannot comprehend and hence try to overrule. So some modern writers and scholars proposed a new list for the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. Others argued that - Ancient civilizations, which the Greeks did not know of, erected monuments that should have been included in the original list itself. Wonders such as the Great Wall of China, Taj Mahal in Agra, and the Temple of Angkor in Cambodia are a few examples of the great monuments that should have formed a part of the updated original list. The argument never reached at any conclusive decisions. Hence there never was and there still is no list of “Seven” monuments that form Wonders of the world – other than the list of Ancient structures compiled in 2nd Century BC. But lists were made (though none with a count of seven that was officially recognized).

But like the ancient list, the new ones included fascinating monuments and structures that changed the existing landscape. However, no single list won unanimous approval among historians, artists, and architects. Hence it won’t be an exaggeration to summarize that though there is a list of Seven Wonders of the World – they however do not have Taj Mahal or Great Wall of China as their “listed” Wonders. It is fair to say that the phrase “Seven Wonders of the World” has got etched into our memories and we conveniently believe that Taj Mahal or Great Wall of China (which we can see today) do indeed form a part of it. I believe it would be fair to say that they are “One” of the Wonders of the World.

Having made my point and before I end this article – let me present to you a complete alphabetical listing of the Forgotten, Modern, and Natural Wonders as officially recognized.

Forgotten Wonders:
Abu Simbel Temple in Egypt
Angkor Wat in Cambodia
The Aztec Temple in Tenochtitlan (Mexico City), Mexico
The Banaue Rice Terraces in the Philippines
Borobudur Temple in Indonesia
The Colosseum in Rome, Italy
The Great Wall of China
The Inca city of Machu Picchu, Peru
The Leaning Tower of Pisa, Italy
The Mayan Temples of Tikal in Northern Guatemala
The Moai Statues in Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Chile
Mont-Saint-Michel in Normandy, France
The Throne Hall of Persepolis in Iran
The Parthenon in Athens, Greece
Petra, the rock-carved city in Jordan
The Shwedagon Pagoda in Myanmar
Stonehenge in England
Taj Mahal in Agra, India
The Temple of the Inscriptions in Palenque, Mexico

Modern Wonders:
The Channel Tunnel
The Clock Tower (Big Ben) in London, England
The CN Tower in Toronto, Canada
Eiffel Tower in Paris, France
The Empire State Building in New York City, USA
The Gateway Arch in St. Louis, USA
The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, USA
The High Dam in Aswan, Egypt
Hoover Dam in Arizona/Nevada, USA
Itaipú Dam in Brazil/Paraguay
Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota, USA
The Panama Canal
The Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
The Statue of Cristo Redentor in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
The Statue of Liberty in New York City, USA
The Suez Canal in Egypt
The Sydney Opera House in Australia 

Natural Wonders:
Angel Falls in Venezuela
The Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia, Canada
The Grand Canyon in Arizona, USA
The Great Barrier Reef in Australia
Iguaçú Falls in Brazil/Argentina
Krakatoa Island in Indonesia
Mount Everest in Nepal
Mount Fuji in Japan
Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania
Niagara Falls in Ontario (Canada) and New York State (USA)
Paricutin Volcano in Mexico
Victoria Falls in Zambia/Zimbabwe


Mantosh Singh..
1st March 2003’