Seven Wonders of the World

The "Seven Wonders of the World" is actually three different lists. The original Seven Wonders were a list made by ancient Greek travellers approx. 2,200 years ago of the most amazing structures they had seen. The "New Seven Wonders" is a modern list, voted on by people around the world in 2007. And the "Seven Natural Wonders" is yet another list, this time of natural rather than human-made marvels.

  • Ancient Sevenapprox. 200 BCListed by Greek traveller Antipater
  • Still standingJust oneThe Great Pyramid of Giza
  • New Seven2007Chosen by a worldwide vote
  • Most-visitedGreat Wall of Chinaapprox. 10 million tourists a year
  • Seven NaturalVarious listsMost include the Grand Canyon and Mt Everest
  • Why seven?A "magic" numberSeven was important in ancient Greek thinking

Ancient Seven Wonders by estimated height

Height (metres)
Alex Lt.approx. 110 m
Pyramidapprox. 139 m
Colossusapprox. 33 m
Zeusapprox. 13 m
Artemisapprox. 18 m

All sizes are estimates. The Lighthouse of Alexandria and the Great Pyramid were both probably around the height of a modern 40-storey building.

The Ancient Seven Wonders

The original list was made around 200 BC by a Greek poet named Antipater of Sidon. The Ancient Seven Wonders are:

  1. The Great Pyramid of Giza (Egypt). Built around 2580 BC as the tomb of Pharaoh Khufu. Still standing.
  2. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon (Iraq). A series of tiered gardens. Probably destroyed by earthquake, though some scholars now doubt they ever existed.
  3. The Statue of Zeus at Olympia (Greece). A giant gold and ivory statue of the king of the gods. Destroyed in a fire around 426 AD.
  4. The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus (Turkey). A huge Greek temple. Burned down deliberately in 356 BC by a man seeking fame.
  5. The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus (Turkey). A grand tomb for a king named Mausolus. The word "mausoleum" comes from his name. Destroyed by earthquakes.
  6. The Colossus of Rhodes (Greece). A 33-metre bronze statue of the sun god. Toppled by an earthquake in 226 BC, the broken pieces lay for centuries.
  7. The Lighthouse of Alexandria (Egypt). A 110-metre lighthouse, one of the tallest buildings in the ancient world. Destroyed by earthquakes between 956 and 1323 AD.

Only the Great Pyramid still stands. The other six were destroyed by earthquakes, fires or invading armies.

Why seven?

The Ancient Greeks considered seven to be a perfect number, partly because it included the four directions (north, south, east, west) plus the three sacred spaces (heaven, earth, underworld). Seven was also the number of visible "wandering stars" in the sky: the Sun, the Moon, and the five planets that could be seen with the naked eye (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn).

Fact The Great Pyramid was the tallest human-made structure on Earth for almost 4,000 years, until the Eiffel Tower was built in 1889. No other building has held the title for anywhere near as long.

The New Seven Wonders of the World

In 2007, a Swiss organisation called New 7 Wonders held a global vote to choose seven new wonders from a shortlist of 21 famous landmarks. Around 100 million people voted. The seven winners were:

  1. The Great Wall of China (China). The longest wall ever built.
  2. Petra (Jordan). An ancient city carved into rose-coloured cliffs.
  3. Christ the Redeemer (Brazil). A 30-metre statue of Jesus overlooking Rio de Janeiro.
  4. Machu Picchu (Peru). The Inca city high in the Andes.
  5. Chichen Itza (Mexico). A giant Mayan pyramid temple.
  6. The Colosseum (Italy). The ancient Roman amphitheatre in the centre of Rome.
  7. The Taj Mahal (India). The white marble tomb built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan for his beloved wife.

The Seven Natural Wonders

A separate list of natural wonders is widely accepted, though the exact seven vary depending on who is making the list. Common entries include the Grand Canyon (USA), Mount Everest (Nepal/Tibet), the Great Barrier Reef (Australia), the Northern Lights (visible from many countries), Paricutin Volcano (Mexico), Victoria Falls (Zambia/Zimbabwe) and the Harbour of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil).

Did you know? Antipater of Sidon, who wrote the original list 2,200 years ago, lived in the city of Sidon in what is now Lebanon. He was a poet and a tour guide. The list was essentially a Greek tourist guide of the ancient Mediterranean world.
Deeper dive: archaeological evidence, disputed wonders and the modern era

The Great Pyramid is the only Ancient Wonder for which we have direct, unambiguous evidence. The other six all rely on ancient written descriptions, archaeological fragments, and inference. The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus and the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus have visible ruins. The Statue of Zeus at Olympia and the Colossus of Rhodes are known only from ancient descriptions and a few coin images. The Lighthouse of Alexandria has been partly recovered from the seabed off the Egyptian coast in modern times.

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon are the most contested entry. No Babylonian sources mention them, and no archaeological remains have ever been found in Babylon itself. Some scholars now believe the gardens were actually located in Nineveh, capital of the Assyrian Empire (Nineveh is in modern Iraq, approx. 500 km north of Babylon). Detailed Assyrian sources describe elaborate terraced gardens with an extensive irrigation system in Nineveh, including a system of bronze "screws" used to lift water from the Tigris River to the upper terraces. Either the gardens always referred to Nineveh and were misattributed to Babylon by later Greek writers, or there were similar gardens in both cities.

Modern attempts to identify "new seven wonders" have multiplied. The 2007 vote produced the most widely accepted list of human-made New Wonders. There are also lists of Seven Wonders of the Modern World (focusing on engineering marvels like the Panama Canal, the Empire State Building, and the Channel Tunnel), Seven Underwater Wonders, Seven Wonders of the Solar System, and many others. The "Seven Wonders" idea has become a way of curating any list of seven especially impressive examples of something, far beyond its original meaning as a Greek tourist itinerary.

Read about three of the New Seven Wonders individually: Great Wall of China, Machu Picchu, and (coming soon) the Taj Mahal and Petra.

History

Ancient Seven Wonders concept originated with ancient Greek scholars (~2nd century BCE). Only the Great Pyramid of Giza survives. New Seven Wonders chosen by 100 million global votes in 2007: Great Wall, Taj Mahal, Colosseum, Chichen Itza, Machu Picchu, Christ the Redeemer, Petra.

Significance

One of the most enduring intellectual concepts in human history — celebrating the most magnificent achievements of human construction. The New Seven Wonders vote drove significant tourism and conservation investment. Reflects humanity's impulse to identify and honour extraordinary achievement.

Visiting

The modern Seven Wonders are all major tourist destinations. Entry varies: Great Wall and Machu Picchu require advance booking; Petra and the Colosseum can be booked on arrival (though queues are long). All benefit from guided tours to understand their history. Several (Machu Picchu, Chichen Itza, Petra) have restricted daily visitor numbers.