The Seven Wonders of the World actually refers to the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World but the ancient part is usually dropped. The list was compiled by the Greeks for the first time as long ago as the 5th century BC however the recognized list today has been made up from many different Greek lists written over the period of hundreds of years.
The Greeks loved to compile lists about the greatest monuments and structures in their world, this explains the omission of the so called 'forgotten wonders' such as Stonehenge, the Great Wall of China and the Taj Mahal and many others, the Greeks simply did not know they existed.
Many people ask, why the number seven? The reason for this is that the number seven is deeply embedded in Mediterranean culture, tradition, mythology and religion and was considered a very important by the Greeks who were writing the lists.
Although there is no specific 'best wonder' on the list, historians do tend to agree on a few things. Obviously the Pyramids best stood the test of time, the Lighthouse was the only wonder known to have had a practical use and the Temple of Artemis is generally regarded as the most beautiful wonder.
I have presented the detailed information about each wonder below in chronological order.
The Pyramids of Egypt
The pyramids were built somewhere between 2700 and 2500 BC. They are located at Giza, Egypt, on the west band of the River Nile south of Cairo. They are the oldest wonder, and the only wonder still standing today.
There are ten pyramids at Giza but not all of them are particularly special and it is true that not all of them made the list. It is often mistakenly thought that the three largest pyramids are the wonder, but only the central, largest one, known as the Great Pyramid is actually on the list.
The Great Pyramid was constructed for the Pharoah Khufu and approximately 450 feet tall, covering an area of 13 acres. When it was built, the pyramid was in fact taller, but over the years it has lost around 30 feet from the top to the weather and thieves.
Egyptologists believe that 100,000 labourers would have had to work for 20 years to complete the pyramid for Khufu which consists of around 2 300 000 limestone blocks. Each side is 756 feet in length at the base, and despite the limited tools of the builders no side is more than eight inches different in length to another and the whole pyramid is aligned perfectly to the points of the compass. Until the 19th century the Great Pyramid was still the tallest building in the world.
The shape of the pyramids was important in the ancient Egyptian religion. They worshipped the Sun god, Ra and the slanting sides of the pyramids could have been to symbolise the rays of the Sun. The sides could also have been a path to heaven for the dead Pharaoh's soul as he started his journey to join the gods.
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
The hanging gardens were built around 600 BC in Babylon, which was near the locations of modern-day Baghdad in Iraq. There is no proof that the gardens ever actually existed but they are still included on the list of wonders.
The gardens are said to have been laid out on a brick terrace by King Nebuchadnezzar II for one of his wives, Amyitis. Amyitis was from a green, mountainous country and so she was not homesick her king made her an artificial mountain with a rooftop garden. Measurements found in writings by a Babylonian priest claim they covered an area of 160 000 square feet and were also at least 80 feet off the ground.
Due to the height of the gardens, a special and ingenious method of watering them was required. The aforementioned Babylonian priest details slaved who worked in shifts turning Archimedes screws to lift water from the Euphrates River to irrigate the contents of the garden.
In reality the Hanging Gardens probably did not actually 'hang'. This came from an inexact translation of the Greek word 'kermastos' or the Latin word 'pensilis' which both mean 'overhanging' as in the case of a balcony.
