The Wonders of the Ancient World

Introduction: A List of Marvels

More than two thousand years ago, the ancient Greeks loved to travel. As they journeyed around the lands ringing the Mediterranean Sea, they saw structures so grand and so beautifully made that they could hardly believe human hands had built them.

Ancient writers began to make lists of the most impressive sights they had seen. These were like the holiday guidebooks of the ancient world, telling travellers which marvels they must not miss. Over time, one list became the most famous of all: the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Why seven? To the ancient Greeks, seven was a special, almost magical number. The classic list included the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Lighthouse of Alexandria.

What is remarkable is that these wonders were built without any of the machines we have today. There were no cranes powered by engines, no trucks, and no electric tools. Everything was done with human muscle, animal power, clever inventions, and an extraordinary amount of skill and patience.

In this book, we will visit each of the seven wonders in turn. We will find out who built them, why, and what eventually happened to them. As you will discover, six of the seven have vanished, leaving only ruins, ancient writings, or nothing at all. Only one still stands. Let us begin our journey through time.

Chapter 1: The Great Pyramid of Giza

Our first wonder is also the oldest, and it is the only one still standing today. The Great Pyramid of Giza rises from the desert sands near the city of Cairo, in Egypt.

It was built around 4,500 years ago as a tomb for an Egyptian king, or pharaoh, named Khufu. The ancient Egyptians believed that their pharaoh would live on after death, so they built him a tomb fit for a god, designed to protect him and his treasures forever.

The scale of the Great Pyramid is astonishing. When it was finished, it stood about 146 metres tall, taller than a forty-storey building. For more than 3,800 years, it remained the tallest structure made by humans anywhere on Earth — a record that lasted longer than any other in history.

The pyramid was built from more than two million blocks of stone. Each block weighed, on average, as much as a large car, and some weighed far more. How the Egyptians moved these enormous blocks without modern machines has fascinated people for centuries. We now know that thousands of skilled workers cut the stone from quarries, dragged the blocks on wooden sledges, and most likely hauled them up long earthen ramps. These workers were not slaves, as people once believed, but organised teams of paid labourers who were fed and housed nearby.

Once, the entire pyramid was covered in smooth, polished white limestone that gleamed brilliantly in the desert sun. Over the centuries, most of this casing was removed and used to construct other buildings, which is why the pyramid looks rough and stepped today.

The Great Pyramid is a testament to what humans can achieve when they work together with skill and determination. It has stood for forty-five centuries, and you can still visit it today.

Chapter 2: The Hanging Gardens of Babylon

Our second wonder is one of the most mysterious. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were said to be a breathtaking green paradise rising in tiers above the ancient city of Babylon, in what is now the country of Iraq.

According to ancient writers, the gardens were built around 2,600 years ago by a king named Nebuchadnezzar II. One famous story says he built them for his wife, who came from a green and hilly land and missed the trees and plants of her home. To comfort her, he is said to have created an artificial mountain covered in flowers, shrubs and trees.

The word "hanging" does not mean the plants dangled in mid-air. It means the gardens were arranged on raised terraces, one above another, so that the greenery seemed to spill over the edges and cascade downward. Watering such a garden in a hot, dry land would have been a tremendous challenge. Ancient accounts describe a clever system that lifted water up from the river below to keep the plants alive.

Here lies the great mystery: unlike the other wonders, there is no clear archaeological proof that the Hanging Gardens ever existed. No certain ruins have ever been found, and the people of Babylon themselves do not seem to have written about them. Some historians wonder whether the gardens were in a different city altogether, or whether they were exaggerated or even imagined by later writers.

Whether they were real or legendary, the Hanging Gardens captured the imagination of the ancient world, and they continue to capture ours today.

Chapter 3: The Statue of Zeus at Olympia

Our third wonder was a masterpiece of art. The Statue of Zeus stood inside a great temple at Olympia, in Greece — the very place where the original Olympic Games were held in honour of the gods.

Zeus was the king of the Greek gods, the ruler of the sky and thunder. Around 2,400 years ago, the Greeks decided that their greatest god deserved a statue worthy of his power. They asked the most celebrated sculptor of the age, a man named Phidias, to create it.

The result was magnificent. The statue showed Zeus seated upon a grand throne, and it stood around twelve metres tall — so enormous that people joked Zeus would burst through the roof if he ever stood up. The statue was made of a wooden frame covered with plates of gleaming ivory for the skin and shining gold for the robes and ornaments. This costly combination of ivory and gold was called chryselephantine work.

Visitors who entered the dim temple and gazed up at the towering figure were said to be filled with awe. The statue's beauty and grandeur made many feel they stood in the presence of the god himself.

Sadly, the Statue of Zeus did not survive. After the ancient Olympic Games were eventually banned and the temple fell into disuse, the statue was lost. Some accounts say it was carried away to the distant city of Constantinople, where it was later destroyed in a great fire. Nothing of it remains today except descriptions and copies of its image on ancient coins.

Chapter 4: The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus

Our fourth wonder was a temple so beautiful that one ancient writer declared it surpassed all the other wonders. The Temple of Artemis stood in the wealthy city of Ephesus, in what is now Turkey.

The temple honoured Artemis, the Greek goddess of the hunt, of wild animals and of the wilderness. The people of Ephesus held her in the highest regard, and they built her a temple to match their devotion.

This was no small building. The temple was enormous, supported by more than one hundred towering marble columns, each standing around eighteen metres high. It was richly decorated with fine sculptures and works of art created by some of the greatest artists of the time. Travellers came from far and wide simply to marvel at it.

The Temple of Artemis had a dramatic and troubled history. It was destroyed and rebuilt more than once. The most infamous destruction came when a man deliberately set fire to it, according to legend, simply so that his name would be remembered forever. The temple was rebuilt grander than before, but in later centuries it was damaged again and eventually fell into ruin.

Today, almost nothing of the great temple remains. On the site where one of the most beautiful buildings of the ancient world once stood, a visitor would now find only a single reconstructed column rising from the marshy ground.

Chapter 5: The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus

Our fifth wonder gave us a word we still use today. The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus was a magnificent tomb built in the city of Halicarnassus, also in present-day Turkey.

It was constructed around 2,350 years ago for a ruler named Mausolus and his wife, Artemisia. So splendid was this tomb that the very word mausoleum, which we still use for a grand burial building, comes directly from the name of Mausolus.

The Mausoleum stood about forty-five metres tall and combined several styles of architecture into one breathtaking whole. It had a base, a row of columns, a stepped pyramid-shaped roof, and at the very top a marble sculpture of a four-horse chariot. The finest sculptors of Greece were brought in to decorate it with statues and carved scenes, making it as much a work of art as a tomb.

The Mausoleum survived for many centuries, far longer than most of the other wonders. But over a long period, a series of powerful earthquakes shook the region and gradually toppled the great structure. Later, much of its broken stone was carried away and reused to build a castle.

Some of the Mausoleum's beautiful sculptures were rescued and survive in museums today, where we can still admire the artistry of the people who created this wonder.

Chapter 6: The Colossus of Rhodes

Our sixth wonder was a giant. The Colossus of Rhodes was an enormous bronze statue that towered over the harbour of the island of Rhodes, in Greece.

The statue was built around 2,300 years ago to celebrate a great victory. The people of Rhodes had successfully defended their city against a long and difficult attack. To give thanks and to mark their triumph, they decided to build a colossal statue of Helios, the sun god, who was the patron and protector of their island.

The Colossus stood around thirty-three metres tall, roughly the height of a modern ten-storey building. It was made of bronze plates fixed over an iron framework, and it took twelve years to complete. A popular legend says the statue stood with its legs astride the harbour entrance so that ships sailed between them, but historians believe this is a later myth. It almost certainly stood with its feet together on a base beside the harbour, where it greeted everyone who arrived.

The Colossus did not stand for long. Only about fifty years after it was finished, a powerful earthquake struck the island and snapped the statue at the knees, sending the giant crashing to the ground. The broken pieces lay where they had fallen for centuries, and visitors still came to marvel at their size. Eventually, the bronze was carried off and melted down, and nothing of the Colossus remains.

Though it stood for such a short time, the Colossus of Rhodes left a lasting mark. The idea of a giant guardian statue welcoming travellers from across the sea inspired later monuments, including the Statue of Liberty in New York.

Chapter 7: The Lighthouse of Alexandria

Our seventh and final wonder was the most practical of them all, for it saved lives every single night. The Lighthouse of Alexandria guided ships safely into the great harbour of Alexandria, the most important port city of ancient Egypt.

The lighthouse, sometimes called the Pharos after the island on which it stood, was built around 2,300 years ago. Alexandria was a bustling centre of trade and learning, and its harbour was crowded with ships. But the coastline was low and difficult to see, and many vessels had been wrecked. A great lighthouse would warn sailors of the rocks and guide them in safely.

The Pharos was extraordinarily tall, rising to perhaps over one hundred metres, which made it one of the tallest buildings in the entire ancient world. It was built in three sections: a square base, an eight-sided middle, and a round top. At its summit, a fire blazed through the night, and a great polished mirror was said to reflect the light far out to sea, so that sailors could see it from a great distance.

For many centuries, the Lighthouse of Alexandria faithfully did its job. But like the Colossus, it was eventually brought down by its great enemy, the earthquake. A series of powerful earthquakes over hundreds of years gradually damaged and toppled the mighty tower until it finally fell into the sea.

In recent times, divers exploring the waters of the harbour have discovered enormous stone blocks on the seabed — the scattered remains of the lighthouse, resting where they fell long ago.

Conclusion: Wonders Lost and Remembered

Our journey through the ancient world is complete. We have visited all seven wonders, and along the way we have seen something remarkable about the people of the past.

These were not simple, primitive builders. They were brilliant engineers, artists and dreamers who created marvels that still astound us today, and they did it all without a single modern machine. With muscle, mathematics, teamwork and imagination, they raised pyramids taller than any building for thousands of years, cast bronze giants, and lit fires that guided ships safely home.

Of the seven wonders, six are now gone. Earthquakes, fires and the slow passage of time toppled and scattered them, until only ruins, sunken stones, or mere descriptions remained. Only the Great Pyramid of Giza — the oldest of them all — still stands, a stubborn survivor that has watched over the desert for forty-five centuries.

Why do we still remember these wonders, when most of them vanished long ago? Perhaps because they remind us of what humans are capable of when we dare to dream big and work together. The ancient writers who made their lists wanted travellers to see the most amazing sights in the world. Thousands of years later, their wonders still fill us with awe.

And perhaps the greatest lesson of all is this: the wonders of the world are never truly finished. Every generation builds new marvels of its own. One day, far in the future, people may look back at the great achievements of our age and add them to a list of wonders all their own.

Hungry for more true tales of human achievement? Take flight through history with A Short History of Flight, or descend into the unknown with Explorers of the Deep Sea.