The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World - 7 famous monuments  

» Presentation of the 7 wonders of the ancient world.

Only few people can list the 7 wonders of the ancient world, although most people know that there is a list of these famous monuments of ancient architecture. The first reference to the 7 wonders of the ancient world is encountered in the History of Herodotus in the fifth century BC. Decades later, Greek historians have mentioned the greatest monuments of the time. Callimachus of Cyrene (305-240 BC), chief librarian of the Museum of Alexandria, wrote "A collection of wonders of the world". Everything we know about this collection is its title, since it was destroyed along with the Library of Alexandria.

The first description of the 7 wonders of the ancient world is contained in a small treatise written in Greek and translated into Latin under the title "De septem orbis miraculis." The original work was attributed to Filon of Byzantium, of Greek origin, who lived in the second century BC, and studied architecture at Rhodes and mechanics in Alexandria. The original treaty was destroyed, being preserved only the Latin translation made by Leon Allatius in 1640. (Leone Alaci - erudite Greek theologian, born on Chios in 1586, significant humanist of the 17th century.)

In chronological order of their construction the 7 wonders of the ancient world are:

1. » The Great Pyramid of Giza (The Pyramid of Keops)

2. » The Hanging Gardens of Babylon (The Semiramida's Gardens)

3. » The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus

4. » The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus

5. » The Statue of Zeus at Olympia

6. » The Lighthouse of Alexandria

7. » The Colossus of Rhodes

From these 7 wonders of the ancient architecture the only one that survives substantially intact is the Great Pyramid of Giza (the great Pyramid of Keops), the other 6 being destroyed either by natural disasters or malicious acts of some 'people'.