by Dave Franklin

Created on: January 04, 2007   Last Updated: May 08, 2007

There is often much confusion over the identities of the Seven Wonders of the World. Due to their size and magnificence people often assume that the Taj Mahal and the Great Wall of China are part of the group. What has to be borne in mind is that these wonders should be better termed the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World as they were compiled from the perspective of the ancient Greeks and as such are all to be found around the coasts and hinterlands of the Mediterranean Sea. The list or theamata (meaning sights) was first attested to in the 2nd Century BC, and thus not only precludes the Taj Mahal on geographical grounds but pre-date both by a thousand years or so.

So what are the Seven Wonders?

1.Pyramids of Egypt probably the most famous of all and referring specifically to the Pyramids at Giza, now part of Cairo.

2. The Pharos Lighthouse Again located in Egypt, this massive lighthouse structure sat at the port side of Alexandria. An earthquake destroyed it and now its remains lie scattered on the harbour floor along with a number of other archaeological gold mines waiting to be found.

3.Hanging Gardens of Babylon The gardens of Queen Semiramis at Babylon (now in modern Iraq) are the most illusive of the seven in that there is very little evidence for such a garden having existed, though that is not to say that evidence will never be found to back up its reality.

4.The Temple of Artemis The rest of the list are all firmly in the areas held by the Greek city-states. The Temple of Artemis is to be found at Ephesus, now in modern Turkey, the costal portion of which were long held Greek Colonies.

5.Statue of Zeus To be found at Olympia, modern Greece. This place always had a religious significance from ancient Mycenaean times, through classical Greece, Roman and finally to be supplanted by a Christian temple which was destroyed in an earthquake in the 6th Century.

6.Mausoleum at Halicarnassus Found at Bodrum in Western Turkey, this is the tomb of Mausolus, ruler of Halicarnassus in the third century BC

7.The Colossus of Rhodes A massive bronze statue that stood at the entrance to the harbour on this Greek island.

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