Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
The Seven Wonders of the World or the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World is a list of remarkable constructions of
The Greek conquest of much of the known western world in the 4th century BC gave Hellenistic travellers access to the
Instead of "wonders", the ancient Greeks spoke of "theamata" (θεάματα), which means "sights", in other words "things to be seen" (Τὰ ἑπτὰ θεάματα τῆς οἰκουμένης [γῆς] Tà heptà theámata tēs oikoumenēs [gēs]). Later, the word for "wonder" ("thaumata" θαύματα, "wonders") was used. Hence, the list was meant to be the Ancient World's counterpart of a travel guidebook.
The first reference to a list of seven such monuments was given by
I have gazed on the walls of impregnable Babylon along which chariots may race, and on the Zeus by the banks of the Alpheus, I have seen the hanging gardens, and the Colossus of the Helios, the great man-made mountains of the lofty pyramids, and the gigantic tomb of Mausolus; but when I saw the sacred house of Artemis that towers to the clouds, the others were placed in the shade, for the sun himself has never looked upon its equal outside Olympus. – Greek Anthology IX.58
Another 2nd century BC observer, who claimed to be the mathematician