Seven natural wonders of the world - Definition

The seven wonders of the world are usually taken to be the seven wonders of the ancient world, the name of a list of the most impressive achievements of ancient civilizations in the east of the Mediterranean world. This list is supposed to have been written by someone close to Alexander the Great, in order to emphasize the size of his empire: in fact, the seven wonders demarcate the territory Alexander had conquered.

The originator of the list is usually given as Antipater of Sidon, who listed the structures in a poem (around 140 BC):

"I have set eyes on the wall of lofty Babylon on which is a road for chariots, and the statue of Zeus by the Alpheus, and the hanging gardens, and the Colossus of the Sun, and the huge labour of the high pyramids, and the vast tomb of Mausolus; but when I saw the house of Artemis that mounted to the clouds, those other marvels lost their brilliancy, and I said, 'Lo, apart from Olympus, the Sun never looked on aught so grand.'" (Antipater, Greek Anthology IX.58)

The historian Herodotus, the scholar Callimachus of Cyrene (ca 305–240 BC) at the Museum of Alexandria, and the engineer Philon of Byzantium had made earlier lists but the writings have not survived, except as references. The Greek category was not "Wonders" but "theamata"— closer to "must-sees".

Wonders of the World list

The Wonders of the Ancient World list, with the Pharos of Alexandria, is medieval in origin. Antipater's list had the walls of Babylon rather than the lighthouse. In chronological order, they are:

1. The Pyramids of Giza - serving as tombs for the Egyptian pharaohs Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure, in present Egypt. Built during Egypt's 4th dynasty (ca 2575–ca 2465 BC)
2. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon - built by Nebuchadnezzar II, ca 8th–6th century BC, in present Iraq.
3. The Statue of Zeus - at Olympia, carved by the Greek sculptor Phidias, ca 430 BC in present Greece.
4. The Temple of Artemis - 356 BC, at Ephesus, present Turkey.
5. The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus - tomb of Mausolus, the Persian satrap of Caria, built between ca 353 and 351 BC, at Halicarnassus, present Bodrum, Turkey.
6. The Colossus of Rhodes - a huge statue of Helios, built ca 292–280 BC, in present Greece.
7. The Pharos of Alexandria - lighthouse built ca 280 BC on the island of Pharos off Alexandria, by Sostratus of Cnidus, in present Egypt.

Two of each of the wonders were within the territories of today's Egypt, Greece, and Turkey, and one in Iraq. The only surviving wonder is the first built, the Pyramids of Giza. The wonder with the shortest life span was the Colossus of Rhodes, which kept its erect posture for only 56 years before being brought down by an earthquake. There is some controversy as to whether the Hanging Gardens of Babylon ever in fact existed.

Other candidates

After a lot more of the world was discovered by the western world, wonders new to the western world made their appearance on new lists of wonders:

• Persepolis (Persia)
• Hagia Sophia (Turkey)
• Angkor Wat (Cambodia)
• Stonehenge (United Kingdom)
• The Acropolis (Greece)
• The Great Sphinx of Giza (near the Great Pyramid, in Egypt)
• The Great Wall of China (Northern China)
• The Great Wall of Gorgan (Persia)
• Falak-ol-Aflak Castle (Persia)
• The Porcelain Tower (in Nanjing, China)
• The Chichen Itza (Yucatán, Mexico)
• The Taj Mahal (near Agra, India)
• Candi Borobudur in Indonesia

Modern candidates

Many people have since devised lists of wonders of the modern world. For example, the American Society of Civil Engineers has chosen the following Seven Wonders of the Modern World [1] (http://www.ce.memphis.edu/1101/interesting_stuff/7wonders.html):

• The Empire State Building (New York, USA)
• The Itaipu Dam (Brazil and Paraguay)
• The CN Tower (Toronto, Canada)
• The Panama Canal (Panama)
• The Channel Tunnel (United Kingdom and France)
• The Delta Works, North Sea protection works (The Netherlands)
• The Golden Gate Bridge (San Francisco, USA)

They have also compiled a list of historic civil engineering landmarks.

Other prominent candidates include:

• The Taj Mahal (Agra, India)
• The World Trade Center (New York, United States)
• The Statue of Liberty (New York, USA)
• The Eiffel Tower (Paris, France)
• The Forth Rail Bridge, Scotland, UK
• The Rio-Antirio bridge, Peloponnese,Greece
• The Kremlin and Red Square (Moscow, Russia)
• Mamayev Kurgan (Volgograd, Russia)
• The Sydney Opera House (Sydney, Australia)
• The Petronas Twin Towers (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)

Wonders of the natural world

Similar to other list of wonders, there is no consensus on a list of seven natural wonders of the world. One of the list was compiled by CNN [2] (http://www.cnn.com/TRAVEL/DESTINATIONS/9711/natural.wonders/):

• The Grand Canyon
• Mount Everest
• The Harbor of Rio de Janeiro
• The Northern Lights
• The Great Barrier Reef
• Victoria Falls (Mosi-oa-Tunya)
• Paricutín Volcano

Other candidates commonly cited include:

• Uluru
• The Matterhorn
• Meteor Crater
• Angel Falls
• The Bay of Fundy
• Milford Sound
• Iguacu Falls
• Mount Fuji
• Mount Kilimanjaro
• Niagara Falls
• Guilin
• Monument Valley
• Krakatoa
• Sleeping Bear Dunes
• Yellowstone National Park
• Fiordland

Sometimes the wonders related to oceans and lakes are grouped under the title Seven Underwater Wonders of the World.

Seven Wonders of the Medieval Mind

After the collapse of the great civilizations of antiquty, the memories of the destroyed ancient wonders faded. Scholars and philosophers reviewed and rewrote the lists of wonders, removing old ones and replacing them with "newly built" as tales of them spread. Over the centuries a consensus emerged in the form of the Seven Wonders of the Medieval Mind list:

• Stonehenge
• The Colosseum
• The Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa
• The Great Wall of China
• Porcelain Tower of Nanjing
• The Hagia Sophia
• The Leaning Tower of Pisa

See also

• World Heritage Site
• Seven Wonders of Wales

External links and references

• "New 7 Wonders (http://www.new7wonders.com/)". NewOpenWorld Foundation - a global project on to vote (until February 2005) on wonders to be included in a modern list.
• The World's Top 100 Wonders (http://www.hillmanwonders.com/) - a list of architectural, engineering and natural wonders by Howard Hillman, a renowned travel writer.
• WonderClub.com (http://www.wonderclub.com/AllWorldWonders.html) - a "list of lists", with information about most wonders.

Further readings

• D'Epiro, Peter, and Mary Desmond Pinkowish, "What Are the Seven Wonders of the World? and 100 Other Great Cultural Lists". Anchor. December 1, 1998. ISBN 0385490623
• Cox, Reg, Neil Morris, and James Field, "The Seven Wonders of the Medieval World". Chelsea House Publications: Library. October, 2000. ISBN 0791060470
• Cox, Reg, and Neil Morris, "The Seven Wonders of the Modern World". Chelsea House Publications: Library. October, 2000. ISBN 079106048
• Morris, Neil, "The Seven Wonders of the Natural World". Chrysalis Books. December 30, 2002. ISBN 184138495X