Seven Wonders Quiz
The ancient wonders were a travel wish list long before anyone printed a guidebook.
A Seven Wonders quiz with answers about the ancient wonders of the world and the modern list that followed. It covers how the lists were made, what happened to each monument and what archaeologists still debate.
Did you know?
- The Lighthouse of Alexandria, built in the 3rd century BC on the island of Pharos, was probably more than 100 metres tall. Its name became the word for lighthouse in several languages, and its design of stacked sections influenced lighthouses for centuries.
- The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus was built for Mausolus, a ruler in what is now south-western Turkey, and his wife Artemisia. It was so admired that his name became the general word for a grand tomb, and some of its stones were later reused to build a castle nearby.
- The Colossus of Rhodes probably did not stand astride the harbour entrance, as many later drawings show. Engineers point out that a bronze statue about 33 metres tall could not have spanned the harbour, and it most likely stood on land nearby.
The story of the Seven Wonders
The idea of seven wonders comes from ancient Greek travel writing. Authors such as Antipater of Sidon and a writer known as Philo of Byzantium listed the most impressive human-made sights of their world. The number seven was popular because the Greeks associated it with completeness. Lists varied between writers, and the classic version fixed in later centuries includes the Great Pyramid, the Hanging Gardens, the Statue of Zeus, the Temple of Artemis, the Mausoleum, the Colossus and the Lighthouse of Alexandria.
What happened to them
Of the seven, only the Great Pyramid of Giza still stands, and it was already more than 2,000 years old when the lists were written. Earthquakes destroyed the Colossus, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus and, over several centuries, the Lighthouse of Alexandria. The Temple of Artemis was burned, rebuilt and later ruined. The Statue of Zeus was probably lost in a fire after being moved to Constantinople, and the Hanging Gardens remain unlocated.
Rediscovery by archaeologists
Archaeology has recovered fragments of several wonders. Sculptures from the Mausoleum were excavated in the 1850s and many are now displayed in the British Museum in London. Divers exploring the harbour of Alexandria since the 1990s have found huge stone blocks and statues, some of which may come from the lighthouse. At Ephesus, only a single reconstructed column marks the site of the vast temple that once stood there.
Modern lists of wonders
People have kept making new lists. Engineers have named wonders of the modern world, such as the Panama Canal and the Channel Tunnel, and scientists list natural wonders like the Grand Canyon and the Great Barrier Reef. The 2007 public vote produced the most widely known modern list. Such lists say as much about who makes them as about the places they include, just as the ancient list reflected the Greek world.