These were the foremost sights of the ancient world listed by the second-century-BC writer Antipater of Sidon. What the criterion were for their choice and who picked the wonders is unknown. The magnificent seven were:
PYRAMIDS OF GIZA:
Includes the pyramids of Cheops (The Great Pyramid), Chephren and Mycerinus, as well as the Great Sphinx. They are the oldest of the wonders and the only one of the seven substantially in existence today.
HANGING GARDENS OF BABYLON:
A series of landscaped terraces built within the walls of the royal palace at Babylon (in southern Iraq). The gardens did not actually hang, rather they were roof gardens laid out on a series of terraces irrigated from the Euphrates River with pumps. No definite remains of the gardens have been found.
STATUE OF ZEUS AT OLYMPIA:
A large, ornate figure of the god on his throne made c.430BC by Phidias of Athens and placed in the huge temple of Zeus at Olympia in western Greece. Plated with gold and ivory, the statue was seated on a cedar throne decorated with ebony, ivory, gold and precious stones. It stood almost 40 feet high and took eight years to construct. In AD426 the Temple of Zeus was destroyed and possibly the statue with it. No accurate copies survive.
TEMPLE OF ARTEMIS AT EPHESUS:
A structure famous for its imposing size (350'x180') and for the works of art that adorned it. Built in about 550BC by King Croesus of Lydia and rebuilt after it was burned by a madman in 356BC. The temple was destroyed by invading Goths in AD262 and never rebuilt. Little remains of the temple except for many fragments of columns, some of which can be seen today in the British Museum.
MAUSOLEUM OF HALICARNASSUS:
A monumental tomb of the Anatolian King Mausolus (the word mausoleum is derived from his name) built by his widow Artemisia (c.353-350BC). The mausoleum was an enormous structure designed by the famous Greek architect Pythius and decorated with works by eminent Greek sculptors. Some remains of it are now in the British Museum.
COLOSSUS OF RHODES:
A huge bronze statue built at the harbor entrance to Rhodes in commemoration of the raising of the siege of Rhodes (305-304BC). It was made of bronze and represented the sun god Helios. Standing more than 100 feet high, it was toppled by an earthquake around 225BC. It was left in place until raiding Arabs had it broken up in AD653 and sold for scrap. It was said the metal needed 900 camels to haul it all away.
PHAROS OF ALEXANDRIA:
The most famous lighthouse of antiquity, it was a technological wonder that served as a model for all lighthouses since. It was built for Ptolemy II of Egypt c.280BC on the island of Pharos in Alexandria's harbor. It stood more than 440 feet high in three stages and was surmounted by a huge statue. The Arabs replaced the beacon with a mosque in the Middle Ages and it still stood in the 12th century. However, by 1477 it had been destroyed and the Mamluks built a fort from its ruins.
