The Seven Wonders of the World

(Josey Dehmann)

There are two sets of seven wonders of the world. Many are familiar with the ancient seven wonders of the world as they were discovered a long time ago. The new wonders were chosen in 2007. SFGATE says “For something to be considered a Wonder of the World, it has to be iconic; it should symbolize a chapter of human history...It should be a place that grows more intriguing with time” (Greenwald 9). What the author is saying is that it takes time for a place to become a wonder.

The ancient wonders are; Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Great Pyramid of Giza, Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, Statue of Zeus at Olympia, Lighthouse of Alexandria, Colossus of Rhodes, and Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were not actually hanging gardens, they were up off the ground though. The gardens were on the roof at the palace of Babylon. The Great Pyramid of Giza is made of limestone. The pyramid was made as a tombstone for the queen. The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus is located in Turkey. It was built by the king of Lydia around 550 BCE. Majority of the temple was destroyed, and it was never rebuilt. It was destroyed by floods, looting, and arson. The Statue of Zeus at Olympia is a giant statue in Greece. The statue is 43 feet tall is covered in gold and ivory. There are no remains of the statue. The 350 foot tall Lighthouse of Alexandria was built in Egypt. In the 1300’s the building was destroyed by an earthquake. It is believed that some of the pieces fell into the ocean. The last of the ancient wonder is the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. The building stood in Turkey but is no longer there. The building was destroyed by an earthquake. Some of the ruins were reused for local buildings. The total perimeter of the building is 411 feet.

The current wonders of the world are; The Great Wall of China, Petra, The Colosseum in Rome, Taj Mahal, Christ the Redeemer, Machu Picchu, and Chichen Itza. The Great Wall of China is located in China. The Great Wall of China was built in 1474 to protect China. The wall is 13,171 miles long and around 7.88 meters tall. In the tallest parts of the wall it is around 14 meters tall. Petra is in Jordan, it is part of the “Rose City”. It isn’t exactly known when Petra was built, but it is thought to be built in the fifth century. The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan abandoned and rediscovered in 1812. The Colosseum in Rome was built for gladiator games in 70 AD. Half of the colosseum was destroyed by an earthquake in 1349. The Taj Mahal is in India. The Taj Mahal was built in 1631. It was built by Shah Jahan for his wife who passed away. The Christ the Redeemer statue is in Rio de Janeiro. It was built in 1931. It is 98 feet tall and the arms stretch 92 feet wide. Machu Picchu is in Peru. Machu Picchu is the most modern place built by the Inca Empire. It was a spiritual area for the Incas. Chichen itza was built by the Maya people, it was the center of their city. It was very special to them. It was built around 400 A.D.

All of the wonders are so interesting to me but I think Machu Picchu is definitely the coolest out of all the wonders. I just think Machu Picchu is the prettiest and the story behind it is very cool. I just think that it is very interesting that it was considered the most spiritual spot to the Incas. I also really like Petra because it looks so cool and I like that it disappeared and then was re found. I think all of the wonders, new and old, are beautiful and very interesting to read about. I would love to be able to see them in person, but the majority of them don’t exist anymore or are in awful condition. Majority of the wonders can be learned about in history class/textbooks and or can be seen in movies.

Work Cited:

Greenwald, Jeff. “What does it take to be a wonder of the world?” SFGATE, 14 January 2012, https://www.sfgate.com/magazine/article/What-does-it-take-to-be-a-wonder-of-the-world-2536621.php. Accessed 2 February 2021.