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Supposedly the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World list was composed back in the 3rd century B.C. He history ascribes its writing to Philon of Byzantium. Actually, back then, as it is now, there were several different versions of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World list. The name Wonders in our language does not translate the meaning of the ancient Greek word, given to the 7 places, described in the list. In Greek the word, translated as Wonders, actually ment the ‘sights’ or places to visit. The numerous lists of wonders were compiled mostly by the travellers. They were amazed at the sights of ancient cities abroad their home land and wrote up the lists of the places to visit for other tourists. However, the classic list of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World includes only 2 constructions, built by other nations, than Greek. Those are the Great Pyramid of Giza and The Hanging Gardens of Babylon. The first mentioned is the most ancient and long surviving construction of all. Presently, this pyramid is believed to be over 4500 years old. It was old, even at the time of the list compiling. And, the Pyramid is the only one of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World, which survived till our days. It was built by Egyptians and it is found in Egypt till this day. It serves one of its prominent tourist attractions, the same, as it did over 2 000 years ago. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were built by Persians. Not much was left from this wonder of the world. For many centuries the ruins of Babylon laid covered up by dozens of feet of sand. They were rediscovered in the beginning of the last century together with the ruins of the grand gardens. The rest of the 5 wonders of the ancient world were erected by Greek. They include The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, The Statue of Zeus at Olympia, The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, The Colossus of Rhodes and The Pharos of Alexandria. More or less they all are located within the Greek land and ancient travellers needn’t go far to see them. Each of these wonders were magnificent achievements of the ancient architecture. Greeks have taken great pains to build them. Though, most of them were mercilessly destroyed either by people or by nature itself. See also: 7 Wonders of the Ancient World and World Wonders
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