Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

by Paul Jordan

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and all sorts of mysteries attaching to them, have intrigued people since the second century BCE. Why were these particular creations chosen and when? And why did the ancients want to draw up such a list in the first place? What were the technical and cultural factors involved in the creation and listing of the Wonders?

The Seven Wonders still rival many of the phenomenal products of both nature and mankind in their size, majesty, and beauty. Six of them no longer stand, having been destroyed by natural disaster or by human intervention.

From the Pyramids at Giza to the Colossus of Rhodes, from the Hanging Gardens of Babylon to the Lighthouse of Alexandria, from the Temple of Ephesus to the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus and the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World have never ceased to fascinate down the ages.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

170 pages, Hardcover

First published November 21, 2002

About the author

I am an autistic celibate published author.

Reviews

[Elentarri · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this book, Paul Jordan takes a look at the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World: how the list (or rather lists, since there were many) were compiled4, who compiled the lists (the Ancient Greeks), why specific wonders ended up on the lists, what the ancient wonders looked like since none exists in their original form and many of them have been destroyed, where they were located, and what eventually happened to them. The book includes a map and illustrations. I found this book to be generally interesting, but was disappointed by the chapter on the Egyptian Pyramids which was outdated (even at the time of going into press). Jordan also discusses possible wonders from other civilizations that may (or may not) have made it onto such a list had the Ancient Greeks known about them.

Other relevant book:
Wonders of the Ancient World: Antiquity's Greatest Feats of Design and Engineering by Justin Pollard

[Alayne · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book jumped out at me in an Opshop, and I grabbed it, but it didn't tell me much more than I already knew. Worse than that, the author, quite unnecessarily, made derogatory remarks all the way through the book about Judaism and Christianity's belief system. Very disappointing.

[Pieter-Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A well-written exploration of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. The book does a nice job at demonstrating how the context of the hellenistic era greatly determined the eventual selection of wonders that ended up on the list. The tastes of the Greeks changed as the times changed and so the soberness of Classical Greece made way for a pursuit of grandeur and magnitude, parallel with the policies pursued by the despotic Diadochi. The wonders, even if not constructed during Hellenistic times, sure fit the standards of those times. Hence the statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the Pyramids of Giza being on the list.

Jordan argues that even if the Greeks of post-Alexander times were aware of the world beyond the Mediterranean and the Near East, they might not have been overwhelmed with the monuments and works of art produced by other civilizations ( albeit maybe the Chinese Wall would have, perhaps, made it on the list ), though their very existence would have stirred their interest, of course. This wasn't necessarily because of ethnocentrism, but size really mattered. Plato would have disliked this trend and have it characterized as decadent ( his reference to Atlantis was probably a critique on the rapidly changing world around him ).
And this is an important lesson to take from the history of late antiquity, that our preferences are not necessarily our own, but to a great extend contextual. Where Plato and other Greeks before Alexander were not necessarily moved by colossi and baffling architectural feats, the later generations were.

Jordan closes his book with how the advent of Christianity again changed people's preferences and lists ( this time with the Arc of Noah and Temple of Solomon making an appearance, greatly reflecting the cultural change that hit the Old World once more ).
He also closes with a short but interesting overview of the eventual fate of the wonders of the ancient world, with almost all of them perishing as the times changed again and losing their relevance in the eyes of new societies. Some of them became nothing more but scrap for new buildings, like the colossus of Rhodes, the Pharos of Alexandria and the Temple of Artemis in Ephese. This was a fate the Pyramids almost suffered as well.

But the Pyramids, the oldest on the list, stayed and will, let us hope, probably survive humanity as such.

[Hawthorn Mineart · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember reading about the Seven Wonders when I was a kid, so I ordered this book recently to learn more about them. I didn't realize that it was the Greeks that determined which architectural feats were classified as "the seven wonders" and that their choices were based on their limited knowledge; other great architectural and artistic achievements (like the great wall of china) would probably have made the cut had the Greeks known about them. The book covers each "wonder" and what we know about it today, including recent archeological excavations of some of the sites.

[Pedro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Esta es una obra que cumple con el objetivo de ofrecer un pantallazo general a una serie de construcciones que los griegos se encargaron de clasificar como maravillas.

Breve, concreta y concisa. Título recomendado para el interesado.