Searching For Wonders

We often hear about The Seven Wonders of the World, but exactly what are they? The truth is there is no real, definitive list of The Seven Wonders of the World even though a number of authorities and popular media outlets have published these lists. Today there are widely recognized three major categories of wonders:

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
The Seven Wonders of the Modern World
The Seven Wonders of the Natural World

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

Based on iconic architectural feats from antiquity reported in ancient texts, legends and archeological finds and all seem to predate the current era by 300 to 500 years. They are widely accepted to include:

Great Pyramid of Giza
Hanging Gardens of Babylon
Statue of Zeus at Olympia
Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
Colossus of Rhodes
Lighthouse of Alexandria

Of the seven, only the Great Pyramid of Giza still exists today.

The Seven Natural Wonders of the World.

This represents a collection of wonders found in nature and is mostly consistent among authorities**.

Aurora (the Northern Lights)
Grand Canyon
Harbour of Rio de Janeiro
Mount Everest
Parícutin Volcano*
Great Barrier Reef
Victoria Falls (challenged by Iguazu Falls)**

*Paricutin is famed for being the youngest volcano on Earth whose birth was witnessed and recorded by humans. It erupted suddenly from a Mexican cornfield in 1943 and remained active until 1952.

**Located in Argentina and Brazil, Iguazu Falls is the largest system of waterfalls in the world. It’s taller than Niagara Falls (269 feet) and 3,000 feet wider than Victoria Falls.

The Seven Wonders of the Modern World

This list is generally composed of sites built in the modern era or dated AD or CE.

Great Wall of China
Chichén Itzá
Petra
Machu Picchu
Christ the Redeemer
Colosseum
Taj Mahal

Of these wonders Petra is the oldest dating back to 200 to 400 BC?

If you do a search for the seven wonders you’ll likely find a web listing for 7wonders.org. This organization claims to be the official keeper of everything related to Seven Wonders and in addition to the three listed above they offer up four additional lists of Seven Wonders.