Why THIS List?
I have always been interested in the original list of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. I think it came from most of them being objects you can build in the Civilization series of video games (they give you huge bonuses!) Although I don’t agree with all of the selections, it is still a good list.
Wonders I have Visited
1) The Great Wall [February, 2010 // China]
2) Chichen Itza [January, 2011 // Mexico]
3) The Colosseum [August, 2012 // Italy]
4) Machu Picchu [June, 2013 // Peru]
Wonders I have NOT Visited
5) Petra [Jordan]
6) Taj Mahal [India]
7) Christ the Redeemer [Brazil]
8) Pyramid of Giza [Egypt]
(The Pyramid of Giza has an honorable inclusion in the list by the New 7 Foundation for being the last remaining original monument. Although it doesn’t count as one of the 7, it is considered one of the world wonders. Yeah, I didn’t make the rules.)
Why the Heck is it “New 7?”
The Ancient Greeks known as Philo of Byzantium, Antipater or Sidon and others comprised a list that is talked about even today. That list was the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (I’m pretty sure they didn’t refer to themselves as ancient though). They originally wanted to make a list of ten things, but since civilization was rather new, they didn’t find enough things to fill their list, so they settled for seven. I totally made up that last part. The original Wonders of the World were:
- The Great Pyramid of Giza [Egyptians]
- Hanging Gardens of Babylon [Babylonians]
- Temple of Artemis at Ephesus [Greeks]
- Statue of Zeus at Olympia [Greeks]
- Mausoleum at Halicarnassus [Greeks, Carians]
- Colossus of Rhodes [Greeks]
- Lighthouse of Alexandria [Egyptians, Greeks
Yeah…they weren’t biased (rolls eyes). The only remaining wonder is the pyramid of Giza.
Then in 2000, Bernard Webber started the New7Wonders as a project to revive this idea. In 2007, after a planet wide vote of over 100 million people, the New 7 Wonders of the World were announced.