The Great Pyramid of Giza is the oldest and last remaining of the Seven Wonders of the World. It is believed the Great Pyramid was built as the tomb of Fourth dynasty Egyptian king Cheops, after whom it is sometimes called the Pyramid of Cheops. The architect of the pyramid was HemInwo, a relative of Cheops.
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were built by Nebuchadnezzar II around 600 BC. According to accounts, the gardens were built to cheer up Nebuchadnezzar’s homesick wife, Amyitis. Amyitis, daughter of the king of the Medes, was married to Nebuchadnezzar to create an alliance between the nations.
The Statue of Zeus at Olympia was carved by the famed Classical sculptor Phidias (435 BC). In AD 394, after over 800 years at Olympia, it was taken to Constantinople (modern Istanbul), the capital of the Byzantine Empire. Historians believe it was probably destroyed in an accidental fire.
The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus was a Greek temple dedicated to Artemis completed around 550 BCE at Ephesus (in present-day Turkey) under the Achaemenid dynasty of the Persian Empire. Nothing remained of the original temple. The temple was a 120-year project started by Croesus of Lydia.
The Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus This enormous white marble tomb was built to hold the remains of Mausolos, a provincial king in the Persian Empire, and his wife, Artemisia. Greek architects Satyrus and Pythius designed the approximately 45-metre-high tomb (135 feet), and four famous Grecian sculptors added an ornamental frieze (decorated band) around its exterior.
The Colossus of Rhodes was a giant statue of the god Helios, erected on the Greek island of Rhodes by Chares of Lindos in the 3rd century BC. It was roughly the same size as the Statue of Liberty in New York, although it stood on a lower platform. Construction completed in 282 BC after 12 years. The statue stood for only 56 years until Rhodes was hit by an earthquake in 226 BC. Learn more about the Colossus of Rhodes.
The Lighthouse of Alexandria was built in the 3rd century BC. It ceased operating and was largely destroyed as a result of two earthquakes in the 14th century; its remains were found by divers in 1994 and subsequently more of it was revealed by satellite imaging. Its tower is estimated to have been 134 m (440 ft) high, easily one of the tallest man-made structures on Earth at the time.