The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

Book excerpt: First published in 1988. Can you name the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World? Did they even exist? The Pharos at Alexandria survived into the Middle Ages, but the Hanging Gardens of Babylon exist only in references by ancient authors and the Colossus of Rhodes if too improbable to have existed in the form and place traditionally ascribed to it. The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World sets the record straight, with an attractive account of each Wonder in the context in which it was built. The authors combine ancient sources with the results of modern scholarship and excavations to recreate a vivid picture of the Seven Wonders. All experts in their specialist fields, the contributors bring together facts and background that are remarkably difficult to find from any other single source and establish for the fist time the archaeology and location of each Wonder.