The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World are a list of great monuments left to us by the Ancient Greeks. They represent the greatest architectural and artistic achievements of the time. The list can be considered as an ancient tourist guide for traveling Greeks. It may seem strange that the Parthenon of Athens is not present on the lists. Athens though was only a short traveling distance for many Greeks. Four of the final wonders though are of Greek origin. The Seven Wonders of the Ancient Mediterranean may be a more accurate title these structures

It is difficult to pin down the exact origin of the list. Herodotus possibly the first person who could be called a historian wrote of the Pyramids and the city of Babylon but never complied a list. The first likely complilation is from Callimachus of Alexandria from the early 3rd century BC and was called A Collection of Wonders in Lands throughout the World. He was the librarian of the famous library in that Egyptian city, his list though was destroyed along with the building itself. Philon of Byzantium or possibly another writer assuming his name also complied his own list around 200 B.C. The best compliation from antiquity though comes to us from Antipator of Sidon which survives to this day "I have gazed on the walls of impregnable Babylon, along which chariots may race, and on the Zeus by the banks of the Alphaeus. I have seen the Hanging Gardens and the Colossus of Helios, the great man-made mountains of the lofty pyramids, and the gigantic tomb of Maussolos. But when I saw the sacred house of Artemis that towers to the clouds, the others were placed in the shade, for the sun himself has never looked upon its equal outside Olympus." Antipator may have been the first to restrict the list to seven structures, the number being considered semi-sacred to many Greeks. The name "Seven Wonders" has likely stuck from the Callimachus version. The actual wonders included have changed over time as well. The list may not have been finalised until the Renaissance and for a long period the Pharos was displaced in favor of the Walls of Babylon.