About This Quiz
Long before technology advanced to give us skyscrapers and massive bridges, ancient cultures built marvels of their own. Check your ancient wonders IQ with this HowStuffWorks quiz!The Seven Wonders of the Ancient world spanned civilizations. Today, only one of them, The Great Pyramid of Giza, still stands. This is not a complete list of all of the wonders of the ancient world.
The Lighthouse of Alexandria was in Alexandria, Egypt. It guided ships sailing the Nile River.
The Great Pyramid at Giza is the only remaining of the Seven Wonders. It can be found in Egypt.
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These beautiful gardens may have been created between 605-562 BCE by a Babylonian king for his wife. They have been described as massive climbing terraces containing exotic animals and plants by ancient writers.
A 40-foot-tall gold and ivory statue was constructed at the Temple of Zeus in Olympia. It was constructed in the 5th Century BCE.
Mauslos' 135-foot tomb was considered to be one of the wonders of the ancient world. The word "mausoleum" is derived from it.
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In 1846, pieces of the mausoleum were extracted from the castle its ruins had been used to build. They are on display with other relics from Halicarnassus at London's British Museum.
The Temple at Olympia fell into disrepair after Christianity took hold in Greece. Due to this, the Olympics, idol worship and many of the old ways fell out of favor or were outright banned
This statue of the Greek sun god Helios stood for only 56 years before it was destroyed by an earthquake. The ruins remained a tourist attraction for over 800 years.
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This temple took over 120 years to build and was destroyed in a night by a man named Herostratus in 356 BCE. He burned it down, hoping to go down in history for destroying something so beautiful.
Earthquakes took down many ancient wonders, from the Gardens of Babylon to the Colossus of Rhodes. This lighthouse withstood a few earthquakes over the centuries before finally collapsing.
The Athenian sculptor Phidias created and placed his statue of Zeus in the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. Afterward he asked for a sign of Zeus's approval and according to legend, the temple was struck by lightning .
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On July, 356 BCE a man named Herostratus set fire to this temple and burned it down. On the same night, Alexander the Great was born.
All of the Ancient Wonders were either Greek, Egyptian or Babylonian. Three of the seven are Greek buildings or statues.
The Olympics took place Olympia in Ancient Greece. The statue of Zeus there was created in the mid-5th century BC and stood in the temple in Olympia for more than 800 years.
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A giant mirror was used to reflect the sun's rays during the day. At night, the mirror reflected firelight to help guide ships.
A mausoleum is an ornate tomb where the dead are buried. The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus is considered to be one of the wonders of the ancient world.
Archaeologists have found some treasures within the pyramids. However, it is believed that most of it was looted within about 250 years of their construction.
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This grand tomb was designed by Mauslos' loving wife Artemisia, who wanted to make a tomb worthy of him. He died in 353 BCE.
This grand tomb was destroyed by an earthquake and lay in complete ruin for centuries. In 1495, the debris was taken and used to build a castle at Bodrum, which can still be seen to this day.
The Colossus of Rhodes was a large statue of the Greek god Helios. He was the god of the sun and patron god of the island of Rhodes.
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This pyramid was constructed between 2584 and 2561 BCE for the Egyptian Pharaoh Khufu. It was the tallest man-made structure on earth for nearly 4,000 years.
The Lighthouse of Alexandria stood on the island of Pharos in Egypt. For this reason, it is sometimes called the Pharos of Alexandria.
This lighthouse was roughly 440 feet high. It was the third tallest man made structure in the world.
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While some ancient historians speak of the gardens and claim they existed, others do not mention them at all. They are also not mentioned in Babylonian history, which would be very strange for such a magnificent accomplishment.
Today, the Egyptian Citadel of Qaitbay stands on the site of Pharos. It was built with some of the stones left in the ruins of the lighthouse.
Earthquakes either destroyed many of the ancient wonders, such as the Lighthouse of Alexandria, or played a role in their destruction, like the stolen Statue of Zeus at Olympia. Today, only the Great Pyramid at Giza still stands.
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What was considered an ancient wonder was decided by writers of old, who wrote about seeing them for themselves. People have been arguing about what should be included ever since.
The Great Pyramids of Giza are all that remains of the ancient wonders. The three are Cheops, Khafra and Menkaura.
These gardens were built near the Euphrates River in modern-day Iraq, according to Ancient Greek poets. However, no first-hand accounts exist of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
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After the temple fell into ruin due to the rise of Christianity, its statue was taken off to Constantinople. It was destroyed by an earthquake there centuries ago.
Archaeologists began to discover the ruins of the temple in the 1860s. They found pieces of the temple's columns at the bottom the Cayster River.
This statue of the sun god Helios took over 12 years to build and was 100 feet tall. It was the tallest statue in the ancient world.
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Ephesos was a Greek colony in present-day Turkey. This grand temple took over a century to build.
This temple was destroyed and rebuilt several times, even though it never quite reached the level of grandness of its first incarnation. Alexander the Great once offered to rebuild it, but the Ephesians refused.