Seven Wonders of the World



The Seven Wonders of the World are lists of the seven most amazing things on Earth- as in, things mankind has created that are considered examples of our greatest feats. Can be considered as Real Life listings of humanity’s Crowning Moments. Of course, Your Mileage May Vary whether they are and if so, which ones. Many of the Wonders have become iconic images across the World today and so show up often in fiction as well; they are often destroyed, animated or stolen. Some can even be considered to be Trope Makers on their own.

Why seven things? It's just tradition; the first one, made thousands of years ago, had seven items. Some lists have "honorary mentions" making them actually longer.

The first lists are now referred to as the Seven Wonders Of The Ancient World one, compiled by Herodotus (484 – ca. 425 BCE), and the scholar Callimachus of Cyrene (ca. 305 – 240 BCE) at the Museum of Alexandria. The original term was actually Seven Sights of the World. No copy of either of their writings on these lists have survived, but they were referenced by many other figures in the Middle Ages, allowing us to know to this day the monuments that figured on the lists. They listed the following:


 * The Great Pyramid of Giza
 * The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
 * The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
 * The Statue of Zeus at Olympia
 * The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus
 * The Colossus of Rhodes
 * The Lighthouse of Alexandria / The Ishtar Gate

Of these, only The Great Pyramid still stands today. The Ishtar Gate was excavated in 1902 and it has been partially rebuilt at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.

It's not rare in fiction (or Real Life) for something to be declared great by being given the title of "Eighth Wonder of the World". Though, if one were to get technical, the eighth spot is already taken by the Lighthouse of Alexandria. Also note that the lists are not in order of importance.

There are many other examples. Making up Lists of Seven Wonders of (whatever) with real or fictional items, is popular in itself. Many groups and organizations have formed lists of Seven Wonders of the Medieval/Modern/Natural world, though none of them are held as "official" the way the list of Wonders of the Ancient World is. The Other Wiki has a compilation of various famous lists of wonders.

Related Tropes:

 * Ancient Greece: Several of the Wonders were built there.
 * Eiffel Tower Effect: Some of the Wonders of the World, particularly the Great Pyramids (the only surviving one) are often used as part of an Establishing Shot to let audience know where the story is taking place.
 * Living Statue: If it looks human, one of the Wonders will be shown talking or moving in SOME story.
 * Monumental Damage
 * Monumental Theft: They get stolen often in cartoons, especially ones that really just want to explain them.
 * Older Than Feudalism: The original 'canonical' list of seven was defined in a poem by the Greek-speaking epigrammist Antipater of Sidon around 140 BC.
 * Rule of Cool, applied to Real Life.