What Are The Seven Wonders Of The World?

The list of Seven Wonders of the World has several criteria; for example there are wonders based on the period they were built or based on man made structures and natural formations like the Angel Falls and Mount Everest. The most famous of all are the seven wonders of the ancient world, a list of monuments compiled by ancient Greek writers.
1. The Great Pyramid of Giza, Egypt built about 2500 BC; it was built as the final resting place of the Pharaoh Khufu and is 450 feet tall. It is the only ancient wonder in existence today.
2. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon built by emperor Nebuchadnezzar II in about 500 BC for his queen; they were said to be of great aesthetic beauty; the gardens were reportedly destroyed by fire.          
3. The Statue of Zeus at Olympia in ancient Greece built by the sculptor Pheidias in about 400 BC; the statue was said to be 40 feet tall and was encrusted in gold and jewels. Fire destroyed the statue in 462 AD.
4. The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) was a temple built in honor of the Goddess Artemis in 500 BC and was built with columns each about 60 feet high; the temple was destroyed in 400 AD by invaders.
5. The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus was built in about 350 BC by Queen Artemisia in the ancient city of Bodrum (southern Turkey) in the memory of King Mausollos; the structure was 140 feet tall, it was pulled down in about 1400 AD.
6. The Colossus of Rhodes was a statue of the God Helios built in about 300 BC; it was said to be 110 feet tall and stood at the entrance of the harbor of Rhodes; it was destroyed by an earthquake 50 years after its completion.
7. The Lighthouse of Alexandria in Egypt was built in about 300 BC and was about 380 feet tall; it was destroyed by an earthquake in 1300 AD.          

The Seven Wonders of the World are a compilation based on several yardsticks like man made monuments, the period in which they have been built and the cultures and civilizations that they represent. A list of formations created by nature has also been compiled comprising of geographical features like waterfalls and mountains.

However the most commonly accepted compilation is of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World that were in existence during the times of the Greek civilization; the wonders were first mentioned in the Greek historian Herodotus' work though it is believed that the actual list of the wonders was drawn in the Medieval ages.

The Seven Wonders of the ancient world are the Great Pyramid of Giza, built in about 2500 BC in Egypt and the only monument in the list which is still in existence, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon built in about 600 BC, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, built in about 550 BC with the site of the temple occurring in modern day Turkey, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia built in 450 BC, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus constructed in 350 BC the site being in present day Turkey, the Colossus of Rhodes constructed in 280 BC, and the Lighthouse of Alexandria built around 300 BC.