How Well Do You Know the Ancient Wonders?

The Colossus of Rhodes, the lone statue among the ancient wonders, was a colossal sculpture of the Greek sun god Helios. It stood around 105 feet tall, at the entrance to the harbor in the ancient city of Rhodes. Completed around 280 BCE, the statue is believed to have been built to celebrate the defense of Rhodes against a Macedonian siege. It was later destroyed by an earthquake around 225 BCE.

The Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt actually boasts two distinctions of the Seven Ancient Wonders. It is by far the oldest of the bunch, but perhaps even more significantly, it's the only ancient wonder that's still standing to this day. The others were all destroyed over time, many by natural disasters.

Though it’s been copiously referenced in historical texts through the ages, modern historians still don’t know exactly where — or even if — the Hanging Gardens of Babylon existed. But some theorize that King Nebuchadnezzar II (who reigned from 605 BCE to 562 BCE) built the lush, cascading ziggurat of exotic herbs and flowers for his wife Amytis, who was homesick for her native country of Media (in present-day Iran).

The Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt is the oldest of the Seven Ancient Wonders, thought to be built around 2700-2500 BCE. In fact, the rest of the ancient wonders were all built some 2,000 years later, between 600-240 BCE. The Great Pyramid, also known as the Pyramid of Khufu, is the largest and tallest of the Giza pyramids, covering 13 acres and made of 2 million stone blocks.

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World refers to a list of amazing works of art and architecture compiled by a Greek engineer in 225 BCE. It included seven magnificent structures: the Great Pyramid of Giza, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Statue of Zeus at Olympia, Temple of Artemis, Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, Colossus of Rhodes, and the Lighthouse of Alexandria.