Antipater of Sidon writes the earliest surviving list of seven wonders
In an epigram preserved as Greek Anthology 9.58, Antipater names seven marvels he claims to have seen: the walls of Babylon, the statue of Zeus at Olympia, the hanging gardens, the Colossus of Rhodes, the pyramids of Egypt, the tomb of Mausolus and the temple of Artemis at Ephesus. The Lighthouse of Alexandria is absent. The poem reads as the boast of a traveller, not a scholar's catalogue.
Historical — it happened, and the record is settled.
Subjects
- Antipater of Sidon · person — Greek epigrammatist · not located
- The canon of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World · concept — cultural canon · Eastern Mediterranean and Near East · not located
- Statue of Zeus at Olympia · colossal cult statue (destroyed) · Greece
- Hanging Gardens (of Babylon, or of Nineveh) · contested garden monument · Iraq · not located
- Colossus of Rhodes · colossal statue (destroyed) · Greece · not located
- Great Pyramid of Giza (Pyramid of Khufu) · pyramid tomb · Egypt
- Mausoleum at Halicarnassus · tomb (destroyed) · Türkiye
- Temple of Artemis at Ephesus (the Artemision) · temple (destroyed) · Türkiye
Evidence
Partly verified — Core facts are sourced; some optional detail is deliberately absent.
Epigram on the Seven Wonders, attributed to Antipater of Sidon
The earliest surviving text assembling seven marvels into a single list, and evidence that the canon originally included the walls of Babylon rather than the Lighthouse of Alexandria.
Greek Anthology (Anthologia Palatina), book 9, epigram 58 · c. late 2nd century BCE · Partly verified
Anthologia Palatina 9.58 (= Anthologia Graeca IX.58); text and translation in W. R. Paton (ed.), The Greek Anthology vol. III, Loeb Classical Library; also digitally at anthologiagraeca.org, urn:cts:greekLit:tlg7000.tlg001.ag:9.58
Recorded on Antipater of Sidon
- The Great Pyramid is built as mass, not span
- Antipater of Sidon writes the earliest surviving list of seven wonders
- An earthquake breaks the Colossus of Rhodes at the knee
- Herostratus burns the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
- The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus is pulled down
- The Statue of Zeus at Olympia is lost
- The bronze of the Colossus is sold for scrap
- Mausoleum sculpture is removed to the British Museum
- Egypt forces the Great Pyramid out of the New7Wonders ballot
- UNESCO publicly disowns the New7Wonders campaign
- The New7Wonders of the World are declared in Lisbon
Related
Related because they share a subject in the Atlas — never because the text looks similar.
- The New7Wonders of the World are declared in Lisbon · 2007-07-07
- UNESCO publicly disowns the New7Wonders campaign · 2007-06-20
- Egypt forces the Great Pyramid out of the New7Wonders ballot · 2007-04-20
- Mausoleum sculpture is removed to the British Museum · 1857
- The bronze of the Colossus is sold for scrap · 0653
- The Statue of Zeus at Olympia is lost · 0475
- The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus is pulled down · 0401
- Herostratus burns the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus · -0356