The Seven Wonders of the World: A History of the Modern Imagination

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World symbolize all that was magnificent and mysterious in the pre-Christian West, yet today many people would have difficulty in naming them. Most of these seven grand monuments of bronze and marble, gold and ivory, earth, fire and water cannot be visited today except in the mind's eye; either they lie in ruins or they have vanished in the sands of time. In this book, the archaeologists John and Elizabeth Romer create images of these great wonders using the words of ancient writers and modern archaeological techniques. They tell their story and place them in a world that is now lost. For the first time, this book tells the story of what might be called the archaeology of wonder. It includes the stories of the travellers and scholars who came in contact with these seven ancient wonders, the stories of the wonders themselves, and the histories of their making and breaking. It traces the archaeological hunt to find the Seven Wonders, from the earliest digs to the latest discoveries of current excavations. It also includes fresh translations of the accounts of those who sailed the seas and rivers of the ancient world to walk among these seven fabled monuments and wonder at them. A remarkable series of photographs taken especially for this book recreates the magnificent environments of the monuments, and shows something too of the real wonder of those ancient marvels.