The Riddle of the Sphinx

Your fearful form is the work of the deathless gods. To spare the flat and fertile lands they placed you in your depression. A rocky island from which they banished the sand. They placed you as a neighbor to the pyramids...Who vigilantly watches the blessed Osiris... -Inscription from the second century A.D.

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon

The city of Babylon, under King Nebuchadnezzar II, must have been a wonder to the ancient traveler's eyes. "In addition to its size," wrote Herodotus, a Greek historian in 450 BC, "Babylon surpasses in splendor any city in the known world."

The Mausoleum of Maussollos

The famous tomb of the king Maussollos of Halicarnassus known as the Mausoleum of Maussollo , which served as tomb for the satrap (a local governor) of the Persian empire and his wife (who was also his sister) was considered by the ancient Greeks one of the Seven Wonders of the World.