Look through almost any magazine, and you’ll come across a top-ten list—like the year’s best songs, movies, or places to visit. But one of the oldest top-ten lists is actually a top-seven list!
More than 2,100 years ago, a Greek poet, Antipater of Sidon, made a list of what he thought were the most spectacular creations of his day. Most of them he had not even seen! Nobody knows exactly why he did it, but he may have hoped it would be a guide for visitors to lands along the eastern Mediterranean. His list had two tombs, a temple, a garden, a wall, and two statues. Today, with only one change (a lighthouse instead of a wall), we call these monuments the Seven Wonders of the World.
