The Seven Wonders and the great cities of antiquity — the marvels of the Mediterranean and Near East and the capitals of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, Greece, and Rome.
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The sea road an ancient traveller would follow to see the marvels of the eastern Mediterranean — from the Zeus of Olympia through the temples and tombs of the Aegean coast to the Pharos and pyramids of Egypt.
Statue of Zeus at Olympia → Athens → Temple of Artemis → Mausoleum at Halicarnassus → Colossus of Rhodes → Lighthouse of Alexandria → Great Pyramid of Giza
The river road up the Nile linking the great Egyptian capitals — the Greek port of Alexandria, ancient Memphis and the pyramids, and the temple-city of Thebes far to the south.
Lighthouse of Alexandria → Memphis → Great Pyramid of Giza → Thebes
The overland road through the great imperial capitals of Mesopotamia and Persia — Assyrian Nineveh, the gardens of Babylon, and the ceremonial terrace of Persepolis.
Nineveh → Hanging Gardens of Babylon → Persepolis
The busy sea lane of the classical world binding the great western capitals — Rome and its rival Carthage — to the sanctuary at Olympia and the Acropolis of Athens.
Rome → Carthage → Statue of Zeus at Olympia → Athens
The caravan route of the Levant carrying incense and eastern goods from the rose-red city of Petra through Hellenistic Antioch to the cities of the Mesopotamian plain.
Petra → Antioch → Hanging Gardens of Babylon
The tomb of Pharaoh Khufu, raised from millions of limestone blocks around 2560 BCE — the oldest of the Seven Wonders and the only one still standing, tallest structure on earth for nearly four thousand years.
The towering lighthouse on the island of Pharos, guiding ships into Alexandria's harbour with a fire and mirror by night — a Wonder that gave its name to lighthouses in many languages.
The fabled terraced gardens said to have been built by Nebuchadnezzar for his homesick queen, watered by ingenious machinery high above the plain — the one Wonder whose very existence is still debated.
The vast marble temple of Artemis at Ephesus, four times the size of the Parthenon, so magnificent that it was counted a Wonder — burned, rebuilt, and burned again over the centuries.
The colossal seated Zeus of ivory and gold by Phidias, filling the temple at Olympia, so awe-inspiring that seeing it was said to be a duty for any Greek — the Wonder at the home of the Games.
The greatest city of the classical world, its Colosseum, forums, and Pantheon later reckoned wonders in their own right — the capital that ruled the Mediterranean it called 'our sea'.
The ceremonial capital of the Persian empire, its great terrace and Hall of a Hundred Columns receiving tribute from every subject nation — burned by Alexander at the empire's fall.
The monumental tomb of the satrap Mausolus, adorned by the greatest Greek sculptors of the age — so celebrated that its builder's name became the word for every grand tomb since.
The giant bronze statue of the sun-god Helios that stood over the harbour of Rhodes — a Wonder for barely sixty years before an earthquake toppled it, its ruins a marvel for centuries after.
The classical city crowned by the Acropolis and its Parthenon — the temple of Athena whose perfect proportions became the enduring standard of Greek architecture.
The great Phoenician sea-empire of the western Mediterranean, Rome's mighty rival, whose double harbour and merchant fleets made it one of the wealthiest cities of the ancient world.
The ancient capital of a united Egypt at the head of the Nile delta, city of the god Ptah and the necropolis of Saqqara, a metropolis for three thousand years.
The splendid Hellenistic capital founded by the successors of Alexander, one of the largest cities of the ancient world where the caravan routes of the East met the Mediterranean.
The mighty capital of the Assyrian empire on the Tigris, its walls, palaces, and the great library of Ashurbanipal making it for a time the largest city on earth.
The southern capital of Egypt at the height of the New Kingdom, its vast temple complex of Karnak and the royal tombs of the Valley of the Kings among the grandest works of antiquity.
The Nabataean caravan city carved from rose-red rock, grown rich as the crossroads of the incense trade between Arabia and the Mediterranean.