Which of the Ancient Wonders of the World do you think is the greatest representative of the human achievement in antiquity?

They are:

1. The Great Pyramid of Khufu (Egypt)
2. The Colossus of Rhodes (Greece)
3. The Statue of Zeus (Greece)
4. The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus (Turkey)
5. The Temple of Artemis (Turkey)
6. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon (Iraq)
7. The Lighthouse (Pharos) of Alexandria (Egypt)

For info on the above structures go to:

Wonders Info (http://ce.eng.usf.edu/pharos/wonders/list.html)

click on the thumbnails of the wonders for details.

The buildings/structures should be ranked according to:

1. Uniqueness/Innovation (of design/purpose/style etc)
2. Complexity & difficulty of construction based on methods available at time.
3. Aesthetics
4. Social/Cultural importance at time of construction.
5. Social/Cultural importance througout time (impact on successive generations)
6. Longevity (Pyramids hands down I would think)
7. Usage
8. Cost vs end result

It is perhaps best to write down the Wonder you think is the best match for each category and then vote based on the Wonder which won the most categories.

I would also like to hear about extra wonders. What other structures would people add to this list? The time frame should be from 4000BC up until 330AD when Constantine converted to Christianity and moved the Roman capital East ushering in the Middle Ages (there is no distinctive line between ancient/medieval but this will do for our purposes).

Great Pyramid. :goodjob:

How could we possibly tell ? Most of them are gone... Although the Hanging Gardens appears to me as a masterwork. The Great Pyramid is awesome too :D

The Great Pyramid. Longest enduring. Built with truely incredible accuracy (the baselines differ by only a couple inches). They didn't even have iron chisils to make the stone blocks, only hardened copper! The sheer effort involved in its construction would be be a nightmare even today. Erected in about 26 years using the primitive chisiles mentioned above for carving the blocks and brute force human labor to move them!

The Pyramid, although the Hanging Gardens and the Lighhouse come in a close joint second.

Uniqueness: Pyramid or Hanging Gardens.
Complexity, difficulty: Pyramid.
Aesthetics: statue of Zeus or Colossus.
Importance, ancient times: Lighthouse.
Importance, through time: Pyramid.
Longevity: Pyramid.
Usage: Lighthouse.
Cost efficiency: Pyramids, considering the tourism $ through history.

Overall: Pyramid.

The Great Pyramid is still around, unlike all the others.

Great Pyrmamid.

Call me crazy, but I always liked the Colossus of Rhodes. I voted for that.

Although the Pyramid is clearly the hardest to build and the most spectacular when finished.

I can't believe the "seven wonders of the ancient world"; 5 are Greek.They sure were snobs. :)

Anyway, i voted lighthouse, simply because it was such a weird and unique thing in the ancient world.

Yes, the Greeks were a little biased in their selection of the Wonders list. We must not forget that Greeks like Herodotus began the list and many other Greek (and later Greek-influenced Roman) historians continued this tradition. The Greek models of architecture were considered the best. Of course the older pyramid and gardens had to get a mention for sheer scale, while the lighthouse was a first rate innovation.

What OTHER Wonders would people include?

The Parthenon (Greek again:p )?
Ziggurat of Ur/Babylon?
Darius' Palace at Persepolis?
Luxor/Karnak temples?
Seti I's tomb?
Great Harbour of Carthage?
Colosseum?

The Great Pyramid hands down.

For sheer longevity, skill involved and the impact on Egyptian culture throught the ages.:goodjob: