First published 2024
Historian Bettany Hughes examines the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World by visiting each site personally. She explores the Great Pyramid of Giza, built forty-five centuries ago by tens of thousands of workers for a single pharaoh. Hughes then investigates the remaining six wonders: the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Temple of Artemis, the Statue of Zeus, the Mausoleum of Halikarnassos, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Lighthouse at Alexandria. She incorporates recent archaeological findings to reconstruct these structures and examines why ancient civilizations invested enormous resources in creating them. Hughes reveals the diverse people who constructed and visited these sites, the engineering challenges they overcame, and the dramatic stories of arson, warfare, and romance that shaped their histories. The book demonstrates how these monuments reflect human ambition and what they reveal about both ancient societies and contemporary perspectives on greatness.
Genres: history, science, archaeology, non-fiction, ancient-history, architecture
Vibes: educational, informative, thought-provoking
Tropes: academic-investigation, historical-reconstruction
Setting: Alexandria, Babylon, Giza, Halikarnassos, Rhodes
Period: Ancient World
380 pages · Paperback · Vintage