The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
Bettany Hughes
Their names still echo down the ages: The Great Pyramid at Giza. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon. The Temple of Artemis. The statue of Zeus at Olympia. The mausoleum of Halikarnassos. The Colossus at Rhodes. The Lighthouse of Alexandria. The Seven Wonders of the World were staggeringly audacious impositions on our planet. They were also brilliant adventures of the mind, test cases of the reaches of human imagination. Now only the pyramid remains, yet the scale and majesty of these seven wonders still enthral us today. In a thrilling, colourful narrative enriched with the latest archaeological discoveries, bestselling historian Bettany Hughes walks through the landscapes of both ancient and modern time; on a journey whose purpose is to ask why we wonder, why we create, why we choose to remember the wonder of others. She explores traces of the Wonders themselves, and the traces they have left in history. A majestic work of historical storytelling, The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World reinforces the exciting, and nourishing, notion that humans can make the impossible happen.
Publication Year: 2024
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This book was extremely interesting, clearly well written and thoroughly researched with the author's own personal experiences of visiting some of the sites of these Seven Wonders adding to the accuracy and image of what these places look like today and what they would have looked like during their time. The way the wonders were linked throughout made it more cohesive as one book rather than sounding like seven separate entries contained within the same cover. Having maps at the beginning and pictures in the book definitely helped in being able to visualise the locations of these wonders, how they are linked to one another and what they potentially would have looked like in their prime. At times it was a bit of a difficult read, potentially going into more detail than required, however, it overall was still a great book on a subject I have had a long interest in. I also loved that the author included a few pages at the end dedicated to The Great Library of Alexandria which has encouraged me to research this further.
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