Which New Ancient Wonders of the World Would You Vote For?

[Ther]

I caught this article on Yahoo a couple of weeks ago and thought I'd share it. There is going to be a new vote, sponsored by some Swiss organization, to determine a new list of ancient wonders of the world. You can find the news story by clicking here.

So I thought it'd be a fun exercise to see which 7 wonders you personally would vote for. The 21 in question are:

1 Acropolis, Athens, Greece
2 Alhambra, Granada, Spain
3 Angkor Wat temple, Cambodia
4 Chichen Itza Aztec site, Yucatan, Mexico
5 Christ the Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
6 Colosseum, Rome
7 Easter Island Statues, Chile
8 Eiffel Tower, Paris
9 Great Wall, China
10 Hagia Sophia church, Istanbul, Turkey
11 Kyomizu Temple, Kyoto, Japan
12 Kremlin/St.Basil's, Moscow
13 Machu Picchu, Peru
14 Neuschwanstein Castle, Fussen, Germany
15 Petra ancient city, Jordan
16 Pyramids of Giza, Egypt
17 Statue of Liberty, New York
18 Stonehenge, Amesbury, United Kingdom
19 Sydney Opera House, Australia
20 Taj Mahal, Agra, India
21 Timbuktu city, Mali

[Komosatuo]

1. Acropolis, Athens, Greece
6. Colosseum, Rome
7. Easter Isle Statues, Chile
8. Eiffel Tower, Paris
9. Great Wall, China
17. Statue Of Liberty, New York
18. Stonehenge, Amesbury, United Kingdom

Those are my seven, even though the Pyramids are already one...or was that the sphynx?

[Ther]

1. Acropolis, Athens, Greece
6. Colosseum, Rome
7. Easter Isle Statues, Chile
8. Eiffel Tower, Paris
9. Great Wall, China
17. Statue Of Liberty, New York
18. Stonehenge, Amesbury, United Kingdom

Those are my seven, even though the Pyramids are already one...or was that the sphynx?

I think it may be that the Great Pyramid (singular) is a wonder?

[Komosatuo]

Oh, well then my vote still doesn't change. But it is an honorable mention.

[The Valkyrie]

an interesting list for those who are interested:

http://wonderclub.com/AllWorldWonders.html

[Atzar]

4 Chichen Itza Aztec site, Yucatan, Mexico
9 Great Wall, China
13 Machu Picchu, Peru
16 Pyramids of Giza, Egypt
18 Stonehenge, Amesbury, United Kingdom
1 Acropolis, Athens, Greece
6 Colosseum, Rome

((I don't classify some of them as 'ancient' wonders (Eiffel Tower, Statue of Liberty) ))

[AdventWings]

Here's my list. :D

3. Angkor Wat temple, Cambodia
4. Chichen Itza Aztec site, Yucatan, Mexico
9. Great Wall, China
13. Machu Picchu, Peru
15. Petra ancient city, Jordan
16. Pyramids of Giza, Egypt
18. Stonehenge, Amesbury, United Kingdom

[Cyrus the virus]

I think Christ the Redeemer is an amazing construct, but not a good choice for one of the wonders because of how it may alienate people. It's something everyone should see, just for the sake of the atmosphere around it and the magnificence of the thing.

If I had to pick one, because I'm too lazy for seven, it'd be the Great Wall. It's so unlike anything else in this world, a real testament to the resolve of the people who built it.

[Letho]

3 Angkor Wat temple, Cambodia
4 Chichen Itza Aztec site, Yucatan, Mexico
6 Colosseum, Rome
9 Great Wall, China
10 Hagia Sophia church, Istanbul, Turkey
20 Taj Mahal, Agra, India

And finally, because the Germans are just too cool:

14 Neuschwanstein Castle, Fussen, Germany

[Krugor]

Why isn't the Sphinx part of this list? There isn't a statue in the world that's so mysterious and self-contradicting as the Sphinx! Plus, Nostradamus has been speaking of a secret chamber beneath it...ooooh! Yeah, I love the Sphinx. It's very being confirms the existence of aliens, my friends.

Well, here's my list, in order of mysteriousness:

7 Easter Island Statues, Chile
16 Pyramids of Giza, Egypt
18 Stonehenge, Amesbury, United Kingdom
13 Machu Picchu, Peru
1 Acropolis, Athens, Greece
9 Great Wall, China
6 Colosseum, Rome

Why does there have to be a new list of ancient wonders anyway?

[galadra]

ones that i dont think belong in "ancient" wonders of the world:
6 Colosseum, Rome
8 Eiffel Tower, Paris
9 Great Wall, China
10 Hagia Sophia church, Istanbul, Turkey
17 Statue of Liberty, New York
19 Sydney Opera House, Australia

ones that i know of and think belong:
7 Easter Island Statues, Chile
16 Pyramids of Giza, Egypt
18 Stonehenge, Amesbury, United Kingdom
20 Taj Mahal, Agra, India

ones i don't know much about:
1 Acropolis, Athens, Greece
2 Alhambra, Granada, Spain
3 Angkor Wat temple, Cambodia
4 Chichen Itza Aztec site, Yucatan, Mexico
5 Christ the Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
11 Kyomizu Temple, Kyoto, Japan
12 Kremlin/St.Basil's, Moscow
13 Machu Picchu, Peru
14 Neuschwanstein Castle, Fussen, Germany
15 Petra ancient city, Jordan
21 Timbuktu city, Mali

i really dont think that 6, 8, 9, 10, 17, or 19 should be considered for the "ancient" wonders of the world. that's just ridiculous--they aren't wonders, because wearen't wondering any one of these: who built them? why? how'd they build them? 'cept forthe taj majal, that's just an amazing example of extremely advanced architecture, though i guess one could wonder "how'd he design that?"

[Atzar]

Interesting. I wouldn't necessarily agree with your reasoning for excluding the first six wonders.

For the sake of friendly argument, let me explain: Many of the current wonders of the ancient world are fairly well documented in their purpose and origin. The Temple of Artemis, Mausoleum of Maussollos, and Great Lighthouse of Pharos are examples of this.

Therefore, I don't think this would be a fair reason to leave those buildings out. The Colosseum, Great Wall, and Hagia Sophia are all good candidates in my opinion; the other three, however, shouldn't qualify as 'ancient'.

[Bearded Gnome]

4 Chichen Itza Aztec site, Yucatan, Mexico
6 Colosseum, Rome
7 Easter Island Statues, Chile
9 Great Wall, China
11 Kyomizu Temple, Kyoto, Japan
18 Stonehenge, Amesbury, United Kingdom
20 Taj Mahal, Agra, India

Yeah, here's mine. Enjoy.

[galadra]

Interesting. I wouldn't necessarily agree with your reasoning for excluding the first six wonders.

For the sake of friendly argument, let me explain: Many of the current wonders of the ancient world are fairly well documented in their purpose and origin. The Temple of Artemis, Mausoleum of Maussollos, and Great Lighthouse of Pharos are examples of this.

Therefore, I don't think this would be a fair reason to leave those buildings out. The Colosseum, Great Wall, and Hagia Sophia are all good candidates in my opinion; the other three, however, shouldn't qualify as 'ancient'.

hmm, i didn't realize that. i shall have to change my criteria of exclusion to include: 1. is religious, 2. is basically an oversize football field, and 3. just isn't very pretty. :P

though i am partly serious on the religion one, even in my some-what seriousness i realize that that's not a fair critereon. what exactly should make a world wonder, a world wonder? o__0

[AdventWings]

That it's extremely complex and extremely difficult to construct, even with some modern construction techniques we have today?

Like, for example, the Great Wall of China is basically a gigantic stretch of walls built all the way from the lower part of the country up to the north, almost reaching the Gobi Desert. It can also be seen from space, which tells us it's fairly large. And you have to realize that it's all done by human labor as there were no documentation or evidence of "heavy machinery" present today.

And the Ankor Wat is made of stone blocks. Try building a mini-church out of rocks and you'll see how unstable it is.

Well, I agree that the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower and the Sydney Opera House should not even belong in the "Ancient World Wonder" category. They are pretty recent.

[Atzar]

That it's extremely complex and extremely difficult to construct, even with some modern construction techniques we have today?



Additionally, they should have a distinct function for (or 'meaning to') the society they are built for. The Great Pyramid and Mausoleum were tombs for kings. The Statue of Zeus, Temple of Artemis, and Colossus were religious structures dedicated to Gods. The Lighthouse of Pharos was the tallest building of its time and had the purpose of guiding ships to its harbor from up to 35 miles away (!). The Hanging Gardens of Babylon was a gift from Nebuchadnezzar II to his wife and was the most beautiful (and deceptively complicated) building of its time.

It should be mentioned that only a few of these new wonders don't satisfy this requirement. But for the sake of discussion, I felt it necessary to add this for debate/conversation.

[Dehkan]

I wouldn't vote on a man-made structure as a "wonder of the world". Those are wonders of people, and, in my opinion, a different subject altogether. A world wonder is nature-made, like Niagra Falls.

But if I HAD to chose one of those, I'd choose Stonehenge.

[Tshael]

1 Acropolis, Athens, Greece
2 Alhambra, Granada, Spain
3 Angkor Wat temple, Cambodia
6 Colosseum, Rome
7 Easter Island Statues, Chile
9 Great Wall, China
18 Stonehenge, Amesbury, United Kingdom


It was harder to narrow down than I thought it would be.

[Cyrus the virus]

I wouldn't vote on a man-made structure as a "wonder of the world". Those are wonders of people, and, in my opinion, a different subject altogether. A world wonder is nature-made, like Niagra Falls.

I think that's a really interesting approach, actually. Very wise, though obviously man-made structures of this kind of greatness deserve recognition.