Philips Galle, after Maarten van Heemskerck, The Colossus of Rhodes, Plate 4, The Eight Wonders of the World

London, British Museum

Image here from: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/image/1298091001

In the 2nd century BC, Greek scholars made lists of the man-made wonders that everyone should see before they died. Their writings evoke modern-day travel journalism and bucket lists! Several of these writers agreed on a list of seven “ultimate” sites. Five dated from close to their own time, one was already very ancient, and the other probably never existed.

The essential itinerary for the person of culture in the C2 BC would feature the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Temple of Artemis, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Lighthouse of Alexandria

On this course we will explore each of them, as well as the fabulous Hellenistic culture which invented the concept of tourism.

7 weeks, Wednesday 18 May - Wednesday 6 July (incl., with half-term break on 1 June).

RJW F212222

£77 (individual registration); £124 (for two people on the same screen).