The first and largest of the three great pyramids at Giza is built for the pharaoh Khufu, later known to the Greeks as Cheops

Nebuchadnezzar builds the hanging gardens of Babylon, supposedly to comfort a homesick wife

Croesus builds a spectacular temple at Ephesus in honour of Artemis, or Diana

Phidias creates a massive statue of Zeus, covered in gold and ivory, to stand in the temple at Olympia

Artemisia, widow of Mausolus, builds him a tomb at Halicarnassus so spectacular that his name provides a new word - mausoleum

The Colossus, a giant statue of Helios the sun god, is erected beside the harbour of Rhodes

A great lighthouse, subsequently one of the Seven Wonders of the World, is built on the island of Pharos, off Alexandria

Antipater, a Greek author living on the Phoenician coast, lists the seven wonders of the world