The Chichen Itza Pyramids 20.682778° N, 88.569167° W

The famous Mayan pyramids of Chichén-Itzá are over 1500 years old and are located only 75 miles from Merida. Some believe people were occasionally thrown into the nearby cenote (or underwater sinkhole) as sacrifices.


The site is divided into three sections, the North group, the Central group, and the Southern group. The main attraction is the central pyramid, also known as El Castillo, this spectacular, massive Mesoamerican step-pyramid dominates the Chichen Itza archaeological site in the Mexican state of Yucatan. Built by the Maya sometime between the 1000 and 1200 AD, El Castillo served as a temple to the god Kukulkan and is believed to have served as a calendar. Each of the structures four stairways contains 91 steps. When counting the top platform as another step, in total El Castillo has 365 steps, one step for each day of the year. The structure is 24 meters tall (78 feet), plus an additional 6 m (20 feet) for the temple top for a total height of 30 meters (98 feet). The square base measures 55.3 meters (181 feet) across. Huge sculptures of plumed serpent’s heads sit at the base of the pyramid on the northern staircase. At sunset during the spring and autumn equinoxes triangle shadows are formed by the platforms making it appear as if a plumed serpent is descending the pyramid.

The Theatre of Herodes Atticus 37°58′15″N 23°43′28 ″E / 37.970756°N 23.724444°E

The Romans loved live theatre. Plays were only performed during religious ceremonies and religious festivals. However, since the ancient Romans celebrated over 200 holidays a year, there were many opportunities for plays to be staged.


The Theatre of Herodes Atticus, also known as the Odeon, is a Roman amphitheatre built in 161AD. It is named after an affluent Roman, Herodes Atticus, who constructed it in commemoration of his wife, Regilia.

Able to seat up to 5,000 people, the Theatre of Herodes Atticus was mostly used for music shows and festivals, a function which the now restored structure still performs today.

The Roman Aquaducts 43° 56' 50" North Longitude 04° 32' 07" East

The ancient Romans were great builders. As Roman towns got bigger, in the course of the Roman Republic, it got too hard for the people who lived in the towns to get drinking and washing water. Because raw sewage was draining into the rivers, people who drank river water often got very sick or died. Local governments, first in the city of Rome and then elsewhere in the growing Empire, decided to build long stone channels to carry clean water from nearby hills to the towns. The Le Pont Du Gard, in France is an example of an aqueduct of the Rome Empire.

By the time of the Empire, most Roman towns had at least one aqueduct to bring in fresh water, and big cities like Rome had ten or more. These aqueducts were quite a challenge to build. The engineering had to be just right in order to get the water to run through the channels and get to the city without stagnating in the channel or coming too fast into the city. They had to keep the slope the same all the time, so sometimes the aqueducts had to run on high arches, and other times along the ground in stone channels, or even under the ground in tunnels.

Roman Coliseum 41.8902° N, 12.4923° E

The Colosseum was a huge public entertainment center.

The Colosseum could seat 45,000 spectators. Some people were not lucky enough to have a seat in the Colosseum. If you didn't mind standing, the Colosseum could hold up to 70,000 spectators! 

This is where the ancient Romans gathered to watch bloody combat between gladiators, and battles between men and wild animals. This is where they threw people to the lions! To see men being killed was very entertaining to the ancient Romans. On occasion, they flooded the Colosseum with water, to hold naval battles. During the battles, many competitors died. 

The Parthenon 37.9715° N, 23.7266° E

The Parthenon was a temple to the goddess Athena. It was built on top of a hill called the Acropolis. You can see it from all over Athens. Inside the Parthenon there was a huge statue of the goddess Athena. It was built in the 5th century BC. Over the centuries, it has been greatly damaged and its sculpture has been removed Outside the Parthenon, high up on its four walls there is a frieze. This frieze is a series of sculptures that goall the way round the building. These sculptures were not added to the building. The sculptors actually cut the frieze out of the very stone which formed the walls of the building. This frieze is one of the most wonderful works of art ever created.

The Pantheon 41.8986° N, 12.4768° E

With its thick brick walls and large marble columns, the Pantheon is an impressive architectural building. The most remarkable part of the building is the more than 43 meter high dome. It was the largest dome in the world until 1436 when the Florence Cathedral was constructed.
At the top of the dome is a large opening, the oculus, which was the only source of light.  The front portico has three rows of 8 marble columns, each one with a diameter of 1.5m. A huge bronze door gives access to the cylindrical building. Originally a temple for all pagan gods, the temple was converted into a church in 609. The Pantheon now contains the tombs of the famous artist Raphael and of several Italian Kings. Its ecclasiastic interior design contrast with the temple's structural design, but the marble floor which features a design consisting of a series of geometric patterns is still the ancient Roman original.

Machu Pichu 13.1631° S, 72.5456° W

Machu Picchu is located at 7,000 feet above sea level and nestled on a small hilltop between the Andean Mountain Range. It is located above the Urabamba Valley below. The Incan built structure was unknown until its discovery in 1911. Archaeologists estimate that approximately 1200 people could have lived in the area, though many theorize it was most likely a retreat for Incan rulers. Due to its isolation from the rest of Peru, living in the area full time would require traveling great distances just to reach the nearest village.

Separated into three areas - agricultural, urban, and religious - the structures are arranged so that the function of the buildings matches the form of their surroundings. The agricultural terracing and aqueducts take advantage of the natural slopes; the lower areas contain buildings occupied by farmers and teachers, and the most important religious areas are located at the crest of the hill, overlooking the lush Urubamba Valley thousands of feet below.

Terra Cotta Warriors 34.3849° N, 109.2731° E

Workers digging a well outside the city of Xi'an, China, in 1974 struck upon one of the greatest archaeological discoveries in the world: a life-size clay soldier poised for battle.

They found not one, but thousands of clay soldiers, each with unique facial expressions and positioned according to rank. And though largely gray today, patches of paint hint at once brightly colored clothes. Further excavations have revealed swords, arrow tips, and other weapons, many in pristine condition.

The soldiers are in trenchlike, underground corridors. In some of the corridors, clay horses are aligned four abreast; behind them are wooden chariots. The terra-cotta army were created to accompany the first emperor of China into the afterlife.

Archaeologists estimate the pits may contain as many as 8,000 figures, but the total may never be known.

The Great Wall of China 40°26′16.86″N 116°33′42.84″E / 40.4380167°N

The Chinese worked on the Great Wall for over 1700 years. In turn, each emperor who came to power added pieces of the wall to protect their dynasties. But the wall was not a solid wall. It was a line of disconnected barricades.

First Emperor Qin wanted a much better barricade to protect his people from the Mongol invaders to the north. He wanted a strong wall 30 feet wide and 50 feet high. First Emperor Qin used peasants, captured enemies, criminals, scholars, and anyone else who irritated him, and put them all to work building the Great Wall. Laborers were not paid for their work. It was slave labor.

About 3000 people worked on the wall during the Qin Dynasty. Rocks fell on people. Walls caved in. Workers died of exhaustion and disease. Laborers were fed only enough food to keep them alive. There is an old Chinese saying, "Each stone in the wall represents a life lost in the wall's construction.

This project continued long after First Emperor Qin’s death. Building the wall was a project that continued for many hundreds of years until the wall was over 3700 miles long. Most emperors used the same system that Qin used, forced labor.

The Great Wall of China was mainly built from earth, stones and wood. The use of bricks was a later development. Owing to the enormous amount of quantities of raw materials required to construct the Great Wall of China, the builders usually used materials that were available easily. For example while building over the mountain ranges, the stones of the mountain were used; while in the plains earth was pounded into solid blocks to be used in construction, whereas in the deserts, the sanded reeds and juniper tamarisk were put to use.

The Pyramids of Giza 29.9792° N, 31.1342° E

The Pyramids of Giza include three main Pyramids, which were built in the 4th Dynasty (approximately 2550 B.C). The Pyramids of Ancient Egypt were built as tombs for Kings (and Queens). Today there are more than 93 Pyramids in Egypt; the most famous ones are those at Giza.

The Great Pyramid of KhufuThe Great Pyramid of Khufu is by far the most famous Pyramid in Egypt, the biggest, tallest, and most intact. After its construction it became one of the “Seven Wonders Of The World. Khufu’s Pyramid is built entirely of limestone, and is considered an architectural masterpiece. It contains around 1,300,000 blocks ranging in weight from 2.5 tons to 15 tons and is built on a square base with sides measuring about 755ft, covering 13 acres! Its four sides face the four cardinal points precisely and it has an angle of 52 degrees. The original height of the Pyramid was 488ft, but today it is only 455ft high, the 33ft that is missing is due to the theft of the fine quality limestone covering, or casing stones, by the Ottoman Turks in the 15 Century A.D, to build houses and Mosques in Cairo.

Khafre's Pyramid
Khafre's Pyramid, or the 2nd Pyramid, is easily recognizable by the layers of its original casing stones that still remain near its summit and this, along with the fact that it actually stands on a higher part of the plateau, gives the impression that it is taller than the Great Pyramid. An optical illusion, as it is only 446 ft tall, with sides of 704ft. It also has lost some of its original height through the years, once being 471ft tall.

The Pyramid of Menkaure

Khafre's son, Menkaure, built the smallest of the 3 main Pyramids on the Giza Plateau. This one was only a mere 215ft tall, nowadays 203ft, with sides of only 344ft. This Pyramid, like its 2 neighbors, has a north facing entrance.

Apart from the size, Menkaure's Pyramid differed from the other 2 in the choice of casing stones. Whereas the Pyramids of his father and grandfather were completely cased in fine, white, Turah limestone, Menkaure's Pyramid was only partly cased in Turah limestone, from about 15m up! The first 15 meters was cased with pink granite, which had come from Aswan, the last of which was taken by Muhammad Ali Pasha (1805-1848) who used them to construct his arsenal in Alexandria.

The Great Sphinx of Giza 29.9753° N, 31.1378° E

The Great Sphinx is 65 feet high, 260 feet long and 20 feet wide. It is the largest structure created from a single piece of stone. The Great Sphinx has the body of a lion and the face of a man. The age of the sphinx is not known, with guesses varying between six-thousand and even thirteen-thousand years old. There are three tunnels built in the Sphinx, but the passage of time has left the destinations unreachable. The Great Sphinx can be found near the banks of the Nile, facing east, away from the pyramid of Khafra (near modern day Cairo).

Over the many years, the Egyptian sphinx has not remained in pristine condition. As seen in photographs, the defacement of the sphinx goes beyond simple erosion by the elements. The story goes that the loss of the sphinx's nose is due to Napoleon's army using the monument as target practice. There are drawings and etchings, though that shows the sphinx had been noseless for easily a hundred years before Napoleon even arrived.