THE SEVEN WONDERS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD <i> edited by Peter Clayton & Martin Price (Routledge: $12.95, illustrated) </i>

The concept of a list of places that everyone must visit dates back to the 5th Century BC and the “Histories” of Herodotus. But his list was actually composed of theamata , “things to be seen”; over time, the word was corrupted to thaumata, “wonders,” and the number set at “lucky” seven: the Great Pyramid of Cheops, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes and the Pharos (lighthouse) at Alexandria. This collection of brief essays examines the reality and myth of each structure. Peter Clayton debunks the numerological theories of “pyramid cranks”; Reynold Higgins explains that the popular image of a colossal figure astride the entrance to the harbor at Rhodes is an impossibility, given ancient bronze casting techniques. A must for history-trivia buffs.