Tholos of Delphi belongs to the years before the Common Era — dated here to c. 380 BCE at Marmaria, Delphi. The date is a scholarly centre of gravity, not a foundation-stone timestamp.
A round temple of twenty Doric columns outside, ten Corinthian inside — a jewel-box whose cult is still debated.
How it was made
Pentelic marble and dark limestone. Three restored columns give the photograph every guidebook needs.
Why it still counts as a wonder
It never needed a Greek list to be a wonder: the labour, the alignment, or the survival is enough.
It is small and perfect, a reminder that wonders were not only colossal.
On dating
BCE in this series means years before the traditional birth of Christ, counted backward. A monument listed as c. 380 BCE may have been founded earlier, rebuilt later, or famous only in one phase. Where ancient writers disagree — as they do for Babylon’s gardens — we say so.
This is story 57 of 100 in The Trend Ledger’s illustrated desk on world wonders raised before the Common Era.