# Which ancient monument has the best legend?

> Wizards, witches and a weeping widow all turn up here, and one of these stories was carved in stone about 3,400 years ago.

*By YPB Team · Published September 29, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/which-ancient-monument-has-the-best-legend*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Troy** — score 1000/1000
   The city of the wooden horse, dug up at Hisarlik in north-west Turkey.
2. **Petra Treasury** — score 874/1000
   Its carved urn was said to hide a pharaoh's treasure and is pocked with bullet marks from treasure hunters.
3. **Newgrange** — score 753/1000
   Irish myth makes it the home of the Dagda, later won by his son Aengus through a trick.
4. **Rollright Stones** — score 753/1000
   A king and his army, the story goes, were turned to stone by a witch on an Oxfordshire ridge.
5. **Stonehenge** — score 667/1000
   Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote around 1136 that Merlin carried its stones over from Ireland.
6. **Carnac Stones** — score 565/1000
   Breton legend says the rows are a Roman legion that Saint Cornelius turned to stone.
7. **Uffington White Horse** — score 565/1000
   Bronze Age chalk horse beside Dragon Hill, where Saint George is said to have killed the dragon.
8. **Teotihuacan** — score 565/1000
   Aztecs believed the gods sacrificed themselves here to set the Sun and Moon in motion.
9. **Hanging Gardens of Babylon** — score 565/1000
   Said to have been built for a queen who missed the green hills of her homeland.
10. **Merry Maidens** — score 565/1000
   Nineteen Cornish girls who danced on a Sunday and were turned to stone along with their pipers.
11. **Great Sphinx of Giza** — score 439/1000
   The Dream Stele says the Sphinx promised Thutmose IV the throne if he dug it out of the sand.
12. **Knossos** — score 439/1000
   The Cretan palace linked to King Minos and the labyrinth of the Minotaur.
13. **Men-an-Tol** — score 439/1000
   Cornish holed stone that sick children were passed through to be cured.
14. **Moai of Easter Island** — score 439/1000
   Rapa Nui tradition says the statues walked to their platforms by the power of mana.
15. **Pyramids of Giza** — score 439/1000
   Medieval Christians called them Joseph's granaries; modern television prefers to blame aliens.
16. **Great Wall of China** — score 0/1000
   Meng Jiangnü is said to have wept for her husband until a stretch of the wall fell down.
17. **Colossus of Rhodes** — score 0/1000
   Later legend had the bronze giant straddling the harbour mouth while ships sailed between its legs.
18. **Hill of Tara** — score 0/1000
   Seat of Ireland's high kings, where the Stone of Destiny was said to roar under the rightful king.
19. **Calanais Stones** — score 0/1000
   Local lore calls them giants who refused to be christened and were turned to stone.

Tags: mythology, landmarks, archaeology