Number 7 in Ancient Times

Number 7 in ancient times obviously include the 7 Wonders of the Ancient world, but also we find the seven sleepers and the seven sages.

Legend of the Seven Sleepers

Seven men were accused of Christianity around the year 250 when Roman emperor Decius ruled. They took refuge in a cave and fell asleep. 

The emperor saw his chance to get rid of them once and for all and ordered the cave to be sealed.

Many decades later a farmer opened the cave and found the Seven Sleepers.

They woke up believing they had only slept a day.

In 1927 the “Gotto” near Ephesus was excavated.

The ruins of a church was found and on the walls inscriptions dedicated to the Seven Sleepers.

The Sages

The Seven Sages of Ancient Greece were statesmen and philosophers famous for their wisdom. Plato lists these seven in the Protagoras Dialogue.

The Seven Sages of Greece were:

 1. Thales of Miletus

 2. Pittacus of Mytilene

 3. Bias of Priene

 4. Solon

 5. Cleobulus of Lindus

 6. Myson of Chen

 7. Chilon of Sparta

 (Woodcut from the Nuremberg Chronicle)

Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

The Pyramid at Giza is the only one of the ancient Seven Wonders still standing.

 1. Egyptian Pyramid at Giza

 2. Hanging Gardens of Babylon

 3. Statue of Zeus at Olympia

 4. Colossus of Rhodes:

Statue of the sun god Helios

 5. Temple of Artimis at Ephesus

 6. Mausoleum at Halicarnass

 7. Lighthouse at Alexandria

The Seven Liberal Arts

The liberal arts were already established in ancient Rome as the appropriate education for a free man. The Seven Liberal Arts as identified by Martianus Capella (5th century) were; grammar, dialectic, rhetoric, geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, and music.

There were seven recognized Liberal Arts in the medieval European Universities. The first three were called “the trivium” and the last four were called “the quadrivium”.

1. Grammar

2. Rhetoric

3. Logic

4. Arithmetic

5. Astronomy

6. Music

7. Geometry  

The Seven Hills of Rome:

Aventine Hill

Caelian Hill

Capitoline Hill

Esquiline Hill

Palatine Hill

Quirinal Hill

Viminal Hill