|
Wonders
of
the Middle
Ages
During the sixth
century St. Gregory of Tours compiled a list of the seven wonders of
the world that demonstrates inaccurate knowledge of his time. He retained four
of the original list :
 | Colossus of Rhodes |
| Pharos of
Alexandria |
| Walls of
Babylon |
| Mausoleum |
He
made three additions of his own :
|
Noah's Ark |
|
Solomon's
Temple |
|
Theatre of
Heraclea |
The Biblical additions
can be accounted for, but no important theatre of Heraclea is known to have
existed St. Gregory added a second list that he called the wonders created by
the 'Hand of God' :
| The ocean tide |
| The miracle of seed
and vegetative growth |
| The phoenix
symbolizing man's resurrection |
| The Mt. Aetna |
| The Springs of
Grenoble (from which fire and water were thought
to flow simultaneously) |
| The light and
heat of the sun |
| The phases of the
moon. |
Of greatest interest
today is a much later list compiled as the Seven Wonders of the Middle Ages.
| The Colosseum of
Rome |
| The Catacombs of
Alexandria |
| The Great Wall of
China |
| The Stonehenge |
| The Porcelain Tower
(Pagoda) of Nanking, China |
| The Leaning Tower
of Pisa |
| Hagia Sophia
(Sancta Sophia) of Constantinople |
| 
