What are the Seven Wonders of the World?

Can you name...Newton's 3 laws of motion?The 4 horsemen of the Apocalypse?The 5 pillars of Islam? The 6 wives of Henry VIII?The 7 kinds of plane triangles? The 8 Beatitudes?If you're not sure about the answers to the above, this is the book for you. A compendium of 101 culturally significant particulars from the fields of mythology, religion, literature, history, science, mathematics, art, and music, What Are the 7 Wonders of the World? is a stimulating fusion of facts and fun that makes for an invaluable reference and an entertaining diversion.

Questions are grouped in sections according to the number of items in their answer (all the 3s, all the 4s, all the 5s, etc.), so that the answers are in the form of easily memorized lists. You won't find Luther's 95 theses, or the 264 Popes, for example, but you will find everything from the 3 sons of Adam and Eve all the way up to the 24 letters of the ancient Greek alphabet.

This clever format lends itself well to quizzing and guessing, which gives it a deliciously sophisticated parlor-game quality. But for those who wish to delve a little deeper, there are thoughtful essays to go with each answer that include fascinating details and place the list in its larger cultural or historical context. Much more than a book of trivia, What Are the 7 Wonders of the World? offers a grand overview of the knowledge needed to appreciate many of the finest things in our cultural and intellectual life.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments
Preface

THREE

Who were the 3 sons of Adam and Eve?
Who are the 3 gods of the Hindu Trinity (the Trimurti?)
What are Kepler's 3 Laws of Planetary Motion?
Who are the 3 daughters of King Lear?
What are the 3 stages of Hegel's dialectic?
What are the 3 Laws of Thermodynamics?
Who are the 3 Persons of the Christian Trinity?
Who are the 3 Musketeers?
Who were the 3 sons of Noah?
What are the 3 ages of Vico's historical cycle?
Who were the 3 Magi, and what gifts did they bring?
What are the 3 components of the Freudian psyche?
What 3 beasts confront Dante in Canto 1 of the Inferno?
Who were the 3 Furies?
Who were the 3 members of the First Triumvirate?
Who were the 3 members of the Second Triumvirate?
What are Newton's 3 Laws of Motion?
What were the 3 Temptations of Christ?
Who were the 3 Fates?


FOUR

What were the 4 elements and their associated humors?
What are the 4 voyages of Lemuel Gulliver?
What are the 4 conic sections?
What are the 4 sections of a symphony orchestra?
What were the 4 Freedoms of Franklin Delano Roosevelt?
What were the 4 chief winds in ancient Greece?
What are the 4 Noble Truths of Buddhism?
Which 4 U.S. Presidents were assassinated--and who were their killers?
What are the 4 fundamental forces?
Who are the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse?
Who were the Big Four, and what nations did they represent at the Paris Peace Conference (1919)?
Who were the 4 Bronte siblings?
Who were the 4 Evangelists, and what were their symbols?
What are the 4 properties of a musical tone?
What are the 4 parts of T. S. Eliot's Four Quartets and their associated elements?
What are the 4 Last Things?


FIVE

What are the 5 Pillars of Islam?
What were the 5 events of the ancient Olympic pentathlon?
What are the 5 basic positions of the feet in classical ballet?
Which were the 5 Civilized Tribes?
What are the 5 classical architectural orders?
Who were the Russian composers known as the Mighty Five?
What were the 5 rivers of the classical underworld?


SIX

What are the 6 flavors of quarks?
Who were the 6 wives of Henry VII?
Who were the 6 French composers known as Les Six?
What were the 6 major European invasions of Russia since the days of Peter the Great?
What are the 6 trigonometric functions?
Which were the 6 Iroquois (or Allied) Nations?
What are the 6 ranges of the human voice?
Which were the 6 Axis Powers in World War II?


SEVEN
What are the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World?
What were the works of the 7 days of Creation?
What were the 7 Hills of Rome?
What were the 7 Liberal Arts of the medieval curriculum?
Where do the English names of the 7 days of the week come from?
What are the 7 kinds of plane triangles?
What are the 7 main levels of taxonomic classification?
Which 7 European nations were the main colonizers of Africa in 1914?
What are the 7 sacraments?
Who were the 7 against Thebes?
What are the 7 Heavens of the Muslims made of--and who presides over each?
Who were the 7 Sages of Greece?
What are the 7 Deadly Sins?
What are the 7 Virtues?
What are the 7 Ages of Man according to Shakespeare?
What were the 7 metals of alchemy and their associated gods and planets?
What were 7 French dynasties?
What are the 7 voyages of Sinbad the Sailor?
What are the 7 Last Words of Christ?


EIGHT

What are the components of the Noble Eightfold Path of Buddhism?
Who were the American artists known as The Eight?
What are the 8 Beatitudes?


NINE

Who were the 9 great gods of ancient Egypt (The Great Ennead)?
What were the 9 royal houses of England after 1066?
Who were the 9 Muses, and what were their associated arts?
What are the 9 orders of angels (from lowest to highest)?
What are the 9 Confucian Classics?
Who were the 9 Worthies?
Who were the 9 Lyric Poets of ancient Greece?
What are the 9 planets, and how long do they take to orbit the sun?
What are the 9 Circles of Dante's Inferno?


TEN

What are the 10 Commandments?
What were the 10 major U.S. wars and their dates?
What were the 10 Plagues of Egypt?


ELEVEN

Which were the 11 states of the Confederacy?


TWELVE

What were the Latin names of the 12 months--and what did they mean?
What were the 12 Tribes of Israel?
Who were the 12 Olympian gods and their Roman equivalents?
What are the 12 main branches of the Indo-European language family?
What were the 12 Labors of Heracles?
Who were the 12 Apostles?
Who were the 12 Knights of the Round Table?
What are the 12 signs of the zodiac and the sources of their names?


THIRTEEN

Which were the 13 original U.S. states, and what do their names mean?
What are the 13 Articles of Faith of Judaism?


FOURTEEN

What were the 14 Points of Woodrow Wilson?


FIFTEEN

Which were the 15 decisive battles of the world according to historian Edward Creasy in 1851?
What are the 15 republics of the former Soviet Union and their capitals?


EIGHTEEN

What are the unofficial Homeric titles of the 18 chapters of James Joyce's Ulysses?


TWENTY

What are the 20 regions of Italy?


TWENTY-FOUR

What are the 24 letters of the ancient Greek alphabet?


Suggested Reading
Index