Octo Mundi Miracula

The series was published during the late Northern Renaissance, in the Habsburg Netherlands during the early states of the Dutch Revolt. Heemskerck had been influenced by his travels to Rome (1532–1536/37) where he had studied ruins and the monuments of classical antiquity. Philips Galle was an engraver and publisher, whereas Hadrianus Junius was a humanist poet. Heemskerck's primary source was Pedro Mexía's 1540 Silva de varia lección, Those who have read the histories, orators, and ancient poets will often have found mention of the Seven Wonders of the World: sometimes of one, sometimes of another, depending on the purpose of what the authors are writing. And because this material is so scattered, as I said, and no one that I know of has compiled or treated it in particular, at least in our common tongue… among the great and excellent ancient buildings, seven are mentioned especially by all, and they were considered marvelous, and thus were called wonders. And on six of them everyone agrees on which they are, and there are no differing opinions; but on the seventh, some list one, and others another, as we shall discuss. There is also variation in the order in which they are listed; but that matters little: I will proceed according to my own preference. Let us begin with the walls of Babylon, which are counted among these wonders… Those I have mentioned are the ones considered the seven miracles; although the last, the tower, some do not include it, and instead list the Hanging Gardens, which we say were in Babylon… Ludovico Celio, in the twelfth book of his ancient lectures, recounts these seven wonders; and instead of including the Lighthouse of Pharos or the Hanging Gardens, he includes the Obelisk of Semiramis. == Work ==

Engravings The eight engravings are as follows: File:Philips Galle, Pyramiderne i Ægypten, 1572, KKSgb10002-1, Statens Museum for Kunst.jpg|The Great Pyramid of Giza: "Piramides Aegypti" File:Philips Galle, Fyrtårnet i Alexandria, 1572, KKSgb10002-2, Statens Museum for Kunst.jpg|The Lighthouse of Alexandria: "Pharos" File:Philips Galle, Babylons mure, 1572, KKSgb10002-6, Statens Museum for Kunst.jpg|The Hanging Gardens and Walls of Babylon: "Babylonis Muri" File:Philips Galle, Dianatemplet i Efesos, 1572, KKSgb10002-4, Statens Museum for Kunst.jpg|The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus: "Dianae Ephesiae Templum" File:Philips Galle, Jupiterstatuen på Olympen, 1572, KKSgb10002-3, Statens Museum for Kunst.jpg|The Statue of Zeus at Olympia: "Olympy lovis simulacrum" File:Philips Galle, Kolossen på Rhodos, 1572, KKSgb10001-4, Statens Museum for Kunst.jpg|The Colossus of Rhodes: "Colossus Solis" File:Philips Galle, Mausolæet i Halikarnassos, 1572, KKSgb10002-5, Statens Museum for Kunst.jpg|The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus: "Mausoleum" File:Philips Galle, Colosseum i Rom, 1572, KKSgb10002-7, Statens Museum for Kunst.jpg|The Colosseum of Rome: "Amphitheatrum" (Heemskerck's addition) Heemskerck's inclusion of the Colosseum deviates from the traditional "seven" and reflects a personal reverence, having studied the Colosseum firsthand in Rome and included it in his 1553 Self-Portrait with the Colosseum. It was the only one of the eight engravings pictured as an actual ruin, rather than in idealized form, and was the only one that could be easily visited by van Heemskerck’s audience at the time. Each engraving follows a formula: the wonder occupies the center, surrounded by its historical or mythical context, with rulers, workers, and gods. Junius' Latin elegiac couplets often reference the builder, the architectural marvel, or its legendary origin. Verses Humanist Hadrianus Junius composed Latin poems for each engraving. While not direct descriptions, the verses offer thematic context and moral reflection. They refer to figures such as Semiramis and Artemisia II and contain technical anecdotes from Roman sources, such as the use of charcoal under the Temple of Artemis. == Influence and legacy ==

Octo Mundi Miracula was copied and adapted in many works by artists such as Louis de Caullery and Willem Janszoon Blaeu (e.g. the 1630 Nova Totius Terrarum Orbis Geographica ac Hydrographica Tabula). The series was seminal in shaping the iconography of the ancient wonders, as no standard visual tradition had previously existed. == Collections and conservation ==

Prints from the Octo Mundi Miracula series are preserved in various museums and libraries, including: • British Museum, London • Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam • Louvre, Paris • Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel The images below show the series in the order as originally published. From a 1572 copy at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam: File:Piramiden van Egypte, RP-P-2005-214-24-1.jpg|1. Pyramids2. Lighthouse File:Muren van Babylon, RP-P-2005-214-25-1.jpg|3. Babylon4. Temple File:Kolos van Rhodos, RP-P-2005-214-26-2.jpg|5. Zeus6. Colossus File:Mausoleum at Halicarnassus and Colosseum RP-P-2005-214-27-2.jpg|7. Mausoleum8. Colosseum File:SevenWondersOfTheWorld.png|Combined == Notes ==