Sandy Hobbs | Dear Mister Thoms # 33, 1994

IN DMT 25, it was noted that a number of towns are said, like Rome, to be built on seven hills: Aberdeen, Glasgow, Sheffield and Plovdiv (Bulgaria). To the can be added:

Bath: Marion Bowman informs us that she became aware of this claim when a Japanese student asked for help in identifying the seven hills mentioned in the guide book. Marion suggests that it would be more accurate to describe Bath as built in a hollow.

Lisbon: A travel guide in The Observer newspaper Life section, 2 January 1884, pp 24-28, states that “Lisbon not only claims the statutory seven hills, but covers them with patterned and lumpy cobbles”. Reading this prompted me to check a copy of the Michelin tourist guide Portugal (Fifth Edition, Harrow, 1989) . There, on page 83, one finds that Lisbon is said to be built on seven low hills”.

Sandy Hobbs | Dear Mister Thoms # 25, 1993

What do Sheffield, England, and Plovdiv, Bulgaria have in common? Consider the following: “Legend has it that Sheffield is built on seven hills…” (Richard Burns, “Sheffield the city of craft and graft”, The Guardian, 16 October 1991, page 21).

This caught my eye, not just because of the word “legend” but because I recalled being told that Aberdeen was built on seven hills. David Cornwell informs me that he has been told the same of Glasgow, Browsing in the Dictionnaire Universel des Noms Propres (Paris: Dictionnaires Le Robert, 1987), I discovered that Plovdiv was described as “construite sur sept collines”.

One of the problems with such a claim is that, if a town is built in a hilly area, and if it expands over the years as most towns presumably do, then many towns at some stage may be said to be built on seven hills. The reason for the claim is presumably to equate the town concerned with Rome, but how valid is the claim for Rome itself.

I would be interested to hear of other cases where towns have this claim made for them.