Fortunate Isles: Difference between revisions
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[[File:Schedel weltkarte.jpg|thumb|320x320px|Woodcut from the ''[[Nuremberg Chronicle]]'' (1493) by [[Hartmann Schedel]] depicting the Fortunate Islands in the Atlantic Ocean.]] | [[File:Schedel weltkarte.jpg|thumb|320x320px|Woodcut from the ''[[Nuremberg Chronicle]]'' (1493) by [[Hartmann Schedel]] depicting the Fortunate Islands in the Atlantic Ocean.]] | ||
{{Greek myth (Hades)}} | {{Greek myth (Hades)}} | ||
The '''Fortunate Isles''' or '''Isles of the Blessed'''<ref>{{Citation|last=AncientHistoryMaps|title=Cartes et Tables de la Geographie Ancienne - Sanson|date=1697|url=https://archive.org/details/CartesEtTablesDeLaGeographieAncienne-Sanson|access-date=2018-03-17}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/download/CartesEtTablesDeLaGeographieAncienne-Sanson/Europa%20Vetus.jpg|title=Cartes et Tables de la Geographie Ancienne|last=Sanson|first=Nicolas|date=1697|access-date=2018-03-17}}</ref> ({{langx|grc|μακάρων νῆσοι}}, ''makarōn nēsoi'')<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA116 p. 116].</ref> were semi-legendary islands in the [[Atlantic Ocean]], variously treated as a simple geographical location and as a winterless earthly [[paradise]] inhabited by the [[hero]]es of [[Greek mythology]]. In the time of [[Hesiod]], the Fortunate Isles were associated with the concept of [[Elysium]], a utopian location in the [[Greek underworld]] thought to be found in the Western ocean on the | The '''Fortunate Isles''' or '''Isles of the Blessed'''<ref>{{Citation|last=AncientHistoryMaps|title=Cartes et Tables de la Geographie Ancienne - Sanson|date=1697|url=https://archive.org/details/CartesEtTablesDeLaGeographieAncienne-Sanson|access-date=2018-03-17}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/download/CartesEtTablesDeLaGeographieAncienne-Sanson/Europa%20Vetus.jpg|title=Cartes et Tables de la Geographie Ancienne|last=Sanson|first=Nicolas|date=1697|access-date=2018-03-17}}</ref> ({{langx|grc|μακάρων νῆσοι}}, ''makarōn nēsoi'')<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA116 p. 116].</ref> were semi-legendary [[Island|islands]] in the [[Atlantic Ocean]], variously treated as a simple geographical location and as a winterless earthly [[paradise]] inhabited by the [[hero]]es of [[Greek mythology]]. In the time of [[Hesiod]], the Fortunate Isles were associated with the concept of [[Elysium]], a [[Utopia|utopian]] location in the [[Greek underworld]] thought to be found in the [[Indian Ocean|Western ocean]] on the edge of the known world.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Peck |first=Harry Thurston |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RacKAAAAIAAJ |title=Harper's Dictionary of Classical Literature and Antiquities |date=1897 |publisher=Harper & brothers |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Sacks |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KeEjUjSaDA0C |title=A Dictionary of the Ancient Greek World |date=1995 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-511206-1 |language=en}}</ref> The number of the islands would later be reduced to one by the poet [[Pindar]].<ref name=":0" /> | ||
==Legend== | ==Legend== | ||
According to Greek mythology, the islands were reserved for those who had chosen to be [[reincarnation|reincarnated]] three times, and managed to be judged as especially pure enough to gain entrance to the [[Elysium|Elysian Fields]] all three times.<ref>[[Pindar]], Olympian Ode 2. 57 ff</ref> The [[Thebes, Greece|Theban]] poet Pindar reduced the number of the islands to one, describing it as having shady parklands with residents indulging in athletic and musical pastimes, activities that were thought to be the ideal life for ancient Greek aristocracy.<ref name=":0" /> | According to Greek mythology, the islands were reserved for those who had chosen to be [[reincarnation|reincarnated]] three times, and managed to be judged as especially pure enough to gain entrance to the [[Elysium|Elysian Fields]] all three times.<ref>[[Pindar]], Olympian Ode 2. 57 ff</ref> The [[Thebes, Greece|Theban]] poet Pindar reduced the number of the islands to one, describing it as having shady parklands with residents indulging in athletic and musical pastimes, activities that were thought to be the ideal life for ancient [[Greek aristocracy]].<ref name=":0" /> | ||
==Accounts== | ==Accounts== | ||
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{{quotation|...where the air was never extreme, which for rain had a little silver dew, which of itself and without labour, bore all pleasant fruits to their happy dwellers, till it seemed to him that these could be no other than the Fortunate Islands, the Elysian Fields.<ref>Plutarch, ''Life of Sertorius'', ch. viii.</ref>}} | {{quotation|...where the air was never extreme, which for rain had a little silver dew, which of itself and without labour, bore all pleasant fruits to their happy dwellers, till it seemed to him that these could be no other than the Fortunate Islands, the Elysian Fields.<ref>Plutarch, ''Life of Sertorius'', ch. viii.</ref>}} | ||
It was from these men that Sertorius learned facts so beguiling that he considered retiring from Roman political life altogether to these islands, but conflicts to come prevented him from pursuing this rumour further. | It was from these men that [[Quintus Sertorius|Sertorius]] learned facts so beguiling that he considered retiring from Roman political life altogether to these islands, but conflicts to come prevented him from pursuing this rumour further. | ||
{{quotation|The islands are said to be two in number separated by a very narrow strait and lie 10,000 [[furlong]]s ( 2,000 kilometers / 1,250 miles ) from Africa. They are called the Isles of the Blessed. [...] | {{quotation|The islands are said to be two in number separated by a very narrow strait and lie 10,000 [[furlong]]s ( 2,000 kilometers / 1,250 miles ) from Africa. They are called the Isles of the Blessed. [...] | ||
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The Isles are mentioned in Book II of ''[[A True Story|A True History]]'' by the Greek satirist [[Lucian|Lucian of Samosata]]. The author makes fun of the heroes residing there by giving an account of their petty squabbles as presented to the court of the magistrate, [[Rhadamanthus]]. He goes on to describe other observations of how the residents occupy their time, using every opportunity to satirise both contemporary life and Greek mythology. | The Isles are mentioned in Book II of ''[[A True Story|A True History]]'' by the Greek satirist [[Lucian|Lucian of Samosata]]. The author makes fun of the heroes residing there by giving an account of their petty squabbles as presented to the court of the magistrate, [[Rhadamanthus]]. He goes on to describe other observations of how the residents occupy their time, using every opportunity to satirise both contemporary life and Greek mythology. | ||
[[Ptolemy]] used these islands as the reference for the measurement of geographical [[longitude]] and they continued to play the role of defining the [[prime meridian]] through the Middle Ages.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Wright | first1 = John Kirtland | year = 1923 | title = Notes on the Knowledge of Latitudes and Longitudes in the Middle Ages | journal = [[Isis (journal)|Isis]] | volume = 5 | issue = 1 | pages = 75–98 | jstor = 223599 | doi=10.1086/358121| s2cid = 143159033 }}</ref> | [[Ptolemy]] used these islands as the reference for the measurement of geographical [[longitude]] and they continued to play the role of defining the [[prime meridian]] through the [[Middle Ages]].<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Wright | first1 = John Kirtland | year = 1923 | title = Notes on the Knowledge of Latitudes and Longitudes in the Middle Ages | journal = [[Isis (journal)|Isis]] | volume = 5 | issue = 1 | pages = 75–98 | jstor = 223599 | doi=10.1086/358121| s2cid = 143159033 }}</ref> | ||
They have traditionally been identified with the archipelagos of the group currently known geographically as [[Macaronesia]] ([[Azores]], [[Madeira]], [[Savage Islands]], [[Canary Islands]], and [[Cape Verde]]).{{cn|date=May 2025}} | They have traditionally been identified with the [[Archipelago|archipelagos]] of the group currently known geographically as [[Macaronesia]] ([[Azores]], [[Madeira]], [[Savage Islands]], [[Canary Islands]], and [[Cape Verde]]).{{cn|date=May 2025}} | ||
== See also == | == See also == | ||
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{{Hell}} | {{Hell}} | ||
{{Authority control}} | {{Authority control}} | ||
[[Category: | [[Category:Places in Celtic mythology]] | ||
[[Category: | [[Category:Places in Greek mythology]] | ||
[[Category:Mythological islands]] | [[Category:Mythological islands]] | ||
[[Category:Death in Greek mythology]] | [[Category:Death in Greek mythology]] | ||
[[Category:Conceptions of heaven]] | [[Category:Conceptions of heaven]] | ||
[[Category:Macaronesia]] | [[Category:Macaronesia]] | ||
[[Category: | [[Category:Places in the Greek underworld]] | ||
[[Category:Pre-Columbian | [[Category:Pre-Columbian transoceanic contact theories]] | ||
Latest revision as of 18:54, 28 December 2025
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Template:Greek myth (Hades) The Fortunate Isles or Isles of the Blessed[1][2] (Template:Langx, makarōn nēsoi)[3] were semi-legendary islands in the Atlantic Ocean, variously treated as a simple geographical location and as a winterless earthly paradise inhabited by the heroes of Greek mythology. In the time of Hesiod, the Fortunate Isles were associated with the concept of Elysium, a utopian location in the Greek underworld thought to be found in the Western ocean on the edge of the known world.[4][5] The number of the islands would later be reduced to one by the poet Pindar.[5]
Legend
According to Greek mythology, the islands were reserved for those who had chosen to be reincarnated three times, and managed to be judged as especially pure enough to gain entrance to the Elysian Fields all three times.[6] The Theban poet Pindar reduced the number of the islands to one, describing it as having shady parklands with residents indulging in athletic and musical pastimes, activities that were thought to be the ideal life for ancient Greek aristocracy.[5]
Accounts
Flavius Philostratus' Life of Apollonius of Tyana (v.2) says, "And they also say that the Islands of the Blessed are to be fixed by the limits of Libya where they rise towards the uninhabited promontory." In this geography Libya was considered to extend westwards through Mauretania "as far as the mouth of the river Salex, some nine hundred stadia, and beyond that point a further distance which no one can compute, because when you have passed this river Libya is a desert which no longer supports a population."
Plutarch, who refers to the "fortunate isles" several times in his writings, locates them firmly in the Atlantic in his vita of Sertorius. Sertorius, when struggling against a chaotic civil war in the closing years of the Roman Republic, had tidings from mariners of certain islands a few days' sail from Hispania: Template:Quotation
It was from these men that Sertorius learned facts so beguiling that he considered retiring from Roman political life altogether to these islands, but conflicts to come prevented him from pursuing this rumour further. Template:Quotation
Pliny the Elder's Natural History adds to the obligatory description—that they "abound in fruit and birds of every kind"—the unexpected detail that, "[t]hese islands, however, are greatly annoyed by the putrefying bodies of monsters, which are constantly thrown up by the sea".
The Isles are mentioned in Book II of A True History by the Greek satirist Lucian of Samosata. The author makes fun of the heroes residing there by giving an account of their petty squabbles as presented to the court of the magistrate, Rhadamanthus. He goes on to describe other observations of how the residents occupy their time, using every opportunity to satirise both contemporary life and Greek mythology.
Ptolemy used these islands as the reference for the measurement of geographical longitude and they continued to play the role of defining the prime meridian through the Middle Ages.[7]
They have traditionally been identified with the archipelagos of the group currently known geographically as Macaronesia (Azores, Madeira, Savage Islands, Canary Islands, and Cape Verde).Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
See also
- Immram, mythical Irish voyages in the Atlantic
- Thule
- Macaronesia
- The nymphs of the far west, the Hesperides
Notes
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References
- Hard, Robin (2004), The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology", Psychology Press, 2004, Template:ISBN. Google Books.
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