Pat asks:
why was the Napoleon's death embedded island so named Sainte Hélène ? any
greek symbolism ? or just a mere coincidence of some shipper`s imagination
?
Steve replies:
Perfect question! The island was discovered by Portuguese (I think) on a 21
May (will have to look up the year). In our time, 21 May is the feast of St.
Helena within the Greek Catholic calendar, while 18 August is the feast of
St. Helena within the Roman Catholic calendar. So, one could somewhat assume
that the Portuguese that discovered St. Helena where then using a Greek
Catholic calendar. A case of somewhat informative symbolism?
checking, i find this link (new for me, meaby interesting fo some:
http://www.placesnamed.com/s/a/saint_helena.asp
(not much info there)
this one seems better:
http://geography.about.com/library/cia/blcsthelena.htm (from the CIA
factbook)
yep see
Uninhabited when first discovered by the Portuguese in 1502, the island was
garrisoned by the British during the 17th century
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
btw . see :
harbors at least 40 species of plants unknown anywhere else in the world;
Ascension is a breeding ground for sea turtles and sooty terns
finally ; here we are :
quote from
http://geography.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.upei
.ca%2F%7Esiin%2F
The island was discovered on 21 May 1502 by the Portuguese navigator Juan da
Nova Castella and was named for Saint Helena, the mother of Constantine the
Great. St. Helena was thereafter used by the Portuguese as a watering and
victualling base for their fleets returning from the East Indies and, as far
as possible, the existence of the island was kept secret by the Portuguese.
In 1588 the English circumnavigator Thomas Cavendish of HMS Desire located
the island. Over the following years, the Portuguese, English, and Dutch all
used St. Helena for victualling their East India fleets; in 1633 the island
was formally annexed by the Dutch although never occupied.
(eoq)
>>>>>>>>
so. Steve, it's possible the calendar you quoted was (as sometimes it
happens inside of my bad neuronal memory) a sort of misinterpretation.
but we (you) could ask : why did Jim of New Castle choose this name ? why
a greek reference ? where surges the necessity , in such 1502 year , of
using such symbolism , and where did such come from ? the education (secular
i suppose) of this portuguese using a spanish name? ( similar surnaming
happened with cristobal colon )
(the well known inventor of the colon- isation ... )
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
so the discovery must have been just some happy "happening". and two
centuries after the discovery, a new claim was made by another occupant.
vacancy was still quite total. must have been a very quiet place....
(are happenings always happy , btw ?)
so let's imagine a ship just happened around, and the used calendar happened
to be greek, if your info is verificable, Steve, but, then again , why
would a "portuguese" guy baptize his discovery with a "greek" name ?
I guess because the crew, so far away at sea, very very far away from any
know "firm" land, thought or eventually divagated under the sun that they
were some new Nautiles or descendants of the Jason`s argonauts, lost (?) a
long way behind the Atlantis those antiques looked for ?
and meaby (?) the first guy to take land , meaby just an innocent crew
member checking if no cannibales were in the vecinity, was greek or better,
some erudite guy (if not Herodote ... :-).
Or this Castellan was.
Still wondering.
shippers(captains) were not exactly erudite men, they had shipping
experience, knew how to follow astronomic references, could read,
sometimes, but probably few had a real "classical" education as to know
Constantine the Greek. still wondering....
Discovering new land generally was accompanied by rights of property. There
were not much things to possess.
but many islands or Newfoundland(s) (!) had other kind of names...
possibly if the captains/discoverers were not roman catholics.
so, could be interesting: were protestant sailors (if such info is
available), f.i. english,some french, german or dutch (compared to italian,
Portugueses and spaniards , supposedly catholics) (and not considering
possible jewish participation or leadership in those discoveries...) ,
protestants then not using religious saint's names : what was their way
of designing their discoverie's baptism names ( La Martinique, Terreneuve,
Malouines(falklands) compared with Sint Helen's , Santo Domingo or Saint
Pierre et Miquelon...)
there could be also much symbolism in such differences.
were protestants applying to their discoveries the prohibition of human
figures and names/references as in their religious buildings ?
What was the arabic way of naming their discoveries? or the chinese ? any
arabic/chinese erudite around ?
(the arabs or asian shippers had huge knowledge of the seas we westerners
supposedly discovered , but later.)
and of course the names of places like Ceylan were baptized by those sailors
before Vasco de Gama, Magellan or their likes "re" discovered those.
(another reenactment there, pas op zene !)
an indication of such is that the given names or surnames in america are
generally (few exceptions, from amerindian traditions) always related to the
european discoverer, compared to asian names were brand/local names already
were and still are used now, excluding australia and small pacific islands
discovered by Cook if not by chance)
(still wondering)
Pat - listening to Darius the Great (Milhaud) under his own hand (a rare
33rpm vinyl , in front of a selfishly directed orchestra)