Notes on Jorge Luis Borges, "The Immortal"
as published in "The Aleph and Other Stories",
translated by Andrew Hurley
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Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986).
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Solomon (c. 970 B.C.), a.k.a. Sulayman, Suleiman,
Schlomo, Salomoh, Salomo. King of Israel for
about 40 years, beginning in 970 BC. Son of David and
Bathsheba. Husband of 700 wives and 300 concubines.
In a biblical story illustrating Solomon's reputation for
wisdom, and depicted by countless artists, two
women disputed who should raise a child. Solomon
resolved the matter by ordering a soldier to cut the
child in half.
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Plato (c. 427 - c. 347 BC), a.k.a. Platon.
Influential Greek philosopher. Author of the Socratic dialogs.
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Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626).
Philosophical advocate of the scientific method.
His authorship of some Shakespearean plays is unproven.
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Joseph Cartaphilus a.k.a. Longinus, the Wandering Jew.
Per legend, a Roman soldier who struck Jesus, or thrust a spear
in Jesus’s side, or insulted Jesus, depending on the version of
the legend. Jesus told Cartaphilus he would wait until Jesus’s
return, and so Cartaphilus lives, immortal, waiting. The legend has no
biblical basis. The name "Cartaphilus" resembles a neogrecolatinate
aggregation of "carta" ("map" or "chart") and "phil"
("like" or "love") and adjectival suffix "-us".
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Smyrna. a.k.a. Izmir, the 3rd most populous city in
modern Turkey. a.k.a. Ionia in the golden age of ancient
Greece. The city dates from the 3rd millenium, B.C.
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Alexander Pope (1688-1744). English poet. Translated
Homer’s "Iliad" and "Odyssey".
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Salonika, a.k.a. Thessaloniki.
A city in Macedonia,
founded in 315 B.C. by Kasander, named after the wife of
Alexander the Great.
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Macao. From 1557 until 1999 a colony of Portugal in
South China. Geographical extent: 27 sq km. Now a part of
China.
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Thebes. Capital of Egypt during the Eleventh Dynasty
(Middle Kingdom) 2063 to 1985 B.C.
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Diocletian (245? - 312?), a.k.a. Gaius Aurelius
Valerius Diocletianus, Emperor of Rome.
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Berenice, a.k.a. Medinet al-Haras. A seaport of Egypt on
the Red Sea, founded circa 250 B.C. by Ptolemy II, King of
Egypt, who named the town after his wife.
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Mauritania. A modern nation state in West Africa. In
ancient times, the name referred to regions we now call
Algeria and Morocco.
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Pluto.
Roman god of wealth and of the underworld, the abode of the dead.
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Alexandria. City on the north coast of Egypt,
founded circa 334 B.C. by Alexander the Great. Now,
the 2nd largest city in Egypt.
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Mars. Roman god of war and lover of Venus, the wife of Vulcan.
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Ganges River, a.k.a. Ganga. Originates in the Gangotri
glacier in the Himalayas, and flows southeast to the Bay of Bengal.
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Elysium. In Greek mythology, the Elysian plains (Fr.:
Les Champs Elysees), or the fields of Elysium are the final
resting place for heroes.
The fields lay at the far western margin of the world by the
stream Oceanus. Progeny of the gods lived in Elysium without death.
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Pactolus River. Flows through the town of Sart, a.k.a.
Sardis, in western Turkey. This small stream is known for dust
of gold and silver found in it, and was the source of wealth
for Croesus.
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Flavius (9 - 79 AD). Better known as Vespasian, a.k.a.
Titus Flavius Vespasianus, Emperor of Rome who served as
proconsul of Africa under Nero.
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Getulia. Region of Africa on the southern border of Mauritania.
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Flavius. The Getulian proconsul, seems fictional.
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Arsinoe, a.k.a. Crocodilopolis, Al Fayyum.
Town of ancient Egypt.
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Troglodytes. Cave dwellers. There is linguistic
confusion between this word and "trogodytes", synonymous with
"taureg", the name of a people of North Africa.
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Garamantas, a.k.a. Fezzan, Garamantes. A kingdom in the
interior of North Africa, in the region of modern Libya, which
existed for about 1000 years, from 600 B.C. to 400 AD
Supplied by an underground irrigation system filled not with
river water, but with groundwater
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Augiles.
Inhabitants of Augila, described by Greek writer Herodotus, a
region located in modern Libya just east of Garamantas. Famed
for its abundant date harvest and lurid marital customs.
Custom required the first bride of a man (men
often had several wives), on her wedding night, to grant her
favors to all guests, each of which would leave a present for
the husband.
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Tartarus.
In Greek mythology, the lowest part of the underworld and the
Titan who ruled there, the final resting place of villians, a
wretched darkness where the punishment fits the crime. Zeus
and the gods of Olympus conquered the Titans, who they cast
into Tartarus.
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Euphorbia. A botanical family of vastly many varieties
that includes a succulent known to Mediterranean inhabitants
of the Roman Empire.
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Satyr. In Greek mythology, a creature with the body of
a man, the legs and horns of a ram, ears of a horse or mule,
and unquenchable appetite for strong drink and sex.
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Crete. Part of modern Greece, an island in the center
of the Mediterranean Sea.
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Persian Gulf,
a.k.a. Arabian Gulf. Body of water between Arabia and Iran (Persia).
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Ethiopia. A region of East Africa, and a modern nation state.
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Grottoes of Ethiopia.
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Zeleia. "Those from Zeleia, wealthy Trojans, who
drink the water of dark Aisepos..." a quotation from Homer,
"Iliad". The location is near
modern Dubrovnik and Sarajevo.
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Trojans. Inhabitants of the ancient city of Troy, a.k.a.
Ilium, and the surrounding region Troas, on the western shores
of modern Turkey.
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Marcus Flaminius Rufus. Fictional character.
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Rome, a.k.a. Roma. Capital of modern Italy, surviving
since ancient times, at one time an empire of provinces
extending from Arabia to Scotland.
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Argos.
Symbol of faith and loyalty. Odysseus’s dog who waited 20 years
for Odysseus’s return, described in Homer’s "Odyssey". The dog
was the only member of the household to recognize his master,
who was disguised as a beggar. On seeing Odysseus, the old dog
wagged his tail and then died.
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"Odyssey".
Among the most widely read works of literature. An epic poem
attributed to Homer, the story of the many years’ adventurous
journey of deposed King Odysseus, his recapture of his throne,
and his reunion with his faithful wife Penelope.
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Ulysses, a.k.a. Odysseus. See "Odyssey".
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Homer (circa 1000 BC). Blind, illiterate Greek poet,
legendary author of "Iliad" and "Odyssey", the earliest
works of European literature.
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"the war between the frogs and the rats".
"Batrachomyomachia", a story attributed to Homer, parodies
"Iliad", Homer’s epic poem of the Trojan war.
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Chaos. In Greek mythology, the unformed, disordered void
from which emerged the gods, Tartarus, Eros, Nyx, Erebus and
the Cosmos.
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Cosmos. Orderly arrangement of all things known and
unknown. See Chaos.
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Hindustan. a.k.a. India, Hindostan.
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"El Cid" (circa 1150).
Spanish epic poem, author unknown, about the
heroic adventures of the chivalric protagonist of the same name.
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"Eclogues" (circa 37 BC). One of three major works by
Latin poet Virgil.
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Heraclitus (circa 540 BC).
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Cornelius Agrippa (1486-1535), a.k.a. Agrippa, Heinrich
Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim. Alchemist, physician,
theologian, professor, soldier, entrepreneur, attorney, secret
agent and counselor to monarchs throughout Europe.
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Tangier, a.k.a. Tangiers, Tanger. City on the northwest
coast of Africa, in Morocco, near Spain.
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Stamford Bridge, England. Site of a battle in 1066 in which
King Harold of England defended his succession to the throne of
King Edward the Confessor by defeating the combined forces of his
brother Tostig and ally King Harald III Hardraade of Norway.
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Harold (1022-1066), a.k.a. King Harold II of England,
Harold Godwinson. Victorious at Stamford Bridge in 1066, but
his weakened forces lost to invader William of Normandy at
Hastings, where Harold died.
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Harald Hardrada (1015-1066), a.k.a. King Harald III
Hardraade of Norway, Harald III Sigurdsson. Founder of Oslo.
Harald in alliance
with Tostig Godwinson conquered the town of York in northern
England. Harald and Tostig soon lost York and their lives in
the battle of Stamford Bridge. Before the battle, King Harold
of England offered Tostig lands if Tostig would disarm.
Tostig asked what his ally would get. Harold replied
"Seven foot of good English soil,
or as much as he needed as he was taller than other men."
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Hegira, a.k.a. Hejira, Hijra, Hijrah. Mohammed's journey
from Mecca to Medina in 622 AD
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Bulaq. There are many towns in the Middle East which
have multiword names ending in Bulaq, including several in
modern Iraq, where the stories of Sindbad may have been
rewritten in the 14th century.
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Sindbad, a.k.a. Sinbad. Legendary sailor. Subject of
several stories in "The Thousand and One Arabian Nights", a.k.a.
"Arabian Nights", "Thousand and One Nights".
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"City of Brass". One of the stories from the "Arabian
Nights".
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Samarkand, a.k.a. Samarqand, Marakanda. Founded circa 750 BC
2nd largest city in Uzbekistan. A historic trading center on the
Silk Route between Persia and China.
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Bikanir, a.k.a. Bikaner. Capital city of an old princely
Indian state of the same name. Founded on a trade route
in 1488 AD by Bikaji. Known for camels and sand.
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Bohemia. Prague and environs, today the western part of
the modern Czech Republic.
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Kolszvar, a.k.a. Kolosvar, Cluj, Klausenburg. Capital of
Transylvania, now a part of Romania. Inhabited since prehistoric
times. In 1638, at the town of Dej in Cluj County, the Unitarians
were accused of Sabbatarianism. The Unitarian sect began with a
sermon Ferenc David delivered at St. Michael Church in 1565.
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Leipzig. Town in Germany southwest of Berlin.
In 1638 Johann Agricola's alchemical "Treatise on Gold" was
published in Leipzig.
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Aberdeen. Town in southeast Scotland.
William Elphinstone founded the University
of Aberdeen in 1495.
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Giambattista Vico (1668-1744). Professor of Rhetoric at
the Univeristy of Naples. Vico wrote "The New Science" arguing
that Cartesian principles provide incomplete understanding
because they ignore that which cannot be measured. In the
chapter "Discovery of the New Homer", Vico explains the
Homeric poems as aggregates of ancient histories conveying
the "poetic wisdom" of the civilization, and Homer
as the legendary figure to whom the Greeks attributed the poems.
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Patna. City in northeastern india
on the banks of the Ganges River, founded in
490 BC Capital of the modern state of Bihar.
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Mumbai, a.k.a. Bombay. City on the west coast of India,
founded circa 3rd century BC by emperor Ashok. In modern
times, one of the world's most populous cities.
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Eritrea.
Country of northwest Africa, on the Red Sea.
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Red Sea. A great and narrow body of water
connecting at the southeast end to the Gulf of Aden
(a.k.a. Eden), the Arabian Sea,
and the Indian Ocean, and via the Suez Canal on the
northwest end to the Mediterranean Sea.
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"Iliad". Among the most widely read works of
literature. An epic poem attributed to Homer featuring Achilles,
the greatest of warriors, as the hero. The story of
multiple jealousies among people and gods creating
and continuing the war between the Greeks and the Trojans.
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Nahum Cordovero, "A Coat of Many Colours".
The title refers to the robe of Joseph, a Jew raised in
the royal house of Egypt, and who became a pharoah.
The name, Nahum Cordover, seems an allusion to ancient
rabbinical scholars.
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Ben Jonson (1572-1637).
Playwright of Elizabethan England.
Borges likely mispells "Jonson" as "Johnson", perhaps an
indirection.
According to the "Cambridge History of English and American
Literature", "The passages on Shakespeare and Bacon were
taken from what Seneca wrote of Haterius and Cassius
Severus;..." in Jonson's "Timber".
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Seneca (4 BC - 65 AD), a.k.a. Lucius Annaeus Seneca,
Seneca the Younger.
Roman Stoic philosopher, satirist and dramatist. Tutor of Nero,
who ordered Seneca to commit suicide. Likely inspiration of Jonson.
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Seneca (54 BC - 39 AD), a.k.a. Lucius Annaeus
Seneca, Seneca the Elder, Seneca the Rhetorician.
Author of texts on rhetoric and legal controversies.
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Alexander Ross (1591-1654).
A Scottish clergyman of Aberdeen who wrote a number of essays
and discourses. "Virgilius evangelizans", a.k.a. "Virgilii
Evangelisantis Christiados Libri xiii" was a cento, a
reassemblage and interpretation of fragments of an earlier
work or works, in this case of the Roman poet Virgil. Sometimes
confused with the poet Alexander Ross (1699-1784),
also of Aberdeen.
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George Moore (1852-1933).
Irish novelist and playwright whose works included "The Making
of an Immortal".
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T.S. Eliot (1888-1965).
American poet.
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Pliny the Elder (23-79), a.k.a. Caius Plinius Secundus,
Gaius Plinius Secundis.
Author of the grand encyclopedia "Naturalis Historiae".
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Thomas de Quincey (1785-1859).
Author of "Confessions of an English Opium-Eater" and other works.
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Rene Descartes (1596-1650).
Best known for developing mathematical theory uniting
geometry and algebra, which gave foundation for
subsequent development of the Calculus by Newton and
Leibniz. Also
wrote "Discours de la Methode" ("Discourse on Method"),
an attempt to explain the logic of imaginative thought.
The phrase falsely attributed to him, "Cogito Ergo Sum"
("I think, therefore I am") is a formulation
by others of a thesis Descartes described in "Meditations":
One can doubt one's knowledge, while having certainty
that one thinks. Descartes also wrote on physics, optics,
animals, cosmology, and several topics in philosophy.
He withheld publication of his treatise "Le Monde" ("The
World"), fearing the fate of his contemporary, Galileo,
and only fragments of the work survive.
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Hector Pierre Chanut (1604-1667).
Acquaintance of Descartes and ambassador of France to the court
of Queen Christina of Sweden. In a letter to Chanut, Descartes
described his observations on passions. Chanut obtained an
invitation from the queen for Descartes to tutor her in Stockholm.
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Bernard Shaw (1856-1950).
Influential playwright in the English language
in the early 20th century. Author of "Pygmalion",
"Major Barbara", "Back to Methuselah" and other works.
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