Index
Aberdeen
Agrippa
Alexandria, Egypt
Al Fayyum
Arabian Gulf
Argos
Arsinoe
Augiles
Bacon, Francis
Batrachomyomachia
Berenice
Bihar
Bikaner
Bikanir
Bohemia
Bombay
Borges, Jorge Luis
Bulaq
Caius Plinius Secundus
Cartaphilus, Joseph
Les Champs Elysees
Chanut, Hector Pierre
Chaos
El Cid
City of Brass
Cluj
A Coat of Many Colors
A Coat of Many Colours
Cordover, Nahum
Cornelius Agrippa
Cosmos
Crete
Crocodilopolis
De Quincey, Thomas
Descartes, Rene
Diocletian
Eclogues
El Cid
El Faiyum
Eliot, T.S.
Elysium
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Euphorbia
Fayoum
Fayum
Fezzan
Flavius, Titus Flavius Vespasianus, Emperor of Rome
Flavius, Getulian proconsul
Francis Bacon
Gaius Aurelius
Gaius Plinius Secundis
Ganga
Ganges
Garamantas
Garamantes
Getulia
Godwinson, Harold
The Grottoes of Ethiopia
Harald Hardrada, King of Norway
Hardrada, King of Norway
Harold II, King Of England
Harold Godwinson
Chanut, Hector Pierre
Hegira
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim
Hejira
Heraclitus
Hijra
Hijrah
Hindostan
Hindustan
Homer
Iliad
Ilium
India
Ionia
Izmir
Johnson (Ben Jonson)
Jonson, Ben
Joseph Cartaphilus
Klausenburg
Kolsvar
Kolszvar
Leipzig
Longinus
Lucinge
Lucius Annaeus Seneca
Macao
Marakanda
Marcus Flaminius Rufus
Mars
Mauritania
Medinet Al Haras
Moore, George
Mumbai
Nahum Cordover
Nahumr
Odysseus
Odyssey
Pactolus
Patna
Persian Gulf
Plato
Platon
Pliny the Elder
Pluto
Pope, Alexander
Red Sea
Roma
Rome
Ross, Alexander
Rufus, Marcus Flaminius
Salomo
Salomoh
Salonika
Samarkand
Samarqand
Satyr
Schlomo
Seneca
Seneca the Elder
Seneca the Rhetorician
Seneca the Younger
Shaw, Bernard
Sigurdsson
Sinbad
Sindbad
Smyrna
Solomon
Stamford Bridge
Sulayman
Suleiman
Tanger
Tangier
Tangiers
Tartarus
Taureg
Thebes
Thessaloniki
Thessaly
Titus Flavius Vespasianus, Emperor of Rome
Troglodytes
Trogodytes
Trojans
Troy
Ulysses
Valerius Diocletianus
Vespasian
Vico, Giambattista
Wandering Jew
The War between the Frogs and the Rats
Zeleia
|
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.
o0o
o0o
o0o
index
|
Plato (c. 427 - c. 347 BC), a.k.a. Platon.
Influential Greek philosopher. Author of the Socratic dialogs.
o0o
index
|
Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626).
Philosophical advocate of the scientific method.
His authorship of some Shakespearean plays is unproven.
o0o
index
|
|
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".
index
|
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.
o0o
index
|
Salonika, a.k.a. Thessaloniki, Thessaly.
A city in Macedonia,
founded in 315 B.C. by Kasander, named after the wife of
Alexander the Great.
o0o
index
|
Macao. From 1557 until 1999 a colony of Portugal in
South China. Geographical extent: 27 sq km. Now a part of
China.
o0o
index
|
Thebes. Capital of Egypt during the Eleventh Dynasty
(Middle Kingdom) 2063 to 1985 B.C.
o0o
index
|
Diocletian (245? - 312?), a.k.a. Gaius Aurelius
Valerius Diocletianus, Emperor of Rome.
o0o
index
|
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.
o0o
index
|
Mauritania. A modern nation state in West Africa. In
ancient times, the name referred to regions we now call
Algeria and Morocco.
o0o
index
|
Pluto.
Roman god of wealth and of the underworld, the abode of the dead.
o0o
index
|
Alexandria. City on the north coast of Egypt,
founded circa 334 B.C. by Alexander the Great. Now,
the 2nd largest city in Egypt.
o0o
o0o
index
|
Mars. Roman god of war and lover of Venus, the wife of Vulcan.
o0o
index
|
Ganges River, a.k.a. Ganga. Originates in the Gangotri
glacier in the Himalayas, and flows southeast to the Bay of Bengal.
o0o
index
|
|
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.
o0o
index
|
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.
o0o
index
|
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.
Compare with Flavius.
o0o
o0o
index
|
|
Getulia. Region of Africa on the southern border of Mauritania.
|
Arsinoe, a.k.a. Crocodilopolis, Al Fayyum,
El Faiyum, Fayum, Fayoum.
Town of ancient Egypt.
o0o
o0o
index
|
|
Troglodytes. Cave dwellers. There is linguistic
confusion between this word and "trogodytes", synonymous with
"taureg", the name of a people of North Africa.
o0o
index
|
|
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
o0o
index
|
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.
o0o
o0o
index
|
|
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.
o0o
index
|
Euphorbia. A botanical family of vastly many varieties
that includes a succulent known to Mediterranean inhabitants
of the Roman Empire.
o0o
o0o
index
|
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.
o0o
o0o
o0o
index
|
Crete. Part of modern Greece, an island in the center
of the Mediterranean Sea.
o0o
index
|
Persian Gulf,
a.k.a. Arabian Gulf. Body of water between Arabia and Iran (Persia).
o0o
index
|
Ethiopia. A region of East Africa, and a modern nation state.
o0o
index
|
|
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.
o0o
o0o
o0o
index
|
Trojans. Inhabitants of the ancient city of Troy, a.k.a.
Ilium, and the surrounding region Troas, on the western shores
of modern Turkey.
o0o
index
|
|
Marcus Flaminius Rufus. Fictional character.
|
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.
o0o
index
|
|
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.
o0o
index
|
|
"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.
|
|
Ulysses, a.k.a. Odysseus. See "Odyssey".
|
Homer (circa 1000 BC). Blind, illiterate Greek poet,
legendary author of "Iliad" and
"Odyssey", the earliest works of
European literature.
o0o
index
|
"the war between the frogs and the rats".
"Batrachomyomachia", a story attributed to Homer, parodies
"Iliad", Homer’s epic poem of the Trojan war.
o0o
o0o
index
|
|
Chaos. In Greek mythology, the unformed, disordered void
from which emerged the gods, Tartarus, Eros, Nyx, Erebus and
the Cosmos.
o0o
index
|
|
Cosmos. Orderly arrangement of all things known and
unknown. See Chaos.
|
Hindustan. a.k.a. India, Hindostan.
o0o
index
|
"El Cid" (circa 1150).
Spanish epic poem, author unknown, about the
heroic adventures of the chivalric protagonist of the same name.
o0o
o0o
index
|
|
"Eclogues" (circa 37 BC). One of three major works by
Latin poet Virgil.
o0o
index
|
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.
o0o
index
|
Tangier, a.k.a. Tangiers, Tanger. City on the northwest
coast of Africa, in Morocco, near Spain.
o0o
index
|
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.
o0o
o0o
index
|
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."
o0o
o0o
o0o
index
|
Hegira, a.k.a. Hejira, Hijra, Hijrah. Mohammed's journey
from Mecca to Medina in 622 AD
o0o
o0o
index
|
Bulaq. There are many towns in the Middle East which
have multiword names ending in Bulaq, including in northern
modern Egypt, and including several in
modern Iraq, where the stories of Sindbad
may have been rewritten in the 14th century.
o0o
index
|
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".
o0o
o0o
o0o
index
|
"City of Brass". One of the stories from the "Arabian
Nights".
o0o
o0o
index
|
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.
o0o
o0o
index
|
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.
o0o
o0o
o0o
index
|
Bohemia. Prague and environs, today the western part of
the modern Czech Republic.
o0o
o0o
index
|
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.
o0o
index
|
Leipzig. Town in Germany southwest of Berlin.
In 1638 Johann Agricola's alchemical "Treatise on Gold" was
published in Leipzig.
o0o
o0o
index
|
Aberdeen. Town in southeast Scotland.
William Elphinstone founded the University
of Aberdeen in 1495.
o0o
index
|
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.
o0o
o0o
index
|
Patna. City in northeastern india
on the banks of the Ganges River,
founded in 490 BC Capital of the modern state of Bihar.
o0o
o0o
index
|
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.
o0o
o0o
index
|
Eritrea.
Country of northwest Africa, on the Red Sea.
o0o
index
|
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.
o0o
index
|
"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.
o0o
o0o
index
|
|
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.
index
|
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".
o0o
o0o
index
|
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.
o0o
o0o
o0o
index
|
|
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.
o0o
o0o
index
|
|
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.
o0o
o0o
index
|
George Moore (1852-1933).
Irish novelist and playwright whose works included "The Making
of an Immortal".
o0o
o0o
index
|
T.S. Eliot (1888-1965).
American poet.
o0o
index
|
Pliny the Elder (23-79), a.k.a. Caius Plinius Secundus,
Gaius Plinius Secundis.
Author of the grand encyclopedia "Naturalis Historiae".
o0o
o0o
o0o
index
|
Thomas de Quincey (1785-1859).
Author of "Confessions of an English Opium-Eater" and other works.
o0o
o0o
index
|
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.
o0o
o0o
o0o
index
|
|
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.
o0o
index
|
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.
o0o
index
|
|
