Adamastor is a mythological character created by the

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

poet

Luís de Camões Luís Vaz de Camões (; sometimes rendered in English as Camoens or Camoëns, ; c. 1524 or 1525 – 10 June 1580) is considered Portugal's and the Portuguese language's greatest poet. His mastery of verse has been compared to that of Shakespear ...

in his

epic poem An epic poem, or simply an epic, is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. ...

Os Lusíadas ''Os Lusíadas'' (), usually translated as ''The Lusiads'', is a Portuguese epic poem written by Luís Vaz de Camões ( – 1580) and first published in 1572. It is widely regarded as the most important work of Portuguese-language literature ...

'' (first printed in 1572), as a personification of the Cape of Good Hope, symbolizing the dangers of the sea and the formidable forces of nature challenged and ultimately overcome by the Portuguese during the Discovery Age. Adamastor manifests itself out of a storm.

Background

Camões gave his creation a backstory as one of the

Giants A giant is a being of human appearance, sometimes of prodigious size and strength, common in folklore. Giant(s) or The Giant(s) may also refer to: Mythology and religion *Giants (Greek mythology) *Jötunn, a Germanic term often translated as 'gi ...

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities ...

, banished to the Cape of Good Hope by sea goddess Doris for falling in love with her daughter Tethis, now appearing out of a storm cloud and threatening to ruin anyone hardy enough to attempt passing the Cape and penetrate the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...

, which was Adamastor's domain. Adamastor became the spirit of the Cape of Good Hope, a hideous phantom of unearthly pallor: Vasco da Gama, ahead of the Portuguese expedition, confronts the creature by asking ''"Who are you?"'', prompting Adamastor to tell his story. Deeply moved, the giant eventually vanishes, dispersing the clouds and calming the sea, leaving the path towards

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

open. Adamastor represented the dangers

sailors faced when trying to round the Cape of Storms – ''Cabo das Tormentas'' – henceforth called the Cape of Good Hope.

Legacy

A popular gathering place in Lisbon is known by the name 'Adamastor' because of the large stone statue of the mythical figure which presides over the space, which is officially called the Miradouro de Santa Catarina. The location offers visitors some of the most scenic views of the

Tagus The Tagus ( ; es, Tajo ; pt, Tejo ; see below) is the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula. The river rises in the Montes Universales near Teruel, in mid-eastern Spain, flows , generally west with two main south-westward sections, to e ...

river, the

25 de Abril Bridge The 25 de Abril Bridge ( pt, Ponte 25 de Abril, 25th of April Bridge, ) is a suspension bridge connecting the city of Lisbon, capital of Portugal, to the municipality of Almada on the left (south) bank of the Tagus river. It has a total len ...

and the Cristo-Rei monument. The Portuguese poet

Fernando Pessoa Fernando António Nogueira Pessoa (; 13 June 1888 – 30 November 1935) was a Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic, translator, publisher, and philosopher, described as one of the most significant literary figures of the 20th century and ...

included in his 1934 book ''Mensagem'' a number of verses dedicated to Adamastor, entitled ''O Mostrengo'' ("The Hideous Monster") Adamastor, both the mythological character and the sculpture, are mentioned several times in

José Saramago José de Sousa Saramago, GColSE ComSE GColCa (; 16 November 1922 – 18 June 2010), was a Portuguese writer and recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature for his "parables sustained by imagination, compassion and irony ith which hec ...

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

-winning novel, ''

The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis ''The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis'' (in Portuguese: ''O Ano da Morte de Ricardo Reis'') is a 1984 novel by the Portuguese novelist José Saramago, the winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature. The book chronicles the final year in the ...

'', and also in his historical novel '' Memorial do Convento'' (English language version: ''Baltasar and Blimunda''). Adamastor has figured in much poetry of the Cape. In ''The First Life of Adamastor'', a novella by André Brink, the writer refashioned the Adamastor story from a 20th-century perspective. Adamastor is also mentioned in the opera ''

L'Africaine ''L'Africaine'' (''The African Woman'') is an 1865 French ''grand opéra'' in five acts with music by Giacomo Meyerbeer and a libretto by Eugène Scribe. Meyerbeer and Scribe began working on the opera in 1837, using the title ''L'Africaine'', bu ...

'' (1865) about Vasco da Gama by the composer Giacomo Meyerbeer. The slave Nelusko sings a song about Adamastor while he deliberately steers the ship into a storm and it sinks. It is mentioned by

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his criticism of Christianity—es ...

in his ''Essai sur la poésie épique''. It also appears in the works of

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

: ''

Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' ( , ) is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its origin ...

'' (III, Marius, chap III) and in a poem dedicated to Lamartine ('' Les Feuilles d'automne'', chap IX). Alexandre Dumas, père refers the giant six times: '' Le Comte de Monte Cristo'' (chap. XXXI), '' Vingt ans après'' (chap. LXXVII), '' Georges'' (chap. I), ''Bontekoe, Les drames de la mer'', (chap. I), ''Causeries'' (chap. IX) and ''Mes Mémoires'' (chap. CCXVIII).

Gaston Leroux Gaston Louis Alfred Leroux (6 May 186815 April 1927) was a French journalist and author of detective fiction. In the English-speaking world, he is best known for writing the novel '' The Phantom of the Opera'' (french: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra, ...

also mentions it in ''

The Phantom of the Opera ''The Phantom of the Opera'' (french: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra) is a novel by French author Gaston Leroux. It was first published as a serial in from 23 September 1909 to 8 January 1910, and was released in volume form in late March 1910 by Pier ...

'' (chap. VI).

Herman Melville Herman Melville ( born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are ''Moby-Dick'' (1851); ''Typee'' (1846), a rom ...

mentions Adamastor and Camões in his ''Billy Budd'', at the end of Chapter VII. Adamastor is also the name of a sauropod dinosaur, '' Angolatitan adamastor'', found in Angola, named by the paleontologist

Octávio Mateus Octávio Mateus (born 1975) is a Portuguese dinosaur paleontologist and biologist Professor of Paleontology at the Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa. He graduated in Universidade de Évora and received his PhD at U ...

Etymology

The name Adamastor is an adaptation for the Portuguese language from the Greek word for "Untamed" or "Untameable" (''Adamastos'') (which the Portuguese did tame)."Adamastor, n." ''Dictionary of South African English''. Dictionary Unit for South African English, 2018

25 February 2019.

References

External links

{{Commons category, Adamastor
Cyril Coetzee, "Myth of Adamastor revisited"Ferreira, Ockert Jacobus Olivier (1940- ), "Adamastor, Spirit of the Cape of Storms"/ "Adamastor, Espírito do Cabo das Tormentas"/ "Adamastor, Gees van die Stormkaap"
Portuguese legendary creatures Portuguese mythology Portuguese culture South African mythology Fictional giants Ancient Greece in art and culture