Octavio Cordero Palacios (

Santa Rosa Santa Rosa is the Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish name for Saint Rose. Santa Rosa may also refer to: Places Argentina *Santa Rosa, Mendoza, a city * Santa Rosa, Tinogasta, Catamarca * Santa Rosa, Valle Viejo, Catamarca *Santa Rosa, La Pampa * S ...

Azuay Azuay (, ), Province of Azuay is a province of Ecuador, created on 25 June 1824. It encompasses an area of . Its capital and largest city is Cuenca. It is located in the south center of Ecuador in the highlands. Its mountains reach above sea le ...

, May 3, 1870 – December 17, 1930) was an Ecuadorian writer, playwright, poet, mathematician, lawyer, professor and inventor. Today a town and parish in

Cuenca Cuenca may refer to: People * Cuenca (surname) Places Ecuador * Cuenca Canton, in the Azuay Province ** Cuenca, Ecuador, capital of Cuenca Canton and Azuay Province ** Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cuenca Peru * Cuenca District, Huarochirí ...

is named after him.

Biography

Octavio Cordero Palacios was born on May 3, 1870. His father was Vicente Cordero Crespo, a poet who authored the play in verse "Don Lucas", and who was a

scribe A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of Printing press, automatic printing. The work of scribes can involve copying manuscripts and other texts as well as ...

in 1889, and a conservative journalist and editor of the journal "El Criterio" in 1895. His mother was Rosa Palacios Alvear. Both of his parents were from Cuenca. In 1890 he premiered his play in three acts "Gazul", whose scenes take place in Persia at the end of the First Crusade. His second play was "Los Hijos de Atahualpa", and in 1892 he wrote the play "Los Borrachos". He was also a translator, he published "Rapsodias Clásicas" a Spanish translation of works by

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...

and

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 BC – 27 November 8 BC), Suetonius, Life of Horace commonly known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). Th ...

. He also translated works from French and English into Spanish, including a faithful rendition of

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales involving mystery and the macabre. He is widely re ...

's "The Raven". Also in 1890 he earned a doctorate in jurisprudence from the

University of Cuenca The University of Cuenca (Spanish: ''Universidad de Cuenca'') is an Ecuadorian university located in Cuenca. University of Cuenca is the principal university of Azuay Province. The university was officially founded in 1867 and is the first univ ...

, and practiced as a lawyer at the Superior Court of Azuay. In 1900 he taught literature and philosophy at the Benigno Malo School. In 1910 during the armed conflict with Peru, he joined the army reserves with the rank of

sergeant major Sergeant major is a senior Non-commissioned officer, non-commissioned Military rank, rank or appointment in many militaries around the world. History In 16th century Spain, the ("sergeant major") was a general officer. He commanded an army's ...

, and was named chief of engineers of the First South Division. He created a topographic military map of Ecuador's southern border, and taught courses at the University of Cuenca on

planimetry Euclidean geometry is a mathematical system attributed to ancient Greek mathematics, Greek mathematician Euclid, which he described in his textbook on geometry, ''Euclid's Elements, Elements''. Euclid's approach consists in assuming a small set ...

altimetry An altimeter or an altitude meter is an instrument used to measure the altitude of an object above a fixed level. The measurement of altitude is called altimetry, which is related to the term bathymetry, the measurement of depth under water. T ...

, and the layout of roads, and construction of bridges and causeways. In 1916 he published the book "Vida de Abdón Calderón". That year he was also elected Senator of Azuay (a post he held til 1918). He was elected the Judge of the Superior Court of Justice, a post which he held for 10 years. in 1922 he published "De Potencia a Potencia", a historical essay on the continued battle between the governor of Azuay Manuel Vega and President García Moreno. That year he also published the essay "El arte poético de Horacio". In 1923 he published "El quichua y el Cañari" a philological study of

Quechua Quechua may refer to: *Quechua people, several Indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru *Quechuan languages, an Indigenous South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language ...

and

Cañari The Cañari (in Kichwa: Kañari) are an indigenous ethnic group traditionally inhabiting the territory of the modern provinces of Azuay and Cañar in Ecuador. They are descended from the independent pre-Columbian tribal confederation of the ...

languages, with a Cañari Dictionary, which was awarded "La Palma de Oro" Prize. In 1924 he published his incomplete work on the death of Juan Seniergues. He had already published the following essays: "Don José Antonio Vallejo, su primera gobernación entre 1.777 y 1.784", "El Azuay Histórico", "Pro Tomebamba", "Crónicas Documentadas para la Historia de Cuenca" and he promised to publish two new books, which he never did, perhaps due to his impoverished state. In 1929 he published "La Poesía de Ciencia".

Inventions

In 1902 he created a mechanical computer he named "Clave Poligráfíca" or "Metaglota". The device translated words from one language to another language. After his death, his cousin Humberto Cordero reconstructed the machine and exhibited it in

Quito Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...

in 1936. The exhibit was a success, and the computer was hailed as a "marvelous mechanical dictionary". He also invented a "numerical device that calculated perfectly the square root of numbers", as well as a "trigonometry text in verse".The Autobiographical Dictionary of Ecuador: OCTAVIO CORDERO PALACIOS

Death

In 1930 he was suffering from

cirrhosis Cirrhosis, also known as liver cirrhosis or hepatic cirrhosis, chronic liver failure or chronic hepatic failure and end-stage liver disease, is a chronic condition of the liver in which the normal functioning tissue, or parenchyma, is replaced ...

. He then told his children that he would die soon, and that they should inscribe the following verse on his tomb rather than his name: He then announced to his children that he would die on December 17 of that year, 1930. As he had predicted, on exactly December 17, at 6:30 PM, he died while reciting the Ecuadorian National Anthem. He is interred in the Illustrious Personages Mausoleum plot in the Patrimonial Municipal Cemetery of Cuenca.

Personal life

He was married to Victoria Crespo Astudillo, with whom he had many children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cordero Palacios, Octavio Palacios Palacios Palacios Palacios Palacios Palacios Palacios Palacios Palacios Ecuadorian male poets Male dramatists and playwrights Translators of Virgil Translators of Edgar Allan Poe