While translating this new map I was thinking about the information on the map of Egypt (
Sixteenth century maps from Tuscany). There Ham was said to be called Camese and being the youngest of Noah’s sons born after the Flood. It came now to mind the simple fact that the last of the sons of Ham was Canaan, who was the one cursed by Noah in the famous episode of the Bible. But it is said that in ‘classical antiquity’ the misnomer ‘Curse of Ham’ was attached to the ‘Curse of Canaan’ (
Canaan (son of Ham) - Wikipedia). So Bonsignori says that Ham had a double name while in reality the second name, Camese, might be attributed to his youngest son Canaan. Consequently there was a double mistake with some truth to it. On one hand Cam and Camese are two different characters while on the other Camese was the last of Ham’s sons, not Noah’s. I an going to use Ham as a translation of Camese in any case.
But this once more begs the question. How could the monk Bonsignori and those who came up with these stories be so ignorant about the main text of christianity, the Bible? It seems as if Bonsignori was talking about far away traditions not really important during his time. It seems as if he himself and Annio preceding him were in fact taught these stories by somebody else and were reporting them trying to correlate them with their own stories about Graeco-Roman dieties. Was the misnomer ‘Curse of Ham’ really given during ‘classical antiquity’?
Let’s now continue, since this one coming is like a thread within a thread.
Eighth map titled ‘L’Italia’ by Stefano Bonsignori. This map has three captions: one for the Italian peninsula, one for Sicily and another for Sardinia and Corsica.
Italian peninsula:
Gomer Gallus (Comero Gallo)
, son of Japheth (Iafet)
, was the first to obtain this kingdom by his ancestor Noah (Noe)
, and directed its peoples on the right path. But when Ham (Camese)
was driven out by the others, he came here and began to corrupt those peoples. But then Noah, also known as Janus (Iano)
, arrived and expelled him. Some years after his death, the Peoples (Popoli)
, oppressed by the Great Ones* (Grandi)
, called Osiris Jupiter Just (Osiri Gioue Giusto)
for help. He freed them and taking the name of Apis (Api)
, he reigned there for many years. Leaving the kingdom to Laestrygon (Lestrigone)
, he went back to Egypt (Egitto)
, where he was killed by his Brother Typhon (Fratello Tifone)
due to the conspiracy of Laestrygon and the other great ones. This event prompted Hercules (Ercole)
to take away this state in order to avenge his father, and he ruled over it for many years until he left it to his son Tusco. It wasn’t long before Hesperus (Espero)
occupied it after being driven away from Spain (Spagna)
by his brother Italus (Italo)
, and the land was called Hesperia (Esperia)
, leaving the previous name of Oenotria (Enotria)
. Hesperus enjoyed it for a short time, because he was pursued by Italus Atlas Chitim** King of Spain (Italo Atlante Chitim Re di Spagna)
, who took it from him and called it Italy (Italia)
. His own successors didn’t last much since Dardanus (Dardano)
killed his brother Iasion (Iasio)
due to a wrongdoing*** and fled to Samothrace (Samotracia)
fearing for his life. There he renounced all the claims he had upon the kingdom of Italy to Tyrrhenus (Turreno)
, son of the High King of Lydia (Alto Re di Lidia)
, and obtained in exchange a state in Asia, which was the basis for the Trojan (Troiano)
kingdom, while Tyrrhenus obtained this one. Italus had given the rulership of the Aborigines (Aborigeni)
to his daughter Roma, and from her ensued the realm of Latium (Latio)
that passed on to the Trojans guided by Aeneas (Enea)
, whose descendants founded Rome (Roma)
, that after some centuries dominated almost the entire world. But being human things unstable, this, too, came to an end and the unfortunate Italy was trampled on and torn apart by the Goths (Gotti)
, the Alemanni (Alemani)
, the Lombards (Longobardi)
, the Saracenes (Saracini)
, the Normans (Normandi)
, the Franks (Franzesi)
, the Spaniards (Spagn.li)
and other foreign peoples. But today it is peacefully ruled by its princes, who will with their knowledge and wisdom free it from great danger and ruin looming over it ina way similar to Greece (Grecia)
, as Astrologers (Astrologi)
say. Given that the Stars (Stelle)
and their movements make no harm at all, still they show well enough the dangers we human beings have to face, so that with prudence and good government we can take care and get rid of them.
* The word ‘Grandi’ means ‘Big Ones’ but I chose ‘Great’ because it sounds better. Be it Great, Big, Huge or Titanic, the word obviously refers to the Titans/Giants and all the other possible declinations we already know.
** I couldn’t find much information about a possible translation and/or meaning of the word Chitim, other than the variant Chitin. It seems to be an appelative of Atlas.
*** The word is ‘torlo’. Cannot find a translation in modern Italian for this one but it seems ‘wrongdoing’ fits with the general sense of the sentence.
There’s so many things to say that it’s difficult to know where to start, so I think it’s best to divide this story in various points and then proceed.
1. Gomer Gallus, son of Japhet, first king of the peninsula.
2. Ham second ruler.
3. Noah takes charge.
4. The Great Ones rule.
5. Osiris Jupiter Just/Apis takes power.
6. Laestrygon left on the throne.
7. Osiris Jupiter Just killed by Typhon in a conspiracy in Egypt.
8. Hercules, son of Osiris, takes over from Laestrygon.
9. Tusco succeeds his father Hercules
10. Hesperus leaves Spain and gives his name to the territory, previously known as Oenotria.
11. Italus Atlas Chitim, Hesperus’ brother, takes Hesperia and renames it Italy.
12. Italus’ successors.
13. Dardanus kills Iasion and flees.
14. Dardanus leaves his title of King of Italy to Tyrrhenus.
15. Italus had already given Latium to his daughter Roma, and this kingdom will be taken back by Dardanus’ successor Aeneas.
16. Romans.
17. Invasions.
So here it’s finally introduced Gomer ‘Gallus’, who is clearly a different person from the previous Celtus talked about the France map. It’s difficult to understand who was the most gaulish of the two. But here Bonsignori has already stated that Celtus (Galate) was the ancesor of the Gauls, not Gomer Gallus. And still no word is spent on this Gomer, about whom we know that he was Ashkenaz’s father and Johannes Aventinus (
Johannes Aventinus - Wikipedia), whose work was in the same line of that by Annio da Viterbo, identified him with Tuisto (Tuitsch -
Johannes Aventinus - Wikipedia) already in the beginning of the 16th century. His work is now considered to be a fabrication.
Both Johannes and Annio apparently took their information from the ancient author Berossus, who was considered legit at that time but later declared a false and labeled Pseuso-Berossus (
Berossus - Wikipedia) and cast into oblivion along with these stories. It is called ‘pseudo’, keep it in mind.
About Annio da Viterbo, once again, the wiki says (
Annio da Viterbo - Wikipedia): ‘The
Antiquities met at once both with believers and with severe critics who accused him of willful interpolation, or even fabrication. The content was falsely attributed to Berosus, Fabius Pictor, Cato the Elder, Manetho and others. The spurious character of these "historians" of Annio, which he published both with and without commentaries, has long been admitted. The demolition of the forgeries owed much to
Joseph Justus Scaliger.’
Joseph Justus Scaliger! (
https://chronologia.org/en/seven/1N01-EN-001-030.pdf -
Joseph Justus Scaliger according to Jacob Duellman)
It was apparently Berossus the one equating Noah to Janus due to the invention of wine. Therefore it is stated that the name ‘Janus’ derives from the Hebrew root ‘iain’, wine, and according to Cato the Elder, in his ‘Origines’, the Greeks called him Oenotrus. Therefore the first name for Italy, Oenotria, was apparently given by Noah himself, according to this reconstruction.
I’m not going to relate the entire story. It’s interesting to see the Egyptian vibe of it. It seems a huge chunk of Greek ‘mythology’ was believed to be Egyptian history. Osiris and Jupiter were basically considered the same and the main Hercules of the story comes from Egypt rather than Greece. In a moment we are going to see the Greek one in relation to the islands. The Great Ones have a Tartarian vibe for sure, but they clearly represent the Titanomachy and Gigantomachy of Greek mythology. Italy was also apparently called Hesperia at a certain point in time, while this name is generally associated with Spain.
But I bet the most interesting part is the one talking about Italus, who supposedly gave Italy its name. Here he is called Italus Atlas Chitim, the King of Spain. As I’ve already said, I don’t have any ideas about the meaning of the word ‘Chitim’ (‘Chitin’ elsewhere after a quick research), but Atlas was for sure the name of the Titan from Greek mythology. And it was also said to be King of Atlantis. Is Bonsignori saying that the Italian peninsula took its name after the conquest by people coming from outside of Europe?
Italian - Latin - Atlantean?
I am going to stop here, since it’s already too much!
Sicily:
Expelled from Italy by his father Noah (Noe)
, Ham (Camese)
was the first to enter this island with colonies. After him came Celtus (Galate)
, son of the Egyptian Hercules (Ercole Egizzio)
, sent by his brother Tusco accompanied by Tuscan (Toscane)
peoples. And then was the turn of Sicano, Lord* of Spain (S. di Spagna)
after whom the land took the name of Sicania, leaving aside its previous name of Trinacria. At last it took the name of Sicily (Sicilia)
after Siculus (Siculo)
son of the Greek Hercules (Ercole Greco)
or after Siculus and Siceleo, Lords of Spain, as others believe. And then the Greeks (Greci)
entered who were not united and therefore the Carthaginians (Cartag.si)
took advantage of it and almost ruled on the entire territory, which was achieved by the Romans (Romai)
. And when the Roman monarchy disappeared it was at the mercy of various people. But nowadays it’s defended by the King of Spain and enjoys its salubrious air and fertility of its land. The Greeks wrote many fables about this island, which contain important things under their veils.
* I’ve translated ‘S.’ with ‘Lord’ presuming it stands for ‘Signore’.
We are dealing here with a ‘Graeco-Egyptian’ history of the Mediterranean as much as in the previous caption. I am not going to comment on everything but just want to remember that all of these stories were attributed to Berossus through Annio da Viterbo and it was Scaliger who proclaimed them fabrications. Since then they are considered myths and nobody really cares anymore.
I am not saying I believe 100% these stories, but I believe they contain some truth and there could possibly be some geographical mistake hidden behind these tales.
The Gauls took Sicily with a Tuscan army? More about that! Are we sure it all happened in the misty antiquity?
The Greek Hercules makes here his first cameo appearance. Who was he at this point? What’s the difference with the Egyptian one?
Sardinia and Corsica:
It seems the ancient people thought that the Islands of Sardinia and Corsica (Isole di Sardigna e Corsica)
were one and the same, due to their proximity. It is said that Phorcys (Forco)
son of Neptune (Nettuno)
was sent there with Tuscan (Toscane)
colonies by his brother Laestrygon (Lestrigone)
, the King of Italy (Re d’Italia)
, and left a part of it to the Ligures (Liguri)
. And it seems logic to assume that this part was Corsica, called Cyrnos (Cirno)
by the Greeks (Greci)
. Which is still under their control. After Phorcys came from Africa Sardus (Sardo)
, son of the Egyptian Hercules (Ercole Eggizio)
with a great number of african people and the land took its name after this Sardus. It was then harassed by the Greeks, followed by the Carthaginians (Cartaginesi)
, who lost it to the Romans (Romani)
. But after many misfortunes, it obeys to the King of Spain (Re di Spagna)
, who defends it from the Barbarians* (Barbarbari)
, keeps its peace and rules it with Justice (Giustizia)
.
* People from the Barbary Coast in north Africa/Maghreb.
Sardinians come from Egypt. It is believed nowadays that Sardinians are autochthonous to the island, but here it’s well explained their origin. It is obviously not the only origin, but the main one. Ligures are mentioned here for the first time. They supposedly took Corsica in the time of myths and kept it all through the ages untill Napoleon, despite historians saying it passed multiple hands, expecially the Romans. Something is off with history.
Why did Scaliger and those behind him had to disregard all of these stories substituting them with a falsely scientific official history?
I'm exhausted