Bygone Geography I: Forgotten Cities

APPENDIX: Mythical Lands

Some narratives posit a fantastical land–as with the (ubiquitous) Norman legend of “Cockaigne” or the French legend of the Brocéliande forest.  This is indicative of the tendency to conflate fantasy with Reality.

SOME of these wondrous destinations may well be based on real places.  Yet–as it usually the case–the myth neglects to announce where, exactly, farce takes over.  (Such an announcement is rarely made, lest it “spoil the mood” and compromise its purchase on our imaginations.)  It is precisely this blurring which enables the meme to be so beguiling..and thus to flourish.

We are all inclined to imagine some marvelous “never-never” land in a far-off place.  Prefer your fantasy world in a video game?  Voyage to the magical land of Hyrule (“The Legend of Zelda”).  Technology now allows us full immersion in hyper-stimulating environs–a supercharged way to quench our thirst for enchantment.  (Though with video-gaming, escapism has become interactive–more a simulation than a mere story.  We participate in the narrative at our own discretion; and exit it whenever we wish.)

Medieval European folklore posited a mysterious land in the far north, referred to as ultima Thule / Tile (an uncharted place at the outer fringes of the known world, usually in the far north).

Here are FORTY more examples:

• The Hindu legends of “Videha” and of “Sveta-Dvipa” [White Island, the abode of Vishnu] {A}
• The Jain legend of “Saket[a]”
• The Buddhist legend of “Jambu-dvipa” [Island of the Jambu trees]
• The Tibetan legend of “Shambhala” (with its city of “Kalapa”) and the mythical Mount Potalaka
• The Tamil / Dravidian legend of “Kumari Kandam” / “Kumari Nadu”
• The Chinese legend of “Peng-lai” / “Ho-rai”
• The Korean legend of “Asadal”
• The Japanese legend of “Takama-ga-hara”
• The Siamese legend of “Muang Thaen[g]” and of “Ko Kaeo Phitsadan” [Magical Island]
• The Malay legend of “Gangga Negara”
• The Sumerian legend of “Aratta” (a place of gold and jewels, home of Inanna); as well as the mythical Cedar Forest in the Far East (ref. the Epic of Gilgamesh; likely Elam or Dilmun), at the far end of which there is the mountain known as “Mashu”
• The Persian legend of “Kaaf-kuh” / “Kuh-i Kaaf” {B}
• The Greco-Roman legend of “Atlantis” {C}
• The Greek legend of “Themiskyra” [in Pontus, fabled city of the Amazons]; of the blissful gardens of “Erytheia” (the Red Isle, associated with Tartessos); and of “Gela” (city of luxury)
• The Judaic legend of “Gan Eden”
• The Arabian legend of “[w]Ubar”
• The Turko-Mongolic legend of “Ötüken”
• The Gothic legend of “Arheimar”
• The English legend of “Avalon”
• The Welsh legend of “Annwn” and of “Cantref y Gwaelod”
• The Irish legend of “Hy-Brasil” and of “Tir na nOg”
• The Norman legend of “Ker-Is” [a.k.a. “Ys”]
• The Spanish legend of “Cibola”
• The Flemish legend of “Luilekkerland”
• The Norse legend of “Vineta” {D}
• The Finnish legend of “Pohjola” (a local to the far north) and “Vainola”
• The Slavic legend of “Buyan”
• The Dacian / Romanian legend of “Solomanari” [a.k.a. “Sholomance”] (in the Carpathian Mountains)
• The Maori legend of “Hawaiki”
• The Hawaiian legend of “Kahiki”
• The Yaruba legend of “Ile-Ife” / “Ife-Lodun”
• The Incan legend of “Paititi”
• The Aztec legend of “Aztlan”
• The Mayan legend of “Xibalba”
• The Taino legend of “Aumatex”
• The Toltec legend of “Tollan” {E}
• The Iroquoian legend of “Saguenay”

Other quasi-mythical places that may or may not refer to a real place include:

• “Hyper-borea”, an uncharted land to the far north and/or the from the far east, according to ancient Greek lore
• The Kamyaka Forest (on the banks of the Saraswati River) and the Khandava Forest (around present-day Delhi), replete with the mythical Kuru city of “Indra-prastha” in Hindu lore
• “Suvarnabhumi”, the “Land of Gold” of southeast Asia in Theravada Buddhist lore
• “Chryse” / “Aurea Regio”, the Golden island in Greco-Roman lore
• “Ophir”, the land of wealth in Hebrew lore

These are fictional lands within our own world.  Such places are not to be confused with para-cosms (fictional WORLDS).  In other words: These fictional lands are ontologically different from the other-wordly realms of ancient cosmologies.  Fictional lands in modern literature include Ursula K. Le Guin’s “Orsinia” and Jonathan Swift’s “Lilliput”.  Modern para-cosms include J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth (in the Lord of the Rings); Frank Herbert’s star-system (including the planets “Caladan” and “Arrakas”; in Dune); and George Lucas’ “galaxy far far away” (in Star Wars).

Entire lands were often fabricated in folklore; so it is no stretch to acknowledge how facile it would be to fabricated PEOPLE.  There is a reason that, as much as the English-speaking world might like to talk about Camelot, nobody in their right mind is actually trying to find it.  It’s the same reason contemporary Greeks are not wondering where Gerenia might be.  (The Greeks also posited Zerzuza, the “City of Dionysus” purportedly located in the Maghreb.)  And it is the same reason no Filipinos are looking for Biringan.

It seems easier to disavow the existence of a fabled land–or metropolis–than that of a fabled personage.  For we have fully mapped the planet Earth in a way that we could never fully map human history.  Geographical cartography is something tangible whereas historiographic cartography asks us to navigate an abstract realm.

The fact remains: It is no more difficult to make up a place than it is to make up a person.  In fact, while story-tellers are fabricating magical characters, they may as well fabricate magical lands as well.  It comes as no surprise, then, that this was done in Islamic folklore: the mythical Island of “Jezirat al-Tennyn”.

Sometimes, the hypothesized place is used for propagandistic purposes.  The most famous case of this was the Spanish legend of the hidden Amazonian city of gold (alternately dubbed “Manoa” / “Quivira” / “Beimeni” / “Z”).  It was considered by some to be the seven lost cities of “Cibola” (listed above; found in the tales of “El Dorado”). {F}

The search for a mystical place goes back to the Chinese legend of Xu Fu, who–in the 3rd century B.C.–embarked on a quest to find the elixir of life in a far-off land across the sea (sometimes referred to as the mountain-island, “Peng-lai”).  The narrative gimmick continues to the present age.  (Mormon cosmology, for example, posits the planet, “Kolob” [alt. the name of the star around which the planet orbits]…though each of the “chosen” purportedly gets to be sovereign over his own planet in the hereafter.)

Many dream of a magical land “somewhere over the rainbow”; so we are naturally drawn to tales that posit such places.  For many, such an idea has irresistible allure–especially when the ACTUAL environs within which one finds oneself are less than ideal.

These mythical places usually have to do with where the tribe came from (origins) and/or where its chosen few may be going (destination).  Ergo the Japanese etiological myth of “Onogoro-Shima” (also note “Yama-tai-koku” of the Yamato people) in conjunction with the eschatological myth of “Takama-ga-hara”…or the Norse etiological myth of “Muspelheim” and “Niflheim” in conjunction with the eschatological myth of “Valhalla”.  Religious Jews posit “Zion” as both existential origin and ultimate destination for the chosen group (i.e. themselves).

The ancient Indians posited the Kingdom of Ayodhya (a.k.a. “Saket”).  The Ancient Siamese posited “Muang Thaeng” as the homeland of their people, whose denizens were the descendants of the great “Khun Borom”.  The Aztecs posited “Aztlan” as the homeland of their people–a gilded etiology that imbued them with a special position in the grand cosmic scheme.  The Romans spoke of “patria”.

Revisionist Zionists use the Torah as the title-deed to Canaan–a reification of “Israel” from an ethnic group to a modern nation-state.  This lexical re-purposing took “Beth Israel”, which did not refer to a place (it referred to the diaspora of Hebrews), and conjured a chimerical “Eretz Israel”, which demarcates a certain tract of land. (For more on this, see my essay: “The Land Of Purple”.)

Later, Renaissance Europeans posited “Arcadia”, a utopia (involving visions of pastoral bliss) based on the verdant Greek province by the same name.

In Persian lore, we hear of legendary places like “Airyanem Vaejah”, which may have referred to Sogdiana or Bactria.  (God only knows.)

Reactionary ideologues tend to envision their own “return to Eden”–some idyllic epoch of THEIR OWN (imagined) history that has been lost, and must be resurrected before they can fulfill their own glorious destiny.

The Khmer Rouge posited “Angkor”, based on a (bygone) halcyon era of agrarian splendor.  (“Angkor” roughly means “Greatest” or “Supreme”.)  Indeed, the largest temple ever built–the Buddhist “wat” at Yasodharapura in present-day Cambodia–was associated with this ideal.  Bringing one’s society back to a mythic “golden age” is a common motif of propagandists.  (During his reign of “Kampuchea”, Pol Pot’s agenda was to restore “Angkor” to its former glory.)  This is typically a right-wing (i.e. reactionary) phenomenon–as with, say, Vladimir Putin’s current vision for Russia.

Sometimes, people simply re-name places in order to get things to accord with their own myths.  Such is the case with the Anatolian city of Edessa. {G}  In a gambit to equate the location with “Ur Kasdim” (the “Ur” of the Chaldeans from which the Aramaean patriarch, Abraham hailed, according to the Torah), the Ottoman Turks [“Osmanli”] re-named it “Urfa”. {H}  Though based on an absurd supposition, this christening is illustrative of the power of folklore (i.e. its ability to trump common sense).

Despite its comic untenability, the myth about “Urfa” (esp. with regard to Abraham) persists to this day. {H}  For places are often (re-)named so as to comport with whatever lore locals happen to espouse at the time…which is, more often than not, about themselves.

This is especially so with key cities–often re-named for the sake of re-branding.  Indeed, toponymy operates in much the same way as other onomastics (in which proper names take on a life of their own).  The most well-known example is the Thracian city of Byzantion, renamed “Byzantium” by the Greeks, then “Constantinople” by the Romans [later, the Byzantines], and then “Istanbul” by the Ottomans [i.e. the Turks].  This is yet another illustration of the fact that IDENTITY is not so straight-forward…and things have not always been how we think of them today.  In each case, we are reminded that it is those in charge who dictate what something IS (and, purportedly, what it has ALWAYS BEEN).  When it comes to cities, the phenomenon is not uncommon. (I will explore such onomastic metamorphoses in the next part of this series: “City Name Changes”.)

In the Koran, we are told about a city [“Iram”] of the pillars. This is likely a take-off on ancient tales of the Egyptian city of “Iwnw” [“the Pillars”], renamed Helio-polis [“City of the Sun”] by the Greeks (due to it being the site of the Temple of Ra-Atum); which was rendered “O[w]n” / “Awnu” in Semitic tongues.

Other lands mentioned if folklore could refer to any of a number of places–as their manner of conception reflects a very crude understanding of geography.  For example, the early Hebrews posed “Havilah” (likely somewhere in northeastern Arabia / southeastern Mesopotamia) and “Shur” (likely near the Sinai peninsula).  Such primeval conceptions are reified over and over again…and eventually sublimated, such that the final caricature is treated as an accurate historical portrayal.  When these places become the stuff of sanctified lore, they become completely divorced from that on which they were originally based.

When it comes to obscure places in the archeological record, some locations remain a mystery–as with the distant locals of “Meluhha” and “Magan” in Sumerian records (which could have been in either northern Africa, southern Arabia, or as far east as the Indus Valley).

Earnest-ness often entails becoming overly-engrossed, and thus delusional.  A key feature of obsession–regardless of the context–is becoming (eagerly, blissfully) disconnected from historical Reality.  This tendency is especially operational when it comes to folklore.  It is plausible to speculate that, in more primitive times, in all their discussion of Middle Earth (or of the United Federation of Planets), the most ardent fans would eventually start to believe much of what they talked about was part of THEIR world.  Becoming immersed in imaginary worlds is something we all do–hypnotic and addictive as they can often be.  It is not uncommon for actors to be seen by fans AS the characters they play rather than who they really are (i.e. actors).  When such intoxication takes hold, the mind becomes confused–and can no longer shift easily between fantasy and Reality.

{A  Also referenced is the Kingdom of “Kalinga”, which probably corresponded to Orissa (now named “Odisha”) in eastern India.}

{B  This mythical mountain (at the edge of the world) was the source of the Arabian legend of “[d]Jabal Qaf”.}

{C  For thousands of years, the legend of Atlantis has captured our imaginations and even enthralled us–as legends tend to do.  Plato referenced the fabled island kingdom in his “Critias” and “Timaeus”.  Related to Atlantis is the legend of a magical, underground world called “Agharti” (a.k.a. “Agartha”), the subject of medieval French occultism (ref. the etiologies of the Occitan fabulist, Antoine Fabre d’Olivet).  Tales of the lost city of may have been inspired by the ACTUAL lost city of Helike in Achaea; which was submerged in a natural catastrophe c. 373 B.C.  Another city that submerged was the Minoan (then Mycenaean) Pavlo-petri off the coast of Laconia, which dates back five millennia.  Another fabled island that was supposed to have sunk was “Kumari Kandam” in Tamil legend.  Later tales of Atlantis may have been encouraged by the (now underwater) Egyptian city of Heracleion (a.k.a. “Thonis”), which dated back to the 12th century B.C. and LITERALLY sank (in the late 3rd / early 2nd century A.D.) due to having been built on coastal silt.  Of course, aficionados of the legend of this sunken city-state are looking in the wrong place.  Atlantis is not in the ocean; it’s in the Timaeus.}

{D  Note “Asgard”, the celestial kingdom in which is located the great hall, “Valhalla”, as well as the magnificent “Breidablik” (home of the god, Baldr).  There is also “Folkvangr”, in which is located the great hall, “Sessrumnir”.  The nine realms of the world tree, Yggdrasil, in Norse mythology were: As-gard[r], Mid-gard[r], Ut-gard[r] / Jötun-heim[r], Vana-heim[r], Alf-heim[r] / Ljosalf-heim[r], Svartalfa-heim[r], Nifl-heim[r] / Hel-heim[r] (alt. Nifl-hel), Muspells-heim[r], and Svartalf-heim[r] / Myrk-heim[r] (alt. Nidavellir).}

{E  Legends of the proto-Aztec city of Teotihuacan (later known as “Tula”) were based on this city.  Also of note is the Nahua / Culhua legend of “Chico-moztoc”, said to have been the birthplace of mankind.  This is one of many “Eden” variations around the world.}

{F  These tales were likely inspired by the Tibetan legend of seven idyllic “beyul” [hidden valleys] known as “Nghe-Beyul Khembalung”.  They may have also been inspired by the Judaic legends of “Ophir” (depicted as a city of gold and peacocks in the Hebrew Bible).  Legends of mysterious lost cities proliferated during the earliest era of exploration in the “New World”.  Another was the so-called “Ciudad Blanca” [“White City”; a.k.a. city of the Monkey God], said to be located in the rain-forests of Mosquitia (present-day Honduras).  Explorers have often let their imaginations run amok, and hypothesized fantastical cities in mysterious lands–as with European’s hubbub about “Houssa” in the middle of the “Dark Continent”.}

{G  The city was originally named “Adma” by the Assyrians (alt. “Admum” in Aramaic).  The ancient Greeks referred to it as “Orrh[o]a”, probably after its name in Syriac: “Urhay”.  “Urhay” was also the basis for “Urha” in Armenian, “Ar-Ruha” in Arabic, and “Riha” in Kurdish.  The Seleucids re-named it “Edessa” after the Macedonian capital by the same name.  The Byzantines then re-named it “Justin-opolis” after Emperor Justinian.  Pursuant to the Muslim conquests, it was re-named yet again: “Sanli-Urfa” [“Glorious Urfa”].  This was the site of the Aramean city of “Paddan-Aram” [from the Aramaic “Field of Aram”]; also referred to as “Aram-Naharaim” in the Torah.  Yet THAT place probably correlated with the Assyrian city of “Harran[u]” in Hanigalbat…which, in turn, corresponded to what the ancient Egyptians called “Nahrima” / “Naharin” when referring to Mitanni.  That is the region Arabs refer to as “al-Jazeera” in northern Iraq (a.k.a. Kurdistan).  In any case, Abraham was considered “Aramaean”, which means that he could have hailed from anywhere east of the Levant.  Whether he was from Harran or from Ur, he eventually made his way to southern Canaan (near Hebron); and even ventured as far as the Sinai in eastern Egypt.}

{H  It only takes a brief glance at a map to see how outrageous this claim is.  On the one hand, Muslim Turks seem unable to make up their minds about whether the key events in Abraham’s life occurred in south-central Anatolia (i.e. “Aram-Naharaim”; what was dubbed “Hanigalbat” by the Assyrians) or in the Hijaz (beyond the southern edge of what the ancient Hebrews referred to as “Midian” and the ancient Greeks referred to as “Madiam”).  On the other hand, one would have to suppose that the purported patriarch, while in southern Anatolia / northern Mesopotamia, decided at some point–for no apparent reason–to migrate south across more than 2,000 kilometers of barren desert to a distant location which, at the time, had no significance whatsoever.  We are invited to imagine he undertook this arduous journey as if there was suddenly a pressing need for him to erect a shrine to the Abrahamic deity in as remote a place as possible.  (For more on this matter, see my essay, “Mecca And Its Cube”.)  The Muslim Turks who concocted this myth about Abraham’s location did not think it through very well.  But no matter.  Simply declaring that the Syriac city of Urhay (originally Adma / Admu[m]; dubbed “Antiochia ad Callirhoem” by the Romans”; rechristened “Justin-opolis” by the Byzantines; what is now called “Urfa” by the Turks, and known as “Edessa” by most of the world) was the site of Abraham’s storied escapades was easy to do.  The historiographical modification was done despite the presence of the Kaaba (the cubic shrine that Mohammedan lore insists Abraham personally built) in Mecca–well over 2,000 kilometers to the south.  Abraham was allegedly Aramaean / Chaldean.  His purported birthplace, Chaldea (the region in which “Ur” was located) was east of Babylon–almost 2,000 kilometers away from Edessa.  [“Ur”, shorthand for “Ur Kasdim” in the Biblical context, could have alternately referred to “Urkesh”, “Urartu”, “Urfa” or the city of “Urim” / “Uru[k]”.]  Tracking the course of Abraham’s storied life, we can see that his migration from Chaldea (i.e. “Ur Kasdim”) to the Negev (in southern Canaan) would have been a straight shot westward (1,200-1,300 kilometers across Mesopotamia) at roughly 31 degrees north latitude.  (In Judaic lore, Abraham is primarily associated with the Amoritic city of “Hebron”, at the northern end of the Negev desert, on the west bank of the Jordan River.)  Along this path, a detour to Edessa would have entailed venturing above the 37th parallel (almost 670 kilometers north of a direct route).  A detour to Mecca would have entailed venturing down to almost the 21st parallel (close to 1,100 kilometers south of a direct route).  In order for Turkish lore to make sense (whilst keeping tales of the Meccan cube intact, per Mohammedan lore), Abraham would have had to have taken BOTH detours.  The best that can be said is that, in Genesis 12:1, we are told that the Abrahamic deity delivered a message in Abraham in Harranu (later named “Hellenopolis” / “Karrae” by the Byzantines), which was located at the northern edge of Mesopotamia, only about 40 kilometers south of Edessa.  Note that it is not ONLY Abraham who must be magically transported to Edessa in order for this gambit to work; as Nimrod is also inserted into the local mythology of “Urfa”.  (Nimrod was a Biblical character based on the Sumerian / Akkadian god, Ninurta; and often associated with the Sumerian king, Sargon of Akkad.)  Hence Nimrod must be re-located from Shinar in south-eastern Mesopotamia all the way to Edessa.  (Note: “Shinar” was a moniker for Babylonia derived from the Akkadian, “Shumer”; probably corresponding to “Uruk”.)  As if to make matters even more confused, THAT re-location is inconsistent with the Arab re-naming of the Assyrian city, Kalhu, after Nimrod.  (Kalhu was likely the referent for “Calah” in the Hebrew Bible.)  The problem with re-naming Kalhu “Nimrud” is that it was over 500 kilometers due-east of Edessa (and over 700 km north of Uru[k]), in upper Mesopotamia (just south of Nineveh).  This is all a moot point anyway, as these are fictional characters.  In a sense, then, we are entitled to pretend that they lived wherever we want them to have lived–be it in Chaldea, Anatolia, Mesopotamia, Arabia, or Nebraska.  A final note: There is additional mythology surrounding Nimrod in Mohammedan lore.  For example, the ancient Sumerian / Akkadian city of Barsip[pa] is sometimes equated with both Nimrod and the Tower of Babel.  In reality, it was the site of a ziggurat to Marduk’s son, Nabu.}