Adamastor
Os Lusíadas character
Statue of Adamastor by Júlio Vaz Júnior, inaugurated in 1927 at the Santa Catarina viewpoint, Lisbon, Portugal
First appearance	Os Lusiadas
Created by	Luís de Camões
In-universe information
Description	Greek-type mythological character
Mentioned in	"Death with Interruptions" by José Saramago The Year Of the Death of Ricardo Reis by José Saramago The First Life of Adamastor by André Brink L'Africaine (1865 opera) Essai sur la poésie épique by Voltaire Les Misérables by Victor Hugo The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux, Poésies et Lettres, by Count of Lautréamont, Mensagem, by Fernando Pessoa

Adamastor is a mythological character created by the Portuguese poet Luís de Camões in his epic poem Os Lusíadas (first printed in 1572), as a symbol of the forces of nature Portuguese navigators had to overcome during their discoveries.

When Portugal was trying to reach India for its spice, it faced one problem. The Cape of Storms. No boat had ever been able to cross this Cape and the story was that a sea giant named Adamastor lived there and killed anyone who dared to cross his territory. For years captains and sailor, funded by King John II, tried to cross the Cape and achieve fame and wealth in Portugal but none succeeded. However in 1486, Bartolomeu Dias and his crew, became the first people to survive the Cape. This achievement led to an increase in sailors motivation and led to the first person to reach India via the Atlantic Ocean, Vasco Da Gama.

Background edit

Once upon a time, the Earth and the Sky gave birth to twelve Titans. These were fierce and violent creatures, with bodies as big as mountains and monstrous features. One of the Titans, Cronos (Time) had several children with his wife Rhea. These were the Greek gods – among them, Zeus, Hades, Demeter and Poseidon. For ten years, Zeus and his siblings fought against the Titans and in the end, with the help of the one-eyed Cyclops, the Titans were defeated. Most of the Titans were sent to Tartarus, a fiery underground prison, but some met different fates. Atlas was sent to North Africa, where he would hold up the sky on his shoulders. Helios, who had not participated in the war, drove the chariot that pulled the Sun around the Earth. One of the Titans was called Adamastor. He had fallen in love with a nymph, Thetis, but was deceived by her mother Doris (who deceived the Titan Adamastor by presenting him with a rock instead of her daughter at their wedding).

As punishment for coveting the nymph and for his rebellion against the gods, Adamastor was turned into a jagged mountain at the southernmost tip of Africa.Now appearing in the form of a storm cloud to Vasco da Gama and threatening to ruin anyone hardy enough to attempt passing the Cape and penetrate the Indian Ocean, which was Adamastor's domain. Adamastor became the Spirit of the Cape of Good Hope, a hideous phantom of unearthly pallor:

Even as I spoke, an immense shape
Materialised in the night air,
Grotesque and enormous stature
With heavy jowls, and an unkempt beard
Scowling from shrunken, hollow eyes
Its complexion earthy and pale,
Its hair grizzled and matted with clay,
Its mouth coal black, teeth yellow with decay.

— Camões, The Lusiads Canto V

Adamastor represented the dangers Portuguese sailors faced when trying to round the Cape of Storms – Cabo das Tormentas – henceforth called the Cape of Good Hope.

Legacy edit

Adamastor, both the mythological character and the sculpture, are mentioned several times in José Saramago's Nobel Prize-winning novel, The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis, 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.

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 river, the 25 de Abril Bridge and the Cristo-Rei monument.

Adamastor is also mentioned in the opera L'Africaine (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 in his Essai sur la poésie épique. It also appears in the works of Victor Hugo: Les Misérables (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 also mentions it in The Phantom of the Opera (chap. VI). Herman Melville 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.^[1]

Etymology edit

The name Adamastor is an adaptation for the Portuguese language from the Greek word for "Untamed" or "Untameable" (Adamastos) (which the Portuguese did tame).

References edit

External links edit

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 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"

[[Category:Portuguese legendary creatures]][[Category:Portuguese mythology]][[Category:Portuguese culture]][[Category:South African culture]][[Category:Fictional giants]][[Category:Greek Antiquity in art and culture]]