1552
trans. Richard Eden
1555
Francisco López de Gómara (c.1511 - c. 1566) was a Spansih historian best known for his secondhand account of the Spanish conquest of the New World, Historia general de las Indias (1552), compiled from ancient texts, written accounts, and interviews with conquistadors. One particular section of this lengthy study, chapter 220, became highly influential for proposing one of the earliest alternative history claims to gain widespread currency, the idea that the newly-conquered Americas were in fact Plato's Atlantis. In chapter 220, Gómara makes the case for the Americas as Atlantis using a virtual library of allusions to ancient, medieval, and early modern texts--putting to shame modern alternative writers who attempt to stretch out a single citation to fill a chapter with speculation. Gómara's Atlantis theory would lay the bedrock for virtually every Atlantis and lost civilization theory that would follow, from Ignatius Donnelly to Graham Hancock. All would follow the same arguments using essentially the same core of evidence.
Gómara's Historia general has never been fully translated into English; however, in 1555 Richard Eden translated chapter 220 as an appendix to his translation of Peter Martyr d’Anghiera’s Decades (1530). I have adapted Eden's translation and converted it to modern spelling for ease of reading. The original can be read here. To this, I have appended extensive explanatory notes to clarify Gómara's allusions, provide necessary references, and demonstrate how Gómara's Atlantis theory grew out of a stew of ancient texts, attempts at identifying disparate references, and imagination. Bracketed [words] were added by Eden to clarify the original Spanish.
Gómara's Historia general has never been fully translated into English; however, in 1555 Richard Eden translated chapter 220 as an appendix to his translation of Peter Martyr d’Anghiera’s Decades (1530). I have adapted Eden's translation and converted it to modern spelling for ease of reading. The original can be read here. To this, I have appended extensive explanatory notes to clarify Gómara's allusions, provide necessary references, and demonstrate how Gómara's Atlantis theory grew out of a stew of ancient texts, attempts at identifying disparate references, and imagination. Bracketed [words] were added by Eden to clarify the original Spanish.
Chapter CCXX:
Of the Great Island which Plato Called Atlantica or Atlantide
[The Philosopher] Plato writes in his Dialogues of Timaeus and Critias, that in the old time there was in the sea Atlantic over against Africa, an island called Atlantide greater than Africa and Asia: affirming that those lands are from thence continent and great: And that the kings of that Island governed a great part of Africa and Europe. But that in a certain great earthquake and tempest of rain, this Island sank and the people were drowned: Also that there remained so much mud of the drowning or sinking of that Island, that that sea Atlantic could not be sailed. Some take this for a fable: and many for a true history, as does Marsilius Ficinus [1] in citing Proclus alleging certain histories of the Ethiopians written by one Marcellus, who confirms the same to be true. [2] But there is now no cause why we should any longer doubt or dispute of the Island Atlantide, forasmuch as the discovering and conquest of the west Indies do plainly declare what Plato hath written of the said lands. In Mexico also at this day they call that water Atl, [by the half name of Atlantis,] as by a word remaining of the name of the Island that is not. [3] We may likewise say that the Indies are [either] the island and firm land of Plato [or the remnant of the same]: and not the Islands of Hesperides [4] or Ophir, [5] or Tarshish, [6] as some have thought of late days. For the Hesperides, are the Islands of Cape Verde and the Gorgons [7] from whence Hanno brought apes [8]: Albeit in conferring it with Solinus, [9] there is some doubt by reason of the navigation of forty days wherof he speaks. As well may it be, that Cuba or Haiti, or any other island of the Indies, should be those which the Carthaginians found and forbade their citizens to make any voyages thither or to inhabit the same as Aristotle and Theophrastus do rehearse where they write of the marvelous and unknown works of nature. [10] As concerning Ophir and Tarshish, it is not known what or where they be, although many learned men as Saint Augustine and others have searched what city or land Tarshish might be. [11] Saint Jerome who was expert in the Hebrew tongue, says in many places upon the prophets that Tarshish is as much to say as the sea [12]: and that whereas it is written that Jonah fled to Tarshish, he went to the sea by a long journey. [13] Furthermore as concerning the navigations of Solomon, it is not to be thought that his navies sailed to the West Indies, forasmuch as to pass thither, it was requisite for them to sail westward departing from the sea of Bermejo [14]: and not eastward as they sailed. Again, the West Indies have no unicorns, [15] elephants, diamonds, and such other things as they brought in the trade of their navigations. [16]
Notes
[1] Fifteenth century humanist philosopher.
[2] Proclus, a Neoplatonist commentator on Plato, preserves in his commentary on the Timaeus all that remains of Marcellus’ lost Ethiopian History: “That such and so great an island once existed, is evinced by those who have composed histories of things relative to the external sea; for they relate that in their times there were seven islands in the Atlantic sacred to Proserpine: and besides these, three others of an immense magnitude, one of which was sacred to Pluto, another to Ammon, and another, which is the middle of these, and is of a thousand stadia, to Neptune; and besides this, that the inhabitants of this last island preserved the memory of the prodigious magnitude of the Atlantic island, as related by their ancestors, and of its governing for many periods all the islands in the Atlantic sea.” (trans. in Cory’s Ancient Fragments)
[3] The translation is unusually divergent from the original here. A more literal translation is: “But there is no cause to dispute or doubt about the island of Atlantis, for the discovery and conquest of the Indies simply clarify what Plato wrote of those lands, and in Mexico they call water atl, a word that seems like, if not actually to be, the name of the island. ”
[4] A mythological set of islands in the far west on which grew trees with golden apples. These islands were often identified with the Islands of Blessed of the Greek afterlife.
[5] A wealthy land mentioned in the Bible in the time of Solomon but never located except that it is far enough from Israel to require sailing (1 Kings 9:28).
[6] Another wealthy Biblical land from the time of Solomon with uncertain location. In 2 Chronicles 9:21 and the parallel passage of 1 Kings 10:22, this appears to be somewhere in India given that Indian products like peacocks, ivory, and apes come from there. (Many scholars suggest the biblical word for peacock, thukkiyim, is of Indian origin.) However, in other places, “Tarshish” is simply meant as a synonym for “far away,” perhaps deriving from tarsos, Greek for “oar,” implying any place only oarsmen can reach. Other ancient authorities identified it with Tarsus in Asia Minor (Flavius Josephus, Antiquities 1.6.1) and Carthage (the Septuagint and Vulgate). Modern writers have also proposed Tartessos in Spain.
[7] The Cape Verde Islands are located off the coast of Africa, where ancient sources also placed the islands of the Gorgons, the mythological monsters.
[8] The Periplus of Hanno, a Carthaginian text from the sixth century BCE, in which the title navigator describes a voyage along the coast of Africa, where the Carthaginians encountered “savage people, the greater part of whom were women, whose bodies were hairy, and whom our interpreters called Gorillae.” These people attacked with stones, and Hanno’s men killed the women, flayed them, and brought their skins to Carthage. Gómara and most modern commentators believe this to be a description of chimpanzees.
[9] Gaius Julius Solinus, a third century CE grammarian, who composed a book of wonders of the world drawn from the earlier works of Pliny and Pomponius Mela. In this book, Solinus, following Pomponius Mela, identifies the land where Hanno met the savage people with the “monstrous nation” living on the Gorgons’ islands, possibly because the Greeks thought the Gorgons shared the hairy skins of Gorillae (Mela 3.9 and 3.86; Solinus 57). Because Mela (3.86) also identified the Gorgons’ islands with the Horn of the West (Hesperos), the connection to the Hespirides was thus established by dint of philological imagination.
[10] Pseudo-Aristotle, De mirabilis auscultationibus 84, taking the form of a text addressed from Aristotle to his disciple Theophrastus: “In the sea outside the Pillars of Hercules they say that an island was discovered by the Carthaginians, desolate, having wood of every kind, and navigable rivers, and admirable for its fruits besides, but distant several days' voyage from them. But, when the Carthaginians often came to this island because of its fertility, and some even dwelt there, the magistrates of the Carthaginians gave notice that they would punish with death those who should sail to it, and destroyed all the inhabitants, lest they should spread a report about it, or a large number might gather together to the island in their time, get possession of the authority, and destroy the prosperity of the Carthaginians.” (trans. Launcelot D. Dowdall)
[11] Augustine, Exposition on the Psalms 48.6, in which he reviews the Tarsus and Carthage hypotheses: "Learned men have enquired for Tarshish a city, that is, what city was signified by this name: and to some it has seemed that Cilicia is called Tarshish, because its metropolis is called Tarsus. Of which city was the Apostle Paul, being born in Tarsus of Cilicia. But some have understood by it Carthage, being haply sometimes so named, or in some language so signified." (trans. J. E. Tweed)
[12] Jerome, Commentary on the Prophet Isaiah 18 at 2.16: "The Hebrews believe that Tharsis is the name of the sea in their own language." (trans. William Smith). The Septuagint and the Vulgate translate Tarshish as "the sea" in several verses where the meaning of "far away" rather than a specific location is implied. (see supra, note 6)
[13] Jonah 1:3: “But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD.”
[14] The Red Sea.
[15] The biblical word re’em, cognate with the Assyrian rimu, or large bull or auroch, was rendered into Greek as monoceros (one-horn), hence the mistaken belief that there were unicorns in the Bible, preserved down to and including the King James translation. This may be because Assyrian art depicted aurochs in profile, with only one horn visible.
[16] The products of Tarshish are given in 2 Chronicles 9:21 (= 1 Kings 10:22): “Once every three years the ships of Tarshish used to come bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.” Obviously, Gómara has turned ivory to elephants. The diamonds, too, are apparently his own invention. Note: the word for “peacock,” thukkiyim, is similar to the Egyptian word for baboon, and some translations give baboons as the fifth product of Tarsish. Other translations have been proposed, including guinea fowl or ostriches.
Notes
[1] Fifteenth century humanist philosopher.
[2] Proclus, a Neoplatonist commentator on Plato, preserves in his commentary on the Timaeus all that remains of Marcellus’ lost Ethiopian History: “That such and so great an island once existed, is evinced by those who have composed histories of things relative to the external sea; for they relate that in their times there were seven islands in the Atlantic sacred to Proserpine: and besides these, three others of an immense magnitude, one of which was sacred to Pluto, another to Ammon, and another, which is the middle of these, and is of a thousand stadia, to Neptune; and besides this, that the inhabitants of this last island preserved the memory of the prodigious magnitude of the Atlantic island, as related by their ancestors, and of its governing for many periods all the islands in the Atlantic sea.” (trans. in Cory’s Ancient Fragments)
[3] The translation is unusually divergent from the original here. A more literal translation is: “But there is no cause to dispute or doubt about the island of Atlantis, for the discovery and conquest of the Indies simply clarify what Plato wrote of those lands, and in Mexico they call water atl, a word that seems like, if not actually to be, the name of the island. ”
[4] A mythological set of islands in the far west on which grew trees with golden apples. These islands were often identified with the Islands of Blessed of the Greek afterlife.
[5] A wealthy land mentioned in the Bible in the time of Solomon but never located except that it is far enough from Israel to require sailing (1 Kings 9:28).
[6] Another wealthy Biblical land from the time of Solomon with uncertain location. In 2 Chronicles 9:21 and the parallel passage of 1 Kings 10:22, this appears to be somewhere in India given that Indian products like peacocks, ivory, and apes come from there. (Many scholars suggest the biblical word for peacock, thukkiyim, is of Indian origin.) However, in other places, “Tarshish” is simply meant as a synonym for “far away,” perhaps deriving from tarsos, Greek for “oar,” implying any place only oarsmen can reach. Other ancient authorities identified it with Tarsus in Asia Minor (Flavius Josephus, Antiquities 1.6.1) and Carthage (the Septuagint and Vulgate). Modern writers have also proposed Tartessos in Spain.
[7] The Cape Verde Islands are located off the coast of Africa, where ancient sources also placed the islands of the Gorgons, the mythological monsters.
[8] The Periplus of Hanno, a Carthaginian text from the sixth century BCE, in which the title navigator describes a voyage along the coast of Africa, where the Carthaginians encountered “savage people, the greater part of whom were women, whose bodies were hairy, and whom our interpreters called Gorillae.” These people attacked with stones, and Hanno’s men killed the women, flayed them, and brought their skins to Carthage. Gómara and most modern commentators believe this to be a description of chimpanzees.
[9] Gaius Julius Solinus, a third century CE grammarian, who composed a book of wonders of the world drawn from the earlier works of Pliny and Pomponius Mela. In this book, Solinus, following Pomponius Mela, identifies the land where Hanno met the savage people with the “monstrous nation” living on the Gorgons’ islands, possibly because the Greeks thought the Gorgons shared the hairy skins of Gorillae (Mela 3.9 and 3.86; Solinus 57). Because Mela (3.86) also identified the Gorgons’ islands with the Horn of the West (Hesperos), the connection to the Hespirides was thus established by dint of philological imagination.
[10] Pseudo-Aristotle, De mirabilis auscultationibus 84, taking the form of a text addressed from Aristotle to his disciple Theophrastus: “In the sea outside the Pillars of Hercules they say that an island was discovered by the Carthaginians, desolate, having wood of every kind, and navigable rivers, and admirable for its fruits besides, but distant several days' voyage from them. But, when the Carthaginians often came to this island because of its fertility, and some even dwelt there, the magistrates of the Carthaginians gave notice that they would punish with death those who should sail to it, and destroyed all the inhabitants, lest they should spread a report about it, or a large number might gather together to the island in their time, get possession of the authority, and destroy the prosperity of the Carthaginians.” (trans. Launcelot D. Dowdall)
[11] Augustine, Exposition on the Psalms 48.6, in which he reviews the Tarsus and Carthage hypotheses: "Learned men have enquired for Tarshish a city, that is, what city was signified by this name: and to some it has seemed that Cilicia is called Tarshish, because its metropolis is called Tarsus. Of which city was the Apostle Paul, being born in Tarsus of Cilicia. But some have understood by it Carthage, being haply sometimes so named, or in some language so signified." (trans. J. E. Tweed)
[12] Jerome, Commentary on the Prophet Isaiah 18 at 2.16: "The Hebrews believe that Tharsis is the name of the sea in their own language." (trans. William Smith). The Septuagint and the Vulgate translate Tarshish as "the sea" in several verses where the meaning of "far away" rather than a specific location is implied. (see supra, note 6)
[13] Jonah 1:3: “But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD.”
[14] The Red Sea.
[15] The biblical word re’em, cognate with the Assyrian rimu, or large bull or auroch, was rendered into Greek as monoceros (one-horn), hence the mistaken belief that there were unicorns in the Bible, preserved down to and including the King James translation. This may be because Assyrian art depicted aurochs in profile, with only one horn visible.
[16] The products of Tarshish are given in 2 Chronicles 9:21 (= 1 Kings 10:22): “Once every three years the ships of Tarshish used to come bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.” Obviously, Gómara has turned ivory to elephants. The diamonds, too, are apparently his own invention. Note: the word for “peacock,” thukkiyim, is similar to the Egyptian word for baboon, and some translations give baboons as the fifth product of Tarsish. Other translations have been proposed, including guinea fowl or ostriches.
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Introduction, adaptation, and notes © 2012 Jason Colavito. All rights reserved. Adapted English version based upon the translation appearing in Richard Eden, The First Three English Books on America (?1511-1555 A.D.), ed. Edward Arber (Westminster: Archibald Constable and Co., 1895), 347.
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