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Fortunate Isles

Woodcut from the Nuremberg Chronicle (1493) by Hartmann Schedel depicting the Fortunate Islands in the Atlantic Ocean.

The Fortunate Isles or Isles of the Blessed[1][2] (Ancient Greek: μακάρων νῆσοι, makarōn nēsoi)[3] were semi-legendary islands in the Atlantic Ocean, variously treated as a simple geographical location and as a winterless earthly paradise inhabited by the heroes of Greek mythology. In the time of Hesiod, the Fortunate Isles were associated with the concept of Elysium, a utopian location in the Greek underworld thought to be found in the Western ocean on the margin of the known world.[4][5] The number of the islands would later be reduced to one by the poet Pindar.[5]

  1. ^ AncientHistoryMaps (1697), Cartes et Tables de la Geographie Ancienne - Sanson, retrieved 2018-03-17
  2. ^ Sanson, Nicolas (1697). "Cartes et Tables de la Geographie Ancienne". Retrieved 2018-03-17.
  3. ^ Hard, p. 116.
  4. ^ Peck, Harry Thurston (1897). Harper's Dictionary of Classical Literature and Antiquities. Harper & brothers.
  5. ^ a b Sacks, David (1995). A Dictionary of the Ancient Greek World. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-511206-1.

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