Prologue: Fata Morganna: the land of dreams

479 18 0
                                    


The earliest historical evidence of the mystical land of Fata Morganna or Avalon comes from a Greek historian Diodorus Siculus writing in the first century BC. Other early sources of the record come through the writings by Damascius a Greek philosopher in the sixth century AD. All references describing images of gleaming cities of gold, mountains and lakes continued be seen to this day in regions around the world. A recent sighting was reported and photographed in Kingsbury Ontario just a few years ago. The most well-known reference comes to us through the Arthurian Legion, which states King Arthur was taken there at the end of his life. A leaden cross found in 1607 bore this inscription: Hic jacet sepultus inclitus Rex Arthurius in insula Avalonia. ("Here lies entombed the renowned King Arthur in the island of Avalon.") The people of Avalon are frequently identified with the fairy or magical people of ancient legion. Today we call these sightings a superior mirage, an illusion caused by heat variations and optics promulgated by sky and ice. However, Avalon is a place, and exists to this day. It is a destination best reached on dragon-back.

Fair towns with turrets high,

And shinning roofs of gold

From "Fata Morganna" published in 1873 by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

,

The Dragon's RedemptionWhere stories live. Discover now