Английская Википедия:Avernus
Avernus was an ancient name for a volcanic crater near Cumae (Cuma), Italy, in the region of Campania west of Naples. Part of the Phlegraean Fields of volcanoes,[1] Avernus is approximately Шаблон:Convert in circumference. Within the crater is Lake Avernus (Шаблон:Lang).[2]
Role in ancient Roman society
Avernus was believed to be the entrance to the underworld, and is portrayed as such in the Aeneid of Virgil. According to tradition, all birds flying over the lake were destined to fall dead,[3] hence the lake’s name was transferred to Greek as Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Transl‚ or "Birdless (lake)".[4] This was likely due to the toxic fumes that the mouths of the crater gave off into the atmosphere. In later times, the word was simply an alternative name for the underworld.
On the shores of the laare is the grotto of the Cumaean Sibyl and the entrance to a long tunnel (Grotta di Cocceio, c. Шаблон:Convert) leading toward Cumae, where her sanctuary was located. There are also the remains of temples to Apollo and Jupiter. During the civil war between Octavian and Antony, Agrippa tried to turn the lake into a military port, the Portus Julius. A waterway was dug from Lake Lucrino to Avernus to this end. The port's remains may still be seen under the lake's surface.[5]
Шаблон:Lang
The term Шаблон:Lang (plural Шаблон:Lang) was also used by ancient naturalists for certain lakes, grottos, and other places which infect the air with poisonous steams or vapors. The Cave of Dogs in Italy was a famous example.[6] The most celebrated of these, however, is Lake Avernus.
They were also called mephites. Mephitis was the Roman goddess of noxious vapors who protected against malaria. The adjective "Шаблон:Linktext" means "foul-smelling" or "malodorous".
Popular Culture
Avernus is the first layer of the Nine Hells in the Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting of the Forgotten Realms.
In Failbetter Games' Fallen London and its sequels and spinoffs, Avernus is home to the Cumaean Canal, which links the surface world to "the Neath", the subterranean realm where most of the games are set.
See also
- Ploutonion, "grotto of Plouton", a Greek term for a mephitic sanctuary
- Yomotsu Hirasaka
References
External links
- Cyclopædia (1728) article “Averni”.
- Lake Avernus with the Temple of Apollo and a Distant View of Cape Misenum (1819), a very faint pencil sketch by Joseph Turner (see also: Cape Misenum)
Шаблон:Lazio-geo-stub
Шаблон:AncientRome-myth-stub
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite EB1911
- ↑ Шаблон:Cyclopaedia 1728
- ↑ W. M. Lindsay, The Latin Language, Oxford 1894, p. 197.
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite journal
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
