Gilpin observer., 1919-10-09
GREAT IN HISTORY
And WondrousIy Beautiful Is the
City Of Lisbon.
Portuguese Capital Has Had Many
Names Through the Centuries
Was Last Stronghold Of the
Moor In That Country.

The way of a name, especially a
well-known name. is interesting to
very many people outside the ranks of
the confirmed etymologist. The strange
way In which, through the centuries,
name. gradually changes and
changes until 1t has really changed
out of all casual recognition, yet never
quite parts from Its original, has a
fascination all Its own. Lisbon is a
very flrst-class example. No one, off
hand, would think of connecting the
name with Ulysses, and vet your ety.
mOlOgist dives into the subject and SO
connects 1t without apparent difficulty.
Every one, of course knows the legend
that Lisbon owes its origin to Ulysses.
1t makes no difference that the myth
cal city founded by the great wan
derer Is declaxed by Strabo to have
been rather In the mountains of
Turdetania, in the extreme south of
Spain. Such contentious never make
any difference to well-established
tradition. And so the oldest name by
which the city ever was known. that
is to say Olisipo. came to be writ
ten Ulyssippo. This on Phoenician
lips, says the authority, appeared
as Alissubbo, or the friendly bay.
Then came the Romans, changing fhe
name, but sealing their appreciation of
the happy situation of the beautiful
city on the heights above Tugas by
calling 1t Felicitas Julia. After the
Romans came the MOors with their
Al Aschbuna. still carrying out the
same idea, and after the Moors, the
Portuguese, with the Alissubbo of the
Phoenician carried step further,
and appearing as Lissabona. From
that to the Lisboa or Lisbon of today
Is but step.
And what a history there is in It
1t carries one safely through the cen
turles, touching lightly on the story Of
Phoenician, Roman and Moor ms
each, in turn, held sway along the
shores Of Friendly bay. Lisbon, In
deed. was the last stronghold of the
Moor In Portugal. and the story Of
how King Alfonso I laid siege to It
through many months. in 1147, and,
at last, with the aid Of English and
captured 1t, Is one of the great ro-
mances of history. Other landmarks
and epochs in the history of Lisbon
are the burning of the city by the
Castilian army Of Henry ii, in 1873 +;
Its period of splendOr and greatness
In the sixteenth century, when the
/ Portuguese empire was spreading IL.
self into India and Africa; Its long
years of humiliation from 1880 to
1910. when Lisbon was provincial
town under Spanish rule; Its release
fiom the Spanish bondage; the great
earthquake of 1855; and the grand
/ rebuilding of the city under the IA
nous Caravalho.
Caravalho had gracious task
Lisbon has always been famous for
the beauty of Its situation, and few
who write about Portugal today fail
to attempt, once again, to convey the
! beauties of its blue waters, its white.
red-roofed houses, the wonderful YER
dure Of its gardens, and over all the
peerless blue of southern sky"
"The eyes rest" says one writer,
upon succession Of amphitheaters
built up with tier upon tier Of houses,
great and SMALL which the sorcery OF
Lusitanian sunlight trnnsfigures into
the semblance of city OF palaces and
many mansions built up CT marbles
Of delicate and varied hues." The
westernmost of European capitals
spreads itself in feisurely fashion over
Its II hills, extending for more than
five miles along the shores OF the IA
nous Rada de Lisbon. and for more
than three miles inland. Beyond the
! narrow channel leading out of the
Rada through which flow the wa
tcrs OF the Tagus lies the open sea
and some 800 miles away over the
horizon to the west are the Azores.-
Christian Science Monitor.