Mitos y leyendas de la literatura greco-latina sobre viajes. A propósito de la Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis

Abstract

Our aim is to relate the adventures of those heroes whose travels have characterised much Greek and Latin literature to the figure of abbot Brendan as found in a Latin rendering, the Navigatio Sancti Brendani abbatis. Since the central axis of this account is that of the monk’s voyage in search of the promised land or earthly paradise, we shall be looking at this theme in another set of stories. Since the legend contains various other mythical elements, some deriving from popular tales, attention will be given to the limits among myth, legend and folkloric tales. The main part of the work, based on the analysis of the text, will be devoted to the ways in which oral accounts are finally rendered into written form. Finally, also the features defining traveller heroes, both in the classical tradition and in medieval hagiography will be studied from a thematic perspective.