Indeed, she looks a lot like the stylized green lady gazing staring serenely back at you from the white cup on your desk holding your cooling coffee. But most intriguingly–at least for the contemporary coffee consumer–is a detailed image of a long-locked, sweetly smiling, twin-tailed mermaid. How all of these stories and images from distant cultural traditions made their way onto the mosaic is still a mystery.
It’s one of the largest in Europe and depicts all the important stories and figures of the time: the Tree of Life, the expulsion from Eden, Alexander the Great, elephants, sphinxes, centaurs, and much more. A monk named Pantaleone and his team of artisans created the enigmatic mosaic in the 1160s. But inside, wild animals, biblical characters, and fantastical creatures cavort across the cathedral floor.
FLICKR GALLERY DANTE INFERNO HORSE GALLERY WINDOWS
The structure, built in 1088, is simple, with a few arched windows and carved capitals. In the sunlight, the exterior of the cathedral is golden. All of these parties passed by the Otranto Cathedral at some point during their journey. From the city’s bay, Crusaders left on missions to the Orient, early Christian travelers returned from pilgrimages to Jerusalem, and in the 15th century, the Ottoman Turks launched their attack on the city. Otranto was once considered the easternmost tip of Western civilization, with just under 50 miles of Mediterranean sea separating the city from Albania. Whitecaps curl up from a bright blue sea, smashing against the fortified walls of the southern Italian city. ON A LATE OCTOBER MORNING, the wind howls through the winding streets of ancient Otranto. I found an article from 2015 by Angelica Calabrese that explains it all titled, ” The Siren on Your Starbucks Cup Was Born in 7th-Century Italy”: Did a little digging and found a cool Italian connection that I thought I’d report on. I know the name comes from Moby Dick but I wonder where the mermaid with two tails came from. I’ve been here for three weeks and what is that saying, “when in Rome”? So, I’m at Starbucks right now and wondered a little about their logo.
FLICKR GALLERY DANTE INFERNO HORSE GALLERY FREE
If you’d like to see some of the stops I’ve made feel free to visit to read about them.įor now, I’m in Washington State and boy do they love Starbucks. I’m taking some time off from my hometown and am on a three-month cross country trip.
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