Lisbon
Lisbon (Lisboa in Portuguese) is the capital and largest city of Portugal.
History
In the Spring of 1109, King Sigurd Magnusson besieged the port of Lisbon with a fleet of sixty ships. While the humans attacked from the sea, the five gargoyles on his crew – Angelika, Demona, Magni, Modi, and Skade – attacked from the skies. ("Fortune Favors the Brave...")
Real World Background
Lisbon is the second-oldest capital city in Europe, after Athens. The ancient sea-faring Phoenicians settled in the area between 1200 to 1000 BC, and perhaps provided the city's name of Alis-Ubbo, meaning "Safe Harbor". The Romans would refer to the city from its Celtic-based name of Olisipo.
In his Geographica, Strabo wrote how Lisbon was named after the Greek hero Odysseus, but was likely confused by the Latin form of his name (Ulysses) and Olisipo. [1]
See Also
- Lisbon at Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
