Os Lusíadas

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(Redirected from The Lusiad)

Os Lusíadas ("The Lusiads") is considered one of the finest and most important works in Portuguese literature. Written by Luís de Camões in the Homeric fashion, and first printed in 1572, this epic poem focuses mainly on a fantastical interpretation of the Portuguese discoveries movement, in the 14th through 17th centuries. It is often regarded as Portugal's national epic, much in the same way as Virgil's Aeneid is for the Romans.

It is speculated that work on Os Lusíadas consumed around thirty years of Camões' life.

Camões evokes the parallel between the Portuguese adventure across the oceans and the ancient myths from the very first verses, where he promises to sing about the "arms and the men who, from the western Lusitan coast travelled across never sailed before oceans". It is a reference to the first verses of the Aeneid.

In Os Lusíadas, Camões presents the Portuguese people as descendants of Lusus, companion of Dionysus and mythical founder of Lusitania, and loosely describes the country's history until the mid-16th century, concentrating on giving a heroic edge to the journey of Vasco da Gama, the first European to reach India by sea.

Consisting of ten cantos, Os Lusíadas documents the voyage of da Gama from Portugal around the Cape of Good Hope, along the eastern coast of Africa, and eventually finding some respite in Melinde (present day Kenya). From there, he and his crew travel onward to India and the East, eventually finding their reward on the Isle of Love.

Perhaps the most memorable of all episodes in Os Lusíadas consists of the Portuguese encounter with the Adamastor, a mythical beast made of rock and representing the desolation of Africa. Also underlying the narrative are the pulling forces of empire, imperialism, and the threat of shipwreck along this perilous journey.

The author read the entire book to King Sebastian of Portugal, who appreciated it so much as to reinforce his decision to march to the doomed crusade where he was killed.

Os Lusíadas 2500 is a futuristic comic version of the Lusiads by Laílson de Holanda Cavalcanti, a Brazilian from Pernambuco state. Camões' work is not altered but the comic uses fantastic Gods and scarier sea-monsters; the caravels are transformed into spaceships and the sea to outer space, to draw youngsters to the Portuguese language's most important literary work.

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