Aljamiado

A text in a Romance language is said to be aljamiado if it is written using the Arabic or Hebrew alphabets, as texts written in the Mozarabic or Ladino languages are. In later times, Moriscos lost Arabic as an everyday language, and wrote in Spanish on Islamic subjects. Examples are the Coplas del alhichante (about a hajj) or the Libro de Yuçuf on the Biblical Joseph. In Bosnia, Slavic Muslims wrote their Serbian texts using the Arabic alphabet. Texts in the Arabic script are often written without short vowels, making these texts more difficult to read; for Aljamiado as for Arabic, the r ...

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The Fountain of Youth is a legendary spring that reputedly restores the youth of anyone who drinks of its waters. Florida is said to be its location, and stories of the fountain are some of the most persistent myths associated with the state. Fountain of Youth - The Fountain of Youth. A long standing myth is that Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León was searching for the Fountain of Youth when he traveled to present-day Florida in 1513, but the story did not start with him, nor was it unique t ...

Including:

• Fountain of Youth - The Fountain of Youth
• Fountain of Youth - The Arawaks and the land of Bimini
• Fountain of Youth - Ponce de León and Florida
• Fountain of Youth - Earlier versions of the legend
• Fountain of Youth - The Fountain of Youth today

Read more here: » Fountain of Youth: Encyclopedia - Fountain of Youth

A long standing myth is that Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León was searching for the Fountain of Youth when he traveled to present-day Florida in 1513, but the story did not start with him, nor was it unique to the New World. Tales of healing waters date to at least the time of the Alexander Romance, and were popular right up to the European Age of Exploration. The later legend derives from the "Water of Life" tale in the Eastern versions of the Alexander Romance, where Alexander and his servant cross the Land of Darkness to ...

See also:

Fountain of Youth, Fountain of Youth - The Fountain of Youth, Fountain of Youth - The Arawaks and the land of Bimini, Fountain of Youth - Ponce de León and Florida, Fountain of Youth - Earlier versions of the legend, Fountain of Youth - The Fountain of Youth today

Read more here: » Fountain of Youth: Encyclopedia II - Fountain of Youth - The Fountain of Youth

The city of St. Augustine, Florida is home to the Fountain of Youth National Archaeological Park, created as a tribute to the city's illustrious history at the spot which Ponce de León is traditionally said to have landed. Though the fountain situated there is not "the" Fountain, this does not stop tourists from drinking its water. The park exhibits native and colonial artifacts to celebrate St. Augustine's Timucuan and Spanish heritage. The Fountain of Youth lives on as a metaphor for anything that potentially increases longevity. I ...

See also:

Fountain of Youth, Fountain of Youth - The Fountain of Youth, Fountain of Youth - The Arawaks and the land of Bimini, Fountain of Youth - Ponce de León and Florida, Fountain of Youth - Earlier versions of the legend, Fountain of Youth - The Fountain of Youth today

Read more here: » Fountain of Youth: Encyclopedia II - Fountain of Youth - The Fountain of Youth today

The native stories about the curative spring were related to the mythical land of "Beemeenee", or Bimini, a land of wealth and prosperity located somewhere to the north, possibly in the location of the Bahamas. According to legend, the Spanish heard of Bimini from the Arawaks in Hispaniola, Cuba, and Puerto Rico. Sequene, an Arawak chief from Cuba had purportedly been unable to resist the lure of Bimini and its restorative fountain. He gathered a troup of adventurers and sailed north, never to return. Word spread among Sequene's more optimistic tribesmen that he and his follower ...

See also:

Fountain of Youth, Fountain of Youth - The Fountain of Youth, Fountain of Youth - The Arawaks and the land of Bimini, Fountain of Youth - Ponce de León and Florida, Fountain of Youth - Earlier versions of the legend, Fountain of Youth - The Fountain of Youth today

Read more here: » Fountain of Youth: Encyclopedia II - Fountain of Youth - The Arawaks and the land of Bimini

The story continues that Juan Ponce de León heard of the fountain from the natives of Puerto Rico when he conquered the island. Growing dissatisfied with his material wealth, he launched an expedition to locate it, and in the process discovered Florida. Though he was one of the first Europeans to set foot on the American mainland, he never found the Fountain of Youth. The story is apocryphal. While Ponce de León may well have heard of the Fountain and believed in it, his name was not associated with the legend in writing until after ...

See also:

Fountain of Youth, Fountain of Youth - The Fountain of Youth, Fountain of Youth - The Arawaks and the land of Bimini, Fountain of Youth - Ponce de León and Florida, Fountain of Youth - Earlier versions of the legend, Fountain of Youth - The Fountain of Youth today

Read more here: » Fountain of Youth: Encyclopedia II - Fountain of Youth - Ponce de León and Florida