The Lusiads

First published in 1572, this work describes Portugal's voyages of discovery. It describes Vasco da Gama's pioneer voyage via southern Africa to India in 1497-98. It reflects the novelty and fascination of that original encounter with Africa, India and the Far East.

The first European artist to cross the equator, Camoes''s narrative reflects the novelty and fascination of that original encounter with Africa, India and the Far East. The poem''s twin symbols are the Cross and the Astrolabe, and its celebration of a turning point in mankind''s knowledge of the world unites the old map of the heavens with the newly discovered terrain on earth. Yet it speaks powerfully, too, of the precariousness of power, and of the rise and decline of nationhood, threatened not only from without by enemies, but from within by loss of integrity and vision.

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