{"id":9613,"date":"2015-07-09T11:38:58","date_gmt":"2015-07-09T09:38:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=9613"},"modified":"2015-07-11T22:08:55","modified_gmt":"2015-07-11T20:08:55","slug":"e-arrivato-flegetonte","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/e-arrivato-flegetonte\/","title":{"rendered":"E\u2019 Arrivato Flegetonte"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cE\u2019 arrivato Flegetonte\u201d (Phlegethon has arrived) is the main headline in most Italian newspapers at the moment. But what on earth is a Flegetonte? Well, in Greek mythology, Phlegethon was one of the rivers of the underworld, its name meaning \u2018flaming\u2019. In his Inferno,\u00a0Dante Alighieri describes the Flegetonte as a river of boiling blood which flows through the Seventh Circle of Hell. The souls of those who have committed violent crimes against their fellow men are immersed in the boiling bloody waters (Inferno, Canto XII, 46-48):<\/p>\n

\"Inferno_Canto_12_verses_58-060\"<\/a>

Flegetonte, by Gustave Dor\u00e9<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Ma ficca li occhi a valle, che\u2019 s\u2019approccia
\nla riviera del sangue in la qual bolle
\nqual che per violenza in altrui noccia<\/span><\/p>\n

So, has Phlegethon suddenly emerged from the underworld to punish our violent crimes? I wish it were so! Flegetonte is the name given to the ferocious heat wave that is raging here in Italy and parts of Europe, making so many of us suffer (see Geoff’s recent post<\/span><\/a>)<\/p>\n

Using names from Greek and Roman mythology or history to describe weather phenomena is quite a new thing here in Italy. In fact it was started as recently as 2012 by the meteorologist Antonio San\u00f2 who, fascinated by the well established system of naming hurricanes in the North Atlantic and Pacific areas, believed that giving names to heat waves and so on would help people to pay more attention to weather alerts. He initially began by giving the name Lucy to a late cold front (after Lucy van Pelts, a cartoon character), followed by Maddalena for a new cold front. But the names that he choose weren’t particularly memorable and, therefore, not very popular with the general public.<\/p>\n

Then Scipione arrived! Scipione was the name given by San\u00f2 to the first big heat wave that arrived from North Africa in summer of 2012. The name was taken from the Roman general Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, better known as Scipione l\u2019Africano (Scipio the African). In 202 b.C. Scipio defeated Hannibal at the battle of Zama, near Carthage in North Africa, putting an end to the Second Punic War. This famous historical name caught the imagination of the media, and immediately became popular. Since then we have been presented with a series of mythological and historical figures, mostly dark and violent bringers of destruction, such as Annibale (Hannibal) Nerone (Nero), Caligola (Caligula) and Caronte (Caron).<\/p>\n

\"FLEGETONTE\"<\/a><\/p>\n

San\u00f2 decided to use male names for heat waves and female names for cold waves. For example, in September 2012 we had the cold wave Poppea (Poppaea Sabina, second wife of the emperor Nero), in 2013 Cleopatra and in 2014 Medea.<\/p>\n

So how successful are these names in helping the public avoid the perils of extreme weather conditions? Well, it’s hard to tell, but a neighbour recently told me that he had to take his elderly mother to the Pronto Soccorso (A&E Department) as she was suffering from the effects of Flegetonte. Whilst my neighbour was in the hospital between midday until one a.m. the following morning, at least a hundred locals were admitted, most of them suffering from the heat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

\u201cE\u2019 arrivato Flegetonte\u201d (Phlegethon has arrived) is the main headline in most Italian newspapers at the moment. But what on earth is a Flegetonte? Well, in Greek mythology, Phlegethon was one of the rivers of the underworld, its name meaning \u2018flaming\u2019. In his Inferno,\u00a0Dante Alighieri describes the Flegetonte as a river of boiling blood which…<\/p>\n

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