The area occupied by modern Belfast has seen some form of human occupation since the Bronze Age. The Giant’s Ring is an almost 5,000-year-old henge while the hills around the city host the remains of Iron Age forts. That said, it was but a minor settlement throughout much of its history, with some castles built to secure control for various hegemons in the regions, such as John de Courcy and the O’Neill clan. It was not until the 17th century that Belfast was incorporated as a town, before growing as an industrial and trading centre throughout the 18th and 19th centuries to challenge Dublin as Ireland’s biggest city.
This growth was reflected in the significant expansion of its street map and in the course of researching a paper on ‘Patterns in the Street-Names of Belfast,’ Dr Paul Tempan noticed that some of those new streets had names taken from ancient history and mythology, a small cluster of which are on the south side of the Donegall Road and built by 1893 (Irish Historic Towns Atlas xvii). Of course, these names with mythical connections are but a small percentage of the total, with many more derived from landowners, traders and commemorating politicians etc., but for CANI, it is the potential ancient and mythical inspiration that draws the attention.
Thalia Street is named after the Greek Muse of comedy and poetry, Θάλεια. Thalia’s name means ‘joyous’ or ‘flourishing,’ reflecting her own continued skill in comic and poetic songs. She is often portrayed as an ivy-crowned young woman, holding a comic mask, a bugle or trumpet and something resembling a shepherd’s staff.
Euterpe Street is named after another Greek Muse: Eὐτέρπη, who presided over music and lyric poetry. Her name means ‘rejoicing well’ or ‘delight,’ probably reflecting the reception of her own compositions. Ancient poets referred to her as the ‘giver of delight.’ She is often depicted holding a flute, and is sometimes presented as the inventor of some ancient musical instruments.
Pandora Street is named after the first mortal woman according to Greek myth, created by Hephaestus on the instructions of Zeus. Her name, Πανδώρα, derives from the Greek πᾶν, pān, meaning ‘all and δῶρον, dōron, meaning ‘gift.’ This could mean either ‘all-gifted,’ reflecting the many gifts given to her by the gods or ‘all-giving’ in something of an (sarcastic?) inversion of the myth, with her opening of a box – more accurately a jar, a change made by a textual mistake in the 16th century – ‘gifting’ many ills upon the world. Only ‘hope’ remained in the Pandoran box/jar, either in its genuine form or a more ‘deceptive expectation.’ (Hesiod, Work and Days 60-105).
Daphne Street shares a name with Δάφνη, meaning ‘laurel’, a mythological Greek naiad, a variety of nymph associated with fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of freshwater. Her parentage is disputed in the mythological texts, but mostly share the idea that she was the daughter of a river god. Daphne’s myth is similarly mixed, but the general narrative has her receiving the unwanted attention of Apollo, who has been cured by Cupid. Rather than succumb to these forced advances, Daphne asked for her father’s help, and he turned her into a laurel tree to escape Apollo.
Egeria Street takes its name either from the nymph of Roman legend or from the eponym that stems from said legend for a female advisor of counsellor. She gained this reputation by acting as the divine consort and counsellor of Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome (c.715-673BC). Through her advice, Numa formulated various laws, rituals and customs vital to the make-up of the early Roman state.
There is another ‘Egeria’ in ancient times much less unlikely to have drawn the attention of street-naming ‘Belfastians.’ She is thought to be the late fourth century author of an account of a pilgrimage to Jerusalem known as the Itinerarium Egeriae. Unfortunately, while likely the earliest such itinerary, Egeria’s work only survives in fragments of a later copy.
Fortuna Street, named after the goddess of fortune, the Roman equivalent of Tyche, and frequently seen as the personification of luck. She is often depicted with a cornucopia (horn of plenty), which associates her with ‘good luck,’ but really, she was capable of bringing both good and bad luck. Because of that, she is seen wielding a ball, which was described as the Rota Fortunae – the ‘Wheel of Fortune,’ a symbol of the capriciousness of Fate. She can also be seen holding a rudder, highlighting how she steers the ‘ship’ as something of a guiding force, and yet, she could also be represented as veiled or blind.
There was also Eureka Street, built in 1870 (Irish Historic Towns Atlas XVII.18), demolished and then replaced by Eureka Drive. Of course, this was not named after a person, god or place, but instead the famous exclamation – εὕρηκα! “I have found it!” – of the third century BC Syracusan Greek scientist, Archimedes. He reportedly made his exclamation upon stepping into a bath, noticing that the water level rose, and realising that the volume of water displaced must be equal to the volume of the part of his body he had submerged. This would allow for more precise measuring of irregular objects. Archimedes was so eager to expound upon his realisation that he leapt out the bath and ran naked through the streets of Syracuse. Had the Belfast street-builders or namers found something in the area to use such a name linked with discovery?
There are also numerous streets in Belfast which take their name from someone or something that has taken its name from something an ancient or myth. In Castlereagh, East Belfast, there is Cicero Gardens, which takes its name from the horse that won the Derby in 1905, which in turn takes its name from the great orator of the late Roman Republic (‘Cicero’ means ‘chickpea’ in Latin). Perhaps rather surprisingly, Cicero the Horse seems to have had no connection to Ireland, with an English owner, and English trainer and an American jockey. Perhaps a local won a lot of money betting on the equine chickpea?
Vulcan Street on the Short Strand may be so named due to local industries (not for a love of the home planet of Star Trek’s Mr Spock). That said, there was a Vulcan Foundry in another part of Belfast, while the English company Vulcan Foundry Ltd produced locomotives for the Belfast and County Down Railway in the 1880s. The Roman Vulcan was god of fire, volcanoes, metalworking, deserts and the forge. Due to the latter, he was frequently depicted wielding a blacksmith’s hammer.
Apollo Road, off Boucher Road, was probably named after the Apollo space programme that put the first men on the Moon, rather than directly after the Greek god of healing, medicine and archery, and of music and poetry, son of Zeus and Leto and the twin brother of Artemis.
Rosetta Park is likely named after Rosetta Primary School, which in turn was likely named to commemorate (probably an anniversary of) the deciphering of the Rosetta Stone and therefore Egyptian hieroglyphics in 1822 by Jean-François Champollion.
Are there any other ancient or mythical street names you have come across on your travels in Belfast or anywhere else in Ireland? My own hometown has a ‘Victoria Street’ but given that it is right beside a ‘Queen Street’ (as well as an ‘Edward Street’ and ‘Henry Street’), it is undoubtedly named after Queen Victoria, rather than any direct use of the Latin for ‘victory’. Belfast itself has Great Victoria Street as well.
Paul Tempan and Peter Crawford