The word 'VOLCANO' is derived from a small island in the Mediterranean Sea, called Vulcano. Local inhabitants used to believe that Vulcano was the chimney of the forge belonging to Vulcan, the Roman blacksmith of the gods. As Vulcan forged thunderbolts for Jupiter, the smoke and ashes escaped through the chimney.
Hawaiian legend tells that volcanic eruptions are the work of Pele, the tempestuous goddess of volcanoes and occurred when she was particularly angry. The chain of volcanoes around the islands was caused by a long argument with her sister.
In 1104 when Hekla, Iceland erupted, it was written -
"Great is the power of the Prince of Darkness. Now he has flung open that horrible inferno Eclafeld out of Hyslandia, where the souls of the damned in flames of eternal fire, never thence to return, except when from time to time S***n drags them from the glowing embers to cool them in the piercing chill of the polar ice enclosing that dreary island, lest they become too inured to the fires of Hell."
Hekla on Fire: Sigurdur Thorarinsson
Christians of the time saw Hekla as the doorway into the underworld and that the lava bombs and rocks thrown out, were spirits escaping their fate. The whistling sounds made by the escaping gases were interpreted as the screams of the damned.
Others saw the landscape of Iceland as an ancient battlefield where immortal gods waged war against each other.
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On Strange Properties of Some Mountains
An illustration from 1555 'History of the Nordic Peoples' by Olaus Magnus, a Swedish writer - he tried to show the inhabitants of southern Europe, what life in the North was like.