Breast-shaped hill
A breast-shaped hill is a mountain in the shape of a human breast. Such anthropomorphic geographic features are to be found in different places of the world and in some cultures they were revered as the attributes of the Mother Goddess, like the Paps of Anu, named after Anu, an important goddess of pre-Christian Ireland.[1]
The name Mamucium that gave origin to the name of the city of Manchester is thought to derive from the Celtic language meaning "breast shaped hill", referring to the sandstone bluff the fort stood on; this later evolved into the name Manchester.[2][3]
Mostly breast shaped hills are connected with local ancestral veneration of the breast as a symbol of fertility and well-being. It is not uncommon for very old archaeological sites to be located in or below such hills, like in Samson, Isles of Scilly, where there are large ancient burial grounds both on the North Hill and South Hill,[4][5] or Burrén and Burrena, Aragon, Spain, where two Iron Age Urnfield culture archaeological sites lie beneath the hills.[6]
Also the myths surrounding these mountains are ancient and enduring and some have been recorded in the oral literature or written texts; for example, in an unspecified location in Asia, there was a mountain known as "Breast Mountain" with a cave in which the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma (Da Mo) spent a long time in meditation.[7]
Travelers and cartographers in colonial times often changed the ancestral names of such hills. The mountain known as Didhol or Dithol, Woman's Breast, by the Indigenous Australian people since time immemorial, was rechristened Pigeon House Mountain by Captain James Cook at the time of his exploration of Australia's eastern coast in 1770
"Mamelon" (from French "nipple") is a French name for a breast shaped hillock.[8] Fort Mamelon was a famous hillock fortified by the Russians and captured by the French as part of the Siege of Sevastopol during the Crimean War of the 1850s. The word "mamelon" is also used in volcanology to describe a particular rock formation of volcanic origin. The term was coined by the French explorer and naturalist Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent.[9]
Africa
- East Africa
- Mauritius
- Trois Mamelles mountains in the west of Mauritius
- Seychelles
- West Africa
Antarctica
Asia
- Cambodia
- Middle East
- Philippines
- Bundok ng Susong Dalaga, "Maiden's breast mountain", looking like a reclined woman, Western Mindoro, Philippines.[12]
- Bundok ng Susong Dalaga, two huge conical hills resembling the female breast, which are the highest peaks of Talim Island, Philippines.
- Kagmasuso, among other breast shaped hills in San Andres, Catanduanes[13]
- Chocolate Hills, unusual geological formations in Bohol
- Ilihan Hill, "Watery Breast", a religious pilgrimage site about four kilometers from Jagna
- Thailand
- Khao Nom Sao (เขานมสาว), "female breast mountain", a mountain located in Ranong Province, Thailand.
- Khao Nom Sao, a round hill east of Phet Kasem road in Prachuap Khiri Khan Province.
- Khao Nom Sao, a mountain in Chumphon Province.
- Khao Nom Sao, a hill in Phang Nga Province, part of a greater mountain system.
- Khao Nom Nang, (เขานมนาง), an isolated large hill in khao Kala, Nakhon Sawan Province.
- Khao Nom Nang, an isolated hill in Khok Samae San, Lopburi.
- Khao Nom Nang, the name of two hills west of Doeng Bang Nam Buat, Suphan Buri.
- Khao Nom Nang, a hill north of Pak Phraek, Kanchanaburi.
- Khao Nom Nang, a hill at Huai Krachao, Kanchanaburi.
- Khao Nom Nang, a hill between Nong Pet and Chong Sadao, Kanchanaburi.
- Khao Nom Wang (เขานมวังก), a small hill just east of the main road at Panomwang, also known as Khao Phanom Wang, Phatthalung Province.
- Khao Nom (เขานม), was one of the former names of Khanom, a district of Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, due to the surrounding mountains.[14]
- Ko Nom Sao (Thai: เกาะนมสาว, lit. female breast island) are twin islands located in the Phang Nga Bay,[15] Phang Nga Province, Thailand.
- Ko Nom Sao in Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park, Prachuap Khiri Khan Province.[16]
Europe
- British Isles
- Mumbles The two islands (on one of which stands a lighthouse) off the southeast corner of the Gower peninsula, Swansea, Wales
- Beinn Chìochan in the Grampians, Scotland
- Bennachie in Aberdeenshire, Scotland
- Mam Barisdale in Knoydart, Scotland
- Mynydd Llanwenarth near Abergavenny, Wales
- Mount Keen in Aberdeenshire / Angus, Scotland
- A' Chioch in Ben More, Isle of Mull, Scotland
- Mam Sodhail, on the northern side of Glen Affric, some 30 kilometres east of Kyle of Lochalsh
- Mam Tor, near Castleton in the High Peak of Derbyshire, England.[19]
- Samson, Isles of Scilly
- Twmbarlwm near Risca, Wales
- Paps or Maiden Paps are rounded, breastlike hills located mostly in Scotland:
- Paps of Anu, near Killarney, Ireland
- Paps of Fife in Scotland
- Paps of Jura, on the western side of island of Jura, in the Inner Hebrides, Scotland
- Paps of Lothian in Scotland
- Maiden Paps, twin hills in Caithness, Scotland
- Maiden Paps, twin hills in the Kilpatrick Hills, Scotland
- Maiden Paps, twin hills south of Hawick in the Scottish Borders, Scotland
- Maiden Paps, another name for the Tunstall Hills near Sutherland, Tyne and Wear, England
- Maiden Paps, another name for the Schiehallion, Perth and Kinross, Scotland
- Pap of Glencoe in the Scottish Highlands
- Denmark
- Marens Patter (Maren's Tits), a pair of twin hills that has functioned as a landmark for seafarers since the bronze ages.
- Greece
- Spain
- Tetica de Bacares or "La Tetica", a 2,086 m high mountain in the Sierra de Los Filabres, Spain.[20]
- Tetas de Liérganes, Cantabria
- Tetas de Viana, La Alcarria, Guadalajara Province
- Puig de Mamelles, Felanitx, Mallorca
- Ses Mamelles, another name for the 714 m high Puig des Castellot, Escorca, Mallorca
- Turó de la Mamella, a mountain near Vacarisses, Catalonia
- Burrén and Burrena[21] near Fréscano, Aragon
North and Central America
- Canada
- El Salvador
- Guadeloupe
- Mexico
- Puerto Rico
- United States
- Bubble Mountains, in Acadia National Park of Maine. [22]
- Nippletop, in the Adirondack High Peaks of New York. During the later 19th century, it was euphemistically renamed "Dial Mountain", a name now officially applied to another nearby peak.
- Pinnacle Mountain, Arkansas. During the colonial and early American periods, the mountain was known as "Mamelle" mountain. "Mamelle" is a name commonly applied in the French-speaking parts of the world to a breast.[23]
- Tetilla Peak, Caja del Rio, New Mexico. "Tetilla" is Spanish for "nipple".
- Teton Range. French-Canadian trappers named the Grand Teton Mountains around 1820. The distinctive peaks appeared as Les Trois Tetons (The Three Breasts) seen from the north[24]
- Twin Peaks (San Francisco, California). When the Spanish conquistadors and settlers arrived at the beginning of the 18th century, they called the area “Los Pechos de la Chola” or "Breasts of the Indian Maiden" and devoted the area to ranching.[25] When San Francisco passed under American control during the 19th Century, it was renamed "Twin Peaks".
Oceania
- Australia
- New Zealand
South America
- Argentina
- Bolivia
- Chile
- Cerro de Las Tetas, Chile
- Colombia
- Peru
- Uruguay
- Venezuela
Gallery
See also
References
- ^ "The feminine in early Irish myth and legend". Scoilnet. http://www.scoilnet.ie/womeninhistory/content/unit1/female.html. Retrieved 4 April 2011.
- ^ Mills, A.D. (2003). A Dictionary of British Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-852758-6. http://www.oxfordreference.com/pages/Subjects_and_Titles__2B_05.
- ^ Hylton (2003), p. 6.
- ^ Samson, South Hill Chambered Cairn - The Megalithic Portal
- ^ Samson, North Hill - The Megalithic Portal
- ^ Burrén. Parque Arqueológico de la Primera Edad del Hierro en Frescano
- ^ "The Story of Bodhidharma". USA Shaolin Temple. http://www.usashaolintemple.org/chanbuddhism-history/. Retrieved 4 April 2011.
- ^ Moureau, M.; Brace, G. (January 2008). Dictionnaire Du Petrole Et Autres Sources D'Energie: Anglais-Franncais, Francais-Anglais [Comprehensive Dictionary of Petroleum and Other Energy Sources]. Editions Technip. p. 936. ISBN 2710809117. http://books.google.co.nz/books?id=tmKPXhfkzgMC&pg=PA936&dq=mamelon+hillock&hl=en&ei=Er93TOejIZGCvgPgqP2MBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=mamelon%20hillock&f=false. Retrieved 4 April 2011.
- ^ Decobecq, Dominique. "L'histoire du cratère Dolomieu (Piton de la Fournaise)" (in French). http://dominique.decobecq.perso.neuf.fr/Dolomieu%20histoire.html. Retrieved 4 April 2011.
- ^ Jackman, Brian (16 January 2009). "Africa: taking flight over Kenya's elephant country". The Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/safariandwildlifeholidays/4227500/Africa-taking-flight-over-Kenyas-elephant-country.html. Retrieved 4 April 2011.
- ^ Lay, Vicheka (2007). "Cambodian Resort "Virtuous Woman's Breast" Mountain". Free Online Library. http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Cambodian+Resort+%22Virtuous+Woman's+Breast%22+Mountain-a01073746871. Retrieved 4 April 2011.
- ^ "Maiden's breast mountain, Occ. Mindoro (photo)". http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_pEfUk78kObQ/SchK75FmhgI/AAAAAAAAAEk/V6BbCZb_kgg/s1600-h/CSC_3652.JPG. Retrieved 4 April 2011.
- ^ "Virac (Capital Town)". Catanduanes Local Government. 2010. http://catanduanes.gov.ph/local-government/municipalities/virac-capital-town/. Retrieved 4 April 2011.
- ^ "The Legend of Khanom". Ice Family Tour. 2007. http://www.icefamilytour.com/eng_recommend_package07.php. Retrieved 4 April 2011.
- ^ "Nom Sao Island (Ko Nom Sao)". Thailand.com. http://www.thailand.com/travel/beach/beach_phangnga_konomsao.htm. Retrieved 4 April 2011.
- ^ Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park - Activities
- ^ Ko Nom Sao
- ^ Chanthaburi, Laem Sing Beach
- ^ "The meaning of place names in Ashfield". Ashfield District Council. http://www.ashfield-dc.gov.uk/ccm/navigation/leisure-and-culture/tourism-and-travel/tourist-information-centres-/the-meaning-of-place-names-in-ashfield/;jsessionid=889E664E1CA3318E332C58917939D158. Retrieved 4 April 2011.
- ^ "Tetica de Bacares, Sierra de los Filabres (2.080 m. altitud) (photo)". Panoramio. http://www.panoramio.com/photo/4116. Retrieved 4 April 2011.
- ^ Burrén y Burrena, las "dos teticas" con historia en Fréscano
- ^ "Bubble Mountains". Hike Bubble Mountains ME. July 2010. http://www.nhmountainhiking.com/hike/bubble/profile.jpg. Retrieved 2 September 2011.
- ^ "Pinnacle Mountain State Park". The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture. 4 February 2011. http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=1248. Retrieved 4 April 2011.
- ^ "Geology". Jackson Hole.com. 2011. http://www.jacksonholenet.com/nature/geology.php. Retrieved 4 April 2011.
- ^ http://www.sfgov.org/site/uploadedfiles/recpark/volunteer/Community_Catalyst_Newsletters/brochure_web%281%29.pdf sfgov.org
- ^ Cerro Tres Tetas - Argentina
- ^ "Cerro Batoví" (in Spanish). Acerca de Montevideo COMM. http://www.montevideo.com.uy/enciclopedia/haedo.htm#Batovi. Retrieved 4 April 2011.
- ^ "Teta de Niquitao" (in Spanish). Cúspides Venezuela. 2008. http://www.cuspidesvenezuela.com/teta.htm. Retrieved 4 April 2011.
External links