Arcadia

A mountainous district of the Peloponnese, southwestern Greece, named after Arcas. It was chiefly inhabited by shepherds and the abode of Pan. Virgil called it the home of pastoral simplicity and happiness.

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Sir Philip Sidney used the name for the title of his romance (1590), and Arcadia became thereafter a byword for rustic bliss.

References

Source

  • Cooper, J.C., ed. (1997). Brewer's Book of Myth and Legend. Oxford: Helicon Publishing Ltd.