# Albion (Blake) > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Albion_(Blake) > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Albion_(Blake).md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albion_(Blake) > Source revision: 1352710284 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Primeval man in the mythology of William Blake Blake's image of Albion from his *[A Large Book of Designs](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=A_Large_Book_of_Designs&action=edit&redlink=1)* In the [mythology](/source/William_Blake's_mythology) of [William Blake](/source/William_Blake), **Albion** is the primeval man whose fall and division results in the **Four Zoas**: [Urizen](/source/Urizen), [Tharmas](/source/Tharmas), [Luvah](/source/Luvah)/[Orc](/source/Orc_(Blake)) and [Urthona](/source/Urthona)/[Los](/source/Los_(Blake)). The name derives from the ancient and mythological name of Britain, [Albion](/source/Albion). ## Sources In the mythical story of the founding of [Britain](/source/Great_Britain), [Albion](/source/Alebion) was a [giant](/source/Gigantes) and a son of [Poseidon](/source/Poseidon), the [Greek god](/source/Greek_mythology) of the sea. He was a contemporary of [Heracles](/source/Heracles), who killed him. Albion founded a country on the island and ruled there. Britain, then called Albion after its founder, was inhabited by his Giant descendants until about 1100 years before [Julius Cæsar](/source/Julius_C%C3%A6sar)'s invasion of Britain, when [Brutus of Troy](/source/Brutus_of_Troy) came and defeated the small number of Giants that remained (as a group of the Giants had killed all the others). According to another account, [Noah](/source/Noah)'s son [Japhet](/source/Japhet) had a son named [Histion](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Histion&action=edit&redlink=1), who had four sons. Their names were [Francus](/source/France), [Romanus](/source/Rome), [Brittos](/source/Brutus_of_Troy) and [Alemannus](/source/Germany), and the French, Roman, British and German people are descended from them. [Brittos](/source/Brutus_of_Troy) divided Britain into three kingdoms and gave each to one of his sons. They were Loegria (a Latinization of the Welsh [Lloegyr](/source/Lloegyr)), [Scotland](/source/Scotland) and [Cambria](/source/Cambria).[1] The division of the primordial man is found in many mythic and mystic systems throughout the world, including [Adam Kadmon](/source/Adam_Kadmon) in [Kabbalah](/source/Kabbalah) and [Prajapati](/source/Prajapati) in the [Rigveda](/source/Rigveda). ## Usage The long, unfinished poem properly called *[Vala, or The Four Zoas](/source/Vala%2C_or_The_Four_Zoas)* expands the significance of the Zoas, but they are integral to all of Blake's prophetic books. Blake's painting of a naked figure raising his arms, loosely based on *[Vitruvian Man](/source/Vitruvian_Man)*, is now identified as a portrayal of Albion, following the discovery of a printed version with an inscription identifying the figure.[2] It was formerly known as "Glad Day", since it was assumed by [Alexander Gilchrist](/source/Alexander_Gilchrist) to illustrate a quotation from [Shakespeare](/source/William_Shakespeare). Blake also uses the name [Albion](/source/Albion) in its traditional meaning, as an ancient synonym for Britain, in his poem "A Little Boy Lost" in *[Songs of Experience](/source/Songs_of_Experience)*. The poem tells about a young boy who, using reason, realizes that humans are selfish, and that "naught loves another as itself". He asks the priest: "Father, how can I love you / or any of my brothers more? / I love you like the little bird / That picks up crumbs around the door". The priest accuses the boy of blasphemy, and burns him "in a holy place / where many had been burned before". Blake concludes the poem by asking: "Are such things done on Albion's shore?" ## Children 12 Daughters of Albion; in front [Gwendolen](/source/Queen_Gwendolen) (left) and [Cambel](/source/Cambel) (right). Jerusalem? Plate 81 (detail) The Sons of Albion feature in the poem *[Jerusalem](/source/Jerusalem_The_Emanation_of_the_Giant_Albion)*. They are 12, and are named as Hand, Hyle, Coban, Guantok, Peachey, Brereton, Slayd, Hutton, Scofield, Kox, Kotope, Bowen. These names are mostly drawn from figures from Blake's 1803 sedition trial.[3] The Daughters of Albion feature in *[Visions of the Daughters of Albion](/source/Visions_of_the_Daughters_of_Albion)*, and other [prophetic books](/source/William_Blake's_prophetic_books). They are named, not consistently though, in *The Four Zoas* and in *Jerusalem*: 1. [Gwendolen](/source/Queen_Gwendolen) 1. [Ragan](/source/Regan_(King_Lear)) 1. [Sabrina](/source/Hafren) 1. [Gonorill](/source/Goneril) 1. Mehetabel 1. [Cordella](/source/Cordelia_of_Britain) 1. [Boadicea](/source/Boudica)/[Gwiniverra](/source/Guinevere) 1. Conwenna 1. [Estrild](/source/Estrildis) 1. Gwinefrid 1. [Ignoge](/source/Innogen) 1. Cambel Gwiniverra has replaced Boadicea, who is later equated with Cambel.[4] They are mostly drawn from [Geoffrey of Monmouth](/source/Geoffrey_of_Monmouth)'s *[Historia Regum Britanniae](/source/Historia_Regum_Britanniae)* and [John Milton](/source/John_Milton)'s *[The History of Britain](/source/History_of_Britain_(John_Milton))*.[5] ## See also - [Alebion](/source/Alebion) – Ancient Greek mythological figure - [15760 Albion](/source/15760_Albion) – Trans-Neptunian object, prototype of cubewanos, minor planet ## Sources 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** [Thomas Bulfinch](/source/Thomas_Bulfinch). Bulfinch's mythology, published: 1913. place: New York, New York 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** William Blake (illustrator) (1794–1796). [*Albion Rose, a colour printed etching with hand-drawn additions in ink and watercolour*](https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1352233&partId=1) (planographic print; engraving; hand-coloured; colour). Retrieved 2008-08-12. Albion rose from where he laboured at the Mill with Slaves / Giving himself for the Nations he danc'd the dance of Eternal Death (Full unabbreviated title at: [Google Arts & Culture](https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/beta/asset/william-blake-albion-rose-a-colour-printed-etching-with-hand-drawn-additions-in-ink-and-watercolour/9gH8FkV-uW3zjQ) site) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Blake, William (1804), [*(Illustrations for) Jerusalem, the Emanation of the giant Albion*](http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b2200198d), London: Trianon Press 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Jerusalem 71:23 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Damon, S. Foster. A Blake Dictionary. Hanover: University Press of New England, 1988, p. 14. v t e William Blake Literary works Early writings Poetical Sketches An Island in the Moon All Religions are One There is No Natural Religion Songs of Innocence and of Experience Songs of Innocence The Shepherd The Ecchoing Green The Lamb The Little Black Boy The Blossom The Chimney Sweeper The Little Boy Lost The Little Boy Found Laughing Song A Cradle Song The Divine Image Holy Thursday Night Spring Nurse's Song Infant Joy A Dream On Another's Sorrow Songs of Experience Introduction Earth's Answer The Clod and the Pebble Holy Thursday The Little Girl Lost The Little Girl Found The Chimney Sweeper Nurse's Song The Sick Rose The Fly The Angel The Tyger My Pretty Rose Tree Ah! Sun-flower The Lilly The Garden of Love The Little Vagabond London The Human Abstract Infant Sorrow A Poison Tree A Little Boy Lost A Little Girl Lost To Tirzah The School Boy The Voice of the Ancient Bard A Divine Image (found only in Copy BB) Prophetic books The continental prophecies America a Prophecy Europe a Prophecy The Song of Los Other Tiriel The Book of Thel The Marriage of Heaven and Hell The French Revolution Visions of the Daughters of Albion The Book of Urizen The Book of Ahania The Book of Los The Four Zoas Milton Jerusalem: The Emanation of the Giant Albion The Pickering Manuscript "Auguries of Innocence" "The Mental Traveller" The Rossetti Manuscript "Never pain to tell thy love" Mythology Ahania Albion Beulah Bromion Enion Enitharmon Fuzon Golgonooza Grodna Har Leutha Los Luvah Orc Palamabron Spectre Tharmas Thiriel Tiriel Urizen Urthona Utha Vala Art Paintings and prints Relief etching Engravings for Original Stories from Real Life The Ancient of Days Europe Supported by Africa and America The Night of Enitharmon's Joy Newton Nebuchadnezzar Illustrations for Night-Thoughts Illustrations of The Grave The Four and Twenty Elders Casting their Crowns before the Divine Throne Illustrations of Paradise Lost A Vision of the Last Judgement Descriptive Catalogue The Great Red Dragon paintings Pity The Ghost of a Flea Agony in the Garden Illustrations of On the Morning of Christ's Nativity The Wood of the Self-Murderers: The Harpies and the Suicides Illustrations of the Book of Job Sketches Visionary Heads Scholarship, in popular culture, and more Scholarly works Life of William Blake The Works of William Blake: Poetic, Symbolic and Critical Fearful Symmetry Blake: Prophet Against Empire Witness Against the Beast Musical Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings (1943) Ten Blake Songs (1958) Songs and Proverbs of William Blake (1965) The Lamb (1982) Themes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1998) Related William Blake in popular culture William Blake Archive Blake (1983 monologue) In Lambeth (1989 play) Catherine Blake (wife) Ancients --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Albion (Blake)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albion_(Blake)) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albion_(Blake)?action=history)). 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