History With RCS: Mago Bill, a Munster Man?
I
have posted a lot about Mago Bill and have even had a couple of Mago
Bill blogs. One of the Mago Bills I have written was probably born in
County Munster, but may have arrived in America before he could toddle.
He was my great grandfather M. William Sheehan.
Sheehan
is a fine and interesting surname, but Mago often attracts me
more.Spanish speaking friends tell me that in Spanish mago means
magician and the like. Some also tell me that "the three kings'' or
"three wise men" of Christmas are called magos and that each of them is a
mago. This seems interesting to me but may have been of no interest at
all to my great grandfather.
However,
I have been told that before Rome came of age and in the early days of
Carthage, that Mago was an important family name among the Carthaginian
Phoenicians. I see that Magos where friends and family of a famous guy
by the name of Hannibal.
Magos
were well known traders, navigators, and military leaders of
Carthage. Carthaginian traders and navigators came to Ireland for a
variety of reasons. The main reason was probably tin. In the Bronze age
and beyond tin was important because without it there was little bronze.
The Irish of the day were metal workers, craftsmen, and artists. They
were also miners, alchemists, poets, lovers, and impressionable for
hearing the name Mago so often from the visiting Carthaginians that they
began to name their male child, Mago. From that time and centuries on
the name Mago was from time to time quite popular on the Island.
The name Mago and Mago Bill have, from time to time, has influenced and inspired my research and writing of history.
On
this Mago Bill site you may expect essays dealing with Ireland, the
Irish, Mago Bill and much more as you may have already discovered.
Thanks for your visit and thank you for reading this essay which I have written for you.
More to come,
bye for now
RCS
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