Using geosciences and mythology to locate Prospero's island

Abstract. The Tempest, the last work entirely attributed to William Shakespeare, has been subject many studies and interpretations, ranging from adventure Shakespeare's biography colonialism cultural revolution, is studied in this paper context of naturally occurring hazards. play tells story a magician, Prospero, his daughter who are shipwrecked on an unknown island where they encounter strange creatures beings. But it fantastic or was author inspired by real places? Literary scholars proposed several hypotheses through years, based historical sources. Here, we analyse light geosciences mythology supporting hypothesis that playwright Mediterranean. Our goal not identify but rather examine various geographical philosophical–political factors may have influenced literary creation. Nevertheless, some verses suggest volcanism, placing Sicilian sea. This underlines once again how deep playwright's knowledge Italy was. It also suggests part Mediterranean known, at time as theatre phenomena originated volcanism area. One implication he could used sources, still precious, reconstruct geological events occurred off coast.