Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: International Trade and the Late Bronze Age Aegean
George Washington University ^ | 1994 | Eric H. Cline

Posted on 08/28/2004 4:49:39 PM PDT by SunkenCiv

The traditional circular sea route by which merchants are thought to have sailed around the ancient Mediterranean runs counter-clockwise: from the Greek Mainland to Crete, south to Egypt, up to Syro-Palestine and Cyprus, west to the Aegean via the southern coast of Anatolia, then to Rhodes and the Cycladic Islands, and ending up again at Crete and Mainland Greece. Longer routes incorporated the Central and Western Mediterranean as well. Merchants may, of course, have started in on this route at any point, for instance in Italy or Syro-Palestine rather than Crete.

Recent evidence has demonstrated that a clockwise route around the Mediterranean was also possible, arguments for currents and winds to the contrary notwithstanding. Such a route would involve sailing from Egypt, probably via the Libyan coast and watering holes such as Marsa Matruh, up to Crete and thence to Italy, or, via the island of Kythera, directly to Mainland Greece. Continuation might then have been via the Cycladic islands, Rhodes, the southern coast of Anatolia, Cyprus, Syro-Palestine and on back to Egypt. Again, merchants may have started their journeys at any point along this route.

It is likely that direct, rather than circular, routes also existed, such as short journeys between Crete and Egypt or the Greek Mainland and Western Anatolia. Long, fairly direct, routes may also have been in place, such as between Italy and Cyprus, although intermediary stops would have been necessary.

(Excerpt) Read more at home.gwu.edu ...


TOPICS: Arts/Photography; Books/Literature; Cheese, Moose, Sister; Education; History; Hobbies; Reference; Science; Travel; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: aegean; anatolia; ancientnavigation; archaeology; bronzeage; cyprus; ericcline; erichcline; ggg; godsgravesglyphs; history; lionelcasson; robertballard; shipwreck; shipwrecks
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-28 next last
A few years back an ancient wreck was found on the abyssal plain of the Mediterranean. Naturally, there are bound to be others down there (as suggested by Willard Bascom and Robert Ballard), but most wrecks happened in shallow water. Coastal sailing in ancient times was dreamed up by modern landlubbers. ;')
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest
-- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

1 posted on 08/28/2004 4:49:40 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: blam; Ernest_at_the_Beach; FairOpinion; farmfriend; StayAt HomeMother
Still not at home, will ping the list tomorrow, as well as update each of you.
Robert Ballard
interviewed by Elizabeth Farnsworth
1997
Well, when the ships sink in the high seas, it’s very different than in shallow water. In shallow water they commonly run aground; they hit a reef or rocks, and they are severely damaged and torn open. And then they fall in shallow water and then for centuries and in some cases millenniums, storms continue to pound on them, and they get rather obliterated by time, and then they’re commonly discovered by divers who loot them, or fishermen that loot them.

In the deep sea it’s a very different situation. These ships really just simply founder. They took on too much water. And they sank intact, and they sank pretty slowly. They fall down at a few miles an hour and settle into the soft mud thousands of feet below. And a portion of the ship is actually buried in the bottom, and then wood bores will eat the upper part of the ship, but it leaves everything, particularly the cargoes, in their imaginary hull. So when we came across them, we actually saw the cargo stacked inside the forward and after hulls of these ancient ships.
Mindell has role in ancient shipwreck discovery
by Denise Brehm
MIT News Office
1997
The wrecks included five ships from ancient Roman times; one Islamic ship, probably medieval; and two sailing ships from the 18th or 19th century. The oldest wreck, about 120 feet long, had two cargo holds containing bronze vessels, at least eight types of amphorae for carrying foodstuffs, an array of kitchen and other household wares and two large lead anchors. The largest amphora was about five feet tall. In order to confirm the estimated dates.

2 posted on 08/28/2004 4:55:00 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Unlike some people, I have a profile. Okay, maybe it's a little large...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

See my review ("HolyOlio").
The Ancient Mariners The Ancient Mariners
by Lionel Casson

3 posted on 08/28/2004 5:10:57 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Unlike some people, I have a profile. Okay, maybe it's a little large...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

The pristine deepwater wreck:

Deep-Sea Clues to an Ancient Culture Discovered
by William J. Broad
October 12, 1998

http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/101298sci-shipwreck.html


4 posted on 08/28/2004 5:12:02 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Unlike some people, I have a profile. Okay, maybe it's a little large...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: blam; FairOpinion; Ernest_at_the_Beach; SunkenCiv; 24Karet; 4ConservativeJustices; A.J.Armitage; ...
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest
-- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

5 posted on 08/29/2004 3:43:33 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Unlike some people, I have a profile. Okay, maybe it's a little large...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv
The need for rare tin during the bronze age made discoveries even of the Americas possibble by bronze age mariners - but when the iron age came about the dicoveries were lost as the need for tin was reduced.

Sort of like how we quest for oil now at remote parts of the earth but if we no longer needed fossil fuels we would lose over time our geoknowledge of deep sea oil fields if records were lost - and in the bronze age most records were orally remembered and passed down from captain to captain. In time they remained as only legends in the memory.

6 posted on 08/30/2004 7:31:30 PM PDT by Destro (Know your enemy! Help fight Islamic terrorism by visiting www.johnathangaltfilms.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Destro
The need for rare tin during the bronze age made discoveries even of the Americas possibble by bronze age mariners - but when the iron age came about the dicoveries were lost as the need for tin was reduced.
Hey, I think you're onto something, although I think it was the other way around -- as deposits were mined out, or access otherwise lost (for example, due to the climate cycle, or the fall of Carthage, or rising prices/barter rates) to the mines, or, as the energy costs fell (due to changes in the type or supply of fuel), iron superceded bronze (over a long period).

Also, the introduction of coined currency altered the nature of markets.

7 posted on 08/30/2004 9:48:29 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Unlike some people, I have a profile. Okay, maybe it's a little large...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

Carthage fell during the iron age so her fall would not have been a factor. The theory is not mine by the way but a Scandanavian archeologist - the guy found that famous viking long boat and restored it-his name escapes me.


8 posted on 08/31/2004 7:04:30 AM PDT by Destro (Know your enemy! Help fight Islamic terrorism by visiting www.johnathangaltfilms.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Destro
Carthage fell during the iron age so her fall would not have been a factor.
As I said, there was no abrupt end to the bronze age.

9 posted on 09/09/2004 10:12:52 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Unlike some people, I have a profile. Okay, maybe it's a little large...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

Actually there was - a major disruption as entities based on bronze age wealth crumbled.


10 posted on 09/10/2004 7:18:36 AM PDT by Destro (Know your enemy! Help fight Islamic terrorism by visiting www.johnathangaltfilms.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Destro
There was no such major disruption. The use of iron depended both on supply of ore and the supply of some energy to process it, just as the supply of bronze depended on raw materials. These came and went on different timetables for different societies (the use of bronze in America appears to have arrived only about 1000 years ago). The 19th century idea of English-pasture-like neat little steps from stone to copper to bronze to iron is d-e-a-d.
George W. Bush will be reelected by a margin of at least ten per cent

11 posted on 09/11/2004 8:39:43 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Unlike some people, I have a profile. Okay, maybe it's a little large...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv
I am talking about the collapse of the Bronze age civilizations.

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1511/is_n3_v19/ai_20324744

Empires in the dust - collapse of Bronze Age cultures in 2,200 A.D

12 posted on 09/11/2004 9:02:32 AM PDT by Destro (Know your enemy! Help fight Islamic terrorism by visiting www.johnathangaltfilms.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

Just updating the GGG information, not sending a general distribution.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

13 posted on 12/04/2005 9:52:13 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Down with Dhimmicrats! I last updated my FR profile on Wednesday, November 2, 2005.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


· join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic · subscribe ·

 
Gods
Graves
Glyphs
Just updating the GGG info, not sending a general distribution.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.
GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
 

·Dogpile · Archaeologica · ArchaeoBlog · Archaeology · Biblical Archaeology Society ·
· Discover · Nat Geographic · Texas AM Anthro News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo · Google ·
· The Archaeology Channel · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists ·


14 posted on 11/04/2009 5:29:44 PM PST by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/__Since Jan 3, 2004__Profile updated Monday, January 12, 2009)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; 1ofmanyfree; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; 31R1O; ...
Note: this topic is from 8/28/2004. This is a re-ping, should be of interest given the recent ancient wreck stories, and also of interest to Eric Cline fans.

15 posted on 10/26/2018 10:33:42 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (and btw -- https://www.gofundme.com/for-rotator-cuff-repair-surgery)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

Lionel Casson was head of the Classics Dept at NYU and he taught the intro course. I was lucky enough to have him as my prof when I took the course (back then, even as a bio major and pre-med, I had to take a full slate of liberal arts courses and graduate with a BA). He was an extraordinary teacher.


16 posted on 10/27/2018 5:04:13 AM PDT by Pharmboy (Democrats lie because they must.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

Folks here like to rant about globalism and consider trade on an international scale to be globalist

This post indicates international trade has been a fact of life literally since the beginning.

It is worth mentioning that the process was insured. Marine cargo insurance has been a part of the various trade venture for many thousande years


17 posted on 10/27/2018 5:59:18 AM PDT by bert ((KE. N.P. N.C. +12) Invade Hondouras. Provide a military government)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Destro

The end of the Bronze Age was coincidental and surely causative of the collapse of several civilizations.


18 posted on 10/27/2018 6:20:07 AM PDT by ThanhPhero
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Destro

The ancient and extensive copper mining activity in the Great Lakes area is indicative of European/Middle Eastern activity as the copper trinkets that have been found at Indian sites are far too sparse to account for the thousands of tons of copper that was removed from those mines.


19 posted on 10/27/2018 6:22:41 AM PDT by ThanhPhero
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: bert
I wholeheartedly agree.

20 posted on 10/27/2018 6:54:35 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (and btw -- https://www.gofundme.com/for-rotator-cuff-repair-surgery)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-28 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson