Posted on 02/15/2015 10:41:05 AM PST by SunkenCiv
In describing a volcanic eruption from a high mountain towering over the sea Hanno mentions such details as sulphuric fumes and streams of lava. The only volcanic area in West Africa is represented by Mount Cameroon, which is still active today. It is located at the deepest point of the Gulf of Guinea, where it rises suddenly from the seashore, reaching a height of over 4000 meters... Those who have seen it from the sea consider it one of the most impressive sights in the world. The natives call it Mongana-Loba, "Mountain of the Gods," which well agrees with the Greek Theon Ochema, "Chariot of the Gods," of our text... Those who, not being committed to the rigid dogmas of the academy, as the noted explorer Sir Richard Francis Burton, have recognized Mount Cameroon in the mountain mentioned by Hanno, have been greeted with cacchinations. The prevailing opinion is that what Hanno saw were bonfires lighted by the natives. It is said that the streams of lava could have been the phosphorescence of leaves (Del Turco)... The course of Hanno's expedition was retraced in the second century B.C. by Polybius, one of the most careful historians of antiquity, who is quoted by Pliny (VI 35, 197) as having spoken of an imminens mari mons excelsus aeternis ardet ignibus, Theon Ochema dictus -- "a mountain of great height, close to the sea, burning with perpetual fires, called Theon Okhema." Did Polybius, too, mistake bonfires for a huge volcano? Or was the forest fire suggested by Del Turco still smoldering three hundred years later?
(Excerpt) Read more at metrum.org ...
Note: The term gorilla, now familiar to most people, comes from the Periplus of Hanno. The gorilla was 'discovered' midway through the 19th century, and given the name again in the European world, after a gap of some thousands of years. On the western coast of Africa, modern Essaouira was known as Mogador, a name derived from the Phoenician name given when it was settled in the 6th century BC. Interestingly, Phoenician (Carthaginian) potsherds were excavated (I don't feel like looking this up, it's around somewhere) with the name "Mago" on them.
Full text of “The Periplus of Hanno; a voyage of discovery down the west African coast”
http://archive.org/stream/cu31924031441847/cu31924031441847_djvu.txt
A Carthaginian Exploration of the West African Coast
Nicholas C. J. Pappas
http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/Hanno.html
The HistoriesAs for Libya, we know it to be washed on all sides by the sea, except where it is attached to Asia. This discovery was first made by Necos, the Egyptian king, who on desisting from the canal which he had begun between the Nile and the Arabian gulf, sent to sea a number of ships manned by Phoenicians, with orders to make for the Pillars of Hercules, and return to Egypt through them, and by the Mediterranean. The Phoenicians took their departure from Egypt by way of the Erythraean sea, and so sailed into the southern ocean. When autumn came, they went ashore, wherever they might happen to be, and having sown a tract of land with corn, waited until the grain was fit to cut. Having reaped it, they again set sail; and thus it came to pass that two whole years went by, and it was not till the third year that they doubled the Pillars of Hercules, and made good their voyage home. On their return, they declared -- I for my part do not believe them, but perhaps others may -- that in sailing round Libya they had the sun upon their right hand. In this way was the extent of Libya first discovered.
by Herodotus
tr by George Rawlinson
Book IV -- Melpomene
Wilbur Smith, the prolific historical novelist on all things African wrote a gripping novel about Phoenicians in Africa, based on the Hanno voyage.
Delenda est Carthago
Horse is out of the barn on that one. ;’)
Hey, I’m not a fan of his, so I’d never known about that one, thanks! The late Peter Bellamy *was* a fan of Al, and covered his “Nostradamus”; I’m a fan of PB, but freely admit he may be an acquired taste:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LfyGoWcZ_s
Thanks, never heard of him either, looks like the title is “Sunbird”.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/74778.The_Sunbird
https://www.facebook.com/notes/wilbur-smith/wilbur-smith-answers-your-questions/425190240829349
This reminded me of the tortured logic used by the academics who laughed at the Antikythera mechanism as being from around the first BC: "It was accidentally dropped overboard by a ship during the Middle Ages and just happened to land on the Roman wreck." (or words to that effect.)
That's right up there with those pooh-poohing experienced pilots who described structured aircraft making impossible turns at incredible speeds (UFOs) as "The planet Venus incorrectly observed." (I kid you not.)
The list goes on and on of dogmatic statements by those who refuse to deviate from "what we all know to be true" (because I have written books and based my whole academic career on that belief.)
I wholeheartedly agree. Beech fossils around 2-3 million years old were found on Antarctica — which has supposedly been in deep freeze for 30 million — and some future Nobel laureate claimed they’d been brought from South America (1200 km, minimum) by the winds. Another joker claimed that artifacts from a PreClovis context, found in Canada, were just recent discards, using the words, “any dude could have put that there.”
Never heard of Hanno or Wilbut Smith?.
:’) Never heard of Wilbut Smith, or Wilbur Smith, for that matter. ;’) Are his books along the lines of Clive Cussler’s various adventure series? I could go for that.
CaphtorThe island Caphtor is named in the Scriptures. The usual identification is Crete, because the Keftiu bringing presents (vases) to Egyptian pharaohs are thought to be Cretans.
by Immanuel Velikovsky
I prefer Cyprus as the biblical Caphtor and the Egyptian Keftiu.
If Caphtor is not Cyprus, then the Old Testament completely omits reference to this large island close to the Syrian coast. The phonetics of the name also point to Cyprus. Separately I show that Tarshish was the name of Crete.
It seems that the Philistines arrived in Palestine from Caphtor following the catastrophe that brought there the Israelites after their wandering in the Desert.
TarshishReferences to the ships of Tarshish and to a place of that name, in the Old Testament, beginning with the time of Solomon (10th century), to the time of the prophets of the 8th and 7th centuries, make me think that by this designation the Cretan navigators and Crete itself were meant. The Minoan civilization survived until the great catastrophes of the 8th century and it would be strange if it and its maritive activities remained unmentioned in the Old Testament.
by Immanuel Velikovsky
The usual explanation puts Tarshish in Spain, though other identifications are offered, like Tarsus, in Asia Minor. One of the old names for Knossos sounds like Tarshish.
New Light On The Dark Age Of Greece, "Tarshish"...So far we have based our discussion of the identity of Tarshish on Biblical sources; but there also exists an allusion to that land in another source, a cuneiform text found about a hundred years ago at Assur on the Tigris. The text is part of the annals of the Assyrian king Esarhaddon, who ruled over Assyria from -681 to -669. It reads:
by Jan Sammer"All the kingdoms from (the islands) amidst the sea -- from the country of Iadanan and Jaman as far as Tarshishi bowed to my feet and I received heavy tribute."The identities of the first two countries mentioned by Esarhaddon are known: Iadanan is Cyprus and Iaman is the Ionian coast of Asia Minor; the location of Tarshishi, however, became the subject of some debate, for this statement by Esarhaddon is the only time the name appears in any Assyrian text. It was noted that "Tarshishi" has the determinative mãt for "country" in front of it, as do Idanana, or Cyprus and Iaman, or Ionia. The only clue to its location was its being described as a kingdom "amidst the sea", apparently somewhat farther removed from Assyria than either Cyprus or Ionia.
When Esarhaddon's text was first published and transliterated the name was read as "Nu-shi-shi." At that time there were several conjectures as to the identification of this land. The city of Nysa in Caria was one suggestion; another was that the world refers to "nesos" for Peloponnesos. In 1914 D. D. Luckenbill ventured that "Knossos, for Crete, would fit better." Three years later B. Meissner made a fresh examination of the cuneiform tablet and found that the original transliteration of the name had been mistaken, and that "Tar-shi-shi" was the correct reading. The new reading took away Luckenbill's chief reason for his identification; yet he had the right solution, even if he reached it on wrong grounds. More recent scholarship identifies the land of Tarshishi mentioned by Esarhaddon with the city of Tarsus in Cilicia. Had Tarshishi been a city the name would have been preceded by the determinative URU; however, as mentioned above, it has mãt for "country". It is also difficult to see how a place in Cilicia would fit the description "from Iadanana and Iaman as far as Tarshishi." Clearly Tarsisi was farther west than either Cyprus or Ionia. These criteria are filled admirably by Crete.
New Evidence for Ages in ChaosThe statement of an Egyptian official from the time of the Old Kingdom that he visited eleven times Byblos and Punt should not be interpreted, as some scholars wished that he went this number of times to South Arabia or Somaliland, and as many times to the Phoenician coast. Actually, the ships which in the New Kingdom traded with Punt were called "Byblos-ships"...
by Immanuel Velikovsky
Finally, the written account of Thutmose III's campaign to Phoenicia-Palestine uses the same geographical name: Divine Land, that we found in the travelogue of Queen Hatshepsut, from whom Thutmose took over the throne.
Wow, I had heard of Peter Bellamy, but never “heard” him. Thanks for the link, big fan of folk music!
The Arab fleet discovered this volcano in 585 BC and traded the natives goats for diamonds. The Arabs named it Mounta Camelroon.
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.
