Maritime Networks in the Ancient Mediterranean World

Maritime Networks in the Ancient Mediterranean World PDF

Author: Justin Leidwanger

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2018-11-22

Total Pages: 277

ISBN-13: 1108429947

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This book uses network ideas to explore how the sea connected communities across the ancient Mediterranean. We look at the complexity of cultural interaction, and the diverse modes of maritime mobility through which people and objects moved. It will be of interest to Mediterranean specialists, ancient historians, and maritime archaeologists.

Seafaring on the Ancient Mediterranean

Seafaring on the Ancient Mediterranean PDF

Author: A. F. Tilley

Publisher: BAR International Series

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 162

ISBN-13:

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Ancient seafaring and especially our fascination with the trireme have fuelled many vooks and debates, many of which are revisited and critiqued here. Alec Tilley takes his lead from the evidence itself, whether depictions on pottery or stone, or literary references, and seeks some semblance of objectivity in a field of research that, he argues, frequently indulges itself in the subjectivity of the evidence. Critiquing previous interpretations of the iconography of seafaring, he looks again at some of the iconography of of the trireme and other warships, discusses the orthodoc trireme debate and especially the Olympias, a recent reconstruction of an Athenian trireme. Along the way he argues that the number in the name of ancient oared ship refered to the number of files of oarsmen, highlighting the fact that many of the ancient artists who depicted ships were knowledgeable about the subject they portrayed, presents thoughts on the development of sailing and draws a series of distinctions between different types of vessels, and reviews the corpus of evidence for seafaring from pre-trireme days to the Phoenicians.

The Ancient Sailing Season

The Ancient Sailing Season PDF

Author: James Beresford

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2012-11-21

Total Pages: 380

ISBN-13: 9004241949

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Providing a comprehensive examination of the capacity of ancient ships and seafarers to cope with seasonally changing sea conditions, this book draws on a wide range of ancient literary sources while also taking account of modern weather records, hydrological data, and recent archaeological discoveries. Taking a fresh look at the various ways in which seasonality affected maritime transport across the sea-lanes of the ancient world, this book offers new perspectives on the nature of seaborne trade, naval warfare and piratical operations. The result is a volume that questions many long-held scholarly assumptions concerning the strength and seaworthiness of ancient vessels, as well as the abilities of Greek and Roman mariners, to regularly undertake voyages across hazardous stretches of sea.

Sailing from Polis to Empire

Sailing from Polis to Empire PDF

Author: Alexander Belov

Publisher:

Published: 2021

Total Pages: 127

ISBN-13:

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What can the architecture of ancient ships tell us about their capacity to carry cargo or to navigate certain trade routes? How do such insights inform our knowledge of the ancient economies that depended on maritime trade across the Mediterranean? These and similar questions lie behind Sailing from Polis to Empire, a fascinating insight into the practicalities of trading by boat in the ancient world. Allying modern scientific knowledge with Hellenistic sources, this interdisciplinary collection brings together experts in various fields of ship archaeology to shed new light on the role played by ships and sailing in the exchange networks of the Mediterranean. Covering all parts of the Eastern Mediterranean, these outstanding contributions delve into a broad array of data - literary, epigraphical, papyrological, iconographic and archaeological - to understand the trade routes that connected the economies of individual cities and kingdoms. Unique in its interdisciplinary approach and focus on the Hellenistic period, this collection digs into the questions that others don't think to ask, and comes up with (sometimes surprising) answers. It will be of value to researchers in the fields of naval architecture, Classical and Hellenistic history, social history and ancient geography, and to all those with an interest in the ancient world or the seafaring life.

Stone Age Sailors

Stone Age Sailors PDF

Author: Alan H Simmons

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-06-16

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 1315419726

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Over the past decade, evidence has been mounting that our ancestors developed skills to sail across large bodies of water early in prehistory. In this fascinating volume, Alan Simmons summarizes and synthesizes the evidence for prehistoric seafaring and island habitation worldwide, then focuses on the Mediterranean. Recent work in Melos, Crete, and elsewhere-- as well as Simmons’ own work in Cyprus-- demonstrate that long-distance sailing is a common Paleolithic phenomenon. His comprehensive presentation of the key evidence and findings will be of interest to both those interested in prehistory and those interested in ancient seafaring.

Roman Seas

Roman Seas PDF

Author: Justin Leidwanger

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 0190083654

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"This book offers an archaeological analysis of maritime economy and connectivity in the Roman east. That seafaring was fundamental to prosperity under Rome is beyond doubt, but a tendency to view the grandest long-distance movements among major cities against a background noise of small-scale, short-haul activity has tended to flatten the finer and varied contours of maritime interaction and coastal life into a featureless blue Mediterranean. Drawing together maritime landscape studies and network analysis, this work takes a bottom-up view of the diverse socioeconomic conditions and seafaring logistics that generated multiple structures and scales of interaction. The material record of shipwrecks and ports along a vital corridor from the southeast Aegean across the northeast Mediterranean provides a case study of regional exchange and communication based on routine sails between simple coastal facilities. Rather than a single well-integrated and persistent Mediterranean network, multiple discrete and evolving regional and interregional systems emerge. This analysis sheds light on the cadence of economic life along the coast, the development of market institutions, and the regional continuities that underpinned integration-despite certain interregional disintegration-into Late Antiquity. Through this model of seaborne interaction, the study advances a new approach to the synthesis of shipwreck and other maritime archaeological and historical economic data, as well as a path through the stark dichotomies that inform most paradigms of Roman connectivity and trade"--

Ships and Seafaring in Ancient Times

Ships and Seafaring in Ancient Times PDF

Author: Lionel Casson

Publisher: University of Texas Press

Published: 1994

Total Pages: 180

ISBN-13:

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Ever since the earliest travelers took to the water on reed rafts or inflated goatskins, ships and boats have played a paramount role in the history of the Western world. The invention of the sail about 3500 BC resulted in ever faster and more efficient water transport, and the great civilizations of Egypt, Greece, and Rome depended on ships and seafarers for their prosperity. This entertaining book by the world's foremost authority on ancient seamanship traces the development of the boat from the most primitive craft to the powerful warships of the Greeks, the huge Roman merchant vessels, and the slender galleys of the Vikings. Professor Casson shows how the discoveries of marine archaeologists and recent experiments with full-size replicas of ancient boats have increased our knowledge of the way in which ships were built and used. Drawing upon written accounts and contemporary artistic depictions of naval battles, trading expeditions, and other voyages, he brings the world of seafaring in ancient times vividly to life.

The Ancient Mariners

The Ancient Mariners PDF

Author: Lionel Casson

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2020-05-05

Total Pages: 293

ISBN-13: 0691212996

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Written by the renowned authority on ancient ships and seafaring Lionel Casson, The Ancient Mariners has long served the needs of all who are interested in the sea, from the casual reader to the professional historian. This completely revised edition takes into account the fresh information that has appeared since the book was first published in 1959, especially that from archaeology's newest branch, marine archaeology. Casson does what no other author has done: he has put in a single volume the story of all that the ancients accomplished on the sea from the earliest times to the end of the Roman Empire. He explains how they perfected trading vessels from mere rowboats into huge freighters that could carry over a thousand tons, how they transformed warships from simple oared transports into complex rowing machines holding hundreds of marines and even heavy artillery, and how their maritime commerce progressed from short cautious voyages to a network that reached from Spain to India.

Ancient Mediterranean Sea in Modern Visual and Performing Arts

Ancient Mediterranean Sea in Modern Visual and Performing Arts PDF

Author: Rosario Rovira Guardiola

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2017-12-14

Total Pages: 344

ISBN-13: 1474298605

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When thinking about the Mediterranean, Fernand Braudel's haunting words resound like an echo of the sea and its millenary history. From Prehistory until today, the Mediterranean has been setting, witness and protagonist of mythical adventures, of encounters with the Other, of battles and the rise and fall of cultures and empires, of the destinies of humans. Braudel's appeal for a long durée history of the Mediterranean challenged traditional views that often present it as a sea fragmented and divided through periods. This volume proposes a journey into the bright and dark sides of the ancient Mediterranean through the kaleidoscopic gaze of artists who from the Renaissance to the 21st century have been inspired by its myths and history. The view of those who imagined and recreated the past of the sea has largely contributed to the shaping of modern cultures which are inexorably rooted and embedded in Mediterranean traditions. The contributions look at modern visual reinterpretations of ancient myths, fiction and history and pay particular attention to the theme of sea travel and travellers, which since Homer's Odyssey has become the epitome of the discovery of new worlds, of cultural exchanges and a metaphor of personal developments and metamorphoses.