Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2882491 in Books
• Published on: 2001-11-08
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 144 pages

Review
"A charming and fascinating little book . . . Obregon takes us to the realm of the earliest sailors, prov[ing] himself as engaging a swabby as the best of them." "--The Philadelphia Inquirer
"An utterly elegant book, written with a poetic lilt." --"The Philadelphia Inquirer
"The book, which exudes an almost bewitching charm, lends itself to a wide readership interested in seafaring and its lore." --"Publishers Weekly

"From the Trade Paperback edition.

Synopsis
The story of Jason and the Argonauts and Homer's tales of Ulysses'wanderings are among the greatest of the ancient epics, but they are not merely fiction. Following the clues in the classical texts, Mauricio Obregon here maps the likely routes of these adventurers and reveals the remaining traces of the things and places they describe, re-creating the geographical discovery of the ancient world. Obregon takes us with him on his re-enactments of the hazardous adventures of Jason, sailing east along the coast of the Black Sea, and of Ulysses, sailing clockwise around the Mediterranean. These voyages map the two major seas of the ancient era and help us understand how the Greeks viewed their world - including the many startling deductions they were able to make about it (such as the circumference of the earth) from what today seems like limited knowledge. Obregon has also traced the voyages depicted in the Norse legends, followed adventurous Muslims on southern journeys, and emulated the Polynesians who managed to traverse the seemingly limitless Pacific. He scrutinizes every detail of sailing in ancient times, such as the mechanics of navigation.

The stars, for example, which the mariners took as their guides, were not in the positions that we see them in today, a crucial fact in re-creating past voyages. This wonderful book contains more than forty drawings and photographs,including depictions of the explorers' ships based on the descriptions in the literature that has come down to us, the facts hidden in the fiction, from ancient times.

Customer Reviews

A Fascinating Look at Ancient Exploration
The author takes ancient texts, religions, and stories and turns them into factual accounts of the sea-faring adventures of Greeks, Polynesians, Muslims, and Norsemen. Among the four groups, most of the world was explored in ancient times. The observations are based on the author's real-life experiences of retracing these routes, often by sea and otherwise by air. The book succinctly captures enormous amounts of perspective in just a few pages and with many stunning illustrations. I have read no book that is its equal for making the ancient world real to us today.

"At sea there are no atheists . . . ." Ambassador Obregon, who is now deceased, looks at religious beliefs for clues about the voyages. Ancient peoples often calculated their locations by where they were compared to the constellations overhead. They saw the gods in these constellations, which made them doubly meaningful.

He goes on to show the prevailing winds in the major parts of the world. Since much travel was by sail, these winds had a heavy influence on what routes were chosen.

From there, he draws on whatever available evidence there is to answer questions like:

How did the Argonauts get home?

Where did Homer write the Odyssey?

Are the 'Indians' of South America descendants of the Polynesians?

Although the answers can be considered to be no more than hypotheses, they represent ideas that certainly help rule out some of the alternative explanations. If you are like me, it greatly adds to your appreciation of these ancient stories and peoples to see where they may have gone on a map, and to learn what the practical problems were that they probably encountered on these trips. I would otherwise not have realized that the Danube could be traversed by heavy boat with minimal portages.

The hypothesis about the Polynesians is especially interesting. Since they were relying on sail for much of their travel, he suggests that they may have waited for winds to blow that countered the usual direction of the trades. This meant reducing the risk of going into an ocean of unknown length, because when the trade winds did return they would push one safely home.

His perspective on all of this in the epilogue is quite interesting. "Between [the Greeks and the Polynesians] . . ., they explored more than half [the earth's'] circumference, yet they never met." He also points out that the Muslims never made it thte Atlantic or the Pacific. But these travels were important, because they laid the foundation for the rediscovery of ancient knowledge that became the Renaissance.

The book is filled with little tidbits that would make a whole book for any other author. I particularly loved his explanation of how Eratosthenes of Syene (today's Aswan) came close to correctly calculating the earth's circumference in ancient times by measuring the length of a shadow in Alexandria to calculate its angle as compared to no shadow in Syene on the same day. How many of today's trigonometry or geometry students would conceive of this clever method?

I also encourage you to read this book for the purpose of thinking about how multidisciplinary perspectives can advance knowledge in ways that a narrower focus cannot. I would love to see this kind of thinking applied to many other issues about ancient times, such as how the pyramids were built.

I encourage you to do your own amateur sleuthing. Take something that seems unusual. What set of facts could explain it? In that way, you will strengthen your deductive powers.

Look closely, think hard, and fit the pieces together carefully . . . like reconstructing a broken pottery artifact!

Great essay comparing ancient sailors with today astronauts.
This essay deals with the parallelism of yesterday's sailors with today's astronauts. Expeditions like the Kontiki, the Vikings, Christopher Columbus, Magalhaes, Americo Vespucio, and many others were key at enlarging the frontiers of old Europe. Similar to those "descubridores", the efforts of NASA, European Space Agency, Russian Space Program, and the spirit of so many people lead by the astronauts' courage, may help find our planet Earth a way to enlarge its frontiers and contribute to increase our knowledge. I personally met the author of this grat essay, Mauricio Obregon, and had been anxiously waiting this edition. It is a luxury for anyone interested in the matter, to be able to read what such a talented and experienced man had to say.