Navigation
THE EARLIEST SEAFARERS
Herodotus 2.43:
The Egyptians were among the earliest seafarers
Concerning Heracles, I heard it said that he was one of the twelve gods. But I could
nowhere in Egypt hear anything concerning the other Heracles, whom the Greeks
know. I have indeed many proofs that the name of Heracles did not come from Hellas
to Egypt, but from Egypt to Hellas (and in Hellas to those Greeks who gave the name
Heracles to the son of Amphitryon); and this is the chief among them—that
Amphitryon and Alcmene, the parents of this Heracles, were both by descent Egyptian;
and that the Egyptians deny knowledge of the names of Poseidon and the Dioscuri, nor
are these gods reckoned among the gods of Egypt. Yet had they got the name of any
deity from the Greeks, it was these more than any that they were like to remember, if
indeed they were already making sea voyages and the Greeks too had seafaring men, as
I suppose and judge; so that the names of these gods would have been even better
known to the Egyptians than the name of Heracles. Nay, Heracles is a very ancient god
in Egypt; as the Egyptians themselves say, the change of the eight gods to the twelve, of
whom they deem Heracles one, was made seventeen thousand years before the reign of
Amasis.
WHEN TO SAIL
Hesiod, Works and Days 618-640
A lubberly Greek poet born on Cyme, Aeolis (south of Lesbos) but settling at Ascra in Boeotia,
Hesiod was roughly a younger contemporary of Homer. Several titles are attributed to Hesiod,
but the two most important (extant) works are Works and Days (a versified, didactic, and
moralizing farmer’s almanac) and the Theogony which traces the creation of the world and the
generations of the gods. Here Hesiod describes the weather that sailors might expect at various
times of the year.
But if desire for storm-tossed seafaring seize you: when the Pleiades, fleeing Orion’s
mighty strength, fall into the murky sea, at that time blasts of all sorts of winds rage; do
not keep your boat any longer in the wine-dark sea at that time, but work the earth,
mindful, as I bid you. Draw up your boat onto the land and prop it up with stones,
surrounding it on all sides, so that they can resist the strength of the winds that blow
moist, and draw out the bilge-plug, so that Zeus’ rain does not rot it. Lay up all the gear
1
Navigation
well prepared in your house after you have folded the sea-crossing boat’s wings [sails]
in good order; and hang up the well-worked rudder above the smoke. You yourself
wait until the sailing season arrives, and then drag your swift boat down to the sea,
arrange the cargo in it and get it ready so that you can bring the profit home, just as my
father and yours, Perses, you great fool, used to sail in boats, deprived as he was of a
fine means of life. Once he came here too, after he had crossed over a big sea, leaving
behind Aeolian Cyme in a black boat, fleeing not wealth nor riches nor prosperity, but
evil poverty, which Zeus gives to men. And he settled near Helicon in a wretched
village, Ascra, evil in winter, distressful in summer, not ever fine.
Vegetius 4.39
We are fortunate to have the de Re Militari of Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, ca. 400 CE. In
four books, Vegetius describes recruitment and training; equipment and striking camp; the
organization and administration of the legion and the duties of various officers; tactics and
strategy for many situations, including how to resist war elephants and scythed chariots;
fortifications; siege strategies for attack and defense; and the tenets of naval warfare. Vegetius
eulogizes the army of the early Empire, especially with regard to training and discipline, and he
bemoans the shortcomings of the army of his own day as a plea for reform.
The next question is to consider months and dates. For the violence and roughness of
the sea do not permit navigation all the year round, but some months are very suitable,
some are doubtful, and the rest are impossible for fleets by a law of nature. When
Pachon [an Egyptian month] has run its course, that is, after the rising of the Pleiades,
from six days before the Kalends of June (27 May) until the rising of Arcturus, that is,
eighteen days before the Kalends of October (14 September), navigation is deemed safe,
because thanks to the summer the roughness of the sea is lessened. After this date until
three days before the Ides of November (11 November) navigation is doubtful and more
exposed to danger, as after the Ides of September (13 September) rises Arcturus, a most
violent star, and eight days before the Kalends of October (24 September) occur fierce
equinoctial storms, and around the Nones of October (7 October) the rainy Haedi, and
five days before the Ides of the same (11 October) Taurus. But from the month of
November the winter setting of the Vergiliae (Pleiades) interrupts shipping with
frequent storms. So from three days before the Ides of November (11 November) until
six days before the Ides of March (10 March) the seas are closed. The minimal daylight
and long nights, dense cloud cover, foggy air, and violence of winds doubled by rain
and snow not only keep fleets from the sea but also traffic from making journeys by
land. But after the birthday, so to speak, of navigation [Navigium Isidis—see Water and
2
Navigation
Religion] which is celebrated with annual games and public spectacles in many cities, it
is still perilous to venture upon the sea right up to the Ides of May (15 May) by reason
of very many stars and the season of the year itself—not that the activities of merchants
cease, but greater caution should be shown when an army takes to the sea in warships
than when the enterprising are in a hurry for their private profits.
SEASICKNESS
Celsus 1.3.11
You will recall Celsus from the 4-element readings as one of our most valuable sources on
Roman medicine.
He too who on a voyage is troubled by seasickness, if he has vomited out a quantity of
bile, should fast or take very little food. If he has spewed out sour phlegm, he may take
food notwithstanding, but lighter than usual; if he has nausea without vomiting, he
should either fast, or after food excite a vomit.
Juvenal 6.82-113
We met the satirist Juvenal in the unit on hydraulic engineering. In his famous diatribe against
women, Juvenal asserts that only strumpets would actually enjoy travel by water.
Eppia, wife of a senator, ran off with the gladiators to Pharos, to the Nile, and
notorious Alexandria; Even decadent Canopus condemned immoral Rome; She forgot
her home, her husband, deserted her sister, shamelessly, left her country, her wailing
children, and, amazingly, Paris her actor, and the Games. Though, as a child of a
wealthy family, she once slept In a richly decorated cradle on soft, downy pillows, That
sea voyage concerned her little; nor her reputation, Which is ever the least of losses to
such ladies of luxury. And, with a firm spirit, she endured Tyrrhenian waves,
The Ionian Sea’s vast roar, though she was often hurled From one abyss to
another. Though the reason be just And virtuous, for taking risks, women are still
afraid, Their hearts frozen with terror, trembling in every limb: Yet they’re courageous
when daring shameful things. If a husband demands it; then, boarding ship’s a pain,
The bilge is sickening, sky spinning round and round. But with a lover, her stomach’s
fine. A wife will vomit Over her husband, a mistress eat with the sailors, stride The
deck, and delight in handling the stubborn rigging.
3
Navigation
CELESTIAL NAVIGATION
Strabo 1.1.6
On the extraordinary navigational skills of the Phoenicians
And he makes it clear that the Aithiopians were the farthest on the Ocean, the farthest
"Aithiopians, divided in two, the farthest of men [Odyssey 1.23]," not saying "divided in
two" casually (as will be shown later). They are also on the Ocean: "Zeus went yesterday
to Okeanos among the noble Aithiopians for a banquet [Iliad 1.423-4]." He suggests that
the farthest land to the north is along the Ocean when he says that the Bear "alone has
no part in the waters of Okeanos [Iliad 18.489; Odyssey 5.275]." This is because, in
regard to the Bear and the Chariot, he means the arctic circle. Since so many stars go
around in that region that is always visible, he would not have said that it [the Bear]
alone has no part in the waters of the Ocean. But it is not good to accuse him of
ignorance, that he knew about one Bear rather than two. It is not likely that the other
had yet to be classified (as the Phoenicians had designated it and used it for sailing), but
that the constellation was still unnoticed by the Greeks, just as with the Lock of
Berenike and Canopus, which were recently named. There are many that are still
unnamed, as Aratos [Phainomena 145-6, 391] says. Thus Krates is not correct when he
says that "it [the arctic circle] alone has no part in the water [F27]," avoiding what need
not be avoided. Herakleitos is better and more Homeric, as he similarly speaks of the
Bear in place of the arctic circle: "The Bear is the limit of morning and evening, and
opposite the Bear is the boundary of clear Zeus [F91]," since the arctic circle, not the
Bear, is the boundary of setting and rising. Thus by the Bear, [C4] which he [Homer]
also calls the Chariot and which he says [Iliad 18.487-8; Odyssey 5.273-4] watches Orion,
he means the arctic circle, and by Okeanos the horizon into which he makes [the stars]
set and from which they rise. Saying that the former rotates without a share in the
Ocean, he knows that the arctic circle has as its limit the most northern part of the
horizon. Consequently, constructing the poetry in this way, we are obliged to accept the
horizon of the earth as similar to the Ocean, and the arctic circle as touching the earth-according to our senses--at the most northern limit of habitation. Thus this part of the
earth would also be washed by the Ocean.
Pliny the Elder, Natural History 7.209
4
Navigation
more on the amazing Phoenicians
The freight-ship was invented by Hippus of Tyre, the cutter by the Cyrenians, the skiff
by the Phoenicians, the yacht by the Rhodians, the yawl by the Cyprians; the
Phoenicians invented observing the stars in sailing, the town of Copae invented the oar,
the city of Plataea the oar-blade, Icarus sails, Daedalus mast and yard, the Samians or
Pericles of Athens the cavalry transport, the Thasians decked longships—previously the
marines had fought from the bows and stern only. Pisaeus son of Tyrrenus added
beaks, Eupalamus the anchor, Anacharsis the double-fluked anchor, Pericles of Athens
grappling-irons and claws, Tiphys the tiller. Minos was the first who fought a battle
with a fleet.
Vergil, Aeneid 10.146-162
Aeneas leaves Evander’s city with Arcadian allies, and Evander’s son Pallas inquires about
Celestial Navigation
Thus they had clashed in stubborn warfare’s conflict: and Aeneas at midnight was
cleaving the seas. For when, leaving Evander and entering the Tuscan camp, he meets
the king, and to the king announces his name and his race, the aid he seeks, and the aid
he himself offers; informs him of the forces Mezentius is gathering to his side, and the
violence of Turnus’ spirit; then warns him, what faith may be put in things human, and
with pleas mingles entreaties—without delay Tarchon joins forces and strikes a treaty;
then, freed from Fate, the Lydian people embark under heaven’s ordinance, entrusting
themselves to a foreign leader. Aeneas’ shiptakes the lead with Phrygian lions beneath
her beak; above them towers Ida, sight most welcome to Trojan exiles. There sits great
Aeneas, pondering the changing issues of war; and Pallas, staying close to his left side,
asks him now about the stars, their guide through the dark night, and now of his trials
by land and sea
DISASTERS AT SEA
Tacitus, Agricola 28
5
Navigation
In 83 CE, when Agricola is serving as governor of Britain, a cohort of allied cavalry fighter
mutiny. In trying to return to their homeland on the continent (they had been displaced several
times), the Usipi (the “good riders”), take to the sea, accidentally circumnavigate Britain, and
degenerate into the most abominable behavior possible.
28. During the same summer a cohort of Usipi, enrolled in our German provinces and
sent across to Britain, perpetrated a signal and memorable crime. After murdering their
centurions and such soldiers as had been distributed among their companies to instil
discipline, and who passed as models and instructors, they manned three galleys,
violently coercing the helmsmen: making one of them join the rowers—for the other
two fell under suspicion and were put to death—they caused great surprise as they
sailed past before the news was abroad. Afterwards, disembarking for water and to
forage for necessaries, they gave battle to various bodies of Britons defending their
property, and after many victories and some defeats ultimately were reduced to such
straits as to eat the weakest of their company, and after them the victims drawn by lot.
In this fashion they sailed round Britain, and then lost the ships because of their
ignorance of navigation. They were treated as pirates and put to death, some by the
Suebi, others by the Frisii; some of them also were sold in the way of trade, and so
reached by exchange of purchasers our bank of the river, and gained notoriety by the
story of their remarkable adventures.
Tacitus, Annales 2.15
In 9 BCE, in the Teutoberg Forest, the chieftain of the Germanic tribe of the Cherusci (Arminius:
18/17 BCE-21 CE) devastatingly defeated three legions of Roman troops under the command of
governor Quinctilius Varus. Arminius had talked Varus into diverting the three legions, en
route to their winter quarters, to suppress a fictive rebellion in northern Germany. The legions
were bogged down by their supply trains, in thick, unfamiliar territory, and they were utterly
overwhelmed by Arminius’ guerilla troops. The standards were lost and the legionary numbers
were retired.
Fast forward to 16 CE (below), Arminius is still at war with the Romans, and they are about to
engage in battle with Roman troops under the command of the charismatic Germanicus (nephew
of the sour Tiberius). In his pre-battle pep-talk to his troops, Arminius accuses the Romans of
cowardice because they took to the seas to escape fighting the Germans back in the day
Nor did Arminius or the other German chieftains fail to call their several clans to
witness that “these were the Romans of Varus’ army who had been the quickest to run,
6
Navigation
men who rather than face war had resorted to mutiny; half of whom were again
exposing their spear-scored backs, half their wave and tempest-broken limbs, to a
revengeful foe, under the frowns of Heaven and hopeless of success! For it was to ships
and pathless seas they had had recourse, so that none might oppose them as they came
or chase them when they fled. But if once the fray was joined, winds and oars were a
vain support for beaten men!—They had only to remember Roman greed, cruelty, and
pride: was there another course left for them but to hold their freedom or to die before
enslavement?”
Tacitus, Annales 2.23-24—shipwreck during the Varian disaster
Germanicus proved victorious against Arminius, but there were more German tribes to conquer.
As his troops embark to engage other German troops, a storm rises, the harrowing results are
here stunningly described by Tacitus.
However, as summer was already at the full, a part of the legions were sent back to
winter quarters by the land route: the majority were put on shipboard by the prince,
who took them down the Ems into the North Sea. At first it was a tranquil expanse,
troubled only by the sound and impulse of the sails and oars of a thousand ships. But
soon the hail poured from a black mass of clouds, and simultaneously the waves,
buffeted by conflicting gales from every quarter, began to blot out the view and impede
the steering. The soldiers—struck by alarm, and unfamiliar with the sea and its
hazards—nullified by their obstruction or mistimed help the services of the professional
sailors. Then all heaven, all ocean, passed into the power of the south wind; which,
drawing its strength from the sodden lands of Germany, the deep rivers, the endless
train of clouds, with its grimness enhanced by the rigour of the neighbouring north,
caught and scattered the vessels to the open ocean or to islands either beetling with
crags or perilous from sunken shoals. These were avoided with time and difficulty; but,
when the tide began to change and set in the same direction as the wind, it was
impossible either to hold anchor or to bale out the inrushing flood. Chargers, packhorses, baggage, even arms, were jettisoned, in order to lighten the hulls, which were
leaking through the sides and overtopped by the waves.
Precisely as Ocean is more tempestuous than the remaining sea, and Germany
unequalled in the asperity of its climate, so did that calamity transcend others in extent
and novelty—around them lying hostile shores or a tract so vast and profound that it is
believed the last and landless deep. Some of the ships went down; more were stranded
on remote islands; where, in the absence of human life, the troops died of starvation,
7
Navigation
except for a few who supported themselves on the dead horses washed up on the same
beach. Germanicus’ galley put in to the Chaucian coast alone. Throughout all those
days and nights, posted on some cliff or projection of the shore, he continued to exclaim
that he was guilty of the great disaster; and his friends with difficulty prevented him
from finding a grave in the same waters. At length, with the turning tide and a
following wind, the crippled vessels began to come in, some with a few oars left, others
with clothing hoisted for canvas, and a few of the weaker in tow. They were instantly
refitted and sent out to examine the islands. By that act of forethought a large number
of men were gathered in, while many were restored by our new subjects, the
Angrivarians, who had ransomed them from the interior. A few had been swept over to
Britain, and were sent back by the petty kings. Not a man returned from the distance
without his tale of marvels—furious whirlwinds, unheard-of birds, enigmatic shapes
half-human and half-bestial: things seen, or things believed in a moment of terror.
Seneca the Elder, Suasoria 15
Spanish born rhetor and moralist, Seneca the Elder (54 BCE-39 CE) tutored his eponymous son in
Stoic philosophy. Several of his collections survive, including the 10 books of Controversiae,
arguing (imaginary) legal cases from different points of view, and the Suasoriae (“persuasive”
books) arguing whether certain acts should or should not be performed. Lost is his History of
Rome, from the beginning of the civil wars almost down to his own death, published
posthumously by his son. Here, Seneca cites Albinovanus Pedo’s versified account of
Germanicus’ maritime disaster.
The Augustan era poet (Augustus ruled 27 BCE-14 CE), Albinovanus Pedo was praised for his
epic on Theseus and admired as a raconteur. All that survives of his work is the extract below.
And now they see day and sun long left behind;
Banished from the familiar limits of the world
They dare to pass through forbidden shades
To the bounds of things, the remotest shores of the world.
Now they think Ocean, that breeds beneath its sluggish waves
Terrible monsters, savage sea-beasts everywhere,
And dogs of the sea, is rising, taking the ships with it
(The very noise increases their fears): now they think the vessels
Are sinking in the mud, the fleet deserted by the swift wind,
Themselves left by indolent fate to the sea-beasts,
To be torn apart unhappily.
8
Navigation
Someone high on the prow struggles to break
Through the blinding mist, his sight battling.
He can discern nothing—the world has been snatched away.
He pours his frustrated heart into words:
‘Where are we being carried? Day itself is in flight,
Furthest nature shuts off in everlasting shadows
The world we have left. Are we looking for races
Beyond, in another clime, a new world untouched by breezes?
The Gods call us back, forbid us to know the end of creation
With mortal eyes. Why do our oars violate seas that are not ours,
Waters that are holy? Why do we disturb the quiet home of the Gods?’
9