Egyptians (sailing): * see EndNote<A>

The Nile was the highway linking the Egyptian civilization together; prevailing winds blew south, propelling boats travelling up river, boats heading north used the current & oars.  Ships transporting people & goods travelled easily up the delta to the First Cataract at Aswan.  Egyptian watercraft had a high stern and bow; by the New Kingdom, they had cabins at both ends.  The simplest type was the skiff, made of papyrus reeds tied together & used for fishing, hunting game in the marshes or for travelling short distances.  Larger wooden ships were equipped with square sails & oars.  Their planks, bound with rope, expanded in the water, making the vessel watertight.  Acacia wood was used in Lower Nubia to build the ships that transported massive blocks of stone from Aswan to the Giza site of the pyramids, temples & cities along the Nile.  Egyptians also used large seagoing ships in their trade with the city states of the eastern Mediterranean, especially Byblos (Lebanon), and made several expeditions down the Red Sea to the Land of Punt.

 

oil-painting (origins):

Vasari credits the Early Netherlandish painters Jan van Eyck (1390-1441) & Robert Campin (1375-1444) with the invention of oil based painting, initially using oil media on wood panel.  Late in the 15th century canvas became more popular (cheaper, easy to transport, allowed larger works & did not require gesso).  It was adopted in the rest of Northern Europe & eventually Italy followed.  Venice (where sail-canvas was easily available) was a leader in the move to canvas.

 

counterpoint (origins):

giving counterpoint an exact birthday is problematic; it is around as early as the 10th century in the organum.  Counterpoint in the Middle Ages is expressed in the rhythmic contrasts between different voice parts; between 1100-1400 these contrasts increase in complexity.  Guillaume de Machaut (1300-77) developed Ars Nova (using isorhythm- the repeated overlapping of a rhythmic pattern in varying melodic forms).  The 14th century bridges medieval counterpoint & its Renaissance variety, which explored melodic relationships between the voice parts.  They employed “imitation”: the successive statement of the same or similar melody in each voice part so that 1 voice imitates another. 

 

gunpowder (birth):

The earliest European recipes for gunpowder date from the late 13th century (The Liber Ignium, or Book of Fires, attributed to Marcus Graecus).  In the 14th century European gunpowder makers made major technical advances (wet grinding, paste balls) for the production & manufacture of gunpowder, reducing cost, increasing safety, efficiency & reliability.

 

compass:

The earliest European descriptions of magnetized needles & compasses are found in the works of the English theologian Alexander Neckam (1157–1217 AD).  Their use in Medieval Europe begins around 1300.

 

long-range weapons:

The first cannons appeared in Italy in 1320, first used as anti-infantry weapons.  In 1374 cannons were first recorded as having breached fortress walls in Europe.  The hand cannon (forerunner of the handgun) appeared in Europe 1326 & the first documented attack using gunpowder is dated 1331 (2 Germanic knights attacked Cividale del Friuli with gunpowder weapons); by 1338 they were in widespread use in France.

 

long-range intercourse: * see EndNote<B>

the bubonic plague hindered exploration in the 14th century but tentative steps were taken when the Portuguese ruler Afonso IV (1325-57) ordered the first explorations.  The Canary Islands, known to the Genoese, were claimed under patronage of the Portuguese.  Numerous visits were made by sailors from Majorca, Portugal and Genoa; Lanzarote was settled in 1312 & in 1350 the Majorcans established a mission with a bishop. 

 

Chinese Culture (gunpowder, compass):

the origins of both gunpowder & the compass are found in the Chinese Culture; the first compasses were made of lodestone (naturally magnetized iron stone) in the Han dynasty (20 BC-20 AD), later used for navigation in the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD).  Later compasses were made of iron needles, magnetized by striking them with a lodestone. 

The first confirmed reference to gunpowder is fund in the 9th century AD Tang dynasty, first in a formula contained in the Taishang Shengzu Jindan Mijue (808 AD) & then 50 years later in a Taoist text known as the Zhenyuan miaodao yaolüe.  Its invention by Chinese alchemists was an accidental by-product from experiments seeking to create the elixir of life.

 

Hansa:

see Chapter VI page 213

 

domestic funerary urns: * see EndNote<C>

As far back as 1000BC the Greeks adopted cremation to deal with their dead; land was scarce, cremation was a practical solution & ensured soldiers killed abroad could be returned home.  Coinciding with the Greek love for vases, placing ashes in them was a logical step.

 

barrows (Classical): * see EndNote<D>

aka tumulus, mounds of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves; the Macedonian tombs (Philip II (359–336 BC) & Alexander IV (323–309 BC) are prominent tumuli in Greece; other notable tumuli  include the numerous Mycenaean Greek tombs, Agamemnon's site in Mycenae, sites in Tiryns, near Olympia and Pylos; Central Greece also has numerous tumuli, a notable one is in Marathon, serving as a burial for the fallen at that battle.

 

dead kings (to sea): * see EndNote<E>

Spengler’s description suffers from a romanticised version of Viking funeral culture.  In ship burials, the ship would not form part of the cremation pyre.  Until they were Christianized most Germanic peoples, particularly by Viking Age Norsemen, were cremated, employing a funeral pyre.  After cremation, they were buried often in graves in the shape of a ship, made out of or marked with stone.  The ship was used as a container for the dead & grave goods.  Grave Goods (possessions befitting their status) might be buried or cremated along with the body & would include weapons, sacrificed animals & other worldly possessions that might be of use in Valhalla.  Those of very high rank (kings) might be in an actual ship, a small personal boat, filled with the ahses & towed into place and covered over with stones and earth to form a grave. 

 

cockleboats (to N America): * see EndNote<F>

reference to “cockboat”, a small boat, especially used as a tender, derived from 10th Century Knaerr, a Viking ship built for long sea voyages; its hull was wider (15 feet) & shorter (54 feet) than a long ship; used for cargo, employed a smaller crew; sailed across the Baltic, Mediterranean, to British Isles, Europe & the Middle East, also travelled to Iceland, Greenl& Vinland with livestock & stores to Norse settlements.  In the 10th century Viking explorers discovered N. America (Newfoundland)

 

Egyptian (circumnavigation of Africa): * see Endnote<G>

According to Herodotus, the Phoenicians managed to circumnavigate Africa in a voyage around 600 BC sponsored by the Egyptian pharaoh Necho II (615-595 BC), who was interested in knowing if Africa could be circumnavigated.  Starting from the Red Sea, they sailed westwards in a journey that took three years.

 

Carthaginians (circumnavigation of Africa): * see Endnote<H>

Hanno the Navigator was a Carthaginian explorer in the early 5th century BC, famous for his naval exploration of the western coast of Africa.  Carthage dispatched Hanno with a fleet of 60 ships to explore & colonize the NW coast of Africa.  He sailed through the straits of Gibraltar, founded or 7 colonies along the coast of what is now Morocco & continued exploring farther along the Atlantic coast.  He encountered various indigenous peoples & was met with a variety of welcomes.

 

Classical mankind (no circumnavigation of Africa):

In the same work in which Herodotus describes the Egyptian & Carthaginian circumnavigation, he voices his belief that such a voyage is impossible.  There are no records of any such ventures in Greek or Roman history.  The closest we come is a trip referenced in Pliny the Elder.  He records that the Greek historian Polybius sailed along the west coast of Africa in 146 BC, possibly going as far south as Guinea.

 

First Punic War (news in Athens):

In 241 BC when the Treaty of Lutatius ended the First Punic War, Athens was but a shadow of its former glory.  The polis had vainly tried to form a coalition against the Macedonian successor to Alexander, Antipater.  This led to the disasterous Lamian War (323–322 BC).  Defeat in battle led to a humiliating treaty.  Athenians democracy was dissolved, replaced with a nakedly plutocratic system; giving the 9,000 richest citizens exclusive possession of the city.  The poorest (12,000 men or 60% of the entire citizenship), were permanently exiled.  The autonomous voice of the Demos was silenced forever.

 

Greeks (souls in Hades):

the souls of the dead are insubstantial, aimlessly wandering without purpose, lacking strength or wit & cannot influence those on earth.  They are heedless of what goes on around them or on the earth.  Their lives were neutral; social status & political positions vanish.  At the moment of death, their form was frozen, in experience & appearance; they did not age or change, or lead any active life, staying exactly the same as they were at their death.  They pass time through simple pastimes (playing games, dice and game-boards).  Blood offerings were given with the aim of communicating with the dead as the dead needed the essence of life to become communicative & conscious again (illustrated in the Odyssey; Odysseus gave blood in order for the souls to interact with him). 

 

εϊδωλα:

phantom, of ghosts, any unsubstantial form, image reflected in a mirror or in water

 

Northern dead (warriors):

led by Valkyries, half the warriors who die in battle travel to Odin’s great hall Valhalla; the other half go to the goddess Freyja's field Fólkvangr.  In Valhalla, they join the masses of warriors killed in combat (the Einherjar) & prepare to aid Odin during the events of Ragnarök (a great battle signalling the end of the world).  They endlessly feast in the evenings; in the day dressed for war, they proceed to the great courtyard & battle one another in 1 on 1 combat for sport.  At mealtime they ride home to Valhalla to feats & drink again.

 

Spaniards & Portuguese exploration contemporary to Hellenic colonization:

Both of these periods of rapid expansion Spengler labels as late Spring, early Summer phase of the Apollonian & Faustian Cultures respectively.

Greek colonization was preceded by a period of exploration in which sailors & traders migrated individually, formed connections with the foreign world, established bases.  The initial wave of Greek colonization began in 750 BC.  The Aegean coast of Asia Minor (Ionia) was colonized first; important 8th century settlements included Miletos, Ephesos, Smyrna & Halikarnassos.  Next was Cyprus.  Colonies inMagna Graecia were also established in the 8th century.  Some of the most important colonies in Italy were: Cumae (the first colony, 740 BC), Naxos (734 BC), Sybaris (720 BC), Croton (710 BC),Tarentum (706 BC), Rhegium ( 720 BC).  In Sicily the first colonies included Syracuse (733 BC).  Their geographical location in the centre of the Mediterranean meant they could prosper as trade centres between the Greek, Etruscan & Phoenician civilizations. 

Spanish & Portuguese exploration begins in the 14th century & peaked in the late 15th with Columbus & the New World.

 

Greek (exploration & Pillars of Hercules, Isthmus of Suez): * see EndNote<I>

The Greek geographer Anaximandros (610 -546 BC) produced a map of the world (see Endnotes) and shows the Nile & Libya (which represented all Africa), but there is clearly no recognition of any geographic features south of the Mediterranean.  In the west, the Pillars remained the furthest limit to the Greeks, possibly due to Carthaginian control of the Straits.  Both Homer & Hesiod construe the Pillars of Heracles to mark the western edge of the world.  Pindar (518-438 BC) calls the Pillars the “the farthest limit” and warns “do not pursue excellence any farther than that!”  He also tell us “it is not easy to cross the trackless sea beyond the pillars of Heracles, which that hero and god set up as famous witnesses to the furthest limits of seafaring.”  Euripides (Hippolytus) refers to pillars at the western end of the known world, "the farthest ends of the West", the "turbulent waters" beyond which are off limits to travellers.

 

Nero (knowledge of India):

Roman & Greek traders frequented the ancient Tamil country, present day Southern India and Sri Lanka, trading trade with the seafaring Tamil states of the Pandyan, Chola and Chera dynasties and establishing trading settlements from 50 BC to about the 7th century AD.  Strabo records that Augustus received at Antioch an ambassador from a South Indian king called Pandyan of Dramira.