How Wide Spans the Ocean Sea

Courtesy: John Carlton 

https://www.quora.com/Why-don%E2%80%99t-modern-civilian-cargo-ships-also-use-sails-in-addition-to-engine-power-to-reduce-fuel-consumption 

I am remodeling my old article titled "How Wide Spans the Ocean Sea".  It consists of two parts. The first section covers maritime explorations carried out during the VI and V centuries BCE; it was so vividly described by Herodotus. We refer to the Phoenician expedition which is reported to have circumnavigated Africa, as well as the exploits of Sataspes, Scylax of Caryanda, and Hanno the Navigator. 

  

The other segment collects the views of classical and medieval geographers concerning the prospect of crossing the Atlantic Ocean that was believed to separate Spain (or, in another version, Marocco) from China and Japan.  These scholars discuss such issues as the existence of a landmass in between or an unbroken expanse of the deep blue. Among them, we find Aristotle, Eratosthenes, Posidonius, Strabo, Seneca, Augustine, as well as Pierre d'Ailly, Henricus Martellus, Martin Behaim, and Christopher Columbus. 

This paper was originally part of my second book, The Enchanting Encounter with the East. However, since the keynote of this volume is the overland communication, I decided to take out this extract. It lay idle while I was investigating the initial topics of my third project, the search for the maritime access to India from Europe. A not long time ago, I decided to insert this extract. 

I can't publish it now as I need to do another research which entails unavoidable corrections. Hopefully, I will upload it soon.

Meanwhile, my site https://independent.academia.edu/BaizermanMichael has attracted over five hundred readers; the good news obliges me to start writing a query letter for my second book. 

This blog has been honored by more than 2800 visits. Special thanks to my American and Ukrainian readers. I would be thankful for any comments. 

The Enigma of the Antipodes

A new chapter from my second book, 'The Enchanting Encounter with the East", presents the ideas of classical and medieval literati on the existence and character of the fourth part of the world. That was a controversial notion that could bring trouble to its carriers because it bordered with heresy. 

The medieval concept of the Antipodes was the brainchild of the classical philosophic discourse about the latitudinal zones. The interaction between the pair of inhabited zones was null and void because these counterpart worlds were separated by impregnable obstacles: the searing Torrid Zone and the unbounded equatorial ocean. 

The issue of the extent of the inhabited world was mingled with the reach of the Christian mission since the word of God had to permeate the earth's furthest fringes.  

The hypothesis of the Antipodes raised the practical issue of circumnavigation. 

The above illustration is called Burgo de Osma Mappamundi

Courtesy: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mapamundi,_Beato_da_Catedral_de_El_Burgo_d_Osma.jpg

This is an eleventh-century copy of the Mappa Mundi created to illustrate Beatus of Liebana commentary on the Apocalypse. In the right section of the chart, which corresponds to the southern area, the fantastic Sciapod raises his single leg to find shade from the merciless sun. 

In Black and White: The Racial Mentality in the European Middle Ages

A chapter from Unit II of my book, The Enchanting Encounter with the East, studies medieval racial theories uttered by outstanding European scholars and endorsed by the Roman Catholic Church. 

Image: Healing of the Gadarene Demoniacs

https://networks.h-net.org/race-european-middle-ages-image-healing-gadarene-demoniacs

I study the applications of the racist ideology which I find amid western intellectuals who flourished across the European Middle Ages. Their views were endorsed by the Church which encouraged the European monarchs to take to the road of expansion. I check the echoes of these opinions in art,  architecture, poetry, and even in contemporary medical treaties. 

 The only exception to the rule is the statue of St.Moris erected in the Magdeburg Cathedral. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Maurice#/media/File:Saint_Maurice_Magdeburg.jpg

The character of a black warrior in the attire of a medieval knight suited Frederick II, the sovereign of the Holy Roman Empire, in his strife with the Pope.