Michael Baizerman Author

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, Eratosthe...

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...

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 sov...