Chapter Ancient Navigation and Mediterranean Coastal Meteorology

For a long period, Greeks, Phoenicians, and Etruscans frequented, at the same time, the Mediterranean Sea. This forced their seafaring to behave, at the same time, as pirates at sea, to break down competition, and as traders in the emporia, to sell their goods. Navigation was based on the experience...

সম্পূর্ণ বিবরণ

সংরক্ষণ করুন:
গ্রন্থ-পঞ্জীর বিবরন
প্রধান লেখক: BENINCASA, FABRIZIO, De Vincenzi, Matteo, FASANO, GIANNI
বিন্যাস: Online
ভাষা:ইংরেজি
প্রকাশিত: Firenze University Press 2025
বিষয়গুলি:
অনলাইন ব্যবহার করুন:ONIX_20250801T173835_9791221505566_233
ট্যাগগুলো: ট্যাগ যুক্ত করুন
কোনো ট্যাগ নেই, প্রথমজন হিসাবে ট্যাগ করুন!
_version_ 1869527061756903424
author BENINCASA, FABRIZIO
De Vincenzi, Matteo
FASANO, GIANNI
author_browse BENINCASA, FABRIZIO
De Vincenzi, Matteo
FASANO, GIANNI
author_facet BENINCASA, FABRIZIO
De Vincenzi, Matteo
FASANO, GIANNI
author_sort BENINCASA, FABRIZIO
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description For a long period, Greeks, Phoenicians, and Etruscans frequented, at the same time, the Mediterranean Sea. This forced their seafaring to behave, at the same time, as pirates at sea, to break down competition, and as traders in the emporia, to sell their goods. Navigation was based on the experience of sailors since there were no instruments and methods to estimate sailing parameters. The empirical knowledge of seafarers was based on the observation of environmental and astronomical daymarks, and on their ability to perceive signals from the atmosphere, and from sea animals. Navigation was mainly carried out at such a distance from the coast as not to lose sight of it; but in the Mediterranean Sea the coasts, often mountainous, allowed us to have in sight elevated points of reference, which also allowed offshore navigation. Merchant vessels were not as fast as combat, but they could carry large loads of goods to be sold in any emporia. The average speed of a ship was around 5-6 knots, therefore the longest voyages could require considering stops for rest and bad weather. In this case the journey required a winter stopover, and the navigation continued into the following season. Therefore, we understand the importance of “weather forecasting” which could be done with a careful analysis of the warning signs that came from the sky, from the flight of birds and the behavior of fish and other aquatic animals.
format Online
id doab-20.500.12854ir-163423
institution Directory of Open Access Books
language eng
publishDate 2025
publishDateRange 2025
publishDateSort 2025
publisher Firenze University Press
publisherStr Firenze University Press
record_format ojs
spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-1634232025-08-02T05:07:50Z Chapter Ancient Navigation and Mediterranean Coastal Meteorology BENINCASA, FABRIZIO De Vincenzi, Matteo FASANO, GIANNI Navigation Ancient Meteorology Sailing techniques Celestial Navigation For a long period, Greeks, Phoenicians, and Etruscans frequented, at the same time, the Mediterranean Sea. This forced their seafaring to behave, at the same time, as pirates at sea, to break down competition, and as traders in the emporia, to sell their goods. Navigation was based on the experience of sailors since there were no instruments and methods to estimate sailing parameters. The empirical knowledge of seafarers was based on the observation of environmental and astronomical daymarks, and on their ability to perceive signals from the atmosphere, and from sea animals. Navigation was mainly carried out at such a distance from the coast as not to lose sight of it; but in the Mediterranean Sea the coasts, often mountainous, allowed us to have in sight elevated points of reference, which also allowed offshore navigation. Merchant vessels were not as fast as combat, but they could carry large loads of goods to be sold in any emporia. The average speed of a ship was around 5-6 knots, therefore the longest voyages could require considering stops for rest and bad weather. In this case the journey required a winter stopover, and the navigation continued into the following season. Therefore, we understand the importance of “weather forecasting” which could be done with a careful analysis of the warning signs that came from the sky, from the flight of birds and the behavior of fish and other aquatic animals. 2025-08-02T05:07:49Z 2025-08-02T05:07:49Z 2025-08-01T15:54:41Z 2024 chapter ONIX_20250801T173835_9791221505566_233 2975-0288 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/104783 9791221505566 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/163423 eng Monitoring of Mediterranean Coastal Areas: Problems and Measurement Techniques open access image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/104783/1/43693.pdf Firenze University Press 10.36253/979-12-215-0556-6.48 10.36253/979-12-215-0556-6.48 2ec4474d-93b1-4cfa-b313-9c6019b51b1a 9791221505566 16 Florence open access
spellingShingle Navigation
Ancient Meteorology
Sailing techniques
Celestial Navigation
BENINCASA, FABRIZIO
De Vincenzi, Matteo
FASANO, GIANNI
Chapter Ancient Navigation and Mediterranean Coastal Meteorology
title Chapter Ancient Navigation and Mediterranean Coastal Meteorology
title_full Chapter Ancient Navigation and Mediterranean Coastal Meteorology
title_fullStr Chapter Ancient Navigation and Mediterranean Coastal Meteorology
title_full_unstemmed Chapter Ancient Navigation and Mediterranean Coastal Meteorology
title_short Chapter Ancient Navigation and Mediterranean Coastal Meteorology
title_sort chapter ancient navigation and mediterranean coastal meteorology
topic Navigation
Ancient Meteorology
Sailing techniques
Celestial Navigation
topic_facet Navigation
Ancient Meteorology
Sailing techniques
Celestial Navigation
url ONIX_20250801T173835_9791221505566_233
work_keys_str_mv AT benincasafabrizio chapterancientnavigationandmediterraneancoastalmeteorology
AT devincenzimatteo chapterancientnavigationandmediterraneancoastalmeteorology
AT fasanogianni chapterancientnavigationandmediterraneancoastalmeteorology