The Ancient Mariners - Book Review
January 06, 2022
Super freighters carrying 1300 tons of grain (yes, I said tons) roamed the Mediterranean waters of the ancient world. An ancient world where trade, war and exploration all took part in the Mediterranean Sea.
From the Back Cover
The Ancient Mariners has long served the needs of all who are interested in the sea, from the casual reader to the professional historian.
Lionel Casson, the renowned authority on ancient ships and seafaring, has done what no other author has: he has put in a single volume the story of all that the ancients accomplished on the sea from the earliest times to the end of the Roman Empire.
He explains how they perfected trading vessels from mere rowboats into huge freighters that could carry over a thousand tons, how they transformed warships from simple oared transports into complex rowing machines holding hundreds of marines and even heavy artillery, and how their maritime commerce progressed from short cautious voyages to a network that reached from Spain to India.
In the process he corrects cherished but erroneous beliefs. Ancient warships, he shows, were never manned with slave rowers; ancient merchantmen did not stick timidly to the shore; and ancient craft were well abel to sail against the wind.
The presentation is based on all available sources of information, from the results of multitudinous archaeological excavations to statements in government pronouncements carved on stone or casual remarks in obscure business documents written on fragile papyrus.
This new edition represents a total revision that takes into account the fresh information that has appeared since the book was first published in 1959, especially that from archaeology's newest branch, marine archaeology. Few pages have been left unchanged, many sections have been added, some chapters have been wholly rewritten, and numerous new illustrations are included.
Details
- 1991 2nd Edition
- Princeton University Press
- Written by Lionel Casson
What I Thought of the Book
This was a nicely written story.
Lionel Casson's "The Ancient Mariners," is a book on maritime trade, war, exploration and ship building from 3500 BC to the time of the Byzantine period.
For an academic text book this is well written and flows very nicely. Mr. Casson does a wonderful job weaving a story, rather than presenting the reader with dry facts and figures.
I appreciated the book plates. 95% of the images were located there so it was easy to tag it and flip back to the specific plate mentioned in the text (individual plates were referenced multiple times in the text).
Each chapter was just the right size. I personally dislike reading text books where a chapter spans a large number of pages - I prefer shorter chapters so that I can finish one off prior to ending my reading session.
As for content, the book focuses mainly on the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, the Nile and Tiber rivers with a mention of the seas around Britain. Near the end, the book talks about Roman trade in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean.
Trade was the main topic for many eras in the book, followed by war or keeping the seas free of pirates. Exploration of not only the western Mediterranean during the time of the Phoenicians, but also around the continent of Africa (as told by Herodotus) is discussed.
Did You Know?
- Romans traded with the civilizations of India and China. Ta-ts’in is the Chinese name for the Roman Empire.
- The island of Rhodes played a large part in helping Rome establish a foothold in the easter Mediterranean, then regretted it.
- Phonecians may have circumnavigated the continent of Africa.
- Grain was the top consumable export in the ancient world, followed by wine and olive oil.
Did I Like It?
I loved this book. As stated previously, Casson weaves a story that is engaging and not a boring representation of the facts. The information in the book is a treasure trove of knowledge on maritime pursuits in the ancient world, and how commerce influenced not only political aspirations, but also molded civilizations.
Would I Recommend It?
Yes. If you are interested in ancient history, Mediterranean seafaring or how commerce was carried out in the classical period of the Greeks and Romans this book is for you.
