The Ancient Sailing Season

The Ancient Sailing Season......Page 4
Contents......Page 8
Acknowledgements......Page 10
List of Journal Abbreviations......Page 12
List of Illustrations......Page 14
Introduction. The State of Modern Scholarship......Page 18
1 The Textual Evidence......Page 26
Hesiod’s Sailing Season......Page 27
The Sailing Season of Vegetius......Page 31
Regional Variation in the Ancient Sailing Season......Page 33
Gratian’s Edict......Page 39
Ancient Grain Freighters......Page 49
The Wintertime Voyage of St Paul......Page 53
Ancient Myth and Religion......Page 57
Legislation and Contractual Agreements......Page 61
The Textual Evidence: Conclusion......Page 68
2 The Mediterranean Climatic Regime......Page 70
Mediterranean Meteorology: An Overview......Page 71
Depression Systems......Page 73
Climate Change......Page 75
The Mediterranean Wind Regime......Page 80
Strong and Gale-Force Winds......Page 82
Powerful Summertime Winds......Page 89
Mediterranean Storms......Page 91
Wind Direction......Page 96
The Land and Sea Breeze......Page 102
Wintertime Waves......Page 103
Cloud Cover......Page 107
Precipitation......Page 109
Visibility......Page 112
Darkness and Daylight......Page 114
Tides and Currents......Page 117
Inter-Annual Variability......Page 120
The Mediterranean Climatic Regime: Conclusion......Page 122
3 Ships and Sails......Page 124
Construction Methods......Page 125
The Transition in Shipbuilding Techniques......Page 129
The Romano-Celtic Shipbuilding Tradition......Page 134
Trials of the Kyrenia II......Page 137
The Changing Technology of Hull Construction in Antiquity......Page 139
Size, Strength and Seaworthiness......Page 142
The Effects of Vessel Age and Cargo Weight on Seasonality......Page 147
The Contrasting Seasonality of Warships and Merchantmen......Page 151
Variations in the Seasonal Range of Warships......Page 164
Sails......Page 175
Windward Sailing......Page 180
Fore-and-Aft Rigs on the Ancient Mediterranean......Page 183
Steering Gear......Page 185
Ships and Sails: Conclusion......Page 188
4 Navigation......Page 190
Open Water Navigation......Page 192
Navigation by Reference to Wind and Swell......Page 194
Changing Seasonal Sailing Strategies?......Page 198
Pilotage: The Visible Coastline......Page 200
Environmental Navigation......Page 202
Charts and Periploi......Page 208
Water Depth......Page 211
Shore-Based Navigational Aids......Page 216
Night-Time Sailing......Page 221
Slave Sailors and the Seasonality of Mediterranean Seafaring......Page 226
Navigation: Conclusion......Page 229
5 The Sailing Season of the Indian Ocean......Page 230
Voyages Across the Arabian Sea......Page 235
Winds and Swell During the South-West Monsoon......Page 238
Navigation on the Arabian Sea......Page 246
The Sailing Season of the Indian Ocean: Conclusion......Page 251
6 Ancient Pirates and Fishermen......Page 254
The Seasonal Range of Pirate Vessels......Page 256
The Seasonality of Pirate Tactics......Page 260
Wintertime Activity by Pirates......Page 265
Piracy and the Sailing Calendars of Antiquity......Page 272
The Seasonal Cycles of Fishermen......Page 275
The Seasonal Relationship of Seafaring and Agriculture......Page 279
Conclusion......Page 282
Translated Works......Page 294
Bibliography......Page 295
Illustration Section......Page 314
Index......Page 368