How Wide Spreads the Ocean

I published another article on my most successful site https://scriggler.com/DetailPost/Opinion/34322

This is the last chapter from Unit 1 of my manuscript titled “The Enchanting Encounter with the East”. You can see all these parts at my page https://scriggler.com/Profile/michael_baizerman

(the upper four headlines). My previous article gained such popularuty that was awarded with the title “Publication of the day”.

The chapter tells about various estimations of the width of the Ocean Sea and discusses the prospects of crossing the water body which, according to the popular worldview, separated the western and eastern extrenmes of the Old World. I give comments on a few real and fictitious travel reports of the ancient era and match them to a range of opinions concerning the transversing of the Atlantic.

I will soon start uploading chapters from Unit II, The Bounded Land and the Boundless Ocean. This part of my manuscript deals with basic ideas of medieval geography: the concept of the three continents, Jerusalem as the heart of the world, attitude to race, Antipodes-the legend of the fourth continent, and the Little Age of Discovery: amazing maritime adventures throughout the 14th century which led to the discovery of archipelagoes in the Central Atlantic and paved the way to the exploration of Africa.

How to Measure the Earth’s Circumference

A chapter from my second book focuses on ancient and medieval endeavors to calculate the world’s circumference. The representatives of the two scholarly trends, of the “big” and “small” earth, offer their assessments, sometimes correcting their previous estimations. In spite of a great deal of mathematical geography, the extract puts forward a new proposal concerning the comparison between various standards of measurement and makes unusual conclusions. The article is embellished by the images of Eratosthenes, Posidonius, and al-Farghani.  https://scriggler.com/DetailPost/Opinion/31762

There will be two more publications from Unit I, titled “The Miraculous Revival or the Painful Discovery”, of my second manuscript. The common thread is the reemergence of interest to geography throughout the European Middle Ages and the reanimation of classical knowledge, often rhymed with the “ancient wisdom”. Also, the first attempts to look at the real world and the classical traditions without blurring spectacles of prejudice.

 

Alexander’s Gate (2)

I continue my research of medieval legends. The first part will be probably called “In the Shadow of Alexander’s Gate”. However, now I am not satisfied with presenting an entangled story about Alexander and Enclosed Nations. I would like to point to certain developments of “barbarian” societies and trace the echoes of these developments in the Latin West. Anyway, these legends had fertilized the soil for the Age of Discovery. Among other things I am interested in Khazarian Jews and the expansion of the Mongolian empire.

Miraculous revival (2)

I have uploaded another two chapters from Unit 1 of my second book. You are welcome to view them at https://www.academia.edu/11648843/How_to_Measure_the_Earths_Circumference

and at https://www.academia.edu/12064184/What_is_the_Size_of_the_Inhabited_World

“How to Measure the Earth’s Circumference” offers a simple way of comparing different attempts to estimate the circumference. It turns out that Columbus was not alone in his underestimation.

“What is the Size of the Inhabited World” examines various models to estimate the size of the habitable world. These estimations matched the traditional three-continent concept popular with medieval geographers.

The final chapter of this unit is going to come.

Mathematical Geography-1

I have uploaded three chapters from my second manuscript. The unit from which they are taken is called THE MIRACULOUS REVIVAL OR THE PAINFUL RECOVERY. The topic is the revival of geography in the Middle Ages and the basics of mathematical geography. These three articles can be viewed at https://www.academia.edu/11252943/What_if_the_Earth_is_the_Sphere

https://www.academia.edu/11648843/How_to_Measure_the_Earths_Circumference

https://www.academia.edu/12064184/What_is_the_Size_of_the_Inhabited_World

There is one more article which I intend to upload soon. Another unit about medieval navigation is ready but will have to wait for fine tuning.

The Little Age of Discovery

My article, Atlantis Revisited, at http://www.ibuzzle.com/articles/atlantis-revisited-european-maritime-discoveries-in-the-14th-century.html has been honored by 700 visitors. The more complete version is available at https://www.academia.edu/4257146/_The_Little_Age_of_Discovery_

The European sea powers started their expansion beyond medieval borders that they had diligently constructed. Toward the newly discovered Atlantic islands and along the Atlantic seaboard of Morocco. The article will be revised later by adding new details, not principle changes.

Those, who are interested in this topic, may also read two new chapters from my second book:  https://www.academia.edu/11648843/How_to_Measure_the_Earths_Circumference

and https://www.academia.edu/11252943/What_if_the_Earth_is_the_Sphere

The basics of mathematical geography were laid in Ancient Greece. Medieval disciples of classical scholars adopted such ideas as the sphericity of the Earth and attempted to render its circumference. Further articles will follow soon.

Miraculous Revival (1)

I have apploaded a revised article titled “What if the Earth is the Sphere?”. It is devoted to the concept of the spherical earth. The article can be viewed at https://www.academia.edu/11252943/What_if_the_Earth_is_the_Sphere

This is the first chapter of my new manuscript about the medieval encounter between the Latin West and the East. The title of  Unit 1 is “The Miraculous Revival or the Painful Recovery”. It deals with the recovery of geographical knowledge in the Latin West during the Middle Ages. The chapter describes the concept of the spherical Earth. Born in the ancient Greece, it was picked up and developed by medieval scholars who nevertheless claimed that this sphere is immovable, that is not rotating, and attempted to find a reasonable explanation.