American archaeologists put forward their very bold version, which contradicts the established views on the history of geographical discoveries.
At the farewell feast, arranged in honor of the naval commander Nearchus and his companions, Tsar Alexander contracted some mysterious deadly disease and died. A few days later, his huge fleet disappeared. No information has reached us about him. But scientists have a lot of hypotheses …
By 324 BC, Macedonian Greece became the ruler of vast territories. Alexander's troops marched from Greece to India. In eleven years, the entire then known world was conquered.
The details of the campaigns of Alexander the Great have been thoroughly researched and relatively well known. We are interested in the other side of the conquests of the Greek king. At one time, A. Humboldt noted that, starting from 330 BC, Alexander deliberately put his campaigns at the service of geographical discoveries and for this purpose kept a large staff of scientists with him. Indeed, the ancient authors left us with some information that natural scientists and geographers, chroniclers, philosophers and artists took part in the campaigns. Of course, at that time they could not dispel the darkness of the unknown that enveloped the borders of the Ecumene, and were not able to put together and summarize everything they had done themselves and before them. However, Greek science still made great strides forward. How little did the Greeks know before the campaigns - did they know at all? - about the high mountains of Armenia,about the Hindu Kush, Syr Darya and Amu Darya, about the peaks of the Himalayas and the Indus Valley? All this was revealed to the eyes of amazed Greeks only in the time of Alexander. In the Punjab he had heard of the fairy lands to the east. He was told that on the other side of the steppe in 12 days of march, on the banks of a huge river, there are cities and people live. Alexander was told about a huge island in the south. And the sailors of Admiral Nearchus were the first of the Greeks to see the mangrove forests on the shores of the tropical seas …And the sailors of Admiral Nearchus were the first of the Greeks to see the mangrove forests on the shores of the tropical seas …And the sailors of Admiral Nearchus were the first of the Greeks to see the mangrove forests on the shores of the tropical seas …
So this is not the end of the world yet? But where is he then? If the conclusions of my geographers are correct, that the ocean washes the entire world inhabited by us, then perhaps it is possible to reach the end of the world on ships, having crossed the ocean? Probably, Alexander could think so.
At the walls of Babylon, he built a huge fleet. This is what, according to Arrian, the main naval forces of the king were: “According to Ptolemy, son of Lag, from whom I mainly draw my information, the entire fleet consisted of about two thousand ships, including 80 thirty oarsmen and many others, including horse carriers, open cargo boats, and all other boats. Phoenicians, Cypriots, Carians and Egyptians were put on ships to serve the soldiers. That is, the best sailors of antiquity.
The admiral's reconnaissance expeditions surveyed the coast of the Persian Gulf. Captain Bakhtas discovered the Bahrain Islands and named them Tilos. Androsfen sailed to Abu Dhabi (the modern capital of the UAE) and reported the pearl trade on the Arabian coast. Hieron went around Arabia by sea, but was forced to return prematurely, because the sailors were horrified by the endless deserts. Another expedition sailed to the area of modern South Yemen and also returned ahead of schedule due to the fact that people did not have enough food and, most importantly, water: the sandy shores were dead.
Of course, all of Alexander's latest ventures were based not on a thirst for research, but on practical, so to speak, economic and political motives: the sea connection between the new capital Babylon and Egypt was valuable in many ways; in addition, many sea routes passed through areas rich in spices and other valuable goods.
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In the summer of 323 BC. Nearchus was going to continue his reconnaissance voyages in the ocean. But fate decided otherwise. On June 10, Alexander died unexpectedly. According to reports that have come down to us, at a farewell feast arranged in honor of Nearchus and his companions, the king contracted some kind of mysterious deadly disease. A few days later, the huge fleet disappeared. Where did the Greek admiral Nearchus take him? According to Arrian, shortly before his death, Alexander wanted, “having set out from Persia, to bypass most of Arabia, the land of the Ethiopians, as well as Libya and Numidia on the other side of the Atlas to Hades, to go into our sea and, having subjugated Libya and Carthage, to obtain the right to be called king of the whole earth. So, the geographical knowledge of the Greeks in those days was not so poor, since they knew that Africa could be bypassed by sea? Maybe they knew a lot morewhat we suppose … Alexander also dreamed about the seizure of lands west of Greece. I also thought about moving further eastward by sea. Perhaps, carrying out the last, unknown to us, the will of the king, Nearchus led the fleet in the eastern direction? This is where the realm of accurate historical evidence ends and conjecture begins.
It was June. The monsoon was blowing. To the west, against the wind, lay dry and hot Arabia. In the east - lands that were to be colonized.
And the fleet headed east. This is how the American archaeologists Harold Gladwin and Constance Irwin begin their logical constructions. Well, they cannot be denied their scientific courage … So, the fleet went east, keeping to the shores of South Asia. In India, the Greeks made two stops: first at the southern tip of the peninsula, then on the east coast, and took people on board. From India the ships passed to Burma and, turning south, sailed along Malacca. At its southern end, the ships turned east again, heading along the northern shores of Sumatra and across the strait to the islands of Indonesia.
Having passed them, the fleet reached New Guinea. Further on the route of his journey lay the islands of Polynesia. When the ships arrived there, a quarter of a century had passed since the time when the fleet left the Persian Gulf: the journey was long and difficult. People and ships have aged, many ships have crashed, part of the crew died in skirmishes with local residents. Natives of South and South-East Asia were added to the crews. Large canoes appeared among the Greek ships - such boats are known even now in Malabar, Burma and other supposed destinations for the Greek fleet.
The fleet nevertheless reached the New World, and the teams landed on the Pacific coast of Central or South America. This is the hypothesis. "It's unreal," the scientist will say, "where is the evidence?" But Gladwin has about a hundred proofs. Thus, together with the anthropologist E. Hooton, he discovered a certain admixture of Armenoids among the indigenous population of New Guinea. But is it possible to assume that several tens, even hundreds, of the representatives of the European race, who visited New Guinea in the fourth century BC, could so strongly influence the anthropological type of the local population that their features are still manifested? Even if the Greeks and their companions were there, then this small group of aliens would simply dissolve into the mass of the island's inhabitants, as it happened in the New World with Columbus's predecessors - Vikings, Celts, Africans …
The people who set foot on the shores of the New World donned helmets in anticipation of the battle. The diagrams of the pyramids of the Mochica Indians are exactly the same. The Indians had strong braided hats with a curved crest - copies of helmets from the time of Alexander. Note also that the same helmets struck at one time Captain Cook, who saw them from the inhabitants of the Hawaiian Islands …
Another argument from Gladwin and Irwin is the flute. According to legend, this primitive wind instrument was invented by the Greek "goat" god Pan. Exactly the same pipes have been found in Panama, Colombia, Peru and the Solomon Islands. Coincidence, independent invention? Or borrowing? Gladwin believes that all pipes have the same key. In addition, scientists have discovered several types of games that were equally common in the ancient Mediterranean, and in Polynesia and America; an ancient Mexican loom was found, in which there are as many working parts as in the "old world" …
After analyzing the scientist's data, the sober researcher will come to the conclusion that the evidence is very shaky. Most of these things could have been created at different times or simultaneously in different parts of the world; at different ends of the planet, people could come to understand this or that phenomenon on their own. This point of view is shared by the so-called "isolationists". The "diffusionists" adhere to the opposite, and Gladwin is their representative. Fortunately for the latter, archeology is giving them pleasant surprises. When Gladwin hypothesized that the Greek fleet was sailing to America, the results of archaeological research in Australia were not yet known.
“There is no doubt,” writes the director of the Museum of Natural History of Mount York, R. Gilroy, “that the ancient Egyptians sailed to Australia in the Pacific Ocean. In doing so, they used ocean currents that carried their ships from the Red Sea to India, Southeast Asia and Java (remember the route drawn by Gladwin). Some tribes of northwest Kimberley have linguistic and anthropological features that make them related to the representatives of the ancient Mediterranean world. In an article published in the local press, Gilroy reports on the discovery in the central regions of Queensland of a series of hieroglyphs of an archaic Mediterranean style, apparently preceding the times of classical Greek culture. “Of course, I was criticized by local scientists, because my research does not fit into the framework of traditional science,” adds Gilroy. By the way, ancient Chinese maps found in recent years show the outlines of the northern shores of Australia. Chinese cartographers knew about it 2500 BC!
The museum where Gilroy works contains a carpenter's ax from an ancient Egyptian ship. It was found in a wilderness area near Sydney. In Central Australia, Gilroy notes, some tribes use ancient Egyptian words in speech without understanding their meaning. These people keep the legend that once people came from across the sea and wanted to live with them. They brought their own religion and customs. It is noteworthy that in Northern Australia and on the Torres Strait Islands, residents, like the Egyptians, use a boat for funeral rites, while preserving all the elements of ancient Egyptian rituals to the smallest detail. In both Indonesia and Australia, images of a galley from the banks of the Nile have recently been found, and when examining mummies in the British Museum, eucalyptus oil was found, which was part of the balms. But it is knownthat at the time of the pharaohs, eucalyptus grew only in Australia and on the nearest islands …
Does the hypothesis of Gladwin and Irwin about the navigation of the Greek fleet under the command of Admiral Nearchus across two oceans now look fantastic?