We continue to look at an interesting book from the 18th century called "Hydraulic architecture, or the art of diverting, raising and managing waters for the various needs of life" (Architecture hydraulique, ou, L'art de conduire, d'elever et de menager les eaux pour les différens besoins de la vie), 1737. In the first part of the article, 3 volumes of this book were considered. The last, 4th volume, is devoted to the art of building ports, and everything related to their maintenance and defense: forts, lighthouses, gateways, drawbridges. But we'll start by looking at ancient ports.
Antique ports
The author of the book claims that the plans for these ancient ports are based on the descriptions of the ancient authors.
1 Plan of the ancient port of Carthage in Africa, 2 Plan of the ancient port of New Carthage 3 Plan of the ancient port of Alexandria in Egypt, 4 Plan of the ancient port of Athens (present Fetin).
Carthage
This is what the modern port of Carthage looks like:
Promotional video:
It does not seem to resemble the old port at all, but the size of the water area is about the same. If you believe the scale of the ancient plan, 500 toises on which are equal to 1 km. Then the bay, in which the old port was located, has about 7-8 km in diameter (the new port is 5x10 km - measured in the Planet-Earth program), the island in the middle, on which the city was located, is about 4x5 km. The military port (Port des galeries) was located separately from the commercial port (Port Marchand). But the entrance to the military port was through the trade port. The description of the port of Carthage given in this book:
This is what the place, which is now believed to be the Port of Carthage and its reconstruction, looks like:
This place is located 2.5 km north of the modern Carthage port. My opinion: it does not fit the description of the ancient port of Carthage, if only because it has a small size - the diameter of the water circle is only 300 meters, and the diameter of the central island is -130 m. It could not accommodate everything that is present in the description. It was probably a harbor, but built later. By the same principle as Old Carthage, only in a very reduced version.
New Carthage
Today Cartagena is located in the south of Spain. The Romans called it the new Carthage because it was founded by the Carthaginians. At the time of this writing, the configuration of some ports has already been changed. For example, New Carthage during its conquest by the Roman commander Scipio in 209 BC was on a peninsula connected to the land by a narrow isthmus. Perhaps this island was artificial? And, apparently, it was built on the principle of old Carthage.
Manuel de la Cruz: View of Cartagena, 1786, oil on canvas, Madrid, Moncloa Palace.
Now this port does not look at all the same as in ancient times:
Modern view of the port of Cartagena.
Alexandria
This is how the book describes the founding of Alexandria:
Sorry, there is no description of what was the source of the fire? And the description of the lighthouse differs from the modern one both in size and in appearance. This is a modern view of what the Lighthouse of Alexandria looked like:
Reconstruction of the Alexandria lighthouse.
Athens
The old plan incorrectly shows that the port of Piraeus was located near Athens. In fact, there are 8.5 km between them. This is shown more correctly in another diagram:
Map of Piraeus and Athens: the port, consisting of three naturally isolated bays, is connected to the city by a road protected by the Long Walls, a double wall for about 10 km.
It is believed that these walls were built in the 5th century BC. to protect the passage from the port to the city of Athens. Subsequently, they were destroyed and rebuilt again. A small section of this wall has survived to this day:
Thanks to this wall, which cleared the road connecting the city to the port, the townspeople could withstand prolonged sieges from land, being able to supply food and other goods by sea.
Modern view of the port of Piraeus.
Syracuse
1 Plan of the port of Syracuse, 2 Plan of the port of Rhodes, 3 plan of the port of Genoa, 4 plan of the port of Messina.
Sicily, according to the author, is the most favorable island in the Mediterranean Sea for the arrangement of ports. The most beautiful of these ports was in Syracuse, the capital of Sicily, and had a stunning triple fencing, over 8 leagues in circumference (38.5 km).
Aerial view of Ortigia island in Siracusa, Sicily, Italy.
Rhodes
The ancients loved the number “three”. The next port under consideration on the island of Rhodes also had a triple fortification:
I think that many have heard of the Colossus of Rhodes - one of the 7 wonders of the world, built or erected in 280 BC. But for some reason, modern sources are silent about the fact that it was not only a giant statue, but also a lighthouse. Here's what this book says about him:
An engraving depicting a colossus from the Geographical Dictionary with a source of fire in hand.
Wondering what they used as a light source? Is it really firewood? Or Greek fire? The author of the book, unfortunately, does not write about this. Or I could not find this description in the text. Greek fire (or liquid fire) is a combustible mixture used for military purposes during the Middle Ages. The first prototype of this fire just appeared during the defense of the island of Rhodes in 190g. BC. (90 years later than the construction of the colossus lighthouse). It was a mixture of crude oil, sulfur and oil. (information taken from the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg, 1890-1907).
Modern view of Rhodes.
Now deer are standing in the place of the colossus. Poor to do a reconstruction of a giant statue?
Rhodes. The walls of the old fortress.
Modern view of Rhodes.
Are these walls about 2.5 thousand years old?
Sunken cities of the Mediterranean and Black seas
I will make a small digression in my story, since there is one interesting point concerning all ports located on the Mediterranean Sea and the waters connected to them. Actually, is this the entire world ocean, by and large? But let's not cover it so broadly, here at least sort it out locally. Everyone understands that the port can only be at water level. Since he is directly related to it, and his visitors are ships, they do not know how to fly through the air or climb steps. True, they can overcome a certain height with the help of locks or special devices, but seaports, as a rule, are at sea level. And if the sea level rises, then it rises by one amount over the entire area of the water surface. And accordingly, the coast goes under water by the same amount. And, in theory,all ports after that should be under water? All ports built BEFORE the moment the water level rises. There was such a rise in water in the Mediterranean, and accordingly in the Black and Azov Seas. Researchers are now finding underwater ruins of cities along the coast of Italy, Greece and on the opposite side of the Mediterranean Sea.
The flooded city of Pavlopetri, Greece.
Flooded city of Baia, Gulf of Naples, Italy.
Alexandria on the opposite side is partially flooded:
And the city of Heraklion located not far from it. Now it lies two and a half kilometers from the coast under a 10-meter water column.
The ancient city of Acra is considered the Crimean Atlantis:
It was first mentioned in the 4th century BC … And it is believed that the city was completely flooded in the 3rd century AD. The reason for the flooding of the city, as well as of other flooded cities, is considered to be an earthquake, as a result of which the coast sank under water. Those. it was not the water that rose, but the dry land. This may explain the fact that not all the ancient Mediterranean and Black Sea ports are now under water, but only a few of them. Another option: there was a rise in the water level, and all the ports that have survived to this day were built later.
A large study on the sunken cities of the Black Sea region in a series of articles by Elena Topsida
Atlantis
Speaking of sunken cities. I discovered an interesting reconstruction of the capital of Atlantis as described by Plato:
According to him, this capital was in a place created by the god Poseidon for his earthly beloved:
After many centuries, when Poseidon's beloved had already died, her numerous descendants transformed the place where their Progenitor lived into their capital:
This description is interesting in that it repeats the basic principles of the ancient Mediterranean ports and fortresses-stars: the alternation of three rings of water with two earth rings, and a long canal or road (in the case of Athens) connecting the seashore with the city. Were these ports and fortresses built on the principle of the capital of Atlantis? Or were they built at the same time? And Atlantis sank not at all 9000 years BC, but at the same time when Alexandria, Heraklion, Bayi, Pavlopetri and the ancient cities of the Black Sea coast? Or were they simply built on the same principle, now unknown to us?
Fortress of Lille, France.
The same three water rings and two earthen ones, only not round, but star-shaped.
We return to our ports.
Genoa
From the description in the book it follows that in 206 BC. this city already existed and flourished, which does not coincide with the official version. But personally, I got used to it for a long time.
About Liguria from the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary:
The peoples of Italy in the VI century BC e.
In general, the Lirugs are a people who lived in Italy before the arrival of the Romans. So did the Etruscans and Illyrians. The question of who the Etruscans and Illyrians were and where did the Romans and Greeks come from, who drove them out of these territories, is too big to be considered in this article. The port of Genoa, in my opinion, has not changed much since those prehistoric times:
Port of Genoa, modern look.
Messina
Description of the port of Messina:
Present view of the port of Messina.
From the fortress of the star and the tower, nothing remained, from the castle of San Salvador a wall with a column, apparently built in our time:
Between Scylla and Charybdis or Hypeborean Maelstrom
It is believed that the expression "To pass between Scylla and Charybdis" means to pass between two mythical monsters, one of which personifies a rock, the other - a whirlpool:
Mythical monsters, mythical Hyperborea. What do they have in common? And the general is the Rock and the Whirlpool. Remember the description from the Mercator card:
Perhaps something similar to what the authors of the movie "Star Wars Rogue One" tried to portray:
Read more about the Mercator map in the article "Hyperborea on the Mercator map".
My guess is that the entire mainland of Hyperborea was an artificial structure. And, perhaps, this installation in the center of the mainland contributed to the creation of a favorable climate on the mainland, and maybe on the entire planet? Isn't the Gulf Stream an echo of it? And the myth of Scylla and Charybdis - a description of this installation?
But besides the Gulf Stream, there are also local eddies in the world's oceans. They are shown in this diagram:
M2 tide, tide height shown in color. White lines - these are cotidal lines with a phase interval of 30 °. Amphidromic points - dark blue areas where white lines converge. Arrows around these points show the direction of the "sweep".
Officially, such places are not called whirlpools, but amphidromic points. But we read what these points are:
Some whirlpools rotate clockwise, others counterclockwise. They always move at the same speed and make 1 full revolution in 12 hours 25 minutes, i.e. about 2 times a day. It is believed that this is due to the rotation of the moon around the earth.
And if the Mediterranean ports had the complexity of their structure, then the ports of the Atlantic coast of France had (and still have) the complexity many times greater. Look at the diagram of the whirlpools. The tide in the Mediterranean is practically absent, while off the coast of France it reaches 12 meters in some places. I already wrote about this in the 1st part, describing the complexities of the Dunkirk port. The diagram shown here indicates cm, but in fact this is an error: not cm, but dm. It may be hard to believe, but the tide off the coast of France actually reaches a height of 12m! That, for example, can be seen on this site marée.info, where hourly information on the water level in various ports of France is given in the form of such diagrams.
Ports on the west coast of France
1 La Hougue Port Project, 2 Cherbourg Port Project, 3 Granville, including the Port and Inner Harbor Project to be formed there.
Modern view of the port of La Hugue.
Modern view of the port of Cherbourg.
There is practically nothing left of the old port here. The round forts at the ends of the pier were built in the middle of the 19th century. But one of them was destroyed during the 2nd World War:
Fort de l'Est (eastern end of the long sea wall), dilapidated during World War II.
The second is alive:
Orte de l'West (western end of the long sea wall).
Modern view of the port of Granville.
That's all for now. Until next time.
Author: i_mar_a
