Τεσσαρακοντήρης, το «αεροπλανοφόρο» της Αρχαιότητας

Απεικόνιση μιας τεσσαρακοντήρους κατά την άποψη του L. Casson.

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Π. Δεληγιάννης

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Οι Διάδοχοι και οι Επίγονοι τους, ναυπήγησαν στόλους αποτελούμενους από πολυάριθμες πολυήρεις, φτάνοντας μέχρι την κατασκευή κολοσσιαίων σκαφών όπως η εικοσήρης και η τεσσαρακοντήρης. Όπως θα δούμε, επρόκειτο για πραγματικά πλωτά φρούρια που θύμιζαν αναλογικά τα σύγχρονα θωρηκτά και αεροπλανοφόρα πλοία. Ειδικά η τεσσαρακοντήρης έφερε συνολικό πλήρωμα το οποίο έφθανε τους 6.000 άνδρες, περίπου όσους διαθέτει ένα σύγχρονο αεροπλανοφόρο.

6,000-year-old massacre found in Neolithic silo

Republished from Thehistoryblog.com

Archaeologists from France’s National Institute for Preventative Archaeology (INRAP) have unearthed the skeletal remains of a Neolithic massacre in a silo in Achenheim, Alsace, northeastern France. The silo is pit number 124 of more than 300 used to store grain and other food staples unearthed inside a large Neolithic compound surrounded by a V-sectioned ditch with defensive bastions at the entrances. The silos were only used for food storage temporarily. Once they were emptied, they were used as garbage dumps or graves. The compound dates to between 4400 and 4200 B.C., a turbulent time in Alsace which explains why the settlement needed extensive protective measures.

 

Warhorses

Republication from Archaeology.org

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(Bridgeman-Giraudon/Art Resource, New York)

Bayeux Tapestry, France, 11th c. A.D.

By the mid-second millennium B.C., the use of horses in warfare had become common throughout the Near East and Egypt. This development was made possible by advances both in the design of chariots, in particular the invention of the spoked wheel, which replaced the solid wooden wheel and reduced a chariot’s weight, and the introduction of all-metal bits, which gave chariot drivers more control over their horses. Though chariot warfare was expensive, and its effectiveness was determined by the durability of the chariots and suitability of the terrain, the vehicles became essential battlefield equipment.

Two significant representations of ancient Greek vase-paintings and frescoes on military topics

 

The sea-battle scene from the Aristonothos Vase on the left (of the reader) and on the right the “Battle in the River” fresco, along with the modern representations by Angel G. Pinto (image credit: Angel G. Pinto)

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By Periklis Deligiannis

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In this article, I would like to note two significant representations of ancient Greek paintings by one of my favourite artists on military topics, namely Angel G. Pinto. The image of the two representations came from his website (angelgpinto.blogspot.gr).

I was interested (rather lured) in the ad hoc themes that he chose for these two artistic representations, that is to say the “Battle in the River” – a Mycenaean fresco of the 13^th century BC from the palace of Pylos – and the sea-battle scene from the “Aristonothos vase” of the Archaic Era (about 700-650 BC).

I will start from the chronologically earlier fresco, the “Battle in the River”. This artwork was found in the palace of Pylos, the administrative center of a Mycenaean state in the south-west Peloponnesus. It was one of the most potent states of the Mycenaean ‘Commonwealth’ and probably the best organized. Pylos was a power counterbalance to the state of Mycenae, although it seems to have been usually its ally.

The meteoritic origin of Tutankhamun’s iron dagger blade

Republication from Wiley O.Library

 

Tutankhamun’s iron dagger

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Scholars have long discussed the introduction and spread of iron metallurgy in different civilizations. The sporadic use of iron has been reported in the Eastern Mediterranean area from the late Neolithic period to the Bronze Age. Despite the rare existence of smelted iron, it is generally assumed that early iron objects were produced from meteoritic iron. Nevertheless, the methods of working the metal, its use, and diffusion are contentious issues compromised by lack of detailed analysis. Since its discovery in 1925, the meteoritic origin of the iron dagger blade from the sarcophagus of the ancient Egyptian King Tutankhamun (14th C. BCE) has been the subject of debate and previous analyses yielded controversial results.