92 : The Atlantic 



waters gave an easy passage to the west. Beyond this point variable 

 and even favorable winds at most seasons carried voyaging ships all 

 the way to the Pillars of Hercules (Straits of Gibraltar) . 



On the map a direct or northern route between Greece and Rome 

 looks invitingly short but was beset by headwinds and navigational 

 dangers such as those at Messina. The longest way "southabout" was 

 in practice the shortest way home. 



The Minoans went this way; so did the Phoenicians and the Greeks 

 after Homer. Virgil knew the facts of navigation as well as the facts 

 of Hfe when he brought Aeneas to Carthage and the court of Queen 

 Dido before the stormy passage to Rome. 



Later in the seventh and eighth centuries the Islamic conquerors 

 came this way, sweeping across the North Africa coast from Egypt to 

 Spain both by land and by sea. At sea they followed the same winds 

 and came to the same ports that had successively served the Minoans, 

 the Phoenicians, the Greeks, the Romans. 



Even ashore the winds and conditions of the Mediterranean Sea 

 have left their imprint in the living cities and the dead ruins of 

 successive civilizations. Thus it is the eastern and the southwestern 

 shores of Sicily that are crowned with the temples and palaces of suc- 

 cessive cultures. So also is the north shore of Africa from Tunis to 

 Gibraltar. 



The waters of the Mediterranean are circumscribed; its currents 

 persistent but moderate; its weather settled and mild for long peri- 

 ods. Even so we can see that the conditions influenced the voy- 

 ages of the early and simple ships, holding them back on some 

 courses and nudging them along on easier but longer ones. In this 

 arm of the Adantic we can see on a limited scale how the characteris- 

 tics of the sea helped to determine the course and sequence of his- 

 toric movement. 



Here men learned to work with the sea, to accept the easy way 

 when the hard way had almost defeated them. Here they met and 

 learned to use some of the forces that they were to encounter on a 

 larger and rougher scale when they set out on the broad Adantic. 



