SUPPOSED FORM OF THE SHIP ARGO, (FROM AN ANCIENT BAS-RELIEF.) 



CHAPTER V. 



THE EARLY MARITIME HISTORY OF THE GREEKS THE EXPEDITION OF THE ARGO- 

 NAUTS — THE VESSELS USED IN THE TROJAN WAR SHIP-BUILDING IN THE TIME 



OF HOMER — THE POETIC GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREEKS THE PALACE OF THE SUN 



-THE MARVELS OF A VOYAGE OUT OF SIGHT OF LAND THE GEOGRAPHY OF 



HESIOD OF ANAXIMANDER — OF THALES, HERODOTUS, SOCRATES, AND ERATOS- 

 THENES — THE GREAT OCEAN IS NAMED THE ATLANTIC. 



At what period the Greeks began to build vessels and to ven- 

 ture upon the waters washing their coasts and girding their 

 numerous archipelagoes, is not known : it is certain, at any rate, 

 that the commencement of navigation with them, as with all 

 other nations, must be referred to a time much anterior to the 

 ages of which we have any record. Long voyages are men- 

 tioned as having taken place at periods so early that they must 

 be considered mythical. The first maritime adventure which 

 lays any claim to authenticity, and the most celebrated in ancient 

 times, is the expedition of the Argonauts to Colchis. Though 

 this enterprise is by many learned authorities deemed fabulous, 

 we shall nevertheless consider three points connected with it, — 



0 



the probable era of the voyage, its supposed object, and the 



various routes by which the adventurers are said to have returned. 



The date of the expedition, if it took place at all, may be 

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