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Art. I.—Ancient Navigation in the Indian Ocean
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 March 2011
Extract
Sir Henry Rawlinson has drawn attention to the mention of the ships of Ur in early inscriptions, and the connection of these very ancient vessels with those of Ethiopia. The Babylonian traders at a very remote period voyaged to India and Africa for gold and other articles to use in the arts and to supply the demand of markets. The Euphrates' banks were the ancient quays at which the primitive navigators loaded and unloaded their vessels. They proceeded by the Persian Gulf into the ocean, and there they were guided by landmarks and by the heavenly bodies. These voyages may have continued from the time when Ur was a great city, B.C. 2300, down to the period of the Persian empire, when Babylon began to decline. During all this period, as afterwards, the navigators of the Indian Ocean, whether Babylonian, Arabian, Phoenician, or Egyptian, were trading, aided by the monsoons, along the African and Asiatic coasts, and conveying knowledge from one country to another.
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- Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1886
References
page 1 note 1 Rawlinson's, Ancient Monarchies, vol. i. pp. 101, 102.Google Scholar He cites SirRawlinson, Henry in Journal of Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. XXVII. p. 185.Google Scholar
page 5 note 1 Quoted from Wilson's Vishnu Purana in Hardy's Manual of Buddhism.
page 5 note 2 See in Hardy, , p. 22.Google Scholar
page 13 note 1 Quoted in English Cyclopædia under the word Clepsydra.
page 14 note 1 Since this was written Professor Russell has found that in B.C. 806, Jupíter was in the required constellations Kio and K'ang.
page 16 note 1 A part of it has been translated by the Marquis d'Hervey de St.-Denys.
page 17 note 1 This history was written, or rather compiled, about A.D. 630.
page 17 note 2 Capital city of Chow, Lo yang, lat. 34° 43′, long. 112° 28′.
page 19 note 1 li wen, Chow, i. pp. 3, 10.Google Scholar
page 20 note 1 Sï ku tsiuen shu, xix. pp. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 11, 12, 31, 36.Google Scholar
page 20 note 2 Found ín Kia kung yen's comment, and in that of Cheng.
page 20 note 3 In the Kin shï so, “Chain of metal and stone inscriptions,” the Chow foot is eight English inches, the Han foot is 9·8 inches, the Tsin 9·125, the Sung 10·625. Foot of A.D. 76 is 9·125 inches.
page 22 note 1 Some Chinese words are here mentioned, with the pronunciation given to them hy the ancient Chinese.
page 22 note 2 An allusion to the prevailing direction of all Chinese rivers.
page 24 note 1 Bamten looks like “Brahma heaven.” Ten is tien ‘heaven.’ Perhaps this is the Brahmaputra. The commentator Kwo pu, of the fourth century after Christ, says, however, that Bamten is the name of a mountain.
page 24 note 2 In the Er ya we find the ten names (as anciently pronounced) are the following, Otbom. Tanmom, Nudo, Gomgu, Tuyom, Duvi, Domtom, Dumkom, Genik, Toyom. The twelve names of the duodecimal cycle, Tsï, c'heu yin. etc., in the Er ya, are Shap de kak (which is stated in the Shï ki to be Jupiter), Tanot, Tipzu, Dai kam lak, Duntsom, Kapgap, Tuntan, Tsakgak, Ommu, Daionkin, Kuntun, Tak punnak. The place of Jupiter is in the third hour of the horizon, or 60 degrees from the north towards the east. Tanot is 90 degrees, and the rest in order.