Tag Archives: sailors

The Crow: or the First Punic War (Part 3)

Posted on May 9, 2008 by

The Carthaginians were right: it took time to train sailors and oarsmen and Rome didn’t have time. But that wasn’t the first problem Rome ever had. Rome had been having problems for five hundred years. They believed problems could all … Continue reading →

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The Crow: or the First Punic War (Part 2)

Posted on May 7, 2008 by

It wasn’t the Carthaginians that seized Messana. It was a bunch of silly mercenaries. Topography of Sicily (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license photo by Zamonin) Messana is in Sicily. And just down the island is the city of … Continue reading →

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The Crow: or the First Punic War (Part 1)

Posted on May 5, 2008 by

What if you are a great army but your enemy is a great navy? You know how to march with fine discipline over hill and dale. You pitch a dandy camp, a real fortress with high walls and a ditch, … Continue reading →

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The Sailors’ God

Posted on December 27, 2007 by

There is a natural gate at the end of the Mediterranean, a place where it nearly closes. Spain and Africa almost touch. On each side stands a promontory or tall cliff: the Rock of Gibraltar on the Spanish side and … Continue reading →

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Spain As Eldorado

Posted on December 26, 2007 by

The first explorers, the ancient Phoenicians, found to their surprise that there was a lively commerce already going on in southern Spain. Around the modern Seville and the river Betis, now called the Guadalquivir, barges came and went upriver, where … Continue reading →

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