Tales from the Island of Serendip 4 4

[Flex Mentallo]

They traded wool, small adornments (amulets, painted ostrich eggshells, and others), glass dishes (Phoenicians are the discoverers of transparent glass), perfumes, iron weapons, cedar wood (for making ships), ivory objects (carvings, combs, toiletries), peacock (extremely expensive) and ostrich (cheaper) feathers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

In return they required wheat, wine, oil, gold, tin, lead, silver, copper (for making bronze) and even slaves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

It is well-documented that in search of trade, they voyaged around the coast of Africa.

 

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

Could they similarly have voyaged as far as South America in ocean going craft?

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

Herodotus relates that the Phoenicians voyaged around Africa in about 600 BC, at the order of the Egyptian pharaoh Necho II (609-593 BC), starting from the Red Sea and returning through the Gibraltar Strait after three years.

 

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

Around 425 BC the Phoenician Hanno the Navigator, commanding 60 ships navigated along the western coast of Africa to the Gulf of Guinea, describing hippopotamuses, crocodiles and gorillas, which he thought were primitive people.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

The Phoenicians even reached the Azores, 850 miles out into the Atlantic Ocean, but still far from America.

 

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

There is no evidence they went further – and even if they did, civilisations were already well established in South and Central America.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

In 1872 a stone tablet known as the Paraiba Stone was discovered in South America which seems to support the idea that Phoenician traders were active in South America in Biblical times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

"This stone monument has been set up by Sidonian Canaanites who, to establish trade in distant, mountainous and arid lands, under the protection of the powerful gods and goddesses, were sent on this journey in the nineteenth year of the reign of Hiram, our powerful king. They left from Ezion-Geber in the Sea of Reeds, having embarked the settlers on ten ships and they sailed together the length of the African coast for two years. They were then separated from the commander of the fleet and taken far from their companions. They arrived here, twelve men and three women, on this unknown coast, of which I, the unfortunate servant of the powerful Astarte, have taken possession. May the gods and goddesses have pity on me!"

The text of the alleged Paraíba inscription sent to Visconde de Sapucahy in 1872

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

Honourable Visconde,

As I was having stones carried in my property of Pouso Alto, near the Parahyba, my slaves brought me one that they had already broken into four pieces; this stone presented numerous characters that no-one understood, I had them copied by my son who knows a little about draftsmanship and I was resolved to send this copy to Your Excellency, as President of the Historical and Geographical Institute of Brazil, to see if Your Excellency or some other person could determine what these letters mean. And as I have arrived in this capital city and have not had the time to give them personally to Your Excellency, I have sent them to him through the post.

I am with all consideration and respect,

 

for Your Excellency,

 

Attentive, devoted and obliged servant

 

Joaquim Alves da Costa

 

Rio, 11 September 1872

 

 

The President passed the letter and drawing to Ladislau de Souza Mello Netto (1838-94), a botanist who was then the interim director of the Museu Nacional; he had a knowledge of Punic archaeology and the Hebrew language, and recognized the -script as Phoenician.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

Netto had tried to locate the original inscription and its alleged discoverer. The letter writer was one Joaquim Alves da Costa, who appeared to be a plantation owner from a place named Pouso Alto, near Paraíba; several places called Pouso Alto exist, while two places named Paraíba are known (one in the province of the same name, the other near Rio de Janeiro). Alves da Costa and his estate proved impossible to locate and Netto concluded that the whole affair was nothing more than a hoax. Netto blamed the hoax on foreigners who were trying to discredit Brazilian scientists.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

However, the story was revived more than eighty years after Netto’s debunking work was published in 1885, when Jules Piccus (1920-1997), professor of Romance languages at the University of Massachusetts (Amherst, USA), bought a scrapbook at a jumble sale in Providence (Rhode Island, USA) in 1967. It contained correspondence sent by Netto to Wilberforce Eames (1855-1937), a librarian at New York Public Library, which included a copy of the alleged inscription and the translation made in 1874.

 

There the story might have rested, had Piccus not sent a copy to Cyrus Herzl Gordon (1909-2001), head of the Department of Mediterranean Studies at Brandeis University in Waltham (Massachusetts, USA) and an expert in ancient Semitic languages. Unlike Renan, he thought the Paraíba inscription contained elements of Phoenician style that were unknown in the nineteenth century and concluded that it was genuine. His translation of the stone, which differs from Netto’s in a number of places, runs:

"We are Sidonian Canaanites from the city of the Mercantile King. We were cast up on this distant shore, a land of mountains. We sacrificed a youth to the celestial gods and goddesses in the nineteenth year of our mighty King Hiram and embarked from Ezion-geber into the Red Sea. We voyaged with ten ships and were at sea together for two years around Africa. Then we were separated by the hand of Baal and were no longer with our companions. So we have come here, twelve men and three women, into New Shore. Am I, the Admiral, a man who would flee? Nay! May the celestial gods and goddesses favour us well!"

 

 

Baal

Henri-Paul Motte

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

Despite Gordon’s certainty about the genuineness of the inscription, he failed to find support from colleagues and, notably, entered into a bitter dispute with Frank Moore Cross, Hancock Professor of Hebrew and Other Oriental Languages Emeritus at Harvard. Cross pointed to problems with the -script, vocabulary and spelling demonstrating conclusively that the text was a modern forgery. Gordon continued to assert the genuineness of this and other supposed Semitic inscriptions in the New World, against the consensus of other scholars, being a supporter of numerous supposed transatlantic contacts in Antiquity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Pat Calhoun]

Originally Posted By: BOOT

Flex, thanks for sharing your wide ranging knowledge here. Do you ever wonder whether this site is the best channel for your communications? These are some important ideas and should be enjoyed by a wide audience!

 

Yes, Scott, Michael is honoring us with these fine essays. He’s also (I think & hope) inferring that we ARE a worthy audience, as the students of GA are students of mythology.

 

 

Edited May 1, 2014 by pcalhoun

[eman13]

Originally Posted By: BOOT

Flex, thanks for sharing your wide ranging knowledge here. Do you ever wonder whether this site is the best channel for your communications? These are some important ideas and should be enjoyed by a wide audience!

 

Yes, Scott, Michael is honoring us with these fine essays. He’s also (I think & hope) inferring that we ARE a worthy audience, as the students of GA are students of mythology.

 

I am always excited and honored whenever he updates this, and would love to see him tell it elsewhere/ keep a copy of his research offline for later enjoyment! (thumbs u

[MrBedrock]

we ARE a worthy audience

It sounds good in theory...in practice, I'm hopeful.

[Flex Mentallo]

Could China have discovered America before Columbus?

 

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

"Fusang is 20,000 li to the East of the country of Dàhàn, and located to the east of China. On that land, there are many Fusang plants that produce oval-shaped leaves similar to paulownia and edible purplish-red fruits like pears. The place was rich in copper and traces of gold and silver but no iron. The native tribes in Fusang were civilized, living in well-organized communities. They produced paper from the bark of the Fusang plants for writing and produced cloth from the fibers of the bark, which they used for robes or wadding. Their houses or cabins were constructed with red mulberry wood. The fruits and young shoots of the plants were one of their food sources. They raised deer for meat and milk, just as the Chinese raised cattle at home, and produced cheese with deer milk. They traveled on horseback and transported their goods with carts or sledges pulled by horses, buffalo, or deer."

Buddhist missionary Hui Shen

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

A country named Fusang was described by the native Buddhist missionary Hui Shen. Hui Shen went by ship to Fusang, and upon his return reported his findings to the Chinese Emperor. His descriptions are recorded in the 7th-century text Book of Liang by Yao Silian, and describe a Bronze Age civilization inhabiting the Fusang country.