The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1873-03-22

and we have very significant accounts OF
the "cupo of Hercules" which, by the by,
reminds us of Guyotd de Provins'dish and
the dish in which, as we will see below,
the later Arabians foatthe needle. Her
cules Chat is the sO-called Tyrian Her
cules or Melkarth, under which mythO-
logical name a very old period Of the
ante-historical life of the kushite race
is persOnitied), it is said, departed on his
great maritime expedition to the West
with a cup which he had received from
Apollo. This cup is associated with
Hercules, not only in the myths; but also
in sculptuTed and other representations,
which show him with a cup in his hand.
StrabOn (heTe we are on plain historical
ground, not in the regiOnsOf Of mythology,
referring to the opportunities afforded
hy the cities Of Pllmnicia for studying
geometry, astronomy, andOthGr sciences,
says: "The Sidonians are said by his
tOrians to excel in various arts, and they
cultivate sciences, and study astronomy,
arithmetic and n~jght-sdiljng, each Of
| which concerns the merchant and the
seaman" StrabOn himself probably did
not know what this n~ight-sailing, IL sci
ence peculiar tOthe PhGnicians, meant;
but it cannot, I think, meal anything
but the knowledge how to Use the mag
netic needle.
True it is that the Romansand Greeks
did hardly know anything about this
great aid to the navigator; but in the
antiquity a veil Of secrecy, as we know,
was drawn for every branch of learning
and the PhmniCians were still mOrcm ys-
FERROUS andjealOus about their commerce
and maritime affairs than any other an
cient nation aboutWhat they might have
discovered. Thepeople who brayed ship
wreck to hide the Cassiteridcs for the
Romans were not likely to make it pos
sible for these OF the Greeks to under
stand and describe their greatest treas
ure, their mariners compass.
Still it is not impossible that these two
people may have been acquainted with
this instrument in a general way with
ont understanding the principle of it,
and perhaps looking at it more as a sort
of thaunaturgical toy than as a useful
implement, neither of them were ever
much Of u scafaring people. The only
Roman author, as far as know, that has
been interpreted so as to mention the
compass, is Plautus. In his Comedy
MerCatOr, act '. scene 2, he has the fol-
lowing words: Hue secunduS uentuS est,
cape m0dO UOrSOriam. The word v~Orsoria
has by some been interpreted to mean
the mariners compass, although others
have seen it in either a rope OF the helm
of a ship.
ItcannOt be doubted that the Arabians
had their knowledge to the compass from
the Ph@nicians and Kushites. They
never claimed to have invented it, but
had ALWAYS" used it. When Vasco de
CANA went to India round the Cape of
Good Hope, he found the mariner's com
pass, the a%strolabe, and other important
nautical instruments in general use
among the Southern Arabians, who at
that time controlled maritime enterprise
in the Indian Seas. Instead of our COM
pass they used a magnetic needle about
six inches long, suspended on q pin, in a
white China dish filled with water, in
the bottom of which were two cross lines
marking the cardinal points. This meth
cd of using the needle is the same as
that used by the Arabian race on the
Mediterranean, and indicates that they
allhadthe compass from the same source,
that Hercules cup is the prototype of the
later Arabians' China dish.
Flavio Gioja only represents the age
when nautical instruments first came
into general use among the present ma
tions of Western Europe; but he by no
means represents the age when they
we're first invented. T. B.