t numbers
of shrouds, cables, ropes, and other tackling for the ship! What a
vast quantity of provisions were there for the sustenance and support
of the sailors!" Captain and sailors knew where everything was stowed
away on board, and "while the captain stood upon the deck, he was
considering with himself what things might be wanting in his voyage,
what things wanted repair, and what length of time his provisions would
last; for, as he observed to me, it is no proper time, when the storm
comes upon us, to have the necessary implements to seek, or to be out
of repair, or to want them on board; for the gods are never favourable
to those who are negligent or lazy; and it is their goodness that they
do not destroy us when we are diligent."

[Illustration: A GREEK GALLEY ABOUT 500 B.C. From a vase-painting.]

There is an old story which says that one day the Greeks captured a
Phoenician ship and copied it. However this may be, the Greeks soon
became great colonisers themselves, and we have to thank a Greek
philosopher living in Miletus, on the coast of Asia Minor, for making
the first map of the ancient world. Of course, the Babylonians and
Egyptians had made maps thousands of years before this, but this
Greek--Anaximander introduced the idea of map-making to the
astonished world about the year 580 B.C. What was the map like? It
was "a bronze tablet, whereupon the whole circuit of the Earth was
engraved with all its seas and rivers."

This is all we know. But this map-making Greek was famous for another
idea in advance of his time. He used to study the heavens and the earth,
and after much study he made up his mind that the earth was round and
not flat. He taught that the world hung free in the midst of the universe,
or rather in the midst of the waters. The centre of the earth was at
Delphi. In the world of legend there was a reason for this. Two eagles
had been let loose, one from the eastern extremity of the world, the
other from the west, and they met at Delphi--hence it was assumed that
Delphi was at the centre of the world. And Delphi at this time was
such a wonderful city. On the slopes of Mount Parnassus it stood high
on a rock--on the heights stood the temple of Apollo with its immense
riches, its golden statue of the great god, and its ever-smoking fire
of wood.

[Illustration: JERUSALEM, THE CENTRE OF THE WORLD. From the Hereford
Map of the World, thirteenth century.]

In the same way, in those days of impe