Hand-Drawn Map of the Classical Mediterranean
Below is one of the three maps that will appear in The Jericho River.
(c) 2012 by David Carthage
(You can see a version with better resolution here, at my Picasa album. Click on the magnifying glass in the upper right corner to expand the copy.)
BTW, as some have pointed out, it’s been quite a while since I’ve actually posted any history–as opposed to Jericho River updates. I’ve just had too much to do getting the book ready. But the history posts will return!
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CREDITS: The shorelines and the rivers com e from maps provided by d-maps.com at the following URL: http://d-maps.com/carte.php?lib=wide_mediterranean_sea_map&num_car=3137&lang=en. The compass roses come from fuzzimo.com, though it’s been modified from the fuzzimo original. David Carthage drew all other map features.
© 2012 by David Carthage. All rights reserved.
The Jericho River’s Final Cover
Here it is!
Artwork by Maia Kobabe
The book’s still scheduled for release this Fall—probably August.
The Jericho River — Final Cover (Minus Text)
Hello, everyone. Here at last is the cover of The Jericho River—finished! Read more…
The Jericho River Cover — in Color!
Here’s a new color draft of the cover for The Jericho River: Read more…
The Jericho River Cover!
For those of you following the progress of The Jericho River, my fantasy novel about history, here’s a very rough draft of the cover: Read more…
Kickstarting The Jericho River
As some of you know, I’ve written a book called The Jericho River: A Novel About the History of Western Civilization and Its Roots in the Ancient Middle East. It’s a new and magical way to teach history—a unique blend of fantasy and knowledge—and it’s been endorsed by a slate of authors and scholars . I’m self-publishing it this year. And today I’m launching a campaign to spread the word and to give readers an early opportunity to own the book, through Kickstarter.com. Friends and customers will be able to buy signed copies before the book hits the general market and to pledge money to advance the project, in exchange for rewards like copies of the artwork and acknowledgements in the book. I hope you’ll consider participating by buying a book or one of the other rewards. And I hope you’ll spread the word by forwarding this e-mail.
Here’s the link to my Kickstarter page. (There you’ll see a video featuring me in a quite ridiculous outfit.) Read more…
“Anonymous” and the Shakespeare Controversy
Don’t let lukewarm reviews fool you: Anonymous is a really good movie. It includes some far-fetched plot-twists, but overall it builds a compelling drama out of the theory that William Shakespeare did not write Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet, and the other plays and poems attributed to him. It’s a fascinating idea and worth a close look. Read more…
Four Modern Breakthroughs that Ancient Science Just Missed
The ancient Greeks achieved some amazing things—and almost achieved several more.
- Anaximander of Miletus / Evolution & Life’s Aquatic Origins: Anaximander was one of the first philosophers and the author of the earliest known philosophical text. He lived in the Greek city of Miletus in Asia Minor (modern Turkey) during the early 500′s B.C.E.—the age of Buddha, Confucius, and the destruction of Solomon’s Temple. His observations led him to conclude that life sprang from the seas or from warm water covering the Earth. He also thought that the first animals were fish and that humans and other land animals descend from those fish. His logic, however, didn’t match Darwin’s. Fish fossils seem to have influenced Anaximander, but his main inspiration came from the fact that young fish aren’t dependent on their parents: they swim free the moment they hatch. So the very first fish could survive without parents. Young humans and land animals, on the other hand, do depend on parents, so the very first land creatures couldn’t have survived without parents. Their parents, then, must have been … fish. Anaximander had limited evidence and a convoluted theory, so his idea didn’t catch on. But 2500 years later, evolutionary theory reached similar conclusions, though for different reasons. Read more…
Why Did so Many of History’s Kings Marry their Sisters?
Why did kings marry their sisters in so many historic societies, like ancient Egypt, Hawaii, the Inca kingdoms, pre-industrial Thailand, and several African realms?
- Incest sets the king above society. If a king can break society’s most basic rules, he stands above society. Plus, a truly lofty king has no peer other than his sister, since only she shares his exalted birth. A noblewoman couldn’t stand beside him as his queen and near equal, and neither could a princess from a lesser dynasty. So the propaganda of exalted kingship sometimes demands incest. Read more…
The Horse Reshaped Civilization — Before Anyone Rode One
Pharaoh Tutankhamun (King Tut) fighting via chariot, 1300's B.C.E.
You’d think horses became important when people started to ride. But actually the horse reshaped civilization long before the first cavalry charge or mounted messenger. During the centuries following 2000 B.C.E., warriors of China, India, the Fertile Crescent, and other lands began riding chariots: light-weight, two-wheeled buggies pulled by teams of horses. The chariot allowed an archer and his driver to move at the speed of a horse, scattering hapless infantrymen before thundering charges. Faster-moving armies could cover more territory, so empires replaced the little kingdoms of the early Bronze Age. Chariots also led to a feudal structure in many kingdoms, where kings outsourced the high costs of charioteers and their gear to regional lords, who fielded armies of chariots—just as Medieval Europe’s feudal dukes and barons later fielded armies of armored knights. Read more…
