Essaouira, Mogador and Tassort - ancient port in Morocco

One of the oldest site on the African Atlantic coast. It was also one of the first sites were fish were processed in an industrial way. It was one of the top ten producers of fish for the Roman Empire - producing prodigious amounts of Garum.

Garum - the Ketchup, A-1 and Salsa of the Roman's

The city also produced the valuable dye known as Tyrian purple

Tyrian Purple

It was visited by Hanno the navigator on his way to the explore Africa.

Hanno the Navigator

In this illustration the name of Essouria is shown as Soloeis et mur Carrien


The Phoenicians had been there earlier the earliest known record of them goes back to the 7th century BCE

Mogador was there most important and for many years their farthest colony



As one of the few good ports on this part of the coast the site was invaded and fortified in turn by many people, the present fortifications were built by the Portuguese added to by Spain, Netherlands, England and the last France



The Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah Museum is small but holds a good collection of artifacts from the earliest inhabitants to the Phoenicians, Romans, Arabs, Portuguese and French eras

A selection of modern views of the city

Images of modern Essaouira

Great Post Hans!
S&F!!!

instead of reading and discussing the usual rote of pseudo stuff, i wish the people on ATS would discuss actual archaeology and civilizations.

Originally posted by coredrill
Great Post Hans!
S&F!!!

instead of reading and discussing the usual rote of pseudo stuff, i wish the people on ATS would discuss actual archaeology and civilizations.

If only! I mean the fringe stuff is fun and even sometimes, .000001, useful - there is a good point made but mainly it's mental masturbation. It often reminds me of this cheese I sampled in Sardinia

Bad idea not a bad taste - if you eat fast and don't think about it to much

There's a parallel between tales of Hanno and Plato's Atlantis tales, in that Hanno was often remarked as sailing around the Pillars of Heracles. (I only mention that for those Atlantis searchers who choose to interpret "Pillars of Heracles" as locations other than Gibraltar).

The Greek title is "Periplus of Hanno", the Greek translation of a Punic inscription. Hanno describes a number of things pertaining to his exploration of Africa, which the Greeks find impossible to believe, such as "hairy women", or the sun rising in the northern sky (which interpreters think indicate he sailed as far as Cape Palmas, past Sierra Leone).

The Voyage of Hanno

This is a really nice topic, the Phoenician came so close to being a major empire in the Western Med., but were vanquished in the end.

Originally posted by Blackmarketeer
There's a parallel between tales of Hanno and Plato's Atlantis tales, in that Hanno was often remarked as sailing around the Pillars of Heracles. (I only mention that for those Atlantis searchers who choose to interpret "Pillars of Heracles" as locations other than Gibraltar).

The Greek title is "Periplus of Hanno", the Greek translation of a Punic inscription. Hanno describes a number of things pertaining to his exploration of Africa, which the Greeks find impossible to believe, such as "hairy women", or the sun rising in the northern sky (which interpreters think indicate he sailed as far as Cape Palmas, past Sierra Leone).

The Voyage of Hanno

This is a really nice topic, the Phoenician came so close to being a major empire in the Western Med., but were vanquished in the end.

edit on 1-2-2012 by Blackmarketeer because: (no reason given)

We should do a thread on Hanno, Necho II's circumnavigation and the other Phoenician explorers.

Yes a Carthaginian empire would have been quite a different kettle of Fish from the Roman and later Roman/Greek experience: much more asiatic in outlook

thanks for the post,I had heard that this was a widely used condiment of the ancient world and I've always been curious about how it was made

apparently it is still used and made

now the garumbosia reference in Fire Walk With Me makes some sense

Originally posted by MrsBlonde
thanks for the post,I had heard that this was a widely used condiment of the ancient world and I've always been curious about how it was made

apparently it is still used and made

now the garumbosia reference in Fire Walk With Me makes some sense

Vietnamese style fish sauce is suppose to taste somewhat like garum