Das Geheimnis der venezianischen Galeere (DEUTSCH) [Archive] - The Apricity Forum: A European Cultural Community

Foxy

04-18-2012, 07:27 AM

Unfortunately, i don't understand deutsch...

I speak a bit German. I am now watchig the first video (The secrets of the Venetian galera), it says that Venice today is a very touristic destination, but in the past it was a rich metropoli in the heart of Europe, that had trafficks with Orient. Venice had particular, fast ships called "galere", that the Venetians used against pirates and revals and by which Venetians were able to conquest a lot of goods in Orient, that enriched the city. Then it says that an Italian archeologist has found the remains of a galera.
In front of Venice there is a lagoon which covers 55 Kmq. It describes the structure of a galera, it says that they were narrow and fast and they dominated the Mediterranean. They were the fastest and best boats of the Middle Age.
Marco D'Agostino and his team have searched the ruins of a galera in the lagoon, using also an ancient map of Venice. The search was difficult, also because of the weak visibility in the waters of the lagoon. Anyway they had no idea to find a whole relic, unbroken and very old. They used radiocarbon dating to understand how old the relic was. Since its find it started a lot of speculations about how it had finished under the lagoon.
An expert of Venetian history, Professor Davis, from the University of Ohio speaks of Venice and of the Venetian trades at the end of Middle Age. He says that Venice imported gold, pepper and nutmeg from Orient. The latter was hugely used also for medical purposes, for examples it was used against headaches but also against impotence. It imported also rare fabrics that the aristocracy from all Europe used for their clothes. These trades bore a big richness to Venice, but it had constatly to face pirates, day and night.
I think he speaks of Barbarigo, an ancient Venecian who discovered that Genoese pirates made attacks against Venecian ships. Then he speaks about the war galere, moved with human muscles, that were able to cover even 80 kilometres a day. Venice was governed by a doge and a council. The counsellors were choosen among Venetian merchants, because Venice itself lived of commerce and had all the interest to safeguard its trades.
The results of the radiocarbon dating revealed that the relic is from XIV century. The following morning D'Agostino and his team have returned to the lagood and have tried to remove the sediments from the lagood to acquire some visibility more. They found out that the galera was a transport galera 40 metres long. It was fantastic, because many had tried to find a galera but nobody had succeeded yet. It was the first time in history that the relic of a galera was brought to light.

... I have to continue to watch it...