Roman sailor accidently discovers America???

what about a rich eccentric? A roman sir Richard Branson, that just must know what lay beyond the horizon.
and searches for the shipbuilding techniques he needs and finds the Venetii / phoenician designs etc
 
what about a rich eccentric? A roman sir Richard Branson, that just must know what lay beyond the horizon.
and searches for the shipbuilding techniques he needs and finds the Venetii / phoenician designs etc
Again:
1. Why bother? Bigger, more certain profits at home. Pre-Columbian history isn't that detailed, but I don't think there were many rich Mesoamerican cultures to plunder in any event at the time.
2. Who would support him? Even with a vast sum of money, the hypothetical Roman Branson would have to contract builders, convince investors, go through bureaucracies, etc., all of whom would likely think it's nuts to go west.
3. Roman Branson wouldn't have a damn clue what's on the other side. The chances of him preparing appropriately for the voyage and all going well are incredibly low.
 
just for the sake of exploring.
shipbuilders are going to build what the are payed to build, and as it wont be for financial gain no he will probably not find any investors that's is why we need a rich eccentric.
i don't know that much about roman bureaucracies, why would they want to stop it?
 
I've always wondered why the Romans never build bigger ships!!! they should have! The Chinese were using Bigger ships to trade with India at this peroid!!!

You mean bigger than your typical 18th-century three-deck ship of the line? There are certain structural limits to what the European style of wooden shipbuilding will allow. They kick in somehere around 70 metres in length, which is as far as the Romans took things. Size is not the issue, Roman trade ships (especially for the Alexandria run) were as big as could be managed. Bigger does not always equal more seaworthy, though.
 
what about a rich eccentric? A roman sir Richard Branson, that just must know what lay beyond the horizon.
and searches for the shipbuilding techniques he needs and finds the Venetii / phoenician designs etc

There is no secret lost technology about the Venetic ships. Their shipbuilding techniques continued into the Roman period and were combined with those of other cultures. If you wanted a ship like that, you could have it on the open market.

The problem with the rich explorer idea is that there were so many other directions open for exploration. It's not that the Romans didn'tr explore or develop new ideas and things (it's a fashionable view that they didn't, largely a backlash against the Gibbonesque 'just like us' story, but it doesn't really hold up that well). The Atlantic is just a remarkably uninviting prospect for this. Why go out into a dangerous, unknown, cold and largely empty sea if you can look for things like the source of the Nile (tried and failed under Nero), the overland route to China (tried and probably succeeded, though not opened for regular trade until later), the trans-Sahara caravan route (tried, outcome uncertain) or the sea route to India (tried and succeeded even before Roman rule).

I think your prospects are better if you put something out there first. If a reason exists - a merchant ship blown off course, the chance discoovery of the Azores or Canaries, trade down the African coast or a freak voyage all the way across and back), it's fairly rational to go look. If not - why on earth should you? Columbus' momentous error is hard to replicate here because any Roman who believes that the Earth is a sphere will also have learned of its correct size (calculated remarkably precisely) and have a reasonable idea of the distance to India, so he'd know there is no way you can reach China by heading West.
 
i don't know that much about roman bureaucracies, why would they want to stop it?

There is no reason whatsoever, and very likely they wouldn't untiul the fourth century. After that, the Roman Empire has a taxation system that is effectively run on a war footing and an official might make it his business to stop this 'waste'. If a rich and influential Roman really wanted to do this, he could. The problem is, he would very likely fail because, perversely, if he prepared adequately, he would be convinced it was impossible.

You're much better off with an accidental voyage, and do it in stages.
 
How do you know it didn't happen? A ship blown across by accident. There are claims that Roman Storage Jars have been found in Brazilian Waters. Who built to structure at Salem Massachusets? Did the Pheonicians reach the America's. However regular trade with the Southern States was unlikely for the simple reason that tobacco isn't condemned in the Bible or Koran largely because it hadn't reached the Middle East. The Vikings probably only got as far as Labrador and Newfoundland so didn't get tyhat far South.A few ships of course may well have crossed after all where did the Quezacoatl legend come from?
 
I'd imagine if a Roman ship did somehow make it to the Americas they'd just be thankful to be alive and forget about any idea of returning home
 
The best question to ask yourself to get into the Roman mindset in this regard would be "Why bother?" It's the same reason there was never a major scientific, intellectual and industrial push like Europe had ~1500-1900. Manual labor was cheap and plenty, food sources were near enough at hand that there was no need to go further from the empire for it, and the vast majority of trade was focused eastwards, to the orient. Why bother sending men out into the Atlantic to look for food or whatever when it was cheaper closer to home?

And the Chinese were trading with Indian nations in the 15th century AD, not ancient Roman times.

I think that's exactly right. The Roman's considered their empire the entire world, so why bother going to find barbarians?
 
How do you know it didn't happen? A ship blown across by accident. There are claims that Roman Storage Jars have been found in Brazilian Waters. Who built to structure at Salem Massachusets? Did the Pheonicians reach the America's. However regular trade with the Southern States was unlikely for the simple reason that tobacco isn't condemned in the Bible or Koran largely because it hadn't reached the Middle East. The Vikings probably only got as far as Labrador and Newfoundland so didn't get tyhat far South.A few ships of course may well have crossed after all where did the Quezacoatl legend come from?

Legends can come from anywhere, but the problem is exactly as you point it out: we would never know. It is likely that some travellers crossed the Atlantic in both directions (there is a story that at least suggests Americans may have reached Europe in Roman times). There was just no lasting effect. Having a Roman ship blown across the Atlantic is so easy not having it happen is near ASB. Surviving the trip is harder. Returning is very difficult. Setting up a full-scale colonisation venture is very, very difficult to see. Of course, so is a pissant little Latin country town becoming a world-spanning Empire with cultural repercussions to this day, so...
 

Valdemar II

Banned
The problem is if we look what happen shipwrecked European, Chinese and Arabic sailors, they assimilated into the local culture (even if it were technogical backward) and left few trace except a few genes, at best we could see some Eurasian cereals introduced to the Americas, anything more is completely unlikely.
 
Top