Explorer Sir Robert Marx Talks Phoenicians March 28, Free Event at Gleason Auditorium
By Adam Lowenstein, FIT News Bureau // March 15, 2017
Details Worldwide Research Efforts
BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA — Famed undersea explorer Sir Robert Marx will discuss his epic fact-finding mission to better understand the ancient Phoenicians and their nautical prowess in a free public lecture at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 28, at Florida Institute of Technology’s Gleason Performing Arts Center.
The event is hosted by the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.
The Phoenicians are considered the greatest seafarers and traders of antiquity. They were the first Mediterranean nation to explore the continent of Africa, beginning around 4000 B.C., and to establish trading bases along its west coast.
They began making voyages to Cornwall, England, around 2000 B.C. to obtain tin and copper, which resulted in the Bronze Age beginning in both Europe and the Mediterranean area.
As early as 1500 B.C., the Phoenicians were making long voyages to the Canary and Azores islands and soon after across the Atlantic to South and Central America, archaeological and documentary evidence confirms.
Starting in 1970, Marx began searching for evidence on the construction of ancient Phoenician ships, in hopes of duplicating a Phoenician voyage from the Mediterranean to the New World as he did on his Columbus and Viking voyages in 1962 and 1968.
Very little documentary evidence existed regarding the method and materials used in building these magnificent ships other than a brief mention in the Bible stating that they were constructed of cedars of Lebanon.
Aided by experts around the world, Marx ended up researching in over 100 museums and libraries, as well as diving and exploring an equal number of shipwreck sites and submerged ancient ports off the the Mediterranean and African coasts.
As Marx was poised to start construction on a replica Phoenician galley, war broke out in the Middle East, delaying the project. After a few years, Marx had to abandon it altogether.
For more information on the lecture, call 321-674-8096.
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ABOVE VIDEO: Footage cut from the documentary featuring Bob Marx in 1971 narrated by Ron Sterling of the Twilight Zone about the exploration of the Nuestra Senora de la Maravillas, lost on the little Bahama Bank in 1656.
