The Book of Michael of Rhodes

The Book of Michael of Rhodes is a compilation of material on multifarious subjects, mostly of an ostensibly practical character, assembled and illustrated by a Venetian seaman of Greek origin in the mid-fifteenth century. Its contents include information on mathematics, shipbuilding, navigation, and calendrical and astrological reckoning, as well as a summary of the author’s own career. It gives a glimpse into the maritime world of medieval Venice from a perspective not normally accessible, that of a mariner who began his career as an oarsman. Though originally an outsider in Venice, in the course of his career he rose into the highest ranks available to non-noble seamen, holding his own in the constant competition for office in the commercial and naval fleets. The work is published in a three-volume edition which presents and interprets the work in a comprehensive fashion. The first volume reproduces the entire original manuscript in photographic facsimile, the second contains the edited text and an English translation and the third offers nine studies on aspects of the work’s content, form and context

Archaeology · Art · Art history · Context (archaeology · Facsimile · Fifteenth · Telecommunications · Byzantine Studies and History · Classics · Engineering · History · Maritime and Coastal Archaeology