I - 199 : The Ingenuity of Ropes

When we sailed from Istanbul to Athens in 2022, we took the time to stop in Akrotiri, the Minoan site on Santorini's south coast (F + 18). Buried under several meters of ash from the Thera eruption in 1'625 BC, many colourful frescos are preserved. One of them shows a procession of Minoan boats (see yesterday's blog).

One of the depicted boats has a sail - the others are ceremonial boats with rowers only.

The Minoans learned about sailing in Egypt where the Nile flows north and the wind blows south. The sail allowed Egyptian boats to travel upriver without being toed. It would be an understatement to say that the sail integrated Egypt. It was key to unify the upper and lower kingdomd. The Minoans took the Egyptian invention and adapted it for use on the open sea where wind directions change quickly and boats are far from the safety of shores. Being able to lift and lower sail quickly was vital.

Modern Replica of a Minoan Sailboat - Ropes and Pulleys are as vital as the Sail itself

Ropes and gulleys are actually more important than the sail itself. In all my years of sailing, I hardly touched a sail but always had ropes in my hands. Without ropes, a sail cannot be handled and adjusted - it would simply be a piece of cloth. Only the ropes give it form and shape necessary to harness the energy of the wind.

These well-preserved ropes were found in Egypt and date back to around 2'000 BC

Ropes are probably the most underrated human invention that exists. Everybody takes them for granted. Nobody knows when strings were invented. The earliest preserved examples date 30'000 years back and were found in a cave in Eastern Europe. But strings must be older as we know from shell and bone beads with holes dating back 300'000 years. Wonder how our ancestors got the idea to twist fibers from animals or plants into yarn, then yarn into strings and strings into ropes. Without yarn, they could not have sown animals skins into clothes - and thus move into cold regions - or weave textiles. The first looms are found in Sumer around 3'000 BC. Strings also make it possible to fire an arrow or play music with a chord, domesticate a animals, pull a plow or move stones for building monuments. Ropes and strings are simply essential in our daily life.

Wooden Model of an Egyptian Plow kept together with Ropes, around 1'900 BC (NY Met)

It is not clear where sails were "invented". Small sailboats show up on the Don and Dnjepr at around 7'000 BC in a culture that preceeded the Indoeuropeans. We also know that sails were used in the early Indus and Mesopotamian cultures. The picture for pulleys is clearer. They were inventend by the Sumer and used in Mesopotamia's big towns to lift heavy stuff and pull up sails for the boats navigating the Euphrates and the Tigris. From there they must have made it to Egypt. The Minoans used them on their boats from the very start.

Minoan Trade Routes in the late Bronze Age (from worldhistory.org)

Ropes, pulleys and sails made their biggest impact on maritime exploration. Silk from China and pepper from India may never have reached Europe without sails. Rome would never have become a metropolis of 1 million people without the grain from Sicily and Egypt, the Vikings and Columbus would not have discovered the Americas. The end of the Age of Sail began only in 1822, when the first steam engine was put on a ship. It took more than 100 years to replace sails entirely. The fascination of moving with the wind never lost its lure though. Everybody loves hoisting sails with ropes and pulleys and glide quietly through the waters.