"John Knight" <jwknight at polbox.com> wrote:
>It's believed that it was Joseph of Arimathaea who had tin mines in Ireland,
>brought Christ with him on at least one trip, and who brought Christianity
>to the British Isles, something you would hardly expect of a jew
Yet another fairy tale. You really think there were multinational
business owners 2000 years ago, that someone who wasn't a ruler owned
mines in one place and lived thousands of miles away? Do you realize
how long, difficult, and dangerous the sea voyage from Judeae to
Ireland would have been back then; "at least one of his trips",
indeed.
http://myron.sjsu.edu/romeweb/TRANSPRT/shiptrav.htm
>In addition to the vital flow of commerce facilitated by ships sailing
> to all ports on the Mediterranean and Aegean seas, a bold sea captain
> or adventurer sometimes ventured past the Pillars of Hercules and
> actually entered the Atlantic Ocean. Roman sailors were often very
> loath to do this, fearing the perils of a voyage to the cold and
> misty isle of Britain on the edge of the known universe. A small
> amount of commerce did flourish between the rest of the empire and
> Britain, the cargoes usually being tin and other metals. Important
> deposits of tin were located in Cornwall in the West of Britain. Tin
> was indispensable to the manufacture of bronze foe weapons, tools,
> ornamental sculpture, and jewelry. There were no other large deposits
> in the classical world, so a journey into the mysterious Western
> Ocean was occasionally necessary for the survival of the empire.
lojbab