The undersea realm in the ancient World...mysterious, unknown, and unreachable for most. Ancient man rarely ventured into the depths of the ocean, much less into the waves at all...most could not swim and the thought of diving deep was virtual madness...there be monsters down there, or so the myths and legends told them...
Ancient people were familiar with the upper reaches of the ocean's depths. Greek pearl divers in millennia past were plumbing the sea for oysters thousands of years ago. Predominately women, these ancient "mermaids" trained from childhood to swiftly reach the bottom of the sea quickly, complete their task and then rocket to the surface, all in one breath which gave them roughly two minutes of time after slipping beneath the surface. By using a handheld stone for a weight, they would suck up a breath and then jet into the depths to give them as much time on the bottom to look for the pearl bearing mollusks, enhanced by slitting their nostrils to allow more air in quicker before the plunge. This is noted in Problemata, or Problems, a scientific treatise from roughly the 3rd century B.C. attributed to Aristotle but likely written much later by an unknown author, however, still a relevant source document for the period:
Divers would blacken their hands, arms, legs and feet in an attempt to camouflage these extremities from carnivorous undersea predators, and they would place small pieces of olive oil infused sponge within their ears and mouth to keep the sea water out. Being completely nude they would shave off head and body hair, making them more streamlined, clutching a heavy stone or chunk of crudely cast metal, plunged to the seafloor to maximize a short two minute window of worktime at the bottom of the sea. To extend the time, they might also have used a metal cauldron, weighted and tipped upside down, that would be lowered to the sea floor and contain enough air to the divers to slip their heads under and catch a couple of quick breaths. This device, again, noted in Problemata...
"For they can give respiration to divers equally by letting down a cauldron. For this does not fill with water, but retains its air. Its lowering has to be done by force. For any vessel which is upright admits the water if it is tilted."
As the legend goes, in 332 B.C. whilst laying siege to Tyre, Alexander was encased within a glass barrel called a "colimpha", held by 600 foot chains and lowered into the depths. He was accompanied by a cock, a dog, a cat, beautiful maidens or companions, or a mixed and matched combination depending on the version being read. After descending into the deep, some versions sat Alexander was lowered by the chain which was held by his mistress, Alexander's mission to conquer the depths was thwarted by what he saw. The sheer banality of the undersea, big fish eating little fish, who in turn were gobbled up by even bigger fish, convinced Alexander that he could never hope to conquer this wild and primeval environment. At some point, the chain is dropped, either by his mistress abandoning him, or it breaking, and Alexander plunges into the darkness of the deep sea. As the diving bell sat on the seafloor enveloped in darkness, Alexander could keep time via his roosters crow, the cat could refresh the air with oxygen by breathing, and the dog was used as an inflatable which saved Alexander by serving as a life buoy propelling him up from the depths to the surface. One has to wonder how the dog was inflated...
This undersea tale, which was encompassed in a larger work known collectively as The Romance of Alexander is pure fiction with about as much believability as The Submarine Voyage at Disneyland. The Tales went far and wide, from England all the way East into Russia, India, and perhaps China, all Medieval works of fantasy and fiction, 2,500 years after the fact. Alexander never went down in a bell, but he might have bathed in the Sea. Just for perspective, these fantasies also have him flying in a chariot, towed by winged griffons. The legends surrounding Alexander seems to make him into the "Harry Potter" of the Middle Ages...
Illustrations of the Alexander diving bell fantasy are prolific...this story was extremely popular. Each interpretation seems to portray Alexander in the image of whatever monarch was sitting on whatever country's throne...English Alexander, German Alexander, even Indian Alexander...
