In the time of the Maccabees Joppa was a Jewish seaport (1 Maccab. xiv. Herod the Great availed himself of the opportunities naturally af forded to form a more capacious port at Cxsarea (Joseph. De Bell. Yucl. iii. 9. 3). Nevertheless no purely Jewish trade by sea was hence even now called into being. Crnsarea was the place whence Paul embarked in order to proceed as a prisoner to Rome (Acts xxvii. 2). His voyage on that occa sion, as described most graphically in the Acts of the Apostles (ch. xxvii. xxviii.), if it requires some knowledge of ancient maritime affairs in order to be rightly understood, affords also rich and valuable materials towards a history of the subject, and might, we feel convinced, be so treated as of itself to supply many irresistible evidences of the certainty of the events therein recorded, and, by warrantable inferences, of tbe credibility of the evangelical history in general. No one but an eyewitness could have written the minute, exact, true, and graphic account which these two chapters give.
The reader of the N. T. is well aware how fre quently he finds himself with the Saviour on the romantic shores of the sea of Gennesareth. There Jesus is seen, now addressing the people from on board a vessel, a-NoTov (Matt. xiii. ; Luke v. 3) ; now sailing up and down the lake (Matt. viii. 23 ; ix. r ; xiv. 13 ; John vi. 17). Some of his earliest disciples were proprietors of barks which sailed on this inland sea (Matt. iv. 21 John xxi. 3 ; Luke v. 3). These ships' were indeed small. Josephus designates the ships here employed by the term o-Kcicpn. They were not, however, mere boats. They carried their anchor with them (De Bell. Yua'. iii. ; Vit. xxxiii.) There was too a kind of vessel larger than this, called axcala by Josephus, who narrates a sea-fight which took place on the lake, conducted on the part of the Romans by Vespasian himself (De Bell. io. 9). It thus appears that the lake was not contemptible, nor its vessels mean ; and those should hence learn to qualify their language who represent the Galilean Eshennen as of the poorest class.
The vessels connected with Biblical history were for the most part ships of burden, almost indeed exclusively so, at least within the period of known historical facts, though in a remote antiquity the Phcenician states can hardly fail to have supported a navy for war/ike, as it is known they did for predatory purposes. This peculiarity, however, of the Biblical ships exonerates the writer from enter ing into the general subject of the construction of ancient ships and their several sub-divisions. A good general summaty on that head may be found in Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Anti. gullies, p. 875, seq. A few details respecting chiefly ships of burden may be of service to the Scriptural student. In a ship of this kind was Paul conveyed to Italy. They (naves onerarix) were, for the pur poses to which they were destined, rounder and deeper than ships of war, and sometimes of great capacity. In consequence of their bulk, and when
laden, of their weight, they were impelled by sails rather than by oars. On the prow stood the insignia from which the ship was named, and by which it was known. These in Acts (xxviii. 1) are called rapacrw.zov, sign,' which it appears consisted in this case of figures of Castor and Pol lux—lucida sidera—brilliant constellations, aus picious to navigators (Horat. Od. 3 ; Liv. xxxvii. 92 ; Tac. Ann. vi. 34 ; Ovid. Trist. 10. 1). Each ship was provided with a boat, intended in the case of peril to facilitate escape, rKciOn (Acts xxvii. 16, 3o, 32 ; Cic. De Invent. ii. 51) ; and several anchors (Acts xxvii. 29, 40 ; Cms. Civ. 25) ; also a plumb-line for sounding (Acts xxvii. 28 ; Isidor. Orig. xix. 4). Among the sails one bore the name of cipregwv, trans lated in Acts xxvii. 4o, by mainsail ;' but pos sibly the word may rather mean what is now termed the topsail' (Schol. ad Yuven. xii. 68). In great danger it was customary to gird the vessel with cables, in order to prevent her from falling to pieces under the force of wind and sea (Acts xxvii.
; Polyb. xxvii. 3. 3 ; Athen. v. 204; Hor. Od. i. 14. 6). The various expedients that were em ployed in order to prevent shipwreck are described to the eye in the passage in the Acts. First, the vessel was lightened by throwing overboard all lumber, luggage, and everything that could be spared. The term employed by Luke is arcetrh (xxvii. 19), one of a very wide signification, which the words we have just employed do not, we think, more than equal. If the peril grew more imminent, the freight was sacrificed (xxvii. 38). When hope or endurance had come to a period, recourse was had to the boat, or efforts were made to reach the shore on spars or rafts (xxvii. 38, 44). The cap tain was denominated paincXnpos (xxvii. ii), steers man, though he was a different person from him who had the actual charge of the helm; who bore the name of xvi3epp.47-ns, which is the root of our word governor' (Lat. gubernator, helmsman).
The dangers of the ocean to sailors on board such ships as these were, and in the then ignorance of navigation, caused sailing to be restricted to the months of spring, summer, and autumn ; winter was avoided. To the Romans the sea was opened in March and closed in November (Cxs. Bell. Gall. iv. 36 ; v. 23; Philo, Opp. iv. 548 ; Acts x_xvii.
; and ships which towards the end of the year were still at sea earnestly sought a harbour in which to pass the winter (Acts xxvii. 12).
Schlozer, Vers. einer Ails; Geschichte d. Handels 11. d. Schifzrt in den alt. Zez?en, Rostock 176o; La Marine des Anciens Peuples, par Le Roy, Paris 1777 ; Berghaus, Gesch. d. Schijartskunde 1792 ; Benedict, Vers. e. Gesch. d. Schif ze. d. Handel bei den Allen, 18°9 ; Howell, On the War Galleys of the Ancients ; A. Jal, Archiologie Navale, Paris 184o ; Urkunden iiber das Seewesen des At lischen Staates ; Smith, Voyage and Shipwreck cy St. .Patel, Lond. 1848, 2d ed. 1856.—J. R. B.