This dread of storms and dislike to travel in winter was not confined to voyages by sea. Even on land there are many proofs that, where moun- tain ranges or high plateaus had to be crossed, as in going across Asia Minor, ordinary persons avoided winter travelling and waited till spring. Basil of Cvesarea, who speaks in Epist. 20 of a ‘continuous stream of travellers’ on a great route, such as that which led from Czesarea to Athens, says that in a severe winter ‘all the roads were blocked till Easter’ (Zpis¢. 198), and that ‘the road to Rome is wholly impracticable in winter’ (Lpist. 215). His meeting with the Bishop of Iconium must be fixed ‘at a season suitable for travelling’ (Epist. 191); yet the road between Czesarea and Iconium is wholly on the level, and crosses no pass or elevated ground. Even a mild winter ‘was quite sufficient to keep him from travelling while it lasted’ (Hpist. 27). A modern traveller or mis- sionary would traverse the roads of the plateau at any time;+ but for ancient travellers there was a close time, during which travelling was almost entirely suspended, and no journeys were planned or thought of, except by professional travellers (Basil, Hp. 198). Vegetius (iv. 39) mentions that land travel was stopped as completely as sea travel between 10 Nov. and 10 March.
The reason lay, not simply in the snow,—al- though Basil speaks in Hpist. 48 of ‘such a heavy fall of snow that we have been buried, houses and all, beneath it, —but quite as much in the spring rains and the extremely cold winds of early winter, which are very trying, though not likely to keep an active traveller indoors. The Taurus is in some places, however, impassable in winter except with considerable personal danger : see, ¢.9., the account given by Prof. Sterrett in the Wolfe Expedition to Asia Minor, p. 80. In time of heavy rain the surface of the plateau becomes, in most places, a sea of mud, though perhaps the principal Roman roads may have been well enough built in the time of St. Paul to rise above that sea.
This is a factor of considerable importance in determining the chronology of St. Paul’s jour- neys. The broad and lofty ridge of Mount Taurus is for the most part really dangerous to cross in winter, owing to the deep snow obliterating the roads. The roads leading from Perga direct towards Ephesus, and from Tarsus through the Cilician Gates towards Lycaonia and the north and west generally, cross a lower suminit height, and are actually traversable by well equipped or deter- mined travellers through most part of the winter, except during any temporary block caused by snowstorms. But we must estimate the time of year when St. Paul would be likely to cross Taurus (Ac 13 14*4 161 18”) according to the cus- toms of the period.
To estimate this factor rightly, we should know the precise limits of the close season In popular usage. This is difficult. For example, towards the end of May 1882 snow was lying in all these uplands. In the crossing of the Cilician Gates during the early part of June 1902 there was a thunderstorm, accompanied by severe cold and heavy rain, almost every day. During the season when such weather was fairly probable, we can hardly believe that it was customary or usual for
* Lycia or Cilicia are also possible. + Ramsay, Impressions of Turkey, p. 222, Review, vol. clxxxvi. No. 372, p. 430.
and Quarterly
ROADS AND TRAVEL (IN NT) 377
ordinary persons among the ancients to arrange their journeys. Basil, as quoted above, may be taken as a fair specimen of ancient views.
It is true that even in ancient times Cicero crossed Taurus by the Cilician Gates in Novem- ber 51 and April 50 B.c.* Antigonus vainly tried to cross Taurus from Cilicia in B.C. 314, but lost many soldiers owing to the snow. His second attempt at a more favourable opportunity suc- ceeded (Diodor. xix. 69. 2).
To take another example from later history, in the autumn of A.D. 803 the Emperor Nicephorus broke the peace, thinking that he could do so safely at that late season with the winter at hand. Nice- phorus relied on the customary closed time, when the march of an army was impossible. But he was taken unawarest by the Caliph Harun er- Rashid, who crossed Taurus in the winter season before the end of the year (the Mohammedan year ended about 20 December in A.D. 803). Harun did not consider himself bound by the ordinary custom, and he must have passed the Cilician (jates about November or early December.
The question, however, in such a matter is not what is possible, but what is customary. Just as it was possible to cross the sea during the closed season, so it was possible to traverse the Cilician Gates in the winter by taking a favourable oppor- tunity, and yet the winter was a closed season, when ordinary people would not attempt to cross. The ordinary traveller had not the equipment of a Roman governor, like Cicero, nor was he like such a general as Antigonus, anxious to surprise an enemy, and willing to risk the lives of his soldiers in the attempt. Yet even Antigonus must wait a favourable opportunity.
Although the exact limits of the travelling season must remain uncertain, yet probably the ordinary custom of the sea ruled also on land. If there was any difference, it would naturally be that on land the closed season began and ended a little later than on sea, All travel across the mountains was avoided between the latter part of November and the latter part of March; and ordinary travellers, not forced by official duties, but free to choose their own time, would avoid the crossing between October (an extremely wet month on the plateau) and May.