t Josephus, Ant. xiv. xiv. 2f.; BJ 1. xiv. 3; Ant. xvi. ii. 2.
After reaching the south-western extremity of Asia Minor the ships ran down to the eastern promontory of Crete, Salmone, and proceeded to work along its south coast in the same way as before (Ac 277-8), This was the safe course, in preference to the north side of Crete, because there, if a north wind came sweeping down the Agean, the ship would be in danger of being driven on the coast, which has few harbours.” On the south coast there was not the same danger of running ashore, partly because the harbours were more numerous, and still more because the south winds in this sea are much more gentle, as a rule, than the north winds.t
Only one piece of evidence (see below) known to the present writer describes the voyage between Crete and the Italian coast. But the course of such a voyage is indubitable: the ships would take an opportunity of running for the south point of Cythera, and thence off Zakynthos and across the mouth of the Adriatic to the south coast of Italy, usually to Hydruntum (/éin. Mar. p. 489). They would not shrink from running direct to Italy if the wind at any moment were from the north. An ancient fleet could safely run from Cythera or Zakynthos for the wide angle between Italy and Sicily; the ships on the wings would guide the whole fleet by signal.
The evidence of Lucian in the beginning of his dialogue, Navigiwm, is clear: the corn ships in ordinary course sailed across from the south-west of Crete to sight Cythera;+ but they sometimes missed their course under the influence of southerly winds and got into the AXgean Sea.
There is not in the Aigean or the Adriatic the same prevalence of westerly winds in summer as in the Levant and the open stretch of the Medi- terranean. Northerly and southerly winds are more characteristic of those seas; and therefore this part of the voyage would in general be much more easily accomplished than the preceding part. Hence in a favourable voyage the runs from Alex- andria to Myra, and from Crete to Rhegium and thence to Puteoli, would not be slow; but, even at the best, a considerable time would necessarily be spent on the coasting voyage from Myra to the west end of Crete.
It is noteworthy that this wide stretch of sea between Crete and Italy, being affected by the prevalent winds of the Adriatic, was called by the sailors Adria (Ac 2777). We note also that west- ward-bound ships kept well to the north in this part of the sea to catch the Adriatic winds, while eastward-bound ships must have kept more to the south in order to profit by the general Mediter- ranean current of air setting for the Syrian coasts and the hot deserts behind them (see § iv).
On the other hand, in unfavourable times, if the ship failed to clear Akamas, or did not get suit- able winds west of Crete, all three parts of the voyage might be tedious. The scene in which Lucian’s dialogue, Navigiwm, is laid is most prob- ably taken from a real event. The ship failed to clear the point of Akamas on the seventh day from Alexandria, and, after being driven to Zidon, and on the tenth day from Zidon § reaching the Cheli-
* Sucriuevos (Eust.), which does not mean (as some scholars have understood) that there was no harbour on the north coast, but only that they were too few.
+ It is different in the Adriatic, where, as Horace (Od. i. 3. 15) says, the south wind is the arbiter.
$ der ry Kpiirny dekicev AccBovras, vrtp roy Marto rAcioayras, 731 (i.e. before the seventieth day from Alexandria) evace ty *IrceAic. A glance at the map shows with perfect certainty how this must be interpreted.
§ The exact course is mentioned ; the ship sailed through the Aulon or channel between Cyprus and the Cilician-Pamphylian coast, the same course as St. Paul’s ship took. That course was necessarily and invariably followed by westward - bound ships from the Syrian harbours.
ROADS AND TRAVEL (IN NT)
donian Islands (east of Myra), it met a storm, narrowly escaped sinking, and thereafter had a run of bad luck south of Crete, and was finally driven by southerly winds into the Aigean, and had to put into the Pireus after a voyage of 70 days.
vi. TIME BETWEEN ALEXANDRIA AND ROME. —From this voyage, as described by Lucian, com- bined with the statement in Ac 27°, that St. Paul’s ship reached Myra on the fifteenth day from Cxesarea, we can state with very considerable accuracy the fair time to Myra from Alexandria as nine days, and from Zidon as twelve to thirteen. Now two days was ample time from the Straits of Messina to Puteoli (Ac 28%), when the wind favoured; and ten to twelve days must be allowed from Crete to the Straits. This leaves thirteen to eighteen days for the coasting voyage from Myra tu the west extremity of Crete, in the passage described in the next paragraph as a favourable one. Gregory of Nazianzus took twenty days to Rhodes (say ten to Myra, and ten from Myra to Rhodes) ; this is a little slower.
Examples of the average length of passage from Alexandria to Rome are difticult to get, as most of those which are mentioned are exceptional and tedious voyages. But the following may be taken as probably a fair average voyage in the best season. No. 27 of the Berlin Greek Papyri is a letter written. from Rome on 2 August, towards the end of the 2nd cent., by a sailor or officer on an Alexandrian ship. He mentions that he ‘came to land’ on 30 June, finished unloading on 12 July (perhaps in Puteoli),* and reached Rome on 19 July. Now the ship cannot be supposed to have left Alexandria long before 26 May, for the statement of Vegetius about the period when the sea was fully open was almost certainly inspired by the rules for the Alexandrian corn ships. If the ship in question sailed in the first fleet it would probably be ready to start on the first day of open sea, and the voyage would have occupied thirty-six days. But, further, the ships would probably be ready to take advantage of a favourable opportunity some days before the 26th, for it cannot be supposed that the day was fixed with absolute precision (Ac 28"). The voyage in this case, therefore, may be taken as lasting prob- ably about forty days; and we must understand that it was a favourable passage. In this argu- ment we have assumed A tees the ship arrived as one of a fleet and not as a single stray ship ; but it may fairly be assumed that stray ships came in at unusual times, very early or late, and that a ship reaching Puteoli on 30 June was sailing in the ordinary course. Probably this was near the ordinary time for the first fleet of the year to arrive, as described by Seneca (Epist. Mor. 77, 1), in a year when the voyage was very good. As a rule, vessels with a heavy cargo like corn did not unload at Puteoli, but went on thence to Ostia, whereas valuable cargo was discharged at Puteoli and carried to Rome by land.