In the winter the open sea was avoided. The ships sailed across from Alexandria to Myra, and thence, keeping to the northerly side of the Medi- terranean as much as possible, made their way to Italy. According to tlie Bezan text (Ac 21'), St. Paul found at Myra a ship to which he transferred on his last journey to Syria. Myra was a harbour of the greatest importance for the Levant traffic, and from there vessels sailed straight acro.ss to Syrian ports as well as to Alexandria. St. Paul's ship, being a large one, probably cut straight across the Levant from Myra to Tyre, past the west pro- montory of Cyprus. F'rom "Tyre it coasted to Ptolemais and to Ctesarea (vv.'- ^). The last voy- age, to Rome, began at Cie.sarea. There St. Paul and his company embarked on a ship going to Adramyttium in N.W. Asia Minor and calling at several ports on the way. They went by Sidon (27^), past the east coast of Cyprus (because of con- trary winds), and along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia to Myra in Lycia (v.°). There they left the Adramyttian ship and trans-.shipped to an Alexandrian ve.ssel (with figure-head ' Castor and Pollux ') bound for Italy. By slow coasting, in the
ROADS AND TRAVEL
ROBBERS OF CHURCHES 399
teeth of a west wiml, tliey passed Piitaraniul Rhodes and uaiiie o]iposite Ivnidiis, and t'lom theio made for the east end of Crete and the pronioiiliiry Sahiione. Themte they eoasteil ah)n^ the southern side of the island, arnvini; at Fair Havens, near tlie city Lasea, ahoiit the niiddh; of the soutli coast. They liad already suirere<l the penalty of those who dared to voyage in winter, and there was a movement in favour of passing the winter in the harbour of I'hoenix farther on. A strong east wind, however, got hold of the ship, which was driven relent h'ssty before it, and tliey passe<l south of the little i^lanil of Clauda (I'auda). As the wind's force was unabated, they unilergirded, furled .sail, and threw overhoaril some of the cargo, and then the tackle. On the fourteenth day after leaving Fair Havens they landed at Malta (Ac -27" 28'). From Malta they sailed to Syracuse, tacked between Sicily and Italy, and eventually reached Puteoli. See, further, art. Ship.
St. I'aul had of course taken many voyages before this eventful one. Not all, or at least not all their details, are recorded in Acts. For he men- tions ("2 Co 11-') that he had lieen thrice wrecked and had passed a niglit and a day on a raft. This happened earlier in his life than the last voyage. Some of his shorter voyages have been referred to earlier in this article. One of the most constant voyages taken in ancient times was that across the ytgean between Corinth and Ephesiis. This was one stage on a great Oriental traile-route : from Brundisium to Fatriv and then to Lecha'um, the northern port of Corinth, then over the Isthmus of Corinth on the oXkos, which carried those vessels bodily to the other (southern) harbour Cenchrere (Ac IS'*). The journey straight acro.ss the jEgean brought one to Ephesns. Thence there was a great land trade-route to the Far East. The ease and regularity of this crossing of the ^gean must be remembered in arguments about the number of the Apostle's visits to Corinth. Cicero's slow voyage in the /Egean from the Pirteus to Ephesus, referred to above, is a contrast to the direct route Corintli- Ephesus.
We are indebted to Philo for a reference to another ^iigean trip (in Place, xviii., .\ix. [ed. Mangey, ii. pp. 538-541]). L. Avillius Flaccus, prefect of Egj-pt from A.D. 32 to ,37, was, during the latter part of his period of government, guilty of such injustice, especially against the Jews, that he was removed to Italy, and tried in Rome. His property was contiscated, and he was banished to the .'Egean island of Andros. Soon after (in 38 probably), he «as there, by the Emperor's order, put to death. Philo describes his journey. He was taken from Rome by the Appian 'VVay to Brundisium, whence he sailed across the Adriatic and up the Gulf of Corinth to Lechajum, the northern port of Corinth, crossed to Cenchrea; the other port, and sailed from there to the Piraeus. The boat was small, and the wind blew strong, and he sutt'ered greatly on this part of his journey. He then coasted along Attica as far as the pro- montory of Snniuni. Rounding Sunium, he passed the small islands of Helene, Kianos(?),and Kythnos, ' and the others that lie in a row,' eventually reaching the larger island Andros. He h;id been destined for the bleak island of Gyaros, much used as a place of deportation (cf. Juvenal, Sat. I. i. 73, with Mayor's note [^London, 1880]), but a friend had interceded for him, and he was sent to Andros instead.
The large use of the Gulf of Corinth in ancient times ought to be mentioned. The project of a canal through the Isthmus of Corinth was often mooted, but never completed. The voyage round the south of Greece was greatly dreaded, on account of the danger of being wrecked on Cape Malea.
So much was this the case that Malea became a proverb for extreme danger, and anyone who had rounded it was a sort of hero in his own eyes and those of everyone else. I'liny the Younger de- .scribes to the Emperor Trajan (ICp. 15 [2()]) how he had gone to Ephesus to take up the government of his province (about A.D. 111-113) iirip JlaX^av, and Flavins Zeuxis, a merchant of llierapolis in Phrygia, records on his tombstone that he had sailed seventy-two times past Malea from Asia to Italy. Pliny's ultimate destination was Bithynia- Pontns, and his i)lan was to reach his province from Eiihcsus, partly by the help of coasting vessels, and partly by the use of carriages (luc. cit.) — the reasons he gives are the periodic winds and the heat respectively. He could under ordinary circumstances have done the whole o£ the rest of his journey either by land or by sea.