The monoxyle, or hollow tree, with both ends rounded, must be held to be the primitive form and model for the ship, and continued to be so with little alteration till the jMiddle Ages, when a change in the mode of steering ren- dered a change in the form of the stern necessary, but which it is foreign to our purpose to take into consider- ation.
4. Boats on the Sea of Galilee. — The reader of the New Test, is well aware how frequently he finds himself with tlie Saviour on the romantic shores of the Sea of Gennesareth. There Jesus is seen, now addressing the people from on board a vessel, ttXoIov (Matt, xiii, 2j Luke v, 3), now sailing up and down the lake (Matt, viii, 23 ; ix, 1 ; xiv, 13 ; John vi, 17). Some of his ear- liest disciples were proprietors of barks which sailed on this inland sea (Jlatt. iv, 21 ; John xxi, 3; Luke v, 3). These " ships" were indeed small. Josephus designates the ships here employed by the term (TKCKprj. They were not, however, mere boats; they carried their anchor with them ( War, iii, 10, 1; Life, § 33). There was, too, a kind of vessel larger than this, called axtSia by Josephus, who narrates a sea-fight which took place on the lake, conducted on the part of the Romans by Vespasian himself ( War, iii, 10, 9). It thus appears that the lake was not contemptible nor its vessels mean ; and those should hence learn to qual- ify their language who represent the Galile- an fishermen as of the poorest class.
SHIP
694
SHIP
Assyiiau Ariueii Galley m M
British Museum.)
There is a melancholy interest in that passage of Dr. Robinson's Bofeafches (iii, '2bo) in which he says that on his approach to the Sea of Tiberias he saw a single white sail. This was the sail of the one rickety boat which, as we learn from other travellers (see especially Thomson, Land and Book; ii, 81), alone remains on a scene represented to us in the gospels and in Josephus as full of life from the multitude of its tishing-boats. In the narratives of the call of the discijiles to be "fishers of men" (Matt, iv, 18-'2-.'; Mark i, 16-20; Luke v, 1-11), there is no special information concerning the charac- teristics of these boats. In the account of the storm and the miracle on the lake (Matt, viii, 23-27; Mark iv, 35-41 ; Luke viii, 22-25), it is for every reason instruct- ive to compare the three narratives; and we should ob- serve that Luke is more technical in his language than Matthew, and Mark than Luke. Tluis, instead of (tekt- fibt; fifyag iyivtro iv ry BctXdaay (Matt, viii, 24), we have Karifii] \al\aip cii'i/ioti ti'e r/)j' \ifii'}]v (Luke viii, 23), and again rf^J kXvvojvl tov vOarog (ver. 24) ; and instead of wars to ttXoTov KuXvnrtabai, we have avviTrXripovvTO, In Mark (iv, 37) we have tu KiijiuTa tTrfjictWiv (tg to ttXoToi', waTi aliro ySi] ■yif.iil.etrSrai. This evangelist also mentions the TTf)0(TKt(pdXaioi', or boatman's cushion, on which our blessed Saviour was sleeping Iv ry irpi'iivy, and he uses the technical term iKoTTuaiv for the lulling of the storm. See more on this subject in Smith, Dissertation on the Gospels (Lond. 1853). We may turn now to John. lu the account he gives of what fiUowed the miracle of walking on the
we have the terms aiyiaXoQ and ra ^t%ia l^tpi] ToiJ TrXoiov, which should be noticed as technical. Here again ttXo'iov and TrXoirtpioi/ appear to be synonymous. If we compare all these passages with Josephus, we easily come to the conclusion that, with the large popula- tion around the Lake of Tiberias, there must have been a vast number both of tishing-boats and pleasure-boats, and that boat -building must have been an active trade on its shores (see Stanley, iSin. and Pal. p. 3G7).
The so-called ships of the Lake of Tiberias were, in fact, fishing-boats impelled by oars (see Mark vi, 48 ; John vi, 19). We learn also from Luke's account of Christ stilling the tem- pest, and his using the expression ttXioi'tiov, "sailing" (viii, 23), that they must have had nimue from Koyuiijik.iu the masts and sails; and from Mark's account of the same event (iv, 38) they must have been furnished with a vpodKefaXaior, "pillow," which, ac- cording to Hesychius, was the same as the vrnpHCfiioVy or fleece, upon which the rowers sat. So far as we can learn from the scriptural account, they fished with nets, we must suppose with the drag-net, and also with the ajUipi l^i\i](TTpov (Matt, iv, 18) or dfi^iiiuXXoPTag
(Mark i, 16).
Fishermen Dragging a Net. (Mosaic pavement from Car- thage, in the British Museum.)
V. Construction and Equipment.— \. Shape and Orna- ments of the Hull. — It is probable, from the mode of steer- ing (and, indeed, it is nearly evident from ancient works of art), that there was no very marked difference between the bow (Trpwpa, "foreship," Acts xxvii, 30, " fore part" sea (vi, 16-25), ttXoiov and TrXotwpioi' seem to be used I ver. 41) and the stern {wpvpva, " hinder part," ver. 41 ; indifferently, and we have mention of other irXoidpia. see Blark iv, 38). The " hold" (koiXj/, " the sides of the There would of course be boats of various sizes on the ship," Jonah i, 5) would present no special peculiarities. lake. The reading, however, is doubtful. Finally, in In merchant-shijjs the sides of the deck were defended the solemn scene after the resurrection (John xxi, 1-8), | by an open rail, the stem-post and stern-post rising in