Seven Seas
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"The Seven Seas" is a figurative term for all the seas of the known world.
The terminology of a "seven seas" with varying definitions was part of the vernacular of several peoples (as in the prior mentioned seas of Arabic literature), long before the oceans of the world became known (to those peoples). The term can now also be taken to refer to these seven oceanic bodies of water:[2][3][4]
- the Arctic Ocean
- the North Atlantic Ocean
- the South Atlantic Ocean
- the Indian Ocean
- the North Pacific Ocean
- the South Pacific Ocean
- the Southern (or Antarctic) Ocean
The
Arabs
The Arabs and their near neighbours considered the Seven Seas (
In the 9th century AD, author Ya'qubi wrote:
Whoever wants to go to
camphor tree grows. The fifth sea is called Salahit and is very large and filled with wonders. The sixth sea is called Kardanj; it is very rainy. The seventh sea is called the sea of Sanji, also known as Kanjli. It is the sea of China; one is driven by the south wind until one reaches a freshwater bay, along which are fortified places and cities, until one reaches Khanfu.[6]
This passage demonstrates the Seven Seas as referenced in Medieval
- The Persian Gulf ("Sea of Fars")
- The Larwi")[7]
- The Harkand")[8]
- The Strait of Malacca ("Sea of Kalah")[9]
- The Singapore Strait ("Sea of Salahit")[10]
- The Gulf of Thailand ("Sea of Kadranj")[9]
- The South China Sea ("Sea of Sanji")[9]
Arab seafarers may have also considered other important seas nearby which they navigated regularly, including the Black Sea, Caspian Sea, Red Sea, Mediterranean Sea, and Adriatic Sea.
East Indies
In British Colonial times the Clipper Ship Tea Route from China to England was the longest trade route in the world. It took sailors through seven seas near the Dutch East Indies: the Banda Sea, the Celebes Sea, the Flores Sea, the Java Sea, the South China Sea, the Sulu Sea, and the Timor Sea. The Seven Seas referred to those seas, and if someone had sailed the Seven Seas it meant he had sailed to, and returned from, the other side of the world.
Greeks
The term in modern usage originated from Greece, where the seven seas were considered as:[citation needed]
- The Adriatic Sea
- The Aegean Sea
- The Black Sea
- The Caspian Sea
- The Mediterranean Sea
- The Persian Gulf (then considered a sea)
- The Red Sea
Romans
The meaning of septem maria (
All those rivers and trenches were first made by the
Etruscans, thus discharging the flow of the river across the marshes of the Atriani called the Seven Seas, with the famous harbor of the Etruscan town of Atria which formerly gave the name of Atriatic to the sea now called the Adriatic.[11]
A history of Venice states:
The expression "to sail the seven seas" was a classical flourish signifying nautical skill. It was applied to the Venetians long before they sailed the oceans.[12]
Persians
The
Talmudists
The
When R. Dimi came he said R. Yohanan said: "What is the meaning of the verse, 'For he hath founded it upon the seas and established it upon the floods.' (Ps. 24:2)? This refers to the seven seas and four rivers that surround the land of Israel. And what are the seven seas? The sea of Tiberias, the Sea of Sodom, the Sea of Helath, the Sea of Hiltha, the Sea of Sibkay, the Sea of Aspamia and the Great Sea. And what are the four rivers? The Jordan, the Yarmuk, the Keramyhon and Pigah."[13][14]
According to this and other passages, the Talmudic Seven Seas include:[15]
- Sea of Tiberias (Lake Tiberias or The Sea of Galilee)
- Sea of Sodom (The Dead Sea)
- Sea of Helath (The Red Sea)
- Sea of Hiltha (Birkat Ram)
- Sea of Sibkay (Lake Hula)
- Sea of Aspamia (A lake said to be north of Asi River, possibly the formerly flooded Al-Ghab Plain)
- The Great Sea (The Mediterranean Sea)
Various transliterations for the sea names from Hebrew exist. For Helath: Chelath and Shelyith. For Hiltha: Chiltha and Chultha. For Sibkay: Sibchi and Somcho. And for Aspamia: Apamia.[15]
The 17th century churchman and scholar John Lightfoot mentions this set of seas in his Commentary on the New Testament. A chapter titled The Seven Seas according to the Talmudists, and the four Rivers compassing the Land includes the "Great Sea" (now called the Mediterranean Sea), the "Sea of Tiberias" (Sea of Galilee), the "Sea of Sodom" (Dead Sea), the "Lake of Samocho" (probably the (mostly) dried-up Hula Lake, called Semechonitis by Josephus and lake Sumchi in the Talmud), also called the "Sibbichaean".[16] Lightfoot does not comment on the remaining three seas.
Early modern
After the discovery of the Americas during the Age of Discovery, the "seven seas" were reckoned by some as:[4]
- the Pacific Ocean
- the Atlantic Ocean
- the Indian Ocean
- the Arctic Ocean
- the Mediterranean Sea
- the Caribbean Sea
- the Gulf of Mexico
The last two of these are now reckoned to be part of the Atlantic Ocean, and the Mediterranean either part of the Atlantic or omitted. Splitting the Atlantic and Pacific into north and south and adding the Southern Ocean returns the list to seven.
Detailed reckonings of the divisions of the world ocean into oceans and seas is not limited to lists of seven. For example, the
See also
- Clime
- Four continents
- Four Seas
- Jambudvīpa
- Karshvar
- Roof of the World
- Sapta Sindhu
References
- ^ a b "What are the "seven seas"?". The Straight Dope. 19 January 1999.
- ^ The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy (3rd ed.). Houghton Mifflin Company. 2002. Archived from the original on March 14, 2009.
Popular expression for all of the world's oceans.
- ^ ""Seven" – Oxford Dictionaries". Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on June 3, 2013. Retrieved 2015-04-10.
the seven seas: 2. All the oceans of the world (conventionally listed as the Arctic, Antarctic, North Pacific, South Pacific, North Atlantic, South Atlantic, and Indian Oceans).
- ^ a b "What and Where are the Seven Seas?". World Atlas. 11 May 2021.
- ^ Appendices: IHO Publication S-23 – Limits of Oceans and Seas; Draft 4th Edition. IHO. 2002. Retrieved 2022-10-25.
- ^ Lunde, Paul (July–August 2005). "The Seas of Sindbad". Saudi Aramco World. 56 (4). Archived from the original on 2007-02-08. Retrieved 2007-03-27.
- ^ "The Pakistan Sea". Cowasjee Articles. December 24, 1993. Archived from the original on October 25, 2009.
- JSTOR 3351047.
- ^ ISBN 978-90-04-08265-6.
- ^ "Tumasik Kingdom". Melayu Online. Archived from the original on 2009-03-12. Retrieved 2008-09-05.
- ^ Pliny the Elder. "Chapter 16". Historia Naturalis.
- ISBN 0-8018-1460-X.
- ISBN 978-0-7618-5435-7.
- ^ "Babylonian Talmud: Bava Batra 74". Retrieved 7 June 2018.
- ^ a b Schwarz, Rabbi Joseph. "Seas, Rivers, Mountains, and Valleys of Palestine". Retrieved 9 September 2017.
- ^ Lightfoot, John. "The seven Seas according to the Talmudists, and the four Rivers compassing the Land". A Chorographical Century. Archived from the original on 2008-05-15. Retrieved 2008-09-05.
External links
- Media related to Maps of seas at Wikimedia Commons