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A Companion to Science, Technology, and Medicine in Ancient Greece and Rome, First Edition. edited by Georgia L. Irby. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Published 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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ChaPtEr 51

Navigation and the Art of Sailing

Georgia L. Irby

1. Introduction

Some of the ships were swallowed up, more were cast onto islands fixed farther away. (tacitus, Annals 2.24.1)

From the earliest times, humankind felt the call of the sea, despite its dangers, and men have plowed the waters with any manner of vessel, from plain rafts fitted with simple sails, huckleberry Finn style, to the mammoth nine‐masted, four‐decked ships of Zheng he, who traveled the Pacific between China and the shores of East africa in the early fifteenth century. the earliest evidence of seafaring dates to approximately 50,000 years ago in australia (Sehul); and remains of tuna bones and obsidian tools may suggest Mes-olithic deep sea fishing activity near the Franchthi cave in the argolid (7500 bCE). Fleets of monumental outrigger canoes cleft the waters of the southern Pacific, making voyages of thousands of miles over the open ocean, perhaps as early as 1000 bCE (Lusby 2009; McGrail 2001, 315; Finney 1976). Polynesian helmsmen were armed with instinct, oral tradition, and elaborate stick charts that showed wind directions, currents, and islands.

herodotus attests Egypt as an early seafaring nation (2.43, 161, 153). a statue base in amenhotep III’s tomb (circa 1800 bCE) lists aegean toponyms, likely a record of a voyage wherein the Egyptian fleet circumnavigated Crete and visited the Peloponnese, Cythera, and troy (Wachsmann 1998, 297). From the third millennium bCE onward, Egyptian ships ventured into the red Sea, and from there to the eastern coast of central africa to trade in exotic goods (McGrail 2001, 17).

by the mid‐second millennium bCE, the Phoenicians maintained trade routes through-out the Mediterranean. they contracted for trade with Israel (1 Kings 5:8‐9, 10:11), Egypt (herodotus 2.9.2), the Greeks (herodotus 3.107, 111), and others, especially along the northern coast of africa (McGrail 2001, 129). Keeping within sight of land

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and sailing only during the day when visibility was clear, the Phoenicians made short‐haul commercial voyages. For this reason, Phoenician settlements were established every 25 to 30 nautical miles (29–34.5 miles [46.3–55.5 km]), usually in conjunction with natural harbors (aubet 1993, 140). Furthermore, the Phoenicians were the first Mediterranean people to explore the waters beyond the Pillars of hercules (Straits of Gibraltar). the Pharaoh Necho II (circa 600 bCE) sponsored a circumnavigation of africa, from the red Sea down its eastern coast, up the western coast, and through the Straits of Gibraltar (herodotus 2.10; Kahanov 1999; roller 2006, 23–26). the voyage lasted two‐and‐a‐half years, and the report that the explorers had seen the sun to their right was disbelieved. In the fifth century bCE, the Carthaginian king hanno led an expedition through the Pillars down the western coast of africa, but the expedition turned back when supplies ran out.

When sailing on open water, the Phoenicians preferred to anchor in protected coastal areas at night, but they also knew how to maintain course by observing the “Phoenician Star,” Polaris, the brightest star in Ursa Minor. because of their superior seamanship, Phoenicians were prominent in the Persian fleet at Salamis, and herodotus credits Per-sian maritime success to the Phoenicians alone (herodotus 3.19). both Strabo (1.1.6) and Pliny (NH 7.209) admired their superior celestial navigational skills.

by the eighth century bCE, the Greeks came to rival the Phoenicians in maritime exploration and colonization, and their seamanship was no less accomplished. (For the importance of the sea to Greek communities see hyDroLoGy: oCEaNS, rIvErS, aND

othEr WatErWayS; ShIPS aND boatS.) though technology advanced, the challenges fac-ing the sailor remain eternal (navigation, steering, and the weather). Storms may rage, or winds may blow unfavorably or not at all. Passengers suffered from seasickness, then as now (cf. Celsus 1.3.11 for treating seasickness). Juvenal, for example, lambasts the mistress whose stomach is steady when she travels with her lover (“she dines with the crew, wanders through the ship, and rejoices to haul rough lines:” 6.100–103) while the proper wife becomes ill at the perilous thought of embarking with her husband.

offerings to the gods were made upon launching and landing, and a diligent skipper might even maintain an altar onboard. Mid‐storm, as Propertius (2.25.25–26) warns those who travel on water, is hardly the appropriate time to fulfill pre‐voyage vows, which often included the sacrifice of a bull (sacred to Poseidon), libations, and prayers (cf. homer, Odyssey 15.222–223). Inauspicious signs would delay the launch. In 415 bCE, the athenians carefully observed the prescribed rites in the hopes of an auspicious naval campaign in Sicily (thucydides 6.32): a trumpet blast called for silence; customary prayers were then recited; mixing bowls, ashore and on each ship, were tended; and the fleet set sail as the last drops of wine were poured into the sea, while well‐wishers ashore raised the paean (cf. homer, Odyssey 2.430–433). Garlands were often tossed from departing ships, and vows for suc-cessful journeys were fulfilled with repeated rituals and gifts (burkert 1985, 266–267). bad omens included sneezing while going up the gangplank, cawing crows or magpies in the rigging, sighting wreckage on shore, and dreams (dreams of goats, boars, or owls presaged storms or pirate attack: Casson 1994, 155). If the weather turned foul, hair and nail clippings could be tossed overboard to propitiate the gods.

although handbooks exist in other areas, we have no ancient technical manuals of the art of sailing—such treatises may not have survived or perhaps never existed (Dunsch 2012). our evidence must be culled from iconographic and textual sources. Limited by scale, artistic convention, and an artist’s inexact knowledge of the technical aspects of sailing, iconography rarely shows in any realistic way straightforward representations of

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navigational maneuvers (Pitassi 2011, 4–20). textual sources, composed for a variety of reasons, lack comprehensiveness and impartiality. Such sources, nonetheless, speak to the importance of sailing in the ancient Mediterranean, and they often provide vivid details about sailing and navigation.

2. Officers of the Deck: Kybernētēs, Keleustēs, and Prōratēs

… before being a rudder‐man, it was necessary to be a rower, then to serve as lookout, and then to examine the winds, and only then to govern (the boat). (aristophanes, Knights 542–544)

In this nautical cursus honorum, we have a rational progression of responsibilities and skills: from rower to lookout to helmsman to captain (Plato, Alcibiades 1.125c; ovid, Metamorphoses 13.365–367).

the Greek term kybernētēs (“steerer”) refers either to the helmsman, per se, or to the captain, whose prerogative included taking the steering oar (odysseus takes the helm when he leaves aeolus’ island: homer, Odyssey 10.32–33; cf. Pindar, Isthmian 4.71; Plutarch, Alcibiades 35.4, Nicias 25.2), and the kybernētēs is so called for his ability to lead a crew, rather than to navigate a ship (Plato, Republic 1.341c–d). Philostratus (Life of Apollonius of Tyana 3.35) describes a merchant ship in service between Egypt and India on which were “many kybernētai, subordinate to the oldest and ablest,” that is, the captain whose mates took their turns at the helm (cf. Plutarch, Moralia 812c; Casson 1994, 316–17). Whoever was at the helm seemed to have command of the deck (e.g., telephus, below).

Plato defines the helmsman’s skill (kybernētikē technē) as maintaining “safety while sailing” (Republic 346a; cf. Gorgias 511c–e, Laws 961e). the job requires experience and skill in reading the weather, knowing the winds, and handling the vessel (homer, Iliad 23.316–17; cf. Plutarch, Table Talk 1.3). the helmsman must work with the wind to “keep (the ship) straight” (homer, Odysseus 11.10, 12.152), and only the worst storms could disorient the experienced pilot:

When the middle hold was half‐full with the flood, and the masts were already unsteady while the waves splashed over the other side of the stern, when experience offered no help to the white‐capped helmsman, he began to strike a deal with the winds. (Juvenal 12.30–34)

Quick action during the onset of a storm was crucial. reacting as soon as he sensed a storm, the alert skipper “draws tight the slack sails from all directions, so that not any light breeze escapes” (ovid, Metamorphoses 6.231–233). “When a wind swoops down on the sea,” after “making all fast, drawing tight the sails,” a quick‐thinking kybernētēs must exercise “his skill, disregarding the tears and entreaties of the sea‐sick and fearful passengers” (Plutarch, Pericles 33.5). ovid describes a harrowing storm at sea and the precautions taken to run before the storm:

the captain shouts: “Lower the yards, already, and close reef the whole sail.” he com-mands, but hostile winds ensnare his orders, nor does the din of the waves allow any voice to be heard. on their own initiative, however, some crewmen hurry to remove the oars, a part protect the hull, a part deny the sails to the winds. this one bails the water into the waves, this one snatches up the spars. (Metamorphoses 11.482–487)



this well‐trained crew anticipated orders, jumping to stations in the face of emergency.a good helmsman might even win renown: Pausanias (3.22.10) points out the burial

site of Menelaus’ helmsman Phrontis (the “thoughtful” son of onetor, who “surpassed the tribes of man in guiding a ship when storms raged:” Odyssey 3.282–383), and typhus, the argo’s pilot, was a local hero at tipha (Pausanias 9.32.4). aeneas’ helmsman Pali- nurus was a master of the art (vergil, Aeneid 3.513–520; cf. Iliad 18.483–489; Odyssey 5.271–275; hannah 1993). as the trojans rested on the shore, Palinurus studied all the winds, grasped the breezes with his ears, marked the all the stars gliding in the silent sky, and saw that all was motionless in the serene sky—conditions were good for sailing. the trojans then broke camp, tested the watery road (via) and “spread the wings” of their sails. Palinurus had earlier found himself so disoriented in the thick of a storm that he was unable to distinguish night and day, and thus he was unable to remember the paths in the midst of the waves (3.201–202). Equally skilled was the Gallic helmsman telo (perhaps from Gallia Narbonensis), who fought against Caesar (Lucan 3.592–594). Like Palinurus, telo was skilled at forecasting the weather from observing the sun and moon. “In an agitated sea, keels listened to no hand better than his.”

two other deck officers were essential. “the one who orders,” the keleustēs, gave the beat to the oarsmen. oars provided the primary propulsion for ancient ships (ShIPS

aND boatS), and men drew lots in pairs for their turns at the oars of a warship (e.g., Propertius 3.21.12). Polybius describes the oarsman’s training under the direction of a keleustēs:

they made the men sit on rower’s benches on dry land, having the same arrangements as they would on voyages; making the keleustēs stand in the middle to teach them all to drive their striving arms back at the same time and then to stoop their thrusting arms forward, they became accustomed to begin and stop their motions at the calls of the keleustēs. (1.21.2)

the keleustēs could improve or hinder the morale of a crew. an intractable crew could thus more than double “the time to finish the same voyage” (Xenophon, Economics 21.3).

a strong voice is essential for the keleustēs. In Euripides (Helen 1576), the rowers started their strokes as soon as they heard the keleustēs’ shout. During a violent storm off Patrae in 429 bCE, crew were unable to distinguish one officer from another and thus were unable to follow orders (thucydides 2.84.3; as also happens in the thick of battle: thucydides 7.70.6; appian 5.89). In contrast, during a stealth mission where silence was essential to security, the keleustēs called the strokes by “clinking stones together instead of with their voices” (Xenophon, Hellenica 5.1.8). to lighten the work, rowing was occasionally accompanied by singing (Longus, Daphnis and Chloe 3.21).

the third watch officer was the prōratēs (“who watches from the ship’s bow”), keep-ing lookout for shallows, smaller craft, debris, and other hazards (Casson 1995, 300–321), or even swordfish for sport fishing (Polybius 34.3.3). telephus was ordered to “sit at the helm and command the prōratēs to watch the course that the sons of atreus take to troy” (Sophocles, Assembly of the Greeks 142). as prōratēs, Danaus spied his pursuing brother (aeschylus, Suppliant Maidens 716), and odysseus kept lookout for Scylla (Odyssey 12.230). We see this deck triumvirate in action in Figure 51.1: the seated kybernētēs mans the steering oar at the stern; amidships an animated keleustēs calls the beat, and the prōratēs looks to stern (attic black Figure hydria: Paris, Louvre E735: abv 85,2; badd2 23; baPD 300789; Morrison pl. 11D).

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3. Moving the Vessel

In calm weather, when not underway, ships were left at anchor or beached (e.g., homer, Iliad 8.217; Odyssey 9.149, 546; vergil, Aeneid 3.135; ovid, Metamorphoses 13.4, Heroides 12.15). When violent weather threatened, ships were usually pulled ashore, bows toward the sea (arrian, Periplus of the Black Sea 4.4). Ships would simply be hauled into the sea for launching (apollonius, Argonautica 1.367–390; ovid, Metamorphoses 11.463–466). Stern cables of anchored craft would be cast off before getting underway (homer, Odyssey 2.418). the skipper waited for an opportune time to put out to sea, using coastal winds to his advantage, usually departing at daybreak when land breezes would carry the ship out (Medas 2004, 55–58).

Caesar anchored off britain (Gallic War 4.23.4, 28.3, 29.2–3, 5.9.1). aeneas’ fleet also lay at anchor (vergil, Aeneid 3.277, 6.4), but, when mooring in Caietas bay, the sterns were beached while the prows were secured with two anchors, one on each side (Aeneid 6.900–901; Propertius 2.22.41 asserts that two anchors can better secure a moored ship). occasionally an anchor would foul, and a swimmer would then dive to release it (Lucan 3.699–700). Sailors secured their vessels with additional anchors when they observed sea urchins clutching stones as ballast to steady themselves a sure sign, mariners believed, of rough seas (Pliny, NH 9.100). anchoring, however, might also leave a fleet susceptible to sabotage. the Greek artist androbius painted “Scyllus” cut-ting the anchor ropes of the Persian fleet at artemisium in 480 bCE (Pliny, NH 35.139; the account is not in herodotus). the Carthaginian general bomilcar was able to evade roman notice as he escaped from Syracuse into the sea in 212 bCE during a violent storm that prevented the romans from lying at anchor in the open water (Livy 25.25.11). Cables and hawsers were sometimes cut to facilitate escaping from the enemy (Livy 28.36.11). anchors were usually secured by ropes, but Caesar reports that the veneti used iron chains, instead of cables, to secure their vessels in the rough waters of the English Channel (Gallic War 3.13.5).

Figure 51.1 Greek Deck officers. Source: Deagostini Picture Library/Getty Images.



Propulsion was achieved through a combination of a main square sail and men at oars, often simultaneously (e.g., arrian, Periplus 3.2)—triremes could reach up to 10 km/hour (6 miles [5.4 knots]) at battle speed in calm seas (Casson 1995, 281–296). according to the principle of the lever, rowers amidships exerted the greatest impact on propelling the ship: there was simply more oar (lever) amidships than fore and aft (the greater the distance between force [rower] and fulcrum [thole‐pin], the greater the weight that can be moved). It is unclear if our aristotelian author assumed oars all of the same length or longer oars amidships:

as the blade presses against the sea, the handle of the oar, which is inside the ship, advances forward, and the ship, being firmly attached to the thole‐pin, advances with it in the same direction as the handle of the oar. For where the blade displaces the most water, there neces-sarily must the ship be propelled the most; and it displaces most water where the handle is farthest from the thole‐pin. this is why the rowers who are amidships move the ship most; for it is in the middle of the ship that the length of the oar from the thole‐pin inside the ship is greatest. (Mechanics 4 [850b10–27])

It is essential, therefore, that the rowers work as a unit, and the prōratēs’ job is vital in this regard. We see a ship vividly propelled by oarsmen in Lucan (3.525–528): “on one side Caesar’s ships are exalted, on the other a fleet with many a Greek oarsman; oar‐stricken hulls quivered, and repeated strikes set the lofty ships in motion.”

although oars were preferred (as more dependable especially when the winds failed), the image of a ship under full sail is irresistible. odysseus’ ship leaves Circe’s island under “stretched sail” (Odyssey 11.11). ariadne sees the sails which had conveyed the athenian ship and her absent‐minded lover theseus away from Naxos (ovid, Heroides 10.6). and, despite the damage she took mid‐race, running aground on a reef, the Centaur, under Sergestus’ command, comes into port “with full sails” (vergil, Aeneid 5.281). the poets also describe sailors at their work, hoisting “lucky sails to the mast‐head” (Propertius 3.21.11–13; cf. ovid, Metamorphoses 11.474–477).

the ship’s wheel was a late‐seventeenth‐century Dutch invention, improving on the sixteenth‐century whip staff that enabled steering ever larger ships. Until then, ships were steered either with a tiller attached directly to the rudder or with steering oars. the tiller is a simple lever that provides torque to turn the rudder. the length of the tiller and force needed to move it are proportional to the size of the boat; thus the force required to control a rudder with a tiller increases with the size of the vessel. our ancient author also describes the force, applied by the rudder to the sea, which results in steering the ship:

Why is it that the rudder, being small and at the extreme end of the ship, has such power that vessels of great burden can be moved by a small tiller and the strength of one man only gently exerted? Is it because the rudder is a lever and the steersman works it? the fulcrum then is the point at which the rudder is attached to the ship, and the whole rudder is the lever, and the sea is the weight, and the steersman the moving force. the rudder does not take the sea squarely, as the oar does; for it does not move the ship forward, but diverts it as it moves, taking the sea obliquely. For since, as we saw, the sea is the weight, the rud-der pressing in a contrary direction diverts the ship. For the fulcrum turns in a contrary direction to the sea; when the sea turns inward, the fulcrum turns outward, and the ship follows it because it is attached to it. the oar pushing the weight squarely, and being itself thrust in turn by it, impels the ship straight forward; but the rudder, as it has an oblique position, causes an oblique motion one way or the other. (Mechanics 5 [850b27–851a37])

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our author also observes that raising the yard increases the speed of a ship under sail: the mast is a lever, the socket to which the yard is attached is the fulcrum, and the boat is the weight to be moved by the lever. Since the same power (wind) moves the same weight (ship) more easily when the fulcrum (mast socket) is further away from that weight, rais-ing the yardarm increases the distance between weight and fulcrum and thus increases the vessel’s speed (Mechanics 6).

Larger ships were equipped with a brace of steering oars, one at each side of the stern, emerging from outboard oar boxes, sometimes resting in cradles and restrained by straps. the oars were socketed to a tiller bar or made fast directly to the hull (orphic Argonautica 276–277; Casson 1995 224–228; Pitassi 2011, 56–58), leaving a ship vul-nerable to sabotage (vegetius 4.46). on a warship the oars were massive, and they might be operated by “some small little old man … steering massively huge rudders with a slender pole” (Lucian, Navigium 6). Figure 51.1 shows the seated kybernētēs manipulating the port (left) steering oar. If well-balanced, the steering oars were light to the touch, and the ship was easily steered (Lucian, Navigium 5). Like telephus and the kybernētēs of Figure 1, artwork usually depicts the helmsman as seated.

4. Anchorages and Harbors

on this side and that, Nature has established facing mountains of a rocky cliff and has withdrawn breezes from the sea, so that ships might stand secure on a quivering cable. From there the whole strait lies open, whether sails are carried into your ports, Corcyra, or the leftward (course) is sought—bending Illyrian Epidamnus towards Ionian waters. here is a refuge for sailors when the adriatic brings all its strengths to bear, and the Ceraunian mountains have disappeared into the clouds, and when Calabrian Sason is drenched with foamy spray. (Lucan 2.619–627)

It is important to know where is it safe (or even possible) to anchor or moor, and these data are recorded in many sources. odysseus makes careful note of the harbors where he has moored in aeaea (Circe’s is “fit for ships”: homer, Odyssey 10.141), northern Europe (the Laestrygones whose harbor is “renowned”: 10.87), and Sicily (“a harbor good for mooring, where there is no need of a cable: neither to throw an anchor stone nor to make fast at the stern”: 9.136–139). vergil replicates homer’s perfect natural harbor when aeneas, after surviving a storm at sea, finds refuge in a protected lagoon off Libya where “no chains hold tired ships, nor does an anchor bind them with a hooked bite” (Aeneid 1.168–169).

historians and geographical writers systematically record data about harbors, where they are plentiful, and where they are lacking. the anonymous author of The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, a practical merchant‐marine guide of the red Sea (first century CE), sets the tone and purpose in his opening words where he promises to list the harbors and markets along the Erythraean Sea. Xenophon had complained about the lack of harbors near Salmydessus on the western coast of the Euxine (Anabasis 7.5.12–13; cf. Strabo 7.6.1; arrian, Periplus 25.1). In the fourth century bCE, pseudo‐Scylax (Shipley 2011) duly records “good (or plentiful) harbors” in the adriatic, and even shipyards in harbors. Syracuse has two harbors (one inside a fort). Josephus describes the “immense fabricated defenses” around Pharos, where the channel is rough and the narrow entrance treacherous, but “perfectly safe” once inside the harbor (Jewish Wars 4.614). Pliny praises the many harbors of Italy (NH 3.41). Strabo records numerous sites as



having harbors, and others as “harborless” (ostia is harborless because of siltation from the tibur). Josephus describes the coast of Egypt as “almost harborless” (Jewish Wars 4.614). Pomponius Mela, likewise, distinguishes some places as lacking harbors (1.35: the dangerous, shallow Gulf of Syrtis), and in Gaul, cities are sparse because the har-bors there are scant (2.76), but a bay on the Euxine is “full of harbors” (2.2). arrian also mentions commodious harbors that shelter ships from the south and east winds (Periplus 4.2), some suitable only for small vessels (5.1, 13.1, 13.5). an On Harbors, cited by Pliny and Strabo, was composed by timosthenes, a naval commander under Ptolemy II Philadelphus.

Where natural harbors did not exist, they were built, as at ostia, Caesarea Maritima, Lechaion (at Corinth), and trapezous on the black Sea (cf. arrian, Periplus 16.5).

5. Sea Conditions: The Sailing Season, Winds, and Storms

Wherever the winds and helmsman were calling our course … (vergil, Aeneid 3.269)

Like the Phoenicians before them, the Greeks and romans preferred not to sail dur-ing the stormy winter months, when reduced daylight and persistent dense cloudiness greatly limited visibility. the best conditions for sailing extended generally from late May to mid‐September (“after the rising of the Pleiades to the rising of arcturus:” vegetius 4.39; cf., aristotle, Meteorology 361b30–33, who observes that sea conditions are usually more treacherous during the changing of seasons). hesiod, a “lubberly” farmer, restricted sailing to the fifty days following the summer solstice (late June to mid‐august: Works and Days 663–665; Casson 1995, 270). after mid‐September “navi-gation is doubtful and more exposed to danger,” since arcturus, “a very violent star,” heralds fierce equinoctial storms (vegetius 4.39). the winter months (mid‐November to mid‐March) were characterized by violent winds and frequent storms (Casson 1995, 270–273). although Casson has claimed that the seas were “effectively closed” in the winter months, a growing body of evidence suggests that sailing continued into the winter months (no doubt undertaken with greater caution: beresford 2013).

the rhythm of life in the ancient Mediterranean, including the nautical, often followed the festival calendar. the “Sailing of Isis” (Navigium Isidis or Ploiaphesia), celebrated on March 5 and observed as the “birthday of sailing” (vegetius 4.39; Witt 1997, 165–184), opened the sailing season. apuleius (Metamorphoses 11.8–17) vividly describes a colorful and raucous parade of richly bedecked revelers, musicians, performing animals, and priests. the procession culminates on the shore at Cenchreae where an elaborately decorated ship (“an untried vessel”—perhaps a miniature or even a model) is launched as libations of milk and grain are offered to the waves, a first offering of the trading season. the ship is loaded with spices, and its sails proclaim a prayer for prosperous sailing through the new season (Metamorphoses 11.16). Isis herself professes her authority over the sailing season: she com-mands “wholesome ocean breezes,” and her cult is inextricably linked with calming stormy winter waves and with the inception of the trading season. Epigraphic evidence attests that Ploiaphesiae were celebrated widely at port towns throughout the Mediterranean (e.g., Eretria, Ephesus: Witt 1997, 178) well into late antiquity (John Lydus, On the Mind 4.45). the festival was one of many that shaped medieval Carnival galas (ship carriages feature prominently in Italian and rhineland Carnival parades: Witt 1997, 183), and its nautical

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aspects endure in “blessings of the Fleet” that are still observed as community celebrations in port and fishing towns throughout the world.

a ship under sail is at the mercy of the winds, and thus it is important to understand the winds, their directions, their effects, and to use them to advantage. It is reasonable to assume that records of wind data were maintained to facilitate navigation (Coutant and Eichenlaub 1975, xviii: Cape Sigeum, near troy, may have been the site of a weather station). During the summer sailing season the prevailing winds in the Mediterranean are northerly (e.g., blowing from the north), thus facilitating southerly travel: that is, from Italy or Greece to Egypt, africa, asia Minor, and Syria. Casson (1995, 283: table 1, 284: table 2) shows an average speed of 6 knots for the southerly journey from ostia to africa, but 4.3 knots for the northerly trip from Carthage to Syracuse. but these pre-vailing winds must be considered a substrate for numerous local winds, resulting from ever‐varying topography and meandering coastlines.

aristotle treats the winds in Meteorology 2 (359b27–65a12). Most winds, he observes, are northerly or southerly, explained according to the tenets of his physics: as result-ing from evaporation of rainfall in the watery eastern and western regions, along the course of the sun’s transit (the ecliptic). the trajectory of the ecliptic also accounts for the obliquity of the direction in which the winds blow. Northern (Etesian) winds blow continuously after the summer solstice (originating from the evaporation from the cold moist arctic regions), but there is no corresponding southern wind after the winter sol-stice (arising from warm, dry places lacking sufficient moisture whose evaporation can sustain a southern breeze), and thus there are more northerly winds than southerly. Fur-thermore, contrary winds cannot blow simultaneously. aristotle’s student theophrastus discusses the individuality of both seasonal and local winds in his less speculative On the Winds (see Coutant and Eichenlaub 1975).

twelve prevailing winds were recognized, each originating from a separate point of the compass rose. an ancient wind rose was developed by aristotle, perfected by timosthenes (above), adopted by Posidonius and varro (whose Naval Books are unfor-tunately lost: vegetius 4.41), and preserved in vegetius (4.38; cf. Pliny, NH 2.117; Seneca, NQ 5.17.5; MEtEoroLoGy).

Cardinal point Greek name Latin name

E apheliotes SubsolanusENE Caecias EuroborusESE Eurus vulturnusS Notus austerSSE Leuconotus albus NotusSSW Libonotus CorusW Zephyrus SubvespertinusWSW Lips africusWNW Iapyx FavoniusN aparctias SeptentrioNNW thrascias CirciusNNE boreas aquilo



Many of the winds are geographically named: thrascias from thrace, olympias from Mt. olympus, Skiron from Sciron’s rocks in Megara, and Kaikias from the river Kaikos in Mysia. Lips originates in Libya (first attested by herodotus 2.25, as was the apheliotes: 1.193), and Phoinikias from Phoenicia (SSE: aristotle, Meteorology 363a21–365a13). this seems to suggest a maritime origin of the ancient compass rose based on a central aegean framework (Davis 2009, 94). however, the names and quarters of these winds were the subject of disagreement, prompting aulus Gellius to seek clarification (Attic Nights 2.22). the names varied, and the quarters of the winds migrated: Euros, origi-nally the east wind, became the SE wind by the fifth century bCE (as reported later by timosthenes).

Noted in the sources are the winds’ effects. Northerly winds steadied and calmed the black Sea (arrian, Periplus 6.1). arrian also specifies sailing with the winds (Periplus 3.2). Following winds sped the Greek fleet to trojan shores (ovid, Metamorphoses 12.37), odysseus’ ship to the Sirens’ island (homer, Odyssey 12.167), the argo away from thrace (apollonius, Argonautica 1.953), and aeneas’ fleet to Crete (vergil, Aeneid 3.130). Winds delayed Protesilaus at aulis (ovid, Heroides 13.3). Winds ceased to blow when odysseus passed the Sirens, and his men had to row (Odyssey 12.168–169). Likewise the argonauts must row to ares’ island after the wind had dropped in the night (apollonius, Argonautica 2.1032). and failing winds caused aeneas to drift to Sicily (vergil, Aeneid 3.568). Pompey’s forces nearly overcame Caesar’s navy near Dyrrhachium until a rising south wind rescued the Caesarians (Civil War 3.26).

homer and apollonius frequently specify the wind’s direction: odysseus battled the North Wind as he escaped the Cicones (the violence of the storm ripped his sails, which he immediately stowed to prevent further damage: Odyssey 9.67–73). Zeus sent a north-erly wind to punish the sons of Phrixus: their sails had been ripped, and their hull split; they floated on the keel of their ship to the safety of ares island, where the argonauts eventually found them (apollonius, Argonautica 2.1097–1020; cf. homer, Odyssey 12.420–425). Some winds were notoriously precarious: horace reviled the aquilo, africus, and Notus for delaying vergil on his return from Greece (Ode 1.3.12–14), and Jupiter unleashed the Notus to facilitate a flood (ovid, Metamorphoses 1.262). arrian specified harbors that protected ships from the thrascian winds (Periplus 4.2, 18.3).

Sudden storms are a perennial threat. vegetius (4.41) reiterates the signs of impend-ing storms from vergil (Georgics 1.393–463): a ruddy moon, for example, presages rain and squalls. We have already seen how a quick‐thinking skipper could avoid storms or save his ship. the Persian fleet was devastated by a sudden storm off Magnesia in 480 bCE: since the beach was so small, the fleet rode at anchor, eight rows deep, the prows pointing out to sea. the sea suddenly began to churn under a clear, windless sky, and a violent east wind (“hellespontian”) dashed some of the ships against the “ovens of Pelion,” others against the stretch of beach (herodotus 7.188). the roman fleet heading to africa in 203 bCE was ravaged by a storm: the fleet had nearly made landfall when the winds failed, shifting to the southwest, damaging and scattering the fleet (Livy 30.24.6–7). Caesar complained about the difficulty of sailing in the stormy atlantic, but he admired the ships of the veneti (which he described in detail), well-suited to treach-erous sea conditions (Gallic War 3.12–13). he also described the sudden storms that damaged his fleet in britain (4.29, 5.10) and delayed landfall (5.5). Caught in violent southerly winds on the amisia river (Ems), Germanicus’ fleet suffered through hail and fierce squalls from every direction: steering and baling were impossible; the panicked

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soldiers were “ignorant of the calamities of the sea”; and animals, packs, and weapons were jettisoned to lighten the hull (tacitus, Annals 2.23; also described by albovinus Pedo, in a hexameter extract preserved in Seneca the Elder, Suasoria 1.15). after endur-ing a stormy voyage through the adriatic and Ionian seas, Germanicus saw to repairing his fleet before resuming course to Syria—north winds, incidentally, prevented him from visiting Samothrace (tacitus, Annals 2.53–54). arrian described waves washing over the sides of his ships in the black Sea (3.3–4, 6.1). Sailing from alexandria along the coast to Cyrene in 407 CE, finally, one experienced skipper sought the open sea as a precau-tion against a looming storm, but his passengers urged him to turn back to the coast (Synesius, Letter 5 Martin).

accounts of storms at sea appear in many genres, and the descriptions are often har-rowing. ovid compares the chariot of the Sun, driven by the inexperienced Phaethon, to an improperly ballasted boat rocked on stormy waves (Metamorphoses 2.184–185). the storm that scattered aeneas’ fleet is vivid: squalls were agitated by the combined efforts of the East, South, and Southwest winds; huge waves were churned up from the depths; the sky grew black; and a sheer “mountain of water” towered over the ships (vergil, Aeneid 1.81–123). Lucan paints the picture of a stunning gale so violent that the crew abandoned ship:

Just as when the frantic South Wind thrusts back the immense sea from Libyan Syrtes and the fractured weight of the yard‐arm resounds, the skipper and each sailor leap into the waves from the abandoned ship, and each one makes a shipwreck for himself, before the hull’s planks are scattered. (1.498)

Currents and tides (see hyDroLoGy: oCEaNS, rIvErS, aND othEr WatErWayS) in the Mediterranean are too weak to have any noticeable effect except at the straits (affected by currents) and deep inlets (affected by tides: Epirus, Messina: Casson 1995, 273). apollonius comments on the swift currents of the hellespont (Argonautica 1.922), and the Po’s current was taken into account by vitellius’ engineers when charged with constructing a pontoon bridge (tacitus, Histories 2.34). It is unlikely that the average skipper possessed the conceptual and mathematical tools to consider, in a systematic way, the errors caused by currents (and drift).

6. Navigation

Zephyr never relaxing the rigging, the seventh night reveals Egyptian shores with her Phar-ian blazes. (Lucan 9.1004–1005)

Navigation is the art of guiding a craft safely to a particular destination, aided—until recently—with reckoning only by natural or man‐made landmarks or by the stars (mag-netic compasses are not attested in Europe until the late twelfth century CE, to say noth-ing of GPS). In its earliest (legendary) form, the art was magical, and homer (Odyssey 8, 557–563) describes the miraculous ships of the Phaeacians that required neither naviga-tor nor even rudder. the Greeks as early as thales understood the attractive power of the lodestone (Diogenes Laërtius 1.24), and the Minoans may have utilized magnetic direction‐finding devices to align important buildings (Downey 2011), but the use of magnetic devices for navigation is unlikely in antiquity (the vikings [by the thirteenth



century] and Chinese [first century CE] are known to have used magnetic devices for navigation).

Latitude was understood, and it was computed from astronomical observations as early as the late fourth century bCE. Longitude, however, could not be reckoned with any pre-cision until the development of accurate chronometers in the eighteenth century. (Lon-gitude gives positions east or west of some arbitrary prime meridian: for the ancients, this meridian ran through rhodes). Inability to determine longitude could lengthen a jour-ney or throw a ship well off course. Strabo, for example, gives the distance from Paphos on Cyprus to alexandria as 3,600 stadia, a distance accurate for a ship heading due south and then west toward the east coast of Egypt, rather than on a direct southwest tack to alexandria (14.6.3). Mediterranean sailors, however, lacked instruments that could record the distance traveled by a ship on the water, and Menippus attributes discrepan-cies of distances in geographical authors to variable wind speeds (Marcianus of heraclea, Epitome of Menippus’s Periplus of the Inner Sea 5, 1.567–568 Müller). thus it seems likely that distances were calculated according to an average number of stades sailed during a given day, as Menippus implies, approximately 22 miles per day (arnaud 2005, 70–87).

apollonius provides good descriptions of coastlines and landmarks (e.g., Argonautica 1.580–608). Seamen also found their bearings by observing animals, especially birds, and for this reason terrestrial birds, which cannot land on water (swallows, doves, or ravens), might be kept aboard in cages to be released for determining where (or if) to make landfall. Land birds would make for the closest shore or return to ship if land was too distant (Gilgamesh 11.3.117–130; Genesis 8.6–12; Pliny, NH 6.83; apollonius, Argonautica 2.335–339). the behavior of dolphins, seals, cuttlefish, and jellyfish also foretold weather conditions (theo-phrastus, On Weather Signs 19, 40). the author of The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea records the signs of impending storms at Spice Port: turbidity and color changes in the depths (12).

Fires, tended atop towers (lighthouses), such as the tower of Caepio at Gades, marked the entrances of many ports (Strabo 3.1.9). the most famous is the white‐stone tower on Pharos, an island off alexandria, constructed “for the safety of sailors” according to its inscription (Strabo 17.1.6; Josephus, Jewish Wars 4.613; cf. Caesar, Civil War 3.112; Lucan 8.184, 433; Statius, Thebaid 12.515–516). Strabo also mentions several other towers: at Neoptolemus at the mouth of the tyros (7.3.16); two at aulis whose harbor can accommodate fifty ships (9.2.8; the harbor there is actually quite small); pairs of towers at abydos and Sestos (13.1.22); the Euphrantas tower on the Syrtis (17.3.20); and the four towers on the Cyrenaian coast above the Plynos harbor (17.3.22). Juvenal mentions the pharos‐tower marking the breakwaters of the port at ostia (12.75–82; cf. Suetonius, Deified Claudius 20; Cassius Dio 60.113). the tower of hercules (rebuilt, possibly, under trajan in the second century CE at a Coruña) remains intact, and ruins of one of Dover’s two ancient towers can still be seen (80´ [24 m] high).

Knowing water depth is essential for maritime activity, and the ancients collected data that facilitated safe passage. herodotus provides the earliest textual evidence of taking soundings (2.5.2; Casson 1995, 245). archaeological evidence is much older, predating 2000 bCE: Egyptian boat models from the tomb of Meketra, chancellor to Nebhepetra Mentuhotep II, feature crewmen holding sounding lines in the bows (McGrail 2001, ix; vinson 1994, 31). Paul’s storm‐savaged crew also took soundings by heaving a lead line (acts 27.28). and several varieties of lead line have been recovered (Casson 1995, 246, note 85). this yields critical information especially regarding where it is safe to sail, and these data are constantly changing because the relationship between earth and water is

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in a constant state of flux through the process of siltation (hyDroLoGy: oCEaNS, rIvErS,

aND othEr WatErWayS; CLaSSICaL GEoLoGy aND thE MINES oF thE GrEEKS aND roMaNS). by Polybius’s day, Lake Maeotis (the Sea of azov north of the black Sea) had silted to such a degree that it was unnavigable without a pilot to steer larger boats through safe, deep channels, away from the shoals (4.40.8). and it was common for river pilots to guide merchant ships through unfamiliar waters. Sources describe waterways as naviga-ble or not: for example, the Nile is navigable in places according to Mela 1.51; Isis’ boat is launched on “navigable waters” (apuleius, Metamorphoses 11.5; see also Strabo 1.3.7; arrian, Periplus 7.5, 10.1, 2, and others).

although the Greeks and romans preferred to sail by day with good visibility, evi-dence of night sailing and celestial navigation is not lacking. Palinurus (above) had marked the stars in the sky before embarking, and while sailing back to camp at night, aeneas explained the course of the stars to his young arcadian ally Pallas (vergil, Aeneid 10.160–162). this implies a knowledge of celestial navigation. Merchants, traveling the desert by night, were able to navigate by the stars (Strabo 17.1.45), and such knowledge was easily transferred to nautical contexts. trained maritime navigators could thus sail at night out of sight of land (McGrail 2001, 17). We have already seen that the Phoeni-cians had learned, early on, to navigate by Polaris. Lucan explicitly cites Cynosura (Ursa Minor) as “a very certain guide” for Pompey’s eastern allies as they rallied to his cause (3.218–219).

From the archaic period onward, the Greeks had knowledge of celestial navigation. Setting off eastward from ogygia on his makeshift “raft” (fitted with sails and steering oar), as instructed by Calypso, odysseus carefully observed the Pleiades and boötes, keeping to his left the bear (Ursa Minor), who “alone is without a share in ocean’s bath” (i.e. she never sets: Odyssey 5.273–277; cf. ovid, Metamorphoses 2.171–173, where the bear for the first time tries to plunge into the ocean to escape the heat of the sun in Phaethon’s wake). aristotle, furthermore, casually makes reference to “nautical astronomy” (nautikē astrologia: Posterior Analytics 78b34–79a6; cf. Manilius 4.279–280).

Pompey learned the art of celestial navigation from his skilled helmsman:

that star guides the ships, the north pole which is not submerged in the waves. Since this one will always rise to the zenith and Ursa Minor will always rise over the yard‐arm, then we face the bosporus and the Pontus rounding the shores of Scythia. When boötes descends from the highest yard‐arm and Cynosura is borne closer to the sea, the ship makes for Syr-ian ports. then follows Canopus, a star content to wander in the southern sky, fearing the North Wind: with that one on your left, proceed past Pharos; the ship will reach Syrtis in mid‐ocean. (Lucan 8.174–201)

Eschewing the planets that “glide and slip,” the unnamed helmsman relied on the “fixed” circumpolar stars, as did bacchus, another trained navigator who, like odys-seus, learned to watch the Pleiades and the hyades (indicators of seasons), Capella (the brightest star in auriga, abutting the circumpolar constellations), the rainy stars of the olenian Goat, and the circumpolar arctic bears (ovid, Metamorphoses 3.592–596; cf. aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 456–458 where Prometheus, whose gifts to humanity include ships, taught men to read the stars). vegetius (4.39) confirms the seasonal signs that indicate when it is safe to sail.



7. Maritime Highways and “Charts”

Following Gisinger’s 1937 RE article on Periploi, Casson claims that there is no evi-dence that the ancients made and used nautical charts in the modern sense (1995, 246; see arnaud 2005, 46–50). Nor may they have even needed to develop charts since most of the sailing was coastal. yet preliterate Polynesians created elaborate nautical stick maps accurately depicting wind directions, currents, and islands. Literary contexts suggest that the ancients had a graphic understanding of safe and well‐trafficked sailing routes as supported in the archaeological records of shipwrecks and maritime debris. Some routes date as far back as the bronze age: for example, Cilicia to the North Syr-ian coast and the aegean to Egypt (Wachsmann 1998, 295–299; Sauvage 2012). Most extant ancient maps are, in fact, narrative; and pictorial maps were, if not rare, at least almost always monumental (GrEEK aND roMaN CartoGraPhy).

a tradition of orally disseminated knowledge is implicit. at Aeneid 3.274–275, the cloudy summits of Mount Leucas are dreaded by sailors. the statement is general; the knowledge is common. and Palinurus seems to have remembered sea routes (Aeneid 3.202) in waters that he has probably never before navigated.

the epic hero is forewarned of dangers (such as at Cape Pelorus between Sicily and Italy or the Symplegades) and advised on how to avoid them. Circe’s instructions to odysseus are clear: “but sailing quickly past Scylla’s lookout, drive close past (her), since it is best to regret (the loss of) six from your ship’s crew than all at once” (homer, Odyssey 12.101–110). vergil’s helenus gives similar advice to aeneas: keep clear of the breakers on the coast and thus avoid the brace of dangers posed by the monster Scylla and the whirlpool Charybdis, between which runs a narrow path that promises death unless a strict course be kept (Aeneid 3.684–686). apollonius of rhodes describes the ferocious whirlpool as an endless roar and upsurge (4.923) in his harrowing litany of “ship‐smashing horrors at the sea’s crossroads” (4.921: μιξοδί σιν, a compound of the Greek road for “road”).

Nautical charts may have been constructed in monumental contexts (GrEEK aND

roMaN CartoGraPhy). on the pillars in aeëtes’ Cholchian palace, the argonauts saw tablets on which were “all the roads and paths (π σαι δο κα πείρατ’) of both sea and land for those who circumnavigate” (apollonius, Argonautica 4.279–281), reflecting, perhaps, monumental charts that might have been displayed in the hellenistic courts of apollonius’s day (more likely unknown in the bronze age Colchis that provided the setting for Jason’s adventures).

If not quite a chart, a maritime voyage, at any rate, seems to be rendered on a fresco from the house of the admiral at akrotiri in Santorini (circa 1500 bCE; National archaeological Museum, athens; see GrEEK aND roMaN CartoGraPhy). Shown is a fleet departing from one port town (at the left hand side), traversing a body of water, and arriving at another port town (right). Prevailing winds often determined a ship’s course, and, given the wind patterns in the eastern Mediterranean, these ships, as the artist has depicted them, could have been on a course past Crete to the Nile (riis 1970, 163–165).

the narrative accounts discussed above suggest that the ancients had the same understanding of aquatic superhighways that they envisioned for land routes. the ancient conception of sailing channels is graphic; and it is expressed with the same terminology employed for land travel. Strabo cites many roads (6.3.7: appian road;

868 Georgia L. Irby


4.6.6: a road so narrow that travelers were affected by vertigo), and roads are rendered on the Peutinger Map. the perception of travel on water was also along organized routes with a commonly known infrastructure that was all but physically visible. Greek and roman mariners were not traveling as if on some vast, barren wasteland. or at least they rarely did so. helenus warned aeneas that a long “pathless” (invia) route separated the trojans from their final destination in Italy—the journey could be only by sea, and helenus stressed that the trip would be without a road (in‐via: 3.383) and thus remarkable—most sea routes were not so. Via (path, road) designates sea roads in vergil (above), and apollonius employs a rare compound of δός (hodos, “road”)—μιξοδία—a place where several paths meet. the more commonly used πλόος (ploos, “a sailing or voyage by sea”) and its compounds come to have the meaning of a sailing route as we see in apollonius, where the argonauts must return from aia by “another sea route” (πλόος λλος: 4.259). Compounds of πλόος ( ναπλόος, διαπλόος, and παραπλόος), meaning “sea route,” are commonly employed in Polybius, Strabo, appian, and others.

8. Conclusion

travel by water was fraught with danger and not undertaken lightly. but the sea was also the great lifeline of Mediterranean communities. “the sea became as much a bridge between people as it was a natural barrier, viewed with notoriously ambiguous feelings both as a pathway of opportunity and as a sacred domain not to be violated” (Dunsch 2015). Skill and teamwork were essential in conquering this realm. For the purposes of survival, commerce, warfare, expansion, and travel, the peoples of the ancient Mediter-ranean had perfected the necessary arts of sailing and navigation from their earliest days on the Mediterranean.

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FuRTHeR ReADINg

beresford 2012. through careful analysis of literary evidence and material remains, chal-lenges the long‐held assumption of a restricted sailing season.

Casson, L. 1991. Ancient Mariners: Seafarers and Sea Fighters of the Mediterranean in Ancient Times. 2nd edition. Princeton: Princeton University Press. an extensive treat-ment of sailing culture and technology.

Kowalski, J.‐M. 2012. Navigation et géographie dans l’antiquité gréco‐romaine: La terre vue de la mer. Paris: Picard. Includes plans about sight lines and headings.

Pomey, P., ed. 1997. La Navigation dans L’Antiquite. aix‐en‐Provence: Édisud. a fas-cinating exploration of Greek navigational knowledge and how the Greco‐roman mari-time experience affects an understanding of the earth.

NOTeS

1 With sincere thanks to Simon burris, Paul Johnston, Jake Kirchner, Duane W. roller, and Eric Speth, whose comments on earlier versions of this chapter have improved both its content and style. all translations are my own, except those of pseudo-aristotle, Mechanics (E. S. Forster in Jonathan barnes, The Complete Works of Aristotle. Princeton: Princeton University Press 1984).

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