HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Erythraean Sea ( grc-gre, Ἐρυθρὰ Θάλασσα, ''Erythrà Thálassa'', ."Red Sea") was a former maritime designation that always included the Gulf of Aden and at times other seas between Arabia Felix and the Horn of Africa. Originally an ancient Greek geographical designation, it was used throughout Europe until the 18–19th centuries. At times the name frequently extended beyond the Gulf of Adenas in the famous 1st-century ''
Periplus of the Erythraean Sea The ''Periplus of the Erythraean Sea'' ( grc, Περίπλους τῆς Ἐρυθρᾶς Θαλάσσης, ', modern Greek '), also known by its Latin name as the , is a Greco-Roman periplus written in Koine Greek that describes navigation and ...
''to include the present-day Red Sea, Arabian Sea,
Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bo ...
, and
Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by ...
as a single maritime area.


Name

The Greeks themselves derived the name from an eponymous King Erythras, knowing that the waters so described were deep blue. Modern scholars sometimes attribute the name to the seasonal blooms of the red-hued ''
Trichodesmium erythraeum ''Trichodesmium erythraeum'' is a species of cyanobacteria that are unique in being visible to the naked eye. This species is also known as " sea sawdust". It was originally discovered in 1770 by Captain Cook off the coast of Australia. Anatomy ...
'' in the Red Sea. Agatharchides had written of the origin of the name Erythraean Sea on the book (De Mari Erythraeo, § 5) in a story about the king Erythras: "There was a man famous for his valor and wealth, by name Erythras, a Persian by birth, son of Myozaeus..... the glory of the Island ascribed to him by the popular voice because of these his deeds, that even down to our own time they have called that sea, infinite in extent, Erythraean Sea


Use

The name "Erythraean Sea" has been or is still used for the following places: *In the opening sentences of Herodotus' history, written in the 5th century BC, he refers to the Phoenicians having come originally from the Erythraean Sea. *In the ''
Periplus of the Erythraean Sea The ''Periplus of the Erythraean Sea'' ( grc, Περίπλους τῆς Ἐρυθρᾶς Θαλάσσης, ', modern Greek '), also known by its Latin name as the , is a Greco-Roman periplus written in Koine Greek that describes navigation and ...
'', written in the 1st century AD, as well as in some ancient maps, the name of the sea refers to the whole area of the northwestern Indian Ocean, including the Arabian Sea. *In centuries past, the name "Erythraean Sea" was applied by cartographers to the NW part of the
Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by ...
, mainly the area around
Socotra Socotra or Soqotra (; ar, سُقُطْرَىٰ ; so, Suqadara) is an island of the Republic of Yemen in the Indian Ocean, under the ''de facto'' control of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council, a secessionist participant in Yemen� ...
, between Cape Guardafui and the coast of Hadhramaut. This appellation has now become obsolete and the name Gulf of Aden is used, although for a smaller area. In maps where the NW Indian Ocean is named thus, the Red Sea appears as "Arabian Gulf". *The name "Erythraean Sea" was used as well to refer to some gulfs attached to the Indian Ocean, specifically, Gulf of Aden and Gulf of Oman. *As a name for the Red Sea, especially after the 19th century. The modern country of Eritrea was named after this ancient Greek name. *Since 1895, the name has also been applied to a large dusky region on the surface of planet Mars, known as
Mare Erythraeum Mare Erythraeum is a very large dark dusky region of Mars that can be viewed by even a small telescope. The name comes from the Latin for the Erythraean Sea, because it was originally thought to be a large sea of liquid water. It was included in P ...
.


Classic literature sources

Chronological listing of classical literature sources for Erythraean: * Herodotus, ''Herodotus'' 1. 18 (trans. Godley) (Greek history C5th BC) * Herodotus, ''Herodotus'' 1. 142 * Herodotus, ''Herodotus'' 1. 180 (''The Greek Classics'' ed. Miller 1909 Vol 5 p. 96 trans. Laurent) * Herodotus, ''Clio'' Book 1 (trans. Laurent) * Herodotus 2. 11 (''The Greek Classics'' ed. Miller 1909 Vol 5 p. 116 trans. Laurent) * Herodotus 2. 158 (''The Greek Classics'' ed. Miller 1909 Vol 5 p. 186) * Herodotus 2. 159 (''The Greek Classics'' ed. Miller 1909 Vol 5 p. 186 ) * Herodotus, ''Herodotus'' 6. 8. 8 ff (trans. Godley) * Thucydides, ''Thucydides'' 8. 4 (trans. Smith) (Greek history C5th BC) * Thucydides, ''Thucydides'' 8. 14 * Thucydides, ''Thucydides'' 8. 16 * Thucydides, ''Thucydides'' 8. 24 * Thucydides, ''Thucydides'' 8. 33 * Aeschylus, Fragment 105 (192) ''Prometheus Bound'' (trans. Weir Smyth) (Greek tragedy C5th BC) * Aristotle, ''De Mundo'' 393b ff (ed. Ross trans. Forster) (Greek philosophy C4th BC) * Tibullus, ''Tibullus'' 3. 4. 11 ff (trans. Postgate) (Latin poetry C1st BC) * Diodorus Siculus, ''Library of History'' 14. 84. 4 ff (trans. Oldfather) (Greek history C1st BC) * Parthenius, ''The Love Romances'' 9. 1 (The Story of Polycrite) (trans. Gaselee) (Greek poetry C1st BC) * Strabo, ''Geography'' 7. 3. 6 (trans. Jones) (Greek geography C1st BC to C1st AD) * Strabo, ''Geography'' 13. 1. 14 * Strabo, ''Geography'' 13. 1. 19 * Strabo, ''Geography'' 13. 1. 64 * Strabo, ''Geography'' 14. 1. 31 * Strabo, ''Geography'' 14. 1. 33 * Strabo, ''Geography'' 16. 3. 5 * Scholiast on Strabo, ''Geography'' 16. 3. 5 (''The Geography of Strabo'' trans. Jones 1930 Vol 7 p. 305) * Strabo, ''Geography'' 16. 4. 20 * Scholiast on Strabo, ''Geography'' 16. 4. 20 (''The Geography of Strabo'' trans. Jones 1930 Vol 7 p. 305) * Strabo, ''Geography'' 17. 1. 43 * Livy, ''The History of Rome'' 38. 39. 11 ff (trans. Moore) (Roman history C1st BC to C1st AD) * Pliny, ''Natural History'' 4. 36. (trans. Bostock & Riley) (Roman history C1st AD) * Pliny, ''Natural History'' 7. 57 (trans. Rackham) * Pliny, ''Natural History'' 8. 73 (43) * Pliny, ''Natural History'' 9. 54 ff * Scholiast on Pliny, ''Natural History'' 9. 54 ff (''The Natural History of Pliny'' trans. Bostock & Riley 1855 Vol 2 p. 431) * Pliny, ''Natural History'' 12. 35 (trans. Bostock & Riley) * Bacchylides papyrus, The Drinking-song (''Lyra Graeca'' trans. Edmonds 1927 Vol. 3 p. 657) (Greek poetry C1st AD) * Statius, ''Silvae'' 4. 6. 17 (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic poetry C1st AD) * Statius, ''Thebaid'' 7. 564 ff (trans. Mozley) * Josephus, Berossus from Alexander Polyhistor, Of the Cosmogony and Causes of the Deluge (''The Ancient Fragments'' trans. Cory 1828 p. 19) (Romano- Jewish-Babylonian history C1st AD) * Plutarch, ''Moralia'', Bravery of Women, 3 (The Women of Chios) 244F ff (trans. Babbitt) (Greek history C1st to C2nd AD) * Plutarch, ''Moralia'', Bravery of Women 17 (Polycrite) 254C ff * Plutarch, ''Moralia'', The Greek Questions (30) 298B ff * Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'' 7. 5. 3 ff (trans. Frazer) (Greek travelogue C2nd AD) * Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'' 7. 5. 5. 12 ff * Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'' 10. 12. 4 * Athenaeus, ''Banquet of the Learned'' 4. 74 (trans. Yonge) (Greek rhetoric C2nd AD to C3rd AD) * Athenaeus, ''Banquet of the Learned'' 10. 44 ff * Athenaeus, ''Banquet of the Learned'' 11. 49 ff * Dio, ''Roman History,'' Epitome of Book LXVIII 28. 3 ff (trans. Cary) (Roman history C2nd to C3rd AD) * Eusebius, Berossus from Apollodorus, Of The Chaldean Kings (''The Ancient Fragments'' trans. Cory 1828 p. 19) (Christian-Babylonian history 4th AD) * Tzetzes, ''Chiliades or Book of Histories'' 8.57. 621 (trans. Untila et al.) (Greco-Byzantine history C12th AD) * Tzetzes, ''Chiliades or Book of Histories'' 8.57. 628 ff Classical literature source for Erythean: * Ovid, ''Fasti'' 1. 543–586 (trans. Frazer) (Roman epic poetry C1st BC to C1st AD)


See also

* Indo-Roman trade relations *
Sea of Zanj The Sea of Zanj ( ar, بحر زنج) is a former name for that portion of the western Indian Ocean adjacent to the region in the African Great Lakes referred to by medieval Arab geographers as Zanj.Socotra Socotra or Soqotra (; ar, سُقُطْرَىٰ ; so, Suqadara) is an island of the Republic of Yemen in the Indian Ocean, under the ''de facto'' control of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council, a secessionist participant in Yemen� ...


References


External links

*''The Periplus of the Erythrean sea, containing an account of the navigation of the ancients, from the sea of Suez to the coast of Zanguebar'', William Vincent (ed.), 2 voll., London, 1800
vol. 1vol. 2
* William H. Schoff,

' (New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1912), with additional commentary including alternate spellings or translations from Lionel Casson's more recent edition. {{Authority control Seas of the Indian Ocean Seas of Africa Seas of Asia Bodies of water of the Red Sea History of cartography History of geography Ancient Greek geography Bodies of water of Yemen Bodies of water of Somalia