Seven Seas

"The Seven Seas"is a figurative term for all the seas of the known world.^[1]The phrase is used in reference to sailors andpirates in the arts and popular cultureand can be associated with theMediterranean Sea,the Arabian Seven Seas east ofAfricaandIndia(as told withSinbad's seven journeys, andCaptain Kidd), or is sometimes applied to theCaribbean Seaand seas aroundthe Americas(with pirates such asBlackbeard).

The terminology of a "seven seas" with varying definitions was part of the vernacular of several people (as in the prior mentioned seas of Arabic literature), long before theoceansof 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]

TheWorld Oceanis also known as just "the sea",the expanse emanating from anymarginal sea.TheInternational Hydrographic Organizationlists over 23 distinct bodies of water called seas.^[5]

Arabs

The Arabs and their near neighbours considered the Seven Seas (Arabic:البحار السبعة) to be the seas that they encountered in their voyages to The East. They were trading routes in ancient times and since the time ofMuhammad,they are the places whereIslamspread and is widely practised.

In the 9th century AD, authorYa'qubiwrote:

Whoever wants to go toChinamust cross seven seas, each one with its own color and wind and fish and breeze, completely unlike the sea that lies beside it. The first of them is theSea of Fars,which men sail setting out fromSiraf.It ends at Ra’s al-Jumha; it is a strait where pearls are fished. The second sea begins at Ra’s al-Jumha and is calledLarwi.It is a big sea, and in it is theIsland of Waqwaqand others that belong to theZanj.These islands have kings. One can only sail this sea by the stars. It contains huge fish, and in it are many wonders and things that pass description. The third sea is calledHarkand,and in it lies theIsland of Sarandib,in which are precious stones and rubies. Here are islands with kings, but there is one king over them. In the islands of this sea growbambooandrattan.The fourth sea is calledKalahand is shallow and filled with huge serpents. Sometimes they ride the wind and smash ships. Here are islands where thecamphor treegrows. The fifth sea is calledSalahitand is very large and filled with wonders. The sixth sea is calledKardanj;it is very rainy. The seventh sea is called thesea 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 reachesKhanfu.^[6]

This passage demonstrates the Seven Seas as referenced in MedievalArabian literature:

ThePersian Gulf( "Sea ofFars")
TheArabian Sea( "Sea ofLarwi")^[7]
TheBay of Bengal( "Sea ofHarkand")^[8]
TheStrait of Malacca( "Sea ofKalah")^[9]
TheSingapore Strait( "Sea ofSalahit")^[10]
TheGulf of Thailand( "Sea of Kadranj" )^[9]
TheSouth China Sea( "Sea of Sanji" )^[9]

Arab seafarers may have also considered other important seas nearby which they navigated regularly, including theBlack Sea,Caspian Sea,Red Sea,Mediterranean Sea,andAdriatic 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 theDutch East Indies:theBanda Sea,theCelebes Sea,theFlores Sea,theJava Sea,theSouth China Sea,theSulu Sea,and theTimor 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]}

Romans

The meaning ofseptem maria(Latin) in Ancient Rome is different than the phrase "seven seas" in the modern era. The navigable network in the mouths of thePo riverdischarges intosaltmarsheson theAdriaticshore and was colloquially called the "Seven Seas" inancient Romantimes.Pliny the Elder,a Roman author andfleetcommander, wrote about theselagoons,separated from the open sea by sandbanks:

All those rivers and trenches were first made by theEtruscans,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 ofVenicestates:

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

ThePersiansused the term "the Seven Seas" to refer to the streams forming theOxus River.^[1]

Talmudists

TheBabylonian Talmudmentions seven seas and four rivers that surround the land of Israel. In TractateBava Batra,fol. 74b,it reads:

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 TheSea of Galilee)
Sea of Sodom (TheDead Sea)
Sea of Helath (TheRed Sea)
Sea of Hiltha (Birkat Ram)
Sea of Sibkay (Lake Hula)
Sea of Aspamia (A lake said to be north ofApamiaon theAsi River,possibly the formerly floodedAl-Ghab Plain)
The Great Sea (TheMediterranean Sea)

Various transliterations for the sea names from Hebrew exist. For Helath:ChelathandShelyith.For Hiltha:ChilthaandChultha.For Sibkay:SibchiandSomcho.And for Aspamia:Apamia.^[15]

The 17th century churchman and scholarJohn Lightfootmentions this set of seas in hisCommentary on the New Testament.A chapter titledThe Seven Seas according to the Talmudists, and the four Rivers compassing the Landincludes 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 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.^{[citation needed]}

Detailed reckonings of the divisions of the world ocean into oceans and seas is not limited to lists of seven. For example, theInternational Hydrographic Organizationrecognizes manymarginal seas;somesaltwater lakesand the freshwaterSea of Galileealso have "sea" in their names.^{[citation needed]}

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 fromthe originalon March 14, 2009.Popular expression for all of the world's oceans.
^""Seven" – Oxford Dictionaries ".Oxford University Press.Archived fromthe originalon June 3, 2013.Retrieved2015-04-10.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.Retrieved2022-10-25.
^Lunde, Paul (July–August 2005)."The Seas of Sindbad".Saudi Aramco World.56(4). Archived fromthe originalon 2007-02-08.Retrieved2007-03-27.
^"The Pakistan Sea".Cowasjee Articles.December 24, 1993. Archived fromthe originalon October 25, 2009.
^McKinnon, E. Edwards (October 1988)."Beyond Serandib: A Note on Lambri at the Northern Tip of Aceh".Indonesia.46(46): 103–121.doi:10.2307/3351047.hdl:1813/53892.JSTOR 3351047.
^^a ^b ^cM. Th. Houtsma (1993).E. J. Brill's first encyclopaedia of Islam 1913–1936.BRILL.ISBN 978-90-04-08265-6.
^"Tumasik Kingdom".Melayu Online. Archived fromthe originalon 2009-03-12.Retrieved2008-09-05.
^Pliny the Elder."Chapter 16".Historia Naturalis.
^Lane, Frederic Chapin (1973).Venice, a Maritime Republic.Johns Hopkins University Press.p. 4.ISBN 0-8018-1460-X.
^Neusner, Jacob (2011).First steps in the Talmud: a guide to the confused.Lanham, Md.:University Press of America.p. 113.ISBN 978-0-7618-5435-7.
^"Babylonian Talmud: Bava Batra 74".Retrieved7 June2018.
^^a ^bSchwarz, Rabbi Joseph."Seas, Rivers, Mountains, and Valleys of Palestine".Retrieved9 September2017.
^Lightfoot, John."The seven Seas according to the Talmudists, and the four Rivers compassing the Land".A Chorographical Century.Archived fromthe originalon 2008-05-15.Retrieved2008-09-05.

External links

Media related toMaps of seasat Wikimedia Commons

[Straight_Dope-1] "What are the" seven seas "?".The Straight Dope.19 January 1999.

[2] The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy(3rd ed.). Houghton Mifflin Company. 2002. Archived fromthe originalon March 14, 2009.Popular expression for all of the world's oceans.

[OxfordDict-3] ""Seven" – Oxford Dictionaries ".Oxford University Press.Archived fromthe originalon June 3, 2013.Retrieved2015-04-10.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).

[WA-4] "What and Where are the Seven Seas?".World Atlas. 11 May 2021.

[5] Appendices: IHO Publication S-23 – Limits of Oceans and Seas; Draft 4th Edition.IHO.2002.Retrieved2022-10-25.

[Lunde-6] Lunde, Paul (July–August 2005)."The Seas of Sindbad".Saudi Aramco World.56(4). Archived fromthe originalon 2007-02-08.Retrieved2007-03-27.

[7] "The Pakistan Sea".Cowasjee Articles.December 24, 1993. Archived fromthe originalon October 25, 2009.

[8] McKinnon, E. Edwards (October 1988)."Beyond Serandib: A Note on Lambri at the Northern Tip of Aceh".Indonesia.46(46): 103–121.doi:10.2307/3351047.hdl:1813/53892.JSTOR 3351047.

[MALA-9] M. Th. Houtsma (1993).E. J. Brill's first encyclopaedia of Islam 1913–1936.BRILL.ISBN 978-90-04-08265-6.

[10] "Tumasik Kingdom".Melayu Online. Archived fromthe originalon 2009-03-12.Retrieved2008-09-05.

[Pliny-11] Pliny the Elder."Chapter 16".Historia Naturalis.

[Lane-12] Lane, Frederic Chapin (1973).Venice, a Maritime Republic.Johns Hopkins University Press.p. 4.ISBN 0-8018-1460-X.

[13] Neusner, Jacob (2011).First steps in the Talmud: a guide to the confused.Lanham, Md.:University Press of America.p. 113.ISBN 978-0-7618-5435-7.

[14] "Babylonian Talmud: Bava Batra 74".Retrieved7 June2018.

[Schwarz-15] Schwarz, Rabbi Joseph."Seas, Rivers, Mountains, and Valleys of Palestine".Retrieved9 September2017.

[Lightfoot-16] Lightfoot, John."The seven Seas according to the Talmudists, and the four Rivers compassing the Land".A Chorographical Century.Archived fromthe originalon 2008-05-15.Retrieved2008-09-05.

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