Mare clausum? Sailing Seasons in the Mediterranean in Early Antiquity

The modern notion of navigation in antiquity is that it came to an almost complete standstill in the winter. A survey of pre-Roman sources reveals that this notion is only partially correct. While coastal navigation was brought to a standstill in the winter, open-water routes were open for navigation in summer and winter alike.

[1]  Charles b. Virolleaud,et al.  Textes en cunéiformes alphabétiques des archives sud, sud-ouest et du petit palais , 1965 .

[2]  J. Rougé Ships and Fleets of the Ancient Mediterranean , 1981 .

[3]  Gary D. Beckman Hittite Diplomatic Texts , 1995 .

[4]  H. Goedicke The report of Wenamun , 1975 .

[5]  F. Braudel The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II , 1974 .

[6]  J. Sasson Canaanite Maritime Involvement in the Second Millennium B. C. , 1966 .

[7]  A. Yardeni Maritime Trade and Royal Accountancy in an Erased Customs Account from 475 B. C. E. on the Aḥiqar Scroll from Elephantine , 1994, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research.

[8]  B. Sass Wenamun and his Levant -1075 BC or 925 BC? , 2002 .

[9]  Lionel Casson,et al.  Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World , 1971 .

[10]  Everett L. Wheeler,et al.  Vegetius, epitome of military science , 1993 .

[11]  D. Yoerger,et al.  Iron Age Shipwrecks in Deep Water off Ashkelon, Israel , 2002, American Journal of Archaeology.

[12]  A. Egberts The Chronology of the Report of Wenamun , 1991 .

[13]  J. Tropper Zur Grammatik der ugaritischen Omina , 1994 .

[14]  A. B. Knapp,et al.  Stone Anchors in Antiquity: Coastal Settlements and Maritime Trade-Routes in the Eastern Mediterranean ca. 1600-1050 B. C , 1982 .

[15]  D. Arnaud Une lettre du roi de Tyr au roi d'Ougarit : milieux d'affaires et de culture en Syrie à la fin de l'âge du bronze récent , 1982 .

[16]  D. Sivan A Grammar of the Ugaritic Language , 2002 .

[17]  A. FitzGerald Letters of Synesius of Cyrene , 1927 .

[18]  C. C. Edgar,et al.  Zenon Papyri in the University of Michigan Collection , 1931 .

[19]  L. Depuydt On the Consistency of the Wandering Year as Backbone of Egyptian Chronology , 1995 .

[20]  M. Hansen,et al.  Aspects of Athenian Society in the fourth century B.C. : a historical introduction to and commentary on the paragraphe-speeches and the speech Against Dionysodorus in the Corpus Demosthenicum (XXXII-XXXVIII and LVI) , 1976 .

[21]  B. Porten,et al.  Textbook of Aramaic documents from ancient Egypt , 1986 .

[22]  K. Kitchen,et al.  The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt (1100-650 BC) , 1975 .

[23]  J. Rougé La navigation hivernale sous l'Empire romain , 1952 .