Ships

Analysis of the role of ships and seafaring in the Old Testament in aetiology and prophecy. The ancient Israelites may have been suspicious of the sea, but the motif of ships appears widely in the Old Testament literature.

Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 2003

Wachsmann, S., 1981. The Ships of the Sea Peoples. International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 10: 187-220.

Wachsmann, S., 2015. Understanding the Boat from the Time of Jesus: Galilean Seafaring. Jerusalem, Carta.

Delivering the Deep: Maritime Archaeology for the 21st Century: Selected Papers From IKUWA 7, 2024

Christianity has long been associated with water: it acts as a natural barrier in Moses’ story, it is a means of spiritual cleansing used by John the Baptist and it is connected to parables and miracles attributed to Jesus and various saints. Water and water-related activities such as fishing and seafaring have been purposefully adopted into faith, spiritual practices and remembrance. Moreover, marine vessels, which have been an important means of transport for Mediterranean civilisations since prehistory, were included in Christian practices in a variety of ways, not just as symbols of saints but also as part of rituals. This chapter presents a preliminary study of the connection between Christian saints and maritime material culture. The focus is examples from early Christianity, especially Greek Orthodox Christianity, as developed in the eastern Mediterranean during the Mediaeval period and thereafter. The first part of the study assesses written sources associated with saints of the sea such as Nicholas of Myra and Phocas the Gardener. The second section discusses how art and material culture—mainly icons and frescoes, religious works of art—relate to narratives of the saints’ lives, associated miracles, local beliefs and spiritual practices. Icons are devotional paintings of Christ or other holy figures typically executed on wood and used ceremonially in the Byzantine and other Eastern Churches, while frescoes are religious murals painted on walls. Thus, the main purpose of this chapter is to present matters of faith and materiality in maritime context, as expressed through textual evidence and material artefacts from Eastern and Greek Orthodox Christianity. It is hoped this preliminary study will reveal new insights into and connections between maritime material culture, the sea itself and the artefacts, symbols, monumental art, votives and rituals which have been used by Christian maritime communities for over two millennia.

Wachsmann, S., 1982. The Ships of the Sea Peoples (IJNA 10.3: 187-220): Additional Notes. International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 11: 297-304.

Technology and Culture, 2011

2002c Review: Archaeology and the Social History of Ships, Richard A. Gould. American Antiquity, Vol. 67, No. 2, pp. 377-378.

PROTECTING THE ANCIENT MARINERS, CULTIC ARTIFACTS FROM THE HOLY LAND SEAS Ehud Galili* · Baruch Rosen** ARCHAEOLOGIA MARITIMA MEDITERRANEA An International Journal on Underwater Archaeology 2015, www.libraweb.net, issn 1724-6091 issn elettronico 1825-3881