St. Paul's First Journey - St. Paul's Second Journey - St. Paul's Third Journey - St. Paul's Journey To Rome

SAINT PAUL'S JOURNEY TO ROME

Caesarea — Sidon — Myra — Cnidus — Losea — Malta — Syracuse —-Rhegium — Puteoli — Forum Appi — Three Taverns — Rome

In the autumn of 59, St Paul and a group of other prisoners, unlike St Paul who were not citizens 'on appeal', were put on a short-haul coaster of Syrian registration at Caesarea. The destination of the vessel was Adramyttium (Edremit], a small prosperous coastal city on the Aegean coast of Anatolia opposite Lesbos.

It was probably October, the end of the navigation period for the high seas and the centurion Julius from Cohort Augusta, who was in charge of the prisoners, was unable to find a vessel which would have taken them directly to one of the ports of Italy. St Luke might have included Cohort Augusta, the name of the Roman legion based in Syria during this period, to increase the prominence of the prisoner St Paul. The frequent appearance of centurions in Acts (10:1,21:32, 23:17, 24:23, 27:1) gives St Paul's story a military atmosphere like the crucifixion of Jesus, at which there was a centurion standing. The season was late and the centurion might have even regarded himself lucky in finding a vessel bound for Adramyttium. From there, he would have crossed the Aegean by another vessel as St Paul had done several times during his missionary journeys and after Philippi continued overland by way of the Via Egnatia1 until the Adriatic. The latter was another military artery that the Romans had built and it connected Constantinople to Dyrrachium. Across the channel another thoroughfare, the Via Appia, began at Brindisium and ran until Rome.
After a brief stop at Sidon the vessel carrying St Paul sailed, its captain making use of the currents which run to the north along the coastline of Syria and Anatolia and round the lee of Cyprus 'because of the headwinds, and acrossing the open sea off the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia' (Acts 27:2-5). Thus, passing Cyprus by its north coast and after leaving Cape Gelidonya behind, they made a stop in Myra before continuing on towards the Hellespont. At the time that St Paul's vessel sailed into Andriace, Myra's port, the region after going through the Persian and later the Ptolemaic hegemonies had been in 43 annexed to the Roman empire by Claudius.
Although this mountainous region did not have any other natural resource than its timber, owing to its location on the major routes of the maritime trade it was in close contact with the rest of the world. The existence of Jewish communities in the region is attested to by the information in the First Book of Maccabees (15:1-24). According lo this, among the cities to which the king Antiochus VII Sidetes (137-129 BCE) sent letters to inform them about the imperial protection granted to the Jews, Myndos, Carta, Lycia, Halicarnassus and Phaselis are mentioned.
Short stays in the ports of Lycia was not something particular just for the vessel which was carrying St Paul. Since antiquity it had become a custom for the maritime traffic coming from the Mediterranean to shelter at one of the well-protected Lycian ports and wait for favourable winds. These ports offered shelter to a crowded sea traffic leaving for all directions, the Aegean, the Mediterranean or the Black Sea throughout the navigation season and also gave captains a chance to do some extra business on the way.
Myra, situated by the Myros (Demre) river, was an important city of Lycia in the Classical and Hellenistic era. Its name is thought to come from the Greek word for myrrh. Strabo describes the city being on a high crest, that is the precipitous hill which now rises behind the theatre. The inhabited city was on the level ground at the foot of the hill. Although isolated from the interior by the mountains rising up to 3,000 m, the Lycian coastal cities were in close contact with the rest of the world through their maritime contacts. In the apocrypal acts of Paul, the Apostle came to Myra where he cured several locals. Later Thecla rejoined him here.
The city's harbour was at Andriace at the mouth of the river Andracus a few kilometres away. Andriace, like Patara, was an important port under the Romans for supplying grain to the troops campaigning in the east, and the granary which was dedicated to Trajan and Hadrian is the largest of its kind in Anatolia. The cistern built below the courtyard of the market-place is probably the largest in Anatolia and gives an idea of the large number of vessels to which it must have supplied sweet water.
Even though the season was late at the time that the vessel carrying St Paul sailed into the bay of Andriace there must have been numerous vessels anchored along the dock some probably prepared to spend the winter here. Among these ships the custodian of the prisoners came across a freight vessel carrying corn to Italy. This was probably one of the fleet which regularly carried grain from Egypt to Italy. Such large vessels had to sail upwind and frequently when chased by contrary winds sheltered in Lycian harbours. The season was late for such large merchant ships and this was a coincidence. The vessel he found was probably one of those which regularly carried grain between Egypt and Italy and the captain during its already late last voyage stopped at Myra perhaps with the hope of finding some passengers. Suetonius informs us that Claudius 'employed to ship grain [to Rome] even in the winter season. For he guaranteed the merchant shippers profits by assuming himself any losses someone might suffer on account of storms, and he instituted great rewards for those who built merchant ships.' The half-walnut-shell shape of a usual grain-freighter made it known in Greek as gaulos or bathtub. It usually bore a single sail carried on a single mast and had to be towed in and out of harbour. The cost of sea transportation for merchandise was about one fifth of the cost by land and Egypt was the most important grain source for Rome. During this period Claudius had given special privileges to shipowners who could carry a minimum of 70 tons of wheat. To sail the high seas these grain freighters were the best because in addition to offering room and safety they did not make calls at many ports. However, since they were built for carrying cargo the facilities were limited. Apart from a few cabins used by the skipper or important passengers such as the owner of the cargo or his agent there was no room but the deck. The ship's supply consisted only of water. The travellers had to have their own food, bedding, wine etc.
The centurion probably bore a diplomum, a pass which gave him priority to use any facility he required with or without payment until he took his prisoners to Rome. Before sailing the Ionian sea St Paul's ship tried to make a stop at Cnidos in Caria. Although devoid of arable land and sufficient water the rocky promontory on which Cnidus was founded enjoyed two small harbours which offered shelter to sea traffic, especially to those which arrived from the south and had to wait for the northwestern gale to stop before continuing on their way. The commercial activities that they carried out with the vessels which sailed in and out of their ports were the major income of the Cnidians. The ship carrying St Paul being unable to shelter to Cnidus because of the inclement weather and continued its way to find a better harbour.