ADRIA, SEA OF (PLACE) . An arm of the Mediterranean between Italy and the Balkan Peninsula that joins the Ionian Sea in the southeast, commonly known as the Adriatic Sea. It is mentioned in the NT in connection with the apostle Paul’s journey to Rome (Acts 27:27). Today the name denotes the sea that stretches from northwest to southeast, a length of nearly five hundred miles. The Italian coast is low, especially in the northeast basin around the Po delta, which is the largest river that flows into it. The east coast is quite rugged and is lined with islands. This allows for many good ports on the Dalmatian coast compared to the relatively few on the Italian side. Northeast winds, coupled with the prevalence of sudden gusts, make winter navigation difficult and dangerous.
The sea was known in ancient times as Adrias, Adriatike Thalasa, Adriatikon Pelagos in Gk and Adriaticum Mare, Adrianum Mare or Mare Superum in Latin. According to Strabo (5.1), the name is derived from the ancient Etruscan city-colony ATRIA located north of the Po River. Justin (20, 1.9), however, suggests a Greek origin for the name. Originally the name was applied to the upper (northwest) part of the sea, but it gradually spread southeast some 6,000 stadia (approximately 700 miles) to the Ionian Sea (Strabo 2.123), and even to the Sicilian Sea. including the waters between Crete and Malta (Orosius 1, 2.90). Thus, in ancient times it was understood that Malta was located at the western end of the Adriatic Sea (Procopius 1, 14), while Crete was surrounded by it to the west (Strabo 3. 17) and the same waters encompassed Sicily to the east. (Strabo 3.4, 15). It appears that the name was first used interchangeably with the Ionian Sea, and gradually came to include it. “The Ionian Sea is part of what is now called the Sea of Hadria,” Strabo wrote (2, 5.20). According to Livy (5.33), Italy was surrounded by two seas, the Tuscan to the west and the Adriatic to the east. The name is therefore more restricted today than it was in the past, when it not only included the waters between Sicily and Crete, but could have applied to the entire eastern Mediterranean with the exception of the Aegean Sea. Italy was surrounded by two seas, the Tuscan to the west and the Adriatic to the east. The name is therefore more restricted today than it was in the past, when it not only included the waters between Sicily and Crete, but could have applied to the entire eastern Mediterranean with the exception of the Aegean Sea. Italy was surrounded by two seas, the Tuscan to the west and the Adriatic to the east. The name is therefore more restricted today than it was in the past, when it not only included the waters between Sicily and Crete, but could have applied to the entire eastern Mediterranean with the exception of the Aegean Sea.
Therefore, it would be misleading to limit the reference in Acts to what is now known as the Adriatic Sea. Because many of the Greek manuscripts call Malta Melite (with several variations in Greek and also Latin manuscripts), some have tried to see in the name an island other than Malta, namely modern Mljet in the Adriatic. However, the more likely east-northeast direction of the wind called Northeast (Gk euroklydon or eurakylon, Acts 27:14) would not support this suggestion. Scholars are even more inclined to understand the NT reference to adrias in a more general way, as opposed to the more restricted modern usage of the term.
To avoid possible confusion in the use of different names, some have suggested a strict distinction in the use of the terms “Adriatic Sea” and “Adriatic Sea”. Although this can be done today, Ptolemy used the two names interchangeably (3.4: Adria, and 3.17: Adriatico).
Acts 27:27 states that the ship in which Paul was going to Rome was “tossed up and down” for fourteen days by strong winds before it was shipwrecked off Malta. That the sea gained a stormy reputation in ancient times can be documented from the records of such famous writers as Josephus (Vita 3) and Horace (Odes 1, 33).
Bibliography
Avi-Yonah, M. and Malamat, A., eds. The world of the Bible. New York.
Meinardus, Otto F. A. St. Paul’s Last Journey. New Rochelle, New York.
ZDRAVKO STEFANOVIC