Adria
Summary
The sea in which Paul's ship was driven for fourteen days during his voyage to Rome, anciently denoting not merely the modern Adriatic but the entire central Mediterranean between Crete and Sicily.
☩Origin and Original Meaning
The name Adria (Greek: Adrias) was derived from the ancient Etruscan city of Atria near the mouth of the Po River. Originally the name applied only to the most northern part of the sea between Italy and Illyria, what is now the Adriatic Gulf proper. The lower part was known as the 'Ionian Sea.' Gradually the term extended southward as Greek colonies developed along the Italian and Illyrian coasts.
☩Extended Meaning in New Testament Times
By Paul's time, 'Adria' had come to embrace the entire sea basin between Italy and Greece, and even the Ionian Sea beyond. The geographer Ptolemy confirms this wider extension, noting that Sicily was bounded on the east by the Sea of Adria, that the Peloponnesus was bounded on the west and south by it, and that Crete was bounded on the west by the Adriatic Sea. Procopius placed Malta at the boundary between the Adriatic and the Tyrrhenian seas.
☩Paul's Experience
Luke records that the ship carrying Paul 'was driven to and fro in the sea of Adria' for fourteen nights before they approached Malta. This usage reflects the popular extension of the term to include the waters between Crete and Sicily. Understanding this ancient broader meaning is essential, since Malta lies outside the boundaries of the present-day Adriatic Sea but within the ancient 'Adria.' Josephus similarly describes being shipwrecked 'in the midst of the Adria' and being rescued by a ship sailing from Cyrene to Puteoli, confirming this wider application.
Related Verses1 mention
Acts· 1 verse
References
- 1.James Orr (ed.), "Adria," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. I (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).
- 2.James Hastings (ed.), "Adria," in Dictionary of the Apostolic Church, vol. I (T. & T. Clark, 1915–1918).
- 3.George Morrish, "Adria," in Morrish's Concise Bible Dictionary (George Morrish, 1898).
- 4.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Adria," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).