Seven seas

For the first time, the term "Seven Seas" appears 2300 BC in the 8th hymn of the Sumerian priestess Enheduanna , dedicated to the goddess Inanna ^[4] . In Mesopotamia, for the first time in the history of astronomy , a record of the observed seven moving objects in the sky was introduced - / , the Sumerians also extended this sevenfoldness to the seas ^[5] .

In ancient Rome, the term seven seas, " septem maria " ( Latin ) and " Ἑπτὰ πελάγη " ( ancient Greek ), often had a different meaning than today. The shipping network, which included numerous lakes, lagoons and isthmuses, in the mouths of the Po river, where it flows into the Adriatic Sea , was commonly called the "seven seas". Pliny the Elder , a Roman writer and naval commander, wrote about these lagoons, separated from the open sea by sandbanks:

All these estuaries enter the Flavian Canal; originally dug by the Etruscans on the basis of the [Sagis mouth] alone. Thanks to this, they were able to direct the flow of [river] water through the Atrian marshes, which are now called the "Seven Seas", [and then called Atrian] through the glorious Etruscan port city of Atria. From it is the old name of the present Adriatic Sea: Atriatic. ^[6]

Original text (lat.)

<...> omnia ea fossa Flavia, quam primi a Sagi fecere Tusci egesto amnis impetu per transversum in Atrianorum paludes quae Septem Maria appellantur, nobili portu oppidi Tuscorum Atriae, a quo Atriaticum mare ante appellabatur quod nunc.

Arabs and their close neighbors called the seven seas ( Arabic: بحار العالم, سبعة البحار ) reservoirs through which they sailed to the East. Since ancient times, they have been areas of trade, and since the time of the Prophet Muhammad, they became places of widespread Islam.

In the 9th century AD, the Arab author al-Yakubi wrote ^[7] :

China is a huge country, which can be reached by crossing seven seas, each of which has its own unique color, wind, fish and breeze, not available in others.

Original text (ar.)

من أراد الذهاب إلى الصين في البحر قطع سبعة أبحر ، كل واحد له لونه الخاص ورياحه وأسماكه ونسييه أس الذح. فأولها بحر عرب الذي يركب فيه من سيراف ، وآخره رأس الجمحة ، وهو ضيق فيه مغائص اللؤلؤ.

From the text it becomes clear that anyone who wants to get from the Arabian coasts to China by water must cross seven seas: the Sea of ​​Fars (بحر عرب, Persian Gulf ), Larvi or Zanj (بحر لاروي, Arabian Sea ^[8] ), Harkand (بحر هركند, Bay of Bengal ^[9] ), Kalah Bar (بحر كلاهبار, Strait of Malacca ^[10] ), Salahat or Salahit (بحر سلاهط, Singapore Strait ^[11] ), Kundrange or Cardange (بحر كردنج, Gulf of Thailand, ^[10] or Sanji (بحر صنجي, East China Sea ^[10] ). Each of them is distinguished by its special color, has its own wind directions and a peculiar fauna.

There was also the concept of "seven Arab seas" ( Arabic. بحار العالم, سبعة البحار ), located in close proximity to the homeland of the Arabs, and in which there was constant navigation:

• The Black Sea ;
• Caspian Sea
• The Arabian Sea ;
• The Indian Ocean ;
• Red Sea
• The Mediterranean Sea ;
• Adriatic Sea .

In medieval European literature, the concept of the seven seas is related to the following seas:

• Adriatic Sea
• The Mediterranean Sea , including the marginal seas, such as the Aegean Sea .
• Black Sea
• Caspian Sea
• Persian Gulf
• Arabian Sea (being part of the Indian Ocean)
• The Red Sea , including the closed Dead Sea and Lake of Tiberias .

Sometimes the Atlantic Ocean, Aegean Sea, the Indian Ocean itself and the North Sea were added to this list.

In the Renaissance , a new tradition of geographical iconography was created, including, in addition to the seas, four continents (Four Corners) and the corresponding four rivers.

The Persians used the term “Seven Seas” to describe the streams that form the Amu Darya River.

A 17th-century priest and Hebrew scholar John Lightfoot mentions various combinations of the seas in his Commentary on the New Testament . In a chapter entitled “ The Seven Seas according to the Talmudists, and the four Rivers compassing the Land ”, where Lightfoot examines the seven seas, according to the Talmudists who wash the land of Eretz Yisrael , he mentions, among others, the “Great Sea” (currently known as the Mediterranean), “ Tiberias Sea ” (Sea of ​​Galilee), “Sodom Sea” (Dead Sea), “Samakhon Lake” (probably the dried lake by the Mayor in the Hula Valley , referred to as “ Σημεχωνίτις ” by Josephus and Yam-Sumhi - in the Talmud), and a certain lake called "Sibbichaean" ^[12] .

In the colonial era, clippers who made tea races from China to England, passing the longest trade route of that time, sailed through seven seas near the Dutch East Indies : Banda , Sulawesi , Flores , Yavan , South China , Sulu and the Timor Sea . Thus, if someone in those days said that he sailed across seven seas, then this meant that he went to the other end of the world and returned ^[13] .

In times closer to us, the expression “Seven Seas” became popular again thanks to Rudyard Kipling : this is how he entitled the collection of his poems. Then the term "Seven Seas" was used to refer to the seven largest reservoirs of the planet ^[3] :

• Pacific Ocean;
• Atlantic Ocean;
• Indian Ocean;
• Arctic Ocean;
• Mediterranean Sea;
• The Caribbean ;
• Gulf of Mexico .