Daily Archives: October 18, 2010

A replica of a 600 B.C. Phoenician ship has almost completed 20,000 miles and two years at sea.

The replica Phoenician ship, captained by British explorer Philip Beale, has completed the circumnavigation of Africa – a voyage made by Phoenicians in 600 BC. With up to 16 crew members on any one leg the replica vessel has welcomed sailors from all corners of the globe.

The voyage has presented Captain Beale and his international crew with many challenges including losing one of the ship’s rudders in the Red Sea, the threat of piracy off the Somali coast and gale force weather conditions around the Cape of Good Hope. At the end of the expedition the ship will have visited 14 countries – each time sparking interest in the achievements of ancient Phoenician mariners.

The successful completion of the voyage is of enormous significance to historians and archaeologists as it proves that the Phoenician vessels were capable of sailing around the African continent – something that has been the cause of much speculation over centuries.

The ship will complete its voyage  at Arwad, Syria, where it was built.

Phoenician Ship under sail in the North Atlantic. Courtesy Phoenicia Ship Expedition.

For more information read the short article in the Gibraltar Chronicle here. A web site about the expedition is available at Phoenicia.

The prophet Ezekiel foretold the fall of the ancient Phoenician city of Tyre. I suggest you read the entire account in Ezekiel 26-28. Notice especially these verses about the effect that the fall of Tyre had on other nations and merchants.

The ships of Tarshish traveled for you with your merchandise. So you were filled and heavily laden in the heart of the seas. “Your rowers have brought you out into the high seas. The east wind has wrecked you in the heart of the seas. Your riches, your wares, your merchandise, your mariners and your pilots, your caulkers, your dealers in merchandise, and all your men of war who are in you, with all your crew that is in your midst, sink into the heart of the seas on the day of your fall.

At the sound of the cry of your pilots the countryside shakes, and down from their ships come all who handle the oar. The mariners and all the pilots of the sea stand on the land and shout aloud over you and cry out bitterly. They cast dust on their heads and wallow in ashes; they make themselves bald for you and put sackcloth on their waist, and they weep over you in bitterness of soul, with bitter mourning. In their wailing they raise a lamentation for you and lament over you: ‘Who is like Tyre, like one destroyed in the midst of the sea? (Ezekiel 27:25-32 ESV)

For a larger image of the photo suitable for use in teaching click on the photo above.

HT: PaleoJudaica.