Red Sea

Origin of the Name

  • The name is derived from the Greek ‘Erythra Thalassa’, meaning ‘Red Sea’. which included the Arabian Sea.
  • Red is the colour which is produced by a type of bacteria in the Arabian Sea and associated Gulfs, which is visible to the eye, and can develop into ‘blooms’ stretching for hundreds of miles, lasting several months.

1. Ancient Red Sea Ports

Egypt

    • Ptolemy mentions six Red Sea Ports in Egypt. These were, running north to south:
      1. Clysma: (near Suez) In the fourth century CE, Clysma replaced Myos Hormos and Berenice.
      2. Philoteras:
      3. Myos Hormos: was the major Port with a very large Harbour protected by Moles, and plenty of ship building and repair facilities.
      4. Albus Portus:
      5. Nechesia:
      6. Berenice: this was first Egyptian Port for unloading cargos by the Red Sea Fleet on the return journey from India. Myos Hormos was another five days sail to the north.

Arabia

      1. Jeddah: in Arabia, was then a small Port half way down the Red Sea, once visited by Alexander the Great (356-323 BCE) which may have been a stopping point for fresh water for the Red Sea Ships.
      2. Ocelis: in Yemen, just before the Bab al Mandeb Strait. This was the first stopping point for ships from Egypt en route to India. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea says it took 40 days from Ocelis to Muziris.
      3. Aden: in Yemen was ‘Eudaemon’, mentioned in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, originally a port of transhipment, but was already being bypassed by the long distance Red Sea Fleets in the first century CE. It was built in the crater of an extinct volcano.

Ethiopia

      1. Adulis: During the first century CE, King Zoskales ruled from Aksum. He controlled Adulis mentioned by Pliny the Elder as a port trading in Ivory, Hides and Slaves. The Aksumite Empire used Adulis for its base as a Sea Power. In 525 CE it invaded the Himyarite Kingdom from this base.
      2. Dahlak Archipelago: Adulis controlled the Pearl fisheries of the Dahlak Archipelago, whose pearls were famous in the Roman Empire along with its Tortoiseshell.
      3. Assab: Located closer to the Bab el Mandeb.

2. The Geography of the Red Sea

  • The Red Sea is a long narrow Sea running diagonally from North North West to South South East.
  • It is 1,200 miles (1930 km) long by 167 miles (270 km) wide.
  • At the northern end, is the shallow Gulf of Suez to the west, and the deeper Gulf of Aqaba to the east.
  • In the southern half, the coastal shelf extends far out and is only 164 ft (50m) deep, although the centre is deeper at over  9,840 ft (3,000 m). The southern half of the Red Sea also has many islands.

Coral Reefs

    • There are 1,240 miles of Coral Reef along the coasts, which are between 5,000-7,000 years old. Amongst the fish on the Reefs lives the Seahorse.

Mangrove swamps

    • There are forests of Mangrove trees along both coastlines of the Red Sea, in Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. These lie between the tidal reaches of salt water often around a river outlet or an island. They support a rich marine life and protect coral reefs. They were mentioned by Pliny the Elder.

Dahlak Archipelago

Locusts

    • Both coastlines of the Red Sea can be breeding grounds for Desert Locusts.
    • Huge swarms of Locusts from Africa regularly cross the Red Sea carried by the winds to Arabia, flying by night at an altitude of up to 6,000 feet.

Tides

    • The North – Gulf of Suez: The Tidal Range is 2 feet (0.6 m)
    • The Centre – The Jeddah Area: Almost no Tidal Range: 6 inches (0.2 m) to 1 foot (0.3 m)
    • The South – Gulf of Aden: The Tidal Range is 3 feet (0.9 m)

The Currents and Winds

    • Due to evaporation there is a permanent inflow of water from the Gulf of Aden, producing a northerly surface current up both coasts of the Red Sea.
    • Evaporation causes the water to have a high salinity and become dense. This dense water becomes a deep outflow back into the Indian Ocean.
    • To replenish all this lost water, there is both a deep and a surface inflow from the Indian Ocean. But at various times of the year, local winds alter the surface currents.
    • In the northern half of the Red Sea, although the predominant winds are from the North West, the surface currents run north along both coasts, between 1.5 to 2 knots, in the opposite direction to the wind.
    • In the southern half of the Red Sea, the Northwesterly winds produce a southerly outflowing surface current, during the summer period from June to mid-September. This enabled the vessels departing to India in July, to descend the Red Sea and exit into the Gulf of Aden.
    • But in the Winter period, the winds reverse during December to March, and the surface current becomes a northerly inflow. This enabled the vessels returning from India in January, to enter the Red Sea from the Gulf of Aden, and sail back up towards Egypt.

3. Navigation of the Red Sea

  • In the northern Red Sea the all year round prevailing winds are from the Northwest, enabling vessels to sail south.
  • In the Southern Red Sea, during the winter period December to March, the prevailing winds reverse and blow from the Southeast as far as the border between Somalia and Ethiopia.
  • An ancient sailing ship could only sail up to 60 degrees into the prevailing wind, so it must either have
    the wind blow from behind it, or from on its beam, or get taken by the current.

Trajan's Canal

    • Trajan’s Canal provided another Route from the Nile near Cairo, via the Bitter Lakes to the Red Sea at Arsinoe. This could only operate for a few months of the year when the Nile was in Flood, and therefore the water level was higher than that of the Red Sea. The Romans knew that if they allowed the Red Sea in along the canal and into the Nile, salt water would ruin the Nile Delta.
    • During the fourth century CE, Myos Hormos and Berenice ceased to operate as trading ports, and Trajan's Canal appears to have become the main trade route for ships to India.
    • circa 300 CE, Diocletian rebuilt Fort Babylon on the Nile, which seems to have acted as a fortress and warehouse complex for water based trade between the Nile and the Red Sea.

Suez Canal

    • Today, the Suez Canal runs through the Bitter Lakes, connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea. There are no locks, and sea water and fish flow freely along the canal between the two Seas.

The Northern Red Sea

    • In the northern Red Sea there is a northerly current running along the coast of Egypt and another northerly current flowing along the coast of Saudi Arabia. This runs anticlockwise around the top, from Saudi Arabia and returns south to meet the northerly Egyptian current, forming a Gyre or rotating water mass.
    • This made it difficult for sailing ships to reach the Gulf of Suez, so Berenice and Myos Hormos were positioned where the northerly current ends, even though this meant a difficult journey across the eastern deserts to the Nile by Camel Caravans.

The Southern Red Sea

    • In the southern Red Sea the surface Current is affected by the prevailing wind:
      • During the summer, from June to mid-September, the north westerly winds create a southerly surface current for four months flowing out into the Gulf of Aden, through the Bab el Mandeb. Although, deep below, there is an inflow from the Gulf of Aden.
      • The Red Sea Fleet usually left in June or July, taking advantage of the combined wind and current to help their journey south.
      • During the winter, between October and March, the Monsoon has the effect of reversing the wind to flow from the Southeast. This reverses the surface current, which becomes northerly as water from the Gulf of Aden flows in.
      • The Red Sea Fleet returned in December or January using the southeasterly wind and current to help them sail into and up the Red Sea.

Bab el Mandeb Strait

4. Ancient Sources on travelling the Red Sea

Eudoxus of Cyzicus

    • Poseidonius wrote that the sea captain Eudoxus of Cyzicus was sent to India by Ptolemy VIII.
    • He made two voyages using an Indian pilot in 118 BCE and sailing unguided in 116 BCE.
    • Eudoxus returned with a cargo of spices and precious stones.

The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea

    • The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea describes the Sea Route from Egypt to India in the first century CE, showing all the distances calculated from Berenice, the seaport nearest to India.
    • The Periplus describes the Ports and Peoples on the Route.
    • The Sea Distances were measured in Stadia: 625 feet or 1/8th of a Roman mile.

Pliny: Alexandria to the Red Sea

Pliny's Description of the Route to India

    • The Journey from Egypt to India took two and a half months to sail, according to Pliny the Elder:
    • 30 days from Myos Hormos to Ocelis. Watering and provisioning of vessels. Set off from around the 21st July. The Southwestern Monsoon, (Hippalus} blows from June to August in the Gulf of Aden.
    • 40 days from Ocelis to Muziris. Arrive around the 1st September. The Southwestern Monsoon ends around the end of September.

Strabo: The Red Sea Route to India

    • Strabo stated that 120 Ships sailed from Myos Hormos to India, every year. Ships usually left Egypt in June or July in order to reach the Indian Ocean and take advantage of the Monsoon which reached India around the first week of June and ended by the end of September. The Journey took about 3 to 6 weeks.
    • During July and August, around the Horn of Africa and Socotra, the winds can reach gale force making travel uncomfortable.
    • The Southwest Monsoon features thick haze and poor visibility,
    • The Fleet returned from India when the Monsoon reversed direction. This started in the last week of October, so the fleet would arrive back in Egypt sometime in January.
    • Navigation from the mouth of the Red Sea to the Indian Coast is basically east west, no compass was required, since vessels could follow an Easting and sail due east by the path of the Sun by day, the Pole star Polaris and the constellation of Orion by night.

Red Sea Fleet

    • There are fourth century CE references to a ‘Classis Maris Rubris’, a Red Sea Fleet, which seems to have been a commercial Fleet, possibly operating on the same lines as the Alexandrian Grain Fleet.
    • The Fleet may have been based at the large protected Harbour of Myos Hormos. Berenice seems not to have been a developed Harbour, although it was the first port of disembarcation, when the Fleet returned to Egypt, in the race to get the Goods back to Coptos and Alexandria. The rest of the Fleet then continued for another 5 days up to Myos Hormos.
    • During the Ptolemaic Period Merchant ships carried contingents of Archers on board, according to the Pithom Stele. Lucian also states that the Romans continued this practice of Archers on board merchant vessels.
    • There is no record of a Roman Naval Fleet in the Red Sea. Galleys carried very little water, and needed to take on water every one to two days for their oarsmen who consumed around 8 litres per day. The Red Sea has Rocky, waterless coasts with very few harbours to take on water, and so would have been unsuitable for a Galley Fleet.

 

The Red Sea

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