![]() ![]() A canal was built between the Nile and the northern end of the Red Sea at Suez. ![]() In the 6th century BC, Darius the Great of Persia sent reconnaissance missions to the Red Sea, improving and extending navigation by locating many hazardous rocks and currents. Rabbi Saadia Gaon (882‒942), in his Judeo-Arabic translation of the Pentateuch, identifies the crossing place of the Red Sea as Baḥar al-Qulzum, meaning the Gulf of Suez. Yam Suph was traditionally identified as the Red Sea. The biblical Book of Exodus tells the account of the Israelites’ crossing of a body of water, which the Hebrew text calls Yam Suph (Hebrew: יַם סוּף). Both involved long voyages down the Red Sea. One such expedition took place around 2500 BC, and another around 1500 BC (by Hatshepsut). The earliest known exploration of the Red Sea was conducted by ancient Egyptians as they attempted to establish commercial routes to Punt. The direct rendition of the Greek Erythra Thalassa in Latin as Mare Erythraeum refers to the north-western part of the Indian Ocean and a region on Mars. The Red Sea is one of four seas named in English after standard colour terms – the others being the Black Sea, the White Sea and the Yellow Sea. ![]() In that version, the Yam Suph (Hebrew: ים סוף, lit. ’Sea of Reeds’) is translated as Erythra Thalassa (Red Sea). The association of the Red Sea with the biblical account of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea is ancient and was made explicit in the Septuagint translation of the Book of Exodus from Hebrew to Koine Greek in approximately the third century BC. Some ancient geographers called the Red Sea the Arabian Gulf or Gulf of Arabia. Historically, Western geographers also know it as Mare Mecca (Sea of Mecca) and Sinus Arabicus (Gulf of Arabia). The name in Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ `ⲛϩⲁϩ Phiom Enhah (“Sea of Hah”) is connected to the Ancient Egyptian root ḥ-ḥ which refers to water and sea (for example the names of the Ogdoad gods Heh and Hauhet). The name in Hebrew Yam Suph (Hebrew: ים סוף, lit. ’Sea of Reeds’) is of biblical origin. Herodotus, on one occasion, uses the Red Sea and Southern Sea interchangeably. The basis of this theory is that some Asiatic languages use colour words to refer to the cardinal directions. A theory favoured by some modern scholars is that the name red refers to the direction south, just as the Black Sea’s name may refer to the north. The name of the sea may signify the seasonal blooms of the red-coloured Trichodesmium erythraeum near the water’s surface. Other designations include the Arabic: البحر الأحمر, romanized: Al-Baḥr Al-Aḥmar (alternatively بحر القلزم Baḥr Al-Qulzum, literally “the Sea of Clysma”), the Coptic ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ̀ⲛϣⲁⲣⲓ Phiom ̀nšari, ܝܡܐ ܣܘܡܩܐ Yammāʾ summāqā, Somali Badda cas and Tigrinya Qeyyiḥ bāḥrī (ቀይሕ ባሕሪ). As well as Mare Rubrum in Latin (alternatively Sinus Arabicus, literally “Arabian Gulf”), the Romans called it Pontus Herculis (Sea of Hercules). The sea itself was once referred to as the Erythraean Sea by Europeans. The Red Sea is a direct translation of the Greek Erythra Thalassa (Ερυθρὰ Θάλασσα). The Southern limits of the Gulfs of Suez, A line running from Ràs Muhammed (27☄3’N) to the South point of Shadwan Island (34☀2’E) and thence Westward on a parallel (27☂7’N) to the coast of Africa] and Aqaba, A line running from Ràs al Fasma Southwesterly to Requin Island (27★7′N 34☃6′E) through Tiran Island to the Southwest point thereof and thence Westward on a parallel (27★4’N) to the coast of the Sinai Peninsula. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Red Sea as follows: The Red Sea also has extensive shallow shelves, noted for their marine life and corals. It is the world’s northernmost tropical sea and is designated a Global 200 ecoregion. The sea is the habitat of over 1,000 invertebrate species and 200 soft and hard coral types. It has an average depth of 490 m (1,608 ft), and in the central Suakin Trough, it reaches its maximum depth of 3,040 m (9,970 ft). The Red Sea has a surface area of roughly 438,000 km2 (169,100 mi2), is about 2250 km (1398 mi) long, and – at its widest point – 355 km (220.6 mi) wide. It is underlain by the Red Sea Rift, part of the Great Rift Valley. The Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez (leading to the Suez Canal) lie north. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |