The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 8.0853. Friday, 15 August 1997.
[1] From: Sara Hanna <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Thursday, 14 Aug 1997 06:23:49 -0600
Subj: Sea Travel
[2] From: Constance Relihan <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Thursday, 14 Aug 1997 12:03:15 -0500 (CDT)
Subj: Re: SHK 8.0847 Re: Sea Travel
[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: Sara Hanna <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Thursday, 14 Aug 1997 06:23:49 -0600
Subject: Sea Travel
In TRAVEL IN THE ANCIENT WORLD (1974, Johns Hopkins, 1994) Lionel Casson
discusses a voyage of Cicero from Athens to Ephesus in 51 BC, then in
the next paragraph speaks of travel between Rome and Alexandria: "What
principally determines the speed, and at times even the direction, of
travel by water were the summer trade winds of the Mediterranean, the
Etesians or 'yearly winds' as the ancients called them. These blow
consistently from the northern quadrant. Thus the voyage from Rome to
Alexandria was apt to be a traveller's dream: with the prevailing wind
on the stern, he could generally count on a quick and easy run of ten
days to three weeks" (pp. 151-52).
Sara Hanna
[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: Constance Relihan <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Thursday, 14 Aug 1997 12:03:15 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: 8.0847 Re: Sea Travel
Comment: Re: SHK 8.0847 Re: Sea Travel
L. Swilley's and C Edelman's responses to J. Mills' question about the
sailing time from Rome to Alexandria seem unnecessarily dismissive of
what is an interesting question. What would Shakespeare's audiences have
perceived the appropriate sailing time to be? Does Shakespeare's
handling of it serve to enhance a notion of fictionality or would his
treatment have seemed realistic?
Constance C. Relihan
Department of English
Auburn University
