What do sailors mean when they say the've "sailed the seven seas?" How many seas are there in the world, and why would they pick just seven?
For a sailor in antiquity (perhaps prior to the eleventh century), claiming to have “sailed the seven seas” (Latin: Septem Maria) was a hyperbolic way of claiming that they have traveled far upon the oceans of the world.
Where exactly did this saying come from, however? And which seven seas could be referred to here?
Why Seven?
Most people have probably heard reference to these “seven seas” before, but is there anyone who is actually able to name them?
If one was to ask you today to name the seven seas, you would most likely be able to rattle off a few of the ones you know – the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean and the Arctic Ocean (the four seas compromising the four major bodies of water covering the Earth today).
What many do not realize, however, is that in antiquity, only one of these bodies of water, the Indian Ocean, was one of the oceans traditionally referred to when sailors would comment on having sailed the seven seas.
In fact, it might be shocking to realize that there really wasn't any set list of seas that automatically qualified as being part of the “seven.”
Traditionally, the number seven has often referred not to a specific number, but to a group of an unspecified number of objects with a focus on the idea of completion (to make this easier to understand, it wouldn't hurt to get in the habit of replacing the number “seven” with the word “every” when reading ancient literature).
One can see this numerical “symbolism” at perhaps its most famous use throughout the Biblical texts (especially the book of Revelation – seven bowls, seven trumpets, seven seals, seven horsemen, etc…).
Which Seven?
When sailors of old referred to the seven seas, they were most likely referring to either a few or all of the following great bodies of water which would have been familiar to sailors of that era:
The Adriatic Sea, the Arabian Sea, the Aegian Sea, the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea, the Indian Ocean, the Meditteranean Sea, the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea.
That gives us a total of nine seas which are sometimes included in the “seven seas,” not to mention the Pacific and the Atlantic, both of which were thought in those days to be the seas which formed the boundaries of the ends of the Earth and held in great respect.
Today if one runs across a sailor who boasts of having “sailed the seven seas,” it is important to remember that he is not speaking in specifics.
There are, after all, a great deal more than seven seas in the world. In fact, today’s students of geography will readily attest to the fact that there are no less than 70 “seas” in the known world, not even counting the Sea of Galilee, which is really more of a lake.
And all of them may be included in the “seven seas.”
References:
“Seven Seas.” Everyday Mysteries.
