Adria
The gulf bounded on the E. by Dalmatia and Albania, and on the W. by Italy. It was often however understood in a wider sense, as by Paul's almost contemporary geographer, Ptolemy, namely, the Mare Superum, including the Ionian sea, between Sicily on the W., and Greece and Crete on the E., and Africa on the S., the "Syrtic basin" (Act 27:17). So that the Melita of Acts 28 need not be looked for in the present Adriatic gulf, but may be identified with Malta.
Adria, a town near the Po, gave its name. Malta marks the division between the Adriatic and Tyrrhenian (Mare Inferum) sea; the Corinthian isthmus divides the AEgean from the Adriatic.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia on Adria
Adria a'-dri-a (Westcott-Hort: ho Hadrias or ho Adrias): In Greek Adrias (Polybios i.2.4), Adriatike Thalassa (Strabo iv.204), and Adriatikon Pelagos (Ptolemy iii.15.2), and in Latin Adriaticum mare (Livy xl.57.7), Adrianum mare (Cicero in Pisonem 38), Adriaticus sinus (Livy x.2.4), and Mare superurn (Cicero ad Att. 9.5.1). The Adriatic Sea is a name derived from the old Etruscan city Atria, situated near the mouth of the Po (Livy v.33.7; Strabo v.214). At first the name Adria was only applied to the most northern part of the sea. But after the development of the Syracusan colonies on the Italian and Illyrian coasts the application of the term was gradually extended southward, so as to reach Mons Garganus (the Abruzzi), and later the Strait of Hydruntum (Ptolemy iii.1.1; Polybios vii.19.2). But finally the name embraced the Ionian Sea as well, and we find it employed to denote the Gulf of Tarentum (Servius Aen xi.540), the Sicilian Sea (Pausanias v. 25), and even the waters between Crete and Malta (Orosius i.2.90). Procopius considers Malta as lying at the western extremity of the Ad…
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible on Adria
The sea ';amidst ' which the ship carrying St. Paul wa? driven during fourteen days, before it stranded on Mclita. After passing Crete, the voyagers en- countered a violent 'north-easter' (KV Eura- quilo), before which they drifted, and running under the island of Clauda (RV Cauda, now Gozo), they were afraid of being carried towards the quicksands (RV Sijrtis) dreaded by the mariner on the African coast ; but eventually, on the four- teenth day, descried land, where they ran the ship aground on an island called Melita. The sea whici) they traversed is termed 6 'ASpias. Three questions arise — (I) as to the form, (2) as to the origin, and (3) as to the range or connotation, of the word. 1. WII prefer the aspirated form "ASpias ; but while both forms occur in ancient writers (see the variations in Pauly-Wiss. HE s.v.), our choice must depend on the probable derivation of the name. 2. There were two towns of similar name^Atria or Hadria, in Picenum (now Atri), an inland town having no relation to the Adriatic (except indirectly through its port of Matrinum), and Atria, a town of early…
Smith's Bible Dictionary on Adria
more properly A’drias, the Adriatic Sea. (Acts 27:27) The word seems to have been derived from the town of Adria, near the Po. In Paul’s time it included the whole sea between Greece and Italy, reaching south from Crete to Sicily. [Melita]
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- Easton, M.G. (1893) Easton's Bible Dictionary. 3rd edn. Thomas Nelson. [Public Domain]
- Nave, O.J. (1897) Nave's Topical Bible. Topical Bible Publishing Co.. [Public Domain]
- Hastings, J. (ed.) (1909) A Dictionary of the Bible. Edinburgh: T&T Clark. [Public Domain]
- Smith, W. (ed.) (1884) Smith's Bible Dictionary. London: John Murray. [Public Domain]
- Fausset, A.R. (1878) Fausset's Bible Dictionary. [Public Domain]A Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopaedia