Mediterranean

Med´i-tuh-ray´nee-uhn

Sea, the large sea enclosed by the coasts of Europe, North Africa, Asia Minor, and Syro-Palestine. Although there are occasional references to the Mediterranean Sea in the OT (Ps 29:3; Ps 104:25-26), lack of seaports kept the Hebrews from becoming seafarers. It remained a mysterious and forbidding part of their world. In the NT, however, the apostle Paul frequently traveled the Mediterranean on ships (Acts 16:11; Acts 20:6; Acts 21:1-3) and was on one that was wrecked by a storm (Acts 27:13-44).