^a The ‘we’ narrative begins again. The last such reference appeared in 21:18. Probably Luke spent the two years of Paul’s Caesarean imprisonment nearby, and now he joined Paul again together with others.

^b Julius was a centurion (see chap 10, note b) but beyond that, nothing is known about him.

^c The Roman legions were designated by number, and each of the regiments also had designations or titles. The identification ‘Augustan’, or ‘Imperial’, or ‘Emperor’, was common.

^d They probably left from Caesarea. Adramyttium was a harbour on the west coast of the province of Asia, southeast of Troas.

^e At one of these stops, Julius would plan to transfer to a ship going to Rome.

^f See 19:29 and 20:4 for further details on Aristarchus. Paul’s letters to the Colossians and Philemon seem to suggest that he travelled with Paul all the way to Rome and remained with him during his imprisonment there.

^g At Sidon, the ancient Phoenician port some 113 km (70 miles) north of Caesarea, the boat took on cargo. Here Paul was permitted to visit the Christians of the city, who had probably become believers through the witness of Christian Hellenists forced to leave Jerusalem at the time of Stephen’s martyrdom (cf. 11:19).

^h As a Roman citizen who had appealed to the Emperor, Paul would naturally have had a more favored position than the other prisoners. The centurion would have recognised Paul’s superiority as an educated gentleman with friends attending him. The centurion Julius could have been advised by Festus to be lenient with Paul, and doubtless Paul had already made a good impression on him. Yet a soldier would always have been with him during his visit.

ⁱ They sought the protecting shelter of the island of Cyprus by sailing north on the eastern side of the island, then west along the northern side. This was because of the westerly winds that blow from spring through fall on the eastern Mediterranean. Two and one half years earlier Paul and his companions had sailed with that westerly wind from Patara to Tyre and had passed Cyprus on the south (see 21:3). Now, however, their voyage was considerably slower as their boat had to run against the winds, and they tried to stay along the side that sheltered them from the winds.

^j Crossing the open sea between Cyprus and Cilicia, the ship worked its way westward to Myra in Lycia, on the southwest coast of Asia Minor. It was helped along by local land breezes and a westward current that runs along that coast. From Sidon to Myra along this coast would normally be a voyage of 10 to 15 days.

^k Both Cilicia and Pamphylia were adjoining provinces on the southern shore of Asia Minor.

^l Myra was the most illustrious city in Lycia, with distinguished public buildings, a large theatre, and many evidences of wealth. It became the natural port of call for grain ships bound for Rome from Egypt and an important grain-storage city as well. The growing importance of the city of Myra was associated with the development of navigation. Instead of hugging the coast from point to point, more ships were daring to run directly from Alexandria in Egypt to harbours like Myra on the southern coast of Asia Minor. It was considerably out of the way on the trip to Rome from Egypt, but the prevailing westerly wind would not allow a direct voyage toward the west.

^m There Julius arranged with the owner of a larger Alexandrian grain ship to take the soldiers and prisoners on board for the longer voyage to Italy. Alexandria was founded by Alexander the Great and was the Roman capital of Lower Egypt. Its harbors were suitable for both commerce and war and it was the chief grain port for Rome. Alexandria was also an important cultural centre, its university (patterned after the great school at Athens) was noted for mathematics, astronomy, medicine and poetry. The library of Alexandria became the largest in the world with about 400,000 to 900,000 books and scrolls. The population of Alexandria comprised Jews, Greeks, and Egyptians. The Jews flourished here and considered this their city.

ⁿ Leaving Myra, the grain ship moved slowly along between the islands of Cos and Rhodes to the port of Cnidus, at the south- western tip of Asia Minor. Cnidus was the last port of call before sailing west across the Aegean Sea for the Greek mainland. The trip probably took another 10 to 15 days.

^o Rather than cross the open sea to Greece and face the strong northern winds that blow down the length of the Aegean Sea at this time of year, the ship was forced to bear south, seeking to sail west along the southern coast of Crete, the long island southeast of Greece. Passing Cape Salmone on the eastern tip of Crete, the ship entered the small bay of Fair Havens or Safe Harbours.

^p  Safe Harbours was a port about midway on the southern coast of Crete.

^q Lasea was a city about 8 km (5 miles) away.

^r Navigation in this part of the Mediterranean was always dangerous after Sept. 14 and was considered suicidal after Nov. 11. The ship had lost valuable time since leaving Myra, and it was obvious that there was no hope of reaching Italy before winter.

^s ‘Yom Kippur’ or ‘Day of Atonement’, the chief festival of Judaism which fell in the latter part of September or in October, was already past. The usual sailing season by Jewish calculation lasted from Pentecost (May-June) to the Feast of Tabernacles which was five days after Yom Kippur. So Paul warned that disaster would befall them if they tried to go further.

^t But the pilot and the ship’s owner preferred not to winter in the small, open bay of Safe Harbours. They hoped to winter instead at the larger and safer port of Phoenix, 65 km (40 miles) west of Safe Harbours. Between these two ports, however, the south coast of Crete turns suddenly to the north and exposes a ship to the northern winds before it regains the protection of the coast just before Phoenix. The centurion agreed with the pilot and the ship’s owner that it would, if at all possible, be best to winter at Phoenix.

^u Phoenix was a major city that served as a wintering place, having a harbour with protection against the storms.