ABSTRACT
What impact did Christianity have on the sacred spaces of sea-travel in Late Antiquity? Changes were brought about by Christianity to the ways that mariners experienced spiritual aspects of the spaces connected to their journeys by sea. Christians acted in ways that had much in common with those of earlier mariners: shipbuilding, steering with oars and uses of space onboard ships seem to have remained relatively constant. Christian travellers faced the same threats as in ancient times and responded in remarkably similar ways: they burned incense on altars as part of their prayers aboard, and addressed the heavens with raised arms, from the high stern. Yet this era was also marked by important changes in lived coastal and shipboard religion: Christians prayed to the One God, Jesus, or Mary; carried images of saints, instead of the gods, and sailed to visit new sacred sites and collect physical souvenirs to carry home as spiritual protection.
