classical flourish signifying nautical skill. It was applied to the Venetians long before they sailed the oceans. Persians The Persians used the term "the Seven Seas" to refer to the streams forming the Oxus River. Talmudists The Babylonian Talmud mentions seven seas and four rivers that surround the land of Israel. In Tractate Bava Batra, fol. 74b, it reads: When R. Dimi came he said R. Yohanan said: "What is the meaning of the verse, 'For he hath founded it upon the seas and established it upon the floods.' (Ps. 24:2)? This refers to the seven seas and four rivers that surround the land of Israel. And what are the seven seas? The sea of Tiberias, the Sea of Sodom, the Sea of Helath, the Sea of Hiltha, the Sea of Sibkay, the Sea of Aspamia and the Great Sea. And what are the four rivers? The Jordan, the Yarmuk, the Keramyhon and Pigah." According to this and other passages, the Talmudic Seven Seas include: Sea of Tiberias (Lake Tiberias or The Sea of Galilee) Sea of Sodom (The Dead Sea) Sea of Helath (The Red Sea) Sea of Hiltha (Birkat Ram) Sea of Sibkay (Lake Hula) Sea of Aspamia (A lake said to be north of Apamia on the Asi River, possibly the formerly flooded Al-Ghab Plain) The Great Sea (The Mediterranean Sea) Various transliterations for the sea names from Hebrew exist. For Helath: Chelath and Shelyith. For Hiltha: Chiltha and Chultha. For Sibkay: Sibchi and Somcho. And for Aspamia: Apamia. The 17th century churchman and scholar John Lightfoot mentions this set of seas in his Commentary on the New Testament. A chapter titled The Seven Seas according to the Talmudists, and the four Rivers compassing the Land includes the "Great Sea" (now called the Mediterranean Sea), the "Sea of Tiberias" (Sea of Galilee), the "Sea of Sodom" (Dead Sea), the "Lake of Samocho" (probably the (mostly) dried-up Hula Lake, called Semechonitis by Josephus and lake Sumchi in the Talmud), also called the "Sibbichaean". Lightfoot does not comment on the remaining three seas. Early modern After the discovery of the Americas during the Age of Discovery, the "seven seas" were reckoned by some as: the Pacific Ocean the Atlantic Ocean the Indian Ocean the Arctic Ocean the Mediterranean Sea the Caribbean Sea the Gulf of Mexico The last two of these are now reckoned to be part of the