This paper examines the relationship between maritime navigation and religious practice in the Ionian Sea from antiquity to the late Middle Ages, proposing the concept of “sacred nodes of navigation” as a framework for interpreting the persistence of specific coastal sites as focal points of ritual significance. Rather than focusing solely on the succession of protective figures—from ancient deities such as Apollo to the Virgin Mary (Stella Maris) and later Saint Nicholas—the study emphasizes the continuity of place as the primary factor shaping sailors’ religious experience. Through a comparative analysis of two geographically distant yet functionally analogous sites, Lefkada (Cape Lefkatas) and Sazan, the paper argues that these locations operated as stable maritime reference points embedded in navigational practice. Despite shifts in political control and religious systems, both sites retained their role as focal points of supplication, protection, and spatial orientation for seafarers. Drawing on textual sources, travel accounts, liturgical traditions, and available archaeological evidence, the paper demonstrates that religious transformation in the Ionian maritime landscape did not erase earlier spatial meanings but reconfigured them. The persistence of these sacred nodes suggests the existence of a shared cognitive and ritual mapping of the sea, in which geography, danger, and devotion converged. By foregrounding spatial continuity over doctrinal change, this approach contributes to a broader understanding of how premodern sailors interpreted and navigated maritime space through evolving yet enduring religious frameworks..
Antonios Perdikaris (Thu,) studied this question.