Corbita (ship type)
The Roman Corbita (pl. Corbitae ) was one of the most important types of merchant ships in the Roman Empire .
Despite the well-developed road system, trade in the Roman Empire was mainly carried out with ships. This was because a ship could transport a lot more goods, much faster than the small wagons. The seafaring of the Romans at the height of the power of the Roman Empire in the east extended to Muziris on the southwest coast of India . Originally, the Romans were not a seafaring people. It was not until the Punic Wars were won and North Africa was in Roman hands that seafaring became an important route of transport. Many sailors came from Greece, Phenicia , North Africa or the Arabian Peninsula , but the number of Roman sailors increased over time.
Basic structure
hull
The wooden merchant ships usually had no rowers to save space for cargo, were about 25–30 meters long, 8–10 meters wide and could load between 60 and 300 t, but mostly 100 to 150 t.
Most of the cargo on the merchant ship was below deck, the heaviest goods such as ores or stones were stored in the bilge, i.e. the lowest part of the ship, which stabilized the ship when the sea was rough.
In front of the rounded stern, the back of the ship, was a small balcony from which the helmsman operated the rudder and where the captain and distinguished travelers stayed. A gooseneck (lat. "Aplustra") was often used for decoration.
On average a ship drove about 6 knots .
Mast and sails
Ordinary Roman merchant ships had a one-piece planed main mast attached to the main deck and bilge. The mainsail was attached to it. There was also a smaller foresail at the bow . The anchor was also attached to the bow .
The Roman merchant ships had sprite sails in use for the first time in the history of seafaring , as this illustration on a sarcophagus from the 3rd century AD shows.
crew
The crew consisted of a captain, a helmsman and a navigator who set the course and orientated himself during the day according to the position of the sun and at night according to the stars. In the case of larger cargo ships, there was also an agent from the shipping company who was responsible for the cargo. He could force the captain to change the route if the goods had been deposited prematurely or if further ports were to be called. The story of Nikolaus von Myra tells the story of an incident in which the representative of the shipping company in the performance of his duty almost let the town of Myra starve to death . In contrast to the galleys, which required many rowers, only a few simple seamen were needed as crew on the sailing ship.
There were no ships completely unarmed, as the danger of piracy was omnipresent. Many smaller merchant ships always drove along the coast with their deliveries so as not to get into a sea storm. On such routes, the risk of attack was of course particularly high, which is why the crew had to be equipped with hand weapons before each trip. Pirate attacks were not made until 67 BC. Brought largely out of the Mediterranean by the military campaign of Gnaeus Pompeius .
traveler
In the Roman Empire there were no pure passenger ships . Travelers looked for a ship at the nearest port that would leave for the desired destination. If there was still space for travelers, they could go on board for a fee, but had to take care of their own food beforehand.
Special types of ships
Often special types of ships were used that had only been designed for the transport of goods, e.g. B.
- " Naves lapidariae ", specially reinforced ships intended for the transport of marble ,
- “ Naves vinariae ”, equipped with huge barrels with a capacity of up to 3000 liters, for the transport of wine and
- “ Naves granariae ”, the grain ships of particular importance for Rome, which had no technical features, but were up to 55 meters long, up to 13 m wide and had a deck height of 13.5 m above the keel, making them a large one Could take cargo of up to 1228 t.
See also
literature
- Donald S. Johnson: The Great Maritime History: 3,000 Years of Expeditions, Trade, and Navigation , ISBN 978-3-86690-074-5
Individual evidence
- ↑ GEO of May 3, 2004: Archeology: Romans settled in India ( Memento of the original from December 20, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b c University of Graz: Ancient Seafaring: Exhibition from November 15. until December 10th, 1999. Designed by Barbara Schloffer, models: Dr. Klaus Tausend (Institute for Ancient History and Archeology). (Archive entry without images) ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Marcus Nenninger: The Romans and the Forest: Investigations into dealing with a natural area using the example of the Roman north-west provinces . In: Geographica historica . tape 16 . Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-515-07398-1 , pp. 78 (268 p., Limited preview in Google Book search).
- ↑ Hans-Joachim Drexhage, Heinrich Konen, Kai Ruffing: The economy of the Roman Empire (1st-3rd century): an introduction (= study books history and culture of the old world ). Akademie Verlag, 2002, ISBN 3-05-003430-0 , pp. 143 (400 p., Limited preview in Google Book search).
