Liburnian

TS -shard with sgraffito of a Liburnian. Around 25 to 50 AD, FO: Fectio , AO: Centraal Museum Utrecht

A Liburnian ( Latin : liburna , Greek λιβυρνίς) was originally a light, two-tier (with two rows of oars) and movable warship ( Bireme ) in the Roman fleet .

The Romans adopted the ship type from the Illyrian Liburnians . In the battle of Actium , the fleet of Octavian (later Augustus ) commanded by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa consisted mainly of Liburnians.

During the imperial era, Liburnians became the main type of ship in the Roman fleet ( liburna could from then on also mean “warship” in general). They could be used in many ways, for example for monitoring shipping lanes, fighting pirates , escorting the merchant fleet, but also for transporting the land army.

Research has disputed whether Liburnians had design features that set them apart from other rowing ships . They were apparently available in different sizes (and possibly with only one row of oars), the smaller ones for use in Roman river fleets, for example on the Rhine ( Classis Germanica ) and Danube ( Classis Pannonica ).

The successor type was the Pamphile in the Byzantine fleet of the 9th century.

See also

• Ships of the ancient world

literature

• Walter Hatto Groß : Liburna. In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 3, Stuttgart 1969, column 627.
• Olaf Höckmann : Ancient seafaring. Beck, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-406-30463-X , pp. 110-114.