Classe military port

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Coordinates: 44 ° 23 '43.4 "  N , 12 ° 13' 8.9"  O Classe was a military port located southeast of Ravenna on the Adriatic coast. Classe was an important military port for over five hundred years. As long as it was not used as a military port, it was the trading port of Ravenna in the heyday of the Roman Empire . The name Classe comes from the Latin word classis ( fleet ).

Mosaic in the church of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna depicting the military port of Classe
Overview of the archaeological site of the Classe military port
Ancient street, foundations of warehouses and canals in Port Classe

Roman Republic

During the Roman Republic , Classe was a small trading and fishing port. The city of Ravenna was founded in the 3rd or 2nd century BC. Founded.

Early imperial times

Origins of Classe

Between 35 and 12 BC BC Octavian (later known as Augustus ) made the port of Ravenna a naval base. There were cemeteries south of the port, but in the 2nd century these were covered by the expanding city, later called Classe.

Augustus probably chose Classe because of its strategic location. The area where Augustus originally wanted to build the port was a lagoon . The lagoon was not vulnerable from land, as it was surrounded on all sides by swamps . Unlike the ports of Portus or Ostia , Classe did not have a hexagonal plan. The foundations were placed in the water on stilts. When these were anchored in the ground, the port was built from large oak beams over them. In the 1st century AD, the workers also built ceramic parts. In the 2nd century, the entire port was rebuilt using brick. Augustus only used the port for military purposes. The city had only one strategic weak point, access to fresh water. This was rectified by Emperor Trajan , who had a 35 km long aqueduct built to supply water to Ravenna and probably Classe as well. After the fleet was permanently stationed in Classe, the population grew slowly but steadily. For the next three hundred years, Classe was one of the most important military ports of the Roman Empire as the home port of the Eastern Mediterranean Fleet. The historian Cassius Dio reports that the fleet comprised 250 ships.

Before the harbor was moored there was no evidence of settlement in the area of ​​the later Classe. Archaeologists have only found a few burial grounds. It is not known whether these burial grounds were pagan or Christian . Christianization of the area began in the 2nd century AD.

Late imperial era

Triggered by the imperial crisis of the 3rd century , Ravenna and the port of Classe began to decline. Ravenna was looted twice in the 250s and 260s and the port was no longer maintained; it began to dry out and fill with silt . When Ravenna became the official residence of the Western Roman Emperor Honorius in 402 , Classe prospered again and the residential area south of the port was surrounded by a wall. The grain feeds from the city's public stores were an important pillar of the imperial administration. Ravenna and the port survived the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and were renewed by Theodoric the Great .

Residents

Some sailors and their families lived in Ravenna. Most of the seamen and their families lived in the barracks of the imperial fleet (although marrying was officially prohibited for sailors in imperial service). Classe was subordinate to the imperial prefect for the imperial fleet. When Ravenna became the imperial residence in 402, Classe came under its jurisdiction.

Christian influence

The port of Classe became a bridgehead for the Christianization of Italy. Tombs from the 2nd century show the incipient Christian influence in Classe. From the 4th century onwards, Classe was given numerous magnificent churches and its own baptistery . The center of Christian life was the church dedicated to the first bishop of Ravenna, Apollinaris of Ravenna . Sant'Apollinare in Classe is the only remaining one of these churches. Other churches near Sant'Apollinare were dedicated to other previous bishops. There is no evidence that Classe had a bishop of his own.

In the church of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna there is a mosaic depicting the port of Classe in the 520s. An amphitheater and a basilica are depicted there. The entrance to the port is flanked by two lighthouses . The remains of these lighthouses were never found.

The Classe fleet

Western Roman Empire

The fleet stationed in Classe consisted of trireme , quadrireme and liburnian . The ships were named after gods and rivers. The imperial fleet employed ax makers, carpenters, doctors, standard-bearers, hornblowers, officers, rowers, captains as well as clockers, scribes, sailors and armourers. A total of more than 10,000 men were directly or indirectly employed in the fleet. The fleet was mainly used for peacekeeping in the Mediterranean . Her areas of operation were the Adriatic and the Aegean , but she occasionally reached Spain on her patrols . In 24 AD the fleet was used to crush a slave revolt in Brundisium . In peacetime, the fleet was used to fight pirates . Today's historians attribute an important contribution to the almost complete absence of piracy in the early imperial era. In 69, the Classe fleet reportedly had 5,000 ships. In 324 the imperial fleet had disbanded in Classe. This is likely due to the civil war between Constantine the Great and the other tetrarchs Maxentius and Licinius . The empire no longer had the means to maintain a fleet in class.

Ostrogothic period

The Western Roman Empire ended in 476 when Odoacer , a Germanic magister militum , deposed the last Western Roman Emperor Romulus Augustulus and declared himself King of Italy. The emperor of the Eastern Empire, Zenon , was anxious to break Odoacer's rule over Italy. Zeno encouraged Theodoric the Great to conquer Italy and rule in his name. Theodoric was successful, but now he declared himself King of Italy and made Ravenna his capital. The Ostrogoth Empire existed from 490 to 552. When Theodoric conquered Italy, Classe was already partially silted up, but he had repairs carried out. Despite the renovation, Classe was no longer a military port and was removed from the register of official military ports. Instead, Classe became a trading port for northern Italy.

Exarchate of Ravenna

Emperor Justinian I sent his general Belisarius to recapture Italy for the Roman Empire. In 540 Classe was conquered by Belisarius in the Gothic War . It remained under Eastern Roman control until 751. Justinian, realizing the strategic position of Classe, had the port restored. The port of Classe quickly became the second most important port in the empire after that of Constantinople . In the 6th century Classe became a thriving trading center for the third time. The population grew and new churches were built, for example Sant'Apollinare in Classe . For better defense, the Exarchate of Ravenna was established in 584 at the latest .

Longobard Wars

In 579 the Longobards attacked Ravenna and sacked Classe. The raid was led by Faroald , Duke of Spoleto, who briefly controlled both cities. The Suebe , or Alamanne Drocdulf , recaptured Classe in Eastern Roman services and forced the Lombards to return Ravenna to the Eastern Roman Empire. In 717/18 another Lombard duke, also called Faroald , conquered Classe, but was urged by King Liutprand to leave the city. Liutprand himself conquered Ravenna a little later, but lost the city again to the East Romans, who were supported by Venice. In the year 751 the Lombard king Aistulf succeeded in taking Ravenna. With that the Exarchate of Ravenna was dissolved. Classe appears to have been permanently devastated during the Longobard Wars. The port now completely silted up. The population fell sharply over the centuries. After that time, Classe was meaningless.

middle Ages

The Frankish King Pippin the Short wrested Ravenna from the Longobards in 756; in the Pippin donation , Ravenna and Classe were bequeathed to the Papal States . In the middle of the 9th century, Classe was sacked by Muslim Arabs. At an unknown point during the Middle Ages, the Po River completely destroyed the port of Classe. That is why there are no remains of the ancient port.

today

Since July 16, 2015, the port of Classe with the remains of an ancient street and warehouses can be visited as an archaeological attraction on the excavation site in Classe near Ravenna of around 10,000 square meters.

The ground beneath Ravenna and Classe has been sinking for centuries. This made the excavations difficult. The siltation has caused the coast to shift several kilometers to the east.

Sights: Sant'Apollinare in Classe

swell

The two main sources on the subject of Classe are Appian , 39 BC. Chr. Wrote: "Augustus ordered new buildings to be built in Classe"; also Cassius Dio .

literature

  • Ravenna. In: Glen Bowersock , Peter Brown , Oleg Grabar (Eds.): Late Antiquity. A guide to the postclassical world. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA et al. 1999, ISBN 0-674-51173-5 .
  • Michael Charles: Transporting the Troops in Late Antiquity: Naves Onerariae, Claudian and the Gildonic War. In: The Classical Journal. Vol. 100, No. 3, 2005, ISSN  0009-8353 , pp. 275-299, JSTOR 4133022 .
  • Neil Christie: The City Walls of Ravenna: The Defense of a Capital, AD 402-750. In: Seminario Internazionale di Studi sul Tema: “Ravenna e l'Italia fra Goti e Longobardi”. Ravenna, April 14-22, 1989 (= Corso di Cultura sull'Arte Ravennate e Bizantina. Seminario internazionale di studi. 36). Girasole, Ravenna 1989, ISBN 88-7567-196-6 , pp. 113-138.
  • Deborah Mauskopf Deliyannis: Ravenna in Late Antiquity. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 2010, ISBN 978-0-521-83672-2 .
  • Mark Hassall: The Army. In: The Cambridge Ancient History . Volume 11: The High Empire. AD 70-192. 2nd edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 2000, ISBN 0-521-26335-2 .
  • Ravenna. In: Simon Hownblower, Antony Spawfort (Eds.): The Oxford Classical Dictionary . 3rd edition revised. Oxford University Press, Oxford et al. 2003, ISBN 0-19-860641-9 .
  • Edward Hutton: The Story of Ravenna. Dent et al., London et al. 1926.
  • Ravenna. In Alexander P. Kazhdan (ed.): The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium . Volume 3. Oxford University Press, New York NY et al. 1991, ISBN 0-19-504652-8 .
  • Lawrence Keppie: The Army and the Navy: The Navy. In: The Cambridge Ancient History. Volume 10: The Augustan Empire. 43 BC-AD 69th 2nd edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 2001, ISBN 0-521-26430-8 .
  • Archibald R. Lewis, Timothy J. Runyan: European Naval and Maritime History, 300-1500. Indiana University Press, Bloomington IN 1985, ISBN 0-253-32082-8 .
  • Michael Pitassi: The Navies of Rome. Boydell & Brewer, Woodbridge et al. 2009, ISBN 978-1-84383-409-0 .
  • Chester G. Starr: The Influence of Sea Power on Ancient History. Oxford University Press, New York NY et al. 1989, ISBN 0-19-505666-3 .
  • Chester G. Starr: The Roman Imperial Navy 31 BC – AD 324. Lowe and Brydone Limited, Ithaca NY 1941.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hutton, Story of Ravenna , Jan.
  2. ↑ Keppie, The Army and the Navy , 383 .; Hornblower, Ravenna , 1294.
  3. ^ Bowerstock, Ravenna , 662.
  4. ↑ Deliyannis, Ravenna in Late Antiquity , 27, 30; Hutton, Story of Ravenna , Jan.
  5. ↑ Deliyannis, Ravenna in Late Antiquity , 26; Hutton, Story of Ravenna , 229.
  6. ^ Hutton, Story of Ravenna , 26; Deliyannis, Ravenna in Late Antiquity , 27
  7. ↑ Starr, Influence of Sea Power , 68
  8. ↑ Pitassi, Navies of Rome , 206
  9. ↑ Deliyannis, Ravenna in Late Antiquity , 28
  10. ↑ a b Starr, Roman Imperial Navy , 21
  11. ↑ Deliyannis, Ravenna in Late Antiquity , 34; in fact, the path of the aqueduct is uncertain, since it brought water from south of the harbor all the way to Ravenna.
  12. ↑ a b c Deliyannis, Ravenna in Late Antiquity , 30
  13. ↑ Deliyannis, Ravenna in Late Antiquity , 26
  14. ↑ Deliyannis, Ravenna in Late Antiquity , 30, 38
  15. ↑ Deliyannis, Ravenna in Late Antiquity , 36
  16. ↑ a b Deliyannis, Ravenna in Late Antiquity , 37
  17. ↑ Christie, City Walls of Ravenna , 114; Deliyannis, Ravenna in Late Antiquity , 37
  18. ↑ Deliyannis, Ravenna in Late Antiquity , 118
  19. ^ Hutton, Story of Ravenna , 229; but there is no archaeological evidence for this
  20. ↑ Starr, Roman Imperial Navy , 22
  21. ↑ Deliyannis, Ravenna in Late Antiquity , 259
  22. ↑ Deliyannis, Ravenna in Late Antiquity , 38
  23. ^ Keppie, The Army and the Navy , 383.
  24. ↑ Deliyannis, Ravenna in Late Antiquity , 27
  25. ^ Starr, Roman Imperial Navy , 189
  26. ↑ Pitassi, Navies of Rome , 222
  27. ↑ Deliyannis, Ravenna in Late Antiquity , 137
  28. ↑ Deliyannis, Ravenna in Late Antiquity , 117
  29. ^ Lewis, European Naval , 22
  30. ↑ Kazhdan, Ravenna , 1773.
  31. ↑ Deliyannis, Ravenna in Late Antiquity , 196, 257
  32. ↑ Deliyannis, Ravenna in Late Antiquity , 206
  33. ↑ Deliyannis, Ravenna in Late Antiquity , 289
  34. ↑ Deliyannis, Ravenna in Late Antiquity , 260
  35. ↑ Starr, Roman Imperial Navy , 21
  36. ↑ Website of the excavation site in Classe (Italian)
  37. ↑ Deliyannis, Ravenna in Late Antiquity , 12
  38. ↑ Deliyannis, Ravenna in Late Antiquity , 13